Product of your... imagination?

A lot of people think I have a few 'chips' on my shoulder, and I do nothing to dispel the notion, in particular I have a abhorration of private schools (although they might have taught me to spell!). Note I said schools, not the students of said schools! But, to drag the conversation back on topic, we are considering what makes you who you are. Yes, I believe private school has the effect of turning people into silver spoon fed selfish brats... but i also think it has the effect of providing upteen more opportunities more bright minds then public school. Which I think is a contributing factor to social class divisions... but hey, thats another topic!

What makes you who you are? This is something I spend a lot of time thinking about... not about what made me who i am, but what makes people who they are in general, what decides how well they will do in life (whatever that means!), how they behave, how they act, etc.

I agree with my lovely sister, Rhian, that the people that care for us are a very lage part in the process of who we are, how we react and what we think. But I don't think everything that is a part of us is a product of the people who are important to us. I think most things are. Nor do i think that everything that happens to us has a reason or was caused by someone. Logic does not permit us to infer cause and effect from a sequence, just because we won cricket the last time I wore my lucky socks, doesn't mean they are either lucky or that we will win next time I wear them. Accidents happen and sometimes nobody is genuinely responsible.

Any act of significant influence can create change and have an impact on people. Al Gore and the movie he is promotong, "an inconvenient truth" may change the way some people view the world. Armstrong stepping on the moon may have had the same impact. There are many moments in life that can have a major impact on who we are; a near miss car accident, a winning lottery ticket, an inspirational drunken D&M, a random pay-it-forward moment, a smile from the woman in the red dress and for the chaos theorists, a butterfly flapping its wings...

As for those parents who bring a child into the world that they cannot support, I don't think it is quite so black and white. I'm sure there are situations where people are responsible for raising children they had no hope of supporting. However I'm also sure that people who were in a position to support a child, had a child and then circumstances change to place them in a position where they can no longer support that child. And what say those of us who are in a position to support a child, but don't?

So who and what is it that I can blame for me having this tendency to write on my blog when I should be finishing my thesis! Not to menthion the tendency towards addiction to certain computer games!

In the end.

Rhian makes some very good points (here).

I think a lot of us are very obessive these days, but you need to take a wider view of death, money, success and time then usually implied to cover most stereotypes...

For instance, success can mean a lot of things. I'm obsessed to a certain degree with success... but it is success in terms of goals I have set myself. Some people are obsessed with succeding according to societies goals. Success can only be defined in terms of the goals it is measured against.

Which brings us to money... obsession with money could mean an obsession with cold hard cash (think scrooge from Donald Duck), material possessions or freedom. Being obsessed with Death could mean being obsessed with living (fear of death), being obsessed with health or being obsessed with religion (after life)... and although it wasn't mentioned, some of us are obsessed with being in love!

I think being able to live the lives we live is a product of much more then just the people around us, the people who care about us... but if you think back to the start that you get in this world, the statement has a lot of merit. I never did like the saying that we are all born equal, because clearly the kids on cigerette packets under the heading "Smoking can harm your baby" are clearly not born equal, and that is a product of being born to parents who didn't care as much as they should have. On the flip side, Kids born malnourished are not born equal. Kids whose familes cannot support them are not born equal... but it is not a product of the people who care for them.

Is feeling loved and wanted all that matters in the end? I'd like to think that along with feeling loved, I'll feel contented that, as a product of the people who care about me, I did the only thing they ever really asked of me, I tried my best.

What do you want to feel/think in the end? Are you working toward that right now? Is this a meaning of life?

BBQ Monday 27th November 6:30Pm

Yes thats right, BBQ, Monday 27th November, 6:30 PM. My place, Pacific Hwy, Artarmon. Call me or email me if you need the address. BYO meat and drinks, salad and softies provided.

Bring your swimmers. We have a pool!

Time and Marginal utility

I know it has been a very long time since I made an effort with regard to this blog, and it is a factor of two things, time and marginal utility...

Time:

Not many of us have a lot of time anymore. But time alone cannot be an excuse, because it is always possible to make time, it is always possible to stop doing one thing, and do another. So, rather then sleeping you could be visiting your girlfriend (like Heath!). Rather then working you could be at the TAB (Like dad!). Rather then calling your family you could be studying (like me :P). So, time is not an excuse, because a lack of time implies a lack of importance, which introduces our second concept...

Marginal utility:

The choices you make about time reflect, to a degree, your opinions of whats important, wahts enjoyable and whats urgent in the world. Geroge bush spends a lot of time talking rhetoric, rhetoric is important to Gerge Bush. John Howard spends a lot of time talking about whatever the hottest topic currently is (global warming) because wining elections is important to him. Unfortunately I have to admit that i have spent a lot of time recently glued to my computer working on my thesis because ithas been important, enjoyable and urgent! I'm sure my family understands!

So... is TV time more important, more urgent and more enjoyable then wahtever else you could be doing? Which ties in so well with opportunity costs... but maybe another time!

14/11/06

Buenos Aires..

Well since Damo hasn't updated his blog for ages I have decided to write
something..
Not long now and i will be back in Oz..
But for the moment I am enjoying my stay in Buenos Aires the captial of
Argenina and what a beautiful city it is! With just over 2 million people (I
think) It's a city full of all the necessities..like good food and an
awesome nightlife..crazy..
A typical night here (most nights of the week) might include a parrilla
(basically a Argentinian BBQ) where HUGE lumps of
steak..lomo,tira,chorizo..cooked slowly over hot coals, served with a simple
salad of lechuga,tomate y cebolla (lettuce,tomato and onion) you can't go
wrong. And it's soooo cheap!For all this you might pay 10 pesos ($4 AUD)
this is the life..
The thing is parties don't start till at least 1.30-2am sometimes 3 and out
till 9am..that's the life and it's very easy to get used to..

What was really cool..I went to a Boca Juniors game..if that means nothing
to you, let me explain. La Boca -'The Mouth' in English- is a working class
area in BA at the mouth of the rio de la plata (river of silver) and they
have one of the most famous soccer teams in the world. They have won around
15 international championships and so therefore have a HUGE following. So
went to the game on Sunday night. You have no idea how crazy these fans
are.The hooligans (the cheer squads) have like mafia control over the
officials, players, ticket sellers everything..fans throw bags of piss at
each other..suddenly Collingwood fans seem quite dignified..they have like
100 songs that are sung throughout the game all about there love for la
Boca..otra, otra vuelta Boca! For these people, their team is their
life..locazo!

Well just a little bit of news to add..hope alls well..
Will be seeing you all soon

besos

Ange

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Ultimate Frisbee - FCUTS

I have decided to take up ultiamte frisbee this summer. I had so much fun with the 'Mothers Finest' team in Canada that I had to take this sport up again! We only ever won one game that I can remember, but hell it was so good until we started to take it too seriously!

Besides it remioned me of 4ths and 3rds Football where I played 3 seasons for about 3 wins! (Going on 18 games a season, thats Stats of: Losses 51, Wins 3.)

As everybody knows, Ultimate is mixed sex sport so we really need to encourage some girls to get involved. Its anything but serious and they have 4 divisions based on skill, so their is always going to be beginners.

Checkout http://www.ufnsw.com.au/uts/ for more details.

Water

Did anyone catch the short Documentary on SBS or ABC last night about the privatisation of water? I had to duck off to Ultimate Frisbee (more on that later) so missed most of it, but thought the topic was fascinating nonetheless.

Although some people may think this is a bit over the top, It really doesn't matter. It is an inescapable reality that one day, clean, fresh water is going to be a precious commodity. Whilst the amount of fresh water in the world will remain constant, population and pollution growth will drastically reduce the amount of clean fresh water we have per capita, not to even mention distribution problems for places like Australia where it has a habit of not showing up where its most required.

A friend asked me recently for a long term investment tip. I told him of a few stocks I had my eye on but I also told him that long long long term - anything to do with water was going to be a winner. Innovation with regard to water quality has recently been a hotbed of activity, and with good cause, we can't live without it, and eventually it will be a commodity for which we will have to pay a hefty price for. People complain about paying $1.50L for petrol, what about $1.50L for water? Your average 5 min morning shower would cost more than $25.

Caufield Cup

Caufield Cup Day is Saturday the 21st of October. It is the last opportunity to get in on the spring racing action, to dress up, drink up and checkout the frilly fillys and suited stallions.

The plan at this stage is to meet up at Eddy Avenue, Central Station and catch a bus in to Randwick as a group at around 1130. For full event info check here and above. Feel free to bring a friend along, cost is $15 and I have been informed that it is not BYO unfortunately. Picnic rug recommended?

Past, present and future.

Listen to the Exhortation of the Dawn!

Look to this Day!

For it is Life, the very Life of Life.

In its brief course lie all the

Verities and Realities of your Existence.

The Bliss of Growth,

The Glory of Action,

The Splendor of Beauty;

For Yesterday is but a Dream,

And To-morrow is only a Vision;

But To-day well lived makes

Every Yesterday a Dream of Happiness,

And every Tomorrow a Vision of Hope.

Look well therefore to this Day!

Such is the Salutation of the Dawn!

