Work and Easter

We had a "Formal Friday" today. Other workplaces have a "Casual Friday", but since we wear jeans and t-shirts every day, we did the opposite and all dressed up today. It's the first time I've worn a tie since High School, I think... I had to look up how to tie a tie last night :)

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We went to yum-cha for lunch - I guess when you look respectable for a change you need to take advantage of it. Melanie's told me all about yum-cha, but it was the first time I'd tried it. I liked the pot-sticker dumplings best! After work a bunch of us went for drinks at a cool little pub converted from an old terrace house - happy hour cocktails :) It was fun, but I'm such a lightweight when it comes to drinking!

Work is still cool, and will only get better over the next few weeks. I got to squish a few bugs earlier this week, so I had the satisfaction of finally contributing something, albeit something very small! And starting next week, I finally have a role on the team, working on A.I. navigation. It's probably the role in the team that's closest to my expertise, but still not really related very much :p So I have a heap to learn, and it'll be slow going to begin with, but it's the sort of area I find really fascinating and want to get into. I'm very excited!

The Easter weekend was good. I met up with Rinku and her husband, and we went to an Indian-Chinese restaurant. I haven't ever tried food like this before, but it was really good. The dish I had was like honey battered chicken - think honey chicken at Suzies - in an Indian curry. I'm not sure it was as good as either Indian or Chinese on its own, but it was a great fusion of flavours and well worth trying.
My sister Michelle came to visit for a few days. We wandered around Darling Harbour, which was filled with Easter performances. There were a bunch of street performers, and we saw a public show of the Flying Fruit Fly Circus - that was fun, I love watching circus.
But quite possibly the most amazing discovery was... a Lindt chocolate cafe! Now, if it was actually a cafe made from Lindt chocolate it would be even more amazing still, but as it is - a cafe serving just Lindt products - it runs a close second in salivating wonderment. There were lots of Lindt Lindor balls I'd never seen before - like coffee and intense dark chocolate (*sigh*), as well as very expensive individual gourmet Lindt chocolates, and, get this, cakes and slices made from Lindt chocolate. It was the most wicked and yet heavenly place I've ever seen. It's actually probably a good thing it's so expensive, so I can't go there every day :D

I'm not sure what I'll do this weekend yet. I can't believe it's the weekend again already, this week has gone so fast. I'm thinking sleeping in will be a good start, though :D

Nick in Sydney

First blog update in Sydney! I'm at Team Bondi's office after hours, but there are still plenty of people around working. I don't have internet access - or a working computer - at home, so I have to either use this computer or find an internet cafe. There aren't any internet cafes close to home, so either way I have to be here in town somewhere.
Also, I've been putting it off the last few days because there always seemed to be something else to do - like sleep - but the longer I put it off, the harder it became to decide where to start! So here's what I've been up to...

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I stayed in Rocky as long as I could to look after Sarah, but in the last week of March, after I was sure she'd be alright, I had to return to Bundaberg to prepare for the move to Sydney.
I packed almost everything I owned - bar furniture - in my little Lanos. Hatchbacks are just awesome, you can fit so much into them! I had to leave behind some bulky, non-essential stuff (like kendo gear and deep fryer *cry*), but I managed a lot.
I took the inland route to Sydney, following the New England Highway through Toowoomba, Armidale, and Tamworth. The drive, through ever changing scenery, was beautiful; for much of the trip I was the only car in sight. I stopped to visit a dragonfruit farm near Nanango and a motorcycle museum in Tamworth. They were both very cool too.
The drive into Sydney wasn't so pleasant. I arrived Saturday evening, and navigated congested roads with almost no rear view (the back was packed to the ceiling :) ). Everytime I had to change lanes, I prayed I wasn't going to run into anyone! I lost my way when I had to detour around a crash. Eventually I made it to Dad's place, though, and simply fell into bed.
The next day, Sunday, I unpacked, and went in to town to help Dad with a shopfitting job he was finishing up. The mindless work was actually a welcome relief and I made sure to savour it!
On Monday morning I missed the bus twice into work (don't ask how I managed that, I can't rightly explain), and drove to Bankstown - the closest station - instead. Despite the bus mishap, the public transport system is very easy to use - it just takes a long time. I waste about 2-3 hours commuting each day - bus + train + walk. That's another reason I haven't felt like staying in town to blog! Mind you, I get to walk through Chinatown, so it's not all bad! I am this moment savouring the thought of what I'll pick up to eat when I leave here shortly :)

Work itself has been a mixed bag. The downside is that I've arrived just as everyone is scrambling to reach a milestone, and the usual introduction that I would go through has been put on the backburner until people have time to teach me stuff. It's been frustrating because I need to learn so much but I don't want to monopolise anyone's time. I've been stumbling along picking up a few things as I can, though.
However, it is going to be an amazingly cool job. The office is wide open and relaxed, taking up the entire top floor of our building with a minimum of internal walls. People kick balls and ride electric skateboards around; there are games consoles and pool/airhockey/ping-pong tables in the lunch area; and the dress code is so casual I was practically overdressed in jeans and an untucked shirt on my first day. Shorts/tshirts/thongs are in fashion. It's basically just like what the Honours Room would have been like if we'd had a gazillion times more funding :p
Over and above the work environment, though, the project itself is literally awesome (as in "admiration tinged with fear" awesome). L.A. Noire is a gigantic undertaking that I'm struggling to come to grips with, and I could almost despair at how much there is to learn and how much work there is to do. But by the same token, it's so ambitious that you can't help but be bouyed up with excitement. It's the sort of game I wish I'd come up with, it addresses so much of what I've thought has been missing in games lately. If we (it sounds strange writing "we") manage to accomplish only most of what I've read about, it will be a fantastic game. I don't think I'm allowed to give you any more detail, though, so you'll just have to take my word for now :)

It's time for me to leave if I want to catch the last bus! I really look forward to catching up with you all when I can - and don't forget to blog :) Talk to ya later!

Job Accepted!

Well, I'm going to write games for a living!
Over the last week or two, I've been pursuing four really promising job opportunities in Sydney and Brisbane. It was a cruelly difficult decision to make, but I've decided that Team Bondi is the best job for me to take.

