| Dear Lazyweb |
[Jul. 15th, 2009|01:49 pm] |
So, I've been noticing a distinct bias in a lot of the blogs that I read these days, mostly that they're very America-centric, except for a few electoral blogs. I seem to be very well informed on a lot of American Social and Political stuff, but have very little knowledge of what's going on in my own country!
So, considering how many of my friends are out there reading their own stuff, I'd like to politely ask if anyone has any suggestions for good Australian Blogs on the following subjects:
* Linguistics (surely there has to be one or two!)
* Sociology
* Law
* Queer Issues (of any and all stripes)
* Economics
Also, any Australian General Interest blogs that you've come across that should be read.
Anyone? |
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| Yay! Discoveries! |
[Jul. 15th, 2009|11:22 am] |
One of the undocumented perks of using barely documented software you've never used before for is that you keep discovering interesting things about it. Some things I've discovered today about LionWiki:
1) Since any plugins you download with it are on by default, I've had File Upload abilities on my wiki since I started it. As it turns out, the Upload function is very basic, and thus entirely unsecure. So while I was checking out my AWstats page, I discovered some interesting file requests, checked them out, and discovered that people had been uploading scripts on my file server. One delete-fest later, that problem's fixed, and I've disabled the Upload plugin.
2) Lionwiki apparently has a very simple RSS feed attached to it, which just diffs every change made to the wiki. Mine has now been added to my Greader, so I know when people post to my wiki.
You'd think these things'd appear in the documentation, but it's harder to find than you'd think! |
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| Reminder about Lexicon Game |
[Jul. 8th, 2009|03:52 pm] |
Those of you who were at all interested in joining in on the Lexicon game I'm starting up, just a reminder that the first turn ends on Friday, so you'll need to have your entries posted up by then if you're going to play.
Here's a direct link to the Lexicon's central page. Please don't be shy about joining! Don't think you have to be a good writer, or have to be overly witty, or anything like that - the point of the game is to practice some creativity in a nice, relaxed atmosphere - And, you know, have some fun while you're at it! |
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| Lexicon is open! |
[Jul. 2nd, 2009|09:55 am] |
So, since ![[info - personal]](http://s.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png) erinkyan is sick, and I have time before the 11:45 doctor's appointment I'm driving him to, I've got the Lexicon Wiki open:
Lee's Lexicon Wiki is open for business!
The first Lexicon is the Broken History Lexicon, and the first entry (written by yours truly) is APEX. For everyone who's interested in joining up, the only thing you need to do to sign up is get your first entry up on the wiki by next Friday (10/7/2009). While my entry is fairly serious, feel free to be wildly silly with this prompt. Take whatever you know of history, scramble it, add some cheese then fry it with vigour - that's all this prompt is about. I just didn't have the silly vibe in me this morning.
Oh! Also, if anyone has friends who might also be interested in signing up, feel free to point them this way - The more people involved the better, I always say! There's no need to sign up on the wiki, since there's no usernames at all involved, and at the moment, I've not put a password on the wiki. This game is open to anyone who wants to play! If you just want to watch, that's fine too - but I can't guarantee it'll be as fun as playing! |
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| Prompting Myself |
[Jun. 30th, 2009|06:48 pm] |
So, I was recently reading ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) deird1's recent post on prompt communities, and a few things suddenly fell into place for me (as I write this, I notice how I verge into slightly different territory than deird1 did, still I think it's worth writing anyway).
Over the last year I've been noticing exactly how little creative work I'd been doing, and I think the reason is because, well, nothing's prompting me to do it. When I still roleplayed at MURP, I was often the GM, but I'd almost never plan a session, because I was much more comfortable bouncing off other people, but I also wonder whether part of the reason was because honestly, there are very few things I've done in my life that weren't banging right up onto the deadline. It wasn't that I rushed things, or that I did things without thinking, but that until I was made to do something, it just never got done. I've often noted how I could never seem to do essays until the day before they were due. It wasn't that I hadn't been thinking about the essay, or doing the research, I'd just... never had a reason to start writing the damn thing until the night before. It infuriated more than a few people in my life, but it was really how I worked. And I did well enough to get into honours, so clearly there was something going on there. My Psych even calls it being prompt-focused. I don't do things until I'm prompted, simple enough.
