My Manifesto: The Incoherent Ramblings of a Madman

R.I.P

Ayatollah Mohammed Baqer al-Hakim

It has begun now. I only hope someone can control it.

I don't understand how they could capture the guy who did the copycat virus and yet not find the guy who did the original - wouldn't it be a simple matter of working out where the copycat guy got the source code from and tracing that route back to the beginning?

Umm after my last disjointed poorly thought out entry I had to just have a moment where I put something in here to redeem myself...but I've got nothing so I'm just going to whack in a bunch of empty lines to push the last one down the page further...





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there we go!

"Girls get extra school help while boys get Ritalin" -- Headline borrowed from Op/Ed - USA TODAY from http://story.news.yahoo.com/news tmpl=story&cid=679&e=4&u=/usatoday/11731917.

This statement is completely true. The article goes on to mention that they realised a deficit in females abilities to learn the science core areas such as mathematics, physics, and the like and so they adjusted the way of teaching these subjects to help girls more - now we find ourselves in the reverse situation and boys are suffering - the popular answer is to call them a trouble maker and pump them up full of drugs till they sit there zombified! Does this solve the fundamental problem with the education system and the widening gender gap? Of course not - it is merely a bandaid solution to help the teacher cope each day. Does it help the boys? No. Does it help the girls? Yes. Is this fair? No.

I am reminded of my first day in class at university:

Lecturer: "Will all the females in the class put up their hands please"
Lecturer: "1,2,3,4,5...any more of you?"
Lecturer: "Come with me...we have 6 scholarships for you and only 5 females...if any of you know of another female in the class could you give me her contact details"

It has taken around 30 years of reworking the education system to have girls catch up, and surpass boys in their traditional science/mathematics based subjects. Unless something is done sooner rather than later it will take another 30 years for boys to catch up to girls in this same field. This reverse inequality is no more equal than the original inequality - if that makes any sense.

What to do? what to do? I don't mean to be over simplifying the subject - but would'nt it be best to make full use of the 3 core ways of educating someone: sight, being shown how to do it; sound, hearing how to do it; and action, actually doing it. Then, discretise the class into male/female and teach them in the way that best suits their learning ability/ or lack there of. Sure it'll require the teacher to actually be taught how to teach males/females but in the end if we don't fix this inequality we're going to end up with one very very dangerous future.

Dangerous future? Of course! If males are left by the way side the world is not going to be a better place - this utopic idea that females ruling the world will make it a safer better place for one and all is complete crap - females ruling the world won't help the world, in the end the poorer socioecnomic classes always turn to crime/drugs/and are on the poverty cycle...as is this is usually men...but with men becoming more and more inadequate academically this in turn leads to more men being on the poverty cycle, more men on the poverty cycle is more crime, etc and so on and so fourth - ok so this is a piss-poor attempt at saying it's all of our problems. It's not a male only problem, it's not a female only problem, it's not a rich problem, it's not a poor problem - it's a human problem.

We need to strive for equality in everything. Equal wages ? damn straight - we should be paid equal wages for equal work. Equal education? Of course!

Man In Black -- Johnny "JC" Cash

Well you wonder why I always dress in black

Why you never see bright colors on my back

And why does my appearance seem to have a somber tone

Well there's a reason for the things that I have on

I wear the black for the poor and the beaten down

Livin' in the hopeless hungry side of town

I wear it for the prisoner who has long paid for his crime

But is there because he's a victim of the times

I wear the black for those who've never read

Or listened to the words that Jesus said

About the road to happiness through love and charity

Why you'd think he's talking straight to you and me

Well we're doin' mighty fine I do suppose

In our streak of lightning cars and fancy clothes

But just so we're reminded of the ones who are held back

Up front there oughta be a man in black

I wear it for the sick and lonely old

For the reckless ones whose bad trip left them cold

I wear the black in morning for the lives that could have been

Each week we lose a hundred fine young men

And I wear it for the thousands who have died

Believin' that the Lord was on their side

I wear it for another hundred thousand who have died

Believin' that we all were on their side

Well there's things that never will be right I know

And things need changin' everywhere you go

But till we start to make a move to make a few things right

You'll never see me wear a suit of white

Oh I'd love to wear a rainbow every day and tell the world that everything's okay

But I'll try to carry off a little darkness on my back

Till things're brighter I'm the man in black

I never realised that Curling was/is such an aggressive sport!

