Monday, August 09, 2010
Compare Bookmakers
Compare Bookmakers has finally been launched. Still brand new there is a lot more work to do on it, but it will continue too develop, and eventually offer a brilliant resource for online punters to use to find the best bookmakers online. So, just announcing the fact here. Head over to Comparebookmakers.com now and take advantage of this fact.
Thursday, February 04, 2010
Shane Greenup
Shane Greenup has moved his personal blog across to www.ShaneGreenup.com. You can also find Shane's projects at TDMSKP.com, SportsArbitrageGuide.com, SureBetBookies.com, SomePerspective.net, HalfBraveHalfStupid.com, PapersAloud.com, and 42ity.net. ImmortalOutdoors.com is currently under development too.
Shane Greenup approves this message.
Shane Greenup approves this message.
Friday, October 16, 2009
Top Grade Engrish
This is the best engrish I have ever seen in my life. Found in a dock department store in Madagascar (Mananara), this hair care product was clearly confused. You have to read the text in the third image below...
(click on the image for full size)
(click on the image for full size)
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Shane's Ultimate List of Things Online That You Must See
This list will continue to grow and change as I remember things which need to be added.
Funny
Eddy Izzard
Flight of the Conchords
The Lonely Island
Others
Inspiring and Impressive
Funny
Eddy Izzard
Flight of the Conchords
The Lonely Island
Others
- Pachelbel Rant
- The Internet is for Porn
- XKCD Comic
- LOL Cat Bible
- The Goon Bible Project - The Book of Job
- The iRack
Inspiring and Impressive
Friday, September 25, 2009
A few tips for beginners...
- It is possible to love more than one person at a time. Love is not a resource that needs to be carefully allocated. It is an emotion which can be felt completely, over and over again, without ever running out.
- Following rules does not make you moral, it makes you lawful. Morality requires the ability to decide right and wrong for yourself based on valid reasoning - not on doing something because 'you are supposed to'.
- If you care enough about someone to interfere in their life (for their own good of course), at least take the time to understand what you are interfering in. Ignorance is dangerous at the best of time, but when wielded with absolute conviction it is nothing short of devastating.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Welcome to The Post Developed World
This is something I was working on for a while in Madagascar. This is an early version - I want to write a more thorough, academic style article on the subject, but until that is completed, here is this:
I know I am not alone in the modern generation with my love of technology and the amazing benefits it brings with it, yet simultaneously dissatisfied with the world which provides us those technological innovations. The ‘Developed World’ – our capitalist consumerist society. Driven by profits, marketing and constant competition, each individual is pushed into working longer and harder in order to satisfy ‘needs’ largely based on artificial manipulation by other workers.
Thankful for my position as a member of the ‘Developed World’ I have always appreciated the privilege that comes with it. Science, information technology, luxury, entertainment and general abundance. I have appreciated these gifts of our modern world, loved them dearly yet also felt an overwhelming dissatisfaction with the modern ‘developed world’ itself.
The 9-5 working day has never been appealing to me. Rush hour, traffic jams – everyone doing the same thing at the same time everyday – it has always bemused me. Spending the majority of your pay cheque – usually earned from a job you hate – on fads, well marketed gimmicks, hollow indulgences and image based products. I have never really partaken in this pointlessness. Excessive rules and regulations which seem to be designed for the lowest common denominator of human stupidity. Individual accountability is lost in our world as every possible way of idiots hurting themselves seems to be necessarily considered in advance before you can do anything – otherwise it is somehow your fault when said idiot hurts themselves. Mass media selling us mindless rubbish stories. – prioritising stories about the private lives of pop stars over stories that actually affect our world, like environmental catastrophes, change in governmental regulations and freedoms or the like. –spin- On top of all of these bizarre obsessions of our world is the perpetual ‘Crisis’ we are being sold. Whether it is the cold war, world war 3, Y2K, Terrorism or dramatic climate change, everyone in the developed world knows for sure that the end is near! (still) I don’t put much stock in any of the doomsday prophecies anymore, but a small part of me still thinks that being out of the way of everyone else who does might save me one day.
So in order to distance myself from the over protection of my nation, avoid any semblance of a 9-5 job and maintain a well rounded perspective of ‘what matters’, I have long desired to move myself and my loved ones to an essentially self-sufficient property on the outer edges of a large city. From this property, with our broadband internet access, we will be free to earn money (business activity or work from home jobs), educate ourselves, research topics of interest, entertain etc all while living a cheap non-commercial lifestyle.
Getting out of the city is not a new idea, but doing so used to involve significant compromise. For me, loss of employment options, lower income potential, isolation from family and friends and significantly fewer entertainment options were the most obvious costs of leaving the suburbs. Now, and even more so the coming years, widely available broadband internet is removing all of those compromises/costs. As such I have come to believe that more and more people will make the same move as I wish to make. As the number of these people increase, I believe it will warrant the naming of a new ‘world’. This lifestyle does not exist within the developed world anymore – too many of the attributes of that lifestyle have been discarded. Nor is the lifestyle anything like those in the undeveloped - or the developing (the 3rd and 2nd) – indeed it is the exact opposite direction that the quality of life has progressed for people who make this change. I therefore think that the individuals who make this move will form the first physically-non-localised world; the Post-Developed world. The Zero’th World. Or perhaps in the spirit of ‘The Naughties’, the final few months of which I am currently in, ‘The Naughtieth World’.
The Post Developed World
I believe the PDW is worthy of its own title for two main reasons. The individuals who make it up, although not physically localised, have essentially removed themselves from all 3 of the other normal ‘world’ structures. Secondly, their unity comes through the internet – they are the first virtual world, unbounded by geo-political borders and agendas.
So how is this world made? It emerges as the current internet culture continues to remove themselves from the mass media driven, popular culture, commercial world. It emerges as those individuals choose self sufficiency and personal accountability over governmental protection. Just as members of the Developed world enjoy the fruits of the Developing and Undeveloped world (cheap labour primarily), so too the members of the PDW will enjoy the fruits of the developed world without really exposing themselves to the problems of it. Self sufficiency in most areas protect them from first world economic fears, energy crisis’s, water shortages etc. While their location outside of major cities protects them from terrorism, pandemics, pollution, and even wars to a large extent. All of the usual ‘fears’ of the first world are simply removed by moving into the PDW.
The main limitation of moving into the PDW will be getting away from governmental constraints which no longer apply (or shouldn’t). Developed world governments will continue to be a pain to all PDW individuals – yet ironically still required. Undeveloped governments too.
While exorcising themselves from these problems they are still free to buy products locally, travel into the cities etc without hassle.
Becoming PDW
Becoming PDW requires some success in the developed world and a strong desire to get out of it. Money is required to be able to buy the property and technology required to achieve sufficient self-reliance. But in the scheme of things, the entry requirements are quite modest. Certainly easier than getting out of an undeveloped world.
Mere power generation, supplemental food generation, and water catchment don’t make you a PDW citizen though. It is also a freeing of the mind from one sided media, from fear and propaganda. It is the ability to genuinely take care of yourself within a communal society, rather than expecting a society to take care of you. Because online, borders fall away and sense of community is valuable.
Table 1: Comparison between Undeveloped World, Developed World and the Post-Developed World - Sorry I can't figure out how to make Blogger display the table in a reasonable position!
