Saturday, March 31, 2007

C&C3 also features Cameron from House and Jack Nicolson.

My cousin bought the game on Thursday and the packaging is probably the most dodgy. He got the Kane Edition, and the only thing extra you get, is a TINY silver sticker that says "Kane's Edition" (seriously, you can just rip that off and put it on a normal version) and an extra disc with the goodies in it. They didn't even bother putting it into a 2disc box. They just stuff the extra disc in a paper booklet type thing, and stick it into the normal 1 disc edition case.

He said it's great for multiplayer....

PS: At least I got 3 posters, a galactic map, a pin and a metal box for Sup Com =รพ

BSG = Battlestar Galactica? That has to be one of the best sci fi space shows I've ever seen, soooo good.

Hash I'll ask my brother about part timers.

hmmm earth hour. what to do.

Can we get some star happening tonight. I've been working far too many 11 hour days and need to kill some goons to relax a bit.

Earth Hour 7:30pm

I somehow get the feeling something big will happen - like Ocean's Eleven style....

Tennis is now confirmed at Maxim St courts at 10:30.

Jono - I'm interested if they are willing to hire part-timers.

C&C 3 also stars the '6' from BSG and Sawyer from 'Lost'

Friday, March 30, 2007

by the way if anyone's really good at Java (or knows anyone who is) and looking for a good job, my brother says a start-up company is looking for about 20 people. Based in Sydney, the salary is ridiculous. It's a subsidiary of a really big, insurance claims company in the US, called Guidewire

Just let us know if you're keen, and I'll let my brother know.

I went to my sister's swearing in ceremony today where Spigelman CJ made a short speech. I was tempted to congratulate him on his excellent gene pool.

Just a note, I can't guarantee I'll make soccer, might have a family/relative lunch thing. But not sure yet.

So you okay for a pickup or do you still need one?

Jono :: Yes the courts are on Maxim st. I think we can organise transport directly from the courts to soccer.

Hash did you want a pick up? From like your house? If you haven't organised one yet I can drop by. It looks like you're pretty close the courts.

Are the courts on Maxim St? What's your address again?

Judging from that response, john, you might want to brush up if you want to do College...

Interesting article in the opinion section of SMH. Quite on the spot.

that's hearsay!

Won't be joining you sorry. Got a stack of shit to do for college T.T

Pissfarting around when they were teaching Evidence in uni really cost bad!

Thanks for the concern guys - I am pretty much ok. Just a bruise on the knee and a stiff neck from minor whiplash.

You know what fkn irony of the situation is?

Due to the advice of my parents and other concerned parties, I was trying to take a step in the right direction - be a better person, etc.
So I was on my way to Westmead to "be more responsible" by doing some extra work BEFORE a critical deadline.
I thought about watching a movie at Broadway or going to Magic Drafts in the city but i decided to "BE A MAN - DO THE RIGHT THING".

The first time in weeks that I take a step at putting resposibilities over wants and the Universe kicks me in the nuts ...

Tennis :: West Ryde

Dude, sorry to hear about your car and falling asleep behind the wheel. Dangerous stuff hey, driving tired. Sucks.

Where is tennis this Sat? If I come I should be driving, a lift should be no problem.

Damn, Hash. That sucks. I know how you feel... Seeing you walked out unharmed, you can say it's a good thing. The two worst things about the accident at your fault is the money, and parents...especially the money...two GP trips gone!!

EDIT: Darren, unfortunately, the Bugatti Veyron is a lot rarer than the Enzos (yes, Enzo's got bested by something XP) Feel sorry for the guy. However, if someone crashes a Ferrari Enzo FXX, then that's something else...

Oh shit that sounds bad.

Asleep at the wheel? Are we talking about microsleep?

So hash.. you broke your car? How many tanks of gas has it been?

Seriously though, I'm sorry to hear about the crash, and I hope you are alright.. I'm sure its not as bad as the other pics posted recently.. The fact that you managed to post what you posted is a good indication that you are not (physically) injured..

Thursday, March 29, 2007

Guys - I need transport for Saturday. My car decided it wanted to take a Falcon from behind. Unfortunately, I was asleep at the wheel and was unable to stop its unnatural urges ... The front totally crumpled =( ...

The truth is even worse, my baggy pants and new shoes assisted me in missing my brakes and tapping the accel instead. In the old death trap we had, that does nothing whatsoever. In the Impreza, the tap was enough to add 1krpm ... :O

My primary school chum is a co-owner of that site. He lives down the street from me :D

Eric, Eddie's crash sounds bad, but the person who crashed thisBugatti Veyron probably did the same amount of damage in terms of price..

I can play soccer, but I dont if I can do anything after that is in the city, as I need to be around home in the late afternoon..

Saturday is also the Earth Hour day.. 7:30-8:30 lights out to save the planet, or something along those lines. I suggest DOTA in the DARK at that time.. NightStalker ftw!

NSW government institutions meet up with Pop culture

10-12 tennis sounds good. We can finish tennis, and drive down to centennial park 2gether. Any chance of poker that night?

James :: I am sorry the truth offends you so. Then again, I guess in your occupation you have a very flexible relationship with the truth *cough*dodgy drivers*cough*.
edit:: I said Spartans are good!

Tennis :: If ppl are interested - Most likely from 10-12. Can some1 bring a strong deodorant, I inherently generate enough BO to wreck an AC system =(

Marc :: ne chance you can set up an RSS feed for the Blog? I think Google have some scripts that lets you implement this functionality fairly easily.

Soccer will be on at 1pm at same place.

This is for less sun and hopefully more play time

If you want tennis before contact eric and hash

Hash,
There's a difference between being 'witty' and having absolutely nothing good to say about anyone for about the last fifty posts.

Did anyone watch the news today? It was horrible...Eddie Griffin has just plowed his multi-million dollar Ferrari Enzo into a wall while driving around a track for charity and the funny thing is...IT'S NOT EVEN HIS!

http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20070328/ent/ent3.html

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

No Darren, I dun think Alexis will dig nething that goes toward a charity. Especially not something Environmental or related to the alieviation of poverty.

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

No Tomcats, James! They still live with the Ayatollahs! Bastards. The US Navy have retired all their Tomcats now. Main US fighter participants were the F-15 Eagle, F-16 Falcon and the F/A-18F SuperHornet.

Alexis, here is your chance to become a film producer

Hey james, just wondering if you will be free 2morrow (US time)? My aunt's having a day off so she can pick up my Gundam...Maybe I'll get u to call her or something. Is that ok?

GTA4 trailer will be released in 3 days time.

Gary,
Where did they get the Tomcats? Bought the crap metal form the Ayatollahs???

Damn Ayatollahs. Waste perfectly good planes.

Monday, March 26, 2007

Tennis or Soccer on the weekend again?


, originally uploaded by kwon5633.

I present you the Australian International Airshow 2007.

and Spartan's are stronger than both!

Sunday, March 25, 2007

Hate is easier to tap into than love.

I find it disturbing that of the votes counted so far, there are 1 1/2 times more votes for the Australians Against Further Immigration Party than for the Unity Party..

My electorate didn't change.. did yours?

Do you guys want to do something, like get away, on the long weekend?

Saturday, March 24, 2007

Sorry guys, I'll be late. Had to vote and sis taxed the car

The amazing thing about this replay is not how OOV recovered from the match, but how his parents were gasping and clasping their hands in horror as their son's game tips in the balance. Compare that to: "Marc, go clean up your shit." XD

And this replay (WCG 2006, hosted in Monza, Italia); who would have thought that the Latin speaking, Colosseum building, to-Visigoths losing Romans would be such avid fans of iloveOOv!

"Laconia was subsequently overrun by the Goths and the Huns."

Wahahah *CRIESSSSSSSSS*

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Sparta

Friday, March 23, 2007

yes soccer's on
10:30am at Centennial Park
It's been on for the last 3 days
Nothing's changed

yeah is soccer on tomorrow?

I need to be home by 1pm so I can only stay until 12:30 latest. So if it's on, I'll definitely be there from 10:30am. Just post up whether you're coming or not

hmm...political debate...INTERESTING. Anyway, is soccer still on 2morrow?!

Yes its true, a large portion of the internet is used for "counter-productive" activities such as gambling, games and porn but even you can appreciate Alston's complete lack of vision in determining the importance of broadband in society.

It was quoted from several news sources last year that business traffic well surpassed porn traffic.

Nah I've finished and I'm doing college of law right now. I'm officially graduating in May

Is anyone thinking of getting Office 2007?

Uni students (with a uni email address) can get it for $75.

See here, though I know the site sounds dodgy, I think it's actually run by Microsoft as like a student deal.

http://www.itsnotcheating.com.au/index.html

For those of us who graduate around now, UNSW students anyway, our emails expire March 31 I think.

haha marc. You forgot about my graduation...I forgot about you too! Well to be honest my head's not 100% screwed on straight atm, and I kept bumping into people yesterday then completely ran out of time for photos (I had about 5 mins of photos before the ceremony).

When do you graduate? Wait are you still studying? /me is out of loop

To be fair, he is not totally out of his mind.

One can't deny that gaming, porn and piracy constitute a huge part of the demand for broadband.