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The first job that came up was with the secretive Silverbrook Research. The recruiter that contacted me assured me it was a great company for me. I was skeptical, given that all of their patents (the only public record of their activities) appear to be for inkjet printing technology, but I was prepared to give them a chance. I did a C++ test for them and was invited in for an interview. I found out they are involved in some really interesting stuff, and it may have been a good job, but the interview didn't go well. With three other promising leads, though, I wasn't overly concerned.

I applied directly to Google - they don't use recruiters - because Google are currently expanding their Sydney operations and advertising graduate positions. Recruitment seems to be managed locally in Sydney, but my technical interviews were handled by employees in the U.S. Unfortunately, I guess a huge number of people appy to Google and the recruitment process is very long and drawn out. Google would be a fantastic place to work and I progressed through two rounds of technical interviews, but it would still be a couple of months before they made a job offer and I couldn't justify passing over other offers just to wait on Google, so I withdrew my application today.

The most involved application process I've gone through has been for Team Bondi. A recruiter presented me to 5 different games development houses in Australia, but we quickly narrowed it down to Team Bondi as the most promising place. I did a screening test, a C++ test, and a design test for them, and had two interviews with 5 different people while I was in Sydney. Team Bondi was very thorough. The recruiter kept me well informed throughout the whole process, and by the end it was no surprise when they made me a job offer yesterday.

In stark contrast, Jeppesen made me a job offer within 24 hours of talking to them for the first time. The recruitment process, the interview, and the person I spoke to, were all straight-up to the point of brusqueness, but it was refreshing in its own way and when they made their job offer today I was confident that it would be a good match.

This left me in a quandary. In the space of 24 hours I had two job offers, each of which would be fantastic, but too different from one another to directly compare them. Team Bondi was something of a dream job - doesn't every geek want to program games at some point? - but the work had definite attractions: a hugely ambitious game, great offices, interesting technologies. Jeppesen was more in line with where my PhD was leading and promised a more obvious career path, along with a highly intelligent team (over a dozen PhDs just in the software development team!) and challenging problems. Both jobs appealed to me a lot!

I think I could honestly have flipped a coin to choose between them, but in the end I chose Team Bondi, despite significant drawbacks, because it's the perfect entry job into the games industry, and if I didn't try it I'd always be wondering if I should have. And if it doesn't work out, then I can cut my losses it'll still be valuable experience that I can take with me. But, naturally, I'm hoping it won't come to that :)

Jobs - games and Google

The other area that I want to try working in is games, specifically games A.I., just because... well, how awesome would that be?

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Things are looking pretty promising with Team Bondi in Sydney. I've taken a couple of tests and I'm meeting them in person on Friday afternoon as soon as I arrive in Sydney. I should have a pretty good idea of whether they'll offer me a job after that interview, which would be a great start to my sojourn in Sydney!
It's very exciting, because you probably couldn't find a better start in the games industry. Team Bondi are a new company, they're meant to be very relaxed. This is their first game, but the founder, Brendan McNamara directed The Getaway for Sony and, together with some staff he took with him, Team Bondi obviously has the pedigree to attract serious funding. This first game sounds very ambitious, and it's being published by Rockstar, makers of Grand Theft Auto.

The attractive thing about games - and defence - is the simulation aspect. It's amazingly cool to craft a world and figure out what sort of interactions can arise from it. And the most interesting interactions, to me, are between autonomous agents in the world - hence my interest in game A.I.!

I've also just had my first phone interview with Google, this morning. I'm afraid I can't have made a fantastic impression on the algorithmic problem-solving questions, because I muddled through it. It's definitely not my strongest point, but with a bit of luck I'll get another interview covering another aspect.
I know Google is after people with more of a Computer Science background than I have, so I won't be terribly upset if this comes to naught. It'd be a cool job in a funky environment though, and I'd most definitely consider it!

Jobs - computational intelligence

If I wanted to combine software development with the topic of my PhD, the perfect job would be at SolveIT Solutions in Adelaide.

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The company was founded by a leading researcher in my field, as a way of putting the theoretical research into practice in business. He's dubbed it "adaptive business intelligence", and become very successful.
SolveIT basically a consulting company. The idea is that they identify areas in which a business can optimise their processes, and then apply cutting-edge optimisation algorithms (such as mine ;) ) from the literature to either cut expenses or boost profits by millions. Besides just getting to use cool algorithms, the attractive thing about SolveIT is the possibility of working on a diverse range of problems as they get contracts from many different industries. Oh, and the huge amount of money to be made in this area :)
I wrote to SolveIT asking for a job, but unfortunately they didn't have any openings. Still, they have my resume now, and I can seriously imagine working for them in the future.

I've also applied for a job at Jeppesen, in Brisbane. That job is also about optimisation, in their case train and transport systems. Basically it would be a similar job, just a different application. I've talked to their recruiter, but haven't heard much back yet. I'm unsure if that's bad or not :) It is a position that they're actively recruiting for though, and I'd have to be one of the most suitable candidates they're going to get for it, so... we'll see.

Jobs

At the end of last year, with pressure to sign another lease, I decided that if I could get work at CQU then I'd probably stay. So before Christmas I spoke to Merv, and agreed to what seemed like a sure project as soon as Uni started back in the new year. To cut a long story short - which I've ranted about enough already :) - after many delays I had to give up on that.

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Many people have suggested other work in Rockhampton, with the best of intentions - thanks! It must seem that I'm being very picky about work. Unfortunately, it's more a case of me knowing what I don't want rather than knowing what I do want!

I don't want to be a straight academic right now, although it's something I might consider coming back to. For now, I want to get out and do something different. I'm also terrified of the whole grant application process! At this stage I just want to solve existing problems and not worry about creating new ones! :p

I also don't want to take a job that isn't going to further my career. I was prepared to do this Digital Assets project for Merv - despite the fact that I'm personally not that interested in what seems to be a relatively simple application of databases and Java - so that I could continue my research on the side (and hang out with friends that are settled here for the immediate future).
But other, similar, jobs around Rockhampton don't have the close social and research connection to the Uni, so I'm not as interested in them.

I am keen to stay with C++ rather than branching out into Java or .NET or similar, because C++ is still the language of choice for big, computationally intensive projects like simulations, optimisation, data mining, etc, in sectors such as defence, games, business intelligence, and finance. Those are the sorts of problems that really interest me.

Ideally, I want to combine software development with research of some sort. The Digital Assets project would have let me do that, albeit in two disjoint parts. The examples I gave just above would (eventually) let me do that in one package. I've applied for a few jobs in those areas. We'll see whether I manage to get something that's exactly what I want, or whether I'll have to take whatever I can get for the experience...

