Back In Exile!

And how easy it was to wind up back there.  There's so much to be doing shortly, and I am woefully underprepared.  I've really gotta do my best to get out of here.  Maybe I'm pushing myself too much.  It's a return to strength, I've gotta be with the program.  It's about perfection in human capability.  There's such little margin for error, everything has to line up perfectly, and there has to be a plan in place.  It will be glorious.  You're asking me to do something I haven't been able to do since Primary School, and even then, I wasn't particularly adept at it.  There's too much going against my favour. 

It was a relatively good weekend.  Got plenty of guitar down, and even fixed up some more ideas.  It's fun to just play for the hell of it.  When I've done a long stint, it's like I've played a concert or something, it's great.  It's tiring.  Also got some movie time in, got some reading in.  Got some rest in.  All that was missing was some game time, but that's ok, I can live without that. 

Why can't we fly?  Will we ever?  I know the answer, we are too heavy, our bones are not hollow.  The reason for this is that in order to support the biochemistry of our massive brains, we need to be heavy.  Therefore we can never ever grow wings that would support our weight to fly.  It's sad isn't it?

Another thing that's troubling is that while language extinction has always been around, the rate of it has accelerated sharply in the 20th and 21st centuries.  That's not cool at all.  Languages are intriguing things.  I was discussing this point with someone the other day, and how within the space of one country, people speak with different accents, the same language with different dialects, or even different languages.  Isn't that interesting?  But now, with the rise of English, a lot of people in developing nations focus all their efforts into getting their children to learn English so they have the best chance at jobs overseas, often at the expense of their own language and culture.  English is insidious. 

Took a look at my task list and realised I finished pretty much everything last week.  So it's on to more writing today.  I'm cool with that, it's going to be an interesting sort of day I think.  I'm not feeling well still.  Just a combination of everything I suppose.  Or things could slide together to get much much worse.

I read that apparently the planet has lost 50% of its wildlife within the past 40 years.  Shit!  That's intense.  And we are just getting worse and worse about it.  If you're not gonna put it all on the line for what you want to achieve, then don't do it.  You'll lose everything otherwise.  We won't have any stable biosphere soon.  We've changed too much, but under the pretense of jobs and profits and shareholder returns, nobody is going to care until it is too late.  Is that our secret?  We know we are a threat to the planet, that we just keep thriving like a virus until we consume everything and go off to discover new worlds?  But we just don't care to admit it?

Everything will be privatised soon.  Everything the government should be taking stock of will be sold at a profit to private business, and they will destroy services and ensure that consumers and the public will be worse off as a result.  Government doesn't care about governing or instituting good policy.  It's all about a race to the bottom and ensuring that society is more fragmented as a result, and therefore will rely on the status quo.  Always question authority, that is my only key piece of advice. 

2 more hours of this?!  I'm not going to cope!  My face is about to fall apart.  I want to be everything.  I want too much.

I'm going to call it there.

Joaquin out.

Wrong On Every Count

Things were never like this back in old Vladivostok town.  What a world away.  It all seems like it couldn't even be real.  I've got a game plan here.  It works for everything else except for what I need!  Terrible, you just watch everything go backward and wonder what the hell is going on out there.  There is far too much stupidity.

For everyone out there, I want you all to know, Australia is a fascist nation, and like most other Western nations, it has a tinge of racism in its undercurrent.  It's very insidious and you can't dare point it out, or else you be totally dismissed, or quickly told that other nations are more racist, but that doesn't answer the question.  That really irks me, the sheer denial and anger in the response, before returning to microaggressions. 

What I need are people with skills.  Maybe I mentioned earlier about the concept of having a town with barter skills.  Instead of relying on the stupidity of having a stock trader in your midst, why not rely on having a teacher, or a carpenter, or people with real useful skills that could help look after the town?  I've read about time banks operating in some US communities, and it seems to work.  People are happier that they can contribute something tangible to their neighbours and their communities.  Maybe it even brings people together, unlike what we have here in our current status quo.

I've really gotta come down on Apple.  Ever since Jobs left the post, Tim Cook has just been awful.  They need to overhaul their bug testing.  Tim let the absolutely horrible Apple Maps thing through a few years ago (which still hasn't been resolved)!  People still prefer Google Maps over the native app.  And now this debacle over the Bendy iphone 6s and the bricking glitches of iOS 8.0.1!  This is the problem, they're rushing to appease consumer and shareholder sentiment.  Not to actually create the best product they possibly can.  You can't just push stuff out in a cycle and expect things to go right.  There's a sick culture in Apple, and this sort of thing should not be allowed to happen.  To me it wreaks of a leadership that is ineffective, and middle management that is too scared to speak up.  Apple should have released a statement as soon as these items were hitting the media.

I was reading an interesting article that half the water on Earth must have come from extra-terrestrial sources, and may be older than the Sun.  Apparently, they can measure some sort of isotope drain and they realised that a large percentage of the water couldn't have originated from Earth.  That raises some interesting questions for humanity, especially since life first spawned in the oceans.  It makes no sense! 

Looks like Friday is finally here and I'm looking forward to some time off.  This week has pretty much been a write-off.  Hahaha, in fact, I'm sure I'm gonna get to the end of this and it will be like "my life is a write-off".  Except there's no accounting book to store the entries in, so you know, like, whatever!  Just let this day be over already. I have nothing of value to add.  None of this should be.

Wow, things have been busy at work, I was unprepared.  But I'm getting by, I can deal with anything in my way.  From high to low, just like that.  It's a weird place to be.

For those of you not in the know, there were a number of raids the other day on people of middle eastern appearance in Australia.  A lot of people complained that these were just show raids, given that the terror alert had just been raised to high, despite no concrete proof of plans to attack anyone.  So out of the 18-20 people taken, only 2 have been charged!  The media made a big deal about the raids, saying the threat was right in our backyards, and now the media is obviously quiet on what the outcome is.  The trials aren't public, but the outcome usually is, but of course the media doesn't want to announce that they made a big deal out of nothing, or how inept the intelligence agencies are.  Let's not even get into the whole concept of co-ercion and entrapment that are so prevalent in the American cases.  I've already discussed that stuff.

Another thing about the media beat up, yesterday, a member of the Armed Forces claimed he was attacked outside his home by two men of middle eastern appearance.  He made a complaint to the police and media made a huge deal about it, and the chief of the armed forces was forced to advise discretion to members of the military about wearing uniforms in public.  Then today, it appears the whole thing may have been made up and the inquiry has been dropped.  Ummm what?  So the guy just made it up?  Why isn't the media reporting on that?  Yesterday's story probably hit 5 million people, yet the news of the withdrawal hasn't got anywhere near the same coverage.  Let's say 25%.  That means there's just over 3 million people who believe it was a real matter and that retaliation is in order.  How irresponsible.  I really wish the mainstream would get their news from reliable unbiased sources, because the current sources just lie and promote an agenda of hatred and intolerance.

Only 3:11?  Damn what am I supposed to do with the rest of my day?  The rest of my time? 

I guess I can only guess.

Joaquin out.

Lingua Franca

I don't know what that means.  Just how odd that it could be someone else.  I wouldn't even know.  In all cases, I'm just left out in the dark.  No post yesterday since I just decided to take the day off.  I'd had enough and just needed some time out to just read and play guitar, and boy, I got a lot of both done yesterday.  I feel good!  Well I did yesterday, and I'm already back to old habits today.  I gotta get out of this rut, cause it's no good.  I just played for hours yesterday and it was fantastic.

But it's also a crazy time, because I am away from work for just one day and the work just piles up.  I have so much to do over the next few days, sigh!  There's no respite.  I could be learning out there somewhere.  It's all about speed, accuracy, and physics.  I feel like I'm 10 feet tall.  It can be done.  Boom!  Hahahah.  I suppose this may have to be a relatively short one because of all the work I have to do.

And I've thought about it, and it makes sense that my demise will be heart attack.  I don't think it will even be a disease, it will be extreme hypertension, resulting in high blood pressure and a heart attack will fell me in the evening some time.  It's weird having that information now, but in a way it's also kind of a relief.  At least now I know. 

Everyone is just running off.  Just to all the places I don't want to go.  Can I focus it?  I'm on hold for lunch it seems.  That's ok.  All just slowly stumbling along.  I don't know what this means.  And the dark clouds are gathering around.  I'm just hiding out in a box.  Some people just completely forget about you unless you're in their face.  There's too much bad poetry out there. 

What was it all for?  Questions and no answers.  That's it.

Joaquin out.

The Answer Is...

Simple, I just don't know.  Stick to the rules and you will be fine, but the blind panic sets in, and the greed and you find that you can just lose it all.  I got that riff down on paper last night, so I'm in a good mood.  Unfortunately, I don't remember how I played it, and it doesn't sound the same anymore!  I've gotta revisit it and make sure it's all fine.  I want to just get away from it all, and just relax and read.  Nothing else.  No disturbances, no worries, no stress.  I've got nothing on today.  So what do I do with the rest of my time? 

