an inspirational day today: ran a first year class with engineers who actually communicated with each other and had a vibe of (academic) community amongst peers, donated a carload of unloved crts to an organisation who actually take all electrical and computer equipment (working or not!), and heard about a potentially very interesting boy who is into unionism!
i've been looking for an organisation that takes old computer equipment, particularly crts, for so long, it's beyond a relief to finally find one. and not only do they take computers but also any electrical equipment. hooray! so, a new ewaste crusade: starting with resetting the institutional default for unloved working furniture and electricals/computers from death by skip binning to donation to charity. this will probably be the last thing i do at this forsaken institution before throwing in the paperwork for my backpack and passport.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
robb trade phonics
1. robb
"I think Australians don't necessarily expect us to wait for the rest of the world but they certainly expect us not to get too far ahead of the rest of the world," said andy robb. although this is in relation to the opposition's internal scratchings about climate change policy, if that's the view that a shadow minister has about the people of this country: fuck. no wonder we're so behind in countless ways.
2. trade
hooley dooley. in one my my rare outings to the real world, i found fairtrade coffee as part of aldi's in-house organic food range. first coles, now aldi: someone must be campaigning their pants off (not literally, i hope) to make this happen. someone else also told me that mccafe is now serving rainforest alliance coffee. more pants-off campaigning? given that some maccas outlets in the us sell fairtrade coffee, the decisions would not appear to be from the very top down. and, starbucks seems to be on the way out! to the fair trade campaigners who wanted to keep the movement out of the mainstream, what say you?
3. (ambio)phonics
i knew there had to be a more mathematically and compositionally sound method for multichannel reproduction other than stereo diffusion (which makes me so very cranky): ambiophonics! but, no amount of equations and psychoacoustic theory can dispute listening tests, so to the chamber i go...
"I think Australians don't necessarily expect us to wait for the rest of the world but they certainly expect us not to get too far ahead of the rest of the world," said andy robb. although this is in relation to the opposition's internal scratchings about climate change policy, if that's the view that a shadow minister has about the people of this country: fuck. no wonder we're so behind in countless ways.
2. trade
hooley dooley. in one my my rare outings to the real world, i found fairtrade coffee as part of aldi's in-house organic food range. first coles, now aldi: someone must be campaigning their pants off (not literally, i hope) to make this happen. someone else also told me that mccafe is now serving rainforest alliance coffee. more pants-off campaigning? given that some maccas outlets in the us sell fairtrade coffee, the decisions would not appear to be from the very top down. and, starbucks seems to be on the way out! to the fair trade campaigners who wanted to keep the movement out of the mainstream, what say you?
3. (ambio)phonics
i knew there had to be a more mathematically and compositionally sound method for multichannel reproduction other than stereo diffusion (which makes me so very cranky): ambiophonics! but, no amount of equations and psychoacoustic theory can dispute listening tests, so to the chamber i go...
Friday, July 25, 2008
rainman
there's a man in a raincoat outside my window spraying it with high pressure water. just because the body corp wants the pretty yellow townhouses to be shiny yellow, not black-streaked yellow.
drought? what drought? there's no drought when i want my house to look pretty and be dirt free... groundwater? the runoff won't go there, surely...
drought? what drought? there's no drought when i want my house to look pretty and be dirt free... groundwater? the runoff won't go there, surely...
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
boy boy boy girl boy boy
<rant type="braindump">
recent happenings have brought gender bias issues in technology-based professions to the fore (again). why is this a problem?! perhaps that statement is ambiguous: to clarify, why is such a bias grossly apparent in primarily australia, us, and britain? what is the difference between these countries and cultures, when compared to europe and (south, east, south-east) asia where the so-called gender divide in IT, computer science, and engineering is much less pronounced? a quick google scholar search reveals that research (from countries with the gender divide) has shown that women prefer 'contextual' computing over, say, technology for nerd kudos (not that there is anything wrong with that!). but now that the journal papers and books showing this have been published, why has nothing changed? why are we still sitting on our hands and whinging about it?
