Workplace Enthusiasm

I went to a xmas party over the weekend.  I'm no social butterfly and meeting new people takes a lot out of me, mainly cause I have to try so hard to look interested and maintain banal conversation.

These outings are however a necessary part of living in society, and so I put my best effort in most times.  

I find that the best way to maintain conversation is to actively ask the other person a whole heap of questions about themselves.  People tend to love talking about themselves, and will think that you are an interesting person, even if you don't say a word but listen.

I met one chap whom at 34 years had worked only one job in his entire life.  He proceeded to tell me that his place of work (a financial services firm) was the best place ever to work.  I continued to ask him why, and I received a 10 minute soliloquy about about the company culture, how some people 'just don't fit', how he'd never leave, how he feels so great to be part of something as its being built, how he started at the bottom, and how he's so well looked after.

Firstly I was happy for the bloke, but then after a while it felt like I was talking to a religious nutjob, except his religion was company culture.  Its so sad that at his age he hasn't yet realised that every job you work, no matter what company, in what country, or what position, that you are only there to make the company money and keep it alive.

Some may argue that I'm just cynical, but I used to be like him, until I had my spirit broken by not one but three different firms.

You may argue that he is happy, albeit naieve.  When I thought about it, I concluded that no, actually it is me that is happier, as I am living in the reality that I know what the truth is, I have no loyalty to any company as no company has to me, and that I am only around as long as they keep paying me, and pay me well.  I finish on time, take a fat paycheck, all because I let my employers know exactly how much effort I put in, and that I'd quite happily go elsewhere if the money or hours suited.

I wish I could have told the guy the same.  Just quit, see what else is out there.  Inevitably one day you are going to have a irreconcilable difference with a new boss, or the company will take some policy change as determined by the board, and the place will be different.  Your loyalty over all those years will be forgotten in a heartbeat.  All the things you like about the place will be gone, and you will be left there, working 12 hours a day as expected, for a wage that you compromised yourself on because you fell in love with where you work.

Don't be afraid of selling out to the highest bidder people.  There's more to life than just work. 

 

I haven't sold out to the man.  I am the man.

Duality

I grew up on an isolated livestock farm in country New Zealand, and in my time there I learnt to be incredible frustrated with sheep.
Sheep are plain dumb fucking animals.  I've seen that many get stuck on fences, walk into ditches and not get out, follow each other round, all the stories you hear are true.  Cows and pigs are a lot smarter, horses have attitude problems, but I'm getting off my point.
We pride ourselves as individuals, but so many times we follow the crowd in a sheepish mentality.  We believe everything that happens on the news and get upset by it, when most of the stories are deliberately told one-sided to get you watching and the ratings up.  The other day in the train the carriage was full and I noticed everyone standing was facing one direction, and it wasn't the direction of the doors. 
The other day I saw a lady with pram waiting at the bottom of the stairs whilst a whole flock walked past her, none offering to help.  She was amazed when I offered.
Infinitely more disturbing are those stories where you hear about a person in dire straits, albeit a car accident or receiving a beating /mugging, even when there are plenty of other people around.  Other people all waiting for someone else to do something.

Which are you?  Would you react in a time of need or would you stand by dumbstruck, waiting for someone else to take the initiative?
I know which kind I am, and even though it gets me into trouble sometimes, I'm proud of it.  Someone once told me that life isn't a spectator sport, which I believe in full.
To all those sheep, those who don't help the elderly, to those that walked past the poor woman with the pram, to those that get upset by the rubbish touted as the news, I hate you all for not thinking, for not being, for not thinking for yourself.
But I would give my life for any of you in a heartbeat.

Its the duality I bear.

Three Emotions

One common theme of my life, and one that took me 25 years to realise, is that I have only three emotions:
Serenity
Depression
Rage
I don't know whats its like for the normal person, to have this wide scope of feelings, but its something thats caused me to be an outsider most of my life.
I remember when Grandad died when I was 5 and I was just mildly confused at what all the fuss was about.  I kinda knew the guy was pretty old so I figured it was only natural.
I got sent to a psychiatrist at 8 whom diagnosed me as depressed.  Isn't everybody depressed?
It was hard to make friends at school, the kids seem to want you to be empathetic towards them which I couldn't do.  I got beaten up every day for a year by this kid who loved WWF wrestling and used me as an involuntary wrestling partner.  I let it go as I figured he wasn't doing much harm.  One day he hit my head on a desk and I flipped out and strangled him until he passed out.  Kinda got in trouble for that.

Its been hard, especially trying to keep in control of that old rage thing.  Even now I still have problems sometimes trying to keep it in check, however from the outside I just seem like any other kind good natured individual.  I've got my poker face down to a T.  I just hope like shit that nobody will ever push me too far.
The hardest thing though, is being able to feign all these other emotions in order to be able to function as a person.  Its expected of us in order to be accepted into social groups to be able to listen, smile, and otherwise react appropriately to a given emotional input.
Anything else would mark us as an outsider to the tribe, an anomaly, an intruder.

Doing this all day every day sure as hell wears me out.  Small wonder I long for time by myself.

The best things in life ain't free

I've had 'The best things in life are free' rammed down my throat by cheesy idealists all my life, and I've believed it up until recently.
I define 'free' as something that comes without cost. I think that is a fair enough definition.
I think the said 'cheesy idealists' mean to imply that shit like air is free, and even I have to admit air is pretty fuckin good, I mean I use it on a daily basis, so I'll give them that much. Air kicks ass.
I'd consider that the only exception though. Everything else that is free is probably bad for you. I'll give some examples:

Mainstream media/free tv news. I don't know what its like in the rest of the world, but here in Australia the news segments are basically poorly written and full of sensationalism. They hype up stories about nothing to the extreme, so that you feel compelled to watch, and then sit there and soak up the advertising during the breaks. The advertising revenue pays the journos, and the machine feeds itself, making more crappy poorly researched articles with keywords as 'affecting ordinary australians' and 'convicted child molester' or whatever public heartstring is relevant at the time.

The free magazines you get when you take the train: here in Sydney we have MX, which I read twice. Basically MX portrays itself as a news magazine, but its just a few articles cut and pasted off the internet and printed amongst a swaggering of advertisements. Again, its only the most controversial articles that make it, and 90% of the time there is no truth, research or fact checking involved.
Reading MX will actually make you stupider. Fact.

Public drinking fountains? People piss in those. I'd rather drink from my four dollar bottle than get some kind of UTI in my mouth thanks.

Actually there is very little out there that is truly free come to think of it. Linux operating system is free, but requires such an investment of time and inconvenience (I have been using linux for 4 years. My current machine is Linux, and if the wireless drops out it requires rebooting, the screen settings refuse to remember and I get dropped to 600*800 each time despite me manually changing the config file, I have to run KDE desktop due to a mysterious black screen issue on gnome desktop... tons of issues.) so thus warrants it to not be free.