What do I have to say today?  I'm all out of ideas and interesting things.  Oh well.  I want to just try and relax.  Tim Cook of Apple recently made some excellent points about how places like Google and Facebook do business compared to Apple.  Google and Facebook can offer products for free because they deal in your information and your private life and your privacy.  They collect little databases about you and your behaviour and on-sell that to advertisers and can also just have it hacked from them by Security Agencies (or just given to them).  Apple tends to charge a premium because they don't engage in the same level of craziness.  I think that's alright, because what google and facebook do is pretty insidious, and nobody is talking about it.  They're not transparent about their operations or the sort of business they do.  Because are currently living in a world where privacy means a little less each day.

To survive in life you need to be adaptive, you need to be intelligent and cunning.  And I think I really lack all three of those fundamental skills.  So how am I even getting by?  This is all just happenstance.  This whole existence is a fluke.  And I think that's really sad, don't you?  I can't believe it's only Tuesday!  This isn't right.  It's not cool! 

We are living in dark, dark times.  Our government has finally come out and admitted that they are looking to restrict freedoms in the name of security.  The two don't go hand in hand!  They're using tactics of fear and intimidation to bully the public into thinking what they want.  What worries me is that it's working!  The average person on the street is an idiot.  Didn't they see these tactics just 12 or so years ago when England, America and Australia lied to its citizens (and the rest of the world) to go to war under false pretences?  Who is the enemy here?  Chasing shadows that don't exist, while ignoring real problems going on in society.

There's just so much wrong in the world, and each day I am wondering whether it can ever be really fixed.  I'm just in one of those moods.  Those irksome ones.  2 hours to go, goshhhh.  It's not going fast enough!! 

Joaquin out.

Empirical Problems

I'm sure I've touched on the point before, but I have real problems with empiricism.  It's the idea that knowledge is incremental, and that if you want to be able to prove something, you have to rely on something that came before you to help back up your statements.  It's the foundation of most of academia.  However, I don't think it's all that helpful, since it slows down the course of human development.  Not relying on empiricism only works in fields like medicine because you can just develop a cure for a disease and it either works, or it doesn't.  But with any other field, you can't rely on that.  But I wish we could!  We should get out there and experiment without fear of what can happen.  Then we can see a leap in knowledge and get beyond this quagmire of human ideology that we're in at the moment, with discrimination, hatred, fear and ignorance currently leading the way.  If you live in a developed society, you live in a fascist nation.  Let that sink in.

I had some of the weirdest and most disturbing dreams ever last night, it was interesting!  What a strange world the mind is. 

We have an interesting intersection between social justice, racism and sexism in the one concept, and I love it!  Let's talk about racial bias in dating.  Everyone should be free to date whoever they want to, that's a given, surely.  However, there are those who say that they aren't in any way attracted to people who are from a certain race.  Now I think that's definitely on the nose.  Are you telling me that out of an entire race of people, you just don't find a single one attractive?  I think that kind of thinking is certainly racist.  But here's the kicker, the ardent feminists and what not would say that it's free choice, but that's actively encouraging racial discrimination.  So now what?  One social justice group is basically allowing another minority group to suffer.  That's not real feminism, this is more white, upper class feminism which has no basis in reality, and does not seek to reflect reality for all women.

A somewhat productive weekend!  I even made a new riff on guitar that I'm quite happy with.  I wish the other was here so I could show it off!  But there's always technology and all the wonderful connectedness that brings.  It's been a while since I've made something new on the guitar.  I was starting to wonder that maybe it was over, but I've still got it!  I can still create!  I can still be creative!  I'm not done yet thank you very much.

It's funny how much time can change things, don't you think?  Well some things more than others.  Other people's regrets are other people's mistakes - that may seem like the same thing, but they're not.  It gets harder each week.  Surprises are all there. 

I can't take all these fluctuations and volatility!  It's crazy!  Pass the savings on to me!  Do I even know what I'm talking about?  Of course not.  This is all ludicrous, it really is.  I'm just watching a bunch of data on the screen.  It's meaningless on its own, but in reality, the consequences are dire.  What am I even doing?

Monday.  Sigh.  Another week.  But I can look forward to this because I've got 2 short weeks ahead of me.  Thank goodness for these long weekends back to back.  I'm going to enjoy my time, get some game time in and play guitar.  It'll be great.  Just gotta stomach 3 hours more of this and I'm out of here.  Bucking a pretty major trend here.  I'm not feeling well.  Perhaps I'm in way over my head.  Well I knew what I was doing a while back, but the fact is that I'm not disciplined and it's starting to get the better of me.  You gotta kick the bad habits.

What can I write about today?  Can I wrack my brain enough to get something good out?  I guess a running theme through this entire blog is the distrust in modern education practices.  We get degrees just so we can get jobs, not to learn for the pleasure of it.  I was told the other day that being overeducated is a bad thing, because you're less inclined to take risks.  I would agree with that statement.  I think schools these days tend to reward regurgitating information.  They don't want you to understand it, and they absolutely don't want you to display signs of creativity.  It all harks back to my issue with empiricism from earlier.  There's nothing groundbreaking for humanity unless it's incremental. 

It all ends at some point.  You bury your folks, all things being equal.  Your kids will bury you.  It's normal.  But what a weird way of things.  Because you think that your parents will last forever.  But it's all just indicative of time and what it does to all of us.  Is that what humanity is?  A way to see whether something can survive against time?  To thrive and multiply and become and index against time?  We will all eventually fall by the wayside, but there will always be people and society in the future? 

I'm having a real talking heads moment here.  You stop and realise you are just shocked by your own life.  How did I get here?  Is any of this stuff mine?  None of it makes any sense.  I was just playing with my toys a little while ago, and now I'm here.  What will happen tomorrow, and what happens the day after that? 

Alright, just an hour to go, I can do this! 

I'll call it a day there.

Joaquin out.

Drawing Sharp Breaths

Sometimes a little chemical assistantance is what you need to get across the line.  I have no qualms about that whatsoever, because performance was fantastic.  I don't mind, and I make no apologies for it.

I remember the good ol' days when we were all here and together.  Now everything is spread out and mixed up.  When I was over at his place, we hardly went to school.  We must have missed so much of high school, because we would just sit at home, playing on the computer, working on plans, playing sports.  It was a great time, haha!  We would go to R-Rated Boy's college sometimes and just sit in on classes.  One time when we were in uni we also walked into the adjoining college and just walked around.  It was a strange place to be, haha!  We got out of there quicksmart though.  The heydays are long gone now.  It's all just a slow, almost imperceptible descent from here.  But you do know it's there, you're aware of it.

What's better?  No news or bad news?  Really, I want you to think about it in the context of your own lives.  If you had to choose, what would you choose?  You have to, so choose.  What will it be?  Such humble narcissism.  How wonderful.  It will be mine.

I'm going to have to make this a relatively quick one, because I have to leave soon.  It's been a busy day unfortunately.  I would have liked to have written today.  But it just wasn't meant to be. 

In light of all the insanity that's going on at the moment, why doesn't anyone question the hypocrisy of the stupid people?  They say people should do more to integrate and fit into their society (i.e. white, rich and christian), but then they also don't want to be living in the same neighbourhoods as these people.  Then they have the gall to complain when these people have to live in enclaves in order to survive, because nobody else will help them except their own ethnic group.  That's the problem, most people don't care about people who don't look like them.  You can't have your cake and eat it too.  If you want them to integrate into your society, you have to accept them and live with them. 

So we had the vote for Scottish independence today.  For those not in the know, going back to the middle ages, the history of England and Scotland has been extremely chequered.  The British invaded many times and took it as part of the United Kingdom, and the Scots bravely fought for their independence many times.  But in the end, the question became one of economics and not one of culture.  Scotland survives because of the economic ability of England, and thus the United Kingdom still exists.  This pains me, because the only main argument in favour of retaining the UK is an economic one.  People are only concerned with money and that kind of prosperity.  Scottish people and British people are vastly different.  The culture is not the same at all.  They should be different countries.  But of course, the first part of the vote is back and it looks like Scotland will remain part of the UK.  This is not what your forefathers died for.  It's better to go belly up as a country on your own terms, rather than be the lap dogs of someone else because of warfare and conquest hundreds of years ago.  It's not a good look, and I don't know how it's allowed to continue in 2014!

Anyway, I'm done for now.

Joaquin out.

Hear The Sound

It's coming from everywhere.  And do you know what that is?  It's silence.  Is the absence of sound still sound?  Do you engage with it through how you hear?  Does it impact your ears?  This golden silence.  Fill it with something instead.  The red tide is upon us, and yet we focus on trivial, human made matters.  But that's ok, maybe time won't even get to us in the end, it'll be the environment.  The very one we scorned and refused to pay attention to, without realising our bond with the land. 