Moving - out of the frying pan and into the fire

Well, I've moved all my stuff back to the family house in Bundaberg now. Where to from there I don't know yet, but I ran out of options in Rockhampton. It kind of sucks having accumulated so much furniture and assorted belongings and having to find somewhere to put it!

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Without any guarantee of work at the Uni (that's another rant in itself! :) ) I had to cut my losses and pack up. The time I clung on here in Rockhampton wasn't wasted though, because I've used it to finish my thesis. That would have been much harder from Bundaberg. It also meant I got to hang around people I like for a bit longer :)
Lots of people (well, ok, three - Sarah, Melanie, and Russel :p ) offered to let me stay with them while I sorted things out. Thanks guys! But I had so much stuff I had to put it somewhere more permanent anyway.

So now... I'm out of the frying pan, but maybe only to land right back in the fire. There's a real possibility that I'll move to Sydney for a job, and man, if I thought the rental market was tough in Rockhampton, I'm not looking forward to renting in Sydney! A recent study placed Sydney as one of the highest rent-to-income-ratio cities in the English-speaking world (Counterpoint on Radio National has been making a compelling argument that it's down to land-rationing).

Interesting times await!

The End (of the thesis) Is Nigh

Yep, fingers crossed, the latest draft of my thesis will get Russel's approval, and I'll print it out and submit! So far Russel's given his stamp of approval to all the main chapters and the conclusion; I've just revised the introduction and now I'll put it all together for him.
All up, it's 10 chapters, 325 pages, and 70,000 words. Admittedly that's double-spaced and single-sided, which I don't like but I understand why it's important for examination, but hey, 325 pages sounds good.
Overall I'm happy with how I've presented what I've done. If I could do it over, I would certainly ditch a lot of the research I spent time on and do a more thorough job of the stuff that worked out well. But such is the path of research, I suppose. In the end I reckon I came up with some good stuff, and I dare to hope that someone might actually read it and make use of it :)
It's certainly going to be a relief to have this thesis out of my hands... for a few months at least!

Interesting Times

There is a curse: May you live in interesting times.

It's strange, but at the time when I have the most to blog about, I've been most silent. Partly I've just been too busy, and partly I just haven't wanted to jinx anything!

I'll follow this post up with some posts dedicated to what's been going on: finishing my thesis; moving house; and getting a job!

McNaught's Comet

Brett thoughtfully let us know about McNaught's Comet, the brightest comet in 40 years! On Monday evening Sarah and I went up Mt. Archer to watch it. Unfortunately the cloud cover and haze was terrible, making it impossible to see the sun set let alone a comet! I returned on Wednesday evening but it was just as bad. This was pretty depressing, since the comet's peak brightness was on Monday and it's supposed to fade over the week, so I was afraid we'd miss it altogether.
Nevertheless we gave it another chance last night, Thursday, and we were finally rewarded! I wish we'd brought binoculars or a telescope, but thanks to the tripod Sarah gave me for Christmas, I was able to take some pretty decent shots with my wannabe camera ;)
(click for higher res!)


No comet here, just a nice view of the city under a gentle sunset before the comet became visible.


Pretty good shot of the comet over the city. Bonus aeroplane to the left ;) There's a bit of camera movement blurring the lights; I mustn't have tightened the tripod enough.


Just the comet.


Just the comet again.

I might go up again tonight to check it out again... I reckon it's pretty exciting :)

Chocolate Coated Coffee Beans

At the end of last year, on a beautiful day for a ride to Roslyn Bay, over a coffee by the water's edge, I was introduced to a most marvellous confection: a single chocolate coated coffee bean, a tiny capsule of heaven on my saucer. My travelling companion, Aiden, told me of a magical coffee store far to the south where he had seen them previously. But could I get them in Rockhampton?

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I spent the rest of the year (ok, so that wasn't very long) searching in vain for a source of these wonders. Darrel Lea apparently occasionally stock them, but not any more. Same for Capricorn Roast. In desperation, I widened my search to Bundaberg (and my family thought I was there to visit them, shh, don't tell them!) but still my efforts bore no fruit.
Long long ago, in a better time, there was a gourmet food store in Rockhampton. But it closed, and with its passing the land was plunged into a period of darkness. Still, some spoke in hushed whispers of another store, one that yet survived. No phonebook told of this fabled store, and for a long time I didn't believe the rumours, but with the success of my quest hanging precariously in the balance I was prepared to turn to any small glimmer of hope. So, with Sarah faithfully at my side, I set out once more.
Far away we went, following the vague second-hand directions of Sarah's mum who spoke a traveller who claimed to have stumbled upon this store by chance in her wanderings, but who had not ventured inside. Over the mighty Fitzroy river, down Denham, and across to the far side of the Bruce Highway - surely we had gone too far then? - and still there was no sign of any gourmet food store. At the foot of the mountainous Range we were forced to turn back, resigned to the bitter taste of failure. But as we wearily turned around, Sarah, with her keen eyesight, cried "Stop! Stop!" - she had found it!
I was to be forgiven for missing it as we passed it the first time; the store had the confounding name of "Tables & Tots", and only in small unassuming print did it say "Gourmet Goodies". Excitedly, we went inside. The store was a confused jumble of furniture, tableware, and bric-a-brac piled on every available surface. But along one wall were exotic foodstuffs, and at the back of the store I found at last what I had been searching for: chocolate coated coffee beans... in no less than three mouth-watering flavours!
I immediately bought a small packet of espresso flavoured beans, which I prefer to the cafe latte flavoured beans I have just returned to buy after consuming the first lot. I have learnt that approximately 5 beans equals one shot of espresso - bear in mind that not all the caffeine from grounds makes it into the espresso. It's very hard to stop at just 5 beans, but so far I've been strong.
Thus ends the tale of my quest for the chocolate coated coffee beans!

Microsoft Zune

(This is a follow-up on the previous post on Windows Media Player.)
Zune is Microsoft's new portable music player and software of the same name. It's analogous to iPod and iTunes. Since Windows Media Player 11 was promising but ultimately flawed, I decided to give Zune a try.
Zune is basically identical to WMP (see previous post), just with a different skin. However, it does two things WMP doesn't:

1. Supports AAC natively
2. Imports playlists and ratings from iTunes

These are very very good things. That leaves only two downsides to Zune compared to iTunes:

1. As with WMP, it stubbornly resets my viewing preferences every time I switch panes
2. As with WMP, it lacks a way to duplicate Party Shuffle's automatic song selection

Nevertheless, given that it's so much faster than iTunes and has nifty playlist management - and imported all my playlists from iTunes - I'm going to give it a try for a while.