This guy is hilarious. I bet he thought email and mobile phones were a waste of time too ...

I found it! I found the article

I was always trying to find who that moron was. But his CV looks well garnished...

Note the date

John :: I say u r jaded coz of your assumption that the typical labour voter wants something for nothing and your assumption that I was talking about a scenario where I recieved something for nothing.
My comment about voting for labour solely based on them setting up a framework for gigabit-endpoint internet distribution was in jest (along with 98% of the comments i post).
Also, u should think hard about what a faster broadband internet infrastructure means for business interests (particularly media, research, healthcare, content distibution and web-enabled devices). It has far reaching implications that u probably did not consider.

Why I like Buddhism

Buddhism is the most humanist, truth seeking and compassionate 'religion' that I know. It is free from dogma, intolerance and self promotion.

(I'm talking about Buddhism, as distinguished from the monstrosity of self-serving, porcelain doll worshipping, jumping over burning paper (J. Lee, 2004), bring me wealth 'Buddhism' invented by the Chinese people.)

LOL Butters. I am glad my physical has hurt more than just one person. Nothing like sharing the pain.

And john, you are a friggin enimgma. You argue against my anti-materialism only to poopoo voters who vote based on material returns. How do you reconcil your stance young man?

I will vote for an Australian government that:
- Maintains the integrity and universal access of Medicare
- Has balls against USA (read: stand up for your Citizens, ie. David Hicks)
- Invests and encourages higher education / vocational training for all
- Understands & invests in pure research and the arts
- Promotos culture, good taste and excellence
- Has a vision for what Australia stands for and where it should be in 10-20 years
- Preserves Pyrmont's tranquility

Thursday, March 22, 2007

Oh dude, I completely forgot about your graduation. Why didn't u call me up?!

Wait, I'm confused. The wiki says I'm supposed to bring someone's wang to tennis on Saturday. Who's wang do I apparently have?

On a related topic, I just finished watching Casino Royale and I thoroughly enjoyed except for the oh-so empathetic yet predictable (as soon as he started cutting out the seat) iraqi torture scene. Hmm, how will I get to sleep now with that fresh in mind?

Where ya goin John?

A quick doco on sunswift as it currently is: http://www.rocketboom.com/stories/rb_07_mar_21

this site is hilarious though, click on the other vids at the bottom. Good way to while away time if you are bored at all.

By the way, I'm now working at USYD's Medical Library (Grid Ref E7 on their map) the first two and a half days of each week (Mon 9-5, Tue 9-5, Wed 9-12:30). Except this Monday, I'm at UNSW Careers Fair. But if anyone's on USYD campus those days (like Alexis I think on Mondays), give us a buzz and we'll go have lunch

What he meant was a free spider....IN UR ASS@!!

jaded? maybe. i just have opinions of certain things. part of that includes me thinking the utter lack of imagination and self-respect when people simply vote for whichever party will give the most handouts to them.

yes! let's base our constitutional right and fundamental foundation of society on our ability to stream hd trailers of our favourite comic book characters!

i'll be away until next thursday to give you some time to un-juade.

Ahh, a free spider mine. Always what I wanted.

Thank you Hash

CORRECT!

James get a free spider mine!

Also, if you can stream it sufficiently faster than you can watch it, u will always have things to watch when you are not at the computer doing the downloading!

John - not to be offensive but u seem to be the most jaded person I know (which is bad in a company including James and Alexis)

Marc - the $5bn is to expand the current research networks that have been laid down as groundwork. Take a peek at GrangeNet to see what is was currently available.

edit :: GrangeNet shutting down - wonder what is coming in its place =(

Because then he can watch it? As opposed to stream 'slower' than he can watch, in which case he's always waiting. DING DING!!

Why would you need to stream it faster than you can watch?

Marc & John :: wtf? Of course it's not free!

You just don't seem to understand than I will be able to stream HD-video content faster than I can watch it. It is a dream come true.

that just epitomises the typical labor voter, wanting something for nothing.

OUCH!@#

Who said the broadband was gonna be free? XD

Even then, I'm not convinced that $5bn would go very far for such an ambitious project.

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

that just epitomises the typical labor voter, wanting something for nothing.

Labor has one my vote for any future Federal election. Kevin Rudd just promised to spend $5 billion to bring 1 Gigabit broadband coverage to 98% of Australian residences businesses etc.

He'll marry Lisa in the same fashion Borat married Pamela Anderson

haha thanks for the welcome back fellas, appreciate it.

Soccer is at centennial now, not just central park? I will probably be there from 10:30 onwards; I need to vote first thing in the morning, probably 9am, at north sydney girls high school. Then I'll head over.

Not sure about graduation dinner yet, unfortunately, since my parents are arriving in Sydney in about 1 hour...so I'm not sure what we'd be doing tomorrow night, but I'll let you know if we have plans or not.

Haha I like your solution James. Keep up the good work.

Hash: I'm afraid I get it..

Now off to learn about Star Schemas.. I hope they are what I think they sound like, that would be awesome..

How many people understand this pic ::

Jono:: James will happily financial plan for you on a daily wage of 2 games of star ... and triple time on weekends and public holidays ... with an initial retainer of 25 games

ION, I proopse a simply three point plan to satisfy all:

1. Move to California and get a job at JPL
2. Marry Lisa and move in with her to a nice house on the Berkeley Hills
3. Move parents over to USA

Q.E.D.

Welcome back Jono and congrats on graduation. Why don't we make soccer at around 10 or is that a lil too early for everyone?

Welcome back Jono!

I can finish work a bit early tomorrow, I'll be staying at uni for a boring lecture at 6 anyway. So, I'll give you a call.

I'll be at uni grinding away at work. I can probably take 1/2 hour break during that time. Welcome back!

Anyone free on Friday and would like to join me at the Sydney law careers fair? Much free stuff will be given if you are running low on stationery.

Graduation dinner too, Jonoooooo?

Duuuuuuuude so beach weather!! :D :D :D

Oh yeah, graduating tomorrow too so if you guys are around UNSW from say 4 or 5pm, feel free to give us a call. My ceremony's at 6:30pm so probably take photos and stuff before hand. Yes! I have a phone again! wheeeeeeeeee

haha you guys are spot on with the arguments. It's not a no-brainer because my parents almost always let me do what I like. But I can tell that they'd quite like it if I worked in HK for a bit. I'm delaying it as much as possible right now; awaiting their response to my re-negotiation email etc. And very, very true Kwong. I'd anticipate commercial aviation could be faster paced than government-run military, unless it's war time. But I felt Boeing was fast paced, though maybe that was just pressure I applied on myself, to impress the employer etc. haha Alexis. I like your four word post. I'm about to email Matt Worley at Boeing actually, ask him to write me a recommendation letter, for future job apps (esp. US job apps).

In other news, it's a bloody good feeling to be back in Sydney.

Sat soccer may be good, but earlier for me is better. I have Debbie's wedding this Sat at 3:00pm out west in Springwood (think South Australia). So I'd definitely be out of soccer by 1pm at the latest, maybe 12:30 if I need to shower at home and suit up. So 11 sounds good if 11 = 11. Seeya boys then! HOME SWEET HOMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!

Can't join you guys for soccer but can do some star afterwards. 2PM CFN is great timing for me. Hope to see you guys!

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Sorry guys, I will be in Melbourne for the weekend.

Don't forget saturday is election day

Soccer at Centennial park at 11am

People going:
Marc, Me, Joel, Flinky, Hash, Eric,

Likely: Yi, Spain, Darren, Kwong, Jono

Contact your local driver for a lift
(Hash, Eric, Kwong)

Eric :: Down for some tennis and soccerage

Marc :: I wish man! More like I have to pay rent in manual labour and yard work.

John :: You have so obvisouly not heard of the story of the kid in Disneyland.

A lil off-topic but, anyone interested in Soccer this Saturday? Centennial Park? Since Jono and Yi are/will be back, I m pretty sure we have enough people for a friendly match. If not, we'll just settle in for some tennis or whatever.

EDIT: John, that sounds like a lecture from Econ350. Lol.

contrary to what people might think my views are, i don't think you can buy happiness with money. it doesn't matter how much you are being subsidised or from who, if you're not happy then you're not happy.

Hash, thats so generous of you to share your current plan with Jono.

Jono :: If you really would like to spend time to them, tell em ur making a big sacrifice and ask them to supplement you with a further 3600 USD a month. If they say no then you can go wherever you want and shame them into sending you at least 1200 USD a month as pity pay!

Hey Butters, I'm just following your line of logic!

James, Jono is trying to say that his state of affairs is more than just about mememememe. Its not exactly a no-brainer

Jono will be depressed if he stays in HK. Get out Jono. It's a no brainer.

Well Jono, you were saying that structures/stress analysis wasn't exactly your cup of tea. I think HAECO is purely deep level maintenance and overhaul. You will get exposure to the range of Boeing and Airbus aircraft there, though. And I hear that the civilian world is faster paced than military, so it will keep you on the ball. The plus side about working in the repair environment is job security. Aluminium corrodes like mad, so somebody has to fix it. And anything can be fixed with double-sided tape! :P

How long do they expect you to stay? If the salary was quoted in months then it would seem that they would want you to stay for over a year. (Yes I am not surprised at the salary, I have already been told of the low expectations because of cost of living blah blah)

It may be none of my business: I know you're parents want to spend time with you and so they want you based in HK, but what about your bro, he's going everywhere. How come they he never based himself in HK for them?