There are too many idiots out there and I am just flummoxed why they would choose that path and not help me.  It doesn't make sense.  Are emotion and reason mutually exclusive?  That's a really dangerous question to consider.  Emotions always dictate your reason, no matter how objective you think you are being.  It's the fundamental flaw of being human.  But I wonder, why do emotions factor in to what we do so much?  Do animals feel emotions like we do?  If they do, how come they are still slaves to instinct?  Are instinct and emotion intertwined?  Animals can reason from time to time, as noted in cases with dolphins and octopi.  There's something else going on there.

My head is just a jumble of numbers and disparate bits of information.  But I'm still a work in progress.  And then before it's all figured out, I will no longer exist.  That's the tragedy of humanity right there.  Been running around like a headless chicken this morning.  Just far too much to do and no time.  But you just have to breathe, take it in and get done what you can. 

It could be worse, but as Calvin and Hobbes said, it could also be a lot better!  We may live in America.  There's always been a bit of a hullaballoo about paying tips there.  Since the majority of people are middle to lower class, they don't have a lot of disposable income.  So eating out and what not is a real treat, but then comes the expectation to tip.  The expected tip is usually between 15-20%.  But here's the kicker, a tip is expected regardless of service!  What the hell?  That's something I don't agree with.  You tip for good service.  But it shouldn't be mandatory, regardless of the service you get.  There's been a lot of media exposure about rich people not tipping appropriate amounts in restaurants and so on.  The problem is that minimum wage there is ridiculously low.  Nobody can survive on it.  These people need to work 2-3 jobs in order to make ends meet.  To me, the definition of minimum wage is that it should be enough for a person to live on, own some property and have a bit of spending money.  Or else you're just being exploited.  But this is where Americans display an almost comical sign of insanity.  They think that minimum wage is enough, and if you want more, you should hold down multiple jobs.  Perish the thought of family obligations or raising children.  That's the problem, they are ok with bosses taking more than everyone else.  Someone needs to sit on top of the pyramind because that's just how they're wired.  So let them be exploited.  They need to pay their workers a living wage! 

It gets more insidious!  There's been an attempt by Marriott hotels and Maria Shriver to guilt people into paying tips to the maids who clean the rooms.  Before going to Canada, I had no idea people even tipped maids.  The concept here is that you leave the money in an envelope and you pay a rate per day.  But apparently, the managers collect this, because they usually check the rooms prior to it being let out for another guest.  So the maids don't get to collect the tips unless you put it in their hands, which is rare!  Talk about a major injustice there.  What I noticed about Canada is that in the serving places, my friends and I got awesome service everywhere and I was shocked.  This was because all our servers were ridiculously attractive women in skimpy clothing.  No matter what kind of establishment it was (upper class or some street cafe), it was always the same.  Then came the pseudoservice/flirting and you realise that it's all just a gimmick to get you to part with your money. 

To me, you need to vote out the people like the female members of congress who don't support equal pay for women.  It makes no sense.  How could they possibly think like that?

I've already gone on about climate change, but what I'm really interested about are the scientists who say that there's no such thing as climate change.  I think if you look deeper, you realise that they're being paid off by big corporations, or they have no real standing in the academic community.  This is where I think a name and shame register of 'scientists' should exist.  If they speak out against climate change (which is a fact), I think their statements and their details be collected somewhere and published.  This will hopefully lead to their ostracising from the scientific community, and eventually being discredited for being the hacks they are.

Well in a change of pace, it wasn't so much the 11th hour, but the 12th hour which got to me in the end.  I need a lot more sleep to be with the program.  Just gotta relax and not have to concern myself with so much. 

My heart is beating of my ribs at the moment.  What the hell is going on?  Is this it?  So this is how it ends?  Man, humans, life and the nature of existence just seems like a cruel joke to me.  It would be ok if we all had the same chances and experiences as everyone else, but the fact is simply this - if you win the lucky sperm lottery, you will have a good life.  Or else life can be tough for you.  You will have to struggle, people will discriminate against you, and your life may be in danger day in and day out. 

This is better, I'm starting to blog like I did last week, that was a crazy time.  2.5 hours.  That's all I got.  But that's ok, I just have to get through one more day and I'll be sitting pretty.

OH less than an hour to go!  Brilliant!  Time does fly sometimes.  But not too often.

Joaquin out.

Bastions of Apprehension

Couldn't sleep, just far too anxious.  Why am I even doing this?  This doesn't make any sense to me.  In fact, it seems like a really dumb idea.  It's terrible to second guess every decision you ever made.  But perhaps it's safer to have a contrarian view of how you live your life?  Think about it, it's the George Costanza school of life.  If every decision you made is the wrong one, and you're not happy with your life, why wouldn't you just opt to do things in a completely different manner to what your gut instinct was? What's the worst that could happen?  Don't fear the red, chase the green instead.  But damn, I am still nervous.  It takes balls of steel to get through this crap.  Or chase the blue.  That's what it takes. 

I've read that apparently 3000 troops are being sent to West Africa to deal with the ever increasing ebola situation.  I don't think that's how it should be handled.  More doctors, not more troops!  That doesn't make sense.  I sense bad things are about to happen over there, and it's going to impact everyone widely.  But I guess we deserved it, since we're more preoccupied with other less pressing matters.

What I've really cottoned on to is the fact that renters have no rights.  I don't know what the breakdown is, but amongst younger people, due to the spiralling costs of home ownership, the majority are definitely renting.  But landlords are concerned with profits.  They just want you in, pay your money and get out, and churn you over without any real care.  But that's the mentality the government wants them to have.  Buy property, stimulate the economy and what not.  But people aren't happy as a result.  We're creating a society where people are expected to either buy dozens of properties and become housing czars, and charge through the nose for it, or else spend the majority of our lives renting.  It's not right.  There has to be a change at some point. 

Got into some fantastic guitar last night.  I feel inspired to play.  But inspired to create?  I don't know.  I don't think they're the same thing.  I haven't made anything new in a month or so, and that's far too long.  So long to my days of incredible productivity and innovation.  I go from a day of nice busy work to absolutely nothing now.  This isn't a great way to go.  And before, like the other faced 11:11 with uncertainty, I face the 11th hour with not enough. 

So we're making a move towards NFC and cashless payments.  I think that's incredibly risky.  My belief is that you should always pay with something tangible, that way you get an idea of the cash that's leaving you as you pay for things.  With NFC on phones and what not, you just flash your phone and you pay for things.  I've always had this concept that things should be represented in cash.  If you buy a $20 t-shirt, you should have a t-shirt that is made up of cash representing $20!  Wouldn't that be an interesting world?  I think fashion would die.  Nobody would care if you bought a $5,000 suit, because you would just have $5,000 dollar bills on you.  When you could have the same coverage and effect with something that costs $200.  People would be so careful with money management that way!  Haha, this all of course extends to non staples (so food and other consumables wouldn't count).  But things like what you'd spend your discretionary cash on. 

It's red, it's red, oh so much red!  It's nuts.  What I don't get is the battery churn on phones.  Battery life on mobile phones is reasonably good.  With limited usage, I used to get 2 days of use without having to charge my iPhone 4.  Now I'm hardly getting a full day with my 4S.  I understand that as you continually charge a phone (and the longer you leave it plugged in), the overall battery performance will suffer.  But why is that?  Normal rechargeable batteries don't behave like that.  They recharge back to their original performance and give that sort of life.  But phones don't, they continually get worse.  It doesn't make sense, because you're always charging it from an electrical current (I never use USB because the current differentials are never enough to keep the phone going). 

Lolwhut?  This is absolute lunacy.  I've gotta improve my outlook.  Belief is one thing.  But having something supported by facts is just better.  Gotta know when to cut your losses. 

Nothing is enjoyable anymore.  Now we get ready for the usual pain of rejection.

I'm done.

Joaquin out.

Knick Knack Paddy-Whack Strike Back

Do what I say!  Dudes, stand up!  Wahhhh!  Hahaha, a little 90's reference for you there.  Sorry about the weirdness of yesterday's post, I was incredibly tired and I just had nothing to talk about.  But I'm a little bit more with the program now and I've got things to say, and things to do. 

I wonder in it all, do things get better for humanity?  Are we all linked in the grand biodiversity scale?  Or are we just a loosely connected bunch of people, being led in a million different directions by a bunch of individuals with emotional problems and massive egos?  I wonder.  Anyway, I'd like to go travelling again, and just see more of this planet.  I won't always be able to travel like this, free of most responsibilities.  I'm in a lucky position.  So I should act on that while I can.