Edit:
In iTunes, you set a checkbox called "Compilation" to indicate that an album is a compilation. In WMP/Zune, you set a separate field for each track called "Album Artist" to something like "Various Artists" to indicate a compilation. Unfortunately Zune didn't import the "Compilation" meta-data from iTunes, and this was messing up my browsing experience (in both WMP and Zune).
After setting the "Album Artist" to "Various Artists" for all compilation CDs, the browsing experience became far, far, far better, so much so that the default view for each pane works quite well, and it's no longer so annoying that it resets the view each time you change pane.

In summary, the WMP/Zune browsing interface just got a lot better in my opinion; on par or superior to iTunes' 3-pane browser. *thumbs up*

Windows Media Player 11

Thanks to a network problem I've been unable to use iTunes (no library database) so I thought I'd try out Windows Media Player 11 at Carey's suggestion. This is my experience...

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Behind the screens
The first technical difference between iTunes and WMP is the way the library is managed. In iTunes you drag files into the library to add them whenever you acquire new files. This is a pain because you lose all song-related data like play count and stars and playlists if you want te rearrange the files on your HDD - you have to remove them from iTunes and add them again each time. In WMP, you specify folders for WMP to monitor, and all music in those folders is automatically in your library. This actually works pretty well, and somehow it manages to keep track of files even if I move them around while WMP is closed (I know it's actually keeping track of the files and not just removing/adding the file each time, because details like the play count are kept intact and the file itself is not modified to store this information).

The second technical difference is that WMP unfortunately doesn't support the AAC music format. That sucks because I rip most of my music as AAC, since it's an MPEG standard format. I expected that any decent music player would support it, but sadly not WMP. You can use third-party tools to add AAC support to WMP (meta-data support and codecs) but it's not perfect: the progress slider doesn't work for AAC files. (these codecs might fix the problem but it's commercial software) By the way, I don't think you can simplify the comparison to WMP = MP3 + WMA formats, and iTunes = MP3 + AAC formats, since a) iTunes can import WMA files by converting them, and b) AAC is standard and WMA is proprietary.

User interface
Using iTunes as a baseline, there are some positives and negatives to WMP's user interface.
WMP doesn't have iTunes' 3-pane browser that sorts by genre, artist, and album simultaneously. That means you have to flip between different screens to browse by those different categories. That might not be such a nuisance, except that each time you change screen, it resets your location in all the others, so you have to scroll down through your entire library to get back to where you were each time. It also resets the column by which you've sorted that category, which is really annoying. As a plus, though, WMP allows you to navigate the library in many more ways than iTunes (which would be nice, if only it remembered my preferences! grrr...)

Playlist management likewise has its ups and downs. Instead of Party Shuffle, WMP has Now Playing, which works slightly differently. Everything you play automatically goes through Now Playing - generally every song that's currently showing in the pane you double-click in is added to Now Playing, as opposed to iTunes playing either the library or a playlist or Party Shuffle. That's pretty neat, because you can browse to an album, or do a text search, double click a song and all of those will go into Now Playing and be saved there, even if you then browse away or do a different text search. Another neat feature in WMP is the playlist pane, which can be set to show either a playlist or Now Playing, and sits to the right of the main view. That makes it easy to drag music over to queue it up or reorganise the play order, without leaving the main library view. The downside of WMP's playlist management is that I can't find any way to mimic iTunes' Party Shuffle ability to automatically and randomly draw a certain number of songs from a specified playlist. In WMP you have to manually make sure there's always music queued up.

Performance
Ordinarily performance in programs like these, running on modern computers, shouldn't matter. Unfortunately, the Windows port of iTunes 6 was slow, and iTunes 7 is just terrible. Browsing WMP, in comparison, feels like casting off shackles and breathing freely once more.

Overall
I'll still use iTunes, however that's mainly due to where WMP foolishly stumbles rather than to where iTunes shines. WMP's inability to remember my viewing preferences and poor handling of AAC is terrible. Maybe in the next version WMP will come out ahead.

Vrrrooom!

I'd said that I wouldn't go for my motorcycle licence until I'd finished my PhD. Well, I decided it's close enough. I now have my open, unrestricted licence :D

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It seems I'm nothing but a litany of medical complaints lately. A couple of weeks back I did something to the muscles of my back, I have no idea what - playing Wii Tennis with Brett might have had something to do with it though :P - and it's been sore ever since. Yesterday Tanya, Sarah, and I went out to the Causeway Lake for a bbq and went for a paddle afterwards. In hindsight, having a go on the kayak was probably a mistake; I felt alright at the time but this morning I was worse. Nevertheless, I figured I'd pull through.

Back a step... I booked a Q-Ride course late last week. It was the last session of the year and I thought, if I don't do it now I'll have to wait until next year, and I was sure my back would be OK by today. Q-Ride is great. Instead of the standard 6-months as a Learner and then take a 30 minute test for your licence, Q-Ride lets you get your licence at any time after an approved instructor says you're ready - no tests, just professional training. Typically it's organised into 5-6-hour sessions that cover every skill the instructor has to sign off on, and that's what I did today.

So I rocked up in my car at the kart track at Bajool, about 35km south of Rocky just off the highway, tender but still confident. However, after a couple of laps around the track I was gritting my teeth in pain. I thought about pulling out and having another go next year, but soldiered on nevertheless. Actually after a while it wasn't so bad; I think my muscles simply reknitted themselves in a crouched over position on the bike :P But man, getting off and standing up was painful, and I'm feeling it still.

Anyway, the instructor put me on a 400cc V-twin - I hired one of their bikes rather than use my own, because I had no way of legally riding my own bike to the track (no Brett :( ), and if I used a >250cc bike I could get my unrestricted licence. The V-twin was great for the kart track, lots of torque down low in the rev range, pretty much just twist-and-go, never needed higher than 3rd gear. But it rattled terribly and strained in top gear on the highway, overall I prefer my much smoother 250cc inline-4.
There were a few embarrassing incidents - I ran out of fuel on the highway (it should have been refueled before the course :| ) - and generally I really didn't feel in good form, but at the end of the day the instructor passed me :)

So tomorrow morning I take my Q-Ride certificate to Queensland Transport and get my shiny new motorcycle licence! Then I can look on it and take comfort as I sit in agony in front of this computer finishing my thesis :P

(I should give a plug for Top Rider, the school I went through, and Shane/Dean in particular for great instruction!)