You're parents care about you a lot and ultimately they wouldn't want you to be unhappy right? I'm guessing you've already discussed with them how dissatisfied with HK you are.

Examining the leadership of Lim Yohwan (Slayers_`Boxer`) as an individual

Jono, go tell them to stuff themselves.

Marc, how dare you disable MSN emoticons. Better still, why aren't you purchasing the super emoticon packs!

Marc, there is an option in MSN that lets you decide whether you wanna play those winks or not...damn winks.

Tools > Options > Messages then go to the "Play winks automatically.." and uncheck that. That might help...that and nudges.

Jono, working in HK isn't all that bad (well I am honky). That and I like the pace in HK. Australia is..I dunno..slower? Nonetheless, I'd rather work in Aus though. Lol, maybe because I know a lot of people here and not many in hk, and the fact that I can't stand pure honkies. Yes, people, I CAN'T STAND SOME OF THEM!

haha Hash.

Here's an excerpt from the email I sent to James just earlier:

"The pay is absolute dirt for 45 hours a week (1200 USD a month), coupled with a measly 2 weeks of holidays a year. It's based in a city I don't want to work in, whose language I superiorly suck at. All because, "it would be nice" if I stayed with my parents for a bit! Bah. Really don't know if I'll take it. "

Notice that 1200 USD a month is not a typo, and over the next 4 years (not just year 1 of work) it doesn't increase much. At all. But it's not just the pay, if they offered me 1200 USD a month to work NASA I don't know if I'd even make much time for goodbyes :) haha just kidding, but you know what I mean. I don't want to work in Hong Kong, it's all purely so I can spend some time with parents because *they'd* like me to stay here for a bit. Bah. Family politics.

Monday, March 19, 2007

Does windows live messenger come with an option to disable winks?

Another fine example of a designer who should be shot.

Watch Hot Fuzz. Superb movie, makes me want to watch Shaun of the Dead.

A lot of live journals are emo fests. and egocentric but, there would be other LJs or blogs that have ia variety of viewpoints on it. You just need to read the comments.

I don't even know what the point of this post is any more.

Shameless plug.
Try listening to these guys if you have time and bandwith to spare.
http://www.oldmanrivermusic.com/

Now I will attempt to follow kj's example of being a hermit.

Honky pride! ~~

Thats coz androgonous Slayers not an aryan

Jono just call Boeing.

You know Hash, I wrote that before changing it to 'Boxer looks like the girl'. Looking at the girl never reminded me of boxer but watching boxer I see her. It's one way mapping, so to speak.

She is very dressy. And always wears heels that make uber conspicuous clicky sounds on the lab floor. But she would never talk to anyone. Sometimes I wonder who is she dressing up for. Apparently all the interns like her (she's an intern herself), but I am more curious about her story than asking her out. She's not in my school of zomg anyway.

No James, you have it all wrong.
It's the girl who looks like Boxer!

Try asking her if she would rather date or rich guy or a guy with Uber micro.

I just realised Boxer looks like this girl at work..

"want" would be a more appropriate word than "need".

On the contrary, Jono is being very charitable by giving a job he doesn't want to someone who more desparately need it.

Lol Jono, u ruthless heartless bastard! [edit for James ::] who is being kind to some random

So many ppl here are having issues finding jobs or how their jobs are slave labour ... and u just dismiss a decently paying job out of hand!

Edit : It's all about the Tiger ... and its eye

This is crap. HAECO offered me a job. (Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Company)

Here's the catch...I don't want it.

Back to Sydney in 2 days wheeeeeeeeeeeeee

I'm down for a nice game of fisti-cuffs!

Edit::Listening to Rocky Balboa OST in preparation

I'm looking at the wireless appointments and theres an entry for Sukhdeep! Russel Peters wasn't making shit up! LOL

Advice to young men from an older man.. Puts some of my crap into perspective..

Any volunteers for a fist fight?

An interesting article about Blu-Ray and dvd players.

Edit from Marc: Hey guy you need to add the http:// otherwise it will think the link is local. Fixed

Sunday, March 18, 2007

I'm pretty sure everyone here has been to myspace.com

More on the design side of things, just take a handful of random samples and its clear why the whole site should be burned to the ground. The whole site is a fine example of what Buckland was trying to tell us when you hand over design powers to the everyday person.

Freedom and equality are nice things - lets give everyone admin rights XD

Yes marc, but I can re-instate Hash. Like the Spartan constitution, we have a nice power balance here. :D

I don't mean all online blogs are lame. Some are great. But some are just ick.

Der Wasserfall is different because it's not a place for self promotion. And the reader and writer of Der Wasserfall are one and have equal privileges.

That is true except for one thing. I can boot hash whenever I want XD

Now that you mention it, you make personal blogs sound pretty lame.

Online blogs only exist due to assumption of an audience. No one needs to put their 'diary' online unless they want it to be read by others.

The typical dynamic (not all) for blogs is that the writer already assumes a preset audience. They write with this audience in mind and expects "comments'.

I honestly find this dynamic repugnant. It's like feudalistic/worship/MEMEME to the max. The 'comment' person is clearly in an inferior position to the 'blogger'. Soon what began as an online journal of thoughts mutates into a god damn fan club.

On Der Wasserfall if you post something with no intent other than to get responses, someone else can just post something else and start a new conversation.

And what the hell is a blogspot? Just about all blogs are blogs of one person.

MSN Spaces are Blogs. Blogs with extra features.

Der Wasserfall is different because it's not a place for self promotion. And the reader and writer of Der Wasserfall are one and have equal privileges.

Um, MSN spaces are about mememe because...the owner is the only person who can write to it?

Look back on the past few posts (on this blog) and I assure you they are still self-centric. I know mine are.

You know, after treading through a few MSN Spaces, I am suddenly quite proud of this blog. Most of the blogs out there purely self-centric, everything is ME ME ME. The world revolves around me. Makes me want to kick some asses and return them to the Spartan world. But here at least we have the climate of community. We are equals. Let's keep it this way.

Man, just had a look at property law on wikipedia. Its better than my notes! minus the case law

Saturday, March 17, 2007

And so the Corruption spreads once again ...

Anyone know what's going on with WMP? I have music, but the voice is so low it might as well be karaoke...which equaliser setting's best for pop music? Anyone know?

Han has triumphantly returned, beating the crap out of me and almost demolishing Spain.

He is, and forever will be, the North Korean Warlord.

Tis midday. Where art thou, General Han?

I await for your arrival in my court (US West: CTO)

"He doesn't even have any critters left bro."

-On Devestation, Valacos

Friday, March 16, 2007

Congrats Hash on sorting out your graduation, and damn, so close to H1..

James: You don't gain weight because you only eat enough to sustain yourself in your daily activities. Eat more to gain weight, and do alot of physical activity to make ensure that the extra energy from the food goes into building bulk, and not fat.

I can imagine James as a Spartan at work now..

Androgynous-looking client: What the? Your next gen gfx card has 9000 gigaflops, 8192 bit bus, 3GB ram?! This is MADNESS!!

James: Madness?! This, is.. NVIDIAAAAA!!!
* boots client out 10th storey window *

Man, I cant wait for 300 to come out..

The reason why I can't gain weight is simple: I defy the second law of thermodynamics.

Maybe I just wanted to use the most sterile word for the occasion :p

You want to be a Spartan? Are you prepared to go through that rigorous training regime to lose your nVidia stick frame? XD

Hey, I know you say you can't gain weight, but what happens if you drink protein shakes?

I'm friggin done with with my Roman fetish -- I want to be Roman no more.

I want to be a Lacedaemonian -- a SPARTAN!!!

Marc is so uncomfortable with his feeling functions that he has to continuously call them 'females'. XD

Hash,
Now that you got your scholarship, at the cost of many star games, it's time to do your make up session. STARRR~!!

They are always hiring, but you will most likely be put in the call centre. The front desk where I work is dominated by females. In the latest round of recruitment, our boss hired 7 people - all females. Less than 1/4 of the staff upstairs are males (before you say anything its not that great -.- ) and I'm getting very subtle vibes that he's trying to push the males downstairs into the call centre.

Its true you don't need to be technically capable to do the job, but out of a complete roster of a dozen people, only me and this other dude know anything about computers at all which is fine for an almost automated job, but when a real problem comes along most of them won't know how to handle it.

Our boss is always hiring. here is the most recent link I know of but if you check careers periodically you won't miss it.

Thanks for the concern guys! My PhD offer and the scholarship are still secure XD. I must admit ... if I can get one, the standards must be pretty low =P

Thursday, March 15, 2007

Damn Hash....hope you still get your scholarship!

I had my assessment day for a futures trading job. Everything was going well, leading discussions, giving constructive feedbacks and all that, until the 3 minute presentation. They didn't provide us with a projector or laptop so i couldn't show them my powerpoint. Luckily, I did bring printouts of my slides and was doing well, until I forgot half of what I wanted to say. Got absolutely tongue tied...and there goes my futures trading job! GRRRRR...

