Tuesday, March 15, 2005

God - Isomorphism Lacking

Comments

In the comments on a post (at LtU) about the recent Knuth interview, someone posted a rather amusing reply to a monotheistic comment. It is linked above.

Friday, March 11, 2005

Project Description and Literature Review

We've passed the first milestone in the Honours program: project descriptions and literature reviews were due today. I'm fairly happy with mine. The literature review proper could have been improved, but I'm really happy with the background sections.

Writing it was fun! This is the first piece I've had to write that I've actually enjoyed writing for its own sake (and not for the adrenaline of starting to research an assignment 9 hours before it is due). Trying to describe modal logic and tableau systems concisely was a challenge!

If anyone is interested, I'll post a PDF after I check with my supervisor and the convenor that it is ok to do so.

Tuesday, March 08, 2005

Megatokyo

Megatokyo: 683 Crazy Talk

I've just caught up with Megatokyo (I'm between bank cards, so I've not been able to put any money on my 'Net account at home) and, for some reason, the last two or three strips have me left me feeling a bit weird. For one, I didn't realise that Largo and Erika were "together" although I suppose playing games together a while back was a bit of a hint. For two, it seems to me (and I'll be way out, due to my social ineptitude) the Largo is being a prick, which makes me sad for Erika.

PS: I've ordered books two and three from the local comic shop, book two is in (and waiting only for me to have access to money) and I hope book three won't be too long.

Sunday, March 06, 2005

Animal Farm

George Orwell: Animal Farm

I've just finished reading Animal Farm again and it has reinforced my opinion that Orwell is one of the most impressive writers. Animal Farm and 1984 are two of the books that everyone ought to read.

Saturday, March 05, 2005

A Meta-blog Update

On a meta-blog note: I've just updated the title in recognition of the fact that most of my posts lately have been my holding forth on topics somewhat inspired by something I've read. Hence the [and Writing] in the title now. I'm not sure if it makes any difference whatsoever as I'm fairly sure that no-one reads this thing anyway.

Rush Limbaugh Eats Everything

Rush Limbaugh Eats Everything

For all the fact that this is funny, I can't help but feel that it is more truth than fiction. I know people who accept and make arguments just like those made by Rush in this comic. It scares me that there are human beings in industrialised, progressive nations with access to some of the best education systems the Earth has ever seen (to our knowledge) that still cannot understand the simplest of arguments.

That there are people like Rush and his fellow neocons (or whatever they call themselves) is, in my opinion, just as much evidence of humanities origins as the fossil records and emerging genomic data.

Wednesday, March 02, 2005

Funny 'Blogs, Redux

I got all my front pube hairs waxed

Some people have the coolest ideas!

Research in Higher Education

The Australian: Higher Education

In the Higher Education section of The Australian newspaper today, some of the potential changes to Australia's higher education system were discussed. In my opinion these changes are worrying from a number of angles. The first is that they are yet another facet of the implacable drive of the Howard Government to privatise every remaining asset of the Australian people. As a left-leaning person, I cannot help but be horrified by the moves the Howard Government has made to turn our public services into businesses. How much longer can it be until we are expected to pay for our services rendered by our police forces?

The second manner in which these changes worry me is what I see as an abandonment of the very nature of a University. To my mind, the role of a University in society (any society) is the investigation of ourselves, as human beings and a society, and our environment. The University should be dedicated to extending our understanding of ourselves and our world through the sciences, through the humanities and through the arts. The University ought to be conducting research into every aspect of our existence with the passion, drive and focus exhibited by the very best academics and researchers the world over. Furthermore, the University ought to be sharing the results of this research and instilling in the next generation the same desire to explore, to investigate and to innovate. By divorcing research from teaching, we will be divorcing the University and its work from the students, we will be removing the opportunity of the next generation of researchers to be exposed to one of the University's most important roles in society.

As a current student hoping, some day, to become an academic and to help contribute to my science and the education of future generations of scientists, I cannot help but feel that I have missed the boat. I cannot help but feel that, in fours years time, when I have my doctorate and look for a position in academia, I will have no choice but to move overseas. I will have no choice but to become part of the brain-drain, to become part of the problem.