It's been an alright weekend.

Saturday I spent half the day in the gym - weights in the morning at 7 am. Then cardio in the afternoon at 3pm. Sure in between all I did was sleep, and eat lots of food which, by some, may be considered counterproductive - but in the end it doesn't really matter - I'm not trying to lose weight, I'm trying to put it on!

The thunderstorms they promised us today haven't happened yet - which is a good thing for my washing, alas, however, a bad thing for the reservoir. Personally though, I don't blame the drought for the lack of water, I blame the peoples misuse of water. Furthermore, call me crazy, but I can't see their justification for even calling it a drought - whether it technically is or not - there's been 4 floods during it.

I guess I am bluring the lamens-technical terms for drought, something the media does all the time, but the lamen in me says a drought can't have 4 floods and still be called a drought. The technician in me says that there can be 4 floods during a drought and its still a drought, but the technician in me also says that the chances of that happening are pretty slim to the point I have serious doubts. Of course this rambling paragraph isn't to say that there is no drought - as it is alive and kicking in some places in the state/country - however, as far as I'm concerned there just isn't any drought here.

The drought has devasted many farmers and this nightmare has become a harsh reality to many people in the country - I wish the poor farmer well.

To the contrary, the skeptic in me says that 20 years of drought is not a drought - it is the normal climate, and anyone who is trying to work land in an area that is in a "20 year drought" really has nothing to blame but their own stupidity.

After much public debate, resistance, and popular demand we finally have the latest series of Adam photos - from the people who brought you Adam In Red comes the latest edition Adam In Pajamas .

Ok so I was bored, very bored, I've got no other excuse.

From Stephen Hawking's "A Brief History of Time":

A well-known scientist (some say it was Bertrand Russell) once gave a public lecture on astronomy. He described how the earth orbits around the sun and how the sun, in turn, orbits around the center of a vast collection of stars called our galaxy. At the end of the lecture, a little old lady at the back of the room got up and said: “What you have told us is rubbish. The world is really a flat plate supported on the back of a giant tortoise.” The scientist gave a superior smile before replying, “What is the tortoise standing on.” “You’re very clever, young man, very clever,” said the old lady. “But it’s turtles all the way down!”

It's been a long long day.

Between work, jujitsu, cooking dinner, having a shower and then washing up - I've had no time to do anything else until now. I thought I'd expand my horizons and include something other than work - but now I'm finding that short of hiring someone to sleep and eat for me - I'm struggling to live :( ah well...the road to hell was paved with good intentions...

Feel free to:

--> sign my guest book;
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--> come visit me !

Hurt - Nine Inch Nails

I hurt myself today
To see if I still feel
I focus on the pain
The only thing that's real
The needle tears a hole
The old familiar sting
Try to kill it all away
But I remember everything

What have I become ?
My sweetest friend
Everyone I know
Goes away in the end
You could have it all
My empire of dirt
I will let you down
I will make you hurt

I wear this crown of shit
Upon my liar's chair
Full of broken thoughts
I cannot repair
Beneath the stain of time
The feeling disappears
You are someone else
I am still right here

What have I become ?
My sweetest friend
Everyone I know
Goes away in the end
You could have it all
My empire of dirt
I will let you down
I will make you hurt

If I could start again
A million miles away
I would keep myself
I would find a way

"We think of ourselves as belonging to an order of being that is higher than and separate from the rest of the living community, and if people go on thinking this way, the human race is going to become extinct. One of the worst results of thinking of ourselves as belonging to a higher and separate order of being is that we imagine that as our population grows, the rest of the living community remains the same (because it’s separate from us), whereas in fact, the biomass that we’re adding to the human population comes directly from the rest of the living community. As conservatively estimated, up to 200 species a day are becoming extinct to support our growth--their biomass is either being lost (contributing to the desertification of the world) or is being converted into our food (and ultimately into our biomass). If there are still people here a hundred years from now, they will know that they’re not separate from the rest of the living community (and will be living accordingly)" -- Daniel Quinn --> www.ishmael.com

Dominos Rep (name withheld to protect the innocent) "let me guess, you are one of the dumb customers that simply doesnt get it?"