So, it's occured to me quite a few times in the last year that I should get back into writing, but I've never actually done more than an abortive attempt at creative writing. And I'm certain that I'm not the only one on my flist who's feeling the same here. I'd join a fandom community and start writing, but I have no fandoms right now, certainly none that I'm thinking enough about to want to write fanfic.
Then I remembered about Lexicons. As world-building exercises, they're not fantastic, but as deadline-constrained collaborative creative writing exercises, they're brilliant, and quite adaptable to a range of different writing styles.
If I started a game of Lexicon, would there be anyone on my flist who'd be interested in playing with me? I wouldn't be doing a full 26-turn Lexicon (maybe a phone-pad lexicon, those are just short enough to keep everyone going until the end), and I wouldn't necessarily be setting it up as encyclopedia-style writing. Just a way of giving everyone a neat prompt for some collective writing, and have a little fun while doing it. A way of getting my arse into gear and actually start writing again, even if it's only 200-300 word things. I'd even be really nice and make 1-week deadlines for everyone, just so there's as little pressure as possible while still having a tight deadline. Who's in with me? |
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| I am possibly the biggest nerd of all time. |
[Jun. 28th, 2009|07:08 pm] |
I am enjoying pronouncing words on Wordnik far, far too much. I think I may be running out of words in memory to pronounce! This is terrible! Tell me LJ and DW, what words should I pronounce next? Is there a word you want to hear pronounced in my Australian accent? I don't care if it's rude or crude (hell, that makes it better!), just tell me, what word should I pronounce next? |
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| I love TED talks |
[Jun. 27th, 2009|06:47 pm] |
Especially when they're geeking on my geekery:
It's long, about 15 minutes or so. But well worth it, because I agree with just about everything in it. The dictionary is not the language. It doesn't contain all the words and leave out all the non-words. It just has a set of words. And we can do so much better. We can capture every word in the world if we want to!
And as it turns out, the sort of site that she was envisioning has already begun, And it's name is Wordnik. And I gotta love a website that helps put words into context by putting realtime Twitter feeds into every word. That's just brilliant.
EDIT: OH MY GOD. They let you record your pronunciation of words. This is beyond awesome. I may be staying in tonight... |
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| Who do I not have on my Greader list? |
[Jun. 23rd, 2009|10:10 pm] |
So, I use Google Reader an absurd amount during my day (usually due to lack of other things to do), and I notice that noone I know seems to share anything they read on Google Reader. Hell, it's like noone I know uses Greader at all.
So, seriously, who's on Greader, and do any of you generally share articles? Are you guys just not on my contacts list or something? I'm always curious to see what everyone else is reading and whatnot, and it seems that Greader would make that a whole lot easier... |
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| From the Google Reader: |
[Jun. 22nd, 2009|01:31 pm] |
An interesting report on racial discrimination in the workplace focusing on Chinese, Italian, Middle-Eastern and Aboriginal groups.
It's quite the interesting study, actually, doing a few neat experiments and drawing a few not particularly pleasant conclusions. Basically, if you have a Middle-Eastern or Chinese name, you're going to have to work much harder just to get an interview, which does not bode well right now, seeing as jobs are getting thinner and thinner on the ground.
I would have been interested to see if the race of the person looking at the resume makes any difference to rate of callback in the jobseeker category, but I'm not surprised that such information wasn't available considering the setup of the test, and I'm sure if I had access to the literature databases again, I'd probably be able to find some tests on that.
Definitely a very interesting read, I recommend looking through it. |
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| Bah! |
[Jun. 14th, 2009|01:27 pm] |
Is there anyone on my flists who could help me debug a PHP script I'm building? I've not even started it on anything interesting, and it's screwing up in a most unhelpful fashion.
Comment and I'll give IM/email details - the project is not something I want to put up publically just yet... |
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| Looking for some work Jobseekers? |
[Jun. 12th, 2009|04:20 pm] |
This came into my inbox today. Not sure whether it's to be a Docklands or Southbank-based job yet, but it's likely to be good work if you can get it, since it's a part-time version of my job :)
ICT Resource Centre Technician (10 hour per week)Carrick is excited to announce the vacancy for an ICT Resource Centre Technician within the Melbourne campus to work 10 hours per week. Duties include but are not limited to the following:
Duties - Assist with the daily operations of the Resource Centre, including assisting students with all resource material enquiries and requests.