Oh, and I'm moving off Linux back to Mac next week. I think I'll be a happier person because of it.

Immigration

I have mixed emotions about the Sri Lankans that are currently stuck in Indonesia.
Firstly I will state that one of my best mates is Sri Lankan, and I think they are great people, so read this in context please.
I'm a little confused firstly. If they are truely fleeing from something nasty, then wouldn't any place apart from where they came from be great? I mean, they are in Indonesia now, but they refuse to get off at Indonesia, saying that they want to go to Australia.
I don't know about you, but if my family was under threat from war or famine, I'd be sailing to the nearest place that had no war or famine. I'd love Indonesia.
I think the core of the problem is the people smugglers. They have evidently promised these poor souls that Australia is a land of milk and honey, where people will wait on you hand and foot, you will never have to work, and you will be able to live a decadent lifestyle of your wildest dreams.
Its how the people smugglers manage to convince them a boat ride is worth their entire life savings, house, and everything else they may own.

I can only imaging that is why we have problems with integration of some immigrants here. Instead the life of luxury they expect, they find that typical life in Australia (well, at least in Sydney) means working 45+ hours a week for barely enough money to cover the rent for the shoebox you live in. If only they knew, they might choose paradise in Indonesia instead...

I do feel for them though, they are just pawns in this game. Of course they don't want to go back to Sri Lanka, they have nothing left there, all was sold to pay the smugglers.

Alive and Breathing

Life's not easy. If it was, everyone would be doing it.
(pic: Hubble deep field. i.e. the universe as it was 10 billion years ago)
No matter where you look, so long as you aren't staring at the world through rose colored lenses you see despair, hate, greed, and poverty. I don't claim to have a solution to everything, hell there's that much context and interconnectedness today that there is no way we can commit to any sort of change without everybody, every single living person, making a change themselves.

If we want to feed the poor in Uganda, we need to stop eating so much ourselves, so that global food prices can relax.

I don't mean to claim that life is getting harder for us, in fact its the opposite. 340 years ago, there were millions of people dying of bubonic plague. In 1918 over 50 million people died from a H1N1 strain of the flu known as 'Spanish Flu'.
Thanks to today's modern medicine we hardly see such panic, except from the media.

Through Medieval times violence, murder and war were a way of life. Although people think that crime is worst today, it pales in comparison to even 20 years ago thanks to the technology and research available to today's police force.

The point is, no matter how bad we think things are today, they have been a lot worse.

It almost seems that a lot of the grief, especially in westernised culture, is somewhat self inflicted. Depression, drug addiction, and biker gangs are all mostly the result of too time and nothing constructive, or seemingly worthwhile to do.

People look to a lot of different things in life in the pursuit of an answer, be it addiction, stamp collecting, motorcycles, violence, we are all looking for the same thing. An answer, a minute of clarity, even just a sign.

In the murky depths of my soulless existence, when thinking of what will become of the dust on my bones, I like to remember that for this brief moment in time, the 60 odd years I have, that I was here, and alive and breathing.

Its all I can ever ask for.

Times change

Whats depressing is that as I get older, more and more of the people I used to know seem to give up on life, from bad decisions, from lack of heart, from broken dreams.
To me, the worst thing that can possibly happen to oneself is to endure complacency, for it is when one stops striving to be better, that one begins to die. When you give up trying to make your life better, you allow your life to get worse.

I know that these next five years will see myself grow even further from my friends, the ones that have decided to buy large cheap homes in not-so-great suburbs so that they can have the illusion of wealth they so strive for, the ones that decide to stay in bad jobs when the only thing holding them back from pursuing something better is their ingrained fear of rejection, the ones whom think they are too old to make something of their lives so they just give up.

Maybe its just me, maybe I'm just foolhardy, maybe I'm the one who should 'settle down'.
Nah fuck that.
I don't claim to know everything about life, but I know this much:
The only thing you leave behind are your children.
Life's over before you really begin to enjoy it.
Happiness lies in the endless pursuit of perfection.

I'll keep listening to myself until I stop making sense

Addiction

We are addictive by nature.
Its pretty easy to find something you are addicted to in your life, be it physically or psychologically.
Cigarettes and heroin can give us a physical dependency.
Whats also dangerous is that other substances, like marijuana and coffee can be psychologically addictive, as the user is addicted to the way it makes them feel.
I was a heavy pot smoker for a good 5 years of my life, and it was quite hard to kick. I never had any severe withdrawal symptoms, but after being stoned for so long, it becomes your normal state, and literally I was smoking at one point just to feel normal.

Its not only substances that can be addictive. I've seen it often enough where people are addicted to a feeling, an emotion.
Sometimes its being in love, where someone will let themselves fall for the completely wrong person, based on an allusion of what the person is like. Destructive relationship ensues, and then repeats as the addict loves to feel in love.
Depression can be addictive. Its not unusual to indulge in melancholy, as sometimes just to feel something, anything, can be better than feeling nothing at all.

Anger is an interesting one. So prevalent in our society it is, and the cause of all our wars, our murders, and most of our pain.
A common psychological misconception is that if we don't release our anger, that it will come out in other ways (e.g. 'Me Myself and Irene').
The truth is, releasing anger, be it hitting a punchbag, yelling at a subordinate, or killing a hundred people in a game of counterstrike, makes you feel good.
When you do something that feels good, you want to repeat it .
Its what we are.
Addictive.
When we feel that release of anger, and the rush we get, its addictive, and we crave more, so we become prone to getting angry a lot more.
If you learn to control your anger, it fades to nothing. You can focus more on other tasks that are more important in life.
As I've found.

Survival of the Fittest

Its a well known, but not often disclosed fact that a lot of the world is stupid.
Anyone whom has done any work in any customer service based field is aware of this. I'm not saying you need a degree, or other forms of higher education to avoid this classification, I'm talking about basic common sense, which as the old adage goes, isn't so common.

I remember a lot of times whilst working in IT support, despite being calm and helpful, there were some people to which logic does not apply, they who think that yelling and making a big deal is a valid way of getting what they want, that their needs trump the needs of others, and that their time is more precious than yours.

I blame it on self esteem. There's been all of this talk over the past 10-20 years about self esteem, that kids must have high self esteem to be successful in life, that kids whom have self esteem already are successful, I'm sure you have heard it.

The problem with this is in the cause and effect relationship: Its assumed that
:: Kids that have high self esteem are successful, hence high self esteem leads to success.

Whereas, I think its more of the case as in
:: Kids that work hard at sport and their studies and become good at what they do, are happy with themselves, have high self esteem, and then are successful in life.