A poem by Kalidasa

Beautiful world

There are quite a few big issues floating around the world these days which could have a major impact on life in the future. Now I'm not well versed in the current scientific mumbo jumbo but my understanding is that it goes soemthing like this;

Polution is bad. Air polution in particular has a very nasty effect on the ozone. The ozone is what protects the earth from adverse amounts of radiation from the sun. The increase in radiation can be exemplified by global warming. The main claim of Global warming is the melting of ice caps and hence the increase in sea levels / reduction in land levels.

If the earth gets hot enough and the ice caps melt enough, then we will all be flooded (or our childrens childrens childrens.... children^(n). Now since those ice caps have probably been around since the ice ages... it stands to reason that they have been melting ever since. Now its going to be a long long time before anything bad happens, but we have a lot of very intelligent people who claim to know that this is definately going to happen.

So what will be done about it in our lifetime? What can we do about it? I'll let you think about that for a while because... the reality is, while it is a very important issue I'm afraid to say that I really have to go do some work on my thesis, which on a global scale is far less important, yet has a deadline of November 13th, 2006.

Sad isn't it, how the world works.

Paintball

I know I haven't been posting much lately, I'm sure people will argue with me but statistical computer programming doesn't leave much room for creative thought processes...

For those that didn't get the email - Paintball is happening on Sunday October the 29th.

Why so far away? because if you book a month in advance you get 100 free paintballs (worth $20). So anybody interested you need to contact me before the 29th of September if you want your free paintballs, otherwise simply before the 22nd of October to get your $10 discount!

So assuming you contact me before the 22nd of Ocotober prices are as follows:

400 paintballs + gun + lunch = $60
600 paintballs + gun + lunch = $80

For every extra 100 paintballs you buy on the day they will cost you $20.

You will need to make your way out to edwards rd, Rouse Hill by about 9 am. Any late registrants forefeit their discounts!

Seeing Double

I could write a post about 11/9... but there is enough crap already written about it... So, here is another puzzle for you!

You have two glasses of equal size. One is half full of Gin and one is half full of Tonic. A shotglass from the Gin glass is poured into the tonic glass, then a shotglass full from the tonic glass is poured into the gin glass. Does the Gin glass have more tonic then the tonic glass has Gin?

Talking abouit a year away

Its has been over a year since I flew out to London, and over a year since I flew from London to Canada! How time flies... in two and a half months I will hopefully be finished Honours! Funny how our lives can be seperated into such small segments.

Some of the things I have forgotten to tell you in the past year because they weren't that interesting then!

When I arrived at Regina international airport, I was confident there would be no problems going through customs. It was late - around midnight. The flight had been slightly delayed. My transfer (Richard from the exchange office) was waiting for me. I didn't have a student visa because I was staying in Canada less then 6 months... When the Canadian immigration offical asked me what I was doing in Canada, I said studying, of course.

I'm not sure if she was new to her job or what, but she wouldn't let me pass! Despite the law being that i didn't need a visa, she thought it a good idea that she prepare a special visa which indicated all the restrictions of a student visa. In fairness it was because I was leaving the country after 5 months and coming back in again! Unfortunately she needed to process all the other passengers first, then she needed to contact the emergency IT department because she needed to overide certain controls to make this 'special' visa. I wonder what those controls were in place for?

Eventually I got away at about 2am. Poor Richard! Then of course there were the problems when I flew into Vancouver from Seattle, they looked at my now expired 'special' visa and said; "What the hell is this?" Yay, more delays, except this time it was Alvin who had to wait about an hour before they shook their head in exasperation and let me go free!

I still say none of it was my fault! Don't even let me get started on the stupidity of the fact that you need a US visa even if you only transit through the country but stay more then 3 or 6 months!

Got you by the goat.

Some of us would have heard of this one or something similar before;

A farmer has a bag of chook food, a chook and a fox which he needs to get to the opposite side of a river. He can only take one item at a time across in his boat. For obvious reasons he cannot leave certain items on any side of the river together, i.e., the chook and chook food, the chook and the fox. How does he get all three items to the other side of the river?

In the groove

I invested in some lateral thinking exercises, and being the amazing lateral thinker I am, i thought I'd get you lot to solve them for me!

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A Vinyl record measures 32cm across. There is a 1cm margin around the edge and a centre label which measures 10cm across. There are 30 grooves per cm. How far does the needle travel if the record is played from start to finish?

I'll be back

Just a message to all my fans..

I have a date and it's set in concrete..
I will be home (well in Melbourne) on the 24th of November.
It's time to say goodbye to South America (and the fact that my ticket
expires on the 23rd haha)

I'm in Lima at the moment. Peru's capital nestled on the coast. I'm staying
in super nice suburb (that could easily be the northern beaches or eastern
burbs in Sydney) called Miraflores (translates to Lookflowers)
I've been doing too much shopping having bought two pairs of perscription
glasses for like $200 dollars and they will be ready on Monday! So totally
awesome and a pair of shoes and yeah..ooops

All is going well.
Had to leave my beautiful peruvian boy behind which was heart wrenching
after basically living together for a month in Mancora and Trujillo..awww
=o(

But..I'm looking forward to the last leg of my trip..the south of Peru,
Cusco and onto to Bolivia, northern Argentina and Buenas Aires and the
finally to Chile and ciao!

I can't believe it will have been a year away.

Ok sorry for the mundane post..

Hope everyone is doing buenarzo!
besos
Ange

Icebreakers - The theory.

My previous post garnered some rather derisive comments, and I being a rather strong believer in well executed ice-breakers thought they needed some defending.

-----------------------------------

Against the claim that everybody knows why they are there...

A) Not everybody knows why they are there, in fact most people don't, except that it is a subject they are required to do to get their degree. In fact I ask them that very question and the answer is quite often silence. Why silence, why not Yes or No? Because, besides the extroverts nobody else feels comfortable stating their opinion, thoughts or ideas... why? I don't know - I've always been an 'extrovert' in this confined context!

The only people to get anything out of icebreakers are extroverts...

B) Extroverts get very little out of icebreakers because without the icebreaker, they would participate in calss anyway. It is the introvert that gets the most out of icebreakers. When icebreakers are effectively executed the participants persuade the introvert out of the shell, once out of its shell the introvert will find that the environment they are in is actually quite comfortable. Hence, the introvert is more likely to contribute in class in future because they know it is a safe environment.

Against the claim that icebreakers create trauma...

C) If an icebreaker creates trauma, it must not be a very good icebreaker. Whilst an introvert may feel a little social trauma at first, a good icebreaker will develop in stages to 'persuade' the introvert out of the shell, rather then forcing them out. Hence, the search for 'good' icebreakers...

Against the claim that we should 'Just get on with it'...

D) Getting on with it is inevitable hard when few people are willing to participate in class. When getting on with it involves participation, discussion, and student contribution, you can't really 'get on with it' until you have made the students feel safe and comfortable, until you have reduced the pressure for only the 'correct' answer and have persuaded students that you arrive at the best answer through debate. Hence, you can't really 'get on with it' until you get on with the icebreaker.

Against the claim that i should just tell them about how bad an accountant I was when I was 9...

E) Self humiliation is a very effective icebreaker and is practiced by myself (You should have seen my imitation of donuts floating down the processing line) and quite a few tutors and lecturers at UTS School of Accounting.

Ice Breakers

I'm giving my first tutorial on thursday, and apparently, since my role in the class is 'facilitator', not 'teacher', I'm after the best ever ice-breakers you have had to do. Some of the ones mentioned so far:

- Skydiving formations
- Tell the crowd about yourself and they guess if its true or false.
- Go around the room and try to match people to a list of stereotypes.
- pair up and tell your partner 1 thing you love, 1 thing you hate and 1 thing you want more then anything else in the world.

If only my HTML programming was good enough, I could whip up an online poll!

Welcome home Nick!

Welcome home Nicholas!

After what sounds like a fantastic 5 week trip through Europe and Japan Nick has returned to Australia, and in what fine form! Procurring three guest passess into the members stand on Saturday night for the game between Essendon and the Swans. The game wasn't the best, but the commentating was superlative! Thanks Mikey for the off-field entertainment.

Trialled a different pub onthe way home - the Dolphin in Surry Hills, very nice. Recommended. Beer prices were a bit steep ($5 for a Coopers), but the place was large, comfortable, clean, and filled with interesting, young, beautiful, people.

Fiddling with Regedit

Ever heard any conspiracy stories about Microsoft? Maybe you heard they put chips in your computer that identified themselves over the internet when you connect, or maybe secretly authorising access codes used by Microsoft applications to track pirated software? Well, they maybe true - but what is definetly true is that Microsoft uses its position as an Operating System manufacturer and designer to give its programs a leg up.

Whats so wrong with that? Nothing, provided it is beneficial to the customer - for example, compatibility between Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Internet Explorer, you know - stuff that is good for you. What if its not beneficial for the customer?

For example, Microsft Access is limited by the Microsoft Windows registry to only using 9500 page - locks per file. Whats a page lock? I don't know - but it has soemthing to do with memory involved in processing a given action. Basically, if your database is big enough, you will eventually start to use more then 9500 pagelocks per file, and whenever you try to do something you will get a "error - not enough memory available for requested operation" or something similar. Why is the maxpagelocksperfile in the regustry set to 9500? Nobody knows, but when I had this error this morning, we jumped straight on and changed it to 100,000 (approx equivalent of 10Mb of memory). Access was able to perform its duty and we were able to get on with our work.