Hash - sorry to hear about that. Do you need H1 to keep the PhD Scholarship? But congrats on getting it in the first place! That is pretty cool, except for the USYD part. Haha, just kidding. :)

Marc - Are you still working at IT Service Desk? Would you know if there are any vacancies at all? I'm looking to save up money a bit when I come back to Syd next week, and recall that IT SD pays pretty well from memory.

Just a word of advice: My house is no longer available as a staging point (sorry guys I need to study) until further notice...

Have fun this weekend lol....

I'm 1/4 way thru the Borat movie and its not actually that funny. The stuff he did on Ali G is heaps better.

w00t - I have now graduated with Honours Class 2 Division 1.

I needed an extra 1.15 marks per subject or an extra 7.3 marks for my Thesis to get H1.

Through some deep calculations, this would amounted to missing out on approx:
1 tv ep, 1 anime ep, 1 star game, 1 dota game per night.
2 magic games per week.

so for those still graduating ... 'just 1 more game' WILL kill u

I feel your pain Hash. Don't give them room to breathe and always, for God's sake, ALWAYS get any important confirmation in writing with a name and signature.

After spending 20 emails, 27 phone calls, 2 days or running up and down Uni, 3 days of negoiating with my CHW supervisor - I have finally been Awarded my degree ...
... only to find that I do not have an Honours status!

Luckily USyd decided that they will be lenient and give me 'til tomorrow to get my Honours status before they revoke my PhD schol.

Hey, I can't find my green Oktoberfest 2005 t-shirt with the white beer lady on it. I love that shirt. Has anyone seen it lately? Last time I remember wearing it at the beach and changing it off at Benny's house when I showered.

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

"You have gained 500 respect points with the Blik faction".

James & other SC Ho's:: I must admit, this is the first time I truly respect your work ethic.

If only you knew what has transpired across the Exchange servers of NV, CBA, ACC and MAQ in the last 48 hours; it is no dream.

Allow me to elaborate:

lol James, live that great CTO dream.

Dining out, 300 style.

It won't be long before Yi, Spain, Benny and I are all fired.

Then I'll go back to Australia, Yi back to Sydney, Spain back to the Ashpot and Benny to the subterranian curveture.

Then we all shall all play star uninhibited ever happily after.

Alexis, here is a chance to live your cinematic dream, with The 300 workout!

Now where would I find a tractor tyre..

Yahoo weather says showers on Saturday unfortunately

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Northern Beaches (possibly again for some of you) this Saturday?

Darren :: lol, the Geek Elite. I am so down for some preferential treatment at work. They should also add #9 : A real-scale picture of Kerrigan in each room and complimentary Zergling slippers.

Oh noes, my degree!

and, a note to employers of intelligent people and 'geeks'..

w00t - drop by NSB if ur in North Sydney and see how they have managed to turn a bright , vibrant place of intellectual betterment (and handball) into a prison.

Adrian you got a job!!!!!!!! (other than mopping up dragoon goo from LT)

Seriously, congrats. :D

Monday, March 12, 2007

well i got my email up and running, if any of you feel so inclined to relieve my boredom at work you can contact me on

adrian.valacos[at]cba.com.au (edited to protected you from Spam -Wang)

No donkey porn please. Goats only.
Oh and yi, this message is also specifically targetted at you, you lazy north sydney bum, email me.

From Funnies

Sunday, March 11, 2007

West Ryde had a power outage from approx. 9pm to 10pm. Did anyone else have a power outage as well?

Let's get some 2v2s happening today.

Thank you Darren for an orsome free meal and ur hopitality.

The Dice Game was hilarious, but I really need to try and keep them in the cup.

lol out of this whole group, if I can't rely on Yi then I don't know who else...

Saturday, March 10, 2007


Come to my place or go to Darren's

Don't rely on yi so much hash

Pointless discussion ... nothing will come of this.

Yi + Benny - seef bail ...

James:

Individual: an individual's desire to self-actualise should be promoted.
Organisation: an individual's desire to self-actualise should be promoted only if compatible with organisational objectives.

An anti-communist would naturally suscribe to the first opinion. It would however be interesting to note whether your opinion will change should you one day assume exective control of an organisation.

Lols, the group will prolly settle down by 6-7ish AEST - go learn a different race 'till then XD

Guys I'm starring right now. Tell me when you get in.

john,
Your view seems awefully trapped in the present world. It echos a sentiment not so different from Francis Fukuyama, that somehow today's free economies is the end of history.

I want to respond to this point: "your worldview that are only two states a person can be - salaried worker and the entrepreneur - is flawed. salaried workers exist because there are entrepreneurs, and there would not be entrepreneurs if there is no one willing to exchange their labour for money."

Firstly, I never stated that one is either a salaried worker or an entrepreneur. I simply stated that salaried works never produce great works. Great works are almost invariably produced by men who follow their dreams.

Your version of events have entrepreneurs and workers in a symbiotic relationship. Marx would tell you exactly the opposite -- that they both exploit each other rather than benefit from each other.

Now I may be a liar, a pig, an idiot, a communist, but I am NOT a pornstar!

I mean, I am not a communist.

Back to the point. I think you've just stated that you believe the current means of labour distribution is optimal. I disagree.

I think there is far too great an opportunity cost incurred in the current system. I will take an HRM approach to this issue: I believe that the ultimate asset/value/competative advantage of a company lies in the abilities of its employees; that the higher the rate of self-actualization in the organisation, the better the operational outcome, and hence the greater the profit.

I think today's social structure does not encourage people to pursue careers that are optimal for themselves. Instead, most choose careers based on its popularity in the job market. This is reflected in the obscene amount of computer science and commerce degrees, despite the fact that few of the applicants want to be computer scientists or accountants. Far too many people are driven away from pursuing them dreams due to financial insecurity. This is a great loss of human talent, and, if you proscribe to HRM literature, a great loss of profit. This material loss, combined with the spiritual suffocation of unfulfilling careers, is enough to show that market is not the best means of appropriation.

james, all i can say is - you can happily survive by working four hour days in today's world. anything you do with the other twenty hours of the day is entirely up to you, and not my or anyone else's place to judge. thus, you can engage yourself in whatever endeavours that you feel would deliever happiness.

your worldview that are only two states a person can be - salaried worker and the entrepreneur - is flawed. salaried workers exist because there are entrepreneurs, and there would not be entrepreneurs if there is no one willing to exchange their labour for money.

there is nothing, in my opinion, that is more conducive to productivity, innovation and satisfaction than the operation of the market.

Quite interesting arguments there boys.

James, you still have that cleaver?! The first time I saw it, was on Parramatta Road in my Tarago. You were sitting directly behind me, with a full car and someone yelled, "Shit James what are you doing with a cleaver in your bag?" It was at the lights near Sydney Uni and my first response to that is "WTF are you doing with a cleaver in my car?!?!?!?!" Lol, the good old times!!

Well I agree with everything you said in your last post john. Especially since you have just stated the case for how things are without claiming this is the way things should be (or do you think so?).

But I'm glad you've brought up my cleaver, or ex-cleaver as it ended up. After 3-months of usage, the superb VG steel that's meant to be harder than cryponite started chipping. In fact, it turned into a mini-saw after about four months!!

So I returned the darn thing and bought a $10 generic cleaver from a Chinese supermarket.

But back on topic. I agree that the invisible band does a great job at allocating resources. But that is all it does. It does not, for example, result in greater human happiness, which I think we can agree is a more important goal.

My fundamental belief is this: men are at their best (ie. 'most productive') when they do things as an end in itself rather than as a means to an end. That is to say, they do things driven by an innate desire. Einstein, Gates, Kennedy are such examples. All of them worked until they died with little interest in material. I think the greatest works of humanity were done with such a mentality. And conversely, few great works were done by mere salaried workers. This is why I think society should be organised as to better allow individuals to realise their latent abilities.

mou duk ding

james, i did say that we want more things and prosperity. i don't think there's much doubt that people would rather live in a comfortable house, in a nice neighbourhood, with big comfortable beds, respectable clothing, and a cleaver that's VG-10 stainless steel clad with 16 layers of SUS410 high-carbon stainless steel with a rockwell rating of 61.

now i know propserity and happiness don't necessarily equate to more material goods. but innovations and the availability of certain things do contribute to our prosperity and wellbeing, and perhaps our internal self-worth.

i think the fundamental misunderstanding of my post comes from my choice of words "we have organised ourselves to produce more and more". of course members of the uaw aren't thinking about which family the ford mondeo he's making is going to, and no child in indonesia is thinking about how fast someone can run in the nike trainers they're making.

no, we haven't conscoiusly organised ourselves to achieve these ends. what we have done is realised the effectiveness of markets in its ability to allocate resources - labour being a significant form of resource. this is the "invisible hand" adam smith was postulating when he described all the steps involved in making something as simple as a nut (the metallic ones used in consctuction, not the edible nuts from trees).

markets allow for the production of what we want most, and rewards those who innovate and produce what we want with the least waste. so the member of uaw doesn't have to know anything about where the car he's making goes, nor does he have to care. all he is doing is putting his skill and labour to use for financial renumeration, and in so doing he has contributed to producing these material goods that we want, albeit without his conscious endorsement.

so yes, we work as a means to an end. we are part of a system that transforms our labour to ends that may not have anything to do with us, but do satisfy someone in society's wants.

