This has to be one of the funniest youtube videos I've seen in a while. I know some of you are new cat owners too, so you will probably enjoy it particularly!

This is just a plug for the blog that a few of my peers and I have started: http://cappe-postgrads.blogspot.com

We're a wide-ranging group of postgrad students interested in applied philosophy and ethics, if that gets you going :) (and I know it does for a few of you! rawr!)

Anyway that's it!

Actually I don't, I hate Thursdays at uni though, which is essentially the "play crappy music very loudly" day. Sometimes we luck out and get the Cure, other times we lose and get random bad dance music. Like today. At least the Chinese music you could put earphones on and listen to something else over the top of :-(

I was quite stunned by this article where a senior Anglican minister wrote to Justice Michael Kirby (of whom I suspect you may recall I am something of a fan) telling him to repent his wicked wicked ways. The letters (PDF) in particular are really quite an amazing read. I think Justice Kirby was quite restrained in his responses given the tone of the letters sent to him, which is to his credit (although he possibly loses a point by invoking Godwin's Law, but let's not make too light on what is a serious subject).

I'm not Christian but it really is some of these selected interpretations that suit peoples' particular prejudices that makes me abhor the church as an institution. No Christians today believe the world is flat, or that adulterers should be stoned (along with many other now-considered "over the top" reactions to things), so why should they make an exception for treatment of homosexuality, which is something that is now well-accepted by science as not being a "choice" as many homophobes would have you believe? It just screams intolerance and exclusion, which is certainly not something that fits in with the doctrines preached by Jesus. I just don't understand how that is reconciled by practising Christians who hold this view.

/rant off, back to work!

DEAR CHINESE PERFORMANCE PEOPLE IN THE ANU UNION COURT:
I AM NOT GOING TO GO TO YOUR STUPID CONCERT
PLEASE STOP PLAYING THE 1:30 TRACK OF AWFUL CHINESE VIOLIN MUSIC OVER AND OVER AGAIN
I AM GOING CRAZY UP HERE AFTER TWO WEEKS OF THIS

AAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH IT IS INGRAINING ITSELF IN MY BRAIN

This weekend was quite exciting! I've come home with sooo many bruises all over me...

Went up to Spring Hill for Easter Working Bee fun with the family. It rained most the time which was actually lovely, and we relaxed and enjoyed the cool crisp weather, and got fat on good food and lots of chocolate. I was originally going to go home Monday, but Sunday night Nicholas went back to Sydney so he could move Monday, and asked me to go with him to help. So I did, and it was lucky I did because it took a while for the people who said they'd help to actually get there to help (and one piked). So it was me and Nicholas' brother and Nicholas and their mother packing and moving and stuff, and we got it all done in 2 hours, which isn't too bad!

The new house is really cool, a 1 bedroom apartment right in the heart of Mosman, and literally 15 seconds walk from a wonderful Italian-run coffee shop which makes just awesome coffee! And there are real Italians that show up and sing along with the baristas and it's just awesome. They do a great jam donut too ("bombe"? I think they call it).

Definitely going to be going there a lot! Nicholas needs more "stuff" though. 4 noodle bowls, a wok, wine glasses, and a rice cooker do not a kitchen make, no matter what he says!

A DJ! Playing some pretty relaxing chill beats, which I can deal with soooo much easier than the cover band of last time... mind you he just started mixing in some bizarro digeridoo music which I think I could do without...

Free BBQ and water and "couches to relax on" apparently! Gonna have to go check that out later!

My ebay auction has an hour to go and I'm pretty pleased with it so far :D Was hoping to get over $500, and so far it's at $515 which is much better than the $360 it was sitting at most the week!

I had an excellent day yesterday, am very inspired for my work now! I had to write a 2 page summary of my thesis arguments and I realised I have some good ideas, which is kinda heartening :)

1) I tried cycling to uni in a skirt today. I was wearing a half-way-down-the-calf green skirt that some of you may know. It has a lot of material in it. Cycling in it was mostly a bad idea, with the skirt getting caught in between the back wheel and brake pads twice until I discovered that if I gathered up the material on both sides, then ... and I'm a little ashamed to admit this ... tucked it into my undies, then I could both a) avoid catching the material in the back wheel and b) make it further than halfway down the road. Not looking forward to cycling home where I have to go up a hill that I usually half-stand-up on the bike in order to get up.