Me: "No. I'm one of the "dumb" customers who rings up to order the same pizza I usually get when I order a pizza and I was told by the guy on the phone that they don't know what i'm talking about...it was as if I was talking to a representative from Pizza Hut or Eagle Boys or some other competitor the guy was completely clueless as to what my usual pizzas were being replaced with, and as to why my usual pizzas had been replaced at all."

You are right - I don't get it. Change for the sake of change is not a good thing. Companies work hard to get repeat clientelle. Repeat clients come back because: they know exactly what they're getting; and they're comfortable with the way things are. Having a core menu and introducing a "new" pizza every so often to make people try a different thing, to me, seems an adequate system that has worked, thus far, most effectively for most take away food stores. So why change the entire system and rename all their core pizzas, and change them to other toppings? What is their goal?

And for the other comment - am I "dumb" ? Literally - not at all, I speak quite clearly and as such am in no way a mute at all. In the other sense of the word - I know enough to realise that I barely know anything: this is something that very few people can accept.

I'm sore. I'm cold. I'm tired. I have a headache. I don't know if it's paranoia but our microwave seems to make you feel warmer when you're near it when it's turned on - that's not a good thing. Goodnight cruel world.

That Tess - she kills me!

I don't understand what it is about having a system of garbage bins that get put out on alternate weeks. I never know what bin I'm supposed to be puting out, consequently, I just copy everybody else - the trouble is - no one else knows what they're meant to be puting out either! Our street has 3 different coloured bins out there at different houses, some people have completely given up and put all 3 out hoping that at least 2 of them will be taken. Other people have put out the red bin which goes weekly knowing full well they can't get that wrong - but the yellow and green bins - it's anyone's guess as to which one is meant to be out tonight!

I went to my first jujitsu class this week. Their Judo skills maybe leave somewhat to be desired, infact, their Judo skills are at beginner level even after having done Jujitsu for years. However, *removes foot from mouth*, my Jujitss skills leave much to be desired - I thought it would be a much easier transition than it has been. I keep going for the more free flowing judo counterattack to every move, rather than the structured, illogical Jujitsu move.

I also went to "punch for fitness" which is 1 and a half hrs of punching boxing bags, and people, and doing a few other things in between. There are like only two 3-minute breaks during the whole class! I feel dead! I hurt all over, and where I don't hurt I can't feel anything at all!

I also broke gym ettiquette rule # 1 : bring a towel. They all just looked at me funny like I was tainting their clean gym as they punched over the top of their towels and dripped sweat all around in a huge circle landing no where near their towel...and I punched over nothing and barely had any sweat fall off me at all in comparison. I was planning on coming home and doing some weights - but by the time I finished I was starving so I had to eat!

Would you believe it's the time of week where I sit here, once again, and bash my head against the keyboard cursing the day that "McLeods Daughters" was ever put on tv - and cursing the person who put *gasp* *shock* *vomit* *horror* channel 9 on!

I did ok out of this weekend. K-mart had a sale on - consequently I've ended up with enough pairs of trousers, corduroy of course, to do me around about 5 years! (3 pairs). Maybe at least some time in the near future they'll come back into fashion like they were in erm...well they wore lots of corduroy in the 70's? ok so maybe the daggy 70's people wore them...ah I don't really give a shit if they're in fashion or not...I love my corduroy.

\Ter"ror*ism\, n. [Cf. F. terrorisme.] The act of terrorizing, or state of being terrorized; a mode of government by terror or intimidation.


The blackouts aren't caused by a terrorist attack - says George "Dubya" Bush on TV speaking to no one because everyone is blacked out.

We're not giving into terrorism - says Tony Blair as he suspends all flights to half of Africa and the Middle East.


We have to take all terrorist reports seriously - says the NSW police as they let 100,000's of people walk through the rail system after a terrorist threat.

We are could be a terrorist target in the future - says John Howard implying we have never been a terrorist target before, has he forgotten the Hilton bombings?

We can't let the terrorists win - says George "Dubya" Bush after he already has.