Writing God

This is how I've been feeling lately :D
I want to use that comic strip in my thesis instead of those pretentious quotes. Hey, no-one ever accused me of being high-brow :P
I wonder if Jorge Cham would let me... can't hurt asking!

Party politics

Warning! Long post!
Some context from an earlier conversation:

daleyl: Have you ever thought about how ridiculous the idea of democracy is combined with the two party preferred system? The people have the power of choice (between two slightly different choices)

Tanya: The real problem to my thinking is that each parlimentary member can't vote according to their electorate's wishes if it goes against the main party's wishes - if they do, they are severely punished

daleyl: Good point.

belly: yep!!!! That's why you have to vote for the party that you think would be better... Rather than the person in your electorate...

Tanya: I think that many people get into politics from a genuine desire to initiate change, but they get so consumed by the party politics and 'playing the game to get elected' that they forget what they initially set out to achieve

daleyl: I have deeply cynical views on the whole thing. It is a farce. Its a distraction.

belly: Tanya, you make a very good point...

Tanya: Unfortunately it's the only way to initiate change - what's the alternative?

daleyl: Its rolling machine, and like you said, once you get in you get caught up in it probably without knowing it.

belly: Though there are some people that do go against "their" party for their electorate.... I have seen one particular member threated with going to jail... but he stood up for what he believed in...

...

daleyl: But the only way we are ever going to effect change is if we get serious about waking people up from the material induced slumber that we all live in.

daleyl: Fucking revolution. Thats what I am about.

(couldn't leave that quote out :D)

I feel like playing the Devil's Advocate (though I should admit that I'm not at all qualified to do so :p). There are some real advantages to having a multi-party system, as opposed to a nonpartisan system in which parties are constitutionally disallowed. I suggest there is a benefit to the people, from compromising personal principles to follow the party line, and playing the game to be elected.

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Tyranny of the Majority
Parties are accused of "playing the game" to win elections for their own sake, and not for the sake of the people they're meant to be representing. Yet, deliberately playing the game just to win votes is arguably better for the people, and therefore for democracy, than is standing unwaveringly by one's personal principles.
The problem is the so-called "tyranny of the majority", a problem inherent in representative democracy. It occurs when an absolute majority of representatives can consistently block the interests of a (possibly vocal) minority. If representatives are elected based on how similar their personal principles are to the majority of the electorate, and if those representatives then consistently vote according to their principles, then the minority in the electorate will never have their voice heard in parliament.
Thankfully it doesn't happen that way. Both independents and especially party members compromise on their personal principles in order to win votes. It's a game in which every vote counts. The strategy is to compromise policies such that the number of votes gained from the targeted minority is greater than the number of votes lost from alienated core supporters.
This strategy should be applied when the minority has a much stronger conviction than the majority, such that a small change in policy yields maximum gain for minimum cost. This is the exact situation where the tyranny of the majority would otherwise oppress the minority. Playing the game for votes distorts the representation in parliament of vocal minorities, mitigating the tyranny of the majority, and this is arguably beneficial for democracy.
Consider some examples of vocal minorities versus largely indifferent majorities: environmental causes, opposition to war, and stem-cell research. Of course, it's not all rosy. There's the flip side of the coin, too: opposition to euthanasia and opposition to gay marriage (though that could swing both ways, so to speak ;) ), for example.
The point is that it may be beneficial to give more voice to those of strong conviction, and who are presumably familiar with an issue, than to those of weak conviction who are presumably not. Ironically, playing the game for votes furthers this goal, whereas standing firmly by principles does not. And if you can say anything for parties and independents, parties are better at the former and independents are better at the latter!

I think there is some virtue in compromising one's own principles, and even some virtue in compromising the principles of the majority of one's electorate - in certain cases, and guided by game-playing strategy. After all, the fundamental tenet of democracy is that no single person is infallible. Why should any representative necessarily believe that their personal principles are worth voting by in parliament when they may have compelling evidence to the contrary?

I should end by reiterating that I am mainly playing the Devil's Advocate here. I would hate to see politics dominated even more by the major parties! Nevertheless... if you've read this far anyway, what do ya reckon?

These boots ain't made for walking

Brett and Melanie invited me down to the beach for fish & chips with Blair, his son Connor, and his friend Lee. And of course, I got to ride :D
Bikes are convenient in some ways, and not in others. I was able to just pull up onto a wide dividing strip between a packed carpark and the road, whilst Brett had to circle in his car a few times to get a park. But it is unfortunate that the imperative of protecting one's skin with bulky motorcycle gear is somewhat in conflict with the limited storage space on a bike and the warm Queensland sunshine that one, after all, goes to the beach to enjoy.
The helmet I can lock to the bike; the gloves I can stow in my bag; the jacket I can leave in Brett's car; and the jeans I can put up with wearing.
The only problem is the boots. I've now come to realise, after walking up and down the entire length of the main street for fish & chips, that these boots definitely weren't made for walking. They're waterproof, for starters. That sounded like a good thing back in winter, but it also means they're sweatproof. And whilst I'm sure they do a good job of protecting my ankles from the road, they're not so good at actually, you know, bending. I have a friction-burn on the back of one ankle testifying to that.

But still, it's worth it :D

I think in future I'll get a pair of these and keep a pair of sandals in my bag, and everything will be just dandy :)

An Inconvenient Truth

Tanya, Sarah, and I went to see An Inconvenient Truth on the weekend. It was a bit odd, since it felt like preaching to the choir, but I wanted to see what was supposed to be a finely honed presentation. And I have to give credit to Al Gore; he's an excellent public speaker. Whatever you may think of the content, you have to concede that the presentation and film were superbly produced and presented.
So I enjoyed it for that aspect, since I'd already read about most of the content. But one social statistic in particular jumped out at me, and I thought it was more enlightening than all the statistics about natural phenomena:
In a random sample of scientific, peer-reviewed literature over the past 10 years on climate science, in which over 900 papers (968 from memory) were reviewed, 0% of papers doubted the existence global warming.
In contrast, in a review of the popular media - TV, newspapers, web, etc. - 53% of reports doubted the existence of global warming.
Most people don't understand climate science. I don't. That's fine. We don't understand nuclear physics or medicine either; but we trust those who do. That's what I like about this statistic. It encapsulates everything in the debate about global warming into one, easily understandable bit of information.
Scientists: 0%; Media: 53%. Who would you trust? The sad thing is, I suppose a lot of people would answer "Media" :(
Anyway, another reason I found that particular statistic interesting was the close parallel with the recent Evolution vs. Intelligent Design farce. The popular media persists in portraying controversy and uncertainty where, really, none exists. I guess controversy sells more adspace...