2) More people need to bid on my ebay auction. I'm selling my old laptop :D

3) I'm thinking of moving this journal to blogspot. I'm not very impressed with the latest LJ changes (no more free accounts? wtf?) and blogspot gives me pretty much the same service (modifying of HTML templates, etc. that I'm *paying for here*) for free. Though I'm not sure if there are ads on blogspot, I have an ad-blocker, haha. The only thing I don't like about blogspot is the comments page, but I'm not sure if it's a deal-breaker. To compare, visit http://liedra.blogspot.com

I'm tempted to start up an independent, free, and more better (to coin a phrase from my year 11/12 science teacher) version of http://www.truste.org as part of my research, taking on the ethical standards I'd like to set for informed consent procedures (which is what I'm writing my PhD on) and EULAs in particular.

TRUSTe is basically a certification thing, that certifies applications and websites against a bunch of "standards" (http://www.truste.org/pdf/Trusted_Download_Certification_Agreement.pdf for more details) for things like privacy, etc., but it costs like $$$ to "apply" for certification. While that may be cool for Microsoft etc. it kinda sucks for smaller independent developers.

Okay, now I've thought about it for 5 minutes I'm starting to realise this may not be so easy.
Major initial issues:
1) time for reviewing software
2) infrastructure (website etc.) -- pretty easy to do
3) maybe need lawyers?
4) my standards are pretty high, maybe it's impossible to meet them without getting in potential trouble (i.e. need lawyers)

What does The Internet think?

Dear America,

I still don't understand why the fuck abortion is such a big deal (and on the election table). The rest of the world has moved on and embraced it, why can't you just get over whatever the deal you have with it and move on to more pressing topics like overpopulation (hey, abortion helps fix this!), fixing up places you blew up, what's gonna happen when you run out of oil, and global warming?

Sincerely, liedra.

Someone is covering The Whitlams out in the courtyard. *shudder* You just can't replicate Tim's voice :/

Edit: Oh boy, now they're attempting Daydream Believer and missing the top notes terribly. Sometimes it's not fun having an office so close to the courtyard! Haha XD

As you may know I'm dealing with EULAs as part of my PhD. I'm wondering specifically if the part of this particular EULA is a particular legal custom or just weaselling on the part of the software manufacturer? (Name changed to protect the not-so-innocent):


7. Important Information Regarding X Software. If the Umbrella Software consists of X Software, then the following terms and conditions apply to you:

... etc.

The thing is I cannot find for the life of me how you can install Umbrella Software without installing X Software, so why the "if"? The whole point of Umbrella Software is to serve up X Software with the sweetener of Z Software. So is this weaselling and being dodgy, hoping to cast some doubt on the user as to whether maybe they got to use Z (the wonderful "free" stuff) without having to deal with X (the advertising)?

The centre manager here keeps bringing in buckets of apples fresh from his tree. They're SO GOOD I COULD EAT THEM ALL DAY YUM. The end.

This made my day :D

Happy New Year!

I have a new phone, and with the new phone came a new blog that I can automatically post phone pics to! Therefore if you want to read it, please go to http://liedra.blogspot.com ! It has many exciting photos already. And pirates!

Picked up a lawnmower today from a guy from uni (thanks Richard!) so we could mow our overgrown lawn.

Here's a before and after picture!
( Picture! )
PS I walked to uni, I'm so proud of myself! Means I can go have a couple of drinks after reading group though so definitely worth it!

About Bloody Time. I had such satisfaction putting Tony Abbott last! Shame about that particular seat, but a wonderful result for Australia as a whole. Congratulations Labor!

Good morning! Did daylight saving start or is my laptop confused? All the Australian news sites seem to be stuck an hour behind me. Sincerely yrs, Catie.

QOTD:

"And why punish the worm?" Mr Rudd said. "Everyone in Australia likes the worm. Let's be friends of the worm."

-- http://www.smh.com.au/news/federalelection2007news/just-one-debate-pm/2007/10/16/1192300739761.html