Monthly Archives: August 2012

Got one!

No brake lights except obscured HMSL   5:03pm Thurs 9 August 2012
I don’t like Bunnings. Monopolistic, domineering, predatory, bad service, all the usual stuff.
Today I may have had a win. I bought a new reticulation controller. The shelf price was $49.99.
I also bought some bookcase and wardrobe shelf supports, those little plastic or brass things that fit in the holes in the sides.
When I came to check out, there were only two checkouts operating with about 5 people queued at each one. I was stewing.
When my retic controller was scanned, it wouldn’t register. OK, the guy peeled off the top bar code to reveal another one underneath. This time, it scanned OK, at $23.89!
So how come it was shelf priced at $49.99? Rip off.
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At Coles at Innaloo yesterday, I had the opposite experience. I saw Bird’s Eye Wok Meals on special at $4.99, so I grabbed two packets.
Only when I got home did I realise I’ve been charged $9.99 each packet!! That’s the full price, I assume.
I am angry. This is deception. I should take them back, but why the hell should I have to? I can’t face the trek back. I’m going to make a huge fuss on their complaints web page. I’m sick of this constant attempt to trick the customer.

Aunty ABC stuffs up again

I roll on the floor in laughter:
WA’s shark premier
I am becoming a bit of a regular contributor to Media Watch. They know me by now. The pig cruelty vision from last weekend may feature this Monday.
The above is tonight’s stupidity on the ABC News web site. I happen to loathe the guy, but I have to acknowledge how well he fits the image of a hammerhead shark.
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So I sent the screen grab off to Media Watch, not reading the text below it.
Later (11:15pm) I refreshed the page.
Look at the text. ” … spooked a massive hammerhead shark to help rescue a man … “
Wow. What a good shark. What a nice shark. A hammerhead shark rescues a man. Lucky we didn’t start culling them, eh? We need these sharks.
The sheer blithering incompetence … it’s not as if this was fast, late breaking news. This story broke at about 11.30am, plenty of time for them to write the story!

Proud to be Aussie

Our wide brown land
This morning’s news included a story of Operation Open Heart. It’s a group of 64 doctors and medical professionals who voluntarily travel to countries like PNG (where they are now), Cambodia, Burma, Rwanda, Sudan and all the other places where heart surgeons are rather scarce.
They fix hearts for free, of course, but also train local surgeons in the latest techniques. They take 6 tonnes of equipment with them! Sixty four people, including medical gas technicians, biomedical engineers, anaesthetists, nurses and others.
They do it for several weeks then come back to Oz, ready for next year.
Coupled with our economy and our sporting people, the older I get, the prouder I’m becoming to be an Aussie. Well done, Australia.

Olympic Spirit? Gone, over

The sun has set on the Olympic Spirit

I’ve been commenting on a Canadian blog where we’ve been talking about possible corruption in Olympic sports events. Corruption? Wow! Who would have guessed?
I maintain that the Olympic Spirit is over, gone, crushed by corporate brand power, money, greed and excessive glory seeking.
Criminal penalties for brand infringements??? Total bans on anything that the IOC doesn’t like??  Masses of empty IOC officials’ seats at events?  Incredibly lavish expenditure on luxury hotels, meals and chauffered transport for IOC officials?
The Olympic spirit is gone, finished. In fact, there is a campaign here in Oz at this moment pointing out that the Australian Institute of Sport’s favoured athletes have had $500,000,000 showered on them in recent years, yet they do not have to repay a cent, even if they reap $multi-million sponsorship deals.
Yet any uni student, teacher or nurse has to repay the govt HECS student loans they get. No excuses. But the millions paid to these elite athletes is free and gratis, despite the favouritism shown to only certain “winner” sports. Rowers or basketballers don’t get paid.
Our athletes break down in sobbing tears if they only win silver. Silver or bronze is seen as not good enough. Other athletes bag the selectors and team mates if they are not given enough prominence.
The Olympic spirit is dead and gone, rolled over by corporate money, IOC corruption and naked greed as usual. I highly recommend http://www.abc.net.au/tv/guide…  This is genuinely funny and genuinely genuine.
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This brought a response from another commenter. I suspect he’s a Pom:

“And our athletes break down in sobbing tears if they only win silver. Silver or bronze is seen as not good enough”
So they should, you either win or you loose. There’s not much glory in coming second in a war, why should it be any different with sports?
Get them to pull there finger out, if a tiny little Island like the UK can get 22+ golds Australia should be on at least 10 by now. As for Canada they should be on 15+ golds but have settled for 1.
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I have replied:
Well, mate, I thought the main thing was just to do your best and compete for your country.
 
