My Manifesto: The Incoherent Ramblings of a Madman

I voted for the local Council last week. I feel ashamed that I did not know more about the issues, due in part to the fact I have not lived at my residence for a long time, and due in part to the fact I had to vote pre-poll because I was out of the area on voting day - so I was not given the fully voting literature and paraphanalia. I would have voted green if given the chance, and I sure as hell would have voted for the young girl - she was great - who cares what she stood for, she was a stunner ;)

I voted for the people who were independent and gave no preferences. I hate the way half of the candidates claim they're independent and then give preferences - you're either independent and choose not to help other people become part of the government or you're in cahoots with the others in which case you're not independent! You can't be both!

I was having an argument with JK today: he doesn't quite realise that taking out the middlemen in government has the affect of giving the upper levels more power - the more power the upper levels of government have, the more power there is to distribute to a lesser amount of people, the more power an individual has, the less power the masses have.

My friend had a car accident and wrote her car off: "Ah - natural selection at it's finest" was my reply to her telling me; at first shocked, she still did not understand. To me when people do stupid things and get injuries from them they shouldn't damn well expect pity - they should be given a huge sign saying "I'm a fool" to wear around to warn everyone else about how stupid the person is.

It is like in road design - as an engineer you may think I would sway the other way on this regard - but as far as I'm concerned you should damn have no speed limits - that way all of the stupid people will kill themselves and the world will be a better place for it! With all of the stupid people gone the rest of us can fix up this god forsaken planet!

The only draw back I can see from wiping out all of the stupid people is that we will need to keep some of them around to use as slaves - because everyone knows how damn lazy smart people are. Not to mention the bikini models......Ok so perhaps my plan for world domination has a few errors here and there....We need to eradicate all the ugly stupid people somehow and keep the strong (for: slaves & labourers) and good looking amongst them (for: decoration & sex slaves).

Ok - we can just let the stupid people kill themselves by speeding at night, in heavy rain, after puting their car into 2nd gear and wondering why it locked up as if she had put her hand brake on, and the good looking and strong stupid people we just give them helmets and cars with a decent crumple zone.....Ah crap...I'll come back with something another day....back to the drawing board for now.

My superannuation statement came in today:

I have paid a total of: $4050 over 12 months

My fund is worth: $2120

At this rate by the time I retire I'll be owing them money!

The Skeptical Environmentalist's (Bjorn Lomborg) story continues:

http://www.greenspirit.com/lomborg/ --> in support of Lomborgs' ideas.

http://www.forsk.dk/uvvu/nyt/udtaldebat/bl_decision.htm --> the court case based entirely on Scientific America's rebuttal to Lomborgs ideas (adam's note: this is problematic and one sided due to the fact that Lomborg was given no right of reply)

http://www.stichting-han.nl/lomborg.htm --> some further reading on the subject.

The problem with all of those involved with this book (for, against) is that they all have vested interests: the scientists who are "experts" have an interest in showing Lomborg a fool so they get more funding for their research and increase their profiles; Lomborg has a vested interest in showing he is right so as to make more money by selling more books and not affect his academic standing.

I love a good conspiracy theory.

Sometime soon I will put up a quote from the book detailing the errors in using short-term trends - the problem that the Skeptical Environmentalist finds with most of the statistics used to prove the state of the world's health.

From an email forward:

WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM OUR FRIENDS: Police in Oakland,
California spent two hours attempting to subdue a gunman who had barricaded
himself inside his home. After firing ten tear gas canisters, officers
discovered that the man was standing beside them in the police line, shouting,
"Please come out and give yourself up"

Again, some plagiarised stuff for your viewing. The premise is that Kristin Thomas (http://www.sperare.com/spam_poetry/blogger.html) writes poems made up entirely of first lines of spam here is one of her poems:

I need you here with me
I need some help ..

I need a mortgage broker that cares
I need some vicodin
I need love
I need a strong handed man
someone to love me
who knows what a woman needs,
someone like you.

