vobiblog

And in other news: Undeniable link between daylight and the sun found

Brutal analysis to follow (once I get this stupid assignment done).

“It’s a box!” the grumpy tutor exclaimed. Ned felt dejected as it was not the first time this had happened since he had decided it would be a good idea to study architecture. Ned constantly thought to himself, “if only i didn’t leave planning”.

As it turns out, there is very little to stop me from going back to Urban and Regional Planning. After talking to an old lecturer last week, I found out just how easy it is for me to change back again. When I first floated the idea of chucking in the towel with architecture and going back to planning, I thought that everyone would be saying “Oh Ned, why can’t you just make up your mind’. As it turns out, no one is really surprised as I never convinced them of the merits of studding architecture in the first place.
Other peoples support is great, but the only person I need to convince is myself. Hence, I have come up with a list of compelling reasons for me to go back to planning:

• While I like the design process and methodology in theory, in practice, it is replacing PHP or Perl with concrete and steel
• For whatever reason I am better at expressing my thoughts in written form, rather than visually
• Architecture is a very narrow field. You pretty much have to live and breath buildings, which I don’t
• A cardboard box, in my view, has a kind of aesthetic that is greater than those of most of the “cutting edge” architecture
• I have broad interests. Politics, the environment, social issues, economics. Very few fields could allow me to cover such breadth, planning just happens to be one of them.
• To a certain extent, I already live and breath planning. I spend much of my spare time keeping up today with the issues (sad I know). Why not get paid for it?

So there you go, I have actually articulated what I want to do with my life. Now it is just a waiting game for QUT to process my admission into a Bachelor of Urban Development. Could they have picked a name for a degree with more negative connotations? Thankfully there isn’t much in a name.

From ABC News:

Attorney-General Philip Ruddock says he has asked the states and territories to urgently approve changes to censorship laws so that material that advocates terrorism can be banned.

I might have to put Andrew at Trash Video to task on this one to see how many videos in his store could potentially be considered as advocating terrorism. I dare say more than a few. Hopefully those slick Hollywood lobbyists will come to town and explain how they have been profiteering for years by making B Grade films that advocate terrorism, and that there is nothing wrong with it.

Just because you advocate something, doesn’t mean the masses are going to take much notice of it. The Howard Government has been advocating bullshit for years without anyone but their own ideologs giving two shits about it. Censor this mofo!

It is one of those weekends where you are left wondering if politicians really are a lower species. The missing link between man and ape even. Regardless of which side of centre they came from, or the party the run with, no matter what they do, they always seam to act in a counter intuitive manner.

Take for example the latest summary from the upcoming IPCC Fourth Assessment Report. If the news wasn’t bad enough before, now  they are suggesting that the great barrier reef is going to be all but gone by 2020. Australia is going to get drier. Droughts will be broken with floods and more destructive cyclones. The Murray-Darling will be totally screwed – with or without us. A point on contention in the report was the statement that most of the effects of climate change will be borne by the worlds poorer people. It is hard to imagine how long Australians can remain “rich” without a reef, water, rain forests and some kind of agriculture.

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Everyone keeps on telling me what a great guy Bill Gates is. He is filthy rich, owns a large stake in the worlds most profitable software company and more recently, has been known for giving away massive amounts of money for the greater good. Most notably, he has pumped hundreds of millions into HIV research. All good so far, right?

I think he is an idiot, not just because I hate Microsoft and all their products, but because he seams captive to the popular dogma that technology will solve all societies ills. Supporting HIV research would give you the impression that he actually cares about the welfare of the average peasant in Africa. After all, Africa is the continent that is suffering the most from HIV. This is compared to western countries where walking down the street probably poses more threat to ones health than HIV. Yet his charitable body The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have donated large amounts of money towards a program that is at best going to work over a vast number of the 3rd worlds most vulnerable. Read the rest of this entry »