Knock'um dead with your Nobel prize winning Mandarin:

Ping Guo Tian Bu Tian?!

John: I agree with James. You are dangerously underselling yourself. You are hardworking, smart and outgoing which is pretty much what anyone would want. You don't have to settle for second-best or second-rate.

If your only doing the interview to appease your parents then don't take it too seriously and just treat it as another practice run. Remember, display your awesome Canto skills! dong naaaaaaaaaaaah (russell peters)!

---

Everyone must start out at the beginning. You're assuming Yi is working Saturdays because he does not want to get fired. He wants this job as a base of means. Not getting fired is good.

But if he is working Saturdays in view for a future promotion then that probably supports the argument to buy more stuff. More stuff is good too.

At any rate you won't be getting a promotion with that attitude James XD

Yi,
Please tell Hash that you work on Saturdays because you are not content with what you have and that you work because you want to make more money and buy more stuff.

James: I think what john is saying is that society as a whole craves new things. We are not content with what we have. Producing just enough to feed ourselves by working 4 hrs a day and then moving on to intellectual contemplation for the remaining time would not allow you to purchase (or pirate) the accessories and luxuries that you have convinced yourself that you need. Hence, your system would not work in the current times.

However, if you would like to volunteer yourself as the first of the new slave class (Since you have nothing profound to contribute thru intellectual contemplation), then we can see about implementing this utopia of yours.

Jono Matt (I think his name was Matt) from Boeing up in Newcastle asked about you. Give him a call, he might have a job for you.


If you could hold on till next year, I don't any reason you shouldn't make GKN's or BAE's graduate programs.

John,
I don't understand why you of all people need to settle for second rate pay and second rate conditions. Demand better compensation, and if they don't budge, tell them to fuck off.

Hey boys,

Back from Africa, quite an amazing place and experience. Camera somewhat bit the dust so most photos are on my friend Jim's camera, who's now in Sydney. Heading to Beijing with parents in four hours until Tuesday. 2nd-round job interview with HAECO (www.haeco.com) next Wednesday for an average job with horrific pay in a city I really don't want to work or live in. To the future!

Hope you are all doing well, been keeping up with the blog the last week or so but had to overcome some initial problems posting. Will be back in Sydney Wednesday week, Mar 21 at 7am, for graduation on Thursday Mar 22 at 6:30pm. See you all shortly!

john says we want material goods {a, b, c} and hence get together to produce them, in that order.

I say the people employed in the production of {a, b, c} do so to make a living, not because they want to make {a, b, c}.

The simplest proof of why john's version of events isn't true is to simply look around you. Very few of us actually go to work to make things that we ourselves want. Yi, for example, will never purchase the product of his own work, namely, consulting. He works for two reasons: (1) in order to exchange his labour for other goods and services. (2) He hope that through his work, he'll eventually find a post that will provide true satisfaction for him. In general, he works as a means to a end, rather than an end in itself.

Now, there's nothing wrong with this per se. But it does shatter the idea that we get together to work because we want the goods that are produced.

A great deal of people think their work is pointless. They work merely to make a living.

Ultimately, it seems to me that our work is not driven by individual needs, for those have been long satisfied. It is not driven by self-actualisation, for few of us believe in the work we do. It seems to be driven by a small portion of men, namely, the leaders of the S&P 500, and their shareholders, who seem to have an insatiable desire to make money. So in that sense, john is right too.

Friday, March 09, 2007

LOL! You serious Hash? San Andreas had a pretty decent cast of black celebrities. Charlie Murphy everybody - darkness is spreadin'!

Yeah pretty homo Yi, I got no car either to I'm out until dinner time.

So deep down inside john says we are somewhat selfish beings wanting more (perhaps not so selfish if we want more for other people too), james says we'd rather be content with providing our families with just enough.

Due to the awesome availability of transport to KJ's place, I don't think I'll make it at 11am.
Though please start the festivities without me.
I might have to settle for tennis with the invisible man and the economist...

C&C3 has an all-star cast ::
"Boomer" / "Athena" from Battlestar Galactica (Grace Park)
"Cameron" from House (Jennifer Morrison)
"Lando Calrissian" from Star Wars (Billy Dee Williams)
"Lt. Jean Rasczak" from Starship Troopers (Michael Ironside)

Where and when do the afternoon / night-time festivities start?

11 am KJ's place.

Bring whatever gear you think you might need.
Be it swimmers or tennis raquets or dice set or cards or drinks...

Two questions.

1. Since all you drivers won't be drinking.. for the drinkers, any requests as to what I should bring?
2. Anyone willing to pickup from say... Bankstown or Ryde or somewhere? I can get to a train station is what I'm saying.

Darren,
Just shout everyone a bowel of kimchi noodle at CFN! XD

Hey Darren, if you're looking for a nice place thats not too exy, theres this place in Pyrmont called Grain Tea Rice Noodle. Its more exy than a place in Eastwood or Bankstown obviously but for its location it does well.

john,
Your depiction of the production of goods is simply not true. Is not because 'we want more and more' that somehow we have organised ourselves into units of production to make these goods. Cars were not produced by groups of men unsatisfied with horses. TV was not createad by men who grew bored in their living rooms and thought it a great idea to create moving pictures. You depict the creation of these products as some cooperative effort between free men. Yet this is only true for the few enterprising people who conceived these ideas, but never true for the workforce employed to produce them. Most people work in order to provide for their family (just ask your parents). A few does it for self fulfillment. No one, less for a few mindless individuals, voluntarily gives up their innate talents and abilities for mere goods.

james, you're right in saying that anyone can work four hour days and survive in today's society. but as i alluded to in my earlier post, we have progressed so much further than mere survival. we want cars, televisions, eat organic food for double the price, and spend $800 on graphics cards so we can play the latest games.

we want more and more. so we have organised ourselves to produce more and more - via markets, division of labour, and rewarding skill, competence and productivity. hence the reason why yi works overtime on saturdays, bill gates is still the richest person in the world, and i can get a chesee burger from mcdonalds for less than $3.

the day that we are satisfied is the day we stop progressing.

Alas I do work four hours a day. The other four hours is spent doing independent learning, which happens to benefit my work. I am subsized by a private corporation rather than the government. But the rest is the same. I live to enlighten the masses on the benefits of massively parallel programmable floating point engines. XD

Oddly enough, I think Russell's vision is better realised in the United States than the welfware states of Europe. This may or may not be related to the government. It may be that Americans tend to be more entrepreneurial and industrious than Europeans.

Yi you better post details in the next hour or two or everything will be sabotaged until Dinner time.

Kj's house is the most on the way for Bilgola and other northern beaches

James :: Don't listen to the capitalist propaganda being preached here. Live your dream and work only 4 hrs a day! I am certain NVidia and the U.S. Government will be more than willing to support you!

Saturday Morning activities are out for me, if I dun get these stupid reports done, then I can kiss my PhD good-bye! and yet it didn't stop me from downloading and playing the C&C 3 demo ... gah, there are times when I dislike this lack of self-control

Working 4 hours a day and let someone else pay for your living sounds wonderful but is that what we really want? What's the point of studying17..20 years (including kindy and all that for me) and come out, and strive for only the bare necessities?

From an economic point of view:

Assuming that it really happens, after seeing someone surviving on 4 hour work days, the next person would think that it can happen to him too so "Why not?" Then the next person would think the same and so on and so forth. This leads to a "poverty" spiral and everyone would start doing the same...going deeper and deeper into living below the poverty line.

Now also assume that everyone within the society is doing just that, and strive for the bare minimum. Next point is the source of income for the government. If everyone within society is earning just enough to survive, and not enough to pay the government, what would happen? The government would lack the funds to provide those allowances and health benefits. In the end, we don't get anything. Sure, the government can print more money, borrow more from overseas (assuming it's only happening in one country). What would happen? Hyper inflation for the first one, and a massive foreign debt (which leads to drop in value of our dollar because of uncertainty of our political system, and debt level) for the second. Then it leads to more problems...

This idea just leads to too many economic, political and social problems.

I think there is a fundamental misunderstanding over the nature of leisure.

By leisure, I mean not the habbits of a yobo, VB in one hand and a meat pie in the other (both fine products in any case). I mean one who is free to pursue what he desires, rather than what is imposed on him by external forces.

Consider the example of ancient Athens. It is in this era that philsophy and free thinking thrived. It thrived because a 'leisurely class' was born out of economic prosperity. That economic prosperity was built on slave labour.

Today, we needn't enslave other men to support a 'leisurely class'. We have machines far more efficient than the slaves of antiquity.

It use to be the case that one hundred percent of the human race was devoted to crop production or forraging. Today, we have a fraction of that number devoted to these activities. We owe this to the productivity of machines.

In light of this realisation, it should be self evident to any thinking man that we needn't be all pre-occupied with work in order to survive.

