linuxdevil

The End

2005-07-26T12:13:00.000+10:00

This blog has been closed due to a severe and chronic case of writer's block.

Home Sweet Home

2005-07-12T15:46:00.000+10:00

So it's been a few weeks since we returned. It's so good to be home. The trip to LA was a bit, um... disappointing. Some things were really fun and I'm glad I got to do them: my brother's wedding party, and spending time with my dad. But I had underestimated how difficult it is for me to be with Dean 24 hours a day. I just can't handle it. I'm so lucky that at least I didn't have to fly with him alone. But taking him out of his routine, to a new country with new people, staying at a new house and without his daycare was just too much. I guess I also thought that I would have more support. At least Guy got to visit on the weekends, that was fun. My sisters kept asking him, "why did Naomi come here anyway?" and that was a very good question, one I asked myself every day. So in the end I bought a one-way ticket and flew home with Guy, 5 days earlier than I was supposed to. It was worth it.
It's good to be home, in our new house. How nice to have a garden. The office/guest bedroom window has a wonderful view of a brick wall. I bought a couple of climbing plants (a star Jasmine, and some other plant) and I planted them under the window yesterday. I hope they grow fast so that by springtime we'll have some green in the window. The house is great, it's nice not to have to climb any stairs and it's nice not to have neighbors who smoke and play loud music. The only thing we still need to get used to is driving everywhere. From our apartment we could walk anywhere: shops, buses, daycare, uni. Now we have to drive, which is not that bad, and park, which is. But it's ok.
I went to USYD today to meet my new workmates and see my future office. A few things need to be ironed out before I can start working. I thought that the requirement was that I submit my thesis in May. Apparently there was another requirement, that it has to be approved before I can start working. Now, I submitted it on time, and I gave the official 8-week notice so that my supervisors would have time to find examiners, but wouldn't you know it? They didn't find examiners. But with some help and nudging from my new boss, the final examiner was found and hopefully the thesis will be sent out soon.
I can't wait to start working again, but on the other hand I'm getting used to living the unemployed life. I'm not getting used to not having an income though.
My mother-in-law is staying with us for a month, 2 more weeks to go. It's nice to have help around the house and in the kitchen, and Dean is just loving it that he has a grandma to read him stories and do puzzles with him and play games with him.

Never Be Late to a Flight in Denver

2005-06-16T15:15:00.000+10:00

Denver is dry. That's true on may levels but especially in atmospheric humidity. It's summer which is the most humid time of the year here and I'm evaporating. I managed to finish my work here two days early and got myself on an earlier flight out. The airport is supposed to be 30 minutes from downtown, you can ask anybody. But if you are driving less than 10 miles an hour over the speed limit you won't get here in less than 45 minutes. Then if you have to return a car it's another 15 minutes by shuttle to the terminal, then a train in the terminal and there's a hold up at every turn. For a domestic flight, try to be here at least an hour and a half before, two if you want to be safe.

If you do miss your flight it's no big deal. If you are going to, say, St. Louis. There are more flights from Denver to St. Louis every day, than there are flights to anywhere on the west coast. Dallas is a favourite too. There are two flights to LAX and I just missed one. There are no flights to San Francisco.
The next flight to LA is seven hours from now and it's not worth it to take the train back to the terminal entrance. At least I found a seat by a power outlet so I can work on my thesis and blog. You can forget about WiFi at this airport.

I'm sad to say I've missed plenty of flights in my life. (never my own fault of course.) But it was never as bad as in Denver. In California there's always another nearby airport or at least enough flights to where you are going that it is not a big deal. Even if there isn't, going to town and staying another night can be inexpensive and interesting. Going from Denver Airport to downtown is a train, a 45 minute cab ride and then there's a risk that there might not be a place to stay. Not worth the risk in my opinion.

Over the Hill

2005-06-02T09:36:00.000+10:00

I'm now officially over the hill.
I was treated to a surprise birthday party a few days ago. Guy made up the most elaborate story and I totally fell for it. The best birthday is one that is celebrated with friends and family, and we had a great time at a local Italian restaurant. Things were even merrier with excellent Blueberry Hill bubbly.
And the Institue of Physics has also sent me a birthday present: my first article, published online and soon in print.
The actual birthday was spent packing boxes and suitcases. It's amazing how much stuff we have. Now, we're not the type who hoards things just in case they might be useful one day. If we don't really need something or haven't used it in a year, then it goes to Vinnie's or the Salvos. Whenever I buy new clothes or shoes, I chuck out some old ones. And still, the amount of stuff that we have is mindboggling. So I came in to uni again on a box hunting mission.
Tomorrow morning we head off to the airport and a relaxing weekend in Queensland. I can't wait. It will be so nice to be in a clean room with no boxes and no dust. We won't have to worry about packing or cooking or cleaning. The biggest dillemas will be which of the 9 pools to jump in and which restaurant we should go to for lunch.
Then, we move. And then we fly again. The good thing about having all these things happening in the next few days is that I don't have time to think about the flight to LA, so I don't worry about it.
Happy anniversary Guy!! A whole decade, wow!

Whirlwind

2005-05-27T12:44:00.000+10:00

I handed in my thesis yesterday. It was quite an anticlimax. I went to the counter, signed the sheets, and got a receipt. It was just another thing to cross off the to-do list for the day. I think it will really hit me when I hand in the final, properly bound copies. Or maybe it's just a delayed reaction.
Lots of big stuff happening. We found a house and we're moving next Monday. It all happened so quick, I thought we would be looking for a while, but we found a house. It's a basic, 3 bedroom brick house with a small garden. It's amazing how difficult it is to find a basic house for rent in Sydney. Most of the houses are such dumps, and the nice ones cost an arm and a leg. (Not that this is cheap.)
So we have one week to pack. Then we go on holiday for the weekend (we already bought the tickets and everything, and we have to celebrate our 10th anniversary, and my 30th birthday, and 2 theses submitted!). Then we move, and two days later we fly to LA. I was going to fly with Dean alone, but Guy is going to San Fran on a business trip. I managed to change my flight there to the same day, so we'll fly together for at least that one flight. What a relief, I can't imagine such a long flight with a toddler, all by myself. These flights are a nightmare, even if you fly alone. At least then you can take 2 sleeping pills with a gin and tonic to knock you out for most of the 15 hours.
And then... we return to our new home that will have been standing empty except for a bunch of boxes for 2 weeks.
This is going to be a very interesting month, stressful but in a good way.