granting scholarships to encourage (tertiary) enrolment has noble intentions but can be a double edged sword. on one hand, people jump for the money, some with sincere interest in the area and some not. but, for every scholarship that comes out, the typical response from male peers is a la "what about a scholarship for men?!". with this thinking often comes resentment and potential further alienation and (negative) attention drawn to the minority. a good thing? who knows. money certainly talks though: with the current resource boom in our sunny country throwing stupidly high paying engineering jobs around, the number of women entering mining engineering has correspondingly increased. so, with engineering managers the highest paid professionals here, why has this not been used as a (capitalist) selling point? but, when people choose a profession for the money, and they might not necessarily be any good at or enjoy it, is this the best way to propagate gender membership?!
now with technology in every nook and cranny (ubiquitous computing being the appropriate industry buzzword), the young 'uns are all growing up with nerd gear from day one; even schools teach powerpoint in year one! so what happens between year one and year twelve? societal pressues kick in? stereotypes formed from the media and parents? attitudes and expectations changed by peers? these are the types of issues that need to be studied, and to change such widespread cultural bugbears is no mean feat.
what does this all mean professionally? what happens to people in educational and work environments with a sizeable gender bias towards males? what kind of ideas, solutions, and products do gender unbalanced teams come up with and build? perhaps technology-oriented professions should pause and take a long hard look at themselves to see if the cultures and mindsets propagated are hindering their own progress and development.
yes, some people may treat you differently if you are a minority. but this is only if you let them. yes, you might have to work harder to 'prove' yourself to some people. but this is their problem, not yours. people will respect good work (well, they friggin' better!) and if they don't because of their gender issues and it bothers you then do something about it. at least try to make sure it doesn't happen to the next generation: start changing people's stereotypes, thinking, expectations, and attitutes, however mis-informed they may or may not be. and, with one third of the world's population living in india and china, making sure that our stereotypes and mindsets that cause this bias don't infect the next technological world powers is something to keep in mind.
</rant>
an afterthought: putting science-based toys and construction sets such as lego, the starter to any engineering career, under 'toys for boys' in shops really doesn't help. do you numbnuts in marketing know what damage you could be causing?!
recent happenings have brought gender bias issues in technology-based professions to the fore (again). why is this a problem?! perhaps that statement is ambiguous: to clarify, why is such a bias grossly apparent in primarily australia, us, and britain? what is the difference between these countries and cultures, when compared to europe and (south, east, south-east) asia where the so-called gender divide in IT, computer science, and engineering is much less pronounced? a quick google scholar search reveals that research (from countries with the gender divide) has shown that women prefer 'contextual' computing over, say, technology for nerd kudos (not that there is anything wrong with that!). but now that the journal papers and books showing this have been published, why has nothing changed? why are we still sitting on our hands and whinging about it?
granting scholarships to encourage (tertiary) enrolment has noble intentions but can be a double edged sword. on one hand, people jump for the money, some with sincere interest in the area and some not. but, for every scholarship that comes out, the typical response from male peers is a la "what about a scholarship for men?!". with this thinking often comes resentment and potential further alienation and (negative) attention drawn to the minority. a good thing? who knows. money certainly talks though: with the current resource boom in our sunny country throwing stupidly high paying engineering jobs around, the number of women entering mining engineering has correspondingly increased. so, with engineering managers the highest paid professionals here, why has this not been used as a (capitalist) selling point? but, when people choose a profession for the money, and they might not necessarily be any good at or enjoy it, is this the best way to propagate gender membership?!
now with technology in every nook and cranny (ubiquitous computing being the appropriate industry buzzword), the young 'uns are all growing up with nerd gear from day one; even schools teach powerpoint in year one! so what happens between year one and year twelve? societal pressues kick in? stereotypes formed from the media and parents? attitudes and expectations changed by peers? these are the types of issues that need to be studied, and to change such widespread cultural bugbears is no mean feat.