Why does Microsoft do this? Probably to force you upgrade to a more expensive database program once you hit that size database. People criticise Microsoft Access as being a kiddies database, but really - I like the interface, its the Jet SQL engine and Microsoft that screw it up. Sure, if your serious about databases - MySQL or soemthing similar is probably more for you - if your not going to be using it everyday, MSAccess is the perfect learning tool. It'll even teach you how to hack the registry and beat Microsoft at its own game, eventually!

Please post a comment with any conspiracy stories about any computer manufacturer - I like conspiracy stories!

Mudgee Wine & Food Fair - Balmoral Beach.

On Sunday August the 13th Withams Tea and Coffee is sponsoring the Mudgee Wine and Food Fair which will be held at Balmoral Beach. It looks like I'll be working the expresso machine for Master Latte Craftsman Smith of Withams Coffee and I was thinking this could be a great way to kick-off our 'Back to the Glory days' party.

I hope a few people will be able to make it down on the day, taste some wine, coffee, cheese and maybe take a Masterclass in either! A short Blurb is posted below but I encourage you to visit the official site which has many more details.

The plan at this stage is to have fun on the day before heading back to the apartment to continue the wine 'tasting' and swap stories about the glory days.

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Each year, the Winemakers of Mudgee bring their fabulous award-winning Wines to Sydney at the famous, Mudgee Wine and Food Fair.

Located at picturesque Balmoral Beach, surrounded by local produce and a great array of food, arts, crafts and textiles, the Winemakers of Mudgee set-up the annual Wine & Food Fair – so you can get to sample the delights of the Mudgee region without leaving the city!

The Balmoral Fair kicks off at 10am on August 13th, 2006 and it's Sydney's chance to see what great food and wine is on offer from the Mudgee region. Last tasting are at 5pm and tasting tokens are only available until 4pm. A live band will also be providing entertainment.

The Fair is located around the Rotunda at the western end of Balmoral Beach. Free Shuttle Buses will be operating in a continuous circuit from Balmoral Beach to Military and Spit Roads via Raglan Street and Awaba Street throughout the day. As parking can become congested at the Beach, we do suggest you use this park-and-ride service. Buses will run at 15-minute intervals and can also be hailed from anywhere along the route between 9.30 am and 5.00 pm.

Full timetables for all bus and ferry travel to and from Balmoral, can be downloaded from the State Transit Authority.

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Return to your Glory Days Party

This is very advanced notice that on either the 25th, 26th or 27th of August, Heath and I will be holding a 'Return to your Glory Days' party at our new apartment.

Its not intended to be a loud or late evening at this stage, but more of a quiet gourmet wine, beer and conversation night. The plan is that everyone who attends has to bring a story to tell from their past, either from their glory days - whenever that may have been, from travels over-seas, travels to the local, or a story that helped define who they were.

Now I know it sounds all a bit sassy and touchy feely for a wannabe weetbix strongman and an accountant, but if it gets everyone out of their comfort zones and generates a bunch of laughs, were all for it (Actually, Heath knows nothing about it at this stage!)

Please let me know if you think this is a good idea or not?

Alvin on Rove Live

Alvin (AKA Nivla) May be on Aussie TV on Tuesday night! I sent a pic of him pointing at a very wierd street sign into the What the...? Section of Rove Live last week. So depending on how far ahead they record, he may be on TV soon! Keeps your eyes peeled people!

PS. There is a profile of Alvin linked to the Sidebar. Check out the Pic here

Austalian Federal Police

Was lucky enough to have a visit from teh Ausralian Federal Police the other weekend at our new apartment. i was hone alone, cooking rice, had the music turned up, walking around in my trackie-dacks, as you do... as you do. Eventually heard them pounding at the first of our two doors, answered it with a saucepan full of rice in hand and closely inspected the badge that was provided, it was decidedly not impressive.

The polite but bulky gentleman came in and started asking a bunch of questions about a young Australian-Pakastani friend of mine who had recently had a flurry of financial transactions with prominent Swiss bank accounts. This associate of mine had apparently been joined in a tour of disreputable places and characters in western Europe by a traditional Irish troublemaker and the authorities were obviously a little concerned as to just waht they were getting upto... Big shout out to the lads (and you are lads!) in Europe.

Unfortuantely, I did have a visit from the immigration department, they were looking for a young indonesia female who had aparently over stayed her visa... Should have seen their eyes light up when I opened the door with a saucepan full of rice!

How wierd is the human body?

Very weird!

No this is not going to be a sex-ed lesson, I'm less then qualified! However, the University does think I can tutor Cost Management Systems! Crazy people! Anyway, after feeling ill that time watching Heath and Sarah go through her book of gross illnesses (with images), I knew why I never did biology at school. So, in light of recent events, a lesson on the Liver (have to find some way to balance the sites approach to responsible drinking!).

"The principal roles of the liver include removing toxins and processing food nutrients."

"The most common cause of liver disease is excessive alcohol consumption."

(Vic health)

A lot of people (me!) thought the livers job was just to stop the crap we consume from affecting any other parts of the body, kind of like a big filter. Predominantly, that is correct. However, the Liver also has a job creating protein (Huh - Just got Heaths attention) and processing some food into good stuff for our bodies.

"The characteristic structure and organization of the liver enables it to perform vital roles in regulating, synthesizing, storing, secreting, transforming, and breaking down many different substances in the body. In addition, the liver's ability to regenerate lost tissue helps maintain these functions, even in the face of moderate damage."

(Janis & Friends hepatitis help)

According to Janis & Friends, these are the main roles of the Liver:

1. Regulations, Synthesis, and Secretion.
2. Storage.
3. Purification, Transformation, and Clearance.

Check out the webpages for more details, you'll be amazed to find out the liver has a role in cutting down fat, controlling your sugar levels, storing protein and vitamins, sorting out your snot and bile, controling your hormones, watches your acid levels, has a role in your metabolism, and can have an affect on what your skin looks like! Pretty impressive!

All in all, I think the message is that you should look after it, because its job is to look after you!

Lightbulbs for Carbon Dioxide Emissions

Have you seen those people handing over free energy efficient lightbulbs? Have you wondered why nobody accepts them? Maybe they are busy, maybe they are afraid they have to sign away their personality, maybe they think its just a marketing gimmik, cause they know nothing comes free.

Well, I'm not sure why people don't at least find out what these free lightbulbs are actually going to cost them, its probably just because we are sick of the personal affrontation of marketing these days. What I do know is what they cost you - your ability to trade your carbon dioxide emissions.

Carbon dioxide emissions are now a tradeable commodity, but I don't think you or I can really participate in the market - except by gaining a few cheap, energy efficient lightbulbs. What I theorize happens is that energy companies are now limited in their CO2 emissions. However, like water for irrigators, they can buy extra emissions, but those emissions have to come from somewhere. So, we have companies like easybeinggreen who offer you free energy efficient lightbulbs in exchange for the reductioninyour CO2 emissions. They then trade those CO2 emission credits back to the energy companies - which enables them to expand their CO2 emissions.

Theoretically, there will be a trickle down effect. The reduction in energy use by consumers hopefully means eventually, energy companies can reduce their CO2 emissions because they are not required to provide as much energy anymore.

Sound confusing - it is, least of all because im not really sure how it all works yet - but I'll find out and get back to you about it. However, I'm all for it.

Oh yeah - Stock tip of the day for the environmental conscious: Buy any stock that sells/manufactures anything to do with water purification and rain tanks. Long term (100years) outlook is amazing growth! In fact - go one better, start stockpiling your water supplies right now while its cheap, because no doubt, one day - its going to run out!

Day-in-the-life-of-Ange Part Two

Hola amigos!

Well while waiting for a bus to Trujillo to see Kike I have decided to write
the second installment of a day in my life. Excited? Where was I? Ok so at school..

I am currently team teaching fifth and six grades with Ko and Sarah. Fifth grade I have been teaching since I started and I really love them to bits. Despite being a class of 47, they are a lot of fun and I feel bad punishing them with boring topics such as verbs and pro-nouns this week but it has to be done. It's hard not to have favourites, but I have a few. Lil' Damian and David Octavio are THE cutest lil' guys and make me laugh all the time. And Elmer actually looks like a cross between Elmo and Gollum. It's possible. But the sweetest lil' guy too. And 'Old Man Roberto' is 14 but looks like a little old man, and the most responsible 14 yo I have met. Yeah as you can see most of my favs are boys. Don't know why. The girls are really unenthusiastic, even though I quite like Maribel and Luz Angelica. And these few are probably the smartest in the class too. So they always make me feel better when I think all is lost. I ask 'Damian?' and he's always right. Thank you. Someone is getting it. He had the cutest little red shirt on yesterday.