- Organise and maintain the Resource Centre and supervise students within this environment.
- Assist students with use of computers and internet facilities (e.g. login)
- Ensure Carrick Information Technology policies for students are adhered to and enforced where applicable.
- Assist in all general cleaning and maintenance of computers and printers
- Additional duties as required.
The successful applicant will possess the following attributes:
- Provide excellent customer service to students and internal staff
- Strong communication skills.
- Ability to take ownership of issues
- Ability to display flexibility
- Ability to perform in a team environment
- Excellent time management skills
- IT Savvy
Technical Requirements - Strong Microsoft Office experience, especially with Word, Excel and PowerPoint
- Ability to trouble-shoot most basic IT issues.
Candidates with previous experience dealing with customer service experience in an IT environment will be strongly considered. Applicants with previous experience dealing with international students will also be strongly considered for the role.
Expressions of interest (CV of no more than 4 pages) should be emailed to jglover@carrickeducation.edu.au quoting reference number RCT-M-0609
Applications close on Friday the 19th of June at 5:30pm |
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| Looking for Housemates |
[Jun. 2nd, 2009|09:30 am] |
I previously made a post regarding me moving out and looking for housemates. It's now getting closer to the point of moving out, and while I have one housemate set up, we're looking for possible others.
My needs haven't changed, so I'll just copy/paste the previous:
What I'm cool with: A goodly amount! I'm queer-, poly-, kink-, trans- and just-about-anything-else-friendly - there's not much I'm violently opposed to, and I try to accept everyone, regardless of identity. I'm also pet-friendly, and conversation-friendly.
What I'm looking for: I am a bisexual, polyamorous, kinky male, and you need to be cool with all of the above. So, Queer-, poly- and kink-friendly is a must. The other housemate, Alissa, is trans, so trans-friendly is also a must. Also, gotta be non-smoker - I'm not a fan of smoke, and not_in_denial has health problems exacerbated by smoke, and he'll be around a reasonable amount. If you're geeky that's a plus, but it's by no means essential. I'm possibly interested in acquiring pets, so you need to at least be able to consider pets in your home. I also work full-time, so if you're a night-owl, you'll need to be a quiet one!
I've now established that my lease is up in early August, so that's pretty much when I'm planning to be moved in by (which means I'm looking at a move-in date of mid- to late-July). I'm expecting to start looking for housing within the next few weeks (it's a delicate cycle, I know - The rent market means that from application to sign can be less than a few days, but I don't want to expect to get lucky).
If you're interested, shout-out - I'll get in touch, and we can discuss needs and desires. Also, if you know anyone who's interested, point them in this direction as well. |
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| (no subject) |
[Jun. 1st, 2009|12:09 pm] |
I've just put up another post in my sex-filter. Since it's been a while since I've done this, and there's plenty of new friends on my friendslists, If people are interested in looking at stuff on my sex-filter, you can post here and if I feel comfortable with you looking at stuff, I'll let you on. Also, if you're already on the sex-filter list and you want to get off (yes, very funny), you can ask me to let you off here too.
If you're not sure of your status, the post just below this one should be marked [SEX-TALK]. If you can't see it, you're not on the list. |
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| Clues reveal themselves! |
[May. 28th, 2009|09:09 am] |
So, after This post, I'd almost written off my computer, until, when I turned it on on Monday, it seemed to miraculously recover, as if nothing was wrong with it at all. That is, of course, terribly frustrating - so bloody typical for a computer to start working just after you yell to everyone that it's stopped working.
But it turns out that it's not quite fixed. After a bit of twiddling around, I made the discovery that if I boot up the machine with the network cable unattached, it works perfectly, even if I plug the network cable back in. If I boot with the network cable attached, I get the problems again. In the lull of problems, I scheduled a scandisk of both drives, and they both reported mostly okay, except for one or two bad sectors on my non-primary drive. I then let it boot with the network cable attached, and the problems remain, so it's clearly not a hard drive issue at all.