On that point, I really question what will happen to humanity over the long term?  I've been to lovely places in the world that will be under water in a few decades.  These places are filled with lovely, hospitable people.  What will happen to them?  What about their way of life?  Climate change is the biggest challenge facing humanity since its existence, and its impact cannot be underestimated.  Our primary issue now is one of definition.  When I was growing up, the key term was global warming, due to the greenhouse effect and what not.  However, we've seen strange climate phenomena and weather has cooled in places, heated up in others, but it's all inconsistent.  There's el nino there's la nina, there's droughts and floods in places where it previously didn't happen.  So that means (as usual), the conservatives are up in arms saying that the weather isn't actually getting warmer, or that it's getting warmer (where it should be getting cooler due to the nomenclature of global cooling).  The key fact is that it should be defined as climate change, not cooling or warming.  This is absolutely indicative of conservative douchebags, who are serial pedants, like grammar nazis on forums who prefer to pick apart spelling and grammar rather than the actual heart of the argument, because they have nothing to add.  It's going to get all of us killed one day.  And we had a chance to turn it around, and we didn't.  We get what we deserve.

Isn't it weird how time can change your perspective?  I'm going to use the droll example of writing stuff for university or work.  You write stuff and think it's all fine.  Then you go and do something else, focus on other stuff for a few days and come back to it.  Then you realise you have a "what the hell was I thinking" sort of moment.  Hahah, I wonder why that is?  Can't first impressions be the best?

The wheels of evolution go round and round, but we've stumbled into a ditch, and here we are, just cooking in the sun.  Guitar is coming about naturally, and I'm having a good time with it.  Getting into a rhythm of life can't be good for you, because time is always the other factor. 

I've been very productive today.  But now everything is done and I've still got 90 minutes up my sleeve.  Great!  What do I do now?  I need to pay more attention, that's what.

Faith is an interesting beast, isn't it?  Not just in terms of religion, but all types of faith.  Because it's not just related to the spirital.  Faith exhibits itself in pretty much all facets of existence.  Then it sort of just crosses into the territory of hope and hunches. 

45 minutes to go.  I think I'm done with it. 

Joaquin out.

I Hate Mondays

Monday seems to be the hardest word to say.  Alright, it's just 2 weeks to go until we get 2 public holiday weeks in a row, so it's 2-4 day weeks in a row.  I can't wait.  It was a relaxing weekend, but I'm still feeling tired and exhausted.  Should have been up and about this morning but I couldn't get started.

Can you keep chasing the curve?  It's just a line in the sand.  Nobody knows what's going on.  I'm about as sleepy as can be.  Nothing really going on at the moment.  And I don't think I have a lot to say.  Is everybody just sick?  What is this exactly?  I don't even know.

I just need to calm down and relax a bit.  There's some good chords out there, but I'm just not finding the right melody.  Let me read.  Oh man, it's going to be one of those days!  Not only is it 11:30am again, but I have nothing else to add.  Where are these days going?  Time is just being wasted, and that's absolutely the worst.  Everything is moving quickly.  Maybe it's better just to watch from afar.  I'm still left out in the dark. 

Well hey, at least I've got some things to keep me occupied.  Only 2 and a bit hours to go and I'm done.  Maybe it takes cojones bigger than what I have to make it in this.  Things fluctuate all the time. 

You have to get away from an addictive mindset.  Because it can't lead to good things. 

What can I do for an hour??  I'm not well and I'm hoping I'm not getting sick.  Just chew through it all.  You have to stick to a plan.  And don't forget!

I'm thinking, is the art of penmanship really lost?  I know it's harsh, considering I type all these things out.  I've never had neat handwriting, I prefer speed and accuracy over flowing cursive stuff, but there are some people out there who write really well.  As we've moved to a digital age, can people still write like they used to?  Even at school, kids are now typing on notepads and tabs and things like that.  Babies are brought up on touchscreens these days.  But can you hold a pen and write properly?  Can you read cursive properly? 

Oh come on!  still 40 minutes to go!!!  Ahhh!

Let's just call it there.

Joaquin out.

Beachside Palisades

Lost and destitute somewhere in South Carolina.  There are so weird people out there.  But it's a very large and varied world.  Isn't that what makes things interesting?  But I feel that the majority of people would prefer to trade that in so that everyone could be more homogeneous.  Isn't that crazy? 

Technology has come a long way, baby.  One thing I like to use as a good yardstick is voice recognition.  The heart of all voice recognition is something called Dragon Voice recognition.  It was around in the late 1990s, available for home computers.  I downloaded it (and it was a massive download back then, and even crazier when you realise how little hard drive space computers had), and gave it a try.  It was horrible.  It had a failure rate of about 60-70%.  It just didn't do foreign accents very well.  So much for trying to voice dictate my school work.  But these days, the same technology is basically in all smart phones for siri and google voice and S voice and what not.  It's almost flawless, it takes instructions and knows exactly what you're saying.  It's just so much better!  Look how far we've come.

One thing that really irks me about the job market is that in the last 3-4 years or so, there has been a marked move in how all employers handle their recruitment.  It used to be that they would reach out to all applicants after the process was complete, to let you know the outcome (whether you made it to the interview stage or you were rejected).  These days, they only reach out to you if they want to interview you.  So you're basically left out in the lurch, not knowing where you stand.  On top of that, it doesn't give you an opportunity to solicit feedback, so that you can improve for next time.  That's just not right, because it doesn't help anyone. 

Perhaps the penny drops, and I've confirmed only part of what I need to know.  We turn to Friday and there's nothing left to say or do.  Have I got anything interesting?  Nope.  Just another struggle to get started after wasting time last night.  I'm running on empty once again. 

Was it Gary or Greg?  Maybe it was Geoff or Jeff.  Either way, he had the right idea.  He ran in the other direction and never looked back.  He was happy. 

What really bugs me about news (especially Australian internet news) is that they engage in a lot of stories which just consist of reporting about instagram pictures or just screen dumping people's twitter feeds.  It's ridiculous and it's not news!  It's more about pop culture and celebrity worship which has now overtaken real news and events in our lives.  The problem is turnover of staff, resulting in much younger hires, who believe that social media is the key to interaction and informing the audience.  The fact is that it isn't. 

Hmmm, I don't know if I blogged about it earlier, but have you noticed that your standard grocery items are becoming smaller?  You're still paying the same price (or more), but you're actually winding up with less?  I think that as the cost of raw material has risen, all these companies have banded together to screw over the consumer by reducing product quantity (though not necessarily quality), but still charging them the same amount.  We see it with gross consumables and food and produce, just take a look at the Big Mac you ate as a kid.  That thing was massive!  But now it's so small, and you're charged the same, if not more.  I think that sort of action should be legislated against.  The free market is working to screw people over because there's no competition for some things.  Is there any fairness in that?

Alright, I think I'm pretty much done for today.  It's all about learning.  But what can higher learning really teach you?  I mean, with the right motivation and inspiration, you could hit up wikipedia and then source material to learn everything you ever wanted to know.  It's a world of free information out there, just ready for the taking.  But you have to go to school to get that education, sometimes at a worse standard than you could have achieved on your own.  Why?  Because you need the piece of paper from that institution so that you can be recognised by your employer and paid for your job.  That's just messed up.  Right there is a major mistake in how we are going about our lives.  But people are always hesitant to challenge the status quo, even if they're unhappy.

But anyway, who the hell are you?

Joaquin out.

Time & Time Again

Until that time runs out, but we don't know when that will be.  I would like to be there at the end when time is no longer a force in the universe.  I wonder what would actually happen to you?  My back feels like I'm an old person.  It's all tight and sore, and my range of movement has decreased big time. 

Australia had a scare this morning when it was revealed that a man reportedly had ebola and was taken to hospital for treatment under guard.  Well there you go, I've been trumpeting on about it for a while now, and Australia didn't care, instead preferring to focus on menaces which probably don't exist, just to raise the terror threat alert and feed off the paranoia and stupidity of the general public.  The whole concept of national security organisations is the greatest exercise in specious reasoning I've ever seen. If nothing is happening, then the agencies are doing their job.  If something happens, then they need more funding to expand and limit people's rights and so on.  It's a no win situation.  Maybe a freakonomics-esque solution is the key?  If there were not these kinds of agencies, would attacks stop?  Hmm that's too hard to tell, but I know that no country would ever take the risk.  But it turns out he probably just has malaria, and was lying because he had been arrested by police.

I read a really interesting article that based on the items you like on facebook, they can generally build a very accurate profile of who you are.  They can guess gender, race, age, religious affiliation and sexual preference.  Isn't that scary?  Then just who does that information go to?  Just remember, it's not just about what you choose to put in your profile, but it's about your interactions on the format.

Apparently a tape recording has been released of the Australian Army executing german prisoners of war in world war 1.  How come we didn't know about this before?  You can bet that won't see very much traction in the media despite the war crime and all the emphasis most nations love to put on other nations when they defeat them in war, or when they just don't like them.  Here's the thing about warfare, all sides commit war crimes.  It's just that the winning side gets away with it.  The public doesn't care because in their eyes, the army is infallible, and they will seek excuses to justify acts of brutality and criminal aggression.  People are always quick to write off such behaviour as "just a consequence of war" or "post traumatic stress" or "letting dogs off the leash".  That's not right.  A serious crime has been committed, regardless of the context of war.  Imagine if it was German soldiers who executed Australians?  You can bet Australia would never let Germany hear the end of it.  We'd write songs about it, have big shrines to it in our War Memorial and commemorate it every year.  What hypocrisy.  Now people just don't want to know.  Absolute disgrace of a nation I tell you.