So I teach the fives and then the sixes who are just so hormonal at the moment. And so unwilling to do what you ask of them. Always complaining. 'Mala!' Lori and Maria del Pilar say to me. 'Bad!' Whatever. I mean they should have all got at least 19 on their solar system exam. So after classes we can go home, visit families or have recreo (recreation)and that means playtime. Yesterday we tried to teach them netball. But it turned into a completely different game. They really don't like standing still with a ball. But at least they used their hands and not their feet. That's progress. After 45 minutes of games we head home. Before I jump into a moto, the girls like to tell me that I'm pregnant. Ok, I may have put on a little bit of weight since I have settled down in Piura, but looking pregnant is over exaggerating a little. But it's always a shock to these girls that I am 21 without children. It's then back to the kiosko to buy some 'orejitas' (little palmier type cookies) and into an uncomfortable combi to Piura.

The afternoons I spend sleeping, eating, emailing, talking and more talking usually. So that's basivcally what I have been doing for the last two and a half months in Piura and travelling on weekends or hanging out in Piura. Not really that exciting, huh?hehehe you wanted to hear it!But well I am having fun and in a week and a half it's all going to be over and I am really going to miss it.

Until next time.

Ange.

The little green man flashed before me!

I nearly died and possibly saved a life or two this afternoon!

I'm a serial amber-light pedestrian crosser. Some smart postie once told me familiarity breeds contempt - At intersections I know, I often start crossing on the amber light when I know that as soon as it goes red, the little green man will light my way. I hate walking in crowds, and this gets me to the front of the que.

This particular day, I didn't do it on Broadway, because the buses in the bus lane can be damned scary! As I crossed the second lane, I looked into the oncoming traffic and just as I was about to step into the third lane, I casually noticed the guy was going very fast... he saw me, pulled an amazing :0 face, slammed on the breaks, shot right by me and went more then half-way into the intersection. He stopped less then 2 meters away from the car turning right onto broadway. I estiamate a distance of about 30 meters from when he saw me and where he stopped. The speed limit on the road is 60 or 70 Kmph.

Two observations:

1. If I walked on the orange light and didn't look up - I'd be dead or at least in hospital.
2. If the driver hadn't of seen me at all, he would have ploughed right into the passenger side of the other car. He certainly didn't seem to see the red-light.

Interesting times.

WinkMan & WinkWoman

I want to start a new craze, but its not a craze like a fashion fad, or cool slang, and its not for my own personal benefit (although it could be) and I don't want to start it just so I can call it mine, Best yet, it has the potential to make the world a better place (yes, I'm ambitious!).

The new craze will be:

Winking

This idea started a while ago and has (upto now) been a personal mood booster. When I'm walking along, a little glum for no particular reason other then lifes not fair - I make eye contact with a (usualy female) passerby, and wink at them. The thing with winking is, you just can't help but smile! Your scrunching up half your face and it naturally lifts your lips into a smile... and if they see you, the passerby can't but help smile back. Just a small way of making somebodies life interesting and making them feel good about themselves. It doesn't have to be a passerby of the opposite sex, it can be whatever you feel most comfortable with.

Now, as I discussed with Nick some time ago, for best results - don't make the wink too suggestive or obvious and most importantly - reserve your wink for ordinary people and never use it on two people in a row! In that one blink of an eye you need to convey a special meaning, you have to make the passer-by believe the wink is only for them, and the only way of doing that is to make sure it IS just for them.

By avoiding winking at only drop-dead beautiful people you are also setting yourself up for a better response, because your engaging people who don't expect it and who possibly aren't used to the attention. Besides, beautiful people get enough attention - its time for the ordinary folk to rebel!

Coming soon: The Just Jeans / Canada Exchange inspired Free Hug Coupon coming to a back pocket near you!

Site Changes

Thanks for the post Ange! Look forward to the next instalment.

I hope some of you have noticed some changes to the site. Let me know how you like them and feel free to make some suggestions for other changes.

I'm currently working on getting the recent comments section into date order, currently it operates in Post order. That is, the commetns are listed in order of the post they apply to. Comments that relate to the most recent post will be at the top of the list.

Day-in-the-life-of-Ange

Saludos de Peru!

So there has been a request from the creator himself on a 'Day-in-the-life-of-Ange-in-Peru post' so well here it is..and because i have a tendency to write a LOT, I will write in a couple of parts. It's really such a different world and it's all so normal to me now. My day begins with the alarm like any working person and it will be set for the latest time possible. I have a cold shower (there is no such thing as hot water here in Piura unless you pay something like $50 USD a night at a fancy hotel..pfff whatever) for like a minute to wash off all the dirt from the day before. I don't fancy a cold shower at night, even in a Piurian Summer, so I go to bed dirty. I greet my family 'Buenas Dias' and whoever else is in my house and head to the bakery for breakfast.

I meet the other volunteers at 8.30am and we get into a combi (it's a mini
bus meant for let's see..maybe 17 people but they will try and squeeze as
many people, animals -including dead fish, turkeys and today Cedric had a
screaming goat- as they can) but it's normal. And if you are REALLY lucky
you will be stuck up the back next to the fattest smelliest men or woman
ever with the driver going at a ridiculous speed and you will hit your head
constantly on the roof because these buses are NOT made for gringos. You
will also have the attention of the entire bus with your blue or green eyes
or light hair. Your every move. And the questions '�Donde eres?' o '�Que
pais?' (Where are you from? or What country?) A great start to the morning. We arrive in La Arena in about half an hour. And get a moto-taxi (motobike taxi) to Alto de los More where the school is. Passing through the town of mud brick and straw homes or the chakras (farms) with horses and donkeys pulling carts of reeds and people drying corn out the front of their homes and dirty looking children playing in the streets with their boney dogs.

We arrive at the primary school which has around 250 students from ages 5-14 (I have an 11 yo in my first grade and 14 yo in my fifth grade..there are no special classes for kids with learning disabilities and kids get kept down all the time)The school has seven class rooms, the principals office and a small playground, the rest is dirt. There are maybe four unflushing toilets, a small garden and a tin shed for a kitchen (canteen) Ok that's all for now..I will continue a typical day next time

Ange

lamron - backwards logic.

Try this logic on for size and validity:

Consider a world where everybody is special or different and where normal is defined as the most popular choice or the most likely outcome. Being different and special is clearly the most popular choice or outcome. Therefore being different and special is clearly normal.

If being different and special is clearly normal, and everybody is special and different, everybody must be normal because we defined normal as the most popular choice or most likely outcome (being different).

If everybody is normal, nobody is different and only some people may be special (those who weren't simply special because they were different).

Clearly, this world cannot exist. In fact where normal is given by a majority, a priori, we cannot have a world where a majority of people are different - because that would imply being different is normal.

The Weekend that was...

... was very Interesting.

Reminded me of a Discworld book; "Interesting Times" where Rincewind the Wizard is cursed with 'interesting times' in his future. Rincewind is a coward, he likes things safe, predictable, boring, planned and convenient. The weekend was none of these, it was awesome and odd at the same time.

Suffice to say; Welcome home Mel, CBD, $3.50 Vodka-anything, *12 (Approx), D&M's, Disapearing acts, 4:00am, running home barefoot. Interesting times, Use your imagination.

Thanks to all involved.

A man and his donkey.

Ok, so i have really become disturbed about the Peruvian culture. It's not the first time I have been utterly disturbed by Peruvian cuture but the information that has just come to hand has really made me wonder... And I'm sorry Damien if this is a G-rated website and feel free to delete the contents of my recent post. Ok firstly, It's a universally known fact (well maybe not univerally known.. but in Australia anyways) that people from New Zealand have a thing for sheep. We just assume because there are more sheep than people there that it might be ahh hard for some to umm to you-know-what.

And when my dear hermanito Cedric told me that he had come across some lads in Ecuador that admitted to having sex with a donkey. I could NOT beleive it. So I took my case to Kike, my beautiful wealth of Peruvian knowledge. The look on his face confirmed everything. It was true, and not just in Ecuador. So it seems, that it is not unheard of to sleep with a donkey, a sheep, a turkey maybe? anything you can get your hands on in Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, wherever. Kike told me he had witnessed an event when he was 12 that involved a man and a donkey. 'It's normal' he said. I lared at him.

My friend Anne was undisturbed by the news. Anthony and I were in shock. How? Why? What? When? Where? Why? Why? Why??? And so I ask myself these questions. And I think it has something to do with the men in these countries. And then I thought, it can't just be these countries. It has to be happening at home. So please guys. Tell me. What's going on? Just a thought for today. Ange-out.

And no Kike hasn't, you know, with a donkey ok?

Normalacy

Nobody is fu*ked up anymore,

everybody is normal now.

The problem is,

normal is fu*ked up.

Society accept so much today that its hard not to be normal.

Anonymous.

Live X after Y

Coldplay was spine-tinglingly interesting. It was spectacular, it wasn't faaannnnntastic, it wasn't stupendous, it was intimate, touching, thoughtful and inspiring. Kinda odd for a rock concert. It made me think, remember and feel. Funny how different things affect different people... I've never been much of one for jumping up and down or carrying on all around, and I'm glad some people appreciate those who express themselves modestly. I wonder if the worlds problems would be solved if nobody paid any attention to all the people who do anything for it.

----------------------------------

Beautiful people live beautiful lies,

Simple people live a simple life.

Live lies after life.

Live simple.

---------------------------------

Politics

Wow - this blog is almost at teh stage where it drives itself! Cool! i admit not to adding much recently, but hey, otehrs lives are more interesting anyway! Thanks for the post from South America Ange!