I know I am not alone in the modern generation with my love of technology and the amazing benefits it brings with it, yet simultaneously dissatisfied with the world which provides us those technological innovations. The ‘Developed World’ – our capitalist consumerist society. Driven by profits, marketing and constant competition, each individual is pushed into working longer and harder in order to satisfy ‘needs’ largely based on artificial manipulation by other workers.
Thankful for my position as a member of the ‘Developed World’ I have always appreciated the privilege that comes with it. Science, information technology, luxury, entertainment and general abundance. I have appreciated these gifts of our modern world, loved them dearly yet also felt an overwhelming dissatisfaction with the modern ‘developed world’ itself.
The 9-5 working day has never been appealing to me. Rush hour, traffic jams – everyone doing the same thing at the same time everyday – it has always bemused me. Spending the majority of your pay cheque – usually earned from a job you hate – on fads, well marketed gimmicks, hollow indulgences and image based products. I have never really partaken in this pointlessness. Excessive rules and regulations which seem to be designed for the lowest common denominator of human stupidity. Individual accountability is lost in our world as every possible way of idiots hurting themselves seems to be necessarily considered in advance before you can do anything – otherwise it is somehow your fault when said idiot hurts themselves. Mass media selling us mindless rubbish stories. – prioritising stories about the private lives of pop stars over stories that actually affect our world, like environmental catastrophes, change in governmental regulations and freedoms or the like. –spin- On top of all of these bizarre obsessions of our world is the perpetual ‘Crisis’ we are being sold. Whether it is the cold war, world war 3, Y2K, Terrorism or dramatic climate change, everyone in the developed world knows for sure that the end is near! (still) I don’t put much stock in any of the doomsday prophecies anymore, but a small part of me still thinks that being out of the way of everyone else who does might save me one day.
So in order to distance myself from the over protection of my nation, avoid any semblance of a 9-5 job and maintain a well rounded perspective of ‘what matters’, I have long desired to move myself and my loved ones to an essentially self-sufficient property on the outer edges of a large city. From this property, with our broadband internet access, we will be free to earn money (business activity or work from home jobs), educate ourselves, research topics of interest, entertain etc all while living a cheap non-commercial lifestyle.
Getting out of the city is not a new idea, but doing so used to involve significant compromise. For me, loss of employment options, lower income potential, isolation from family and friends and significantly fewer entertainment options were the most obvious costs of leaving the suburbs. Now, and even more so the coming years, widely available broadband internet is removing all of those compromises/costs. As such I have come to believe that more and more people will make the same move as I wish to make. As the number of these people increase, I believe it will warrant the naming of a new ‘world’. This lifestyle does not exist within the developed world anymore – too many of the attributes of that lifestyle have been discarded. Nor is the lifestyle anything like those in the undeveloped - or the developing (the 3rd and 2nd) – indeed it is the exact opposite direction that the quality of life has progressed for people who make this change. I therefore think that the individuals who make this move will form the first physically-non-localised world; the Post-Developed world. The Zero’th World. Or perhaps in the spirit of ‘The Naughties’, the final few months of which I am currently in, ‘The Naughtieth World’.
The Post Developed World
I believe the PDW is worthy of its own title for two main reasons. The individuals who make it up, although not physically localised, have essentially removed themselves from all 3 of the other normal ‘world’ structures. Secondly, their unity comes through the internet – they are the first virtual world, unbounded by geo-political borders and agendas.
So how is this world made? It emerges as the current internet culture continues to remove themselves from the mass media driven, popular culture, commercial world. It emerges as those individuals choose self sufficiency and personal accountability over governmental protection. Just as members of the Developed world enjoy the fruits of the Developing and Undeveloped world (cheap labour primarily), so too the members of the PDW will enjoy the fruits of the developed world without really exposing themselves to the problems of it. Self sufficiency in most areas protect them from first world economic fears, energy crisis’s, water shortages etc. While their location outside of major cities protects them from terrorism, pandemics, pollution, and even wars to a large extent. All of the usual ‘fears’ of the first world are simply removed by moving into the PDW.
The main limitation of moving into the PDW will be getting away from governmental constraints which no longer apply (or shouldn’t). Developed world governments will continue to be a pain to all PDW individuals – yet ironically still required. Undeveloped governments too.
While exorcising themselves from these problems they are still free to buy products locally, travel into the cities etc without hassle.
Becoming PDW
Becoming PDW requires some success in the developed world and a strong desire to get out of it. Money is required to be able to buy the property and technology required to achieve sufficient self-reliance. But in the scheme of things, the entry requirements are quite modest. Certainly easier than getting out of an undeveloped world.
Mere power generation, supplemental food generation, and water catchment don’t make you a PDW citizen though. It is also a freeing of the mind from one sided media, from fear and propaganda. It is the ability to genuinely take care of yourself within a communal society, rather than expecting a society to take care of you. Because online, borders fall away and sense of community is valuable.
Table 1: Comparison between Undeveloped World, Developed World and the Post-Developed World - Sorry I can't figure out how to make Blogger display the table in a reasonable position!
News | Undeveloped World | Word of mouth news with little concern for the outside world |
Developed World | “The News’ from one or two dominant sources. Very little critical analysis present. | |
Post-Developed World | Internet based headlines and self directed research on topics of interest. No single source of information, much critical analysis. | |
Food | Undeveloped World | Local food and some traded food. No concept of ‘Nutritional requirements’ – you eat what is available. |
Developed World | Huge variety. Much processed and mass produced food. Most “Try to be healthy” | |
Post-Developed World | Private Agriculture supplements DW supermarkets. Internet used to find optimal techniques, and best sources of seeds and livestock. | |
Work | Undeveloped World | No hours or deadlines, simply a requirement to produce enough for survival. Seasonal variation and various in nature. |
Developed World | 9-5 structure, rush hour, salary, OH&S, leave etc. Productivity at work is not directly related to survival. | |
Post-Developed World | Balance between income earning work and survival based work. All home based, no rush hour, no salary, no leave. | |
Entertainment | Undeveloped World | Basic entertainment, usually self made. Alcohol common. |
Developed World | Nightclubs, Pubs, Movies, Parties, Cultural, Computer Games, Home entertainment, Holidays. | |
Post-Developed World | Computer games, Home entertainment systems, The Outdoors, Holidays, Local Pub | |
Power/Energy | Undeveloped World | Primarily fire based. Supplemented with oils, fats and waxes. |
Developed World | Government controlled and fee driven. Usually reliable. Centralised vulnerable distribution. | |
Post-Developed World | Free self sufficient sources. Wind, Solar, Hydro. Fire. | |
Water | Undeveloped World | River, Irrigation channels, Wells and Tanks. Unfiltered, dirty. Usually lots of effort required to collect and use it. |
Developed World | Government controlled and fee driven. Large water reservoirs for populations, mass filtered and treated prior to piping to final destination. Limited supply with growing populations. | |
Post-Developed World | Rain catchment, Dam, River, Well, Bore and water Recycling all used as necessary to ensure sufficient water. Water filtered and treated at point of consumption according to use. | |
Connectedness | Undeveloped World | Face to face only. Walking distance. |
Developed World | Phones, Mobiles, Internet, face to face, meetings, parties, interest groups, universities etc. | |
Post-Developed World | Primarily Mobile phones and internet. | |
Infrastructure | Undeveloped World | Usually very little. Sometimes roads, sometimes expensive public transport on those roads. Usually nothing else easily accessible. |
Developed World | Nearly everything is within driving distance or public transport. Hospitals, education, sanitation etc | |
Post-Developed World | Depends on location. Usually within driving distance to major development and infrastructure. |
Friday, September 04, 2009
Back from Madagascar - New Projects and Old
I returned from Madagascar a few days ago and I am already hard at work trying to catch up with all of the overdue work I had waiting for me back here, PLUS another few ideas I have had while I was away.
