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| Thursday, July 2nd, 2009 | | 11:57 pm |
Drunk a n d on teh interwebs
Firstly: why are there no comments on my substituting corona for stout post? Myk is excused, as he has good taste in cider. Secondly: I had a job interview on tuesday, which seemed to go ok. I managed to avoid talking for hours about whether my work was to support government policy or to inform policy. this is a major philosophical issue for an APS employee, support vs inform, but something i shouldn't go into while drunk. still the interview seemed to go ok. Finally; My uni should be done, barring horrible failure. last exam was wednesday, though there is an outside chance that I'll get into honours starting september some time. I'm off to bed, PS. tonight was the monthly meeting of the canberra brewers club and i didn't have to drive, hence why i am drunk. Current Mood:  drunk | | Monday, June 15th, 2009 | | 1:09 pm |
The horror
Seen on a comment thread for a gingerbread recipe: "Didn’t have the stout so I substituted Corona beer." No words can describe the horror. Current Mood: indescribableCurrent Music: None | | Thursday, May 28th, 2009 | | 11:31 pm |
A quote
"Brad Dacus, president of Pacific Justice Institute, a conservative California-based organization opposed to gay marriage, was understandably less restrained. He termed the state high court's ruling "a victory for democracy and a victory for the civil rights of clergy, county clerks and Californians across the political spectrum who did not want to be forced by the government to approve of same-sex marriage."" A victory for the tyranny of the majority, and a victory for theocrats who wish to impose their religious views on those who don't believe, people who refuse to do their jobs, and people who confuse government policy with their views. From an article on the upholding of proposition 8 in California. Current Music: C. W. Stoneking - Love me or die | | Sunday, May 24th, 2009 | | 11:58 pm |
How not to glass a planet
I saw the latest Star Trek today. It's a good movie, though it suffers from the problem that their giant planet killing machine sucks. Their plan looks like this: ( Horrible evil plan ) Current Mood:  sleepyCurrent Music: An Earth-shattering KaBOOM! | | Sunday, April 26th, 2009 | | 11:45 pm |
Pain in the arse
I bought a new computer recently. It is shiny and fast (it can calculate pi to 1 million digits in less than 8 seconds) however there is one problem. I can't get it to run games without running windows. I have been running Ubuntu 64bit and have been really impressed. After install I had to do four things: install the sound card driver, install the video driver, setup the monitors and install a different mp3 player (I prefer Amarok to rhythm box). However I would have to do all this on Windows, plus install Mozilla, gimp, pidgin, non-windows media player video player and open office. So I'm really enjoying using Ubuntu. Except for the fact that it's a pain in the arse to get any games to run. I have tried wine, and crossover games, however I just can't get city of heroes or geneforge to run properly (however halflife 2 runs well along with Portal, though still no cake). This is really the main requirement of my home desktop, but I don't want to have to use windows for everything else. There is an old copy of XP here (service pack 1!), so I'll give that a try with VMware. Otherwise it's vista for me. Vista, with aero and uac and every-other-fucking-thing except native dx10 disabled. Current Mood:  irritated | | Friday, April 10th, 2009 | | 4:09 pm |
| | Sunday, March 22nd, 2009 | | 8:35 pm |
Computer comparison
I've wanted to do this for a while. Basically its a long winded response the Emma or Gavin (I can't remember which) saying, effectively, "why not buy a Mac?". So I'm going to work out, with numbers, why I shouldn't buy a mac (or maybe why I should?). ( computer stuff ) Current Mood: VindicatedCurrent Music: Tea Party - A Certain Slant of Light | | 7:00 pm |
Obaying orders
Once again I have been ordered to blog, though I have no idea what to actually say. I have been doing things, but most of it seems to be irrelevant from a wider perspective; defiantly nothing worth publishing. So this will just be stuff about what has been happening to me day to day. ( Stuff ) Current Music: Love Outside Andromeda - Radio | | Friday, February 20th, 2009 | | 9:22 pm |
Spent Grain Beer Bread
So mainly for my own notes, this is the recipe for the bread I sometimes make. 3 cups of spent grain (wet) 1.5 cups warm water 1 package (1 tablespoon) dry BAKERS yeast 1/3 cup brown sugar or honey 3-5 cups flour Dash of salt For anyone else making it: Spent grain is the grain left over after making beer. It generally adds texture and a subtle flavour. The brewer soaks the grain in water, then drains the water off, leaving something like a course, thick porridge. The exact mix of grain, thus flavour, varies depending on the beer it is left over from. I usually add some cinnamon, nutmeg and all spice. Maybe a teaspoon each. The particular spices that will work depends on the grain in the bread, but I've found that mix to be good generally. Brewers yeast is lazy, use bakers yeast. Don't use larger yeast, it's really lazy. Substituting beer for water seems to work, though I would match the beer to the grain used (pilsner for all pilsner malt, stout for grain with lots of roast barley). I'm not really sure on this one. Current Mood:  calm | | Wednesday, December 31st, 2008 | | 12:58 am |
