Thoughts of a Psych/Code Monkey/Guitarist

Election time is slowly approaching - which means voting. Democratic voting seems an ok way to do things, but it does have a few side-effects. While I know there's no perfect voting system , and I'm not suggesting any changes, my thoughts on why elections aren't that interesting: My vote counts for too much: I'm a debt-less uni student, not renting, working for a US company, and most likely will be not in this country in a few years, it'd be nice if I could somehow optionally weight my vote downwards, but that's not (legally) allowed. Actually, my vote doesn't matter: My local MP is Alexander Downer - it's not like he's not going to win by many votes, so who I vote for doesn't really make much difference at all. Now, the usual response from people when I say this is: " But what if everyone thought this way? ". To which my response is always that they'll think that way whether I do or not, it still doesn't make any difference. Th...

Challenge: Next time you're waiting, listening to music, near someone doing the same - set both your players to random, then swap headphones. Share the fun; do the iPod Shuffle Shuffle.

Las Vegas was Hot, Hotham was Cool! {gotta love the english language}. Anyway, something worth watching:

I'll be in LV for the next week (competing, see here for info, and there'll even be a live webcast of the final here ) then Skiing for the week after. If you want to reach me (for some strange reason) I should be checking phone / email occasionally, but apologies in advance for any delays. I'm taking a camera (odd for me, I know) so hopefully will have some pictures to put here later. Adios, until then.

Vocabulary changes with the each generation. Credit used to be something given when it was due - a reward, bestowed on those who worked hard for it. Inventors were given credit for their findings, artists recognised 'to their credit'. Times have changed however - the age of Credit is upon us, though this is not nearly as appealing as its previous meaning. No, this Credit is the opposite - 'money borrowed with the understanding that it will be repaid'. Often value given before it has been earned, the popularity behind credit cards has led to a generation who spends before earning. While making sense for once-offs (single payments with a definite deadline, slightly before the payer is guaranteed to have enough), a more common practice is to use these cards to buy everything in advance. For some reason, Credit is often treated as ' free money ' - a card with $5000 limit is seen as free $5000 that can be spent at will. Never mind the ludicrously high interest rate (...

Do you follow this religion? - Followers meet up often, many groups who follow it meet once per week, usually Friday, Saturday or Sunday. Devotees sometimes confirm their faith before sleeping each night. Friends can meet for whole weekends, wanting to practise this religion. It has spawned many songs, even dances. If your parents follow it, you're more likely to. When it's introduced into new cultures, it's believed to usually have a negative impact, and sometimes warps the minds of younger followers until they're fanatic believers. No, this isn't Christianity, or any standard belief system. It's followers are also more likely to crash a car, smoke, and take illegal drugs. It's often tied to aggressive behaviour, mindless behaviour, loss of control, yet it's still widely popular. Welcome to being drunk, the new religion. It's your choice to believe, just don't try to convert me.

Originally, I was skeptical about cameras in phones. Now I'm still skeptical, just slightly less: Hilton Sydney does everything, even swipe-card instructions From the same elevator, but a much nicer usage of physics Big Brother game - each word is an anagram of the one above, plus one letter, apparently.... Look familiar? 'tis Adelaide Uni's unique seating arrangements Finally, can you guess the animal? "Cute" doesn't count

So, recently I've been doing some work reviewing program designs, i.e. finding bugs, recommending areas for improvement. I think someone should do that to MSN: I must admit, at least they have the irony of putting them for the thinking smiley and the eyes-rolling smiley.

One of the ideas behind Survival of the fittest is that the 'stronger' members of a species will reproduce more, so their stronger genes will appear more and help assist the survival of a species. The problem is however, what happens when you reach a point that the 'strong' properties aren't useful any more. Who needs a spear thrower these days? The importance of a fit, baby-carrying body is reduced substantially when modern medicine helps you stay alive. Either way, one would think that this could then lead to development of mental, rather than physical, abilities. Unfortunately, this is not the case - while it is socially expected that people will try to look their best (c.f: Shows like the Biggest Loser), it is not expected that people will think their best. In fact - thanks to our friends drugs and alcohol, it is socially expected that people will become LESS intelligent when interacting with others. Anyway, here's a maths interpretation of some possible...

Google adsense banner at blogwatcher ::

And now for something completely different: We bring you to the apartment of Rob Stongetti, a man who claims to have created the world's first good looking myspace profile. To tell us about his acheivement, we__ Hold on a second! That's not completely different. I BEG your pardon?! You just then said that something completely different would appear. Yes? You've just witnessed a segue from a lady attacking a Starbucks with a novelty pencil, to you, a man with a command of web-page constitution, I'm sorry if my non-sequitur meter is broken. Can't you see? Both plot the tale of an eccentric protagonist, relying on the viewer's humour to provide a strange commentary on modern day capitalsim....and neither featured a red porcupine named Roger. ...Who are you? The King of comparative literature? *whooosh* DID SOMEONE CALL???? What noooooooow? You shall bow in my presence, for I, Hunter Codswallop, am the King of comparative literature. Oh my, I don't believe th...