I'm fairly certain now that the problem is a program that's getting stuck with some internet action at startup, but at the moment I'm not really sure what that program is. Will have to do some more probing. On the plus side, I at least have a workaround, even if that workaround turned out to be very painful and mildly bleedy this morning (note to self: Backs of computers can be very sharp, so be careful when plugging stuff in!) |
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| *boggle* |
[May. 26th, 2009|10:50 am] |
I am stunned at this post. Really, I am. This is the stuff that Americans have to deal with in their banking? Good lord.
Is there similar dodginess in Australian banks? I mean, I'm (now) with a big-4 (stupid mergers...), and I've always been really pleased with the service I get from my bank. Do we have good enough regulation that this stuff isn't likely to happen to us? Or have I just been really lucky so far? |
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| This is really awesome! |
[May. 24th, 2009|06:56 pm] |
So, there's a simple song, "Stand By Me", a classic. A million and one covers exist of the song, of varying degrees. But what about a cover that spans musicians from all around the world, from the Americas, to Europe, to Africa? The concept is not just awesome, but results in a really nice cover of the song!
Apparently I can't embed the video for some reason, so the link is here! |
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| Computer troubles |
[May. 23rd, 2009|09:52 am] |
So.
My computer has, for the past month or so, started getting progressively worse. It started when I noticed that every now and again, the computer would try to access the hard drive, halt for a bit (with the HD LED lit up), and then do whatever it was supposed to do and go on it's merry way. Annoying, but not fatal. Just meant that gaming and movies weren't gonna happen nicely.
However, it's gotten worse. Now, I can start up my hard drive, and there are no problems loading up, but once it finishes loading up, it's like the computer can no longer find anything, and while I can interact with the OS (the mouse still moves, and the start menu is easily navigable), no program will load, and when ths happens, there's no HD LED light-up - there's apparently no activity at the hard drive at all. But only after it all boots up.
Does anyone have any clue what might be going on here? I'm tempted to think that it's a hard drive issue, but as I said, it all works fine right up until Windows is finished loading. Very funny hard drive issue, if it is! |
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| Smart Phone Love |
[May. 22nd, 2009|08:48 am] |
Every now and then, I remember why I love my phone so much.
So, my phone has a quite decent digital camera on it. This camera, being on my phone, is thus directly connected to the Internet, whenever I want to. So, if I ever want to share a photo on my Twitter, I can take a snap, and then send it down the line, with no muss or fuss.
So when I was looking at the fog today, that's exactly what I did.
I love technology. So hard. |
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| MOAR Dreamwidth codes! |
[May. 20th, 2009|04:15 pm] |
So, I've been given two more Dreamwidth codes. Once again, anyone who wants one, sing out! I'm giving preference to those on my friends list, or friends of those on my friends list first, before I give them out to random strangers. |
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| Movie Review Time! |
[May. 11th, 2009|01:20 pm] |
A few Movie Reviews
I've seen a couple of films over the last month, but never got around to writing the review for them, so here's my take on them both.
Star Trek
I'll admit - I'm a big Trekkie. Star Trek was one of few activities that I shared with my parents. Every month, we'd go to the video store and get the latest videos so we could watch the next few installments. I was a big enough fan to collect a lot of Star Trek paraphernalia, and it was a big, big part of my life for quite some time.
However.
A while back I stopped watching and got into other obsessions, and now that I look back on Star Trek, I can see a lot of problems with it. It was a product of the 60s, and even the newer Star Treks still took a lot of that onboard, all the while updating to more modern sensibilities. Also, let's be honest - there's a lot of dumb that crept into Star Trek over the years (unsurprising considering the large number of writers over so many years), and I've oftens said to other people that Star Trek could really use a reboot - take the Trek concept, remove all the dreck, start over, with a more modern take.
So I was very interested in what the new Star Trek movie would be like, and in grand tradition, I went to see it with my parents.
**Warning: There are spoilers here - do not continue if you do not wish to be spoiled**
( Thar be Spoilers under this cut )
In less words? It's a good movie. If you're a Trekkie, don't think too hard about it, but do keep a lookout for all the callouts. If you're not a Trekkie, you'll probably enjoy it, if only for the action and nice characterisation.
Mary and Max
( Spoilers a bit )
In less words? I'd highly recommend anyone watch it, it's a really good movie. If you're still able to, go out and see it, as this is the kind of movie you'll want to support. |
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