Politics seems to be generating a little bit of heated debate, although i know mick is a passionate person sometimes I think he just loves to throw his vocab around! Quite impressive.

i think Australian Politics is very interesting at the moment, and has been for some time. being a business person I do appreciate that Costello is possibly one of the best treasureres we have had and that under the Howard regime the economy has done very well. However, Allan Greenspan was claimed to also be one of the US reserve banks best chairman and he still managed to fall from graces with some terrible choices, particularly throwing his weight behind George Bush endorsed tax cuts to the wealthy. It cost him his job.

Similarly, Costello and Howard have made some choices which I believe go against the best interests of the majority of Australians, especially in regards to tax cuts which favour the upper middle class, and especially in the last year. Also of concern are the AWA's and the anti-terrorism laws which infringe on citizens privacy. International disasters and threats should not be used for political leverage and as such, should create common ground between political parties - we have not seen that in Australia.

I jsut wanted to touch on these topics and invite people to express their opinion of what they think Howard has done well and waht Howard has done bad. Personally I think his worst mistakes have been made in regard to immigration and environmental policy - and it extends beyond refugees to things like security, but most importantly our sense of national identity. Whilst I do agree with restricting immigration to 'acceptable' applicants, the definition of acceptable is definately debatable not to mention the process.

As an aside, I'm going to go see Coldplay tonight! Thanks to Mick and his great forward thinking!

Vegemite and Caramello Koalas..

I haven't had a whiff of Vegemite since January. Today, I think I may have burnt some of my nasal hairs it was that goooood. But not that good that I wanted to roll around in it. Close. It was more like the reassuring smell of home. And all I could think about was finding a crusty white bread roll that had NO sugar and topping it with mantequlla (butter) and that perfect layer of Vegemite on top. Wow, the thought blew my mind.

The next thing I thought was giving my Peruvian family and friends a taste and having to explain to them why I like something that's so fuerte y negro! Que extrano! And then I wondered myself why I liked it. I have no idea. My Canadian friend Shaye seemed to think it was only because i was brought up with it. Maybe. But he said his Mum liked it. She wasn't Australian. I'm sure he said she was a hippy. Mmmm.. But I'm certain that I will not have to explain why I like Caramello Koalas so much. I think I will just have to hide them from Maria Paula, five years old and very crafty.

It took 17 days for my parcel to reach Peru. A big thanks goes out to my wonderful mother Gail in Geelong. Mi Mamita es el mejor!

George W Bush. Who voted for him anyway?

Some classic examples where a picture says a thousand words (or two: Plain stupid) about the US president. Thanks to Alan for forwarding them over.






I wouldn't be such a Bush basher if he had done ANYTHING good for the U.S., or the world! Arogant people are one thing, stupid arogant people who are failures are another. But then, someone had to vote for him even if a majority of Florida didn't. The world just makes you want to throw your hands in the air, look at the sky and ask out loud, is this really immaculate conception? Is this what you call perfectly designed?

Bryan is home already...

As I walked in the door at work, my phone rang. What a pleasent surprise, a call from South America! What clear reception they have! Bryan asks "What you doing?" to which I reply, "I'm at work. Why? Where are you?" "I'm back!"

So yeah, Bryan is in Sydney, I don't know why. He can't get into his car because I lost his keys in the move, and yes you can call us Abbot and Costello. At least I didn't forget the tent poles. No the keys are not in the car! Yes I've already looked there!

Something to think about?

I think the blog is becoming a little to much I this, I that... And besides, Nick has been complaining he isn't getting enough stimulating conversation these days. Apparently thats why he's heading to Europe where we know all they do is play soccer, eat good food, drink expensive grog and have kinky sex. I guess he is banking on the pillow talk stimulating something!
------------------------------

Have you ever considered what makes you change your mind? Are there patterns to it? Does the same thing make you change your mind all the time? I'm not talking black cats and ladders, but what about price, quality, appearance, how much you had had to drink, mood, presentation, the list goes on and on, but I wonder what is the most predominant. Lets call these things 'Alpha Characteristics'.

It depends. It depends on a lot of things like; what your buying, how much you need it, how much time you have, Whether its a luxury or necessity, if its high value or low value, and on and on. Lets call these things 'Beta Characteristics'.

There are millions of factors of many different things that our mind takes into account before we even realize. Namely Alpha Characteristics and Beta Characteristics. These characteristics are conditional upon each other and they grow together - the more Alpha charachterisitics, the more Beta Characteristics.

Where am I going with this? I don't know. But, does everyone appreciate this would not be a linear equation? Its exponential (I think), as the independent variables (Alpha & Beta Char.) get bigger, the dependent variable (Total) increases by an increasing rate.

Sooooo, if your making a decision anytime soon, just give up trying to analyse all those factors and accept the idea that your brain has already done it for you. But because you never listen to it (your brain) anyway, it has to tell your gut, to tell your brain, that your gut feel is Cola flavoured toothpaste is wrong, even if you do get a free stomach pump with it.

World Cup, Canada & Europe

Well, I'm sitting an exam right now. A take-home exam. So of course I decided today would be a good day to sort through all my old emails and find some people from the apst to email. Following on from the whole flashback thing.

Anyway, I emailed a whole bunch of people from Canada to say hi and see if they where still alive, plus a group email to everyone I had the email address of from my trip around the wolrd! (So if i met you on that trip and you didn't get an email, please post a comment!).

Stayed up to watch the Soccer Roos play Japan last night. It was an ok game, but if Australia plays liek that against Brazil i'm sure they'll get a whooped. Why? Because every time the ball was rebounded from the Japanese defence, they practically had an oportunity to score. Albeit, it didn't rebound beyond halfway a lot of the time.

Australia played hard tough Soccer, surprise surprise! But it just looked a little too crowded up the front and a little vulnerable at the back to a punter like me! Please correct me otehrwise.

While we ar eon the subject of Soccer, watching the game alst night reminded me why I hate watching soccer. Players taking dives ruins the sport. Soccer players should take a look at their global image. They are the biggest bunch of overpaid pansies I've ever seen.

I can understand what they are worried about though, their feet and legs, they are each worth a couple of Million a year. FIFA should seriosuly consider how much better the game would be without the dives and theatrics. It ruins the sport and leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

I guess what it comes down to is honesty. Soccer is a sport, a game. Sports and games are supposed to be about fun. Good, clean honest fun. If you need to take dives to have fun, then go play gymnastics. If you need to beat people up to have fun, then go be a boxer. It goes both ways, but if the old fashioned values of honesty and sportsmanship hadn't been thrown out the window with the sponsorship deals and multimillion dollar desperate footballers housewifes, I bet you'd see more football and less referee. That applies to life as well!

Clan time is over.

I'm moving out of the Clan.

Its been nearly 3 years since I moved in. I know some of my friends look down on that place, but to be short - they are not all qualified to judge since they still live at home. Lets not go thee though, cause thats another issue. Slack bludgers who live at home till they turn 30. Disgusting.

The Clan for a long time was a great place to come home too, and it still is. Way to much port and chocolate these days for a 22.75 yr old! Maybe there is something in the port that has been creating all these flashbacks... some kind of "back when I was a youngester" drug.

Unfortunately after me and Heath announced we were moving out, the whole house suddenly wanted to move out! I can understand it though, Heath and I are the major drawcards after all! HAHA.

The new place is Artarmon, I'm going to share with Heath and we have a pool! Wicked! The major problem is we have nothing! A few pots and pans etc, but no fridge and no washing machine! So if your turfing working white goods (in Sydney) let me know!

Flashback to the glory days!

Its not a Candian flashback this time though!

I was going for my usual stroll down to Darling Harbour on Monday evening about 6pm for a break between auditing and study. I had my big ski jacket on cause it was a horrrible wet and windy day and I was eating a pie! Haha, details!

No mum, thats not dinner - its arvo tea.

Anyway, I got to Jumbalong park and began to walk on the steps around the edge of it. I was soon daydreaming how the steps were like running lanes on an oval. That took me back to summer athletics carnival at highschool and how much fun it used to be! I would generally run the 400, 800, and 1500m. On this particular year I had tried running the 200m as well and it was hilarious to see that no matter how hard I tried to run I couldn't keep up with Roy Diarco!

Dave and me always had a bit of friendly rivalry going when it came to the 1500m. I even like to think he quit smoking so he could beat me! Haha. As I was walking along the steps I was struggling to keep balance, to keep in my lane so to speak. That reminded me of that particular year when he did beat me. He had led about 4 meters in front for the whole race and I made my move on the last corner with about 200m to go. With 100m to go I was sitting just behind off his right shoulder trying to overtake on the outside and we were both going flat chat. We may have been the only two in the race! As we approached the finish line along the home straight we pushed wider and wider and harder and harder but I couldn't budge him. We raced that last 100 meters locked in that position and only just passed inside the marshals table at the finish line. It was the best race I've ever been in, thanks Dave.

I don't know who it was, but one of the teachers suggested at the time it was like a replay of the Simon and Ashley 800m race that set the school record a couple of years prior. I think Demelza has easily the most school records out of any of us? How many Demelza, I know you can remember!

Ah the days when we were free to run and play!