It has happened - proof of the world's slump into mediocrity. Our university's concert has its own myspace . That's right, a concert is "in my extended network". Unfortunately, in a web like that there is no room for this blog - Sayōnara, Adios, Cya! The codemonkey will keep thinking, but no longer blog. ...and, somewhere in the distance, one of the three readers of this blog said "oh". Edit: I'll still might occasionally post poems/lyrics/short stories, as CS isn't the best subject in terms of creative output....

In the unlikely event that an observer to this blog has remained a reader after the last few entries, and the long gaps between them, I present to you the blogvella "The Tale of Thuc, the first Wraith Dragon to ever talk to herself". Prologue: In a time not unlike our own, in a land not unlike present day earth, there lived a colony much unlike our own kind. Their kind flew. Their kind are exceptionally skilled in martial warfare and live by sucking the life from their prey. Their kind are Wraith Dragons , much feared for their telepathic communication and abilities in regeneration. Among this settlement however, there is one who has recently distinguished themselves from the others - one who has a talent unknown to the others, and who because of this evades their elders, instead spending time training themselves for battles among assassins, sourcerer and other rogues in far off lands. All of this because this Wraith Dragon - born to the name Thuc but feared by her enemies...

OMG - Federbear! If you haven't seen any tennis recently, here he is checking out chicago: And here's one of Federbear blogging!: Ok, I have a feeling that I just lost my last few readers. Next blog topic, by special request - The Tale of Thuc, the first Dragon to ever talk to herself.

So, what does a programmer do when taking a week off? Program a website, of course! Well...I have been contracted to help out the Debating SA website, so figured I'd do some practice with a website of my own. A while ago, someone had come up with the idea of a fantasy stock market where 'companies' were TopCoder members, and their 'prices' were related to their rating. So here it is: http://padster.gyronet.org/tc/TCX/ With over 110 members, and averaging 2000 hits a day, seems like it's doing well :D The test will come just after the next SRM, the first time when share prices actually change. Back on designing - I've managed to somehow get 4 1sts in a row, so car insurance is covered! :D and soccer is back!! cool -have a good week all

Happy Bond Year ('007) to all! I'm not really one for resolutions - I figure, if something's good enough to do, you should not need the last digit of the date to change before you do it - but I have set a few aims for the year. E.g. getting a medal in the ACM finals, reaching a TopCoder onsite again, getting HDs for all my uni subjects {still not sure if the 84 will stand from last semester}. Another is related to my most recent aim - eventually getting a car. Currently aiming at one of these: Unfortunately, when getting an insurance quote, I get hit with a few additional costs due to being young, male, and not having driven for long (yes, that's on top of being young...). Anyway, the hope is to cover insurance from TopCoder designs over the summer - 22% done so far, still a bit of a way to go. The final resolution is to learn as much of Octavarium as possible - still a long way to go there too :p Ooh, and thanks to those helping bug-fix padster::gyronet tools {tag boar...

Ok, so now I'm sort of on holidays, I thought i'd update with a pictorial blog. Just to kill time while watching 5 series of 24 :p - here's a few annotated screen shots of AOE3: "But not this day, this day, we fight! I bid you stand; MEN. OF. MIDDLE-EARTH...oi, where are you three going?" The spanish armies were shocked as a being from another planet arrived on a meteor... The explorer wondered the true effectiveness of their wall in keeping people out. Boo! ok, there is no real caption for this, I just really like the picture. I'm a lumberjack and I'm ok....now, what do I do with this HUGE saw. The sermon on the mount...in the middle of the US. Maybe those Mormons are onto something....

^^ see title ^^ tis a pity xmas tv is so shocking...at least the cricket is on soon :) Did you know...the average US citizen now spends more than they earn? *sigh* funfunfun, only a week left of 2006

Those who have read this for a year ... should find somethign better to do! Anyway, you might remember from a year ago when I last came back from tutoring at one of these informatics training camps, that I was full of praise for the people who attended - fortunately, this year was no exception, and even surpassed my expectations. Seriously, spending 10 days with the type of people who are at that camp {both students and staff} is always a good way to spend time - despite the much lower average age, the conversations seem interesting, there is very little anger and plenty of respect for eachother. Then coming back to the rest of the world...lets just say, it's a pity the 10 days couldn't have been longer, and it doesn't look like I'll be tutoring again until next december either :( On other things - Australia have the ashes back, and my TC rating is improving again :D - Xmas is here for another few days, but will still probably be designing for much of the time until tue...

Supp exams over! {seemed to go ok, not sure when results are out} During which I also got two weeks of designing done - 1st in week 1, then the only submitter in week 2 so if I pass, another guarenteed 1st. Nice $$, and it improves my Las Vegas chances :) However, for the next 10 days, I'll be in ACT tutoring ppl programming, so probably won't update or be on MSN much over the next while {email or phone still ok if contact is needed} Enjoy the next week, survive the heat / onslaught of christmas carols, and see you soon!