I will be working on actually arb trading primarily probably. Simply because I am broke and I need some immediate money and arb trading is the only means of immediate money available to me atm (other than a job of course, but that would really interfere with all of my other loftier goals)
So I am working on perfecting my arb spreadsheet while trying to update SAG and SBB - I need to make some changes to how SAG deals with the numerous alert services. I have several days worth of solid typing to do in order to put all of the articles I wrote in Madagascar into TDMSKP.
Probably most interesting new development though, is that I am going to create a website for Carmen, my friend that I travelled with. She has been travelling for over 16 years now (6-9 months every year) and has done a lot of writing in that time. So I am going to make a blog for her and start posting her travel stories, short stories, poems and other odds and ends for her.
She was actually the page 3 spread in the Sydney Morning Herald back in June:
Article
Multimedia
So I have the relevent domain names registered now: www.HalfBraveHalfStupid.com and www.CarmenMajor.com and I have a host sorted out. I will start installing and setting up the blog in the next couple of days.
A quick mention for Klaus' new website too. He has created a forum website to help people with scams. So if you have ever been scammed, or know of any scams which you want to warn people about, or even if you just feel like getting into some interesting political or religious discussions, then go to www.ScamsHelp.com and register and participate there!
Shane
I will be working on actually arb trading primarily probably. Simply because I am broke and I need some immediate money and arb trading is the only means of immediate money available to me atm (other than a job of course, but that would really interfere with all of my other loftier goals)
So I am working on perfecting my arb spreadsheet while trying to update SAG and SBB - I need to make some changes to how SAG deals with the numerous alert services. I have several days worth of solid typing to do in order to put all of the articles I wrote in Madagascar into TDMSKP.
Probably most interesting new development though, is that I am going to create a website for Carmen, my friend that I travelled with. She has been travelling for over 16 years now (6-9 months every year) and has done a lot of writing in that time. So I am going to make a blog for her and start posting her travel stories, short stories, poems and other odds and ends for her.
She was actually the page 3 spread in the Sydney Morning Herald back in June:
Article
Multimedia
So I have the relevent domain names registered now: www.HalfBraveHalfStupid.com and www.CarmenMajor.com and I have a host sorted out. I will start installing and setting up the blog in the next couple of days.
A quick mention for Klaus' new website too. He has created a forum website to help people with scams. So if you have ever been scammed, or know of any scams which you want to warn people about, or even if you just feel like getting into some interesting political or religious discussions, then go to www.ScamsHelp.com and register and participate there!
Shane
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Sports Arbitrage Guide almost complete
Wow. That is a big deal. After almost three years of working and ignoring and procrastinating on this website - it is almost finally complete. I have about 4 more pages or articles to write for it and then I will be at a point where I can't think of anything else that needs to be added. No doubt more posts will be made to the blog as news comes up and small details change from time to time, but ultiamtely, the core content of the website will be complete.
My current plan is to complete these last few articles. I will then get Klaus to re-do the flash menu for the site to account for all of the new pages I added to it. And then finally, I will go through all of the pages one more time (for a while at least) and re-read and edit them all carefully AND add small images, cartoons and pictures to each page to help break up the wall of text that you currently encounter on each page.
With that done, it will be complete complete. Ongoing maintenance will simply consist of updating the alert services listing, the free trials and the accesories page. The occasional blog post will also be made, but from then on it will almost entirely just consist of random news announcements.
Anyway, this is pretty exciting. With a complete Sports Arbitrage Guide website I will be able to focus my efforts onto the redevlopment of TDMSKP. Klaus is dilligently working away on the database system behind the new wiki right now, and will shortly be moving on to integrate the map with the wiki. I have sorted out a colour code system for the wiki finally, but I think I will need to sort out specific details for most of the articles so that each one can be entered into the wiki with a range of important specific information. That being said, i think the most important thing I can do is ensure that it is easy for Klaus to continually update those elements in the wiki over time, so I can get user feedback to indicate what information is required for each activity, sport and location article.
OK, thats all. For parting, have a look at these articles I have recently added to SAG. More will follow shortly:
1. Bookmaker Registration and Funding for Arbitrage Trading
2. How to Place Arbitrage Bets - Step 1, Check Everything
3. How to Place Arbitrage Bets - Step 2, Place the Bets
4. How to Roll Over a Stake Returned (SR) Bonus
5. Matched Betting - How to Claim Stake Not Returned (SNR) Bonuses
6. Palps - How to Spot Obvious Errors
Bye bye.
My current plan is to complete these last few articles. I will then get Klaus to re-do the flash menu for the site to account for all of the new pages I added to it. And then finally, I will go through all of the pages one more time (for a while at least) and re-read and edit them all carefully AND add small images, cartoons and pictures to each page to help break up the wall of text that you currently encounter on each page.
With that done, it will be complete complete. Ongoing maintenance will simply consist of updating the alert services listing, the free trials and the accesories page. The occasional blog post will also be made, but from then on it will almost entirely just consist of random news announcements.
Anyway, this is pretty exciting. With a complete Sports Arbitrage Guide website I will be able to focus my efforts onto the redevlopment of TDMSKP. Klaus is dilligently working away on the database system behind the new wiki right now, and will shortly be moving on to integrate the map with the wiki. I have sorted out a colour code system for the wiki finally, but I think I will need to sort out specific details for most of the articles so that each one can be entered into the wiki with a range of important specific information. That being said, i think the most important thing I can do is ensure that it is easy for Klaus to continually update those elements in the wiki over time, so I can get user feedback to indicate what information is required for each activity, sport and location article.
OK, thats all. For parting, have a look at these articles I have recently added to SAG. More will follow shortly:
1. Bookmaker Registration and Funding for Arbitrage Trading
2. How to Place Arbitrage Bets - Step 1, Check Everything
3. How to Place Arbitrage Bets - Step 2, Place the Bets
4. How to Roll Over a Stake Returned (SR) Bonus
5. Matched Betting - How to Claim Stake Not Returned (SNR) Bonuses
6. Palps - How to Spot Obvious Errors
Bye bye.
Monday, December 08, 2008
Waterfall of Moss
Just finished adding Waterfall of Moss to the TDMSKP guide book. Already uploaded photos from the trip yesterday for Waterfall of Moss and Koombanda Canyon. Next job is to add the guide for Koombanda Canyon.
Jon has volunteered to write a trip report for the two canyons, while Trev has volunteered to put together the video, so I really appreciate that. Meanwhile, I found out while I was away that two of my photos actually made it into the OzCanyons calendar for 2009, which was pretty cool. See the OzCanyons 2009 calendar here.