Raffles: Good Karma

2005-05-23T12:32:00.000+10:00

I just got a call from Coles supermarket informing me that I won the raffle I entered last week! I got a $100 voucher. Free food! I'm glad I didn't win first prize, it was some sports jacket of one of the local teams. The raffle was for the Children's Hospital, I saw the sign and told the check-out guy I wanted to buy some tickets. He had never heard of the raffle. I pointed to the sign that was taped on the screen in front of him. He acted all surprised and called the manager. Meanwhile the people behind me in the line started making faces at me. I was adamant. The manager came and asked me to go to the front desk. I did, and she disappeared. Then she came back and said she had to go look for the keys to the cabinet where the raffle tickets are. I figured if it's so hard to buy a damn ticket, then I have a very good chance of winning. Well, it was worth it!
The other week I was at the gym for yoga and I saw a sign for a raffle, proceeds go to the Women's Hospital. I bought some. I spent 5 days there, the doctors saved my life and it didn't cost me a cent. I figured the least I could do was buy some raffle tickets. The drawing is next week. Let's wait and see!

Lord of the Rings: an allegory of the PhD?

2005-05-18T14:19:00.000+10:00

A rather geeky look at Frodo as a grad student.

Passive Thesis

2005-05-18T12:57:00.000+10:00

The entire thesis has been switched from active to passive voice. The change was not as difficult as was expected. A search for "I" and "my" was conducted and the appropriate changes were made. The author still thinks that active voice sounds better though. But if three experienced supervisors recommend something, then they should be listened to. Now only the abstract remains to be written.

The Goth Dentist

2005-05-18T12:52:00.000+10:00

I went to the dentist this morning. She just got the room refurbished with a new chair and everything. She's the best dentist I ever had, although I must admit the first time I saw her I was a bit wary. She is very sweet and professional, and has pictures of her kitten on the wall, but she also wears black and has several piercings, and has death metal music blasting from the stereo. Oddly enough, the music really works well since it sounds even worse than the dentist tools. Anyway, everything was fine and my teeth have been great since I got the courage to get those stupid wisdome teeth finally removed.

cool

2005-05-17T21:44:00.000+10:00

Stare at the dots in this picture for 30 seconds and then look at the wall. Whoa!

A dilemma has been encountered

2005-05-13T10:57:00.000+10:00

I finally got my three supervisors to go over the thesis draft and comment on it. One thing that all three said was that I should not use the active voice. In my undergrad years I was always taught to use passive voice in technical writing, but here I was taught to use active voice, especially when writing a dissertation. Guy's supervisor, Tim, is a huge supporter of using first person so that it is clear what was done by me and what wasn't. Joe Wolfe also agrees:

If you are writing in the passive voice, you must be more careful about attribution than if you are writing in the active voice. "The sample was prepared by heating yttrium..." does not make it clear whether you did this or whether Acme Yttrium did it. "I prepared the sample..." is clear.

The active voice ("I measured the frequency...") is simpler, and it makes clear what you did and what was done by others. The passive voice ("The frequency was measured...") makes it easier to write ungrammatical or awkward sentences. If you use the passive voice, be especially wary of dangling participles. For example, the sentence "After considering all of these possible materials, plutonium was selected" implicitly attributes consciousness to plutonium. This choice is a question of taste: I prefer the active because it is clearer, more logical and makes attribution simple. The only arguments I have ever heard for avoiding the active voice in a thesis are (i) many theses are written in the passive voice, and (ii) some very polite people find the use of "I" immodest.

I wrote my entire dissertation in the active voice. My supervisors all told me it's my choice, but they recommend switching to passive voice. That would mean going over the entire thesis and changing everything: a lot of work. They should have told me this before I started writing...
What do you reckon? Does the active voice really sound that bad? I can't decide. I just want to be done with it!

Aussie Unis Gamble with Funds and Lose

2005-05-10T13:05:00.000+10:00

The SMH tells of evidence Australian universities are losing millions of dollars oversees (mainly in Asia). This is tax payer money, exported and given away.
Most of it comes from the federal government, the same government that was accused recently of not paying enough for them to raise academics' salaries.

Even worse, about a quarter of the universities don't report how their offshore campuses are doing (my guess: not good), offshore campuses will continue to operate at a loss for the sake of existing students.

Do the universities gain from offshore campuses? No, in fact they probably lose prestige which is an important factor for universities. How are they going to blame this one on the Howard government?

Acupuncture

2005-05-09T14:51:00.000+10:00

Germany has been subsidizing acupuncture treatments for patients with migraine headache since 2001. More than 2 million people have been treated so far. And according to this paper, it works. People who get acupuncture have significantly fewer headaches. But now results of a follow up study have been published. In a double-blind study, headache sufferes were split into 3 groups: those receiving acupuncture treatment, those who received sham acupuncture (the needles were inserted in the wrong place where there should be no effect, according to acupuncture theory), and those who were put on a waiting list and got no treatment. The results showed that both groups who received acupuncture (real and sham) reported fewer headaches than the waiting list group. The positive effect of the "real" acupuncture was exactly the same as the sham needle-sticking. (On the other hand, the negative effects were not the same: 10 people (7%) treated with "real" acupuncture reported that the treatment itself triggered a migrain attack, vs 2 (2.5%) in the sham group.)
The authors speculate that the most important thing that people need in order to feel better is to feel that they are being treated, with lots of one-on-one interaction and care. If they have to pay for it as well and the treatment takes time and effort then that also makes a difference in the outcome.
Kids need TLC more than Panadol when they are sick, and nothing heals a booboo better than a kiss from mommy or daddy. And Star Wars bandaids are better then boring beige ones.
I guess adults are just big kids. But I'd be pissed if it was my tax money that was funding it.