In other exciting news, on wikipedia I read that they've found one of the ships from Franklin's lost expedition!  That's huge news!  In my ignorance, I had always assumed that they had found the ships because we know about the fate of the crew.  I recall reading a magnificent book about the exploits of the HMS Terror and the Erebus in Primary School.  I believe it was from the same series that published Dr Robert D Ballard's books about the discovery of the wrecks of the Titanic, the ISIS, and the Bismark.  The book even showed some of the mummified and frozen corpses of the crew.  Haha probably not appropriate for the primary school library, but of course who is checking that stuff?
I'll be interested to see what becomes of the find and whether they can shed any more light into what happened on that fateful journey.

I'm just tearing through things and it's already lunch time.  Time just taken up by meetings and useless things.  But I have got work to get through today, so it may have to be a shortened one for this entry.  But let's see...

I'm wondering, does the concept of family only exist to hold you together until you're inevitably torn apart by other families?  Think about it from the perspective of children/siblings and not parents for a second.  You band together as a unit and protect each other, but then eventually you will all grow up, find partners, have children of your own and start your own families.  The core family ceases to exist as it once did.  Your family only existed so that another could take its place.  How weirdly poetic.  But also so final.  The genes drive us.  It takes me back to metal gear solid and the question as to whether genes drive our fate, or whether we are free to choose. 

Oh man, still 2 and a half hours to go!  This isn't cool at all!!  Okay, work has been good.  I've gotten a fair bit done and now there's probably nothing left for Friday.  That's ok, I can just take it easy and relax.  But my problem now is that I still have an hour and a bit to go until I can get out of here.

Sometimes you just have to get things done, by hook or by crook.  It'll be interesting to see what happens from here on out. 

I'll call it a day here.

Joaquin out.

Development Arrested

Am I back in business?  Well perhaps slowly.  I got in some guitar last night and boy do I suck.  It'll take some time just to work up some sufficient skill to be just adequate again.  See, that's what a few days off from your favourite activity will do to you.  Also made it to the gym and despite people hogging the equipment, I still put a decent workout together.  Just need to chain together a few days of the same thing I'll be back on the bandwagon.  But it was nuts waking up this morning, everything was sore, like I had just run a marathon.  But I hadn't done anything crazy.  I guess this is just getting old. 

Things are relatively quiet at work, but I have stuff to do, so I don't think this will be one of those crazy posts from the last few days, but I'll see where it goes.

Apparently it's Australian Citizenship day next week.  I guess it's a chance to reflect on what it means to be a citizen?  Why is that?  From after September 11, 2001, there has been a vile need of the Australian public to try and define what it means to be Australian.  Politicians have seized the opportunity to try and define it as being white, mainly British extract, larrakin-like, relatively uneducated, beer guzzling, and pretty much ignorant about the world.  Australians don't seem to care.  They want to fit in to this stereotype out of fear of being outcast.  You can't define Australian, that's the beauty of it.  It means so many things to different people, there is no shared view about it except that it's highly subjective.  This mass-media campaign of trying to narrowly define it has created horrible divisions, and has lead to a society that implicitly accepts exclusion at its core, which inherently leads to things like discrimination and racism.  These sorts of things are now so by the by, that it's just seen as normal.  If you ask me, Australians have nothing to be proud of.  We are an intolerant society that refuses to look inwards as to who we are and why.  A society that refuses to accept others, and basks in its own glory while refusing to share any of it with the less fortunate.  These are not ideals to be promoted or celebrated.

I also read that apparently IQ levels are generally on the decline.  Since last century, IQs were found to be generally on the rise, due to better access to nutrition and education.  The world as a whole changed to a multi-facted, multi-layered one where some understanding was required in order just to live in it, let alone react to it.  But lately, IQ levels have been dropping on average of 1 point.  That may not seem like a lot, but on the grander scale, it's a worrying trend.  We have greater access to education and nutrition than ever before, but on the whole, those effects are not trickling down to people who require it the most.  Nobody wants to help them, and it's going to wind up destroying us when they have nothing to do, and nobody left to turn to.  The question is, have we reached peak IQ?  Is it all downhill for everybody from here?  I'm sure the political parties will be all too happy to jump on board that one.

First world problem of the day, now that the iPhone 6 is out, I'm tossing up between whether to get that or the Samsung Galaxy S5.  Tough decision!

I think people in most Western countries don't want to know about humanitarian crises happening around the world.  There's so many of them!  But the simple fact is this: all Western nations have the capacity to fix problems like poverty, homelessness, world hunger, and disease.  They just don't want to.  Why?  Because there's no profit to be made in it.  If you could commercialise it, these problems would end tomorrow, I'd bet my life on it.  But they haven't won over the hearts and minds of the people to just do it for altruistic reasons.  Why?  Because people just turn inwards.  They refuse to look to the outside world and realise that we are all connected.  This middle eastern conflict will eventually hurt the world's food supply, so then what do we do for food security?  What about global climate change?  So to that I say I hope horrible things all happen to you.  May an ebola patient slip through the net.  You can't wilfully turn a blind eye to what's going on in the world in such a way.

Are there any lost opportunities?  I want to keep writing until I have to do some work.  It seems like from out of nowhere the world has gone dark.  I really hope Scotland votes for Independence from the UK.  It gives hope to the rest of us still living under outdated notions of monarchy rule and implicit conservatism and racism inherent in such a scheme.  Scotland has suffered so much at their hands, they deserve to put that past behind them.

Are things still awkward?  Damn, I had something good to blog about when I went out to lunch, but I've completely forgotten now.  Oh well.  But on the brightside, it's only 2 and a half hours until I get to go home!  Not like the previous 11-11:30am hangups.  It's been busy, so that's also good.

Damn these posts from the last month or so have been fantastic.  Good content, good length.  A lot better than some of the other efforts from the past few years.  This day is almost going by too quickly!  Maybe my mood has lifted.  But all my work is done now, and I shudder as I notice it's still 90 minutes until I'm done.  Ok, not good!  At least tomorrow is pay day.

For those of you who have been around since the mid 80's, do you recall when you first noticed those anti-theft beepers at stores?  You know, those things that beep if you attempt to take something out of the store that you didn't pay for?  I recall that in the early 90's I started to see them crop up in stores.  They were massive and ugly looking things, but now technology has caught up and they are now clear glass and you can space them further apart to make them less intimidating.  But the question remains, why did they become so big that they're now in every store?  Prior to that, it was just assumed that you wouldn't steal anything.  Were thefts on the rise in the late 80's to early 90s?  Has the introduction of the scanner/beeper things reduced thefts overall?  They'd be interesting statistics to look at.  Here's a freakonomics theory for you - I think shops that don't have those beepers will experience comparatively less theft than those with the beepers.  Why?  Because seeing one of those instantly puts the thought of theft in your mind.  Otherwise you are there on account of trust, and the general social contract will stop you from doing something wrong.  That applies to a lot of people, but not everyone.  But there's some food for thought.  Can someone look into that?

Alright, just an hour and a bit to go!  I can do this!  I'm floating around Europa here.

Anyway, I think this day is done.

Joaquin out.

All Dressed Up, But Nowhere To Hide

It's all out in the open.  From a glorious sunshiney day yesterday, we are now plagued by the quagmire of the fog and weirdness.  I was all up and ready and raring to go this morning only to be thwarted by circumstances beyond my control.  At least I slept.  The problem is that I was up so late last night just doing silly and stupid admin tasks.  That's the life of an adult, just having your time taken up doing stupid things.  And it takes the life right out of you, to the point that you're exhausted and you have no time for anything else for recovery.  But recovery never really comes.  Now I understand why life expectancy was so low in medieval times.  Maybe we're not meant to be going on for any longer than this.  Still haven't played any guitar!  It's been 3 days!  But tonight!  I'll get back into it.  All this growing up stuff and red tape and bureaucracy, it's a load of crap really.  It doesn't need to be so difficult.  I would just like to eat a packet of chips and just go lie down.  Nothing more.

I miss the old days of having a workplace with a dedicated mailroom.  A lot of us handled our personal correspondence from there because we were at work so much.  It was actually pretty cool to get called up and do everything through there!

What I really don't like is a phenomenon I've noticed over the past few years.  When pedestrians are crossing the road, whether at dedicated crossings or illegally jaywalking, cars always tend to speed up towards the pedestrian to make them hurry up.  Why is that?  It's a microaggression threat that the person in the car is going to hurt you.  Think about it, a car is a heavy piece of metal, being propelled under power, versus an unprotected, fragile human.  One day, I want a person to just stop walking and to see what happens to the car.  Will they stop?  What will they say to the police once there's an accident?  Food for thought, and it's not cool.