Please Look Twice

It would be remiss of me not to do my own private bit to educate people during Motorcycle Awareness Week. Perhaps you don't realise just how exposed we are on public roads.
So please, please, for the unabashed naked truth of the matter laid bare, go to
http://www.pleaselooktwice.com/
and watch the ads.
I'm sure you will find them quite revealing.
:D

Cleaning the bike

In the spirit of automotive maintenance seen in Brett and Melanie's blogs, I decided to clean my bike today. I hadn't done this before. I'd been putting it off, but yesterday I went out to buy all the supplies.

First, warm soapy water to clean the bike in general. Rinse off with hose, dry with chamois. Spray mechanical bits with WD-40, especially the front - it's meant to stop bug splatter from sticking to anything. You have to be careful to avoid getting any WD-40 on the chain though; apparently it's a little too good at penetrating the chain links and dissolving the grease lubricant inside.
After cleaning everything else, it's time to clean the chain. Kerosene and a toothbrush removes the grime and drives out any water splashed on the chain from cleaning. I really need to get a rear wheel stand though, to be able to rotate the wheel freely. I had to get up, move all the towels and buckets, and roll the bike backwards a bit each time I finished cleaning a section so that I could expose the next length of chain. Time consuming and tedious, but not too hard. I'm afraid I got a few oilstains on the concrete from having to move everything each time though. Ah well - rental property :P
Man that chain had a lot of gunk built up on it. Anyway, once clean, you take the bike for a quick spin to warm the chain up - apparently you should apply lube to a warm chain. Because I'm paranoid, I put on all my gear to to for a <5-minute ride around the back-streets. Felt a bit silly - and a bit hot! - but better safe than sorry.
So back home and time to lube the chain. The manual says to use only 30-50w motor oil as a lubricant. I couldn't find any though. I don't actually know what the numbers mean, and all the products on the shelf were labeled Xw-Y, not X-Yw. And there wasn't any X=30 Y=50 in any case. So I figured Castrol chain lube would be alright, despite what the manual said, because after all it's made for O-ring bike chains like mine.
So I repeat the work-a-bit,-roll-the-bike-a-bit routine, but at least this is easier and quicker than cleaning with the kero and toothbrush. The packaging says to apply the lube sparingly, so I trust it, but I always hate not knowing what someone means when they say "sparingly". I hope I used enough. The lube gets applied to the inside of the chain, and you take the bike for another quick spin to use centrifugal force to spread the lube all through the chain links. Repeat gearing-up-for-5-minute-ride. And then home and done!
Only, the brakes don't work so well now, even after I used them several times to get rid of any moisture on the discs. I wonder if I accidentally got some WD-40 on the discs or something... presumably lubricant on brake discs is not a good thing :D I'll leave it overnight, try another ride, and if it's still a problem I'll try cleaning with kerosene.

Overall though, I feel like I've taken another important step along the path to becoming a proper biker :D

Jabber + Forums = ?

Recently a group of friends took a step backwards to IRC for group chat, since Jabber wasn't acceptable for some reason (not entirely sure why, I was away at the time. Hmm, it was sort of like a coup actually :p ). Anyway, as I was just chatting to Brett about newsgroups, it got me thinking.

Newsgroups and IRC are relics of a bygone age of the Internet. They persist by sheer weight of inertia (also largely, and interestingly, to support filesharing).

Take IRC for example. Once the technology for synchronous chat, it has been all but eclipsed by proprietary instant messaging (IM) networks such as AIM and MSN. IRC, for all its archaic shortcomings, has some advantages over IM: it's open (in the sense that no single company controls the relay servers), and it supports persistent chat rooms (that a person can actively join, rather than having to passivley be invited).
Enter Jabber. Jabber is an open protocol for instant messaging, and has all the advantages of IM (registered usernames, public profiles, contact lists, slick user-friendly interfaces) along with all the advantages of IRC (open distributed network, persistent chat rooms). By merit, it should dominate both IM and IRC. Whether it can compete with giants like AOL and Microsoft remains to be seen, though at least it has Google's weight behind it.

Now, it occurred to me that IRC and IM are roughly analogous to newsgroups and forums. Newsgroups are an open, distributed network with the same archaic shortcomings as IRC: kludgy interfaces and lack of user presence. Forums are proprietary communities with the same modern conveniences as IM: registered usernames, public profiles, slick interfaces loaded with features.
Given the similarities between IRC:IM and newsgroups:forums, why not try a Jabber-style solution to the shortcomings of newsgroups and forums?

A Jabber-style forum network would have the following properties:

1. The protocol would be standard and the network would be open for any server to join.
2. A user would have an account on any server, and would be identified by their username and server domain, for example nick@cqu.edu.au . Usernames are unique within a domain, but can be reused on different domains (like email and Jabber). The server would also host the user's public profile (XML of course) including global avatar and global sig.
   
3. Individual forums would be hosted on specific servers. For example, bonsai-forum@geeklane.com . In general, users from any server could participate in any forum. Every forum would have its own configuration though, including moderators, banned users, posting and reading restrictions, etc. The forum server could optionally host a local profile, avatar, and sig that would replace the user's global settings, for that forum.
   
4. Users would log in to their server. They could then access remote forums through a gateway web interface or a local client, or their server could authenticate them with the remote forum's server to allow the use of custom forum interfaces.
5. I'm unsure if usenet-style flooding (propagation of messages from one server to another) could be used to increase robustness of the forum network, or if this would be incompatible with the strict post ordering expected from forums.
6. It should also be possible to migrate existing web forums to this network; it's just that initially users would have lots of different accounts (one from each forum) to access the network through.

Imagine an open network of interoperable forums. Use one account to post to all forums. Find your friends easily on other forums. Carry over your status from one forum to another (co-operating forums only, of course). Everything would be XML, allowing the user their choice of interfaces. The network would ideally interoperate with Jabber for instant-messaging.