See Bertrand Russell's highly entertaining essay, In Praise of Idleness.

I know its been your opinion for ages john, but your post sounds strangely familiar to Jeremy Clarkson XD

James: I don't know whether to be proud, or sad.. Oh, there I go again..

Not all governments can afford that sort of care to their citizens.

Also, working only 4 hours a day then devoting the rest of your time to intellectual/contemplative things seems selfish.

And what would women do?

Guys, my house is a possible venue for Saturday night. My driveway is getting augmented by machinery worked by men, but that doesn't matter since we won't be using the driveway for anything.

I think the worst invention to be invented so far is the sun umbrella. Last night after my lecture, it was pouring down when we left the theater. Relieved that I brought a nice, compact umbrella along, I took it out, but noticed that the fabric was a little too.. transparent. I held it out under the rain, with my other hand underneath it, and watched as rain fell onto the umbrella, then through it and onto my hand.

Useless. But funny in hindsight.

do you think we would be where we are now if we just based our activities around sustenance and worked four hours a day?

yes the government is capable of feeding, clothing, and treating us if we're sick - but should it? where is the motivation to strive for more and better ourselves?

4 hours a day is fine in Sydney...if you wanted to live in a mudhut and finish the mortgage at 75.

Ever heard of the parable of the grasshoper and the ant?

Why do men work in this machine augmented era?

Surely people don't work just so they can live. There are enough houses for everyone to live. Grains are cheap, vegetables inexpensive and meat affordable.

Russell was right in that things will go just fine if people worked 4 hours a day used the rest for 'leasuire' (in which he meant the free pursuit of intellectual/contemplative things)

Today's government is capable of supplying each citizen with a dwelling, a basic allowence and healthcare. Men should use their time to pursue their dreams, not all be turned into petty analysts (look at us all).

I think I am turning into a degenerate communist.

Thursday, March 08, 2007

Fable 2, teaching young kids the consequences of unprotected sex.

Adobe plays the nutcracker

Lol, what is with games these days?! The demo is 1.2gbs! Sup Com install is 8.56gb and its demo, 1.1 gb I think.

Yi, are there any wet weather plans? Even though I am an anti-beach person, the weather is still not looking good.

Lastly, any plastic modellers with Plastic Extra Thin Cement? My '97 Chevy is now in ruins after a lil run in with the floor last time...

Northern beaches it is then.

Does it make more sense for us to meet at Hash's or KJ's for the least amount of distance covered by everyone?

Requesting pickup if we are going to the outback (Hash or KJ's)...

Oh man, I downloaded a Vod pack of Boxer in the airforce. He played Star with a crew cut and green uniform. Heart breaking!

Darren, I'll never dare to verse you in a 1v1 of self deprecation.

I just disable the device in the device manager. Its built in, so I can't physically detach it.

Well, the way Apple goes on about their products, I would have assumed all you had to do to turn it off was say "Webcam Off!".

In N.O.D we trust

When you disable the webcam do you leave an airgap or is it built in and it just says "off"?

lol, I got another family dinner thing happening on Saturday and a family BBQ on Sunday.

James: Ignorance was a key factor in such an incoherent comparison. More reading is necessary for a more informed opinion on that matter.

Char-grilled scampi is too good for me.. I'm the kind of guy who would eat microwaved party pies for dinner. If anyone were to prepare scampi that way, it would have to be you.

I'll see if my house is free on Saturday.. and as a last resort, we could use one of the rooms in the building that I have swipe access to. At uni. I may also be able to get into CSE after hours.. haven't tried though.

I disable my webcam whenever I have no need for it, which is most of the time. It saves a bit of battery power, most likely a negligible amount.

Now to figure out how to get into Topaz and hence Dota/Star using CSE quota from a UniWide connection..

Lol, James, I knew Blu-Ray would take over, simply because of the PS3. If they release GT5, or FF13, then you know at least a few hundred thousand buyers, me included, will run out and pre-order our copies.

University campus for gambling ey? Hmm, something to try, I mean, we did gamble in high school...the good old big 2...lol.

If you need a late night place for poker then maybe look to a university campus. Anyone have good swipe card access?

James/Alexis: Back to john's point, you really should appoint a few set sites to arbitrate.

That built-in webcam on my laptop is a bit disturbing. Its a nice feature but it needs a shutter (best design would probably be like the one on the w800i - Scott's phone) when not in use. I have a feeling they are prone to manipulation.

I just realised I haven't been out in more than a month. I've gone to work, seen family and done shopping etc but not out with friends. The downside is that I'm becoming a hermit. The upside is I'm saving heaps!

Alexis, pull out honourably now or pay a very hefty fine at the end of the year:

"Last month, we learned that sales of Blu-ray movies had significantly outpaced sales of HD DVD movies in early January. That trend shows no sign of changing. InformationWeek quotes VideoScan numbers that say sales of Blu-ray movies accounted for more than 60% of the high-definition movie market between January 1st and February 18โ€”the latest date for which figures are available. Blu-ray's market share has oscillated between 63.3% and 69.6% over that time period, and in the week ending February 18, the format's slice of the market sat at a cool 65%.

InformationWeek says HD DVD had the upper hand between November 19 and December 17, but that Sony's format started pulling ahead in the week before Christmasโ€”presumably thanks to the company's PlayStation 3 console, which has built-in Blu-ray support. Sony also has the support of MGM, 20th Century Fox, and Walt Disney Pictures, which all offer high-definition movies exclusively in the Blu-ray format."

Link

Yes, I remember him Hash.

On other news, John, Kwong and I have been speaking of a poker night. Most likely to be next weekend. However, we think it will be a good idea of inviting a few of our uni friends or friends from outside NSB to come. That way, we have a few new people so that the game can be a lil more exciting. Problem is, we'll need a big place for that to happen. Can anyone cater for that? To avoid tools crashing, we'll have to RSVP to the host a few days prior to the event with the names of the "unknown". They can pull out, but cannot bring extra. Also, we can limit the number of extras to 2 or 3?

Wednesday, March 07, 2007

i agree about top gear. although the last episode was hilarious, i would like to see more cars. there are more outrageous challenges than cars now; they've reviewed a total of 3 cars over the last 3 episodes.

I remember Aaron, he moved right next to NSBHS and was James' primo buddy 'till he found fairer pastures on the Central Coast. Afterwards, I believe Busu took his place as James' bride.

Eric :: seef not remember people ... do you remember Kelly Stanard? He joined the U.S.Navy in 2003.

We had an Aaron Tyler in our year? *shrugs*

What's the weather like for Saturday anyway? The weather doesn't look too good at the moment, so are there any wet weather plans?

Aaron Tyler sounds alot like the guy who sold me a copy of Age of Empires for $5 which didn't work.

I don't seriously see how after going to a Northern beach you can be satisfied going to an Eastern subs beach.

The only thing I can think of that would entice you to the East are the multitude of topless females at Bondi.

Top Gear is getting a bit too much. Each episode is still a riot but thats the problem, its too comic. Its good to have a laugh every now and then, but they need to add more substance to it and do a few less challenges. It feels like its gone from a car show to a game show.

I'm not in for Northern beach. I honestly dont see whats not to love about bondi, but whatever. I'll be completely fucked friday night anyway seeing its graduation dinner + drinks, so count me out of anything that isn't passing out in a gutter on oxford st.

Sorry boys.

Darren,

Pho? You gotta be kidding. I say shout the guys at the Pyrmont fish market. Or buy your own scampi from there (lots) and grill them in the park nearby. Marc will know where. Yi will bring the coal. You just buy the scampi.

I called a certain person called Aaron Tyler today, long rumoured to be 'my only friend' while I was at NSB. (Yi doesn't count because he charged me $5 (in 2001 dollar value) for a burned CD. What a petty merchant!)

We had a great chat. When I told him I work at Nvidia, he said: "you sell out!"

Ahh, the North Sydney Boys days. I will always miss them.

Northern beaches or no beach.

unfortunately i have prior plans for this saturday, so am unable to make it to the saturday happenings.

i do hope the next thing is soon though.

I wouldn't be surprised if this happened..

Dinner: I feel like Pho; its something I haven't had in ages. Which Pho place depends on where we are at dinner time. There is a Pho place in Thornleigh if we end up around there, or one of the Pho places in Bankstown if we are around there. If we are in the city, then we can go to Marigold, even though its not Pho, its still good.

I think I've been overpaid in my first salary paycheck..

I agree with Marc, its northern beaches or nothing. By default, I will be offering my services as taxi driver, unless Darren feels like driving.

If we meet at my house, I will try and sabotage as many ppl into Tennis as possible.
If we meet at KJ's house - tell him this time Benny!

Northern beach sounds good.

Meet at Kj's or Hash's

What time?

Who's driving?

Although I'm not much of a beach person myself, I have to say, you're right Benny -- what a bunch of pussies!@#

Dirty Bondi beach! May as well not go at all.

Its northern or nothing. Regretfully, Saturday does not look like a pleasant day for the beach.

Eric, if you don't like sand, then go to England. Their beaches are like where the water meets rocks.