Now here is a stupid arguement
Article hereSo MP Fred Nile wants to ban (female) topless bathing, this is his argument. ""Our beaches should be a place where no one is offended, whether it's their religious or cultural views," he said. "If they've come from a Middle Eastern or Asian country where women never go topless - in fact they usually wear a lot of clothing - I think it's important to respect all the different cultures that make up Australia." The practice was at risk of raising the ire of Muslim men in particular, Mr Nile said. "I don't want to have any provocations or disturbances on our public beaches," he said" This is really stupid. Firstly because a ban on female topless bathing offends me, because it's sexist and prudish. If we allow men to go topless, then women should be allowed. It is only fair. Further more, banning nudity is just prudish. There is no harm to society for people being naked in some places, like the beach, in fact liberal attitudes to nudity are helpful for children ( look here for a summary). Basically the only reason to ban public nudity is that some conservative people are uncomfortable with it. Now without any evidence for a negative effect, should we ban a behaviour because some are uncomfortable with it? I think that we need evidence, without it it comes down to who can shout loudest out of me and Niles (at least until one of us gets shot, probably me). So this is a stupid argument: we should ban X because X offends person A. However a ban on X would offend B. In a society based on the rule of law, we must consider A and B equal, and thus look for something else to decide. Now if we are in a theocracy the Reverend (Niles) outranks the heathen (Me!), and he would have his ban on beach boobies. Is that the type of society Niles thinks this is, or wants it to be. Now I'm off to bed before I Illiterate again (and my thinking gets any fuzzier). Current Music: Mythbusters episodes | | Friday, December 19th, 2008 | | 1:40 pm |
Bloody Telstra
My father recently got himself a laptop with a 3G wireless internet connection, via one of those USB dongles. Of course he got the internet service through telstra, as for some insane reason he's loyal to them. Still they get all that setup, and discover that the tinted windows of the house block the signal. So they call telstra and get an antenna installed, and it all works fine. Till my brothers get hold of it. Now they are both WOW addicts, and they realised that my fathers 3g internet had lower latency than the satellite net, which lead them to jury-rigging a network between the net and their computer using my dads laptop as a bridge. This irritates my dad, as he wants to be able to turn his laptop off and doesn't want cables running through the house. So they call me. My solution is to setup a wireless network, that way my brothers can play WOW and my dad can use his laptop where he wants. So I poke around on the net and discover that Billion have released a router with wireless n and support for a USB 3G modem (the 7402nx). So I order it. Of course, setting up the system proves to be a pain in the arse. First my dad's laptop won't connect to router, any attempt to get to the router login screen via a browser results in the computer trying to dial telstra via the 3G modem. Fortunately I brought my laptop, which works perfectly. 30 seconds later and we are bathed in the sweet glow of unencrypted wireless N (no one can see my parents house, let alone get a signal from it, and if I encrypted the network I would get calls asking what the password is) and I move to a comfy seat. So, from my comfy seat, I order my brother to connect the 3G modem while I enter the details for the internet account and configure the router. A quick reset and, nothing. I double check that everything is plugged in, double check the details, reset, and nothing. I call my father and ask for the protocols for the connection, which in hindsight I should have known wouldn't work. Having run out of options I call telstra, and settle in for a wait. After only 5 minutes of robots and being on hold (5 min? did I call the right number? I thought I called telstra) I get the network info. I re-enter the info, reset the modem, and... Nothing. There is no error message, the router sees the modem, but it won't let me get a net connection. I have no idea what is going on, but my guess is that telstra have tinkered with the firmware for the modem, thus stopping the router from easily communicating with it (this is based on the fact that the telstra ones are harder to get working with Linux that other providers ones, and that you have to install special software on the computer to use the modem). Anyone else have any suggestions? I can't find new official firmware (there is some beta stuff, but I would rather steer clear of that for my parents network). Personally I think they should just give up on the net or move, it's always going to be a pain getting net out there, but that view isn't very popular. Current Mood: infuriatedCurrent Music: Urthboy - Distant Sense Of Random Menace | | Wednesday, December 17th, 2008 | | 12:13 pm |