Terrorism is about terrorising. What creates fear? killing;bombing; and murder. What also creates fear? Talking about killing;bombing; and murder. So who is terrorising who? George Bush's men are bombing Iraqi's and Afghanistani's. The media keep bringing up the topic of terrorism to scare people. We have this bullshit white is right west is best mentality and look at things through a slanted viewpoint. We are brainwashed into seeing "them" as terrorists just as "they" are brainwashed into seeing us as "sinners". Neither side is "right" both are partially to blame. Sooner or later somebody has to step up to bat and be adult about it.

This has been a long week. I've been design connections. I've been writing reports on recommending tenders. and I've been getting conned into joining the local gym.

I went to the jujitsu class. I had been warned before that jujitsu is like beginner judo. Call me naive, call me stupid, but I thought this couldn't have possibly been the case. They were winning awards for their jujitsu. They have to be good. Someone who can win an award for something must be good at their sport. They couldn't possibly be as bad as beginner judoka (judo players) -----> how wrong was I?

They stank! I could wipe the floor with every single one of them with one hand tied behind my back! It's meant to cost $80 per term - which I think is a bit steep personally, it's mid term now so I'm getting it for half price. I'm going to give them one term of my time. Their eyes light up everytime I walk in there because they have it in the back of their minds that I will end up teaching them properly for free.

I'm not sure who will win the battle of the minds - me or them. Can I sit there and let other people do things wrongly without correcting them? Can I take corrections by them telling me how to do something their way? Will they even try to "correct" me? (Am I too arrogant - not really too arrogant - I am in no way a fantastic judoka, nor do I have exceptional technical skill, but they are so rigid, stiff and awkward there is very little they could do in any actual situation. They look and move like beginner judoka - plain and simple).

I was thinking about joining the gym - but unless I do old peoples aerobics, or go to class from 6am - 7 am there isn't very many classes I can do because they're all on when I'm at work, or at times when I may need to be still at work if I work back late - and for $600 (+ $99 registration )per year I'd want to make damn sure I could turn up to something. I'm going to keep on with my current regime and go to the jujitsu - maybe throw in a class here and there for $10 a time...or even use their weights rather than mine every so often. If I work it correctly I should be able to have a gym membership for a mere $520 per year. That's a saving of over $80! and is actually much better for my body physically than going the 3 times per week I would need to go for it to all be economically worth while.

I got sun burnt today. :( In the middle of winter, shivering all day, and I got sunburnt. Remember: slip on a shirt, slop on some sunscreen, and slap on a hat - otherwise you'll end up sunburnt (like me) and in 20 years time you'll look 20 yrs older than you really are...and no one likes a person who doesn't hold their age well :P

I was at a show in Wauchope today. They had one of those huge fish tanks with all of the fish in it to show you how the lures work. The guy was there casting out, bringing it back in, and he'd say "look at how the fish are following the lures! they're loving it!" - the fish took no notice, I was actually quite dissapointed that the fish didn't even care about the lure when they were in a tank with clear water and no distractions other than each other. I could have been more successful with my own hand in our 4 foot tropical fish fishtank!

....

I feel sick - I think I ate too much.

Iceland is starting to kill whales again for "scientific research" to "see how many fish whales eat". I feel that we should start killing residents of Iceland for "scientific research" to "see how many whales they eat".

it seems like it was just yesterday when i was sitting here with McLeods Daughters on tv banging my head against the keyboard, trying to knock what little sanity I have left, into/or out of me, are they puting this show on three times a week now just to spite me? or have I gone completely crazy?

The investigation into the fires that devastated Canberra over summer last year drew alarming conclusions (apparently) - if they had put the fires out when they first started then there would not have been any problems from the fires....I don't mean to sound stupid - but isn't it obvious that if you put out a fire when it first starts that it's not going to spread and do damage and cost people lives?

This is a public service announcement brought to you by the good people at adamjs.blogspot.com and has been entirely stolen from the www.apex.org.au website word for word:

What is APEX?

Helping your community
Members of Apex work together to serve their community's greatest needs by promoting service, fellowship and community spirit. Apex Clubs work in their local town or suburb, but through the strength of the National Association of Apex Clubs, also work together to tackle larger community or social problems.

Develop personally
Besides the pride and satisfaction of helping others, you will experience other personal benefits. You may become a better leader, or more of a team player. You'll find yourself becoming more relaxed in dealing with groups, your presentation skills will improve and you'll become a better public speaker. You'll also get the chance to network with people from a wide variety of businesses and backgrounds.