What society has pushed into our children is that you must have high self esteem to be successful in life, not good grades or sporting prowess.
Hence now we get a sea of people, whom have no obvious skills, be it sporting or academic or otherwise, whom have this inflated sense of self worth and esteem, based on nothing.

These lads and lasses are quite the picture, and I'd guarantee you know one. they are typically moody, think quite highly of themselves, don't seem to be good at anything, love talking about themselves, cannot take the tiniest bit of criticism (as they have no real talent, critique of them brings their whole card castle self esteem crashing down), won't try new things out of fear of being bad at it at it and actually showing the world they suck, and are generally, douchebags.

Which brings me to the initial argument.

I used to hate capitalism, and used to think that money was better distributed to the common hardworking man. Until I worked 2 years in technical support for an ISP.

It was then I discovered the 'douche' as described above, and was disturbed at how high a proportion of society they make up.
Not willing to sacrifice my quality of life to have to put up with these people, I can come to only one conclusion: rip them off. Rip them off blind. Let them get away with their insulting, ignorant and otherwise unhuman ways, and rip them off, overcharge, undersell, do whatever you can. We all know they aren't smart enough to realise. Use their money and skills to better exist. That way they can continue with their inflated sense of ego and I can afford to live somewhere they aren't.

Its simply natures way: Survival of the fittest. The weak feed the strong.
Man I hated tech support.

Life as a Machine

Given enough computational power, the domain of problems for which a machine can process approaches that of our own. For example, say we have a computer that runs software that evaluates what other computers are used for. Increase the power of the machine by ten, then we can use the computer to evaluate what purpose the other machines are for, and how they could be made more efficient. Increasing the scope of the problem domain to include the computer itself, it can then begin to question what it's own purpose is.
I've been given this example, "the ability to question our own existence", as the justification of a soul by a few people.

I'm not much of a person to believe in the eternal soul, maybe inversely its because I've lived a thousand lives and I'm tired of not seeing any change, maybe it just seems irrational. Maybe its my version of hell to continue living beyond death, either which way I see no evidence of any kind of eternal soul living within us.

You can break all human emotion down into logical constituents. All emotion is a result of evolution and learned behavior, mostly from when we were more primitive animals. Fear? You feel your heart race, your body tense, adrenaline courses through you, its a conditioned response to enable your body to perform and run/jump/fight in times of danger. Love, well without any sense of love we wouldn't procreate, and then hence we wouldn't exist. I fuck, therefore I am.

I guess my point is, that the ultimate human form is one devoid of all out primitive emotions (isn't that what we are trying to do anyway? When we tell our children to stop misbehaving and 'grow up'? When we frown upon celebrities acting out childishly? As to why we cannot just punch the boss in the face when he threatens us with dismissal?) and we find ourselves as purely logical beings, where every input produces an exact output, regardless of what we are 'feeling'. Where we do things because it makes sense, not because of an underlying, semi-controlled primitive urge.

I can only dream of such a world... but for some I guess it could be a nightmare.

The ultimate human state is that of a machine. Devoid of emotion, and logical.

Some will argue about the soul, the spirit, whatever you could call it. Every human has a inbuilt fear of death, and it is mirrored in many ways, through trying to stay beautiful, to religion, belief in heaven, belief in the eternal soul. I don't have that.

It may appear my life is lacking because of the lack of belief. I like to think the opposite: that because I am not blinded by these, because I am not holding out for an eternal soul, that I want to do all my living while I am alive, I should hope to be able to make as much of that as possible before I sleep the last time. I will breathe, sleep, dream, walk and think as much as I can.

A moment of clarity is worth a lifetime of lies.

Adrenaline

Another day in the life as me, another walk through the lost souls, the public transport, empty nameless faces, all chasing some sort of dream.
I wonder if they aren't so far disconnected, if somehow they are chasing the same thing, albeit differently.
When the body is under duress, it produces stress hormones, such as noradrenaline and cortisol. Noradrenaline binds to the same Adrenergic receptors as adrenaline, producing a similar, albeit somewhat psychoactive effect.
That is, the busy executive whom is juggling a large deal, or under pressure from his superior, may in fact be simulating a similar rush to what I get when hitting a hill on the snowboard, or surfing.
For me, its stronger than any coffee, better than most drugs, a clean, mind clearing high that I will always chase, be it on a motorcycle at 200, eyeballing someone who could very obviously kick my ass, saying something in public that could cause a reaction, skateboarding a bowl.
The businessman traveling on the 9:00am train to Wynyard is most likely as sleepy eyed from the lack of a rush as I am, dead to the world unless his eyes are dilated, heart pumping, and head filled with white noise between the thoughts.

We are just slightly different people chasing the same old dame.

Time

Quantum physics tells us that time, like all other dimensions, can be quantised. There is a minimum unit of time, as there is a minimum unit of distance, of matter, and it is these impossibly small increments of time that make up the continuum we experience.
At any given moment, in any ordinary day, there are literally billions of these time segments flying by. An analogy is those cartoons you see that work by flicking through the cartoon book, and on each page there is a picture of a dog or similar, and each subsequent picture is changed slightly, but if you flick the pages quickly the dog looks like its running.
In between these moments, what happens?. Nothing can exist without time. If we lose a spatial dimension, there still exists a perfectly valid two dimensional world with time, albeit devoid of life and matter as we know it. Time justifies not only our insignificant existence, but that of the dimensions that support the universe.
So in between these moments, what I suspect, is that for one tiny, almost inconceivable amount of time, there is perfect silence, perfect still, for the tiniest amount of time, before the universe turns the page and everything has moved ever so slightly, like in the cartoon dog analogy.For that period of time, the whole state of the universe is remembered, all matter is halted, all dimensions are paused, all photons stop, all vibration ceases, to then carry on again when the quantum time pause resumes.
Its these moments I live for.

Happiness in the pursuit of perfection

I watch a lot of people as they go. I enjoy picking up on other peoples habits, their inconsistencies, their faults. Its what makes us 'human'. It gives me material so I can act the better person myself, instead of the cold machine like socially unacceptable personality I actually have.
Most of the time its unavoidable, for some reason the paranoia that haunted my childhood has flowed into my adult life as a constant awareness of my surroundings. No matter where I go, I'm constantly listening, touching, smelling and looking 360 degrees, absorbing every facet of whats near. It can be quite intimidating sometimes, places with great crowds and excitement I tend to avoid as it becomes somewhat overwhelming for the senses.
Its great when it all works though. The only thing that makes us feel alive is the ability to sense our environment, ask any blind or deaf person. To have all of ones senses constantly in overdrive, its... like one is more than alive, intrinsically assimilated with the surroundings, with inputs flooding in a lunatic calm. Its like you are the only thing that matters. That everyone else is simply going through the motions. That you are the only one truly alive and breathing. That you are freed from this vile coat of skin that is to be human.