Your reply only reinforces my point – that the Olympic Spirit is dead. If winning is everything, as you say, then I’m not interested any more. I cheer for our athletes, win or lose. I didn’t realise that coming second or third was a crime. I note your use of winners and losers. To me they are winners and competitors.
Sports are equivalent to fighting a war??? We must fight as in war?? Glory in winning a war?? What kind of world do you inhabit?
You sound young, as if you’ve grown up in this world of computer games, “first-person-shooters”, role playing, where killing and eliminating opponents has become the norm. I reject that world.
And yes, Australia is down. So what? The point is to try harder, to do your best, not crow and brag.
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The brain dead nasty Pom who wrote the above also added:

 
Paul Till [That seems to be his name – PJC]
 
Can’t you just stop taking your pills and die already? The world would be a much better place without you.
I’m sure your wife you found on-line would rather have just your money.
(Edited by author 21 hours ago)

Do I need to say more?

Big Questions

The Beginning    Credit: Universe Today
Yesterday I heard of an upcoming series of public lectures by three scientists including Prof. Brian Schmidt, recent Nobel Prize winner. Thanks Geoff.
It’s customary to call for questions at these lectures, and that tallies with some things I’ve been thinking a lot about for years:
  • is there not a fundamental limit, the speed of light, on what we can know and do? That little c sets an absolute limit on our range of communication. No matter what we do, sending a message further than say, 50 light years will be a waste of time, because we will not be alive to get an answer.
    Unless something changes, we will never be able to travel to another star or planet. Isn’t this part of some grand plan? We are not meant to know, we are too frail as we are, unless and until we can overcome this barrier. Isn’t this a kind of protection for humans?
  • as an engineering person, I laugh at the idea that we should try to build a spacecraft with a 100 year mission. The pace of technology means it would be obsolete only 20 years out. The rate of decay and failure means it would not last more than 30 years. How would it be repaired? How would you carry enough spares and technology? How would they cope, 50 years out, with, “Er, gentlemen, the high gain antenna and your guidance computer have been completely superseded and are no longer functional – we have a new method of communication now.” Or even  more devastating, “Earth has changed. We no longer need you. We can no longer support you. Good luck and goodbye.”
    It’s ludicrous to think of long term space travel unless technology reaches some limit. So what do we do?
  • we think entirely in anthropomorphic terms. An ant can never imagine the universe. Why do we confine ourselves to human concepts? We talk all the time of light-years, but a year to us is a long time. A year to another intelligence could be a mere instant.
    We think in terms of astronomical units. But to some other beings, an a.u. could be a mere puddle hop.
    We must re-orient our thinking. Advancement can render all our thinking obsolete in short order. People in the 19th century had never heard of electronics. Now it rules our lives. The next breakthrough could occur next year. What will it be? How can we stop limiting our thinking?
  • the development of computing, networking and the web mean that the web is growing and developing just as human child’s brain does. Neural connections are being made, thousands of times daily all over the world. Our web brain is growing just as a human brain does. Our web intelligence is increasing by leaps and bounds. Do you see this analogy and do you see the web becoming more intelligent than we realise it can be? How will we deal with it?
  • the development of electronics and its offshoot, computing, has been a true revolution, yet it was not even imagined just over 100 years ago. Do you foresee any other truly revolutionary developments? I don’t mean nano-tech or DNA synthesis or e-books. These have already been thought of and are under development now. Someone, (Arthur Clarke?) said, “anything man can imagine, he can achieve.” What is it that we have not yet even imagined? I mean something as epoch making as the realisation that electrons in wires can be controlled and made to convey information.
  • on what kind of time scale will the fruits of the SKA become available? I’m 65. I have the impression that I won’t live long enough to see any results. Am I too pessimistic?
  • do you foresee the SKA being able to discover SETI messages? And are we ready to receive a real message? Could we handle it, politically and socially? Or would it tear us apart?