Random Canadian Flashback # 2

Was walking to uni from work (Where everyone is sick) in the rain tonight. I was wearing shorts and did not feel the least bit cold. Reminded me I'm actually a Victorian, and I don't feel the cold in my legs.

But the Candian flashback came when I was going down a flight of stairs at uni. They where exactly the same as the stairs that led down from College West. Marble, with big wooden banisters, about the same width and gradient. But even more alarming, at the base of the stairs there was a window, and there was a gap between the window and the stairs - just like at College West, where I always tried to drop things on Reid!

I know some people from Regina checkthis blog out - I can see you on my stats - and others! (Yes I Can tell what city your ISP is from, and really - why else would I have recurring visitors from Zurich and Sweden?) Anyway - back to the point - who remembers setting sparklers in a poor army guy, giving him a parachute and tossing him from the top of college west?

Still doesn't beat the chicken in the oven for a week trick though.

Latin Inspirations..

Saludos de Peru! Hola amigos! Que tal? Awesome i hope..i won't spend too much time writing en Espanol because it would come across like I was rubbing it in or something.. and I would hate that.. And since it's my first contribution to Damo's wonderful blog I thought I'd better lay a little background down first (I'll make it quick i promise)before I go blabbing on about how wonderful it is over here..haha

So I left Australia on November 25th with a three week stint in Ecuador volunteering in a small coastal village called Oln and was going to travel for 4 months after that and return home in April.. that was non-existent plan one! Yeah I did the volunteer work.. teaching English to children who had never seen a 'gringo' in their lives (my posts will include a bit of a vocab..gringo/a is the term used to describe any foreigner. It originated in Panama sometimes - history is not really a strong point of mine- to describe the American troops in their army green clad bodies.. obviously a dislike for the Americans presence 'Green-go!' and thats how the term originated.. apparently.. who knows..

I quickly realised that 'todo es possible en Ecuador.' All is possible in Ecuador.. and it's true. The people in these countries live with such a freedom. Maybe not voting freedom.. or a freedom from poverty.. but I've come to realise you can do what-the-f%@k-you-want.. stick 50 people in a mini-bus.. ride in the back of anything that moves.. a moto-taxi, truck, donkey driven cart, whatever.. drink in the streets at whatever hour.. yell at people when you think you are getting ripped off.. or tell someone what price you want to pay and they can take it or leave it.. kick a mototaxi driver in the head and it not assault.. bribe officials.. walk around with chickens in plastic bags.. sexually harrass women all the time.. and much much much more!

After I volunteered I travelled around Ecuador. I met some really awesome people from all sorts of places all walks of life.. but we all had something in common, we didn't want to go home. Every backpacker I have met is searching, for what is different for everyone, themselves usually.. and as always, the people you meet really do make the experience..And now I am here living in Peru.. a dusty and buzzing city called Piura, located north about an hour from the beach.. teaching English at another small village about half hour away for a organisation called Ayni. A friend I made in Cuenca, Ecuador on New Years Eve is the co-ordinator. After keeping in touch for four months I decided to join Ayni, settle down in Piura and work. So really I haven't backpacked for a while.. and frankly sometimes it's a bit much, every day being a weekend.. always eating out.. living in hotel rooms.. I wanted a life again. Living costs are really so cheap,rent being 150s/ a month (around $60) to live in a double storey home with a HUGE room, cable TV (in my room of course) lunch cooked for me if i hang around.. I mean who could say no?

Living standards in Peru really do vary.. where I teach and the surrounding areas are like desert.. and people are living in shacks with a dirt floor.. And weekends.. which consist of three days sometimes more.. they love having transport strikes here. So life is kinda easy.. relaxed.. and I am so happy here.. and I think about everyone at home doing the university thing and the working thing.. and I can't say I am at all envious.. but oneday I will have to return home. I just don't know when! So that's just the beginning of my story.. or maybe by now it's the middle

Saludos a todo!

Ange

Why Anime is so cool...

I found this site randomly whilst procrastinating. Check out the anime and follow the link above to an anime gallery. Admitedly, at times it can be borderline pornographic, but at least they do it gracefully.

Now, ok the site above, its a teenagers site, fair enough. I understand your criticism... but its refreshing. Being surrounded by people who uphold such serious principle; hard work, dedication, sacrafices, power, success, intelligence, achievement... and who can be prone to not seeing the lighter side of life at times, it was refreshing.




So is Anime. I guess it proves a rather post-modern point that the world is meant to beautiful. Get some Anime in your life.

Posts from Sth America

Keep your eyes on this spot for posts from South America!

I have given Ange and Bryan full access to post some news on the blog to let people from home know how they are going and what crazy adventures they have been upto. Time to face facts really, those overseas are bound to have more fun then those stuck at home! Holiday is where the hearts at! regardless of how much you get paid!

Oh, and For the two gallant adventurers in South America, the pressure is now on for you to actually post something - expecting audiences!

Happy Birthday Pete and Fairwell Bryan!

Big weekend! I got to say hi to Bryan before he headed off to South America and even got down the pub for a few [too many] $3.5 Vodkas to celebrate Petes 21st! Even managed to get out to congratulate Herman on his 5 year delayed 21st!

So anyway, good time was had by all I'm sure. Apologies to anybody I offended on the weekend, it wasn't intentional I assure you. Next time I'll actually make sure Heath dances though... MWAHAHA.

Shout out to Reid AKA the Heartney Hearthrob AKKA The Calgary Cavalier, how is that chicken mate?

Random Canadian Flashback #1

Had a delicious meal of spaghetti and creamy pumpkin sauce last night. When it came time to test if the spag was al donte I had a flash back to Canada. I was told the best way to test if spaghetti was cooked, was to throw it against the fridge. If it sticks, its cooked. How can you not trust the beautiful daughter of a chef? Anyway, its true. Try it some time.

Random being the key word. Ahhhh, Good times. End of story

The next time you stereotype, think external validity.

External validity is a measure of how readily youc an generalise a statement or research. High external validity implies you can make a very broad statement.

Technically we would say you have high external validity if you are basing your statement on a large number of observations. For example, if the caravan you buy from a pikey doesn't make it out the gate, and its the only thing you have ever bought from a pikey, and you claim that all Pikeys are thieving dishonest con artists, your statement has very low external validity.

On the other hand a consumer report which collected a sample of 1,000 customer satisfaction reports from people who bought caravans from pikeys would have a much higher external validity.

So the next time you stereotype or generalise (as we are all [especially me] prone to do), think of exactly how many observations you have and consider your external validty.

Aid business

I was going to make this a rant about aid organisations and how dodgy they can be sometimes, but then i realized I need to think about this some more...

The article that got me thinking was written by Iman Muldoon and you can respond to his criticism of aid organisations portrayed in the November 2005 issue of 'The University of Technology Sydney magazine' U:, by emailing u@uts.edu.au.

Iman had a crack at a few aid organisations for over-paying visiting proffessionals to certain countries. An example given was that the UN requires all proffessionals to be flown business class for flights longer then 9 hours. Another example was that The International Bar Association paid a benefits package of around US$3000 a month for a professional to monitor legal developments in the country of Malawi, East Africa. So just where does your donation dollar go?

More importantly, how do we solve these problems? A solution proposed was that the professionals be sourced localy as much as possible, but often that is just not possible. So do we expect these professionals to make themselves available at less then market rates? Are they really needed? What do they do anyway?

Maybe thats a start. Aid organisations need to let people know whats going on. In this age of digital media it can't be that hard! Can anyone even name more then 5 serious aid organisations (not including Red cross and the Salvos)?

Anyway - checkout the following site to get an idea on how big the aid industry is: http://www.reliefweb.org and even have a look for a future job.

Please keep in mind that although a lot of these organisations are NPO, it is still within their best interestes to remain operating. Don't get me started on the church and how its not audited, not required to pay taxes or possibly not even required to fill a tax return... So, where does your donation dollar go?

Accruals and AA.

What are accruals? I get asked this a alot these days and I'm amazed that I find it difficult to answer. But basicaly - its what accountants get paid for! :)

Formal definition: Accruals = Profit - Cashflow.

If you need a definition of profit - its covered in a previous post, go do some research. If you don't understand mathematics, accruals are what makes up the difference between profit and cashflow. The basic purpose of accruals is to ensure that the profit recorded for a given accounting period, actually relates to that period.

For example:

A construction company, Constructions R Us received a payment in advance of $1 Million on the 1st January 2006 for a building which is expected to take 1 year to complete. Construction commences on the 1st of January. At the 30th June 2006 half of the building is complete. $250,000 worth of material and labour has been used and paid for. $50,000 worth of concrete has been paid for and will be delivered next week. Assuming this is the only work done by Constructions R Us for the financial year ending 30th june 2006, how much Cash and Profit is earned?

Cash flow:
A.) Cash Receipts = $1,000,000
B.) Cash expenses = $250,000 + $50,000 = $(300,000)
C.) Cash Flow = $700,000 (A - B)

Profit:
A) Revenue = 1,000,000 / 2 = $500,000
B) Expenses = $250,000
C) Profit = $250,000 (A-B)

Accruals:
A.) Accrued Revenue = $500,000
B.) Deposits paid = $50,000
C.) Total accruals: $(450,000) (B-C)

Accrued Revenue is a liability - Constructions R Us owes the customer for work not yet done.
Deposit paid is an Asset - concrete company owes constructions R us $50,000 worth of concrete.