Roger L. Simon: Pajamas Media Meets Mainstream Media

2005-05-06T12:05:00.000+10:00

Roger L. Simon has recently been blogging about little more than his (and others') pet project pajamas Media. Claiming that it would revolutionize blogs (which apparently have been around as early as 1999.

I'm skeptical. While I wish Roger and his partners best of luck I think two things would happen.

1. The charm of blogs would disappear as greed sets in. Blogging for money is going to be very different to blogging for free. I know how hard it is to keep a job and blog a lot but it can be done and that's part of the charm.
2. I also don't exactly see advertisers queuing up to advertise on blogs especially as firefox and adblock are gaining popularity (how can you surf without them?)

Whirlwind

2005-05-06T11:50:00.000+10:00

Wow, everything is happening at once! Yesterday I finished writing my dissertation draft. No word yet from my supervisors of course. Then today I received confirmation that my paper has been accepted and will be published, woohoo!
I decided to take a day off since I deserve it.
I've been checking the Qantas frequent flyer bookings every day for flights to LA but there have been none. This morning there were flights, and several to choose from, and all non-stop! I booked one immediately... so we'll be going to LA for two weeks next month. I don't know how I'll manage the flight with Dean all alone. It will be interesting... hopefully the flight won't be too full and I'll be able to get an extra seat. Having a toddler on my lap for 14 hours is not something I look forward to. But it will be worth it to be able to spend time with the family.

I hereby declare major writing operations over

2005-05-05T14:34:00.000+10:00

That's it, I've written everything I possibly can in my thesis by myself. My mission now is to hunt down my three supervisors and get them to read the damn thing. I haven't heard from one of them since, oh, probably some time in 2004. One already went over one of the chapters, bless his heart. The third is just ignoring me. The due date to hand in the dissertation is in 3 weeks.
I reckon the only major thing I have left to write now is the abstract.
Sometimes I feel that if I look at it one more time i'll go nuts. At this point I just want to hand it in and forget about it.
I don't know why, but I have this urge to go home, put on some music, and wash the kitchen floor. Is this a normal reaction or am I going slightly cuckoo?

Professors worse off

2005-05-04T10:37:00.000+10:00

The Australian reports that academics' salaries haven't kept up with inflation by more than 25% over 35 years. Salaries for academics in Australia are determined by a bargain between each uni and a union. Neither state nor federal government has a say. So how can academics pin this on John Howard?

The federal government is not paying unis enough to pay academics. Perhaps the fact that academics are hardly rewarded for merit has nothing to do with it? It would be interesting to see a study of how productive academics are today compared to 35 years ago.

Kneidalach stories

2005-04-29T12:22:00.000+10:00

Yesterday I made matzah balls to make up for the embarrassing ones that I made for the Seder. In my rush to have everything prepared in time, I made the mix (from a box! oy vey) and then left it there, inexplicably, while the soup was heating up. Needless to say they came out with the consistency, and density, of small bowling balls. I hang my head in shame.
So I decided to make some the right way -- from scratch. My mom used to make kneidalach with soda water and they would come out so fluffy. I didn't have any soda so I made these instead (without the filling), separating the eggs and beating the whites first. Boiled in fresh veggie soup, they came out fluffy and light as a cloud.
Next year, if I'm hosting, I won't be cutting any corners.

What Gender Is Your Brain?

2005-04-29T11:42:00.000+10:00

Your Brain is 60.00% Female, 40.00% Male

Your brain is a healthy mix of male and female

You are both sensitive and savvy

Rational and reasonable, you tend to keep level headed

But you also tend to wear your heart on your sleeve

What Gender Is Your Brain?

Apostrophes at the library

2005-04-28T12:19:00.000+10:00

Australians don't get apostrophes. They never miss an opportunity to misuse them, and it's been my pet peeve since we moved here. This morning I was at the library and they had a sign announcing the new "Classes for Senior's in Randwick and Surrounding Area's". I couldn't help it and told the librarian that was scanning my books that I find it rather ironic to find these mistakes in a library of all places. She looked at it, and told me that no, in fact it's correct and there should be apostrophes there. I looked again. "But those words are plural, you don't use an apostrophe for plural." She looked around and thought a bit. "Ah yes, you're right, you only use apostrophes for names." I blinked. "You know, like 'Hanna's' or something." I thanked her for the books, paid my late fine, and left. Sigh.

Academic for Vandalism

2005-04-27T13:35:00.000+10:00

When students oppose their own right not to join a union I'm quite baffled, but when academics encourage on-campus vandalism I give up even trying to understand.

I saw a tentative bit of graffiti in the stairwell of the Webster Building - Smash Howard no VSU. It wasn't exactly shouting out loud graffiti but I was glad to see this small black texta [sic] attempt at some resistance to the anti student organisation legislation being pushed through by the Government.

The writer of this letter works at the School of Media, Film and Theatre which is housed in the Webster Building. The graffiti wasn't scribbled where in any form of resistance as I can imagine most people who actually saw it were already the converted. That graffiti was an act of vandalism and cowardice as much as any piece of graffiti sprayed (from global-warming facilitating cans) to mark gang territories.

Terror hits Germany

2005-04-27T11:40:00.000+10:00

Or as Dave Barry would say "Now the bastards are using toads"

Toads go out with a bang

Update: and here are some pictures too

British academic boycott

2005-04-26T15:48:00.000+10:00

This really pisses me off: British lecturers boycott Bar-Ilan and Haifa universities. As the Israeli ambassador to Britain said,

The last time Jews were boycotted in universities was in 1930s Germany.

At least the British government is against it.

The British government opposes the boycott, Britain's ambassador to Israel, Simon McDonald said yesterday in response to the AUT's decision. "The British government opposes academic boycotts in general and this boycott in particular," McDonald said.
...
"The fact that the AUT is dealing with Israel in a critical way when it is the only country in the Middle East where there is genuine academic freedom is indeed perverse," said a statement from the Israeli Foreign Ministry.