I need you here with me
Horny Nymphos on the street
They don't know the secret like I do
Canadian generics
They can't give you what I can

please don't tell anyone
but you know it is true, baby,
I need you here with me

I ran into, well when I say I ran into, I should say I was directed to go to this site by the people at www.blogger.com who said it was one of the best sites ever, and I tend to agree – well not the best site I have ever seen – but the best black and white photography site I have ever seen, which, purely coincidently (I hope) also happens to be the only black and white photography site I have ever seen: www.nyclondon.com ; it is top notch stuff. He has inspired me to take up photography with black and white film. I’d previously dabbled, but the problem was always cost – it actually costs more to develop your own photos than it does to get someone else to do them for you, and black and white developments cost a lot no matter what way you do them.

In news at hand Microsoft has been fined a bucket load by the European Union for anti-competitive behavior. What it gets down to is they either buy out or dissolve any business which has an innovative idea in the field – if not that, then, they incorporate the feature into their systems. It is a good business idea, and helps them greatly, but at the same time it leaves very little choice for us as the end-users.

A few other companies might be given a chance now before being eaten by the M$ machine. Perhaps one day when I type something up with an extra “u” it will not be removed automatically by the “dictionary” – and don’t give me that crap about changing the dictionary to the Australian English or English English version – no matter what I do, it will always revert back to the US English at any sign of trouble – let’s face it, at times of trouble it goes back to what it likes, it likes US English (editors note: have I gone crazy? and did I just personify M$ Word? Ah hell – I guess I’m already personifying the internet by talking to it – I may as well add to the madness my mind has dipped into).

I am reading a book at the moment that may well change my views on the state of the environment forever, if nothing else, it has reinforced my view that you can never trust what you read no matter what the source. The book is called “The Skeptical Environmentalist”, the author is a Statistician by day, and a former Greenpeace activist by night; however, he decided to look into many of the outlandish claims made by other environmentalists, some merely right-wing activists, some notable scientists, others merely media speculations that then become reported as fact. It is interesting to see how all of the sources identified within the book have used statistics to prove their points, it is exactly what the author has done to prove his, but in contrast to those whom he is debunking, he takes his statistics over a longer period of time drawing conclusions that are in stark contrast to what many of us are told daily to be “fact”.

While he has made a very good point that most of what we read is wrong, especially when based on statistics over such a short time frame, it is problematic in that even when the results are extended to prove his points, he is merely perpetuating their errors only on a larger scale. It reminds me of a photograph. A photograph can be framed to show whatever point of view that the photographer wants to show. You can show as much or as little of something as you care to. A photograph can be used to show something or debunk something – it all depends on the point of view that the photographer uses to skew the results. A photograph is not proof. A photograph is merely an interpretation.

The difference between the author and those who he is refuting is that the author is willing to acknowledge the limitations in his trends, conclusions, and “fact” – the others are not that forthright.

RFI (Room for Improvement) is a tv show on at the moment. The premise is the "RFI" team turn up and fix up one (1) or two (2) rooms in your house, supposedly, for the better. They ask the family what they want out of the rooms they're fixing up for them, then, they get to work in fixing them up. This all sounds very innocent. The family said they wanted a room with lots of open space for yoga, a section for a drum-kit, and a reading/quiet area. In contrast to this, they have been given a room with: a lounge; table and chairs; and a bar - call me crazy - but what the fuck does a bar have to do with a 12-year old playing drums? or a woman teaching a yoga class?

From www.reuters.com:

Infrastructure Minister Yosef Paritzky, of moderate Shinui Party in Israel's rightwing-led coalition:

"There is no doubt Yassin deserved to die already for a long time. The question is what is the benefit? What we have learned is that the assassinations of themselves do not deter enough. We have to think of a combined operation, both fighting terrorism and opening a diplomatic channel.