Jon has volunteered to write a trip report for the two canyons, while Trev has volunteered to put together the video, so I really appreciate that. Meanwhile, I found out while I was away that two of my photos actually made it into the OzCanyons calendar for 2009, which was pretty cool. See the OzCanyons 2009 calendar here.
Thursday, November 06, 2008
Why would you do that?
A common phenomenon that I have noticed over the past few years is people seeing someone else doing something strange, something a little abnormal or simply doing something a sub-optimal way, and upon seeing this asking their friends "Why would you do that?" or some similarly judgemental question. And it is always asked with such a condescending tone - there is no doubt that the question is not really a question, but an attempt to point out the 'failing' they see in the person in question. What they are really saying is "That is such a stupid thing to do/stupid way to do that, I would do it better than that"
It is interesting that I hear people 'asking' this question all the time, yet I never see any indication that the person 'asking' the question has ever bothered trying to 'answer' the question they have (not really) 'asked'.
I don't mean to make myself sound like I am above this phrase - I am sure I have said it myself many times. What I am interested in now though, is qualifying the statement by following it up with a genuine thought process. I want to think "Why would you do that?" then follow that with a genuine introspective questioning process: "No really, what reasons would a person have for doing that? Maybe they can't do it the better way? Maybe there is more going on here than I can see, maybe they have some sort of disability, maybe they are actually smarter than myself and it is myself that doesn't understand" etc.
I can't really expect the population at large to pick up this method of introspective consideration, but I think it is more valuable to attempt to understand 'why they would do that', than it is to simply ask an empty rhetorical question designed to indicate how bad/stupid/uncoordinated/social inept someone else is.
It is interesting that I hear people 'asking' this question all the time, yet I never see any indication that the person 'asking' the question has ever bothered trying to 'answer' the question they have (not really) 'asked'.
I don't mean to make myself sound like I am above this phrase - I am sure I have said it myself many times. What I am interested in now though, is qualifying the statement by following it up with a genuine thought process. I want to think "Why would you do that?" then follow that with a genuine introspective questioning process: "No really, what reasons would a person have for doing that? Maybe they can't do it the better way? Maybe there is more going on here than I can see, maybe they have some sort of disability, maybe they are actually smarter than myself and it is myself that doesn't understand" etc.
I can't really expect the population at large to pick up this method of introspective consideration, but I think it is more valuable to attempt to understand 'why they would do that', than it is to simply ask an empty rhetorical question designed to indicate how bad/stupid/uncoordinated/social inept someone else is.
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
Exercising
I have been working my arse off over the last few weeks (wow, Firefox doesn't recognise the word 'arse' as a word.) I have played squash at least twice a week, been rock climbing once or twice every week for about 4 weeks. I have been canyoning, white water kayking, jogging, regularly doing crunches etc and push ups, and a little bit of weights work. And it is paying off. I feel good, and I am getting quite a few comments, but I am starting to worry about what happens when I get bored with working my arse off.
It will happen. It always happens. I'm not really a long term worker. I get an idea, and I run with it until it bores me. Now what happens when I get bored with doing intense physical exercise almost every night of the week? I'll go back into some sort of stupid comatose lifestyle where I don't leave my room, and I slowly lose all the tone and definition and put all the fat back on. Stupid bloody body. Why can't I just work to my ideal body shape, and then just 'lock it in'. That'd be awesome.
Oh well, whatever happens happens. As per the normal rules of the universe. I still have a goal to get down to 85kg by the end of this month - achieving that I expect I will finally have my real goal achieved: a six pack. I have never had six pack in my life, and I want one. And this time, I will have one.
It will happen. It always happens. I'm not really a long term worker. I get an idea, and I run with it until it bores me. Now what happens when I get bored with doing intense physical exercise almost every night of the week? I'll go back into some sort of stupid comatose lifestyle where I don't leave my room, and I slowly lose all the tone and definition and put all the fat back on. Stupid bloody body. Why can't I just work to my ideal body shape, and then just 'lock it in'. That'd be awesome.
Oh well, whatever happens happens. As per the normal rules of the universe. I still have a goal to get down to 85kg by the end of this month - achieving that I expect I will finally have my real goal achieved: a six pack. I have never had six pack in my life, and I want one. And this time, I will have one.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Squash, Uni Break and Newnes
Played Squash with JV this morning. He won all of the games actually, except for the two left handed games which I have decided we must have everytime we play to offset the imbalance I have become aware of in my arms. I really enjoy playing squash - it actually pushes me, something I don't find myself doing nearly enough.
It is Tuesday of the one week uni break we have at the moment, so I actually have a fair bit of time at home atm. I have a ton of marking to do from the last weeks worth of biology labs. And of course there is the usual work that needs doing with the websites and arb trading (which I am winding down now, and withdrawing all of my money back out of.)
This weekend we are all (family and many friends) heading out to Newnes to go camping for the long weekend. I'll be taking a large group canyoning on saturday through a low grade canyon (possibly Deep Pass), and then a smaller group through Starlights canyon on Sunday. Should be fun - I just hope it doesn't rain too much, because apparently rain is forcast.
It is Tuesday of the one week uni break we have at the moment, so I actually have a fair bit of time at home atm. I have a ton of marking to do from the last weeks worth of biology labs. And of course there is the usual work that needs doing with the websites and arb trading (which I am winding down now, and withdrawing all of my money back out of.)
This weekend we are all (family and many friends) heading out to Newnes to go camping for the long weekend. I'll be taking a large group canyoning on saturday through a low grade canyon (possibly Deep Pass), and then a smaller group through Starlights canyon on Sunday. Should be fun - I just hope it doesn't rain too much, because apparently rain is forcast.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Polyamory vs Monogamy
Part Two of Two - Read part one first: Stranger in a Strange Land - Love vs Jealousy
On Polyamory
Polyamory is the desire, practice, or acceptance of having more than one loving, intimate relationship at a time with the full knowledge and consent of everyone involved. Most people have heard of it, and I imagine that everyone who has heard of it just as quickly dismisses the concept as one of those ideas that "can't work" or simply "doesn't work". I want to explore that instant dismissal briefly.
I don't know of any rigorous studies done on the subject, partly because I haven't looked (this is just a topic on my mind, not something I have studied extensively), and partly because such a study would be very difficulty to do as most such relationships would be very private arrangements - polyamory still being something not accepted by society at large. So I think it would be hard to actually know how many of these relationships there are, let alone how many of those relationships 'fail', and more difficult still - how many of those failures are caused by the structure of the relationship, as opposed to normal reasons for relationship failure and outside factors.
So if we consider the scenario created by a polyamorous relationship we are immediately struck with two strongly negative forces: 1. The social conditioning of the participants and 2. The constant non-subtle judgements passed by people outside the relationship.
It is difficult to really say anything about the first negative force because it will vary greatly from person to person and from one childhood environment to another. However I don't think there is a person (at least in our western society) who doesn't know that you are 'supposed' to have one partner and only one partner, and that anything else is 'evil' in one way or another. 'Knowing' it isn't really the problem though - the real problem is the underlying subconscious thought processes, the trained ways of thinking, the assumed roles and consequences which have been bred into us by a consistent world that will create mental hurdles. I guess that most people are unable to jump all of these hurdles, and inevitably trip on one or another, and find themselves 'unable' to be polyamorous.