This is an ongoing list. I’m not finished.

He died with perfect teeth

Kuta, dental paradise.
I’ve been to the dentist in the past two weeks and I’m pleased to say they found no decay or anything needing urgent treatment.
But today, they presented me with a treatment plan.
$8,698 please.
I’ll give ’em this, they’re optimists! I do not believe I will proceed with this. Surprise, surprise.
My teeth are worn down, one front tooth needs capping and the front pair need straightening. But do I care? I’d like to have good, white teeth and a million dollar smile, yes, but not at $8,700.
If I do anything, the first thing would be a trip to Bali to get a check and quote in Kuta. I’ve been recommended to a dentist there and told the surgery is as modern and clean as anything here. The other choice is Thailand, of course. People swear by the safety and high standards. I would check it out, of course.
So dream on, Duncraig Dental care.
Plus, as far as I was concerned my next appointment was 13 August and I have an appointment card to prove it. But this morning the phone rings and, “Uh, Mr Croft, have you forgotten?” What? “You were due here 15 mins ago.”
No I wasn’t. I had the card to prove it is next week. They don’t have an appointment for me for the 13th, though.
Anyway, I went, but if they can’t get that right … ?

Abuse? You wouldn’t read about it.

WA’s ABC News bulletin on Saturday evening at 7pm showed an item of some of the worst, most shocking cruelty to animals it has ever been my misfortune to see. It was YouTube vision, I believe, of a piggery in NSW and their unbelievable methods of penning and killing the pigs.
Yes, they included a warning beforehand, but I was unprepared for the vision itself.
I’ve lost my fear of operations, dissections and war victims – doesn’t bother me, but I draw the line at animal cruelty. I have never been able to watch the Indonesian abattoir video, for example, after seeing just a few seconds of that terrified cow slithering all over the blood soaked floor.
However, I was unprepared for the horrific vision they showed of a terrified pig being swung at with  a sledge hammer. That will live with me for too long. I admit, I broke down in tears. I had to turn away. I saw enough of the tightly penned sows to last me a lifetime.
I have complained to Media Watch. They seem interested but can’t seem to grasp that it was on ABC News and came from their own Sydney news room!! I’ve had to explain where I saw it, twice.
 
I realised I might still have Saturday night’s news on my HDD recorder and I might have been able to dump it off.  But when I thought about doing that, I realised I will never be able to bring myself to watch it again!

I said to the researcher, I warn you, it will shock you, turn your stomach if you have any feeling for animals. I will not willingly watch it again. If you wanted to torture me, extract secrets from me, all you would need to do would be force me to watch that.

In addition, I don’t have kids but I am almost having nightmares about it. I have to force myself away from thinking about it. The effect on kids caught unawares …

Someone told me it came from YouTube originally, from a disgruntled (hah! how ironic) employee. They certainly removed the grunts from these pigs.
 

