By Ruben(nerd) Schade, a UTS university student and IT guy in Sydney and Singapore. c.2004
I wish I were cool enough to be a libertarian, but I’m one of those hippie public transport riding greenie guys.
In 2009, my beloved Stephen Fry and Christopher Hitchens debated that the Catholic Church was not a force for good in the world. In this part of his opening statements, Steven discusses Pope Benedict XVI.
I hope this retiring Pope is proud of his legacy.
(I found a version on YouTube that doesn't need Flash ^_^)
So we're moving house again, and it's a lot of work. My first task, cleaning out and throwing away more of my stuff.
I'm certainly not at the level of a hoarder, but I'm a "collector". Coins, stamps, computer cables, business cards... and for some reason thoroughly-washed beverage containers. Most of them have a history that are either far too personal or embarrassing to impart here! XD
As with my old display, I find taking pictures of things renders them easier to dispose of. Perhaps immortalising them on my Flickr feed means they're still with me somehow. I'm a weird person.
From top left to bottom right, immortalised forever here on Rubénerd.com:
If I were into paranormal stuff, I'd claim it was a syncronicity.
Trains across most of the CityRail network are delayed up to 40 minutes after a fire safety alarm activated because of smoke in the Strathfield Signalling Complex earlier.
[a fire in an MRT tunnel] involving electrical wiring disrupted train services on the North-South line at about 9.05am. [..] Train services between Marina Bay and Toa Payoh stations resumed at 11.30am
So a fire alarm goes off, and the entire CityRail network goes down in Sydney for the rest of the day. A fire hits the Singapore MRT, and the affected line is fixed in less than 3 hours. Good to know.
Photo of the Newton MRT station by Terence Ong. Newton was the station I lived closest to for most of my time in SG, funnily enough ^_^
Enabled, but only for client software not applets.
I'm writing this post as I sit here at the Earlwood Library, basking in its crisp air conditioning and drinking litres of chilled water from my fridge down the road. Earlier today, I was typing code and prose at the Euro Coffee Bar and chatting with the owner about the new air curtains he had installed to keep the aircon inside.
According to ADN and the Twitterari, Sydney had its hottest day since records were begun 157 years ago. Having blogged about the temperature reaching 41° earlier in the month, today it got past 47°C (about 117°F). I compared walking outside on that day to being hit in the face by a hair dryer. Today, it was more akin to stepping into a tandoori oven, and without the benefit of getting food afterwards. What an insult.
I'm lucky I didn't have to catch a train. Predictably, CityRail is in chaos (screenshot), with all but two lines reporting delays and skipped stations, including mine.
I'm super lucky to have been able to enjoy air conditioning all day today. Plenty of people weren't so lucky.
An interesting (or at least, I thought it was interesting!) report from the Guardian:
The Bundesbank plans to bring back to Germany some of its 1,500 tons of gold stored in the vaults of the Federal Reserve in New York, and the 450 tons stashed with the Bank of France in Paris, reported the German newspaper Handelsblatt.
Economics aside, why was it all there?
Most of Germany’s gold reserves have been stored overseas since the cold war amid fears of a Soviet invasion.
While a fascinating idea, the official press release from the Bundesbank website makes no mention of the cold war or the Soviet Union as a reason.
The image above is of the Deutsche Bundesbank building in Frankfurt, by MBisanz on Wikimedia Commons. A classic Brutalist design. The building in the photo, not the photographer. You're weird. KRQRG636ED2W
The school's armed guard didn't stop the perpetrator. Rather than precipitating a gun fight in a crowded classroom, a courageous teacher talked him down, and he surrendered.
I've constantly heard the argument on Twitter and iRL that the answer to gun violence is more guns. If a violent person is aware a target is armed, it will act as a deterrent. Of course, this assumes disturbed people with guns are thinking rationally.
Fortunately, many conservatarians also stress the need for improved mental health. How people in a country with a utopian "limited government" and no insurance can get treatment is a deafeningly unanswered question. Ron Paul would probably be able to provide a meek answer, but it would take him a long time.
Accessible mental health care and education coupled with crisis training for people in allegedly high risk occupations would solve far more than simply arming everyone. It will take more work though.
I am fully aware of the (albeit reversed) insinuation kaeru on Pixiv was... insinuating. Still, after a full day of heat in Sydney yesterday, and a terribly hot sticky night (I'm not doing anything to help this insinuation), the late morning was positively refreshing by comparison.
It's amazing how one merely has to spend a day being blown at by nature's hair dryer to render an otherwise normal summer day with a gentle sea breeze feel so wonderful.
The WordPress ID for this entry is 10707, the ending of which was Boeing's first commercial jetliner. I'm going to pretend this was done on purpose somehow to coincide with my passing mention of breezes. That made sense in my head.
Fortunately, I was able to ride out most of the intense heat at the UTS library with Clara today. Plenty of people weren't as lucky.
My first 2013 post, my first K-On! post of 2013, the first post from my adorable new 11" MacBook Air, and the first 2013 K-On! post from my adorable new 11" MacBook Air!
The image on the left is by おまる@3日目西“け”23b on Pixiv, the image on the left is the video I took of the Sydney fireworks from my iTelephone 4 in the company of some wonderful friends, and especially Clara ^_^.
Peace, health, sillyness and happiness for the new year to you all.