The second negative force is probably just as powerful as the first. Most people simply won't understand polyamory. Not that they can't - but they won't. And they will express that choice in numerous judgemental ways that will constantly drain on the energy of someone 'trying' to be polyamorous. With the self-doubt already well implanted in the mind of anyone raised in our society, the constant barrage of 'concern' by their family and extended friend group will only help to rock the delicate balance of the mental boat.
So, are Polyamorous relationships destined to fail? Probably - but not for the right reasons. Not because people can't love more than one person - you have to be a very special case of 'protected from life' to think that someone can't love more than one person at a time. Also, as I argued in the point above, I also do not think that they are destined to fail because of jealousy - we have as much opportunity to ignore and overcome jealousy as we have opportunity to ignore emotional desire, lust and affection for people who are not our spouse. Maybe it is failure will come from the complexity of maintaining relations with more than one person?
I expect it would be harder to maintain extremely intimate relationships with more than one person at a time, and that would cause difficulty, but that is a problem to be tackled on individual merits case by case as we currently do when dealing with our single spouses, friends and family. As a matter of fact, having said that, I can't think of anything else to say about the difficulties of possible polyamorous relationship structures, because the number of possible ways it could be worked are extensively numerous. For every difficulty, there is a way to do it which avoids, compensates for, or embraces that difficulty. When the real idea here is simply dispensing with jealousy, and embracing those you are close with into a closer circle of affection, the way it is done is immaterial to the ends.
Regardless of whether polyamorous relationships are destined to fail or not, it is worth noting that a large proportion of monogamous relationships also fail - repeatedly. Most people practice monogamous relationships from their mid teens, always looking for 'the one', and still about 40% of Australian marriages and up to 50% of marriages in the USA end in divorce. Take into consideration that these are the monogamous relationships which both individuals decided would last 'forever', and that was after (in most cases) a series of monogamous relationships which were discarded leading up to this marriage because of not meeting the requirements. Also consider that these are just 'divorce' rates - this does not factor in other de facto relationships, and versions of 'life long' monogamous relationships which break up.
When you factor all of that together, you end up knowing that the clear majority of monogamous relationships 'fail'. Take the time to consider the fact that most of these relationships started because of an emotional closeness between the individuals involved - an affection, a desire, sometimes a sense of love. Two individuals who love each other, and nonetheless statistics say that that relationship will fail. Why?
Maybe monogamous relationships aren't are great as we have convinced ourselves that they are. Divorce rates for second and thirds marriages enter the 70 percentile range too... so it only gets worse.
Maybe if both partners of a monogamous relationship allowed each other the freedom to love openly - repressing the 'bad' jealous emotion rather than the 'good' affection/lust/desire emotion, more marriages would last. Why would you leave the man/woman you love for someone else, when you can have both?
Jealousy makes no sense at all.
On Polyamory
Polyamory is the desire, practice, or acceptance of having more than one loving, intimate relationship at a time with the full knowledge and consent of everyone involved. Most people have heard of it, and I imagine that everyone who has heard of it just as quickly dismisses the concept as one of those ideas that "can't work" or simply "doesn't work". I want to explore that instant dismissal briefly.
I don't know of any rigorous studies done on the subject, partly because I haven't looked (this is just a topic on my mind, not something I have studied extensively), and partly because such a study would be very difficulty to do as most such relationships would be very private arrangements - polyamory still being something not accepted by society at large. So I think it would be hard to actually know how many of these relationships there are, let alone how many of those relationships 'fail', and more difficult still - how many of those failures are caused by the structure of the relationship, as opposed to normal reasons for relationship failure and outside factors.So if we consider the scenario created by a polyamorous relationship we are immediately struck with two strongly negative forces: 1. The social conditioning of the participants and 2. The constant non-subtle judgements passed by people outside the relationship.
It is difficult to really say anything about the first negative force because it will vary greatly from person to person and from one childhood environment to another. However I don't think there is a person (at least in our western society) who doesn't know that you are 'supposed' to have one partner and only one partner, and that anything else is 'evil' in one way or another. 'Knowing' it isn't really the problem though - the real problem is the underlying subconscious thought processes, the trained ways of thinking, the assumed roles and consequences which have been bred into us by a consistent world that will create mental hurdles. I guess that most people are unable to jump all of these hurdles, and inevitably trip on one or another, and find themselves 'unable' to be polyamorous.
The second negative force is probably just as powerful as the first. Most people simply won't understand polyamory. Not that they can't - but they won't. And they will express that choice in numerous judgemental ways that will constantly drain on the energy of someone 'trying' to be polyamorous. With the self-doubt already well implanted in the mind of anyone raised in our society, the constant barrage of 'concern' by their family and extended friend group will only help to rock the delicate balance of the mental boat.
So, are Polyamorous relationships destined to fail? Probably - but not for the right reasons. Not because people can't love more than one person - you have to be a very special case of 'protected from life' to think that someone can't love more than one person at a time. Also, as I argued in the point above, I also do not think that they are destined to fail because of jealousy - we have as much opportunity to ignore and overcome jealousy as we have opportunity to ignore emotional desire, lust and affection for people who are not our spouse. Maybe it is failure will come from the complexity of maintaining relations with more than one person?
I expect it would be harder to maintain extremely intimate relationships with more than one person at a time, and that would cause difficulty, but that is a problem to be tackled on individual merits case by case as we currently do when dealing with our single spouses, friends and family. As a matter of fact, having said that, I can't think of anything else to say about the difficulties of possible polyamorous relationship structures, because the number of possible ways it could be worked are extensively numerous. For every difficulty, there is a way to do it which avoids, compensates for, or embraces that difficulty. When the real idea here is simply dispensing with jealousy, and embracing those you are close with into a closer circle of affection, the way it is done is immaterial to the ends.
Regardless of whether polyamorous relationships are destined to fail or not, it is worth noting that a large proportion of monogamous relationships also fail - repeatedly. Most people practice monogamous relationships from their mid teens, always looking for 'the one', and still about 40% of Australian marriages and up to 50% of marriages in the USA end in divorce. Take into consideration that these are the monogamous relationships which both individuals decided would last 'forever', and that was after (in most cases) a series of monogamous relationships which were discarded leading up to this marriage because of not meeting the requirements. Also consider that these are just 'divorce' rates - this does not factor in other de facto relationships, and versions of 'life long' monogamous relationships which break up.
When you factor all of that together, you end up knowing that the clear majority of monogamous relationships 'fail'. Take the time to consider the fact that most of these relationships started because of an emotional closeness between the individuals involved - an affection, a desire, sometimes a sense of love. Two individuals who love each other, and nonetheless statistics say that that relationship will fail. Why?
Maybe monogamous relationships aren't are great as we have convinced ourselves that they are. Divorce rates for second and thirds marriages enter the 70 percentile range too... so it only gets worse.
Maybe if both partners of a monogamous relationship allowed each other the freedom to love openly - repressing the 'bad' jealous emotion rather than the 'good' affection/lust/desire emotion, more marriages would last. Why would you leave the man/woman you love for someone else, when you can have both?
Jealousy makes no sense at all.
