Matty's weblog of doom

*I started writing about discrimination and then it really turned into evolution so uh… irony*

Holy crap you’re the most bigoted person I know.

You do not discriminate? You believe everyone should have free thought and think for themselves? Is this a universal thing or is it only “…unless it’s Christianity/religion”. Is it completely inconceivable that people CAN have free thought and believe in Christianity?

You keep saying something to the lines of, “if you believe in something without proof then you’re stupid”. Well, you don’t have much proof that Christianity is WRONG either. You believe in evolution, that’s cool. You think that we evolved from paramecia, that’s cool. You think creationism is such a far flung concept? What? Do you have any concept of how evolution works? Quoting from bash.org:

Quote #95326
<ajax> Some people…have the idea that evolution is a fucking system of…
<ajax> “oh i need flippers, i’d better grow some” type bullshit.
<ajax> It’s more like “Oh shit look at that freak over there with the flippers hahaha OH SHIT I AM DROWNING OH GOD SAVE ME FLIPPER BOY”.

Evolution happens through natural selection. It’s a concept of, “This creature has a genetic mutation, it happens to be dominant, it mates with something else and it either disappears or it becomes more prominent until it does something”. The mutation helps the creatures survive and whatever. Eventually a new species might form if you have ENOUGH mutations and the mutation spreads through the entire population. Then you have to remember that only the useful mutations will survive.

Sure, I believe evolution WORKS because we see it NOW. We can successfully breed things with the best characteristics etc etc. But think about how useless half mutated creatures are. The chances of a mutation happening already is small. Then having such significant mutations as to differentiate between the X number of species of any form of life on this planet, it’s mind-blowing to the amount of chance that could go into it. And on top of that, you’ll need to think about the amount of chance that a form of life that could reproduce itself would just form from some random occurrence… Not to mention the systems of DNA and genes and how that would have all needed to randomly form…

You’d be arguing against creationism because it’s absolutely inconceivable that God could exist and create this amazing world you live in. Well, you have a hell of a lot of faith in this evolution thing. It makes a whole lot more sense to believe that something like God exists and then argue that the religions have got the concept of God wrong and have put him in a box or something. Just a thought for you.

<3
Matt

PS. I’d have a whole lot more to write and it’d probably make more sense but I’m feeling lazy, and I haven’t proofread what I just wrote so if it makes no sense, tell me and I’ll explain it further

So like, I can’t sleep. I don’t know if I just have a lot running through my mind (haaaaa) or whether I just don’t feel like sleeping or if I just want to stay up and work. So I’m catering for all of this by working and doing random things that usually help me sleep.I installed the new Mac OSX today, which is pretty awesome. I must say, it exceeds expectations. Since it’s a new install I had to backup everything so now I’m just moving everything back in. Everything runs fast, smoothly and overall, everything is pretty -AMAZING-. It’s simply too hard to explain in words how amazing it is. The quickview is my favorite new function atm. Basically, I can see 90% of documents (videos, pictures, whatever) without actually opening the program to see it. The viewing is all integrated into the file browser (Finder) so it runs faster/smoothly/don’t have to open programs.Oh I also started playing FFXII. That was amazing too. The new fighting system is much better than the old versions (seeing enemies vs random fights) though it’s harder to flee and the battles are REALLY chaotic. And for once, the main characters are ugly. I mean, they’re usually really hot/at least I can see how they would be hot to someone, but these ones are just like… Whaaaaaaaaaa? Whoever did character design should be slapped a little.Anyway, back to working on my baby.<3Matt

So after around 55-60 hours of hacking away at random monsters (about 10+ of them just preparing for Sin) I’ve finally defeated the tough little bastard.

I discovered on the second last attempt to kill him that my Bahamut did around 55,000 damage. The first incarnation of Sin had 60,000 hps and the second one has 120,000. My second discovery happened right before I decided to have another go at Sin. This was that my Yojimbo had his damage limit removed because I had obtained Auron’s super weapon. Sweet. So now he’s doing about 35,000 a hit.

Get to Sin, destroy the first form with Yojimbo. Then used Yuna’s overdrive + Bahamut already had his overdrive charged. Plus I had leveled up Yuna a bit since the last Sin battle so Bahamut was hitting for around 66,000. 2 mega flares and Sin was dead.

Finally! Now I can play FFX-2!

<3
Matt

A few weeks ago, in class, I noticed that one of my classmates was presenting his seminar with a Macbook… and he could plug his Macbook into the projector! WOW that’s amazing Matt, so what? Well I was thinking a few weeks ago that I actually like using a desktop computer, but my desktop was a Windows machine and that just doesn’t fly well with me… The functionality that my Mac provides is just… I love it.

So with this new discovery that I can actually get a plug for my laptop into a screen… I bought the adapter. For those who are like, “Well, duh, most laptops have these plugs anyway,” I’ll point out that the plug for the Macbook is a mini-DVI plug and not the usual VGA plug. So the adapter is a mini-DVI to VGA adapter.

Anyway that arrived today and then I realised I didn’t have a keyboard that could work. I COULD use the laptop keyboard but I just like using normal desktop keyboards… it doesn’t have the wrist thing and it’s generally more comfortable. So I called a few places to see if they had them. Myer Indooroopilly didn’t. This place near my place did, but it was apparently a wholesale place. But David Jones at Garden City had one.

A quick phone call assured my keyboard was going to be there for me to pick up within the hour. Put on my pants and left, and now I have the new keyboard. This set up rocks!