I'll argue to anyone that to be alive simply means to be human. Being alive transcends humanity, or any concept that we may have. Being alive is a supreme mathematical state, a chaotic superposition of billions of microstates into one macro: Breathing. Beating. Alive.

Violently Apathetic

Oh thats just nasty, the Jakarta bombings. I wonder if the bombers have any idea what their actions do around the world, especially knowing that so many more people will now frown upon Islam.
I know Christians that are living in regret of things that people from their religion did hundreds of years ago, I can only imagine what your average Muslim must be going through about now.
Also related, this is why Australia must take necessary steps to ensure that people whom try to come into this country via Indonesia actually are refugees. If these people are smart enough to get into the Ritz with all its security, bring in appx 200kg of explosive, they are definitely smart enough to get into this country on dodgy paperwork. If I really was a refugee, and I'd made it to Australia, I would have no problem waiting even 6 months in camps in order to get my perm residence visa. How long would you wait to join this great country of ours?

If we find those responsible for training those smart but weak minds that did these bombings, I'm not in favour of a violent demise for the, Lets just forget about them. As in lets lock them up somewhere, and just forget about them, open the door in a years time and collect their bones kind of forget.

Nice People

One the train today, there was a young lady who was so kind to speak loud enough such that all in the carriage could hear her. One thing she said got me thinking:
"You should stay away from him, there's a reason he has no friends. He's not a good person".

I mean, what is a 'good' person? As I've grown old before my time I've realised some traits that I used to think as good now just piss me off. Traits such as:

'Easy Going': Can quite often be a synonym for 'lazy' or 'doesn't care' or 'runs when the shit hits the fan'.
'He's a real nice guy': he's an absolute pushover, doesn't aggravate anybody with a differing opinion.
'He's so quiet spoken': Too scared to make a change or say what needs to be said.
'He's so laid back': Unemployed.
'Nothing gets to him': Nothing gets to him, not education, not poverty, not the destruction of the environment...

There are enough problems in the world as it is, and as far as I am concerned unless you are part of the solution you are part of the problem. The road to hell is paved with apathy. Those that don't care, or are easy going are not good people.

I have no friends but thats more due to the fact that after 30 the amount of guys that are physically able to spearfish surf and skate drops off quite remarkably... Oh yeah and because I'm an egocentric asshole with a god complex. Hahha

The day in review

Finally, after five full days of near total incapacitation from swine flu, and a couple of false recoveries, I went to work and managed to do a full days coding.
I also managed to pick up some more work coding at another place. Going to be pretty busy for the next few months.

Anyway - the day in review:
Jamie Neal found after 11 days out in the bush: This goes to show how long the human body can survive in the bush if it is prepared, and if it has a calm, rational mind. The Blue Mountains is a beautiful but rough place, so many have died up there. Its a relief to finally hear this guy come out alive, especially after so many of us had given up.

Indian Hacker grounds RAAF site: some Indian kid (presumably) removed the front page of an external facing RAAF site for public information (basically about as hard as taking down my blog and putting a penis picture up instead), put up a page insisting on the cessation of violence against Indian Students,and spelled 'pwned' as 'pawned'. I don't understand this, why hack the RAAF? They're not Lebanese. Maybe its a big hoax.

Honestly, not much is really happening in Sydney right now. Stockmarket is up, I'm over the flu, tomorrows Friday, it doesn't get much better than that. Hence the picture of jesus riding the dinosaur highlighting creationisms arguments against evolution.
Ps anybody else have a problem with the new Ice Age film being called 'dawn of the dinosaurs'? I'm pretty sure that the Mammoth came a long time after the T-Rex....
Have a good day people

Top 10 reasons to get swine flu

Holy crap this bug is bad. Just when you think you are over it, it comes and facepalms you back to the couch.
I started feeling whoozy on saturday afternoon, then was couchridden sat night, immobile on sunday with fever, then sun night took a handful of pills but the combination of fever/chills kept me awake to 4am, monday was a massive headache and more fever, and today just the headache. Hopefully I can get back to work tomorrow.
But like anything, the time at home and mild delerium that I experienced with the fever has its benefits:
10. Having the house to myself for four days means that I've turned walking around in my undies into a way of life, despite the best efforts of my neighbors.
9. My giant fly problem has been sated by the giant spiders which have arrived.
8. My facebook profile now has a black nigerian female bushwarrior as the profile picture, of which for some reason I find absolutely hilarious.
7. My incomprehensible emails that I have been sending to people under the influence of delerium have lost me even more friends.
6. Toasted cheese sandwiches for lunch.
5. I'm caught up on whats been happening with Oprah, which is basically fuck all apart from her pimping out her other franchises from the comfort of her primary franchise.
4. My friends now give me spesh treatment as some kind of sicko thanks to having three bugs over three weeks (two colds and a flu).
3. I've taken three days off the coding job in Delphi (I mean, what was I thinking taking this job up? Delphi? cmoooonnnn...!!)
2. I've had time to comment insightfully on over 150 youtube videos with brash and intellectual commentaries like ' NOO UR A FAG' and 'LOL U SUK I CULD DO SO MUCH BETA BUT UR A LOOSER LOL LOL' etc.
1. I've got a six pack now, having not eaten almost anything for four days I'm really starting to get that 'concentration camp chic' body thing happening.

The Recruiting Industry

OK this is something that bugs me MASSIVELY.
I remember a time where there was no recruiting industry, things were a lot simpler, if you wanted a job you applied to a company directly, spoke to the boss directly, and away you went.
Nowadays, its hard to find a job at all without going through an agency.

The worst thing is, a lot of these jobs simply don't exist, its just the recruitment company trying to build up its 'people on their books' in case they actually find a client with work.

Its particularly frustrating for people to be dragged out of their way to go an attend an interview with an agency, to then be interviewed by an 19 year old high school dropout as to whether they are suitable for the position, and then be told 'sorry that position has been filled by someone else (bullshit - there was no position to start with), would you like us to keep your records in case a similar position comes up?'.

I just had a look at seek.com.au at the java programmer jobs available at the moment, and 90% of the positions on the first page are through agencies, and have the same old tricks:

1. They don't list a wage, either because the job they are advertising doesn't exist, or pays so little that if you saw the rate you wouldn't apply.

2. A lot of them list 'must have high honors degree' which doesn't make sense, and even if I assume they mean Distinction or High Distinction, do they mean at Usyd or at UWS, because a High Distinction at UWS is around the equivalent of a credit average at Usyd.