Stranger in a Strange Land - Love vs Jealousy, and On Polyamory
Stranger in a Strange Land deals very much with social taboos, and with the concept of polyamory (amongst other topics). It was an interesting book for me to read at this time because I have been actively engaged mentally on this topic recently. I have thought quite extensively about polyamory and other forms of non-monogamous relationships in the past, but I think the past few years have helped me refine my understanding of relationships and people in general.
There are two primary things I am interested in talking about in this post. Firstly I want to talk about the 'goodness' and the 'badness' of certain things/actions/feelings. This comes almost directly from Stranger in a Strange Land and is something which has really struck me. Secondly I am interested in the idea that "everyone knows that open relationships/Polyamorous relationships never work".
Love and Jealousy
To start with, I want to quote 'Mike' (The Man from Mars) directly. This quote directly follows on from a friend talking about how he felt while 'making love' to one of the women in Mikes inner circle, and how if he was younger he would have eagerly married the woman:
Several times throughout the story this very pertinent point is made. Sex is not a bad thing in and of itself. The sexual act is physically pleasurable, and emotionally enjoyable. Sex is made bad by social pressures. When all social stigma is removed, Sex is distinctly a 'goodness'. It is positive in every way - It causes pleasure, and helps people grow closer with one another.
On the other side of the coin there is Jealousy. Jealousy appears to be pure 'badness'. Jealousy will drive 'good people' to do terrible things - insults, accusations, violence, abuse, and murder to name some of the obvious ones. There is nothing good about the emotion 'jealousy' itself, and nothing 'good' comes of it.
I find it odd that our society is as tolerant of jealousy as it is. Worse than that, we often find ourselves or others like ourselves even promoting it! Everything which comes from this emotion is negative, yet we still see family and friends protecting each other's jealous feelings; sure, it has been written numerous times that jealousy is an ugly emotion, but when it comes to how we actually live, jealousy is by far more acceptable than embracing the infidelity of a partner. How many times have we heard the story of the boyfriend cheating on his girlfriend with her best friend? The automatic assumption is always that she has been betrayed and he deserves whatever retribution she wants to dish out to him. Never is the case made that she should be happy for him and her best friend. She loves both of them doesn't she? So why is she systematically destroying everything that was ever good between herself and the both of them? What has she gained by falling prey to the emotion of jealousy in this instance? And why does everyone always support her in this course of action? Jealousy is a 'badness' and there is no justification for succumbing to it.
At this point it would be fair to question the point of talking as if an emotion is felt by choice. "Surely jealousy will be felt regardless of whether I want to feel it or not?" Well, yeah, to an extent. But a married man will lust after women he can't have whether he wants to or not - yet we have the Bible telling us we must never do it - most social codes seem to generally agree with that sentiment. We are outright expected to suppress a powerful emotion (a fundamental driving biological emotion to be specific) and act as if that emotion simply doesn't exist. There usually isn't much support for the 'cheating' spouse when everyone finds out what they have been doing...
So can we stop ourselves feeling jealousy? No more or less than we can stop ourselves lusting after other women or men while married... So why do we choose to block the emotion which drives us towards a 'goodness', and allow ourselves to be exposed to the emotion which drives us towards 'badness'?
I can't see how this topic can be any more lucidly clear than that. There is a confliction, but one is clearly good, and the other is clearly bad - why does society insist we keep choosing the bad option?
Love is a positive emotion. Affection, friendship, closeness - all of these feelings of kindred-ship we experience with one another are the most beautiful and positive things available in the human experience. We have an endless supply of these positive closeness emotions in all of their varying intensities. It is an 'endless fountain' within us, but we constantly let that fountain be blocked by the jealousy of another - and ironically we only let that other person do it because we love that person, and we have been convinced that they have the right to feel 'jealous'.
What would the world be like if our moral guidelines dictated that no one should allow themselves to feel jealous of another persons good fortunes, and just as importantly recommended that we all openly embrace our love for one another without guilt?
Part Two Follows - On Polyamory
There are two primary things I am interested in talking about in this post. Firstly I want to talk about the 'goodness' and the 'badness' of certain things/actions/feelings. This comes almost directly from Stranger in a Strange Land and is something which has really struck me. Secondly I am interested in the idea that "everyone knows that open relationships/Polyamorous relationships never work".
Love and Jealousy
To start with, I want to quote 'Mike' (The Man from Mars) directly. This quote directly follows on from a friend talking about how he felt while 'making love' to one of the women in Mikes inner circle, and how if he was younger he would have eagerly married the woman:
"That's what it should be. But that's what a I slowly grokked* it rarely was. Instead it was indifference, and acts mechanically performed, and rape, and seduction as a game no better than roulette but with poorer odds and, prostitution, and celibacy by choice and by no choice, and fear, and guilt, and hatred, and violence, and children brought up to think that sex was 'bad' and 'shameful' and 'animal,' and something to be hidden and always distrusted. This lovely perfect thing, male-femaleness, turned upside down and inside out and made horrible.*understood in a holistic way
"And every one of those wrong things is a corollary of 'jealousy.' Jubal, I couldn't believe it. I still don't grok 'jealousy' in fullness, it seems an insanity to me, a terrible wrongness. When I first learned what this ecstasy was, my first thought was to share it, share it at once with all my water brothers - directly with those female, indirectly by inviting more sharing with those male. The notion of trying to keep this never-failing fountain to myself would have horrified me, had I thought of it."
Several times throughout the story this very pertinent point is made. Sex is not a bad thing in and of itself. The sexual act is physically pleasurable, and emotionally enjoyable. Sex is made bad by social pressures. When all social stigma is removed, Sex is distinctly a 'goodness'. It is positive in every way - It causes pleasure, and helps people grow closer with one another.
On the other side of the coin there is Jealousy. Jealousy appears to be pure 'badness'. Jealousy will drive 'good people' to do terrible things - insults, accusations, violence, abuse, and murder to name some of the obvious ones. There is nothing good about the emotion 'jealousy' itself, and nothing 'good' comes of it.I find it odd that our society is as tolerant of jealousy as it is. Worse than that, we often find ourselves or others like ourselves even promoting it! Everything which comes from this emotion is negative, yet we still see family and friends protecting each other's jealous feelings; sure, it has been written numerous times that jealousy is an ugly emotion, but when it comes to how we actually live, jealousy is by far more acceptable than embracing the infidelity of a partner. How many times have we heard the story of the boyfriend cheating on his girlfriend with her best friend? The automatic assumption is always that she has been betrayed and he deserves whatever retribution she wants to dish out to him. Never is the case made that she should be happy for him and her best friend. She loves both of them doesn't she? So why is she systematically destroying everything that was ever good between herself and the both of them? What has she gained by falling prey to the emotion of jealousy in this instance? And why does everyone always support her in this course of action? Jealousy is a 'badness' and there is no justification for succumbing to it.
At this point it would be fair to question the point of talking as if an emotion is felt by choice. "Surely jealousy will be felt regardless of whether I want to feel it or not?" Well, yeah, to an extent. But a married man will lust after women he can't have whether he wants to or not - yet we have the Bible telling us we must never do it - most social codes seem to generally agree with that sentiment. We are outright expected to suppress a powerful emotion (a fundamental driving biological emotion to be specific) and act as if that emotion simply doesn't exist. There usually isn't much support for the 'cheating' spouse when everyone finds out what they have been doing...