what does this all mean professionally? what happens to people in educational and work environments with a sizeable gender bias towards males? what kind of ideas, solutions, and products do gender unbalanced teams come up with and build? perhaps technology-oriented professions should pause and take a long hard look at themselves to see if the cultures and mindsets propagated are hindering their own progress and development.
yes, some people may treat you differently if you are a minority. but this is only if you let them. yes, you might have to work harder to 'prove' yourself to some people. but this is their problem, not yours. people will respect good work (well, they friggin' better!) and if they don't because of their gender issues and it bothers you then do something about it. at least try to make sure it doesn't happen to the next generation: start changing people's stereotypes, thinking, expectations, and attitutes, however mis-informed they may or may not be. and, with one third of the world's population living in india and china, making sure that our stereotypes and mindsets that cause this bias don't infect the next technological world powers is something to keep in mind.
</rant>
an afterthought: putting science-based toys and construction sets such as lego, the starter to any engineering career, under 'toys for boys' in shops really doesn't help. do you numbnuts in marketing know what damage you could be causing?!
nerd comics
i didn't think that beat frequencies in various aspects of life interested others too: http://xkcd.com/165/
other neat comics:
http://xkcd.com/327/
http://xkcd.com/379/
http://xkcd.com/55/
http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=8
http://xkcd.com/198/
http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=905
http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=1012
http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=858
oh...
http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=868
other neat comics:
http://xkcd.com/327/
http://xkcd.com/379/
http://xkcd.com/55/
http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=8
http://xkcd.com/198/
http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=905
http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=1012
http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=858
oh...
http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=868
Monday, July 21, 2008
mic mods
i am not impressed with the ecm8000's ~20dB of self noise; maybe i shouldn't have so hastily procured 6 of them!
anyway, mod time it is, with instructions and recommended parts kindly posted by others (thank you!):
http://homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=111051
http://www.prodigy-pro.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3626&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=ecm8000&start=27
http://www.linkwitzlab.com/sys_test.htm (scroll to the mic section)
seeing as i am currently financially challenged to the point where i should probably buy food over audio gear, it's an opportune time to start learning how to mod mics and maybe even diy. now, where is my soldering iron?! long time no see, my friend...
holy crap. even my laptop has ~20dB of self-noise on the on-board mic input. poor form; i can't hack this card up either!
anyway, mod time it is, with instructions and recommended parts kindly posted by others (thank you!):
http://homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=111051
http://www.prodigy-pro.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3626&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=ecm8000&start=27
http://www.linkwitzlab.com/sys_test.htm (scroll to the mic section)
seeing as i am currently financially challenged to the point where i should probably buy food over audio gear, it's an opportune time to start learning how to mod mics and maybe even diy. now, where is my soldering iron?! long time no see, my friend...
holy crap. even my laptop has ~20dB of self-noise on the on-board mic input. poor form; i can't hack this card up either!
toywrecking
wow: i didn't get in any trouble whatsoever for breaking the little recorder (thank you!). even though i didn't really break it (i don't think): seemed more like an electrical problem than a dumb user fault. i even psyched myself up for a torrent of swearing which thankfully didn't eventuate. from previous experience that would have sent me sprinting for cover; even in my incapacitated state.
come to think of it, even my supervisor didn't get cranky at me for breaking an expensive monitor last year. and i really did break that one. perhaps people have come to terms with my accident-prone nature and are more forgiving than i am (towards myself!).
I just received a letter from my beloved educational institution inviting me to an ICT careers evening. Not promising from an ICT point of view when the letter failed to be mail merged properly: 'Dear <first name>' is simply lame. How can I place trust in and recommend an institution that doesn't (properly) practice what it preaches?!
On a more pleasant note amongst a dump of miscellaneous sleep-deprived thoughts, I think I've found a new favourite microphone; such a nice response with clean and crisp sound, unlike the one with 20dB self-noise! If I don't drink coffee for 150 days, I might even be able to afford my own... caffeine vs. gear... gear vs. caffeine... oh and I was also taken with the monitor stands at the con too... hmmm... no coffee for a year?!
come to think of it, even my supervisor didn't get cranky at me for breaking an expensive monitor last year. and i really did break that one. perhaps people have come to terms with my accident-prone nature and are more forgiving than i am (towards myself!).