Hmmm maybe I'm not thinking outside the square enough.

What I will never understand is how military personnel are expected to wear their military fatigues or camoflauge even when they are working desk jobs?  They look like idiots! What war is going on in your own country in an urban environment?!  They stand out like sore thumbs, they don't blend into the background!  Ahh so funny.

The chief executive of ESPN has explained that he doesn't view eSports as a legitimate sport, more so a competition, in that chess and checkers are.  You know what?  I'm inclined to agree.  To me, sports are about vigorous physical activity that encourages a rapid pulse to the point of noticeable exertion.  You don't get that with eSports.  Yes, it takes skill and practice to become elite, but it is not a sport.  I don't think it needs to be derided though, it's exciting stuff and people are making good money out there.  But I think it's a good study into market dynamics.  You get nerds and geeks, who are typically not very good at physical activity, and they've created a market force for eSports, in that they can get sponsored and create a living wage from doing what they enjoy, and that they're good.  Interesting, don't you think?

There's infinite possibilities out there.  Infinite choices.  I like to ascribe to the theory that for every choice we make, there's a universe/dimension where the choice we didn't make gets played out.  Think about how many beings or things there are in the world, and think about all the decisions they ever made.  Just think about how many universes there could be as a result.  Do black holes connect us to these places?  What if the real universe (or multiverse) looked more like a really condensed piece of honeycomb?  The holes take us to other places, and it's so infinitely tightly packed that if you go to the edge of something, you actually end up on completely the otherside of where you think you started.  Crazy, right?  There's just so much we don't know.

We're living in a bubble world at the moment.  Property, technology.  Everything is just overpriced.  When the bubble bursts?  That's when shit hits the fan.  That's why you shouldn't be locked up in long term things unless you can wear the risk.  Leveraged or loaned/interest positions work against people so badly.  Banks profit from your misfortune, and they profit from your fortune.  That's zero sum, only they win, and only you lose. 

Oh gosh!  Again, it's like 11am, and I've run out of things to say!  This isn't good.  This weekend, I'm going to cut my nails and I'll be playing like a genius again.  Just you wait and see.  I feel like it's going to rain.  I think openness and transparency are excellent tools to aid competition.  If everyone knows how prices are being set and what the prices and markups are, benefits and savings can easily be passed on to the consumer. 

Just over 2 hours to go until I'm done.  I can't wait.  What a strange, weird world we all live in.  That's the rub, we all live in it.  We are all together in this. 

These lazy lazy days!  Still got 90 minutes to go, and I'm just plumb out of ideas here.  On top of that, it's starting to rain!  Great! 

But I'll call it a day here.

Joaquin out.

Hot & Cold, Rich & Poor, Young & Old

I'm no rockstar.  Right now I'm just a regular person, so why am I feeling like I've had a crazy time out with none of the benefits, but all of the regret?  It was truly a weekend of overindulgence.  I slept a fair bit but I'm still exhausted, and I ate far too much.  I really don't like doing that, because it's just bad form.  There's a lot of starving people out there, and I don't agree that it's best just to eat all you can.  By that logic, I should be flashing my money around and spending it like crazy because there's so many poor people in the world.  What's worse is that I didn't even really get in any guitar playing.  It's out, but I didn't actively practice.  Not a good sign.  What a bad weekend.  I just want to make it through this week so I can relax and just get the things done that I want to get done next weekend.  So that pretty much means that all of this is a write-off already.  But at least I did get to show off to a kid who just got a guitar!  Not bad!

There's been a lot made about the Higgs-Boson particle, and rightly so.  Today, Stephen Hawking has come out and said that the particle may be unstable over ridiculously high energy levels, and may even be capable of destroying the universe, due to a vacuum like effect that could operate at the speed of light.  So basically, not good!  But I'm sure sometime in the future, someone will build a super collider big enough to generate that power and say that they can control the energy.  That's part of our hubris and stupidity.  It fits us as a species to a tee.  There are so many things on a universal level that could just end us.  Things like that, and the fact that aliens are more likely to destroy us rather than befriend us.  All these years of Star Wars and Star Trek have warped our mind (haha) as to how things would play out on an extra-terrestrial level.  We need to look at ourselves objectively.  We are a terrible species.  We have been around for so long, yet we still have so many problems in terms of warfare, hatred, discrimination and acceptance.  Aliens would take one look at how we treat each other, and the planet and decide to just wipe us out and take over anything else that's left.  So it makes no sense that we've poured so many resources in attempting to contact aliens and alert them to our presence.  On this, Hawking is very right.  There's also asteroids.  Do you know how many asteroids miss us on a daily basis?  Then there's those that hit us that we don't know about.  We aren't watching the skies enough, and we don't have any contingency plans in place to do something should a large scale extinction level event asteroid actually threaten us.  We are a useless bunch.

It's dawned on me that I have absolutely no clue what's going on out there.  This is all just crazy.

Another terrible thing going on is the NBA stuff.  Yes, we know Don Sterling made horribly racist remarks and was forced to sell the LA Clippers as a result.  Now we have another example with the Atlanta Hawks and their owner.  It's terrible really.  But it harks back to a comment made by Chris Rock about the difference between being rich and wealthy.  The star players are rich, but the team owners are actually wealthy - cause they are the ones who sign off on these cheques.  And they're almost invariably white.  Isn't it strange?  America has the worst problems with race compared to other western nations (I'm not saying it's not a problem there, of course it is, but it's more pronounced in America).  These black athletes whether it be the NBA or NFL are just modern day gladiators/slaves.  Mainstream white America only likes blacks when they're performing in sports for their entertainment.  They don't care about the athletes plight or any of their philanthropic activities.  It's sick.

I got some good reading in, but not enough!  I'm voracious!  Hahaha. 

This is all just very odd. 

I could fall asleep right here.  My balance is gone.  I can operate here.  Just over an hour to go.  I can finish this, and it can't come too soon since I'm insanely tired.

But let's call it a day.

Joaquin out.

Looking For Nothing

But it seemed to find me anyway.  I have a weird feeling that I've used this blog title before.  There's now so many of them spread over so long that I can no longer keep track over all of them.  I had a good title in mind this morning, but I've forgotten it.  I also had some good blog ideas last night, but of course that's also now loste in the ether.  Do I have anything of value to add today, considering how good the posts have been this week?  I'm not too sure, but let's see where I end up with this steam of consciousness crap that I always do.  Time seemed to get the better of me last night.  As a result, I missed out on 5 gigs worth of downloads!  I can't believe it, I think good internet plans should carry over unused data allowances to the next month.  But that's ok.  It's not really anything major.  But goddamn I am way too tired for any of this.  I need 2 days worth of sleep.  Right now.  Is the stress of it all getting to me?  Maybe, but what stress?  Where is this all coming from?  The void, the nothingness.

The sentinels in their towers are watching me.  It would be the ultimate insult and the final irony if what I imagined were true.  But the truth is often stranger than fiction.  What could I do?  What weird emotional experiences, it's all for nought anyway.  But I will do my best to do what I have to.

The world is a crazy place.  There's one thing that's true whether you're in the west or in the east - housing prices close to the city centre are always ridiculously expensive.  Way too expensive compared to what else is on offer.  But due to the legacy of older people having cheaper housing and no university debt and comparatively higher wages due to the effect of inflation, they own all the property, and pass it down to their children.  Young people cannot afford within 50kms of their city centre, and the suburbs have turned into the new slums.  Why is that the case?  It's like we're essentially heading to a point that the city centre will just end up being a massive skyscraper with only the very rich living in it.  Or we'll have a battle angel alita scenario with the rich living above us and using us as a dump.

Is there anything constant in the universe?  I don't believe so.  This, all of this came from nothing.  There was change, everything is variable.  We are too.  Okay, I'm done, I think.  That's it, no new thoughts for today, or at least for now.  I'm just going to have to sit and stew on this for a while. 

The stock market is a weird place.  How come when a company announces massive losses and big financial problems, the stock price rises significantly?  Then when companies announce big profits and that business is going well, the stock just dives?  It's nonsensical and contrarian. 

I got the shakes here.  No more I.  I does not exist.  Did it ever?  What is going on with all these people?  Just went through the news and I'm still not inspired to write about anything.  Not inspired to do anything. 

I'll call it a day.

Joaquin out.

Carried Into The Wind

Today I chose laziness, but it will be the last time I do that for a while.  I should be getting back into the swing of things but my life is just disappearing before my very eyes.  It's almost insidious in a way!  I would like to play some more guitar, but at least I read a bit last night.  Books are the best!  I love the physical stuff, I don't think I could ever function with an e-reader.  I need the tactile response of turning pages and having a book to place on the shelf for future reference, or as a badge of honour amongst the pseudo-intellectuals of the world!  That's where I don't understand things like digital rights management.  You can publish a book and then distribute it anywhere in the world.  You'd think once it becomes digital it becomes much easier, but no.  You can attempt to download some things online and it won't be available in your country!  What the hell?  Why does digital rights management have to extend that far?  It's stifling on creativity and education.  And yet we still let the tech bigwigs decide our fate like that.  Am I not thinking about all strategy as I live?  Do I not consider the end product?  The zero sum nature of it?