3. A lot of them are poorly worded, suggesting that they have been typed out by an unqualified 19 year old high school dropout. eg :

"The roles will require highly skilled technologist's who can leverage their skills in delivering high quality systems within agreed timeframes."

Why qualify the term 'technologist'? Why does the 'who' belong to the technologist? Does anyone proof read their shit before they post?

Thankfully for both my current jobs I was able to apply direct to the employer. I wish Uni would teach a small course on the dangers of recruiting agencies and their penchant to be unneeded middlemen. They bring down wages with their 'satisfy the client' remuneration policies, ruin morale by getting people to apply for positions that don't exist and then get rejected, and are nothing but an un-needed leech on the job market that are providing a service that is simply unnecessary.

Worse than used Car Salesmen and Lawyers IMHO.

Back from the dead

Man are there some nasty bugs out there at the moment. I just seem to be getting over a real bad one, spent most of the day with severe headaches, massive fever, basically totally immobile, and I was seeing spiders and shit. All my bones hurt its that nasty. Don't think I'll be goin to work tomorrows.

On a lighter note Triple J played the top 100 songs of all time today, and I have to say I'm pretty proud of the country at the final 10:

1. Smells Like Teen Spirit, Nirvana
2. Killing in the Name by Rage Against the Machine
3. Hallelujah, by Jeff Buckley
4. Love Will Tear Us Apart by Joy Division
5. Paranoid Android by Radiohead
6. Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen
7. Last Goodbye by Jeff Buckley
8. Under The Bridge by Red Hot Chili Peppers
9. Everlong by Foo Fighters
10. Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin

There isn't one dud there. Maybe gen Y isn't as fucked as I think they are if thats the final lot. I'm surprised at so much Jeff Buckley in there, I thought nobody listened to him but me....

Melbourne Survey of the Homeless

Why I hate fat people

I was running about a minute late for my train today, and as always when trying to get to the right platform I got stuck behind this fat lady who was busy holding up other people and eating her packet of chips.
Fat people piss me off badly. I'm talking those that are intentionally fat, not the actual1% of the population that actually have a disorder of which they can't avoid. Go to Somalia and see how many people there are fat cause they have a 'glandular condition'.


The reasons why fat people piss me off are:
1. They are inherently lazy. You don't get fat by working out, or looking after yourself, or by worrying about anything, and this reflects in their personality. They will take shortcuts with their work, their friends, and their family, as its too much trouble, as is eating healthy or walking to the shops.

2. The claim that they are 'beautiful on the inside'. Fuckin bullshit. You know who are beautiful on the inside? Those that save lives, be it a 'Medicens Sans Frontiers' doctor, firefighter, police officer, whoever is putting their neck out there for whats left of humanity. And you know what? They are all thin from all the worry, work, and dedication to their cause so strong that they make the effort to eat healthy and look after themselves, so they can prolong their cause.

3. A fat person in Sydney means three starving kids in Somalia. By the laws of Supply and Demand we see that all resources including food are limited. By the fat person consuming twice their requirement (and ironically shitting most of the nutrient out due to excess), this artificially inflates the price (as the resource is limited) and hence helps make food unaffordable in third world countries. Think about it. If the 40% of Australia that was obese stopped eating so much shit, the demand for flour/beef/wheat would drop, the price would lower slightly, and then be more affordable to other countries.

4. They take up two seats on the train.

There was a reason why the fat were reserved a special place in Dante's hell.

Monday in Review

Riot in Xinjian - about 140 people killed. Muslim uprising and peaceful protest turns violent, Chinese troops kill appx 140 people. I know enough about data analysis to know that cause doesn't necessarily imply effect, but why the hell is it that whenever Muslim people protest there are always reports of bombs and shootings and chaos?

Driver run over after throwing cheese balls: The crazy bitch that ran over Eli Westlake did it because Eli threw some cheese balls up in the air, and they hit her car. She was high on "two bottles of wine, marijuana and had ingested four Valium tablets and an ecstasy pill".
Now THATS a night out. I'm a little reluctant to believe that the guy threw away food, judging by his photo it doesn't look like he EVER threw away food. To sum up the story: If you buy cheese balls at 4am and throw them everywhere some crazy bitch will run you over.

Jodi Gordon paid for female strippers in nightclub. I had to read this three times then check if Jodi was actually a chick, but shit yeah. I dunno what to add to that. FnA?

Cigarettes set to rise over $20 per pack: I hope this goes through. I saw some kid on the TV tonight who said he would keep smoking 'out of principle'. So wait, you don't have a job (given by the fact you were sitting on a park bench on a Monday afternoon), and you are using a product that unequivocally increases you risk of all cancers esp lung cancer, a product that will make you tired day in and day out due to your body constantly having to repair itself from the damage it causes, and you say you have principles? Don't make me laugh.

I don't get smokers. You know the product will slowly kill you, so why keep using it? If you want to die, just jump off a bridge somewhere. There are easier and more fun ways to die.

I think its a bit of a delusion the whole cigarette smoking thing. I think most ppl see themselves smoking and think they look uber cool like Michael Madsen in Reservoir dogs, or Angelina Jolie in Girl, Interrupted.
Truth is most people just look sick, diseased and trashy when they smoke. Its an image thing that doesn't work. Just go to any train station and see if you can find a hot girl that smokes.

I Don't get Twitter

I read an article today about Kyle and Jackie-O's (and by the way, she's NO Jackie O, if you know what I mean. The REAL Jackie O actually had class) bit twitter fiasco, and in that some research had concluded that somewhat 90% of the Twitter accounts that had signed up to follow them were generated by a computer. As in a computer was generating random accounts on twitter and signing them up to Kyle and Jackie to make them seem popular.

I don't get twitter. I've yet to see anything come out of twitter thats anything useful. I tried it before I bagged out on it, but honestly anything that can be condensed into 160 characters isn't worth saying, unless its "Help! Fire/Rape/etc". At first I though it was me, and that my life isn't very interesting, but then I noticed other people were posting rabid crap like " Brushing my teeth" and "going to the bookstore" and I was like 1. Who cares? 2. Its highlighting how dull you are 3. Isn't this an invasion of your own privacy?

It seems a bit strange that in this environment where online privacy is such a big thing, that you can sign up to your neighbors twitter account, wait for a update like:
"going to the store!!! Lol!! Going to buy shoes!!! Hubby is out && I've got his credit cd!! Lol!"
and just break into her house and pinch all her shit.

Maybe I'm just paranoid... maybe I'm just an asshole... maybe I hate my neighbors.. I dunno.

Yes twitter seems to be a very one-sided communication in a world full of people where self promotion of their ego, and their own importance seems to be the main use of the internet. You could argue that this blog is nothing more than that, you are probably right, but I'd like to think of it as casting off some of the negativity that consumes me on a daily basis into the world of the public domain so that other people can see it, realise how ugly it can be, and not follow the path I have. But I'm digressing.