Roger L. Simon has more thoughts on this issue.

UPDATE: There seems to be quite a backlash in Britain. And I agree with Gadi Taub, from the Hebrew University, who says:

As a Jew, not just an Israeli, I prefer henceforth not to accept any invitations from British universities participating in the boycott. And I urge my fellow Jewish academics around the world to do the same.
If, as I suspect, some British academics prefer their academy Judenrein, it seems fitting and proper to grant them their wish, and not go to those universities where the boycott is in force and where we Jews are not welcome.

Passover, Anzac Day

2005-04-26T10:01:00.000+10:00

We had a second Seder for the first time in my life. I feel that this is a rather "galuti" thing to do and I'm still not convinced why we need it. But who can say no to more good food? The second Seder was with friends from a Kibbutz and they have their own version of the Hagada, sort of an eco-friendly version. At the first Seder we practiced speed-reading since we couldn't wait for the soup with kneidalach. (Not quite as quick as this though! (courtesy of Timna).)
Monday was Anzac Day. Tim Blair has an excellent summary of the day. We went to the Royal National Park to enjoy the weather and we were listening to the radio on the way, all the stories of Gallipoli and WW2 and interviews with veterans. I wondered if in Israel we will ever be able to have a memorial day that is part commemoration and services, and part national holiday, where all the survivors had already died of old age and the challenge was to keep the younger generation interested in remembering something that they never knew. Sort of like Passover.

Happy Passover

2005-04-23T15:04:00.000+10:00

Happy Passover everyone!
We are hosting the seder tonight. We have 2 guests. It will be the smallest seder I've ever been to, but that doesn't mean we won't have tons of food!
Guy just took Dean out shopping to get him a booster seat. Much nicer that having to sit in the high chair.
OK, I'm off to make some kneidalach.
Oh, and this Monday is Anzac Day. I wonder if Anzac Biscuits are kosher for Passover? ;)

Students Against Student Rights

2005-04-19T16:13:00.001+10:00

Student organisations around Australia are protesting a new right not to pay roughly $500 per year. In organising a protest they are hoping to show that a lot of students prefer to have to pay the fees rather than not. In fact, some top bureaucrat at UNSW just reminded me that UNSW has an official policy to oppose VSU.
If so many students want to have to pay fees why can't they pay them voluntarily? Because they don't.

The unions know that forcing students to pay means that thousands of students who have nothing to do with the unions are contributing for a minor fraction of the students benefit. That seems to be acceptable to some lefty types but in this case even that may be wrong.

When I was on campus I didn't use union services not because I didn't try but because they were already too expensive. As a member of the UNSW dive club I figured that if I dove a lot through the club I can save about $100 per year. Far short of the $500 per year that I was paying. I quit the club soon after joining.

For coffee I would prefer the coffee cart that had good coffee for the same price as the union cafes even if it meant I had to go to the other side of campus to get it.

Another union facility I used to frequent was the on-campus union bar. The beer was only $0.20 cheaper there and they didn't have Carlton Draught that some of my drinking buddies prefer (It's only Toohey's New for me.) so we even dumped that for a hotel off campus. We weren't the only students there.

There's also the gym, that uses union money to sponsor cheap memberships to the entire community (unfairly competing with honest businesses, costing jobs etc.) Since when do starving students need to sponsor gym memberships of others?

Mind Chatter

2005-04-16T22:15:00.000+10:00

The Thought Project
I'm so glad we can't read minds. People's thoughts are mostly really boring...

(via Pratie Place).

Passover

2005-04-15T15:57:00.000+10:00

Next week is Passover (and also a long weekend here since next Monday is Anzac Day). My sister is hosting a huge Sedder with all the family in LA. I so wanted to go I even considered buying a last-minute ticket and going just for the long weekend. But it won't work. It's too late to buy a ticket, and too expensive, and I really can't leave now that I'm in the middle of writing my thesis. But I so miss my family, and I'd love to finally see my nephew and to show off Dean to everyone. Australia is a wonderful place to live but it's just so damn far away from everywhere else.

Friday arvo thesis writing

2005-04-15T15:42:00.000+10:00

So I have 6 weeks left to finish writing my dissertation. The stress is building but it's still under control. I have to schedule in things like 'take a shower' and 'do laundry'. Thank goodness I'm a mother and no matter what goes on with the thesis and how much work I have left, I always have to pick up Dean at 5, and take him home and cook dinner, and give him a bath... This really keeps me sane, otherwise I'd spend all my days and nights agonizing over the thesis.
I went to a seminar yesterday about thesis writing, "Defining your Legacy". Whatever. I kept thinking how much I could have been writing in those 4 hours. But I did get some good ideas. The first thing we did was introduce ourselves, say how far we are into the writing, and how we feel about our theses in one word. It was funny to see that the people in the early stages of writing picked words like "optimistic" and "enthusiastic", and those that are well into the writing used words like "stressed" and "panicking".
I'm so happy I'm using Latex. One of my colleagues just yelled out, "aaarrrrggh!! I hate Word!! I type in a header, and it jumps to the next page! Why does it jump to the next page?? I want it to stay there without changing the font size!!" or something of that sort. So glad I don't have to deal with those issues, it's hard enough writing a dissertation, why add more pain and anguish by using Word? Oh right, it's "user friendly"...

Pope

2005-04-06T11:22:00.000+10:00

I don't have much to say about the Pope. I've learned a lot about him in the past week. I knew he was an important figure, but I wasn't aware just how much influence he had in his lifetime.
I always liked him because he looked so much like my grandfather, Sabba Israel.

Academic free speechTM

2005-04-05T21:22:00.000+10:00

How left are academics? At the school of computer science and engineering Norman Foo reminicses about communism. This is from an e-mail message that he sent out on a school mailing list (and agreed that I reproduce here) that described the poor situation in Russia. He concludes:

I don't think much comment is needed on this triumph of our free-market model over the evils of socialism. You see, at least the starving poor are free. And as Anatole France once observed, the law in its impartial majesty, forbids the rich as well as the poor from sleeping under the bridges.