I just received a letter from my beloved educational institution inviting me to an ICT careers evening. Not promising from an ICT point of view when the letter failed to be mail merged properly: 'Dear <first name>' is simply lame. How can I place trust in and recommend an institution that doesn't (properly) practice what it preaches?!
On a more pleasant note amongst a dump of miscellaneous sleep-deprived thoughts, I think I've found a new favourite microphone; such a nice response with clean and crisp sound, unlike the one with 20dB self-noise! If I don't drink coffee for 150 days, I might even be able to afford my own... caffeine vs. gear... gear vs. caffeine... oh and I was also taken with the monitor stands at the con too... hmmm... no coffee for a year?!
Saturday, July 19, 2008
red red wine...
i've finally found a red that i like: lambrusco! 'soft' it may be but so long as it tastes good i don't care. i am no longer homogeneously white!
oh shit. the little recorder won't turn on... fuck!
oh shit. the little recorder won't turn on... fuck!
Sunday, July 13, 2008
A ∩ B = Ø
fuck: stereo diffusion as a lame excuse for multichannel reproduction; interesting ideas with poor technical implementation; misunderstanding and misuse of technology (misuse of dsp techniques really makes me cranky!!!); stupidly long compositions; and, playing stuff straight out of protools or a dvd player in a 'live' gig. just getting a sound engineer to press play is poor form: live means actually doing something, you lazy arse! and why sine tones?! especially high frequency ones, eek! perhaps i am just scarred from having to listen to too many test tones...
back to my day job it is. there is a limited intersection between these two worlds; i don't know what i was thinking. where are the well thought-out, awesome ideas that push boundaries, question, comment?! only one person really piqued my interest. ONE.
back to my day job it is. there is a limited intersection between these two worlds; i don't know what i was thinking. where are the well thought-out, awesome ideas that push boundaries, question, comment?! only one person really piqued my interest. ONE.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
blood tastes metallic
you incessant fool! you've stooped to a level so low that there is absolutely no return path. ever. fine, play your petty little games through translucent falsity, but don't you dare tell people untrue shit about me. i don't care about why you're fabricating codswallop: fuck you and your selfish lack of ethics and disappearing conscience. a (carnivorous) fish much bigger and smarter than me will chew you up and spit out the bones; don't expect me to garbage collect when that day comes. what do you expect when you treat people with blatant disrespect? i don't know what world you've constructed for yourself but you and i will never see eye to eye. think it's personal? fucking right it's personal.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
conformance testing
play music, learn a second language, study hard, go to uni, become a professional, get married, move out of home, buy a house, have kids, save money for retirement, and repeat. stopping to think twice about this paved path that so many have trodden on and then looked back forlornly, has thrown me off it for good. such cultural straight and narrows have been my bugbears for so long it's time to crash tackle them. it only takes one bad egg to stink out the nest, and catalytically so if that egg came out a funny shape and has no shame or fear of smells wafting to the neighbours. sniff away!
certain aspects of my semi-culture are great, but then there are the questionables: the boxes that i refuse to tick without some reasonable explanation and justification as to why they're there. it doesn't help that culture has a large part to play in shaping people's views, expectations, and beliefs; all of which i like to question and push the limits of. so, it's time to make people feel uncomfortable and prod them ask themselves the hard questions. this is not out of spite but because the prejudices that i have seen are logically unfounded. no more bleating sheep, please!
certain aspects of my semi-culture are great, but then there are the questionables: the boxes that i refuse to tick without some reasonable explanation and justification as to why they're there. it doesn't help that culture has a large part to play in shaping people's views, expectations, and beliefs; all of which i like to question and push the limits of. so, it's time to make people feel uncomfortable and prod them ask themselves the hard questions. this is not out of spite but because the prejudices that i have seen are logically unfounded. no more bleating sheep, please!
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