What really bugs me about human existence is that your mind and memory generally get corrupted by useless information.  If only we had some sort of process like on a computer to clear the cache of the stuff you don't need, and just devote what's there to the important stuff.  Imagine how productive and happier we would be!  Cause I've (and I'm sure all of you have) devoted too much mind power to irrelevant, unimportant things.

Dear Hollywood, can we all agree that Hollywood can't remake/reimagine a movie within 15 years of the last film of the series being released?  The best example is Spiderman.  They remade that film way too soon!  And the first trilogy was good!  It makes no sense, or actually it does if you're a greedy Hollywood studio producer.  They also put out sequels way too soon.  It degrades the whole movie experience.  There's way too many recycled ideas out there.  That's why box office levels are tanking, it has nothing to do with piracy.  It's just a lack of original ideas and concepts out there.  Well they exist, but they're all in independent cinema and they're not being promoted well enough to a wider audience.  Then your Michael Bays of the world are free to put out their filth and make us hate films.  But as the other used to always remind me, there are really only 5-6 original ideas in Hollywood, and every other story is just a variation of that.  So right, too right.

You know what's an interesting thought?  That all things being equal, you will experience the death of your parents.  They're older than you obviously, so it makes sense that nature and time get to them before you (barring an accident or illness).  It's something most people will go through.  In fact, everyone you know will die.  We will be resigned to nothing in the hindsight of history.  It happened to everyone in the past.  I'm talking about hundreds, and thousands of years back.  They all became nothing.  Unless they were responsible for something major (Jesus, Alexander the Great, Caesar etc.) then you technically no longer existed.  Take that for a thought!  Think to the past, think to now.  It's all that we are, because all that we could ever hope to be is right now.

I read an interesting article today that apparently they discovered 17 fake communications towers in the US.  They were funnelling traffic through them to other towers, but were intercepting all the calls and data.  The question is who would do that?  It's not the intelligence agencies, because they can just go to the provider without the expense or the hassle or time delays of building the infrastructure.  It's crazy, isn't it?  And a bit of a stroke of genius.  You just build something like that and nobody will question it, because it's just out there in plain sight.  It's an interesting insight into city psychology and group dynamics. 

You know, I remember a time when I didn't have a smartphone, and I was quite late to the party on that.  And also a time when I didn't have a mobile at all!  Haha I know, crazy right?  I didn't get a mobile phone until I was 18, and it was an old prepaid Nokia and I was fine with that because I hardly used it.  I had a separate mp3 player, and before that, I had a discman!  I remember when I didn't have a computer at home or the internet.  I was much happier, I was more productive.  Now it's just too much time playing phone games or on social media.  There's no living in that.  There's no fun or enjoyment.  I gotta figure out how to change my life, but yes, before you mention it, I'm aware of the irony of mentioning this on the internet, so don't bother pointing that out!

On that particular note, I really hate it when they introduce ads into applications that were previously free.  And they sneak it in with their updates on the app store for iOS, they will usually say in the production notes that there are bug fixes and other improvements to fool you into getting the new app.  The ads won't start straight away, they will gradually sneak it in, but it's in the build that you downloaded.  I think that's disgusting and Apple needs to do more to police that sort of behaviour.  If the ads are in there, then tell the public in the update notes.

I think as I've gotten older I've come to realise that the big stuff doesn't matter.  The stuff you spend all your time stressing and fussing about is not relevant.  Because it's the small stuff that ends up becoming all consuming.  So you need to prioritise and figure out what's really important, because most of the time, you don't even realise it.

What I will never understand is climate change deniers.  How can you possibly think that nothing is changing?  They belong absolutely in the place of other conservative thinkers who have not ventured out of their ivory towers and thus have no concept at all of anything that resembles reality for the rest of us.  I have visited places that are low and tropical (mainly islands and small coastal places) that will be under water in no time.  But people don't care, why?  Because again, it harks back to that old concept of conservative thinking - if the people don't look like you, why should you care?  These people will either disappear into nothing, or hopefully choke up Western society when they all need new places to live. 

Goddamn, this has been one hell of a post!  One of the best yet, if I do say so myself!  But the best is also yet to come.  Who says after 10 years that this is getting old??  It's been grand, haha!  But I better leave it there.

Joaquin out.

The Kings Of Controversy

Or are we the worst things since Elvis Presley?  I don't think the other or I are particularly controversial, we just like to think outside the square when possible.  Others don't particularly like that.  They are stuck in the old and outmodded ways of thinking, and can't bear to see any other way.  You know, there's actually a lot we don't know about the past.  I love a good mystery, and there's just so many that lack good logical and scientific explanations for stuff that happened in the past.  I want to find out!  I want to devote myself to finding out!  Wouldn't that be exciting and worthwhile? 

My view?  I don't think women can be real friends with each other.  They are always competing for similar interests.  They only stick together for a while for comfort, and then once they are in a relationship, they cut ties, or gradually retreat.  Even if they're not devoting themselves to the relationship, they still pull away from their friends.  It's an interesting phenomenon don't you think?  What really irks me about those new celebrity leaks (Jennifer Lawrence, Kate Upton and others) is the level of outrage it's drawn from hypocritical social justice bloggers and outraged feminists (you know the type, the overwhelmingly white, middle/upper classed privileged kind who spend their summers volunteering in Africa and toasting how much they're changing the world).  Rightly, they have picked up the problem that exists with horrible sexist and misogynist comments in relation to what came out, but I absolutely do not agree that it's victim blaming to castigate them for having photos of that sort on their phone.  I'm afraid that if you take those sorts of photos, just assume it's public.  I don't are if you're a celebrity.  We live in a digital world where privacy is now meaningless thanks to the all seeing eye of Big Brother.  People on tumblr were up in arms over what happened to Jennifer, but there were no comments in relation to anyone else who was impacted by this.  Why?  Because in the hypocrisy of this new social justice blogging, they love JLaw because of The Hunger Games, and assume she can do what she wants, so they will come to protect her, due to our celebrity worship culture.  But others don't get that same treatment, like Kate Upton - who is a model by trade, and shoots some arguably risque things.  It's the virgin-slut dichotomy that automatically permeates this discussion.  From once we were told not to handle things in such binary ways, the discussion already has that bias in it!  And it's coming from so called feminists!  I think this is really a story about vanity.  Who really takes those sorts of pictures on their phone? Are they just sitting there?  Are they so they can send them to someone else later on?  Just a nice pictorial to look at?  If you want to be vain enough to have all of those on your phone, you should be vain enough (and noting that your whole worth, as a celebrity, and as a rich person stems from this) to weather the public storm that follows.  Victim blaming my ass.  It detracts from real issues, such as Ferguson, where a victim was unlawfully killed.  And what happened to this ebola outbreak which is supposedly getting worse??  That's right, all just handy distractions.  I wonder what's going to happen with that?  News outlets have stopped reporting on it.  But anyway, back to my original point.  What happened when the same thing happened to Pete Wentz and Dylan (or was it Cole) Sprouse?  The media made fun of them and the pictures were circulated around the web.  They acknowledged they deserved what they got.  Yikes, I almost sound like a horrid men's right activist, don't I?  Next!

Before I even woke up I knew this would be a failure of a day.  Just one of those days.  I have no motivation, I'm tired and I just don't feel well at all.  I'm getting older and I need more sleep to get going.  Old age just creeps up on you like that, and it's all just downhill from here. 

Looks like I've finally found some stability on Windows 7, and it's about time!  Must have been the last update that patched everything up.  Microsoft gets something right for a change! 

Australia only makes sense if you are relatively well paid.  For those of you from other places, we actually pay an unofficial Australia Tax.  One things like cars and imported goods, so electronics, stuff like cars, even software and the like, we pay a ridiculously marked up price to obtain the same goods.  What's strange is that it happens to things that aren't even physically imported (where you would think that the cost increase would be justified).  It's because people will pay the price!  They don't care, they will pay the markup!  Wages are so good, and everyone has been priced out of property market that they like to spend on frivolous things.  I hope more people refuse to pay and force prices to come down.  That's the only way it will work. 

Oh my god!  Once again, it's 11:30 and I've run out of things to say, and that's it, it just disappears like that.  I'm still prolific here.  My time is being wasted once again.  There are the typical recurring themes on this blog (well my posts anyway), it's always time, death and guitar.  That's it!  Nothing more!  Haha, everything else is completely random.  I wonder why that is?  Just get me out of here!  I still need to get back to some reading. 

2 hours to go now, I can do this.  It's Wednesday again, even though I swear the last Wednesday update was something like 3 days ago.  I need to get to sleep, and now I'm feeling really sick.