Whatever Norman. North Korea is encouraging immigration. Of course, you won't be earning a 6 figure salary, you won't have internet access and if you want to eat you'd have to join the army. And just for the record, the Soviet Union was Communist, not Socialist. In another e-mail he explained why he sent the first message:

Ah, just to remind people that we should not congratulate ourselves on the superiority of "our" system.

Right. Democracy is not superior to communism because there are people who have moved from broke to outright poor in Russia. Some people in one country, are worse off now than they were during communism so communism is a better system. And if they killed a few tens of millions of people at least there were no living poor. The guru explains:

The murderous thugs led by Stalin had long disappeared by the time Gorbachev was in control. Krushchev retired to his dacha when he lost leadership -- in the old days he would have been shot.

Nikita Kruschev was Secretary General between 1953-64. Right after Josef Stalin. Did he dismantle the KGB? Did he take away powers from the ruling party of the secretary general? Maybe Brezhnev just thought that it would be healthy for himself if he broke the tradition of killing rulers? Where is the moral improvement from Stalin?

Then his rant decays into things like:

... if only Gorbachev had succeeded in engineering the gradual transition to a mixed econonmy [sic] ... maybe nobody will be starving, and the mafia will not be robbing the country lind?

And then it goes completely off topic.

Last time I checked it was Russia, led by an ex-communist-era KGB commander that was robbing the free economy blind. But let's not let details distract from the important things right? Nobody was starving under Gorbachev after all. What about Poland? East Germany? Ukraine? Are these countries' poor are better off under Soviet rule or under democratic rule?

But all of this is just exposition. The true gem lies with a student e-mail that pointed out that there were some flaws in the above arguments. I still didn't get the student's permission to reproduce his e-mail but I will when I get it. Let's call the student John Smith for now. Briefly, John Smith, made it clear that he disagreed with the slander of western values and additionally that the above reasoning is flawed, but without going into details.

Several academics went to defend Norman from the John Smith. One defence was this:

Dear Mr. Smith

I have not yet heard of any results of John Smith, but I have heard of many of Norman Foo. So please before lecturing to Norman Foo about sloppy reasoning, prove the quality of your own reasoning in journals of caliber where Norman Foo publishes, rather than delivering low class insults to those who some of us admire for lasting contribution to science and the mankind. Instead of accusing leading academics for insinuations you should stop your own, they are really too low to be tolerated in a University; some of us have spent more time in academia around the world to know what is appropriate.

Sincerely

Aleksandar Ignjatovic

Have you published anything in a peer reviewed journal lately? No? So you don't have the right to review academics' reasoning yourself or participate in the Academic Free Speech^TM. If you haven't yet published in an engineering or computing journal what gives you the right to critique communism? After all, published academics already proven that they can reason. Surely every argument they make from then on is good.

That's a great idea! Peer review should only be applied once per author. After that, the author can be trusted with anything they say.

2005-04-04T16:16:00.000+10:00

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

Unfortunately they seemed to have erased the few comments that we got with the default Blogger commenting system.

Upadate: We are now using blogger comments and haloscan trackbacks so the comments are back.

Reiki Shmeiki

2005-04-04T16:00:00.000+10:00

A hospital in London now employs a Reiki "healer" to treat cancer patients. And the taxpayers are footing the bill. Now, usually when state-funded medicine agrees to pay for a new procedure it has to be proven to work and to be safe. Where did they find the evidence that this magical energy healing works? (Maybe here?)
Now, I don't have any problem with cancer patients who feel better by believing that they are getting healing energy rays from someone's hands. The placebo effect works, and at least in this case there are no side effects and no pills or snake oils. And people who are dying of cancer tend to believe in anything that might help them, and that's understandable.
What pisses me off is that someone is getting paid to do this. And also that things like this give credence in the eyes of the public to what is, let's face it, a sham.

Shock and Awe: College Faculties A Most Liberal Lot, Study Finds

2005-04-02T12:34:00.000+10:00

This comes in a bit late but now that I have a real job I have less time to blog.

The blogosphere is a-buzz with this latest study where over 1600 academics in more than 180 schools were surveyed. The numbers are so staggering I'm surprised it took a survey to get people's attention: 72% liberals and 15% conservative. It's even worse in 'elite schools'. Comparing this with election results (at least, everywhere I have a citizenship which includes Israel, USA and Australia), where a majority of the votes went to the conservative candidate, makes it obvious that academics do not reflect society.

Academics, with job strong security that even dictators don't enjoy, "want more environmental protection "even if it raises prices or costs jobs" (88 percent)." (sorry about the nested quotes). How liberal of them? They are willing to risk my job for the environment.

The study didn't measure the effects on the classes they teach but it does show preliminary results that hiring and promotions are affected by political persuasion in an industry where diversity is so valued. The WaPo gives the example of Ward Churchill who called 9/11 victims Nazis, lied about his race to get his job, was caught plagiarising and kept his job but it doesn't give the example of Kloceck who was fired for having a political argument with Palestinian students.

Right after the American elections Tim Lambert posted a map of where the best universities in the US are located, showing the fact that 19 are in "blue" states (or counties) and only 1 is in red. Does that mean that lefties are smart or that university employment policies are politically biased?

So how do left-leaning academic blogs are taking these news? I don't know. I can't find a single one that comments on this story although the number of blogs I am able to look through compared to the number of blogs is very small. I'd be happy to link to any such post.

Stop global warming! Use Head and Shoulders!

2005-04-01T09:49:00.000+10:00

Via Improbable Research:

Could dandruff be altering the world’s climate?
....
A global study has found that tiny fragments of biological detritus are a major component of the atmosphere, controlling the weather and forming a previously hidden microbial metropolis in the skies.

This whole global warming issue is starting to get really silly.

Plagiarism doesn't pay

2005-03-31T14:01:00.000+10:00

Oh boy, you'd better think twice before you go and pay someone to write a paper for you...Laura K. Krishna didn't.