So can we stop ourselves feeling jealousy? No more or less than we can stop ourselves lusting after other women or men while married... So why do we choose to block the emotion which drives us towards a 'goodness', and allow ourselves to be exposed to the emotion which drives us towards 'badness'?
- Think about what it is like to 'fall in love', what it is like to find yourself attracted to someone, what it is like to feel 'connected'...and think of the consequences of allowing yourself to explore those feelings without regret and guilt. What consequences do we see? We see growth, we see happiness, pleasure, enjoyment, we see increase in well being all round.
Now think about the consequences of jealousy. A wife catches a 'cheating husband' and the jealous reaction is an overwhelmingly negative one. If it isn't immediately violent, then it is probably immediate depression, despair, and collapse. Allowing jealousy to rule will result in despair, heartache, loss and overwhelming depression - with or without a divorce. Jealousy often drives people to particularly vindictive actions too - malicious divorce where the slighted partner's sole purpose is to get us much money out of their 'cheating' partner as possible, and where kids are involved the jealous individual will even go so far as to attempt to stop all access between their ex-spouse and their children. Further extending the 'badness' effect of jealousy, and having the unfortunate effect of impressing upon those children that it was the 'cheaters' fault that this has happened - "if only he had stayed true and been monogamous, then none of this would have happened" - a strong lesson to impressionable children. Never is it taught that jealousy is the real cause of the pain and suffering.
I can't see how this topic can be any more lucidly clear than that. There is a confliction, but one is clearly good, and the other is clearly bad - why does society insist we keep choosing the bad option?
Love is a positive emotion. Affection, friendship, closeness - all of these feelings of kindred-ship we experience with one another are the most beautiful and positive things available in the human experience. We have an endless supply of these positive closeness emotions in all of their varying intensities. It is an 'endless fountain' within us, but we constantly let that fountain be blocked by the jealousy of another - and ironically we only let that other person do it because we love that person, and we have been convinced that they have the right to feel 'jealous'.
What would the world be like if our moral guidelines dictated that no one should allow themselves to feel jealous of another persons good fortunes, and just as importantly recommended that we all openly embrace our love for one another without guilt?
Part Two Follows - On Polyamory
Saturday, September 27, 2008
TOOL-Pink Floyd, and Stranger in a Strange Land
Two quick topics on my mind atm that I want to quickly go into:
1. Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun, by Pink Floyd reminds me an awful lot of Wings for Marie part 1 and 2 by TOOL. I can;t imagine TOOL not taking a lot of influence for their later music from Pink Floyd's older music. I would also LOVE to see TOOL do a direct cover of Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun.
Set the Controls For the Heart of the Sun (Live at Pompeii) - Pink Floyd
Wings for Marie (part 1) - TOOL
10,000 Days (wings part 2) - TOOL (1/2)
10,000 Days (wings part 2) - TOOL (2/2)
Second topic for this post - Stranger in a Strange Land, by Robert Heinlein. I am about to finish reading it, and it is a book expressing numerous ideas which I am very at one with - I grok them (feel very corny saying that). Actually, I don't feel like writing about this now. I feel like watching all of the video clips I just posted above. Maybe I will talk more about this book later.
Bye.
1. Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun, by Pink Floyd reminds me an awful lot of Wings for Marie part 1 and 2 by TOOL. I can;t imagine TOOL not taking a lot of influence for their later music from Pink Floyd's older music. I would also LOVE to see TOOL do a direct cover of Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun.
Set the Controls For the Heart of the Sun (Live at Pompeii) - Pink Floyd
Wings for Marie (part 1) - TOOL
10,000 Days (wings part 2) - TOOL (1/2)
10,000 Days (wings part 2) - TOOL (2/2)
Second topic for this post - Stranger in a Strange Land, by Robert Heinlein. I am about to finish reading it, and it is a book expressing numerous ideas which I am very at one with - I grok them (feel very corny saying that). Actually, I don't feel like writing about this now. I feel like watching all of the video clips I just posted above. Maybe I will talk more about this book later.
Bye.
TDMSKP and E-Thumb idea (42ity.net)
I did Better Offer canyon yesterday. I should go through the photos and upload them to TDMSKP, and write a guide article for the canyon in the wiki sometime today while it is all still fresh in my head. Klaus is actively developing the new version of TDMSKP at the moment - I hope to get a beta version of the new site live by November, but the final version of the site probably won't be ready for a few months more. It is looking very sexy so far though...
I am still really excited by the idea of this website. I think there is a reasonable chance that it will be successful. Even if it isn't world domination successful, it will be a reasonably well received site with decent traffic almost guaranteed.
Meanwhile, after more than a month of consideration, I finally found a name for my E-thumb idea that I really like - 42ity (four-two-ity). The .com domain was taken though, and I emailed the owner, but he wasn't interested in selling. After some discussion with Brian last night though, I am convinced that the .net is acceptable in this instance. 42ity.net rolls off the tongue pretty well, and 42ity is really just a network of people anyway - so .net is appropriate.
I love this name so much now. Of course, having not explained in this blog what my 'E-Thumb idea' is means that anyone reading this has no idea what I am talking about, but chances are no one will read this anyway. So let me explain why 42ity.net is the perfect name regardless.
1. 42ity.net implies fortuity, and the idea of having a complete stranger driving past your locations, heading past your destination, and offering you a (safe) lift, is a 'fortuitous' event.
2. 42ity.net includes the number 42, an obvious reference to "Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy", a book which not only has a lot in it about hitch hiking, but also has it's own e-thumb in it - Ford Prefect's 'Sub-etha sensomatic'.
3. 42ity.net is easily branded, easily converted to a logo (thanks for that insight klaus), and easily remembered. (unlike my second option - 4tuitous.com)
It is perfect. Now that I have a domain, I guess I should host it, and have a good long talk with Andrew and Wanna about what to do next (they are the two software engineers who have agreed to do the software development on the project).
I need to design layout and process for how I see the website working from user-interface level.
I also need to keep doing that with Klaus and TDMSKP.
I need to keep driving SAG and SBB to ensure I continue to have any money at all to be able to drive these two projects.
Session has almost ended at Uni now. This is good because I really need to time - but it is also bad because it means my main 'living' income is about to stop again. I don't feel poor yet, but give it 3 months, and we'll see.
I am still really excited by the idea of this website. I think there is a reasonable chance that it will be successful. Even if it isn't world domination successful, it will be a reasonably well received site with decent traffic almost guaranteed.
Meanwhile, after more than a month of consideration, I finally found a name for my E-thumb idea that I really like - 42ity (four-two-ity). The .com domain was taken though, and I emailed the owner, but he wasn't interested in selling. After some discussion with Brian last night though, I am convinced that the .net is acceptable in this instance. 42ity.net rolls off the tongue pretty well, and 42ity is really just a network of people anyway - so .net is appropriate.
I love this name so much now. Of course, having not explained in this blog what my 'E-Thumb idea' is means that anyone reading this has no idea what I am talking about, but chances are no one will read this anyway. So let me explain why 42ity.net is the perfect name regardless.
1. 42ity.net implies fortuity, and the idea of having a complete stranger driving past your locations, heading past your destination, and offering you a (safe) lift, is a 'fortuitous' event.