I reckon it's a good idea. I doubt it'll ever happen though; too much inertia in current forums. And there are probably problems with the idea I haven't thought of :)

The Right Words

I twisted Brett's arm until he agreed to fish & chips at the beach for lunch today, for a "short" break from writing and a chance to ride my bike on a beautiful day - the first chance I've had to take it on a long run. So, Melanie and Tanya with Brett in his car, we set off to pick up Sarah for good food, good company, and - at least for me - good fun :D

Now, this was the first time Sarah and Tanya had seen me ride, so I was thankful enough not to do anything embarrassing. Especially so since Sarah's had some serious reservations about me learning to ride in the past, and I was never sure if I managed to win her 'round. So I was just happy that everything went smoothly :)
But the awesome, amazing part is that after lunch Sarah asked me if someone could sit on the seat behind the rider. I was slightly perplexed, but mostly obliviously happy all the same to talk about my baby (the bike, not Sarah). I explained that, to save money by registering the bike as a single-seat, the rear footpegs and pillion strap had been removed.
Then Sarah floored me by pointing to the seat and stating imperiously, "Well, you'll just have to make sure that when you buy a real bike, it can seat a passenger. I want to ride behind you!"
So... not only might I share with Sarah the enthralling wonder of riding, it also appears that the acquisition of my next bike is pre-approved! :D :D :D *melt*
*sigh* I love her so much! (Sarah, not the bike). <3

Things to do after the thesis

Things I want to do after I'm done with this thesis:

• Caving. I reckon the wrist will be up to it by now; the capricorn caves aren't that strenuous.
• Buy a hat. The birds chirping in the trees are making me nervous; it's only a matter of time before they start swooping me. If I make completing my thesis a prerequisite for buying a hat, then I have a large incentive: a race between thesis-writing and nest-building :D
• Get my motorcycle licence. I'll take a one-day Q-Ride course to get my licence as soon as I can. I want my licence so badly... Riding is so much fun!
• Horse-riding. Been on my list of things to do for ages, may as well add it to this one too :)
• Meet up with Dad. Maybe take him over to Great Keppel or something.
  

The justification for this post is the motivation it provides to finish my thesis :) (note that "get a job" wasn't on the list :D )

AOL Search Queries

Sorry for being such a hermit lately; I'm just concentrating on getting my thesis written.

I did take time out to play with AOL's search query database for a bit. It's probably old news to some of you, but this is the story:

A while back the US Government demanded databases of search results from the major search engines (they wanted to trawl through the data to determine the prevalence of searches for pornography and such, in an attempt to pass some online child protection legislation). Google in particular refused to turn over results citing trade secrets and privacy concerns. A lengthy legal battle ensued, in which in many people's eyes Google fought the good fight.
Anyway, that's just context.

Early this month, AOL's research division released to the public AOLs entire search records for a 3-month period. Not a leak; a deliberate release. Just hours afterwards, AOL admitted they screwed up and retracted the database, but not before people had made copies.

As a concession to privacy concerns, all usernames in the database are replaced by random numbers, but the interesting thing is that the random number is assigned on a per-user basis, so you can see an (anonymous) person's entire search history. You can search the database by keywords, user id, or the website that the search returned.

It's fascinating in a voyeuristic sort of way. Some of it is funny, some of it is sad, and some of it is just plain disturbing.
This example clearly shows the underestimated danger of steak and cheese to society.
Here are some funny examples courtesy of Something Awful.
And here's a pretty interesting writeup of the whole situation.

I think what makes the database fascinating is trying to reconstruct what's going through someone's mind as they enter these search queries. Bizarre stuff.

Crouching Tiger vs. Hero vs. House of Flying Daggers

I think it's because I finally got around to copying my chinese music from home to work, and I'm sitting here late at night and my mind is starting to wander away from my work and towards the music playing in the background, that I thought of this and felt like writing it.

I think most people would agree that Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, the Western success of which probably paved the way for Hero and House of Flying Daggers, is the best movie of the three. There are many reasons for this, but one in particular occurred to me as I was listening to the soundtracks just now.
Whilst all three are fantasies, Crouching Tiger's fantasies weave in and out of everyday reality, whereas Hero's and House of Flying Daggers' fantasies float in some inaccessible place above everyday reality. Crouching Tiger is more grounded, in story, sets, and music. I think that connection to the audience's experience makes its (comparatively) restrained fantasies all the more special in comparison.

Yeah, this blog post was brought to you by the power of procrastination. :) ... Hmm, I wonder what Jet Li's Fearless is going to be like.

Wrist

There's nothing more to be done about my wrist, at least for the immediate future. I had the MRI scans last Friday, and saw my specialist yesterday.

The x-rays had already shown that the styloid process on the end of the ulna had broken off. The MRI scans, capable of resolving soft tissue, showed that it was being held in place by fibrous tissue to heal the damage. He said that that was the best that could be expected, since the bone wouldn't mend itself. I found that surprising, but he's the expert. My GP was concerned that the fibrous tissue would eventually impede my wrist's freedom of movement, but again, the specialist is the expert. Apparently I'm to wait a few months to see how well it heals, since as it is there's no reason for surgery.

On the one hand (ha :p) that's good news since I may not have to pay anything more than the consultations and scans I've already had (which I'm happy to have paid, in order to understand). On the other hand it kind of sucks that there's no techno-magical fix that I can buy. Still, if it heals well on its own and I eventually regain full use of my left wrist, then all is well. Fingers crossed!

Ode to Beef Rendang

Ode to Beef Rendang

Oh fiery heat that lingers on my lips
And lights up all the tastebuds on my tongue
Those lesser flavours find themselves eclipsed
When with your splendid spice they are among

You simmered, slowly stewing in your pot
For hours, spices soaking into meat
Galangal, garlic, chilli, and shallot
Intensifying, grown-man-crying heat

Yet though I sweat and wipe my teary eyes
That cry over this dish from Asia's South
I realise your fiery guise belies
The tender texture melting in my mouth

The plate is clear, the final morsel gone
But in my mem'ry, Rendang lingers on.