Peer-reviewed science

2005-03-30T11:20:00.000+10:00

Viw Improbable Research, behold the International Society for the Study of
Subtle Energies and Energy Medicine. Their journal, Subtle Energies and Energy Medicine, contains papers such as Energy Healing: Data, Angels & Magic Feathers, Manipulation of the Electromagnetic Spectrum via Fields Projected from Human Hands: A Qi Energy Connection?, and Deficient/Excessive Patterns Found in Meridian Functioning in Cases of Liver Cancer.
I think I'll stick to my good old liver cancer research on treating cancer by "killing the tumour cells".

Another job to start

2005-03-25T13:03:00.000+11:00

Yes, I've accepted another job offer and it starts Wednesday. It's not in academia but the hours are good. The company has only international customers so work starts at 10 in the morning. Leaves me time to be with Dean in the morning, take him to day care at 9, spend 15 minutes with him there and take a bus to work. I also should get home in time to have dinner with him most days.
It pays less than the last job but this job is better in many other aspects. For one, the hours are reasonable, about 40 hours a week. In reality it would probably be more but a 40 hour baseline is much better than a 45 hour baseline. The people I'll be working with seem capable and nice. Location is also better, in Woolloomoolloo right above a Ferrari dealership.

Academic Free Speech

2005-03-24T11:17:00.000+11:00

Who said that academics are free to speak their minds unlike other professionals? I guess I did. And apparently I was wrong:

Back in September of last year, Thomas Klocek did what you'd think is perfectly OK for a professor to do mandatory, even, for one who is intellectually honest and believes it his mission to challenge students to think clearly and know what they are talking about.

In this particular case, it cost an academic his job and consequently his life's savings and potentially his health. Daniel Drezner might say that Kloceck had an uncomfortable hallway moment. MarathonPundit has more about Thomas Klocek.

Academics have free speech rights, unmatched in any industry, as long as they express mid-to-extreme leftie views. So an academic who is openly pro-terrorist especially when they target Americans retains his job even after he was caught plagiarising and lying about his race.

Tim Lambert has an interesting post on an Astroturf academic journal that was set up by tobacco industry prominents so that they can get favourable peer review for their pro-smoking papers. This post shows two things that are wrong with academic free speech. One, that academics are trying to push political agendas by using bad science, and two, that it is possible to get anything published through peer review. There are journals set up to accept agenda driven "research" on any imaginable topic (follow the numerous links under the "science?" category).

The big question is how to tell apart real scientific journals from just agenda driven "scientific" journals. Is there a real difference?

The Windy City

2005-03-23T21:26:00.000+11:00

I was up several times last night, listening to the wind and worrying that the windows would smash. Yes, winter is indeed upon us here in Sydney, cold and wet and windy. This morning at Dean's daycare I found out I wasn't the only mum who was awake at night wondering if a tree would fall over on us. And the Manly ferry was canceled so the nursey carer was late for work.
The wind sure did make some mighty big waves though!

Laser Eyes

2005-03-22T20:51:00.000+11:00

I've been thinking of getting laser eye surgery. Actually, I've been thinking about it for years but I've always been too chicken and my excuse to not deal with it was that it's so expensive. Well, the big 3-0 is coming up (along with 10th wedding anniversary and 2 PhDs! How exciting), so I figured I'd treat myself for my birthday by getting rid of the glasses. Now, granted I have a very low prescription number (or whatever it's called), and I don't wear my glasses most of the time. Legally, I don't need them to drive or even to fly. But I'd never drive without them. (Alas, I haven't flown in years but it's not because of the glasses.) Seeing a movie without them really sucks. Since I got prescription sunglasses I've been really enjoying this whole "seeing clearly" business. And I'd like to be able to do it without external optical aids.
Here's my problem: I'm a chicken. I get so scared of anything that has to do with eyes. I checked out a few web sites and I couldn't even read about the procedure without feeling weak. The last time I went to the optometrist I nearly fainted and had to lie on the floor for 5 minutes with my feet on the chair. I'm afraid that I'll faint in the middle of the laser surgery.
The only thing that is keeping me going with this idea is my sister's experience. She reckons she is queen of the chickens but that it was such a breeze that she'd recommend it to anyone in a heartbeat.
So what do you reckon? Any advice?

Who ever thought academia blogs could be so much fun

2005-03-19T22:14:00.000+11:00

I've only recently started to expand my blog reading to the non-political realm, and I've already found some gems. Check out
melinama's list of student evaluation comments, and Moebius Stripper's conversation with Budgie Girl. Priceless.

War of Blogs part 2

2005-03-18T14:58:00.000+11:00

Tim Lambert explains his side while Tim Blair doesn't relent either. Thankfully most blogs are not normally like that. Or as Scott Campbell puts it in the comments at Tim Blair's site

This is all a storm in a tea-cup. One guy tries the old “I really don’t want to sue, but...” line over some criticism. The other guy publishes the line to embarrass the first guy. A third guy misconstrues some sarcasm. That’s it. This sort of thing happens all the time in the blogosphere, so what’s the big deal here? (I mean, apart from the fact some mortal enemies are butting heads.)

And I couldn't agree more. It seems that the other guy being wrong is more important than being right.

Academics Against Free Speech

2005-03-18T11:01:00.000+11:00

U-WIRE.com writes about the University of Alabama's student senate voting against a resolution by the faculty senate (that was also deemed unconstitutional by the Foundation for Individual Rights).

"This clash of paradigms betweenUA's students and faculty is a sign of the times in academia, where the left has become the establishment, embracing the very tools of censorship and repression that 1960s radicals fought so bravely against. It's also deeply instructive of how the left's corrupting power on college campuses has tempted many leftists to become thoroughly illiberal, landing them on the wrong side of the divide between liberty and authority." (via Tim Blair)

It's ironic that academics who enjoy the most exaggerated freedom of speech protections are trying to impose boundaries on themselves as well as others. Aren't academics busy enough with research, advancing science and the arts, lecturing, preparing and administering labs and tutorials, attending meetings and keeping up with what the rest the research community is doing? Do they also have to determine their own (and others') free speech rights? Can't universities adopt some productivity enhancing policies that would let academics do their jobs in peace?