Curiosity and the Cat

An incredible image! The Mars Curiosity Lander captured yesterday by the HiRise satellite above Mars as it came in on its parachute. This is historic!
What a great day!  This was the day the Mars Curiosity Lander successfully entered the atmosphere of Mars in a fully automated braking and landing manoeuvre and landed on the surface, sending back its first picture within minutes.
It was made all the more special because I organised a lunch at a cafe on the Trigg beachfront and four of us, Geoff Mortlock, Geoff Stewart, Steve Johnson and I, had a great chin wag while we watched the landing live on my laptop via my battery wireless modem, with all the whoops of joy at NASA. I admit I even let out a whoop myself.
The remarkable thing was no-one else in the restaurant, out of maybe 40 people, had any interest in what was happening. The lack of interest and  the indifference of people just stuns me. This was history being made, but when I mentioned it to anyone, they hadn’t a clue what I was talking about.
One woman in the chemist actually said, “Oh, and it’s coming back, isn’t it?”, meaning, isn’t the lander coming back to Earth after its mission?  Whaaaat? So ignorant, so dumb, so unintelligent. Most people don’t even know where Mars is, just that it’s up in the sky somewhere.
Anyway, two of the guys had to go after two hours, but Geoff Stewart and I talked the table legs off until 4.30pm. We might have kept going but the rain had set in really hard. Geoff’s had a hard and interesting few years but is still smiling. Life is hard! But we get there in the end, just like the Mars Lander.
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My reference to the Cat in the title is to the famous quantum physics paradox put up by Erwin Schrodinger, referred to as Schrodinger’s Cat.
In quantum physics, all states of reality are postulated to be simultaneous wave functions, the “many worlds” theory. We ourselves are possibly in many states simultaneously, our fate and our decisions determined purely by chance. It feels that way sometimes, doesn’t it?
This is a central tenet of quantum physics, that chance determines the way things evolve. True! Of course, some chances are infinitesimally small, but there is a tiny, tiny chance that some atoms of you or me could be on Mars right now, this instant. Or that I might win Lotto tonight.
Schrodinger posited that a cat be thought of inside a sealed box with  a vial of poison gas. The vial may break open and release the gas, in which the cat dies, or it may not. Whether the cat lives or dies depends on whether the wave functions of quantum states in the box collapse into a reality state one way or the other depending on us observing them. If the box remains closed, nothing happens and the cat is both alive and dead at the same time, the vial of poison is both intact and broken at the same time.
But by the act of opening the box and observing, we cause the wave functions to collapse and the vial may break or it may not. Therefore by observing, we determine the state of the cat, whether it lives or dies.
This is purely a thought experiment! We are not actually poisoning cats. No need to ring the RSPCA.
So to have the Lander called Curiosity raised this analogy, and I postulated that only by observing this landing could we collapse the wave function around it on Mars and make it happen. We all had to observe and concentrate, otherwise the landing may never have even been thought of, let alone happen.  Ha!
In fact, even the name Curiosity was a matter of chance, as my other Steve friend pointed out. The question of a name was put up to school kids in the States and Curiosity was chosen from the suggestions of the kids. Wow.

Dumb and Dumber

Get ripped with this Mescalin lettuce!
Notice anything about the package above? It’s mixed lettuce.
Mescalin? Mescaline is a narcotic drug belong to the amphetamine family, made usually around Mexico from the juice of cactuses. Hunter S. Thompson used to love it, I think.
Mesclun is the lettuce mix, from the French word meaning a mixture of small leaves.
The sheer dumbness of WA people, in particular, never ceases to amaze me. People here are just plain stupid. Especially, they don’t care. They won’t take the trouble to move out of their own shadows.
Another example is the old apostrophe chestnut – misuse is rife, but there’s one example in particular that stuns me.  There’s a brand of Greek yoghurt made and sold here in WA called Chris’ yoghurt.
Chris’ yoghurt! They mean Chris’s, but they do the thing of abbreviating the possessive and thinking putting on an apostrophe fixes it.  An example would be Mr Edwards, and Mr Edwards’ dog. I would say Mr Edwards’s dog, but they think they should leave the extra s off.
But Chris’ yoghurt? Words fail me, and them.
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A worse example is the peculiarly WA thing where women, especially, are refusing to have their children vaccinated. They’ve got it into their tiny skulls that vaccination can be dangerous and so they think they won’t have their kids endangered.
Their tiny brains can’t grasp that by not vaccinating, not only are they exposing their own kids to the deadly diseases of measles, whooping cough, and all the other nasties, they are also allowing these diseases to take hold in schools where their un-vaccinated kids attend!
I’m glad to see that the Federal Government is excluding parents from a tax allowance if they don’t vaccinate. It might work, but there’s no underestimating the stupidity of people.
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Which reminds me, in the good ol’ USA after the Batman massacre, gun sales have increased by 40%. But a proposal to make a mental health check mandatory befor you can buy a gun there is doomed to fail.
Why? Because if a person has a mental health check because he or she wants to buy a gun and gets an adverse report, it affects a whole range of things – job security, hunting licenses, driving license and so-on. So people would refuse to have tests. Therefore the tests legislation is doomed to fail!
They deserve to die.

I’m moving

I’m moving this blog to https://bullsroar.wordpress.com/
All my posts up to now are over there now.

It’s still a bit raw and rough yet, so I’ll continue on here for the time being. But eventually all new posts will be at the above address. I hope it will be less bug prone and generally better.

It’s more complex to use, but I hope it will look a lot better asap.