Back to School

Back to Uni today. I had my first class today and it was super cool. I took some photos of the Uni because I have come to appreciate it more now that I have travelled. It was packed with people everywhere: working out their classes, buying books, sitting. It was good to be back and I am excited about my classes.

Britney

Has the world gone insane. I really didn't want to write about this but it has been troubling me all day. What the hell is going on with Britney Spears? Where are her friends and family? She's gone nuts. I don't understand where this has come from. I don't know if I was asleep at the start of this downward spiral but I still find it hard to believe. What is making her do all of this? I'm probably wrong but it feels like just a year or two ago she was fine or close to fine. Now, she's been married twice, and divorced, has two kids, two new tattoos, a shaved bald head, and a pill and drug addiction. If you can handle any more detail about this peruse the Time line of Britney's days before her head shaving and maybe you can work out the reasons behind all of this if there are any.

Shepherd's Delight

Last night there was a brilliant pink sky sunset in Melbourne. I met some friends on the banks of the Yarra and drank Woodstock and coke and watched the sun set through the gum trees and the skyscrapers.

Religion vs. Ethics?

Its an age old question and one that has come up again in Canada in the form of sextuplets. Today The Times reported on a story about two parents and their babies, and the right the parents have over the children's lives when it comes to religion. The problem goes like this:

Mother is soon to have 6 babies but there is a chance some will die because they will be too small and there will be overcrowding in the womb. The doctor offers a “selective reduction”, whereby some of the foetuses will be removed to improve the chances of the others. The parents decline. So the six babies are born and two die. The babies then need a blood transfusion, and this is where it gets difficult because the parents are Jehovah's witnesses, and therefore do not believe in blood transfusions due to their interpretation of the bible.

So, the question is, do the parents have the right to choose the religion of their children? Do they have the right to choose the religion of their children if it might stop them from living? It is their right to choose their religion, and a baby does not yet have the ability to choose, so it is therefore up to the parent. But can a parent choose a path separate from life for a newborn child?

The doctors at the hospital and consequently the local courts decided that the parents don't have that right and took the surviving babies into protective custody and did the blood transfusion. The courts then later returned custody to the parents. Should the government step in and stop a parent from exercising their right to religion and the rights of their children? My opinion is that a government shouldn't involve itself in the religion and its choices of a person. But if it is the religious rights of an individual who does not have the conscious ability to choose, then the government can definitely step in and protect the human life with all methods at its disposal. What do you think?

Bioloid has the Moves. Watch out Ladies.

This is one cool little robot. I don't really know how to make anything, let alone a robot, but robotics has always interested me. The robotics that some people are getting into is really exciting because the emphasis seems to be on fluid human movement and it looks cool. I don't care if a robot can solve a rubics cube in 30 seconds, I want a robot with the moves. If you wanna get your hands on one you can, just US$900 at ThinkGeek. Check out all their other cool stuff too.

Social Etiquette: Standing in the Train doorway

Today while standing on the train I discovered a great way to piss people off but it wasn't through my own actions. Rather it was a simple matter of watching a middle-aged man in a pin-stripe suit irritate the people trying to get into the train. The train carriage was not completely full and on stepping into the train he decided that his little "place" on the train would be that section just inside where the doors shut. He had a choice of almost anywhere else in that section of the train, but he chose that particular spot. The problem was that his decision was premature as there were still people getting on the train. I was his mirror self. I stood directly opposite, in a very similar position in the carriage to where he was standing, however with a great difference. I was not where the doors were still open. So the first person after him was a little asian lady. She had to physically push him out of the way with both her hands while saying excuse me and with an exasperated look on her face. He barely moved and was either clueless or rude. The second person, a larger guy, was a fair bit bigger and of a similar build to the door-blocking man and as the doors were preparing to close he threw himself into the train and knocked the guy to the side. He said, "What the hell are you doing? Get out of the way of the door. Jeez. People are trying to get on and you are just standing there in the door. What are you an idiot?" To which the vague man replied, "I was standing there". The angry man continued to yell at the guy and the guy continued to claim that he was simply standing there and neither ever got to a point where they understood the other person. So, as a lesson in social etiquette for everyone: it is polite to not stand in the doorway of trains while people are still boarding and for that matter any doorway while people need to walk through it.

The New Blog

Its quickly coming together. I am using more of the template just to make the blog easier and faster to manage. I would like to make a new site from scratch but I don't have the time, and although I could make the time, I know that my uni grades would suffer. This new site represents the fact that I have returned to Melbourne and I am bunking down for my final years of University. I'm not sure what direction this blog will take but I think that it will be more for my thoughts and less about the things I see.

At 55 min.

At 55 minutes optusnet picked up and helped me out. It took them 1 min and 5 seconds on the line with me. Its a screwie system and I don't like it.

Optusnet

Since I have been away for so long I have forgotten my optusnet password and I have been putting off calling them to find it out, hoping that I will remember it. Finally I have bit the bullet and I called them this morning. I am still on hold trying to talk to a human just so I can find out my password to log in to my account and check my usage. As of right now I have been on the phone for 53 minutes and 43 seconds. I think I am caught in a phone vortex somewhere at optus. They have received my call but the computers are just sending it around to each other like pass-the-parcel and it will never get to a human. I'm gonna wait for an hour then give up.