I am in for everything except for Beach. So i guess I'll sabotage that part Yi. Yes, whatever, I am a pussy. I don't like sand, but I do like water. Sea water, Chlorinated water...whatever. If you can take the sand out of the equation, I'll be the first one there.

If possible, Hash, we can just play tennis in the morning, and meet up for more tennis and soccer and some SupCom somewhere. Drinks are good, but I do feel bad for having Darren shouting us dinner. How 'bout you shout us at i-Star/CFN instead?

EDIT: I think we can carpool and minimise the amount of cars going into the city/Bondi/whereever. That way, we can minimise fuel costs, and time looking for parking. We can chip in for fuel..to whoever's driving...

Beach - Boo, hiss. Bondi [x4 modifier to Beach badness], Not In
Soccer - In
Dinner - In
Drinks - In*
CFN - In**
Poker - In

Conditions Apply
*: Provided there are non-alcoholic, non-coke beverages
**: CFN has gotten kind of seedy as of late, I-Star would be a cleaner more SupCom friendly option.

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Thankyou for beach yi. I'm in, and looking forward to it. I don't know how i feel about darren shouting dinner though, I'd prefer to pay my bit, I do eat more than my share as it is :)

Also soccer is <3, and CFN is <3. Take care all see you soon.

Saturday it is.

Since summer weather is almost over, I'm advocating a beach visit. If there are no serious objections, I'm going to hit Bondi and take one last look at the beautiful curves and surfaces for this summer. If you do have objections, voice them with reason and they will be dutifully taken down, considered, and then rejected. :P

Lunch at Hurricane's would be awesome.
And then we can head out for tennis, football or CFN!!! ;)

Dinner will be at Darren's disposal.

Drinks will be at mine.
(Location TBA)

==============

Charlie, John, KJ, what about you three?

Marc :: I do not hate Mac users. but I will happilly agree that they are not part of the 'elite'.

James: are you referring to women or woman? XD

This would probably please Hash and shine a light for why he hates Mac users so much. Remember that smug episode of South Park where Gerald (Kyle's dad) was going around driving a hybrid and telling people how environmentally friendly they are, talking with his eyes closed, smelling his own farts and acting all self-satisfied?

Don't get me wrong, the users are nice people but its like the same thing. A lot of switchers act self-satisfied and have this air of smug around them. Like I said before in my counter-rant, a computer is a computer. I'm not your "bro" because I'm in an "elite" club of fellow mac users.

Marc, nop, Alexis has yet to pay me back. I am trying though. However, he did promise me to pay back an extra 150% interest on top of the principal of $20 dollars (therefore, $50 AUD) the next time we meet. Alexis, let that be a reminder to you too please.

Blu-ray is already a standard thing for the PS3 isn't it? So if the PS manages to release a great title, and the fact that they might be releasing Blu-ray dvds, then...I dunno. *shrugs*

It is incoherent to compare Bluray to Betamax without accounting for Matsushita / Panasonic.

Betamax lost to Matsushita's VHS.

But Blu-ray is has the full backing of both Sony and Matsushita.

So if Sony loses, Matushita loses as well. This would render the analogy to Betamax vs. VHS incoherent.

James: Darren: Aye.

I wonder if the competition between BluRay and HD-DVD will end up the same way as VHS and BetaMax.. A loss for Sony at the consumer level, but the standard for television media. The better product is not always the winner, its the most economically rational one.

Its hard to please everyone, but I'll try to for Saturday. I'll start off by disappointing Marc; No Tetsuya's for you this time..

I would like to run a simple poll:

Have you been grossly disappointed by women?

Answer submittable via: Aye and Nay. No further explaination required.

James: Aye.

By the end of the year Blu-ray would have won so comfortably that there will be nothing to argue about.

Alexis is trustworthy, go easy on him.

So what's happening Saturday people?

Yi, Darren you guys are organising, ppl have posted their opinions already

lol john has a good point. You guys better pick a single arbitrator (magazine or website) to decide. No wiki subscriptions.

You do realise what will happen though? If James wins the bet, Alexis [may] pay up only to pass the financial burden onto us through borrowings repayable on an indefinite term.

Speaking of which, Eric, has he paid your $50? XD

Monday, March 05, 2007

how would we ascertain that one of the two formats is the "undisputed preferred format by studios, as recognized by retailers/news outlets"?

rather than admitting default, i think alexis would just argue that dominance of one format is not undisputed, for the simple fact that he is disputing it.

by what means are we to satisfy ourselves sufficiently that one format is preferred over its rival - to an extent that this wager maintains its meaning and significance?

On the basis of his internal credit rating, a bond should be secured against which he can be held liable if he defaults on his payment.

After crunching a few numbers, I think a reasonable amount for the bond would hover around 3 60 Gb PS3's give or take a DS.

Alexis should be put under geas to honour the agreement

Lolz, at the contract part. In australia, the PS3 20gb will be released for 899 (last time i checked/remembered) and 60gb for 999. I mean...WTF?

Charlie, I think there is consideration on Alexis's part. I am sure there's consideration on Alexis's part, since he was the one to post the msg, on behalf of James, so Alexis SHOULD know what he's doing. Also, he's definitely not under the influence of anything (are you Alexis?) while agreeing to this contract. No duress, no nothing. Hence the contract should be enforceable...that should be about right...lol. Who knows Charlie, he might pay his debts..well at least to me I hope...XD.

Alexis, I wasn't bagging the film out. It's more like i mis-read your post.

"she was spectacular"

-Benny

A contract provides for legal recourse

This cannot be a contract since Alexis is most certainly going to default and therefore there is no adequate consideration on his part.

Marc, it's about $250-$300 for the set.

Currently the PS3 costs a bit, but by end of year, it will be priced differently.

But that's beside the point. HD-DVD can not possibly win.

I don't know how much a PS3 20GB model costs, but I'm pretty damn sure it would cost significantly more than US$285

Is that right? Or are there additional volumes on top of that. A quick reference to wikipedia reveals that it goes from 180 to 1400s. That must be a mammoth of material to go from the empire through dark ages to the renaissance.

Do you two evince an intention to create a legally binding contract?

im good for beach. also good for outing. also good for some good team games of star.

I propose an amendment to ur wager -

If u lose, u tell your parents about and pay up for all the bets, contracts, loans u have previously made.
If u win, u pay up for all the bets, contracts, loans u have previously made.

I agree with Benny, you're all just a bunch of blubbering vaginas. If you don't like the beach then why be in Australia!!!

I had a feeling we'd be having Tetsuya's Darren. I knew you'd pull through

Blasphemy Eric. And here I thought we were all looking foward to this film. I know Hash, Darren and Benny are. This film is going to take epics to the next level.

Now that aside, James and I have made a little wager and he has cordially asked to me to post it on the blog so for all you guys to be witnesses. During the month of January, Blu Ray has outsold HD-DVD 2 to 1 in the states. James has quickly jumped on the vanwagon and claimed total victory for Blu Ray and that is basically over for HD DVD. I believe otherwise. So our wager is this:

If by the end of the year Blu Ray becomes the undisputed preferred format by studios, as recognized by retailers, I am to get him an unabridged copy of Gibbon's History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. If HD-DVD is the undisputed preferred format, as recognized by most news outlets, he is to buy me the 20 GB model PS3. If both formats co exist (basically an impossibility), then neither of us gets the other one anything.

LOL Benny, will you be attending this weekend? :)

Alexis: looks like you will have to either download the uncut version screened outside of Australia, or wait for the director's/collector's edition with said uncut scenes most likely in it..

Benny: Why are you so keen on the beach? I think that current weather trends are not conducive with beach attendance. The waves will be more aggro and the view will not be as nice as when there is sun.. if you know what I mean.

I'm getting my first salary payment on the 8th, so I suggest a dinner out after whatever we do on saturday.. my shout. the choice of food is highly dependent on where we are though..

What is with all this anti beach shit, omg sand is between my toes?!

Salt water burns my eyes!

Pussies.

alexis is talking about the film 300.

Alexis, what game, or movie is this? I have yet to play a R18+ game. I mean, SC has all that. Except for the sex part, and you can even stage your own computer generated violence! A few other games that comes to mind would include carmageddon, Doom, Duke Nukem etc. And yes, no beach on Saturday please.

Something to note:

This just in, the Office of Film and Literature Classification has lowered its R18+ rating of 300 to MA15+ for "Strong computer-generated battle violence, Death and war themes"... (looks like Australia is getting creative with it's rating descriptions). But apparently it has come at a price. The film has been trimmed by two minutes, two minutes that are said to contain some sexually explicit scenes.

Saturday plans.. I'm not too keen on the beach, but any of the other sporting activities are fine by me. Last time I said that, we ended up at the beach...

I'm also going to look for a set of dice and cups to play that dice game. Hopefully I will be able to get a set by Saturday. Its fun, really!

No beach for me. I could taste the salt and smell the brine for 2 weeks after that outing. Saturday is good for me as Sunday is scheduled to be truly magical. As long as Benny, Spain or KJ is there, u only need 1 drinker XD.