2. 42ity.net includes the number 42, an obvious reference to "Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy", a book which not only has a lot in it about hitch hiking, but also has it's own e-thumb in it - Ford Prefect's 'Sub-etha sensomatic'.
3. 42ity.net is easily branded, easily converted to a logo (thanks for that insight klaus), and easily remembered. (unlike my second option - 4tuitous.com)
It is perfect. Now that I have a domain, I guess I should host it, and have a good long talk with Andrew and Wanna about what to do next (they are the two software engineers who have agreed to do the software development on the project).
I need to design layout and process for how I see the website working from user-interface level.
I also need to keep doing that with Klaus and TDMSKP.
I need to keep driving SAG and SBB to ensure I continue to have any money at all to be able to drive these two projects.
Session has almost ended at Uni now. This is good because I really need to time - but it is also bad because it means my main 'living' income is about to stop again. I don't feel poor yet, but give it 3 months, and we'll see.
Regularity
I have recently gone through another series of changes, and I am in a space where writing regularly about my life my thoughts and my activities is something which will once again entertain me. I used to keep a public online diary, but I haven't updated it properly for about 4 years now. Until I once again get bored of doing this (and I will, without doubt, because that is how I work), I plan on making this blog my public online diary.
SO, if you are one of my subscribers, and you don't feel like getting emailed everytime I want to write about my favourite song of the moment, or 'what I did today' etc, then please, just unsubscribe to this feed.
I hope at least half of my posts will be more meaningful than that - the main reason I want to start doing this again is because I have a lot of complicated and interesting thoughts streaming through my head atm and I need to get them out, rationalise them a bit and hopefully sort them out more thoroughly by writing them.
Anyway, I'll write the few ideas that I wast to get out to start this all off with over a few separate posts after this one...
SO, if you are one of my subscribers, and you don't feel like getting emailed everytime I want to write about my favourite song of the moment, or 'what I did today' etc, then please, just unsubscribe to this feed.
I hope at least half of my posts will be more meaningful than that - the main reason I want to start doing this again is because I have a lot of complicated and interesting thoughts streaming through my head atm and I need to get them out, rationalise them a bit and hopefully sort them out more thoroughly by writing them.
Anyway, I'll write the few ideas that I wast to get out to start this all off with over a few separate posts after this one...
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Everyone Hates Ads
And everyone hates giant corporations manipulating them into buying things they don't want - but surely everyone likes finding things that make their life easier, more pleasurable, or more entertaining?
This topic crossed my mind recently and I have been mulling it over for a while now - the difference between 'Marketing', 'Advertising' and the modern version of 'internet marketing' vs the future of internet marketing.
In general people think of marketing and advertising as the same thing, and I doubt anyone (not in the industry or studying it in any meaningful way) before now has bothered to seek out a difference between them and internet marketing, and so in general when people talk about their hatred of ads, they apply the hatred very generally, without any remorse for one particular version over the other...
And if there is any doubt that people hate marketing and advertising, take a quick moment to watch this classic bit of 'comedy' by Bill Hicks:
I don't want to get too caught up on strict definitions, so humour me here for a moment while I distinguish between marketing and traditional advertising. I think advertising is a blanket attempt to show your product or service to as many people as possible in the hopes that at least some of them are in the market place for your product or service, or they know someone else who is. While I think Marketing is a blanket attempt to create mental and emotional associations in the public mind about the brand being marketed - marketing has no regard for need, it is all about creating a desire.
So for instance, John Smith's Compensation Lawyers will run a billboard advertisement in the hopes that someone who needs a compensation lawyer will see the ad, and decide to go with them, while Coca Cola runs a TV ad showing how much fun people have while drinking coke. The first AD informs the public about a service being offered, while the second 'Ad' (marketing) doesn't care whether the people are thirsty or not, it simply attempts to create desires in the publics mindset, so that when the conditions are met, the decision process is decided by the mental associations, not by any rational thought process (like hydration capabilities...)
Maybe that distinction isn't as real as I imagine, but that really isn't what I am interested in. IN fact, it probably has no relevance at all to what I am interested in, so I will end this post here, and start again, and hopefully get a better post next time!
This topic crossed my mind recently and I have been mulling it over for a while now - the difference between 'Marketing', 'Advertising' and the modern version of 'internet marketing' vs the future of internet marketing.
In general people think of marketing and advertising as the same thing, and I doubt anyone (not in the industry or studying it in any meaningful way) before now has bothered to seek out a difference between them and internet marketing, and so in general when people talk about their hatred of ads, they apply the hatred very generally, without any remorse for one particular version over the other...
And if there is any doubt that people hate marketing and advertising, take a quick moment to watch this classic bit of 'comedy' by Bill Hicks:
I don't want to get too caught up on strict definitions, so humour me here for a moment while I distinguish between marketing and traditional advertising. I think advertising is a blanket attempt to show your product or service to as many people as possible in the hopes that at least some of them are in the market place for your product or service, or they know someone else who is. While I think Marketing is a blanket attempt to create mental and emotional associations in the public mind about the brand being marketed - marketing has no regard for need, it is all about creating a desire.
So for instance, John Smith's Compensation Lawyers will run a billboard advertisement in the hopes that someone who needs a compensation lawyer will see the ad, and decide to go with them, while Coca Cola runs a TV ad showing how much fun people have while drinking coke. The first AD informs the public about a service being offered, while the second 'Ad' (marketing) doesn't care whether the people are thirsty or not, it simply attempts to create desires in the publics mindset, so that when the conditions are met, the decision process is decided by the mental associations, not by any rational thought process (like hydration capabilities...)
Maybe that distinction isn't as real as I imagine, but that really isn't what I am interested in. IN fact, it probably has no relevance at all to what I am interested in, so I will end this post here, and start again, and hopefully get a better post next time!
Thursday, February 07, 2008
Best Ron Paul Q&A
I have been following Ron Paul in the US elections for a while now and watching quite a lot of videos from his channel and through searches on youtube. This video was only added a few days ago and it is by far the best example of real people asking real questions and getting real answers.
Watching Ron Paul and how the american elections run, I am really impressed. What is most disappointing is that it is still unlikely that he will win. In other words, it seems like the US has this great 'showboat' system, where their process looks really really good....but the results are still incredibly mediocre.
Anyway, if you know nothing about Ron Paul, then please watch this. Inspirational politics. It is making me want to get into politics.
Watching Ron Paul and how the american elections run, I am really impressed. What is most disappointing is that it is still unlikely that he will win. In other words, it seems like the US has this great 'showboat' system, where their process looks really really good....but the results are still incredibly mediocre.
Anyway, if you know nothing about Ron Paul, then please watch this. Inspirational politics. It is making me want to get into politics.
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Claustral Canyon
I recently posted the trip report and video from our trip through Claustral Canyon on TDMSKP. I'm really happy with the video, and I would be really happy if everyone could rate and favourite it for me! It has already got two honours for being most favourited and rated (but only second page) this week, so if there are a few more, then hopefully we can drive it onto the front page (of most favourited and rated this week)!
Oh an of course, digg, stumble and delicious etc would really help too! :)
Claustral Canyon Trip Report and Video
Oh an of course, digg, stumble and delicious etc would really help too! :)
Claustral Canyon Trip Report and Video
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