Sorry you subject you all to more accounting horrors, but here are three of the theories underlying a series of papers labeled the 'anomaly' papers which I'm going to have a crack at trying to disprove.

Accrual Anomaly (AA):
Current level of accruals is negatively related to abnormal returns over the following year.
Therefore market fails to appreciate accrual component of earnings is less persistent than the cashflow component.
Consequently, market appears to overreact to earnings that contain a large accrual component.

Post-earnings announcement drift anomaly (PEAD):
Stock prices continue to drift in the direction of the initial price response to an earnings announcement (for up to 120 days).
Therefore market fails to fully appreciate and price the future earnings implications of current earnings surprises.

Income smoothing hypotheses:
When faced with the prospect of reporting exceptionally high (low) earnings, managers are likely to use income decreasing (increasing) accruals to reduce the magnitude of the earnings surprise.
In this circumstance, AA would be predicted to increase the PEAD:
Firms with large negative (positive) earnings surprises would be predicted to experience large negative (positive) abnormal returns, as would firms with large positive (negative) accruals.

Life as we know it

Its been a very interesting 2 weeks and I'm sure it'll be one of those periods in a persons life that changes who they are.

I wonder how people go about becoming who they are sometimes. I admit i have a habbit of being a bit pushy on the whole ambition front, and at times hypocrytical. I guess everybody has stages of high motivation and low motivation, times when they want to be a world changer and times when they would rather just live in a shack on the beach and go surfing everyday.

I have a little system that helps me keep changing and I hope improving who I am and providing me with challenges and incentives. Every now and again, when I'm day dreaming and looking at my wrold map (best present ever!), I'll write my daydream down on a scrap of paper and put it in an envelope. On the envelope I write a suitable title depending what the daydream was, for example; "Open this on completion of university" or "Read me when your sick of Sydney" and even "Thinking of having kids? Read me first!". Hehe.

In the last two weeks, I haven't written any new ideas down, but I got the feeling it might be time to open a new envelope, find a new direction. I'm still waiting for some pieces to fall into place in what could be described as an autobiographical infinity piece puzzle, but at least i think I've got the edges!

Moral of the story; I'm going to be out and about a bit more! So give me a call and I'll make more of an effort to catch up with you. I've been dissapointed by the disspersion of my friends, but I intend to make amends.

Hope you have all had a good weekend!

An Angel was Taken Today

This is an extract from the website for the organisation in South America where Ange is working. I wanted to stop reading at a certain point, not having had a good week already, but it is something all of us living in Australia need to accept; we are lucky. Visit the site on the link above.
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In the beginning week of our second cycle of the program, Jacks (my assistant) and myself are standing talking to the director about classes when a father of some of our students walks in. We overhear him talking about how his children wouldn't be able to attend class this week because his other son, 1 year and 11 months, was in the hospital and was really sick. His child in grade two therefore had to stay home and take care of the other little ones ( there are 8). Having heard this and knowing the situation that people in this very poor community face, we figured that perhaps we may be able to help. We asked the man what was wrong and he proceeded to tell us that his child was very sick because of malnutrition. We offered to go to the hospital and check out the situation to see what we could do. We were in no way prepared for what we were going to see. We knew the child was sick, but we didn't realize just how sick he was. We arrived at the hospital and had to go through the rigamarole of getting past the armed security guards seeing how it wasn't exactly visiting hours yet. Of course I had to be the pushy north american gringa to get by. Jacks and I are walking down the hallway, our stomachs becoming uneasy at the sight of all the sick little children in barren beds to the left and right of us. After having popped our heads in and out of the rooms we finally found whom we were looking for. We entered the room, the mother's back is towards us, and she is cradling her child, she turns her head to talk with us from the door. We walk towards her to get a closer look at the child, and as we stood before him Jacks and I both looked at each other truing to control our utter shock and disbelief. You know, I had seen it on t.v. on those world vision programs, I had seen it in pictures, and I had taught about it in the classroom, but in no way did that prepare me for such a sight. Right in front of my eyes there was this poor child, his belly tremendously swollen and rock hard, his sunken eyes barely responding, and his pencil thin neck struggling to sustain the weight of his head. I knelt down to speak to the child pretending as if he were any other, and it was so sad because I knew that he was only half there, half alive, hardly breathing, barely moving, and fighting the death that seemed to want to take him.

I touched his little feet, his belly, his face. All I wanted to do was cry, Jacks and I glance at each other giving the old 'you better not cry' look, we didn't need to make the situation any worse than it was. But still we had hope. I sent Jacks to chase down the doctors to find out what exactly the kid had other than the obvious starvation problem, and she came back with a list of 7 other problems that required about 8 different medications. The doctors said that with the medication, the child should slowly recuperate in about 1 to 2 months. Just then the father came in greeting and thanking us for coming. He had been out all morning trying to drum up enough money between neighbours and family to be able to afford just the medication for that day. We agreed that we would take care of the medication for the following days, weeks or months if needed be. However the doctor needed to check the baby each day in order to determine the next days perscription. So we decided to come back in the morning to check on the baby and then get the daily meds. As we leave the hospital room assuring the parents that we were going to do whatever we could, we reach the hallway and both burst into tears, while debriefing the situation. Later that night I couldn't help but talk about it with my friends and volunteers.
I proposed an open invitation to those who wanted to help to show up at the hospital the next morning. To my pleasant surprise the next morning several friends showed up; a pre-med student, a human rights activist, a psychologist, my volunteers and some close friends. Once again, trying to get through the gates, the armed guard asks us who we are here to see. We give him the name, and he tells us that the baby has died. We stand in shock...the doctors had just told us that with the right meds the baby would recover in one to two months...he tells us that we can probably find the parents in the emergency ward. We frantically go looking for them. First we see the mother, who immediately starts crying upon seeing us, (obviously poor people don't have the luxury of having counselling available to them let alone any kind of humane attention that greiving parents deserve). As I comfort her she tells me that her baby is dead. Then the father comes out wailing, I hold him in my arms just letting him cry and cry and cry. I felt really bad and other than just being there, there wasn't really anything I could do or say to make them feel better. Everyone is silently standing around us watching the entire scene. Once things calmed down a bit, they tell us that if the parents are to reclaim the body that they must pay 126 soles which for them might as well have been a million dollars, because that is like an impossible feat of saving for a lifetime. If their child has died due to starvation, it's because for one reason or another they simply don't have any money, so how the hell were they supposed to come up with 126 soles (about $40) on the spot. The reality is this, if you don't have money and your child is sick, it will die. The reality is that even if the constitution says that poor people who are unable to pay for healthcare shall receive the same medical attention as the rich, the government doesn't have the budget to support it. While it is true that this family and others like it could have received some kind of financial assistance, by the time they went through the red tape and proper channels, it is just too late. This is the reality for third world people. After lots of arguing about how unjust it was to ask such an amount from such poor people, we decided to just pay the bill so that these people could take their child home to bury him. Had we not paid the bill along with the mountain of other bills, it could have been ages before they gave them the body.

After about half a day, and seven people working on this case, we were sent round back to collect the body from the morgue. Jacks went in with the parents while I waited outside with the grandfather and the others who were still around. I can't begin to express the horror that happened next. It is a sight I will never ever forget. Out came the father crying uncontrollably holding his baby in a blood soaked blanket, as he uncovers him, to our terror we see this little baby who was alive yesterday, with dried blood on his face, and his eyes and mouth wide open. We were all frozen with horror!!! I'm standing there with the father in my arms and the baby in his. We are all freaking out by this point...the hospital just gave the baby to them like a useless piece of garbage, they didn't clean him up or shut his eyes or mouth, let alone provide a clean sheet for the baby, this is the treatment that poor people get, it is simply cruel and inhumane! So here we are standing on the street with this dead child, we hail a cab down so that they can take their baby home. Had we not shown up, they would have had to take a crowded combi (bus) because to pay for a cab would have been a weeks savings which they did not have. The father hugs me once more thanking us endlessly.

Standing in shock, we begin comforting each other.
The next day we visit their house, bringing them a supply of food, pay our respects to the family and say goodbye to the sweet innocent child that had been taken from them. His name was Angel and he was 1 year and 11 months old.

It is a sad story that happens several times a day. We kept asking ourselves, in a world of plenty why are more than half the worlds children dying of starvation. The distribution of wealth is UNJUST!!!! We can't continue living our luxurious lifestyles in the first world while our brothers and sisters are starving in the third world.

With the help of my friend Marita who is a human rights activist, Julio a politically active doctor and the media, we are filing a formal complaint against the hospital for its inefficiency and inhumane treatment towards poor people. Someone should be held responsible for the trauma that was incurred from their negligence. This is just one case that we happened to stumble upon, how many thousands more are there?!

P/E and P/B: Lay terms and my thesis.

Price to Book Value (P/B) ratio is a measure of a firms price per share in the market (market value) to the firms Book Value per share (Accounting value of assets).
If the P/B ratio is greater then 1, then the markets (investors) value of the firm, is greater then the value of its assets. If the ratio is less then 1, then the market values the firm at less then its asset value.