"We need to tell the Palestinians that if you choose terror, you will have nothing. We will destroy you and you won't be able to live. But if you cooperate and are ready to talk to us and return to the negotiating table, then the way is open."


Yossin Beilin, leading Israeli Opposition dove:

"I think that this is very, very dangerous for us. We are talking here about opening a Pandora's box. We are now counting backwards to, God forbid, the next terror attack against us, and the question is how many Israelis, how many Jews have to be killed for this irresponsible act."

Skill and Stamina

Being an active participant during intercourse requires skill and stamina. Young men quickly learn this when their penis keeps slipping out, they get sweaty, their muscles start to ache, and they tire quickly. This is something women are sometimes very surprised to learn when they get on top or explore using a dildo in a harness. It may look easy in movies but intercourse is a very physically demanding activity, especially if one tries to do it for any length of time. The old in out is not as easy as it looks. The only way to learn how to do it correctly is through practice and patience. A sense of humor is essential during sex and intercourse, as you will undoubtedly have funny and potentially embarrassing things occur, like slipping out and not being able to get it back in by yourself. Sex is never as easy as it looks in the movies where all the mistakes are edited out.

(The abovementioned is an extract from: http://www.the-clitoris.com/n_html/n_interco.htm)

Ah - I'm willing to practice, I just need a volunteer! :)

I put a lot of value in a university education; however, like anything it has its pros and cons.

Without a degree you run a risk of being someone else’s shit kicker, while being a shit kicker can in a lot of circumstances be a very noble job, it does not always equate to a decent wage. In contrast to this, if you get into the right job, work hard enough, you will be four (4) years ahead of anyone who choose to go through the path of becoming a university graduate. Therefore they will graduate at a lesser wage and standing in the community than you.

Am I saying that university graduates earn less than those who do not graduate from university? That is not what I am saying at all, although statistically this would be a correct assumption. More often than not the richest people are not book-smart but money-smart: they have a head for business; a head for making money; and a drive and determination to match. In short a go-getter will make a decent living no matter what path they choose to follow. The idea of a university degree is that it will eventually improve your wage and standard of living by decreasing the amount of physicality in the job, that is, you get paid more money for doing a less labour intensive job that those who do not have the qualifications to do the work. In practice, this rarely goes according to plan because your stress levels and levels of responsibility are increased, while there may be less physical exertion there is usually more mental and emotional exertion.

The biggest benefit of university education is the benefit you will gain by improving your understanding of the world. You will realise the extent of most other people’s ignorance. When I say this I am not suggesting that those without a degree are ignorant, I am merely suggesting that we are all ignorant – the extent of which, those, who have the benefits of a university education are better trained to judge.

University increases your analytical thinking ability skills. A friend of mines mother is a bank manager. I asked her about interest rates and when she predicted they were going to go up, she replied: “they will go up when I get the fax in my office to put them up, not before, not after”. It never occurred to her to ask the question: “why do they go up?” It is not her job to question why – it is her job to put them up when told to put them up. In contrast to this and with the benefit of four (4) years of a university education behind them, the university graduate knows why they go up, and when they're going to go up - they can predict the trends in the system to take the maximum advantage of it. Are they more intelligent than the non-graduate? Not at all – they merely have had more exposure to analytical thinking than the non-graduate and cannot help but to question.

There are always exceptions to the rule, and of course it depends on the individual and what courses they took but with younger people starting out in the workforce - a university degree makes a huge difference in their capabilities, especially in their capacity to learn new things that are foreign to them.

I would like to stress I am not suggesting that university gives you intelligence. That is something that you either have or you don't - no amount of studying will make you intelligent. However, it is how you use your intelligence that makes the difference. It is in analytical thought that university graduates excel at compared to non-graduates, it is in research capabilities, and it is in self education. There are always exceptions to the norm and someone without the validation of a university degree is more than capable of all those things. I am not saying that you must have a university degree to have these qualities – as that would be somewhat self righteous and discriminatory. I am not saying that u need a degree to have these qualities, I am saying that generally a person with a degree excels in these areas compared to those without.

