One Day

Mateys. You ask why I have the travel bug? How can I not when I have a friend over in New Zealand, one who went to Germany and is now in Canada:



And a couple of other friends are in Japan. Recently they were able to visit a Ninja House.



Yeah that's right. A NINJA HOUSE. Like, where ninjas lived.



I appreciate some people aren't concerned with seeing everything they can in this temporary life... but c'mon man... NINJAS!!!

Btw ppl in Japan =
Rhys
Cat

-Fin-

Broadcast to Brisbane

Had a crazy idea the other day, but it'd make a good music video.

If we got a crew of say... 100 people (roadies) and 10 sound technicians, I think we could hook up Brisbane CBD with the biggest sound system... Of course it'd be illegal, but heck, it'd redefine coolness.

Imagine giant speaker arrays, the size of those at the big day out, hanging off key buildings in Eagle St Pier, Queen St, Edward St, Roma St Parklands and Gympie Rd. Well maybe not Gympie rd, but the one that leads straight into the city... you know the one?

Anyway. These speaker arrays, put up by the roadie crews (1 audio technician, 10 roadies to each location), are powered by the building's supply - there's always a meter on the roof with at least 4 - 10 three-phase outlets. I think an architect told me that once, and it sounds plausible. These arrays could either be hooked onto the side of the buildings, attached to the main support columns of the skyscraper, or a cable could be suspended between two of the taller buildings in Queen st. Say, the Commonweath bank building and Queen's Plaza.

These speakers would be pumping out an amplified signal - amplifiers on the roof, attached to a radio signal receiver. This signal would be received from an undisclosed location. Add to the above numbers about 5 video people and some really good music, and you've got a kick-butt music video of people in the street getting really surprised by suddenly having music surrounding them. Wherever they go in Brisbane, there'll be (hopefully) dancing in the streets, a heightened morale among the happy people and some very angry old people who are trying to be productive.

Of course, this is all in my head. Perhaps it's best left there.

-Fin-

Motivationary

Go and rent the film called 'The Corporation', now. See it now.

Now, what did that statement evoke in you? Did you immediately think, 'Oo, quirky start,' followed by 'I might go see the film he's talking about'?

Will you follow through? Will you hire the video?

Man I must be sounding like a weird jerk atm... I guess I am a bit.

After I watched the Corp., I felt motivated to do something. I predicted I would, so I was prepared for it, but I really would like to analyse what makes us not do anything, not react to problems that aren't immediately in our frame of reference, not try and make the world a better place.

I'd love to make a documentary about apathy, especially in Australia. I mean, apart from sport, what do we have in our culture? We used have a culture of mateship, but with current social norms of us striving to be disconnected, independant human beans, that seems to be dissolving into the larger "Community" of capitalism.

Any ideas?

The Science of Le Raison d'Etre

We had to evaluate the power of Genesis 1.1 today in Short Story writing - In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Now here comes the problem of this blog... I have quite a few thoughts I want to put down, but to make sure that this remains readable I need to hone it into a coherent string. So if I've talked to you about all this and the events sound a little different, don't worry, I'm not going quietly crazy.

I guess looking at that particular passage as a story, next to all the other mythologies (Apache, Indigenous Australians) kinda does sort of give a bit of an insight into how other people look at it. A story with no power, no inspiration from God. Genesis, to people, is a seemingly unsatisfactory explanation of The Beginning.

I'm reminded that science, at least to me, is equally unsatisfactory. Research it, you'll find details for and against both creation, and science, and creation mixed with common scientific theories.

My take on Genesis?
Everything has a beginning. Come up with a better explanation than Genesis, get God's rubber stamp and I'll take it with both hands. But for now I don't really want to comment much... I mean I wasn't there, and if I do start talking about it, does that constitute gossip? :P

-Fin-

Let's run some ideas past you...

Okay. 8:28 am on wednesday, I've finished all my homework for the day. Now I have until 6pm to keep myself busy.

I think I'll apply for a $10 000 grant.

Actually, I'm serious.

Let me run the idea past ya - I think its a need which needs filling.

There's a big gap at the moment between the general level of computer literacy (i.e. none) and the level of computer literacy that the University expects.

It's strange that the Uni will run maths bridging courses, but not have anything in the way of technology bridging. There's an especially large gap for mature age students, who haven't grown up with technology.

I want to run a one day per week for five weeks program which will ground people in things like excel, powerpoint, word, internet surfing, etc. What I was wondering, what else do you think would need to be covered - maybe scanning etc? Also, would the five week thing work, or should it be an intensive one or two day course?

-Fin-

Statistika

I've just said okay to working this friday morning for an extra 5 hours to help out- here's why I'm rather nervous:

This list is a list of the units, and the numbers on the right are the number of students in the unit.

KWB712	111
NSB113	274
NSB603	64
NSN427	9
KWB314	143
KWB111	34
KWP111	5
PUB201	248
PUB203	65
KCB335	103
PUB607	34
HMB315	155
PUN467	12
PUP116	15
KWP314	2

---------------------------
15 Units 1274 Assignments

Helpdesk open from 7am - 7pm, Students come in from 9 - 5 = 8 hours of actual submission

= 160 Assignments per hour
=2.7 Assignments per minute

Now think of the chaos of 50 people jammed into the little foyer of D block, trying to get to 2 staplers and 1 box of cover sheets.

They, my friends, are the statistics of doom.

P.S. Did you get my funny reference in the title? like a cross between statistics and swastika? like statistics of doom? lol hyuk hyuk

-Fin-

Lose-Lose

Here today at Kelvin Grove QUT, there's dramas abounding - the pinting service is completely down across all campuses, about 4 assignments are due in today, and everyone knows that if their assignments aren't in on time, they will immediately explode into a painful number of pieces.

I often find it amusing/frustrating that I can get so caught up in assignments that I really get worked up about finishing it on time etc - I mean that in itself is okay, but not to the point that it makes me a pain to be around. If it goes to that extreme, then it's just a lose-lose situation for you and those around you.

-Fin-

Eavesdropping

I blame it on KWB350.

The homework set to us writing students was to "go out and eavesdrop" - in order to better our dialoguing skills.

Sitting in the refectory today, I couldn't help but overhear a conversation on the table next to me. This conversation consisted entirely of the person complaining about two things. For half an hour. I won't mention the gender of the person, because men and women both do it chronically, but yeah. That's a long time to be complaining about something, or even two things. The other person in the conversation didn't say anything, just smiled and nodded throughout.

It reminded me of a person who I stopped talking to, mainly because all they ever did was complain about things to me.

The funny thing? I'm sitting here spending time complaining about their complaining :)

-Fin-