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.