I think I have to call it a day.

Joaquin out.

Chasing The Wrong Things

Are you happy?  Everyone derives happiness in their own way.  But if you choose to believe in a balanced existence, or a balanced order of things, not everyone can be happy.  For some to be happy, there needs to be people who aren't happy.  So not everyone can be satisfied.  Or perhaps others can't be as subjectively happy as others.  Tell me what fairness there is in that kind of system?  There isn't any.  So what's the point?  If all of human existence is a fluke, and our genus is doomed anyway (just look at the dinosaurs et al), then all our achievements are meaningless.  We need a regulator, like in Red Dwarf to judge us for who we are, individually and collectively.  Do we deserve all we have?  I'm not so certain.  Frankly, I don't really know why I get up in the morning.  It seems to be just a force of habit rather than the actual will to get anything done. 

How can I be so foolish?  It really is my own fault.  You have to keep an eye out and keep asking questions.  Always be curious and inquisitive.  Otherwise you stop living, you stop gathering what you need to know.  It's not quite the same.  Oh well.  You live and you learn.  Then you stop living, and you stop learning.  Then there's nothing.  Ahh my eyes are still hurting, this isn't good at all.  There are some really rash decisions being made, but it is indicative of what I've thought all along.  Tell me more.

I'm getting back into the swing of things.  Guitar last night was great.  No point, just jamming for the hell of it.  I hadn't played in so long, I figured I better get back to it or else I'll forget how to play.  It was lovely.  I'll get some more structure to it tonight and onwards. 

Dear Lea Michele, aren't you glad Cory Monteith died?  I've never seen a career take off like that after a partner's death.  She capitalised well on the fake tears and the sympathy of the public.  The fact is this, she knew her boyfriend/fiance was a user and didn't do everything in her power to help him.  She's also partly to blame for his demise and look how famous she's gotten as a result.  Oh Hollywood, Hollyweird.  There, I said it.

I know where I'm headed.  I can get there provided I have enough rest. 

What really irks me is that the super rich in Australia barely pay any tax.  The same is true for most companies.  And it doesn't just happen here.  It happens in most Western countries.  The rich funnel their funds offshore to tax havens, and set up their companies in trusts and hidden shareholders and end up paying less tax than their staff.  Is that right?  Yes, every person should be trying to minimise their tax, but how come the super rich are so effective at doing it?  Companies also pay a discounted tax rate of 30% here.  Yet they're the ones making the massive profits and screwing over shareholders, and acting with relative arrogance when it comes to good corporate governance.  As a result, the middle class get screwed because they can't avoid these kinds of taxes, and they have to fund the shortfall when it comes to public spending.  Is that right?  Of course it isn't.  The problem is that these ultra rich have very powerful friends in government and favours are traded as a result.  Companies also form ridiculously powerful lobbies for government fundraising and policy setting.  Any government that will win power amongst the masses will be the one who prosecutes these ultra rich for tax avoidance, and increases the company tax rate to 35%.  It will ease the burden on the rest of us and we can finally go about changing the stupid status quo.  They can't get away with it.

Looking at my task list for today and I realise it's all with other people.  There's actually nothing for me to do except blog!  That's cool though, just gotta think of some more things to write about.  Am I even ready for this?  There's just too many lost opportunities.  Oh man, it's only 11:30!!  What am I going to do with the rest of the day??  This isn't cool!

What should I learn about today?  About how money and power corrupts?  I've got less than 3 hours to get through the day and I have nothing to show for it.

I'd like to have my brain firing all the time, just like in the movie Limitless.  I wonder what it would be like?  What would you experience?  Could you retain any of it afterwards?  It's all about what the mind does with the information that it knows.  But sometimes it doesn't fully reveal itself to us.  I've seen a few good films lately, and not that many bad ones, so the strike rate has been pretty good! 

Okay, an hour to go now!  I can do this!  What's with all these giants looking over my shoulder?  It's not what it was, I don't need to look out the window, there's already too much damage. 

Maybe it's time I take the plunge.  But I can't swim...

Joaquin out.

Stealing All Your Bases

But lost amongst all the faces.  First one for September, respect.  I'm going to have to get started on that blog intro/retrospective!  Gonna be tough, since I can't really read that stuff at work, but I'll figure something out for home.  It'll be good to see how things have progressed, or little for that matter.  10 years?!  Wow, I really can't believe it's been 10 years since this all began.  Did you enjoy the weekend update?  I sure as hell did, blogger+ was one of the few apps I own that were definitely worth the investment.  And it's not just limited to the blogger platform, you can post to so many other things as well.  Not bad at all.

It's interesting to see what's happening in Hong Kong at the moment.  It's just completely indicative of stupid policy (especially on behalf of the British).  We saw it with the mess of Israel at the end of world war 2, and we're seeing it with the tension between pro-democracy and pro-Chinese matters in Hong Kong.  For those of you who were asleep, the British handed Hong Kong back to China new the turn of the millennium under the idea that Hong Kong would be governed separately, but eventually it would be governed by the Chinese.  Now that we're edging closer to that change of government, there's a lot of protests in the street and some violence.  When I visited Hong Kong earlier this year, it was a real eye opener.  It's going to be a good indicator of where the world is heading in the future.  I mean, you have the usual innovative and entrepreneurial masses in Hong Kong who are keen on business and enjoy their freedom.  But on the other you have the now global juggernaut of China who have managed to prosper without the freedoms a lot of Western people enjoy.  Who will prevail?  Who will triumph?  Can there be a happy medium?  When I visited, I learned that the mainlanders have extensive restrictions on where they could go and what they could do when they were visiting Hong Kong and Macau, but the Hong Kong natives could come and go through China as they pleased.  I can't wait to see where this goes.  But I hope everyone will be okay.  The people are friendly and it's a wonderful place to visit.

Goddamn it!  I was looking forward to an easy going day to just focus on blogging, but I get a letter with more work in it!  Damn nation.  Oh well, I suppose I'd better get on to that. 

It's good to see a lot of opinion papers expressing doubts over Australia's involvement in America's latest folly regarding Iraq.  So we're sending in aerial transport to bring in arms, so effectively we add to the cycle of violence by bringing in guns for who will inevitably turn into the next oppressors until we come back in another few years to blow them up too.  Once again, very well thought out foreign policy.  They never learn from previous mistakes.  All the previous evidence was wrong, yet there are still idiots in the public domain who claim it was the right decision to make.  Wrong, it never was, and we have the blood of many innocent people on our hands, and it is just perpetuating all the time now.  All it takes is for politicans to say any combination of these words "muslims" "Syria" "Iraq" "Iran" "Afghanistan" and the public just eats it up and allows them to get away with it. 

Better get to some work today!  Okay that didn't take as long as I thought it would, or I've just been incredibly productive today.  Not bad at all for a Monday.

I'd love to get a Galaxy S5 or so, but I'm waiting for the next iPhone to be released to see how I'll go.  The processing power and general extra stuff on the phones for Android make it a sure fire winner (I want to have my songs as ring tones without having to pay for them, I want video clips to play on my phone without having to purchase them or convert them, I want to be free of iTunes, I want to have way more storage space than the baselines allow for on an iPhone), but the killer is the difference between the Google Play store and the iTunes store.  Apps on iOS just run smoother, and they look so much more premium, even if they're free.  The same (or equivalent) app on Android looks like an unfinished Beta, even if the same functionality is there.  It's not a good look!  I guess that's the one thing Apple can get right.

The job market has always been a bit whacky.  They expect people for entry level jobs to have experience, but how can they have that experience if they don't have a job already?  Yes it's very circular!  I don't know how new entrants can cope.  In fact, I find the whole thing to be whacky.  Job descriptions and requirements are so specific that the only person really qualified to do the role is the person who did the role before they needed to fill it!  Applying for jobs is a grose activity, you feel so dirty and used up.  That's basically all you're doing, selling yourself.  And that's part of the problem.  The job goes to the person who sold themselves the best, not necessarily the person with the most experience, the right qualifications, or aptitude for the role.  It comes down to whoever told the best story, and that's not right.  And there's a ridiculous ratchet at my level of work.  People are expected to have 10 years plus of experience for managerial roles, but we haven't been out of university for 10 years, so what can we do?  It makes no sense.  They really need to overhaul the system, because it does not work.

Okay, damn.  I guess I've been a little bit too productive today.  Got 2 hours to go and I've run out of work and stuff to blog about.

I recall in university, the other and I (including other friends) started using nicknames to describe people.  There were just too many names to recall, so we often came up with horrible ones such as "pigface" or "big bitch" to describe someone.  We got so into it, that eventually we forgot what people's names were, and on a few occasions we almost called them their nickname to their face, hahaha!  That would have been bad.

I really need to get in some more real games, like chess and poker.  They were good for the mind, and in terms of strategy.  But there's nobody to play with anymore!

But I'll leave it here for now.

Joaquin out.