I've worked in academia for the past three years and would like to continue working in academia in the future but I still see the need to apply modern workplace relations on academics. It is ridiculous enough that there are no specific targets, no performance evaluations, more than generous redundancy packages (that effectively mean there are no redundancies), why should academics be allowed to say whatever they want on company time, with company resources? Even other government workers don't have that benefit, not even other university staff.

The Australian: Unis to face big fines on union 'fees'

2005-03-16T20:12:00.000+11:00

Reading this title, one would think that unis who attempt to pass voluntary student unionism (VSU) are going to get fined but in fact, the opposite is true.

The legislation contains heavy financial penalties for universities that try to bypass the ban by charging their own levy to subsidise campus services such as cafeterias, bars and sporting clubs.

If VSU legislation is passed by the Howard government then universities would simply not be allowed to rename service fees from "Student Union fees -- $250" to, say, "Campus Services Fee -- $250". The government correctly argues that under free market on-campus services would actually be cheaper, even without subsidies from students.

Go Howard government. VSU will be the best thing to happen to students across the nation.

Beyond the Brain

2005-03-16T15:26:00.000+11:00

When I had been gifted this mind of mine
I recall his voice very clearly
To you I have given this mind
And you shall be the only kind
No one ever will like you be
And I name you the mind tree

This is part of a poem called The Mind Tree. It was written by Tito Mukhopadhyay, an 11 year old child with severe autism.
I started reading the National Geographic article about the mind (Beyond the Brain) today. I haven't finished it yet but from what I've read so far, it's amazing.
Here's something else from National Geographic: a face reading survey.

Protest In Beirut.

2005-03-16T11:31:00.000+11:00

I love seeing all these pictures of the protests in Beirut (I got the link from Athena). I always felt that if the Palestinians stopped bombing and shooting and instead all went out in peaceful marches to demand their freedom and their own state, they would have it virtually immediately. The whole world would come to their aid to help them, Israel included. I have all but lost hope that this could ever happen, but it looks like things are indeed happening and changing much faster than I ever thought they could.
We live in interesting times. Like a good book or movie, full of suspense, I can't wait to see what happens next.

War of Blogs

2005-03-16T10:09:00.000+11:00

Tim Lambert created some sort of blog redirection from his site to Tim Blair's blog. The only difference is that the redirection strips all of the original comments features to replace them with TimL's own comments system.

Now why would anyone want to do that?

Because TimL believes that blog administrators should not censor comments they (the administrators) disagree with even though earlier he said:

I must say that I think it makes for a rather uninteresting comment section if dissenting opinions are not allowed, but to each his own. Dear readers, you are welcome to use my comments to argue with me and each other. (But no insulting people, please.)

and later made the stronger stand that not allowing them is hypocritical.

I'm definitely not a legal expert but as far as I understand the law, creating a copy (even if it is only a "virtual copy") and modifying any part of it sounds illegal, especially under Australia's bizarre copyright laws. Even if it is legal it sounds unethical to me although I'm also not an ethicist. Doing what TimL did without making a disclaimer that this is not the original site and what has changed sounds definitely unethical.

As I said before, TimL is my PhD supervisor and I hold him in very high regard. This time I think he went a bit too far (although in an original way) trying to make a point.

Should academics be bloggers?

2005-03-15T21:24:00.000+11:00

Daniel Drezner asks can academics be bloggers? or more importantly, should they?
I wonder what is it with academics and free speech that sets them apart from the rest of society. Why is it that, as part of their job, academics are allowed to comment on issues that are well beyond the scope of their work as opposed to, say, doctors, bankers, programmers who need to blog in their spare time?

As one of the reasons academics should not be bloggers, Daniel lists:

4) Scholars who out themselves as not part of the mainstread [sic] political persuasion of academics will have some uncomfortable hallway moments -- though this cost is often overestimated.

OK. That may be true but as a true veteran academic, Daniel forgets to consider students. Sure, undergrads usually don't much care for the political persuasions of lecturers as long as they are lenient markers who don't check for plagiarism too closely.
Research students, on the other hand, actually work closely with academics, don't have the same powers and authorities that even junior (and non-tenured) profs have and so can't afford to have arguments on politics with academics. Especially academics in their fields.

What gives a computer science prof the right to express their distorted political views in a way that an engineer cannot? I can imagine once hearing a persuasive argument on why polsci, economics, law or ethics profs might (and mind you I'm not saying that I heard one). But what about the rest of academia?

Shoppers slash plastic bag use by 20%

2005-03-15T16:37:00.000+11:00

The Australian reports that plastic bag use is down at supermarkets. It's nice to see all those cloth shopping bags being used. We try to remember to take ours whenever we go shopping. I still remember how it was in Israel when I was a wee kid, taking our 'salim' whenever we went grocery shopping. It's a good idea and it's working. I don't like the extra fee for the plastic bags though. I think lots of people naturally want to help and that you can get great results by appealing to this rather than forcing them to pay extra.

CSIRO finds the solution to global warming

2005-03-15T16:28:00.000+11:00

If only we were all vegetarian and rode our bikes to work, then we wouldn't have climate change.
CSIRO's moo point

Another Israeli in Australia

2005-03-14T17:41:00.000+11:00

The Weekend Australian ran a story on Etgar Keret, a prominent Israeli short story writer that I like. Oi, turns out he published three short story books I haven't read yet. Must find books.

New job to start

2005-03-13T11:27:00.000+11:00

For the first time in my life I'm starting a new job and am totally not excited about it. I think it's mostly the Australian work style of having rigid hours (in my case from 8:30am to 5:30pm). That alone is not too bad. But while I'm expected to respect the company's working hours, the company has no respect for my time. This is an excerpt from my contract (which is pretty standard at least in the I.T. industry):

You will be required to devote the whole of your time during normal working hours and at such other times as may be necessary to the business of the Company.

and

Accordingly, no overtime will be payable and you will not be entitled to time in lieu.