Four (4) years of analytical thinking makes a difference to a person – I believe for the better.

The major draw-back, other than wage considerations, to a university degree is that in life there are two ways of acquiring knowledge: book-smarts and experience-smarts. A university graduate will have book smarts but not the practical experience to fully put it to good use, in contrast, the experienced person will have the experience but not the book-smarts for understanding.

Experience-smarts takes a lifetime to gather – book-smarts takes four (4) years.

A combination of the two (2) is a very powerful, sometimes deadly, weapon.

Choose your own life path – but hell, look at it like this, whether you get a decent education or not you will be paying for it for the rest of your life with your taxes so you may as well make the most of it :)

Adam's list of must-see movies for a generation in no particular order:

1. Trainspotting
2. Life is Beautiful
3. Requim for a Dream
4. American Beauty
5. American History X
6. Life as a House
7. The Usual Suspects
8. Seven
9. 12 Monkeys
10. Fight Club
11. Snatch
12. Rocky 1,2,3, 4
13. The Evil Dead Series
14. The Return of the Living Dead Series
15. Exorcist
16. Saving Private Ryan
17. Apocalypse Now
18. Ben Hur --> watch this first, then watch Gladiator; you will notice the former is the far better movie
19. Terminator 1,2
20. The Castle
21. Schindlers List
22. Paradise Lost
23. 28 Days Later
24. Girl Interupted
25. Reservoir Dogs
26. Gleeming the Cube
27. Gremlins
28. The Matrix
29. To Kill A Mockingbird
30. A Clockwork Orange
31. The Indiana Jones Series
32. The Silence of the Lambs Series
33. There's Something About Mary
34. Beverly Hills Cop
35. Tango and Cash
36. Missing in Action
37. Kickboxer
38. Fargo
39. Donnie Darko
40. Aliens
41. Close Encounters of the Third Kind
42. Pulp Fiction
43. Dead Man Walking
44. The Green Mile
45. Good Will Hunting
46. Three Kings
47. Loaded Weapon
48. Boys in the Hood
49. The Shawshank Redemption
50. Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventures/Bogus Journey.

I am going back into "should I join the army reserve or not?" mode. It may well be the only CPD (continued professional developement) points as a Civil Engineer that I ever get. My boss seems hesitant to pay the money to send myself to any certified training courses - it is a bit of a worry.

I am working at Taree at the moment temporarily. It is good to be doing some different type of work again - it keeps me on my toes I guess. Sub-division work is easy as pie - you get the designs, you get the check list of the way stuff is meant to be done, and you take hte total piss out of the people who don't do it.

Ah - for the love of ignorance - it keeps people like me in a job.

I am grinding my teeth all the time in a stressed-out nervous type of way. It started just at night, now I find myself doing it during the day. The only thing is - I cannot understand why I am so stressed out. I guess I need a break. I guess I need to relax. I guess I need to work out why in the hell I am so stressed out.

I do not quite understand why it took so long for the Australian Federal Government to release the full transcript of the Free-Trade agreement with America. They said that they were changing some paragraphs within it - but if they were changing them then it was never an actual agreement. AND if it was an actual agreement AND they are editing the transcript before they show us - then it means they're lying to us -- which is it?

A Current Affair had a segment tonight on Mobile (cell) Phone Ettiquette. The most they said was do not use a mobile phone when watching a movie and make sure that you do not have a stupid ring-tone or people will think you're a tosser. Due to the lack of information that those type of mass-media "current affairs" shows give you I figured I would write my own list of mobile phone do's and don'ts:

1. Do not call people during work-time unless it is an emergency - you will be bludgeoned to death with your mobile phone if you do make this fatal mistake
2. Do not turn your mobile phone on when watching a movie - you will be bludgeoned to death with your mobile phone if you forget to turn it off
3. Do not turn your mobile phone on when at a restaurant - you will be bludgeoned to death if it does ring while at a restaurant.
4. Do not have any song in the top 40 as your mobile phone ring-tone - you will be bludgeoned to death if anyone with any inkling of music taste is within hearing distance of your mobile phone when it rings.
5. Do not use your mobile phone when driving - you will crash and hopefully die killing only yourself showing the world natural selection at it's finest.