Sunday, March 04, 2007

Yi, that's a wonderful idea. My place is definitely a no, especially if there's Alcohol involved. Hell, even if my mum's ok, I ain't ok...in case some of us do get drunk and alcohol goes everywhere. I had to clean the place three times. Once before the party, second after the party, and third time after my mum saw the place. So sorry boys.

Yes, i'd love to come, but i won't be drinking. One I am driving, two, I just don't wanna get drunk again. However, poker, soccer and tennis are all great ideas. I am down for all of them.

Next week I got yet another family BBQ on Sunday. I don't think I've met up with anyone since I last saw you at the beach, every weekend since has just been rotational family stuff. A weekend break from family would be welcome. See how it goes...

If only we didn't live in Sydney...

Alrighty people. We'll set the meet up date to next weekend.
Does anyone have any preferences?
I would prefer Saturday since then I won't have to worry about work the next day...

Locations. Apart from Benny's place, which has been given a preliminary OK, where else can we hang out?

For activities, I'm going for a tennis or soccer or late summer beach session followed by dinner and then drinks. So meet up at around 1-2pm.

Lets negotiate people!
Will you guys be free and what do you guys want to do?

I want a response from everyone even if you can't go! If you are bailing, you better have a darn good reason to! And for the people no longer on this blog due to the new account and all that, pass them a message when you see them.

i',m down for ur bing drinking if its at nite, accompanied with poker and u have some non-alcoholic beverages that are not coke

You mean Bacardi right Yi?

Why not, where would it be held?
Eric's place is off limits now. And Jono's not back yet, which leaves your place? Spain's? God forbid my humble abode in Bankstown?

I think today would be a little late notice though but next week sounds good

Johnnie Walker
Bombay Sapphire
Jack Daniel's
Smirnoff
Absolut
Bicardi


hey guys.
i haven't seen you in ages.
in return for your friendship, i'm offering you my stash. :D
anyone interested?
i think we are long overdue for a get together.

if nothing can be organised for today, then next week is just as good.

Saturday, March 03, 2007

Another update on SC. I've finally tried the dual screen option, and I must say, it's freaking awesome. However, the game lagged like shit after about 5 mins when my units count hit..prolly around 20 or so (bear in mind, comp's unit count should be around the same if not higher).

And now, even if I turn everything off, after my unit count finally hits 300, the game was not playable. I'd be happy to get 1FP per 3 secs....

Conclusion...turn everything to either off or low. *sigh*

PoP goes my heart? If you like that Charlie, you should watch the Aussie film Boytown. Do a search on Youtube for it. Actually, just go watch it XD Its got Glenn Robbins in it.

Because Islam is an uncomplicated religion to live by, it is sure to continue in its popularity around the world.

That sounds funny but from a secular POV its totally understandable.

Music and Lyrics

Pro-Christian and Pro-America.

Read the entry on Islam. A third of it is about how Islam is rooted in Paganism. Fantastic!

---

Guys, noon onwards Sydney time is star time. Get on. Get ready. Yi and I are having our decider match. Hash will show the world why his Canon rush is still the one to beat. And I'm going to cream Spain so bad that he'll never be able to look at the colour blue again.

So its the Christian Wikipedia?

The new Wikipedia

If the elusive campaign-building korean can be found, I am more than happy to challenge him.

Friday, March 02, 2007

Eh? What now? I am ob'ing? Star as well?! Come on James, you know you wanna TA. I think I've only seen Hash 1v1'ing on xbox once. That was in Burnout...he beat me 3-2 i think...so I think i'll challenge him in NFS (anyone within the series). Muahahah...or GT4 whichever one he likes.

Seriously though, TA's on 2nite right?

KJ will take marc's place.

$8 movie tickets, tonight only.

Yeah. He can't kick some1 from the game if when he is losing.

It's just so unfair XD.

James, I think u need to ask Marc about Canon rushes. I steer towards Cannon rushes.

I don't do 1v1s. Not even in dota.

I think this calls for a duel!

When: Saturday Night 7PM
Where: The Lost Temple
Who: Marc vs. Hash

Observers:
- James
- Yi
- Benny
- Char
- Eric
- Whoeverelse

Show us Hash, show us.

The only person who doesn't rust is Strainless Yi. I long to see your shinny Canon rush. Oh the glory.

u r a fag and an asshole. Thats before mac-.- XD

Edit: James thought this was extreme and hostile so I need to change the smilie

I am fairly certain, that ne1 who has played Star with me or against me can verify that I am compeltely capable of all that 'dodgy shit' as you say XD.

LOL Hash, I never meant at all that I was a 'warrior'. I simply said it's easy to watch a replay and point out when and where you could have done some dodgy shit. Doing it is a complete different matter.

Thursday, March 01, 2007

James :: My armchair is nice and comfy. It also comes with a complete command console for an ACU XD.

In a real war, James, I am sorry to say - u will be the first to die. The reason? You are simply too naive to participate with me and my ilk. I will win by any means possible, like the honourless free-birth I am! So forgive me if I find your attempts at asserting ur capablities as a 'warrior' laughable.

...and spiders?

What kind of health cover do you guys have? Which one would u recommend? Its so bloody complicated. I would not want to get sick for fear of having to deal with so much fine print.

the jump was only about one meter, so the weightlessness wasn't for that long. but the darkness, rushing water, and thought of eels made it more interesting.

Seriously John, some of the scenic photos are really nice. I went straight to your scenics and missed some of your funnier moments...lol. How high's the jump? Jumping is great fun...the adrenalin...the weightlessness, then the splash and coldness...

Yes, tubing in Australia is highly not recommended. I'll be the first one to get burnt. Hmmm...peeeeeling...

James, you should've studied Finance and Engineering. You've been playing around with shares. I wanna trade in NYSE or AMEX too...one of my goals...so many options there! (choices, not the finance options)

Woohoo! I'm now a share owner in NVDA, currently trading at $31.

Hope it gives me a good ride. :D

the donuting downstream was actually inside the waitomo caves. we half walked half paddled through pitch blackness, with glow worms on the ceiling.

the earlier shots of me jumping off the ledge was to practice waterfall jumps inside the caves.

LOL Hash. If you watch some pro reps you'll see that just about every game, the terran is open to a 'massive DT drop'. The solution, is not to sit in your base and appear DT-phobic; it's to go out and attack your enemy.

You're a great commentator Hash. But for your sake, please stay in your armchair. XD

Ah right then.

I like Shag Point. The name sounds groovy baby! And the shot of you plunging into the water was well captured. Donuting downstream is heaps fun but if you did it in the summer here you'd probably get massively sunburnt.

marc, i chose snapfish because flickr and the other online photo services limit the amount and size of photos i can upload.

You know what? I was about to say Hash, the next thing you'll say is: "noob! you were open to a cannoning for ages!" but then I read the second half of his post.

wtf john you don't even tell us you go to NZ. Snapfish? Isn't it easier to use picasa or flickr? They both allow outsiders to view.

Darren: hired car? I'm sure you know that this is an opportunity to abuse it

Hash: Oh, so thats what is so good about Vista.. Well, for now I am still happy with my er.. 'copy' of Windows XP, so I wont be upgrading any time soon,even though my comp is Vista compatible.

Its finally happening. I'm going to an actual coal mine tomorrow with the other guys at work, for the purpose of taking texture photos and learning more about the safety procedures/information that we are meant to be simulating. Its a mine up around Lake Macquarie, so thats about an hour and bit worth of driving.

Sounds good so far, except that we have to be there at 7am. So that means leaving home by 5:45am latest. I happen to be the driver this trip, so I'll be returning the hired car afterwards to the uni. At least I dont have to drive from the uni, I'll be taking the car home the night before, ie tonight. Its convenient, as I have a 6-9 lecture tonight.

So.. for TA.. I suggest 8:30pm to be on MSN, then one of us can host a game. If I'm not on, its because I've fallen asleep.. so I'll try get some sleep in the lecture tonight so I'll be awake then.

The rust is coming off James, but slowly - u were completely open to a DT hammering of ur main for ages. The fact that u built ur comm centre so late was quite apalling. The bottom of ur base was also completely open for a drop from the start of the game. I am suprised Spain didn't attempt it earlier. Also, ffs EXPAND, u had that nice expand in front or ur nat for ages and u forgot to start mining it while u were pushing for 15 mins!!! Where were the vessels?????

Spain - gw with the econ development, seems like ur degree paid off XD. Though ur individual attacks and tactics were worse than James, ur zerging him + arbiters paid off in the end.

One thing i did notice - that was like the freakin cold war ... u guys sat there letting each other build up for 10-15 mins. No harassment, or nething. Just a DMZ that kept on getting pushed to Spain's side of the map ...

At this rate u will fall to early cannon or DT ... weak. James, a 12 man M&M squad early on would have torn a massive hole into Spains econ. He raced to Tier3 tech pretty fast so he was low on the unit counts!

Mannn....

Me and Spain played an awesome game last night. Iron Oxide is just starting to wear off. Here's the rep

Benny, when do you get home?

I have work at 4pm James... most of us do...

Marc let me know when you'll be in the city with my tennis racquet, thanks

I'm having a house warming party too. It's a bit far to get here so let's get warmed up in CTO instead. 4PM Sydney time daily. XD