| | Thursday, December 11th, 2008 | | 11:01 pm |
This is good for a laugh
Garbage"The most perfect mechanism ever designed and made is the marvelous mind and body that is man." Really? Then why is there a 1 in a million chance that your brain craps itself every year? ( Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease ) That constitutes the " most perfect mechanism"? What about knees, surely there is a better design for them. And veins, why do we get haemorrhoids and varicose veins? Not to mention that our optical sense is a piece of shit. I can go on if you want. Seriously, if god created the human body I want a fucking refund. "And it is also only natural that our Maker sent along His instruction manual... That instruction book is the Holy Bible. Yet man has made this the most misunderstood, misinterpreted and maligned book that ever came into human hands." Maybe it's just me, but I don't trust a book that which says to stone me to death when we know was heavily edited in the 3rd century. The fact is has nothing on anatomy, developmental biology or psychology is also kind of strange when it's meant to be our "instruction book". "Psychologists do not themselves understand of what the human mind is composed." Actually, the human mind is composed of human neurons. There are many studies which have looked at brain damage, and the pattern of impairment of function relates directly to the location and degree of damage. Eg. Broca's Aphasia. These studies, when taken together, provide overwhelming evidence that we don't have a soul. Now, there is no fundamental assumption of monism in psychology, psychologists such as Gergen have proposed theories that are completely compatible with a dualist view. The only problem is that there is no evidence for a dualist interpretation, and overwhelming evidence for the monist interpretation. So the problem is that if we are right, then their beliefs are wrong. And this is threatening to their understanding of the world, so that instead they ignore all the evidence. "Man, to be born ultimately into the very God family, was designed to have godly-type mind—ability to think, to reason, to make choices and decisions, capable of forming ethical, moral and spiritual attitudes." I just can't help but think of bonobo chimps, along with other primates, that seem to do all of this. Except maybe the spiritual attitudes, lucky them. "There is virtually no difference in shape and construction between animal brain and human brain. The brains of elephants, whales and dolphins are larger than human brain, and the chimp’s brain is slightly smaller. Qualitatively the human brain may be very slightly superior, but not enough to remotely account for the difference in output." The important thing is not size, but ratio of brain to body. Humans have the largest brain to body ratio, followed by primates then most other things. This is also roughly the order of cognitive ability. Meh, I'm too tired to go on. It's like they are trying to make up the most stupid shit possible. Current Mood:  confused | | Wednesday, November 5th, 2008 | | 12:56 pm |
Election
We need a mozilla plugin that blocks "go vote" messages for elections you can't vote in. Or maybe one that auto-replies "you go vote, I'll just sit here and drink beer. What with me being Australian and all. Bloody Americans". Current Mood: CaffineatedCurrent Music: Tool - Right in Two | | Monday, November 3rd, 2008 | | 11:03 pm |
This explains my sex life
Or lack thereofWhy are there 2 paragraphs dedicated to contradictory anecdotes? Why couldn't they use that space to give more info on the methodology or the results? Damn crappy reporting. Current Mood: irritatedCurrent Music: Buck 65 - Drunk Without Drinking | | Tuesday, October 7th, 2008 | | 3:44 pm |
| | Sunday, October 5th, 2008 | | 6:19 pm |
I have returned!
We need more socialised health care.In other news I am back from Tasmania, which was good despite high fat, alcohol and caffeine content. Or maybe because of the fat, caffeine and alcohol. We saw seals, lots of sea birds, an Aunt (and her husband), some good paintings, some shitty paintings, lots of over hyped paintings, a few restaurants and Port Arthur. Current Mood: tiredCurrent Music: Rage Against the Machine - How I Could Just Kill a Man | | Tuesday, September 30th, 2008 | | 3:17 pm |
Progress!
7000 words down, 3000 to go! Current Mood: accomplishedCurrent Music: Cog - Run | | Wednesday, September 10th, 2008 | | 10:39 pm |
What are you doing here?
For some reason I'm not entirely clear on I signed up for Ok Cupid, and the number of people on there I know is kind of freaky. Though in one case it was only by recognising her kitchen. Current Mood: calmCurrent Music: Placbo - Lady of the Flowers | | Thursday, August 28th, 2008 | | 6:11 pm |
Cleaning
I just pulled more hair out of my computer than is on my head. Current Mood: shockedCurrent Music: Do You Love Me - Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds |
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