Commentary

A Bright Campaign

JasonMR — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 00:24:42 -0500

UK Brights Campaign

The UK has a bright campaign supported by the "mighty", or rather outspoken, Dawkins. The goal was to get secular advertisements published on public transport to combat the attempted brain washing of fundamentalists. Their initial goal has been met more than by just as satisfying margin.

Geek Excitement

JasonMR — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 02:39:29 -0500

Proton Beam Position

This is exiting news. And not because some idiots, cranks, or what ever you want to call 'em, are suggesting imminent doom, but rather for the new frontier experimental physicists are breaching. For a geek it's like Xmas: you can rattle the box, but can only guess what might be inside.

... more to follow soon!

Back To Plastic Model Kit Building - [1]

JasonMR — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 03:20:27 -0500

A week ago, me and my friendly neighbour had friends over for raclette. One of the friends was Robert, who as a hobby builds plastic ship models. I told him how I had been thinking of taking up again my childhood hobby, and putting a couple of plastic model planes together myself. In dedication to his passion, Robert was all empathetic to the idea of gluing together plastic pieces, and offered me a model kit he had of a Constellation as a gift, to get me going. The following Thursday I received the kit.

Airfix - Super Constallation - Box

Now, a week later, I got started. I still have to buy the paints required, but a couple of pieces can already be glued together, which is what I've done. At least as far as I could get.

The kit is produced by Airfix, and assembling pieces of my kit took me back to my childhood days. Reminding me, as to why I back then avoided Airfix kits. Their molds are crappy. For one, pieces don't always align as they should, the extrusions are at unsuited places, and there's just too much plastic overflow with most parts. The only good part about this, is the challenge.

Putting together a ready-made set is easy. I'd actually prefer to create models from scratch. But who has the time? Leaving me quite happy to put together a ready-made Super Constellation.

Thanks to Robert I've got a kit to get me back into a realm of a prime passion (aircraft), I've been ignoring for far to long. I'll keep you posted on my progress.

No Smoking Gestapo

JasonMR — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 07:25:03 -0500

Some council gestapo officer thought it appropriate to fine a painter and home decorator for smoking in his van. Now obviously smoking is harmful, and smokers should be considerate, but smoking in a confined spaced, occupied only by oneself, should certainly be regarded as a private action of no concern to the government and subordinate agencies.

What's next? Will they come knocking on the doors of home-offices, to make sure you're not smoking in your own home?

Deception Is Profit

JasonMR — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 07:11:32 -0500

As the SMH has recently reported, the plastic bag producer Valpak likes to claim ...Bio Bags: Deceptive brand and logo created by Valpak.

.. aware of the environmental limitations of plastic bags and we are focussing our business into the use of sustainable resources as well as offering degradable and compostable Cellophane bags where appropriate.

Quoted from Valpaks' About page.

What is so appauling about Valpak?

"We have never claimed bio-bags are biodegradable," Valpak's managing director, Alan Reid, said. "We registered the trademark six or seven years ago. It was never intended to make people think the bags are biodegradable."

Talk about cynicism. So Valpak unapologeticaly declares the bio-label as nothing but a legal misleading of consumers. Obviously they are not the only offenders, but an example that should serve as a lesson to all consumers: a green lable means nothing. If you want to follow your conscience and moral norms, make sure to research all your consumer choices.

Erosion Of Civil Liberties

JasonMR — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 21:23:15 -0500

Australia is feeling more and more like a totalitarian state.

POLICE have told organisations planning to campaign during World Youth Day events they need to have placards, banners and T-shirts pre-approved or risk losing their protest "rights"

Quoted from SMH article Protests need our blessing, say police.

What's next?

Painful Irony

JasonMR — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 18:53:00 -0500

Australian immigration officials handed him over to Chinese immigration officials who returned him to his home city, where he was immediately arrested, beaten and tortured for "shaming" China by accusing its government of human rights abuses in articles he had written in the Chinese-language press in Australia.

Quoted from SMH article Tragedy of refugee Australia sent back.

Happy March Equinox 2008

JasonMR — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 06:29:12 -0500

To those in the south, Happy Autumn Equinox.

To those in the north, Happy Spring Equinox.

An equinox in astronomy is that moment in time (not a whole day) when the centre of the Sun can be observed to be directly above the Earth's equator, occurring around March 20 and September 23 each year.

More technically, at an equinox, the Sun is at one of two opposite points on the celestial sphere where the celestial equator (i.e. declination 0) and ecliptic intersect. These points of intersection are called equinoctial points—the vernal point and the autumnal point. By extension, the term equinox may be used to denote an equinoctial point.

There is either an equinox (autumn and spring) or a solstice (summer and winter) on approximately the 21st day of the last month of every quarter of the calendar year. On a day which has an equinox, the centre of the Sun will spend a nearly equal amount of time above and below the horizon at every location on Earth and night and day will be of nearly the same length. The word equinox derives from the Latin words aequus (equal) and nox (night).

From Wikipedia.

Learning Something New Every Day Thanks To Wikipedia

JasonMR — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 23:50:35 -0500

Sheela na Gig: Image courtesy of Wikipedia.

Yesterday I discovered the story behind N-rays, and today I learned about Sheela na Gigs.

"Such carvings are said to ward off death and evil"

I wonder if one of those placed on the steps of my front door would be of any help to prevent religious nutters from disturbing my peace and privacy? Guess it's time to start carving. As a Bright I would view such an exercise as experimental verification (and implicitly, debunking) of pagan views, as well as having a laugh in a creative way.

I Want A Tux Droid

JasonMR — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 23:23:02 -0500

I'm a sucker when it comes to toys. Wandering into a toy store is to me a form of impulse control training. Thanks to /. and ars technica I'm now battling with web-induced impulse-buying temptation.

The Tux Droid may not be very practical, but it certainly seems like a nice way to be wasting time. Certainly better than submitting oneself to brainwashing via commercial TV. At least one can use the excuse, that one purchased the Tux Droid for Python hacking skillz training, which to me, honestly, is less of an excuse and more of a darn good justification

The community of Tux Droid hackers seems a little quiet, but that will hopefully change once Tux Droid receives a little more exposure.

Now, screw self-control, where are my credit card details?