In other words: we want you in the office for 45 hours a week (the standard in Australia is 38 hours per week, 35 in academia) AND any extra time you put in is not appreciated. I can't imagine anybody can last at this for longer than several weeks. I'll try but I just can't see how it works.

Update: Not too surprisingly, just ten hours before I reported for duty, I e-mailed to say that I won't do it. I tried to leave the option open (why? I don't know) but I have no expectation of it actually remaining open to me.

Vertical return

2005-03-10T15:33:00.000+11:00

We are going through a major period of change and uncertaintly in our lives, and this is bringing with it the usual thoughts that arise at times like these. Should we stay or should we go? Should we move back to Israel? Maybe back to California? Life is great in Sydney, but at some point you really start to miss the family. This usually hits me hardest during holidays, both Jewish and not. Passover is always the hardest for me. And I had a minor crisis last Christmas when Dean's childcare centre had their holiday party and all the kids sang Jingle Bells and then Santa gave him a present. I mean, we're not religious and don't want to send him to Jewish private school, but still.
Haaretz had this to say:
"According to the Absorption Ministry, the number of returning Israelis in 2004 rose by 15 percent, to 3,500, although the ministry believes the number of returnees is as high as 7,000 since only 50 percent of returning Israelis make contact with the Absorption Ministry."
The Hebrew version of the article has reader comments and it's always funny to read comments to these sort of articles. Mostly they consist of Israelis saying things like "why come here, it sucks" and "I'd leave if I only could" with a few Zionists saying that all Jews belong there.
Why move back there indeed? When you add up the pros and cons, there do seem to be many more cons: the security situation, the economy, the crazy drivers, the annoying people, the bureaucracy, the stress. But then the pros are pretty heavyweight: family, and good friends, and our own language and culture and history.
Still, life is good in Sydney and unless something major happens (either something really bad here, or something really good there), I don't see us moving back any time soon.

To research, or not to research?

2005-03-10T14:14:00.000+11:00

In my recent past I used to teach a fourth year course at UNSW's Computer Science & Engineering. The most frequently asked question I got from students nearing the completion of their honours degrees is "should I continue my studies (in a PhD program) or should I seek employment in industry?" The answer, following the fine Jewish tradition of answering questions with more questions is that it depends on why you want to get a PhD.

If it's because you can't find a job in industry right now and you want to hone you skills and be a more attractive employment candidate then my recommendation would be to get a masters in a different degree so that you get a desirable and more unique set of skills. For example, a degree in civil engineering would make you very employable in a company writing software for civil engineering which may sound specific but it's not as specific as you think.

If you want to stay in academia then a PhD is almost a prerequisite. However, if that is your answer, think again. If you think the dot-com crash was big, then the dot-academia crash we are starting to see now is going to be even bigger. So why get a PhD now? I never thought I'd say this but it beats me.

CS&E, the school in which I worked until last December is in trouble, desperately trying to get rid of staff (and other expenses) and so extending my contract there didn't happen. Unfortunately, the problem is not unique to CS&E or even to computing schools in Australia. University enrollment numbers are falling in most departments and so even using my "lateral" skills in seeking applications of computer science in any other department (and I've tried all kinds)

It seems like the problem is only going to get worse and probably even worse in Australia and also in the US and for a plethora of reasons from declining birth rates to the saturation of the market. I've seen many students graduating after three or four years of waste going out of uni poorer, older but not smarter than they came in.

Eye on Google

2005-03-10T13:57:00.000+11:00

Here's a cool study about how people look at the results screen of a Google search. It seems there's a Golden Triangle where people always look. It seems that everyone looks at the search results (the first ones at least) but not everyone looks at the ads. I wonder if this will change the way Google presents its sponsored links on their site.
Speaking of ads, I highly recommend using Firefox and getting the Adblock extension. What a difference.

Displacement Activity

2005-03-09T14:02:00.000+11:00

I have been turning to Joe Wolfe's excellent web resource "How to Write a PhD Thesis" for several years now. He has good, solid advice on how to write a dissertation. He has also identified a term that describes my blogging: displacement activity.

Annals of Improbable Research

2005-03-09T11:23:00.000+11:00

I'm so excited, I finally received my free copy of the Annals of Improbable Research, signed by the editor no less! Why did I get a free copy of this prestigious journal? Becaue I wrote the winning entry in the first and last annual Gasotransmitters Limerick Competition back in December.
I wonder if that counts as a publication.

Happy International Women's Day

2005-03-08T11:08:00.000+11:00

Apparently today is Women's Day. (Which begs the question, when is Men's Day?)
Kay Hymowitz wrote an article in The Australian that sums up my feelings perfectly.
Considering what most women in the world have to go through in life, I'm very lucky indeed to be living at a time and place where I can enjoy every freedom without having to fight for it.

Life After PhD

2005-03-07T19:29:00.000+11:00

Having submitted my dissertation I now await comments from my examiners. The university guideline says that this is a six weeks max wait period. The university also has no way to enforce the time limit as at least two of the three examiners can't even be universtiy employees. Everybody I know had to wait between four to six months for the examiner's decision.

Meanwhile I am not a student but I'm not graduated. If you're an examiner reading this, could you please hurry up?

Ever wanted to learn Yiddish?

2005-03-06T18:25:00.000+11:00

I wish I knew Yiddish. It's the ultimate language for parents to know. I remember when I was a kid and mom and dad, and saba and savta, would speak it whenever they didn't want us kids to understand.
So here's a good way to start learning.

Does blog therapy help relieve thesis blues?

2005-03-04T15:31:00.000+11:00

I don't know if there's a name for it, but I have a feeling I'm not the only one suffering from this condition. Sometimes when I open kile to work on my thesis, I start to feel physically unwell. Usually it's a stomachache, or a headache, or just vague unease.
I decided that starting a new blog is just the thing I need to get the creative juices flowing. If I can't write my thesis, at least I can post something. Heck, maybe it'll help me to actually write the thesis too.

Welcome

2005-03-04T15:04:00.000+11:00

Welcome. More posts to come as soon as we get everything set up.