Despite all my flaws, my ego isn't big enough, and never will be, for twitter. Besides, none of my 30 year old with-kid mates whom have given up on life as we know it mates want to hear about me pulling of that sick rail grind at the park on a wednesday morning. Oh, the life of a programmer....

Kyle and Jackie O? It wouldn't surprise me that someone generated a 'bot to sign accounts up to them, given their fading popularity and the fact Sydney is realising that they stand for everything we hate about our city.
Kyle and his fat, arrogant, obnoxious no talent ass paying out on those that are obviously better than him (i.e. everybody else) and the vacuous, soul-less but pretty Jackie O.

I could replace you both with a bot.

Freebordin'

Arrrghhh
I spend a lot of time alone. By choice. One reason is that I have a lot of strange hobbies, i.e. I like to write computer code for things for the hell of it, and I like to skate bowls even tho I'm double the age of your typical bowl skater, and I play bass in a band. Shit those aren't really that unusual come to think of it.
But yeah trying to find people that have similar interests is an exercise in futility, especially at this age, so I tend not to bother people with what I do, and just chillax with myself.

Besides, this typically what I get when I do try:
"Wanna come freebordin? The ski trip is up soon. It'd be good to get conditioned up"
"Nah, last time I went freebordin I fell over and got a bruise"
"Shit you are gonna get a lot more bruises when we go snowboarding. You really should buy some impact shorts or somethin"
"Nah I don't like the look of them people might think I'm a pansy"

To most people, this is just normal human behaviour, but since I program computers and deal with the rigid logic of machines, I find this shit so irrational and illogical that it does my head in.

So I skate by myself.

Freebordin is fuckin sick by the way:
www.freebord.com

Media Is Messed Up

I just took one look at the google news webpage. Nothing against google but:
"Bureaucracy to blame for indigenous gap" yeah whatever. Some hack has obviously seen a documentary about indigenous Australians and decided to write a paper on it. I didn't even have to click on the article.
Get out into central west NSW and have a look for yourself and then see if you can blame something, one thing. I blame: the parents, alcohol, sunlight, the boogie, glue, petrol shit you could blame that on anything. I blame it on people that feel the need to shoehorn blame onto the issue without actually trying to do anything constructive about it. Its a national issue, and most of the hard work needs to come from the aboriginal people. Shit I was born into poverty too. Don't blame the color of your skin. Get over your land rights cause you've got about as much chance of that as I have of getting land back from the germans in WW2.

"Turnbull beyond economic repair" This is based on ONE OPINION POLL of which had significantly different results to all the other polls. Everybody in this country should do a course on basic statistics. The fact that this opinion poll was so far outside the usual data makes it a prime candidate for the sample within to be of a different sample strata to the previous. I can't believe this is still in the news. Skip.

"Talk of drug use surrounds Jacksons death" No shit sherlock. I remember the guy having problems with painkillers around the FIRST time he was accused of kiddie fiddling.
You journalists have it too easy. Instead of reporting news, you just find some trivial bullshit and sensationalise the crap out of it so that people buy into it and propel your ratings.

The days of honest journos are long gone. You all should be ashamed of yourselves. I couldn't sleep at night if I had this little pride in my work.

Insomnia and Values

Shit I haven't slept properly for three days. Insomnia is a bitch. I'm at that point of sleep deprivation where I'm not sure if I'm alive or dead anymore, my whole being is emotionless.
Hopefully sleep tonight.
One thing that has been keeping me awake is a certain social situation, based around infidelity, and what is seemingly attributed to the person in question having a lack of moral values.

Growing up I didn't have much, but I never realised at the time that the way my family lived was not normal. The town I grew up in lost a lot of industry in the first five years of my live, forcing my father to take unskilled cash jobs doing whatever he could, especially hard after mum left. Some nights there wasn't food on the table, I was always thin and had to make my own toys, but I still had a ball.

Dad always bought me books, no matter how broke he was he made every effort to keep me educated. He taught me three values which I still hold today:
Pride: In what you have, in your work, and in who you are.
Honour: for your peers, for those whom have worked hard and achieved, and for those whom died for your cause.
Respect: For your fellow man, as we are all brothers. As Hemmingway said:
"No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were: any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee."

If this certain chap who by his moral conflict is disturbing my sleep, were to inherit even one of these three traits, then maybe he would not ask himself why his life is not what he expected. One can blame luck on famine or fortune, but the odds are stacked in your favour if you adhere to the above.

Trading

Nothing happened today. Some faggot biker noname got locked up, thats about it.
But on a brighter note exam results are out and I emerged unscathed again... thankfully. I can concentrate back on work and other pursuits.
Nobody reads this shit so I'll just put what the fuck I want on here, and today I'm going to talk about trading stocks.
The ASX trading game is about to start again. and as now is such an interesting time for the stockmarket I urge both people that read this blog to jump in and have a go at it, as its a great way to learn about how the stockmarket works and how to make passive income so that you don't have to work your ass off or pray for the right lotto ticket your whole life.

Heres the link for the rundown on how to trade stocks:
http://www.asx.com.au/resources/education/classes/shares/index.htm

If you tl;dr it then basically buy low, sell high, follow the trends.

Islamic Schools in Sydney

OOh controversial.
The Islamic School at the back of Liverpool was approved.
Let's define a few things first:
Racism: The act of judging one another by race, assumption that one race is superior, or deserving of special treatment over another race.

Racial Differences: cultural, moral and lingual differences brought about between people as a result of different upbringings, environments and education.

So long as we have cultural and educational differences in this country, we will have racism.
So long as we have different education methods for our children, we will have racism.
So long as one child is taught one thing, and another taught something different, we will have confusion, that leads to hatred, that leads to racism.

We need to have, more than anything, to quell the racism in this country, to bring us together as one culture, a unified educational system in this country. Education removes barriers, settles differences, introduces us to new things, provides employment opportunities, and puts EVERYONE on a level playing field, no matter what your skin color is.

Its silly how on one hand we are trying to resolve differences and integrate people into society, yet on the other we push them away by giving them a corner to sit in, as in this case.

I have read plenty of opinion that Islamic schools are just ordinary schools, aren't teaching the children any different, and make no difference to the level of education one recieves.
Then why go to all of the hassle of opening one when there are already plenty of normal schools for the Islamic students to go to?