My trip back from Bourke was pretty much an obstacle course. I was weaving in-out of kangaroos which were all over the outback road (mainly because I was coming through at night). I didn't manage to hit any of the kangaroos which are pretty much in plague proportions; however, I did manage to hit the following:

1. two (2) boobook owls which is on the endangered species list;
2. one (1) wedge-tailed eagle which is also on the endangered species list; and
3. one (1) small little darty thing that ran into my tyre - it moved like a cat on speed and was white and black and splotchy.

The amount of endangered species I damn well hit on the way back must make me a one-man environmental demolition squad!

In my defense - those things are pretty stupid not getting the hell out of the way of a fast moving car that actually took the time to slow down for them first. The one bird which I didn't pretty much kill on impact damn well tried to rip my arm to shreds when I stopped to try and help him - so I pretty much just put him to the side of the road as best I could and got the hell out of there while I still had some flesh left on me!

R.I.P the people killed in Iraq - more casualties of the "war on terror"

The Cantebury Bulldogs have been accused of pack-rape of a person in Coffs Harbour. Some have come out and said that they cannot understand how this type of thing can happen in this day and age. Others have come out and said that "discretions" of this nature are "endemic in the game" - which is something I believe. When I was 15 years old I witnessed a group sex session in a hotel pool with a team of footballers and 3 prostitutes - it freaked the hell out of/intrigued me to no end.

A picture was stolen of a Cezzane from a gallery here in Australia. On inspection an "expert" has said:

"Three outstanding discrepancies also existed including that the child in the picture has the wrong style of haircut, the window is sash-style – a type not allowed to be built at that time in France – and Cezanne was unlikely to have owned a high chair such as the one pictured" (Mr Sourgnes an "expert in art" - whatever the hell that is supposed to mean cited at http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/)

Either he is an "expert" and knows what he is talking about - or he's in cahoots with the thief - either way it's intriguing as to the what truth of the matter is.

Bloody McLeods Daughters! It will be the death of my sanity for sure!

I do not understand why the USA is not letting the Hatians in as refugees: Their leader is in exile; They are in anarchy; and a "peace keeper" force is being led in by the United Nations to bring peace and stability to the country. If the UN feels that the people are so in danger that they require armed forces to be sent in to save them then why does the USA not recognise them as genuine refugees? And if the UN does not feel that the people are in danger, then why are they sending in a peace keeper force?

It is as bad as Australia not accepting people from Iraq/Afghanistan as refugees. On the one hand the "coalition of the willing (stupid)" is there bombing these countries leaders; these peoples homes; and infrastructure to "free the people" from ruthless dictatorships (only to later install a ruthless dictatorship - but that's another story) - and on the other hand they are saying that those fleeing from these countries are not genuine refugees.

I am out of the office a total of three (3) working days and in this time the boss has unwittingly unleashed 3 email-bourne viruses into our system - without me there the place literally falls apart. He had to contact the IT guy who told him that my anti-virus program on my computer isn't working properly - neither of them are willing to admit that norton anti-virus could possibly let a virus through if it was working properly. With me gone on and off the next six-months they will begin to realise how much money I save them by taking care of all of the It troubles.

I was given instructions on what town to go to next when driving back home from Bourke by my boss, as you probably can imagine, this did not go well. My boss had a map and told my town-by-town at each major change in direction what the next one was - the problem with this is that the directions in the towns (signs and the like) only have the major town that the road goes to. Consequently, I made it to the first town and just had to guess my way back for the rest of it.