<3

Matt

http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/industry/4224759.html?series=37  <– click around for a video of it in action.

“Fabbers (a.k.a 3D Printers or rapid prototyping machines) are a relatively new form of manufacturing that builds 3D objects by carefuly depositing materials drop by drop, layer by layer. Slowly but surely, with the right set of materials and a geometric blueprint, you can fabricate complex objects that would normally take special resources, tools and skills if produced using conventional manufacturing techniques. A fabber can allow you explore new designs, email physical objects to other fabber owners, and most importantly – set your ideas free. Just as MP3s, iPods and the Internet have freed musical talent, we hope that blueprints and fabbers will democratize innovation.”

http://fabathome.org/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page

I finally got to play with an iPhone. It was beautiful. Graphically, as with most things Mac, the interface was smooth and pretty. There was a lot of functions that were similar to the functions in MacOS, for example, the zoom and the pretty expose-like moving of icons/windows.

This phone! I must have!

The only disappointment was the length of the phone. It was slightly longer than I thought it would be. However, it was still a sexy size and I look forward to having my own little macphone…

This is a quick post because I’m procrastinating as I write my thesis. Around 3000 words more to go!

<3

Matt

I’m on a plane! It’s about 7 am, which is… still way before my wake time. 4:30 am is way too early to wake up. Did you know, it costs 10$ to watch in-flight entertainment on Virginblue? Apparently on some SELECTED flights, it’s 5$, but still, paying for in-flight entertainment is a bit annoying. I suppose it’s free on international flights because of the extra thousand…

So I’m on a plane. The cabin supervisor’s name is Jenny. We’re at 38000 feet, 11500m above sea level. Expected to land at 8:50 am or so. Oh there’s a 30m time difference between QLD and Adelaide. Yeah the captain is talking at the moment. Supposed to be 16 degrees when we land. He’s talking about strange places in Australia now. Enjoy the service? Hmm…

Ok back to working on the assignment.

————————————————–

Got bored of working on the assignments before on the plane. I’m at the hotel room now. First impressions of Adelaide: There’s only one tower?! After we landed we caught a bus… After marvelling at the hot Japanese girl to the right, I noticed that our tickets had little sayings on them: “Life is a canvas – you fill in the picture”, “Pleasant thoughts make pleasant lives”, etc. We also found out that we actually had to buy tickets and then put them through some weird contraption machine.

Did I mention it was freezing? We walked around the city and then headed towards Glenelg, which I dubbed “Glen glen” because if you have “Glen” and then “nelg” and if you turn “nelg” around it’s “glen”. So we went to Glen glen and had maccas. The frozen coke here isn’t as good as the ones back in Brisbane, but then the taste in Brisbane is variable enough too.

Oh one thing I noticed (though it wasn’t hard to notice) about this city is that there’s “no alcohol zones”. Also, the city is CLEAN. Barely any rubbish anywhere. You get fined 350$+ if you spit chewing gum out on the floor. There’s also trams. Trams are pretty cool. There was some girl on the tram who seemed to be talking to herself the whole time but I’m sure she was just singing or something stupid.

Anyway as I said, I’m in my hotel room at the moment. They expect me to pay for internet. 6$ for an hour, 10$ for 2 hours and 24$ for 24 hours. I wonder if they know that there’s 20+ wireless networks that I can access from my room with 6 of them unsecured? Well, at least the internet isn’t a problem here. I can still write, send emails, do my usual shizzle.

Anyway, gonna head into Flinders for my interview soon.

————————————————–

The interview was good. We got to the place and asked some guy for directions and he walked us almost all the way to the interview place, which was on the other side of the hospital. When I got to the interview spot, they introduced me to my guide, a Singaporean guy named Marcus. He took me around the medical school, which wasn’t too big. But there was an anatomy museum which was pretty cool since I’ve never seen one before.

Before the interview they gave us a scenario about canola oil production in South Australia, which we had to present to the interviewers. I think I did alright. The rest of the interview was just questions about why I wanted to do med and other scenarios.

After the interview we went to this huge shopping center that was between Flinders and where we’re staying. The place is huge. Possibly bigger than pacific fair. Got there and bought some clothes, then as we were walking towards Woolworths, I decided that my back was hurting too much and mum bought a wheely travel thingo. Smooth sailings from there. Got home, had a shower and I guess all there is to do now is sleep.

————————————————–

Hmm, it’s 11:30 (Bris time) at the moment and my eyelid is swollen. Weird.

————————————————–

Well I’m at the airport now waiting for the… plane. Well what else is there to wait for in the airport really? Went wine tasting today. Got up at like 7 am and wondered up to the level above for some breakfast. Toast.

The beginning of the tour was pretty average. Mostly sitting in a car with the guy telling us about Adelaide. Went to the first wine tasting around 12 at Wolf Blass, which is pretty famous. The port was fabulous. Headed to lunch afterwards, kangaroo.

It was a day full of wine tasting. Actually, before I went, I thought it’d be a good chance to get wasted, but at the second winery I realised something: a lot of wine tastes bad. So pretty much got sick of the taste (they wouldn’t let me drink more port) so yeah.

Took loads of pictures. I now know a lot about wine. We also bought a really nice port.

So now I’m on the plane writing this, it’s dark outside and I cant see anything, and for some reason it feels like the plane is slowing down. Hmm but I think we still have 30 mins till landing… or an hour or something. Didn’t think the time would pass that quickly.

I’m writing in turbulence right now.

The rest of the gallery can be found in the photos section, as I said, I took a lot of pictures.

Have fun,

Matt