As a side note, Malek Fahd Islamic school, of which were given the site, have a ranking as the 15th highest performing school in NSW. They only have such a high ranking in the list as they actually prevent students that are not achieving well enough to sit the HSC, which I think is misrepresentative of the teaching quality. I feel sorry for all the other students that don't make it.
Here's the article:
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/state-school-blitz-of-top-hsc-spots/2005/12/16/1134703611489.html

Kevin Rudd: Political Genius

I'd rather stay off politics, but I can't help this one. Apologies to all the Ruddfans out there but you make me a bit fuckin sick so you deserve it.
Kevin REALLY knows what he is doing. As in REALLY knows. Ever since he snapped it at that flight attendant, I've been more than a little suspicious of Kevin Rudd and his motivations.
What am I trying to say... well it seems to me that Kevins true colors showed up when he snapped it at that attendant. I think that although Kevin puts forward this Rove going, baby hugging, doing everything right mr nice guy persona, that behind it all is a dark, dark man whom double crosses, manipulates, and decieves in order to perpetuate his own goals and keep everyone believing he is a nice guy.

Maybe I am underestimating the Australian public when I say that he has them all (well, mostly given the latest opinion poll) fooled. Maybe this is what the public wants. I'm not sure.

I haven't been following 'utegate' all that well, but from what I read its quite possible that his department could have set the whole thing up. Didn't that fake email that Turnbull was waving around as the holy grail originate from Wayne Swanns department? Didn't Kevin just a little too suspiciously jump on to the whole affair and slam down Turnbull as trying to smear him? Hasn't he just put a little too much effort into making himself seem like the victim in this affair?

You may be a pretty smart Kevin, but I think I see you for whom you really are. You are like me, you show a veneer to the world to keep them happy, but every now and then that veneer cracks, and the world sees what is actually underneath.

We're watching you.

The Whole Michael Jackson thing

I have always felt sorry for Michael Jackson, and although I don't anywhere near claim to be his biggest fan (I'm a metaller and always will/be) I have always been annoyed at the way the guy is depicted in the press.
He will do nine things that are perfectly normal, i.e. attend press conferences, walk, brush his teeth, shit, etc but the tenth thing, be it dangle a baby or get too much plastic surgery, gets plastered all over everything by the press and he's labelled 'wacko jacko'.

The only benefits that arise from such behaviour are increased ratings for television shows and magazine sales. I absolutely hate this needless victimisation of people just to make a quick buck. Fuck you media, myself included.

I also don't think the guy was a pedophile, he simply doesn't fit the profile of a pedophile. I do think he was a little strange in associating with children all of the time, but given that the guy had no childhood, no childhood friends, or anything like that, and like us all, when something is missing from our childhood, we seek it in later life, almost without exception. MJ was no different.

A friend of mine was over last night whom is a big MJ fan and we put on the DVD in the background whilst we were discussing some things, and from his videos, and dozens of hits, you cannot deny the profound influence on music, and how he brought mainstream music, and music in general such a level of professionalism and dedication. MJ drew the lines that we now all follow.

There is also talk now about whom administered the dose of painkillers that may or may not have killed MJ, and there are people out to blame MJ's doctor for his death. If anyone killed him, it wasn't the doctor whom administered the relief, it was whom caused him pain, which would be every person who ever bought a magazine with 'Wacko Jacko does it again!' or similar on the cover.

Rest in Peace mate.

Bob Knight and the scum that ruined his day

I remember a few weeks ago the civil libertarians complaining that the latest laws the state government was trying to push through were infringing on peoples rights.
The violence in Sydney is shocking at the moment. I hardly go out anymore because of it. The last time I went out some drunken idiot at 9:30pm leered as my girlfriend whilst I was walking with her down the street, and then started walking towards her whilst saying 'helloooo ladies'. My girlfriend was the only thing stopping me from punching the guy in the throat. Ps I have a short fuse.
The gang violence is worsening too. I'm not the only person whom is starting to feel like a prisoner in their own home because of it. How does ones rights look when we can't leave the house?
Last night some gang wannabe retards decided to have a good old shoot out at KFC in Milperra, and they hit a driver of a B-Double unit in the head.

The driver amazingly was able to bring the vehicle to a rest in a straight line before passing away, of which I think is deserving of recognition as an absolute hero. Rest in Peace Bob Knight, we can only wish for more like you.

To the useless, scum of the earth, wish you dripped down your mothers leg, spoon fed, inbred, slack jawed gang rapists and pack animals that did this, I only wish the laws in this country were as harsh as the country you fled from as 'refugees'. You are the reason people like Pauline Hanson exist.

Hopefully Bob's death is not in vain and we get the public support to get these idiots, and those fat fuckwits riding harleys off the road.

Perez Hilton / Black Eyed Peas

Alright I actually liked Black Eyed Peas BEFORE 'Fergie' came about but nonetheless.
I read an article on WWTDD about Perez Hilton being shocked about being hit by Will.I.Am after calling him a fag.
About fuckin time. I hate that Perez Hilton piece of shit. I wish they had pushed him down the fuckin stairs or broke his fingers or sumn. One less piece of cancer on the internet.
No violence isn't the answer to any problem. But neither is provoking people. Perez Hilton has made his whole life around other peoples success, and cashed himself up by bringing them down. When you tread the fine line between insult and harrassment every day, one day you are going to cross it, and thats what I think happened here.
People are people, and we can only take so much.

North Haven Bowling club: days of heroes are long gone

Heres the story:
There was a spate of violent robberies by a gang around the NSW mid coast.
Police had a tip off that the gang was to try and rob the north haven bowling club. The robbers hit the club, robbed it, and stormed off after terrorising the staff. The Police intervened as the gang left the premises. The staff are now looking at class action against NSW Police.

I watched every account of every staff member on the news, and one thing that was apparent and abhorrent was that each persons main concern was themselves. "I could have been shot" "I was terrified" etc. They all criticised the police for not intervening before the incident happened.
If the police intervened before the crime actually happened then no charges can be laid. Regardless, tip offs are unreliable and the incident might not have happened at all.
If the Police intervened whilst the robbery was occurring, a violent and bloody shoot out amongst the unarmored bar staff most likely would have occurred.

I think the Police did what was absolutely necessary in terms of bringing these violent offenders to justice before they went for larger and more violent crimes.

What I'd like to see, which would be good and Australian, would be the staff have the attitude that "well at least the bastards were caught before they killed someone" or "at least they are off the streets now so that they won't do this to anyone else" but all that seems to be around is the greed and selfishness of the staff within.
Nows to time to step up and be a hero, but all you want is taxpayers money for your 10 minutes of fame.

Sydney's second airport

My personal opinion is that we should hold off on a second airport. My reasons:
The price of oil, despite its current low, is set to rise and rise as oil becomes more and more scarce.

Sydney airport is operating at 84% capacity and is as I understand it requiring an extra 2% per year at the current rate of city growth/ travel demand. This gives another 8 years at the current growth rate before the airport reaches total capacity.