Price to Earnings (P/E) ratio is measure of a firms price per share to the firms Earnings (Accounting value of profit).
If the ratio is greater then 1 then the market is valuing the firm at a multiple to its current earnings. This multiple is sometimes be used as an indicator of how much earnings a firm is expected to have over its life. If the ratio is less then 1 then the market values the firm at less than its current earnings.

It is very rare for a firm to have a P/E or a P/B of less then 1. The simplest reason for this is that the price per share of a company includes a value for the entire firm, not the book-value of assets or current earnings. No one knows all the factors that the market takes into account when it values a company. Individuals also value things differently, and the market is made up of different individuals. Hence, what may be cheap to some is expensive to others.

My thesis is very ambitiously going to try to capture some of these factors which firms may have in common given their P/E and P/B Quadrant. (eg High P/E and High P/B, Low P/E and low P/B, High P/E and Low P/B, Low P/E and High P/B).

Micks 21st

I know it was a while ago now - but you should head over to Beths blogs to check-out the pics! Dunno how I ever became associated with such a sexy group of people!

Warning: Hot content. Themed pics: Business whoes and CEO's.

Intro to Accounting

To help people undertand upcoming posts: An intro to accounting!

Accounting assumes an entity(firm, business, corporation, club etc) are made up of:

Balance sheet items:
Assets, Liabilities, Equity

Profit and loss items:
Revenue and Expenses.

The balance sheet is a snapshot, a photograph of a firms performance. It captures values for assets, liabilities and equity for one point in time. Assets are things you own, Liabilities things you owe and Equity is defined below.

The profit and loss is a video or movie of the firms performance. It captures changes in values of assets and liabilities over time which are known as revenues and expenses. The sum of the revenue and expenses is the profit (or loss if expenses are greater). Accumulated profits from successive accounting periods (financial year) are called Equity. Equity is a sum of profits at a point in time, and is hence recorded in the balance sheet.

Patent pending part pwo:

Following on from the previous conversation, I received a lesson on the brain:

I'll arrive at reality one day. says:
Do you know how the brain records stuff?
Magda- i Finpan says:
well, we put everything we see in categories and store them first in our short-term memory, or working memory as the researcher like to call it now. Some things can end up in several categories, that leads to spreading activation. If u think of cat u think of either something in the same category like cat food or the opposite category like dog
I'll arrive at reality one day. says:
right...
Magda- i Finpan says: If you stored something after seeing it 5 times, that would be a study technique, and it would store unnecessary things like, mr larsson lives next to me, and there is 1987 trees on my way to uni etc. Plus, if u "force" the brain to store things after u've seen it 5 times, your long-term memory wolud be full so fast
I'll arrive at reality one day. says:
mmm, not much long term memory hey... I'm not so sure we would remember useless stuff if our brain had a capacity problem... because we seem to have a great nack of discarding useless stuff over time and remembering important things... and its all relative. My brother never knows where his matching socks are, but he could fill you in on the philosophies of Hercules or theories of Einstein no problems.
I'll arrive at reality one day. says:
Well, I guess if the process is efficient enough, you wouldn't need to store anything in your brain... you sure would be screwed if you lost your portable web-brain though! Hehe

Patent pending

I was struct by a molecule of enlightenment whilst procrastinating from doing my presentation paper tonight... It may be best understood in the following MSN conversation: (Cause I can't be bothered writting it out again!)

I'll arrive at reality one day says:
I like learning... but i wish it wasn't so hard!
I'll arrive at reality one day says:
I just had an awesome idea that would make loads and loads of money if it was possible! Our brain is essentially just a storage device right?
Magda- i Finpan says:
aha...
I'll arrive at reality one day says:
we have the ability to recall information, theories and memories instantly, if we remember them... From whatever we remembe, we add other bits of information we have in our head... and voila, you have a new idea or the solution to a novel problem...
Magda- i Finpan says:
right, so?
I'll arrive at reality one day. says:
We go through a very long learning process to get all that stuff inside our head right... so we can recall it instantly... when we need it.... wherever we need it....
Magda- i Finpan says:
yeah?
I'll arrive at reality one day. says:
So... really the world wide web, is like a massive brain, except it can't recall things instantly, and it doesn't sort our ideas for us... its an inefficient brain if you will. What we need... is a portable storage device... which has all the information on the web contained within it.... and we need to be able to connect it to our brain so that whenever we need a piece of information, our brain can sort through everything on the web, and provide us instantly with what we need. The best part is: Once you have got that piece of information, its in your brain -not on the web, kinda like a really big internet history! hehe. Of course this web-brain storage device would have to be wireless so you can update your brain with all the new ideas other people are coming up with.
Magda- i Finpan says:
aha! but how r u gonna do that?
I'll arrive at reality one day. says:
Well, teh brain is just a whole bunch of electronic nodes right? We just need to overlay the brain with a fine mesh which can transmit electronic pulses...
Magda- i Finpan says:
If we're gonna keep everything that comes in wouldnt that result in big giant heads since the brain grows to fit information?
I'll arrive at reality one day says: Hmm... but don't we not use like 80% of our brain? No - only store stuff you have used.... or maybe it could be two way - your brain is temporary storage, and if you use one piece of information more then say, 5 times - it gets stored! As I see it the problem is not connectivity, its compatability. How do we make the data on the web compatible with our brain...
Magda- i Finpan says: Hehe but listen, if it gets stored after seeing it 5 times, that would be a study technique, and it would store unnecessary things like, mr larsson lives next to me, and there is 1987 trees on my way to uni etc

PART 2 coming to a mentally unstable person near you soon!

Policy Choice: its what you want it to be.

Sorry to all those who have seen this at noodlum or the old blithe blithering (its too memrable John) but since my full name came up with the same as nick: master of story telling, and my first name was: smelling of turnips at all times, I thought i'd proxy name choice for possible accounting policy choice to provide you all with an analogous idea of what earnings figures can look like:

Nomad Odyssey -- [adjective]: Visually addictive 'How will you be defined in the dictionary?'

Ode to the Fallen

There is music in the midst of desolation,
And a glory that shines upon our tears.
They went with songs to teh battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
They fell with faces to the foe.

They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old,
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun, and in the morning,
We will remember them.

We will remember them. Lest we forget.

Anzac Day

"To the Fallen" C.J. Smith.

Their glory shall never die, the whole wide world is their sepulchre, their epitaphs are written in the hearts of mankind and whenever there is talk of noble deeds, their names will be held in grateful remembrance.

They are not dead, the men who fell
Though sounds for them, the vesper bell
And loved ones gather at the shrine
They live in hearts, yours and mine
They live in mountain or in glade,
In shearing shed or place of trade
At school or on the field of play
They live, those men, who marched away.

They are not dead, the men who fought
The sons of valour who feared nought of man's devising
But who trod their deathly path that leads to God.
Their call down the bushg tracks still is heard
They're whistled in a song of bird
Their laughter like a wood note wild
Is heard in some Australian child.

They are not dead, but gone before
Low crosses marked on Anzac shore
At Shrapnel Gully and Lone Pine
Where rests those mates of yours and mine
The fields of flanders, hills of Crete
Sound no more to their marching feet
But they are still here at our side
Th emen who fell but never died.

They are not dead, they cannot be
They're part of you and part of me
The smile, the nod, the steadfast look,
Could never perish in Tobruk
Nor could there fade on Bardia sand,
The cheery voice, the friendly hand,
though seas and lands and years divide,
Our comrades live, they have not died.

Rejected Nobel Prizes

I was searching for a particular Nobel Prize winning article when I came across this site... very interesting. The site reports on the inefficiency of the academic publishing process and exemplifies the networking process involved in getting published, by exposing some 36 Nobel prize winning research topics which were orignally rejected from publication...

So if my honours topic is not published originaly - it doesn't mean its a load of crap! It may be Nobel prize worthy, it has just probably insulted too many people in all the right places and they have barred me from ever being published ever again!

Tickle IQ Test.

I just took the Tickle Classic IQ Test: It was more interesting then my study! Interesting to note that I got the exact same IQ about 6 months ago, I believe. I wonder what it'll be at the end of honours?

Congratulations, Damian!Your IQ score is 133

This number is based on a scientific formula that compares how many questions you answered correctly on the Classic IQ Test relative to others. Your Intellectual Type is Visual Mathematician. This means you are gifted at spotting patterns — both in pictures and in numbers. These talents combined with your overall high intelligence make you good at understanding the big picture, which is why people trust your instincts and turn to you for direction — especially in the workplace.

Honours room quotes

Just a few tidbits from the Honours Room on making your life efficient:

"If you can't say it in 160 characters or less, its not worth saying." R. Wight BBV, BBus (2006).

"If you can't get out of bed in the morning, your life is obviously less exciting than sleeping." Annon. BBS (2006).

Water crystal emotions

Aparently this guy has discovered that water crystals change shape and formation depending on sounds played to the water. The most interesting thing, is that the crystals are more likely to develop/change if teh music played is positive or if complimentary things are said. The water is less likely to change if negative music is played or derogatory comments are made. The pic below is of a water crystal which is listening to the Mexican national anthem. He is doing seminars all around the world! Check out the website and maybe somebody with a chemistry background can explain?