Life-long friendships
Friendships that last a lifetime are cemented through the fun and banter that accompanies the toil. Friendships that come from mixing with fellow members from all walks of life, and from being part of a youthful and spirited group.

Having a whole lot of fun
Apex dates back 70 years, but there's nothing old fashioned about the fortnightly meetings. They are mostly lively and interesting. The work in the community and fundraising events are both rewarding and entertaining.
For young people
Apex is all the more unique because of its youthful membership base, ensuring a youthful outlook and membership concerned with youth issues.

The Australian Service Club
Apex is the only Australian made service club, being founded in Geelong, Australia, in 1931.

This is brought to you by the friendly people at adamjs.blogspot.com, i.e, me:

Why should you join APEX?

1) They are meant to raise money to help the community - this is a good thing, helping the community benefits erm the community - which includes all of ermmmm the community...

2) They need members...they need people who are willing to do things...they need people who are willing to come along to events...they need people...they need members...in this day and age people are becoming less and less community focused and it is taking a toll on all of the organisations out there that volunteer some time to put something back into the community...what happens when all of these volunteer organisations fold up? who will help the community if the community doesn't help it? - no one will.

3) As pessimistic as I usually am - I believe that everything we can do to give something back to someone who is less fortunate than ourselves makes a difference...while APEX doesn't have the capacity to make a huge difference, it can still make a difference and with more members it can make more of a difference and the snow-ball effect takes over! you can pay it forward threefold...sure that movie stank and was rather predictable disney hollywood tripe, but it had a good point to make...

4) Join it because I damn well tell you to join it! - that should be reason enough god damn-it!

The RTA is really in disarray these days. They're made up of purely non-practical technical people, and non-practical non-technical managers. I don't understand how they can run such a business that undertakes the dealings they do. I guess it does explain why they are so unprofessional in comparison.

I've got the RTA on my back again. The specifications I wrote, which were word for word based on the RTA standard specs, apparently are wrong. They're ok by the relevant Australian Standards, but in practice they can't be achieved. The problem lies within the RTA itself. They seem to have problems with writing things that are practical, all of the painting guys are saying this. Word for word the same as the RTA - and yet the guy from the RTA keeps saying they're wrong and I should do it the same way he has done them! They are his specs! I don't know how many times I have to tell him this. I'm wondering if I should be totally blunt with him, it is a move that will totally ruin whatever career I may/may not have, but in the end I think it may be worth it to get him off my back.

We'll see how it all turns out on Monday when the tenders are due in. I guess in the end the worst that can happen is it will get put down to youthful ignorance and I will have a black mark against my name for around 10 yrs. Best case scenario - the bridge gets painted and I never heard from one RTA guy again.

Zero and infinity can only be approximated in reality - think about it!

"What is rational is actual, what is actual is rational". - Hegel

Are you part of the problem or part of the solution? You're both - the solution is part of the problem.

Despite the miseries
And the lessons learned from history
The pattern still repeats
Never to surrender don't you ever repeat

How far have we really come?
Until the ones who are leading us
Make peace their resolution tonight
Make peace your resolution tonight

There's an arms race to be run
Building bigger better dagger headed bombs
So let's drink to the daughters and sons
Never to return to their mother's arms

For every battle lost and won are these the ones that we offer up?...........powderfinger

These kids were using cardboard boxes as sleds to ride over the top of my trees i planted today :( the bastards!

it depends how you look at it...is the glass half full or empty? personally, i think it's both...it depends if you're filling it up, or emptying it...or if you're thirsty or not thirsty...because if you're thirsty then it's half empty..but if you're not thirsty then it's half full..if you've drank half of it it's half empty..if youu're filling it up then it's half full...so i'm not really sure what that makes me...i look at it as being a realist...but i know i'm more pessimist than anything else..i'd have to be with my outlook on most things...sometimes i sit and think about things that are so far in the future, that may or may not happen and worry about them for no reason at all..at times i'm an optimist and i completely believe in the power of thinking positive....sure I'm a bundle of hypocritical contradictions - but aren't we all?

there's so much death and destruction - most of the world doesn't know to care, the rest of the world doesn't care to know