As far as the best studies note, we are either at peak oil, or have just passed peak oil. Very soon we will see production drop. The last time oil production dropped whilst demand was maintained, oil went up 400% (the decrease in production was only 5%).

At best case I would say that oil production will be forced to drop by at least 5% by 2015. The increased demand from developing nations for oil may quicken this figure. This means that we will see a massive increase in the price of jet fuel before we see Sydney airport reach 100% capacity.

This increase in jet fuel could well more than double the price of air travel, by simple supply and demand forcing travellers to limit overseas jet travel.

Hence, we wont need a second airport, because in the future we simply wont be travelling as much.

We all have visions of the future where we all zip around in jet cars but at this stage it simply isn't going to happen. At the moment the average person consumes the same amount of the worlds resources as a 35 tonne elephant would. The world simply cannot meet the energy needs of 6 billion 35 tonne elephants.

I know a lot of people will think that technology will save us. However, there simply is no technology on the horizon or otherwise that can replace the energy density/weight of jet fuel. Batteries in planes won't get off the ground, and methanol based fuels etc are made by felling the last of the worlds rainforests to grow palm oil. It simply wont work.

We better get good at cycling, because that my friends is our future....

University of Sydney computer science

Don't go there. The lecturers are disorganised, and half of them don't speak english. From experience.
I'm hoping to finish this degree in 6 months if my patience can take it and move across to do a masters in commerce instead.

Jailed Taggers & Taser fun

Wow what exports we produce here in Australia...6 aussie guys arrested in the UK for tagging on trains. I've never understood tagging. I got over writing undecipherable crap on walls with fat pens when I was about 3. Maybe its the thrill of being caught, maybe its the feeling that they are 'underground' and 'esoteric'. I mean, aren't there other ways you can get your kicks? I fuckin hate it when I get to the bowl early in the morning and some fuckin spaz has tagged shit everywhere and I get fresh paint all over my board & wheels. I also fuckin hate it when I can't get a seat on the train so I'm forced to stand, and can't even see out the window cause some spoon fed dropkick has spray painted "KYDGS" on the window cause his daddy never bought him that BMX or whatever bullshit pansy assed excuse for a distorted childhood this generation hinges its problems on. You guys get todays fuck you.

Something that made me laugh was watching the aussie white trash on the news tonight proclaim her partners innocence after he was tasered to death by the police. I'm presuming by her accent and skin that she's on meth, and her partner was probably tweekin on meth pretty bad, and the taser hit was probably the last straw that made his heart finally hit 250bpm and eat shit.
Honey, nobody is going to listen to a fuckin word you say when you look and sound like that. I lol'd.

Australia's erosion issue

Tonight: Beachside residents call for federal assistance in order to maintain their properties that are eroding into the sea.
So, basically the deal is, I live in the inner west of Sydney, and can't afford a beachside property, and now these people want to use federal funds to save theirs from falling into the sea? Have they heard of insurance? Did they ever think that when they bought the property that something like this could happen? Of course they did. But they still want bailing out.
No way am I going to pay tax only to have it go to prop up someones multi million dollar beachside place. Sure, I'd love to surf every day and live near the beach. But I don't expect someone else to pay for it.
Your property is falling into the ocean? Learn to swim.

The Great Biofuel Lie

I saw an orange handle for the biofuel pump (10% ethanol) today, and it reminded me of the biofuel issues:
A lot of people don't realise, that the ethanol is actually made from palm oil. Where does palm oil come from? Well most of it comes from Malaysia and Indonesia. The make it by first cutting down pristine tropical rainforest, home to some of the most diverse and exotic species in the world such as orang-utans, pygmy elephants, cats, bird eating spiders... once the forest is cleared, they plant palm oil trees.
Ironically once you add the carbon cost of clearing the original rainforest, then the carbon costs involved in extracting the palm oil and then synthesis into ethanol, the total carbon released by the ethanol is actually around three times that of the equivalent carbon cost for extracting,refining and burning the petroleum.
Hence, although it is called Biofuel, it actually means that you are releasing three times more carbon than had you filled up with just petrol, and you are destroying non-renewable rainforest.

The reason why the pump is orange? Thats the color of the orang-utans they had to kill to make the bio fuel, silly.

Bashing Indians

It cracks me up how immediately the news reports in India regarding the bashing are immediately pointing the finger at 'racist white australians' which is little more than bad racial profiling at its best. Never mind the fact that most of the harassment seems to be coming from other ethnic groups.
It does get annoying though that the context of the Cronulla riots gets disregarded (it was provoked by middle eastern groups) and Australians that just want to live and love are the ones that get tarred with the 'racist' brush all because of that one event.
Look, I get sick of walking up the road and getting yelled at and called racist names from cars too.
There are certain ethnic groups present in this country that are fundamentally racist, and I am not going to name them here for the sake of being labelled a racist myself, but if you have ever lived in Sydney you know who I mean, and they aren't the 'white rednecks'. Honestly, for the better part the rednecks stay within their own suburbs and you hardly hear anything about them, apart from getting busted for cannabis plots.

Lebanon & voting

A breath of sanity in an otherwise crazy world: despite my fears, Hezbollah was not voted into power in Lebanon, thankfully a non-terrorist organisation with interests in maintaining peace in the region was voted into power.
Well done to the Lebanese people, you gave the peace process a big shot in the arm. If only Palestine would put down their guns and vote Hamas out of power. Israel would most likely co-operate in a two state solution if Hamas was not pointing a gun at its head.

Fadi Ibrahim shooting

http://www.smh.com.au/national/gangland-hit-we-do-not-want-protection-20090606-bz35.html

The only person I feel sorry for is the surgeon who actually had to try and save this guys life. I mean, who really cares if this useless stain on the earth lives or dies? Yeah, I know that his lawyer said 'he hasn't done anything wrong', but that doesn't imply that he did everything right.

Its a pity the gunman didn't hit this guy in the head, and make room on this earth for a decent person. Theres enough scum here already, it wouldn't hurt to thin some out.

Doctor Chris O'Brien

If theres a heaven, then I hope they save you a good spot to do whatever it is they do there.
Heroes are hard to come by, and yesterday we lost a good one.
Rest in peace

Chasers' "Make a Realistic Wish"

I can't believe this is on the news. I guess nothing happened today. I just watched the sketch on youtube, and it isn't that offensive. I was more offended by "Twilight".

Basically the sketch is having a go at the "Make a Wish Foundation", not terminally ill kids or anything "too sensitive". I think the main issue is that the media has just got on the bandwagon because nothing else happened today.

Oh and of course Kev Rudd has to jump on the bandwagon as well, adding in his two cents in slamming down the Chaser. Why wouldn't he, he hates any non-christian values, that why he's pushed that compulsory broadband filter through.