I realise that my view on the University and its role may be considered archaic, that many people see economic rationalism as the way to go, that competition between academic institutions can only help our students. I cannot help but wonder if somewhere there might be a country that supports its academics and researchers and the role they play in society. If things here continue the way that I imagine they will, as soon as I discover this mythical country, I'll be off (being sure to repay the HECS debt incurred during my undergraduate studies of course).

The Halflife of a Moral

America unbuttons a new front in the war on breasts

A chain of thought typical of my mode of thinking (that is to say: tenuous and somewhat arbitrary) lead me to consider some connection between radioactive decay and the "moral decay" that some groups tend to harp on about. Coincidentally, an opinion piece in The Australian today reminded me of this absent thought and so I'll ponder the topic online (and in public) rather than leave it to its rest (as perhaps might be wise).

Radioactive decay is the process that atoms (or rather their nuclei) undergo transforming from unstable to stable forms. An unstable nucleus will emit a particle (alpha, beta or gamma) as it transforms into a more stable state (be it as a a lower energy form of the same element, or a different element altogether). Perhaps the idea of "moral decay" might be characterised in the same manner.

A society, in its development, transitions from unstable states (those in which the society is at risk of fracturing due to the ridiculous strictures it places on its members) to more stable states (in which the society is more harmonious) by ejecting particles from its core values, i.e. by abandoning those mores likely to create division or to impinge on societal progress.

It was just a curious pondering but it is, perhaps, worth considering next time I hear a religious nut, right-winger, or RSL member holding forth on the "moral decay" of the "Youth of Today"...

PS: Any religious nuts, right-wingers or RSL members offended by the above please note: you deserve it.

The Supernatural

Cerulean Sins by Laurell K. Hamilton
Industrical Magic by Kelley Armstrong


I finished reading the eleventh book in the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series last night. It was good, but I can remember lowering the book (to change position as I switch sides quite frequently when I read lying down) and thinking "There isn't much time left to wrap up the mystery." I seem to recall thinking something like that while reading a number of these books. It doesn't detract from them, indeed the frantic pace of the last couple of chapters lends them something that some other books don't have.

I had intended to get the latest book in the series (Incubus Dreams) today, but I became engrossed reading some more of the Handbook chapter I wrote about yesterday and missed closing time. I'll just have to get it tomorrow (or rather, today).

A while ago (probably sometime in November) I got Industrial Magic by Kelley Armstrong on a whim. For some reason I like these sorts of books now. Maybe it is that they tend to be more mature than the genre fantasy I have read almost to the exclusion of all else 'til now. That they are similar is obvious (even the publisher's website agrees with me), but I'm fairly sure I'm not in their target demographic. For some reason the realistic, gritty nature of these books involving the supernatural (even film media like Channel 4's Ultraviolet) is attractive to me right now.

I'd appreciate any suggestions of more books similar to those above.

Tuesday, March 01, 2005

Tableau Methods for Modal Logics

Tableau Methods for Modal and Temporal Logics in Handbook of Tableau Methods, M D'Agostino, D Gabbay, R Haehnle, J Posegga (Eds.), Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1999.

I've been reading Rajeev Goré's chapter on tableau methods for modal logics for the last few days. I think I'm starting to understand the unlabelled tableau systems now, though I still don't see why one would want to use an unlabelled tableau calculus over a labelled one, especially for mechanisation. This new-found semi-understanding makes me think that I'm going to have to re-read the Matsumoto and Mouri papers I looked at last week.

I've still not encountered anything about counter-model extraction in Goré yet, perhaps it was only meant to introduce me to the basics. I'm not yet sure, but since I've started reading these papers, I've developed a bit of a sinking feeling: perhaps counter-model extraction won't be as challenging as we expect. I'd really rather not have implementation issues of the user interface aspect dominating my thesis, if at all possible. Perhaps I'll be able to take a detour through one of the more unusual logics to demonstrate the counter-model extraction...

What ever happens, I've got a lot of work (and reading) ahead of me. I won't know if it'll all be worth it until I get my first class [finger crossed] Honours at the end of the year, but here's hoping.

Wow! I feel special!


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