Motorcycling - Practice

I've decided that riding a motorcycle counts as "normal, everyday use" of my wrist, which the doc said was ok, so I've been practicing again. It's so much fun. Flipping the weight and lean from one side to the other is effortless, and the rev range seems endless. Want to go faster, just twist the throttle more :)
Going faster is relatively easy though. The hardest technique to learn, so far, has been low-speed maneuvering: Slow, tight turns at walking pace. Balancing yourself and the bike is much more important, and it feels like the bike could drop at any moment. Additionally, the bike is moving slower than the engine idle will allow, so you have to hold the revs high and control speed entirely with the clutch. I find it quite exhausting.
I rode in traffic for the first time yesterday, which was fun. It was a tiny bit daunting, but Brett was behind me in his car, and all in all the traffic was pretty light. I didn't do anything embarrassing, so I count it as a roaring success!
I also bought myself a reflective vest to wear at night or in poor weather. I'm debating whether or not I'll wear it as a matter of course, at least while I'm learning. On the one hand, it makes me stand out clearly to other traffic, which may give me the leeway I need while I'm getting the hang of things. On the other hand, it really makes me stand out clearly. :) For now that is definitely a good thing though, so I think I'll wear it all the time.

And, I finally got around to taking a couple of photos of my bike:

"Done a Nick"

I should have studied to be an orthopedic surgeon. $140 for a 15 minute consultation to tell someone, "I've never seen an injury like this before. Get more scans done and come back to me."

So, 6 weeks ago I had the accident, and at the time thought I'd just sprained my wrist. They - you know who you are - told me I should go to the hospital or a doctor, but I shrugged it off. It didn't hurt specifically when I poked it, so I figured it couldn't be broken. Although it hurt, there was no swelling so I didn't think it could be too bad. However, a month later I still hadn't regained full use of my wrist, so I went to see my GP.
He sent me to get x-rays of the wrist, and when they came back he told me I'd dislocated my ulna, not sprained tendons as I had thought. If I had gone to see him immediately after the accident, he said, then it would have been simple to fix, but since it had been over a month at this point, he didn't know what was required and referred me to a specialist. Oops. I could hear "I told you so!" ringing in my ears already.
It took another week to find an orthopedic surgeon to see me, and I've just now returned from my appointment with him. Nothing is simple. It turns out that what my GP had thought was a dislocation might just be the way my bones are naturally. However, a bit of bone (the styloid process, to which a ligament attaches, so it's kind of important) has broken off the tip of the ulna at my wrist, and is somehow restricting the wrist's rotational freedom. He said he'd never seen it cause this problem before and didn't know what to do, so he's sent me off to get MRI scans done of both wrists (so that he knows what my wrist should look like), and may have to refer me to an orthopedic surgeon specialising in wrists and hands in Brisbane!

*sigh* This is going to be expensive. I have no private insurance, but I'd agreed with my GP that I would pursue the private health system. There was no way of knowing when, if ever, I would have my wrist seen to if I was on a public waiting list, since it would be regarded as low priority. I don't want to take the risk of progressive, potentially irreversible damage to my wrist while I languish in the public health system.
That leaves the private health system, which my GP (without knowing exactly what would be required) warned could cost me up to $2,000. With the cost of the x-ray, specialist and the MRI scan, I'm off to a good start towards that amount without even having any operation yet!
Still, it's something that, in my opinion, is not optional. It's definitely worth that amount to me to have a good wrist.

So, as Tanya proposed, to have "done a Nick" is to have sustained some avoidable (or perceived to have been avoidable) injury, often in conjunction with willful obstinance. :)

Roslyn Bay

On Sunday, before seeing the Lano & Woodley show at the Pilbeam Theatre, Sarah and I went adventuring in the rocky headlands around Roslyn Bay. Here are some photos!

Radio Paradise and Interpol

A little while back I came across a great internet radio station, called Radio Paradise. It plays a blend of classics and contemporary songs, just perfect for when I don't know what I want to listen to. It also has a discussion thread for every song that's played, which is very easy to waste time on.

Anyway, I heard Slow Hands, by Interpol, the other day, and was immediately caught by the repetitive groove. Since then I've been listening to Thomas's Interpol albums (particularly Antics), and loving the sound: the almost disdainful droning vocals over spare but unrelenting grooves. My new favourite band of the moment :)
And damn me if Carlos Dengler's image doesn't fit that coolly aloof sound. Sure, the guy looks like a poser, but he does look good doing it. Makes me wish I'd learnt to play so I could be a rock star too. Hmm, only four strings, can't be that hard... :P

ACT, Civil Unions, and the Federal Government

Ordinarily I refrain from using my blog (as popular as it is :P ) as a political soapbox, but I want to write about this. Last Friday, the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) enacted legislation allowing civil unions (as distinct from marriages, and including same-sex partners), and on Tuesday the Federal Government intervened to overturn the law.

It started at the end of last year, when Jon Stanhope, Chief Minister of the ACT, announced the ACT government's intention of intruducing civil union legislation. The Attorney-General promised that the Federal Government would intervene unless the bill was ammended. The ACT government did so, and passed the bill on 11th May this year. However, on 6th June the Attorney-General and John Howard confirmed that they would move against the legislation. On 9th June the legislation came into effect, and on 13th June the Governor-General, at the instruction of the Federal Executive Council, overturned the ACT's legislation.
Today, the Federal Opposition joined with minor parties, and Liberal Senator Gary Humphries even crossed the floor, to challenge the Federal Government... but their motion ultimately failed.

From a moral standpoint, I am of course disappointed with my country's Federal Government. It's disgusting that same-sex marriages were legally banned in the first place, in 2004. It's one thing to move conservatively. It's another thing to move backwards.

From a political standpoint, I am even more frustrated. The Federal Government claims that it overturns the ACT's legislation because the ACT overstepped its legislative boundaries.
However, the Attorney General said "We have decided to defend the fundamental institution of marriage," and John Howard said "There is a special place in Australian society for the institution of marriage" and that he did not intend to let it "to be in any way undermined". Nevermind that the overturned legislation is concerned only with these newly introduced civil unions, not marriages.

That sounds a lot like morals, not politics, to me. I have to wonder whether the Federal Government would have intervened if the ACT's civil unions did not include same-sex partners. As Jon Stanhope said, "one has to pose the question is whether or not the real reason is that there is no place in John Howard's Australia for homosexuals."

Synergy

I knocked together this motivational poster to help explain the correct meaning of synergy, since apparently our new Dean doesn't get it :D

I seem to have a habit of copying Thom's blog posts lately...