Friday, August 26, 2005

A List of Things to be Read

There are a few topics that I'm interested in reading about, but haven't got any books on yet. This post will serve as a repository of these topics (so that I don't forget about any of them).
More will be added as the need arises.

Thursday, August 25, 2005

Yet Another Book Purchase or This Time, It's Maths

Recent Data Mining lectures have been looking at the Apriori Principle. The discussion of a set-theoretic framework within which to consider data mining (more specifically, market basket analysis) prompted me to have a look in the maths section of the Coop Bookshop for a book on the topic.

I came out with a copy of Introduction to Lattices and Order. What [little] I've read of it so far is very well written.

The bad news is that I need to get back into reading so that I can write the literature review and background sections of my thesis without screwing anything up or misrepresenting anything too badly. I have a feeling that it's going to be a long time before I finish up the 17 books I've got bookmarks in.

Monday, August 22, 2005

Tuesday, August 16, 2005

The Existance of Time

A while ago, I watched the annual Burton and Garran Hall public speaking competition. One of the speakers presented an argument that "the structure and perception of time are invalid." This post will describe the argument made (in more or less broad strokes as suit my purposes) and some objections to it.

The analysis of temporality and related phenomena has always been a mainstay of modal logic. The study of objects and their properties, on the other hand, is usually studied in first order logic or some other logic with quantification. The study of objects and their properties over time has yielded a number of logics and philosophies each of which has a different goal. Here we consider a fairly naive quantified temporal logic that is capable of considering non-existent objects (such as Sherlock Holmes and a flying pig).

If we consider such a logic, it becomes clear that the argument the speaker presented conflated two concepts:
  • the existence of an objects; and
  • the existence of a state (or set of states).
The former is a statement made of an object (that it exists), possibly indexed by some particular time, like "now" or "250 million years ago". The later is a statement made of a state, or set of states: an instant in time. That instants, or periods, of time are not objects ought to be obvious - objects are temporally located and have some degree of persistence and identity through time (though the exact nature of these properties may be disputed).

Thought I have not seen any other informal arguments against "time," I imagine that conflations and confusions might be common. This is, perhaps, an argument in favour of the adoption of a more formal approach...

Monday, August 15, 2005

Jane Austen

I've just started reading Mansfield Park by Jane Austen. I got an etext from the eBooks@Adelaide collection of free web books at the University of Adelaide Library.

It's a great resource for anyone interested in the classics (I've put their editions of Austen's and the Brontë sisters' books on my to-read queue).

Saturday, August 13, 2005

Open Letter

Open Letter

An open letter to the Kansas School Board asking them to give "equal time" to Flying Spaghetti Monster-ism in their new science curriculum. They have numerous testimonials by persons qualified to make them (whereas Intelligent Design has none), lots of evidence (well, more then ID has anyway) and some truly inspirational art depicting Him and His Noodly Appendage.

RAmen.

Monday, August 08, 2005

A Humanities Kick...

I seem to be on a bit of a humanities kick... I've recently read a book on economics and a book on the working poor, am currently reading a book on linguistics and most of the feeds I read on anthropology and related disciplines. To make matters worse, I've just bought a handful of new books on media (Barons to Bloggers, series editor Jonathan Mills), "social issues" (Affluenza, Clive Hamilton and Richard Denniss), immigration/politics (Following them Home, David Corlett) and more media (Do Not Disturb: Media and Aust Politics, editor Robert Manne).

I've been meaning to buy Affluenza and Following them Home since I heard about them (probably on Sunday Night Safran or Hack, both shows on Australia's national youth radio station: JJJ) and only, by chance, there they were along with two other interesting looking books.

I need to stop going into bookshops...

Sunday, August 07, 2005

Wrongness and Evilitude

There are three items that have shown up on my feeds that I thought I'd post here.

I've just read that Robin Cook is dead. Chris Bertram at Crooked Timber linked to his resignation speech, in which he gave reasons why Britain should not have gone to war with Iraq, and announced that he was resigning as Leader of the House of Commons because of the war. I hadn't read this speech before and it makes a simple and powerful case. If only they had listened.

Another item is the leaked e-mails about the rigged Guantanamo Bay tribunals (via Leiter Reports). If anyone, anywhere still believes that these people (held, if not in breach of any law, then in breach of common decency) will receive a fair trial before an impartial court, they are either stupid, naive or wilfully deceiving themselves.

Finally, this piece about the motivations of the young men who carried out the attacks in London makes a point that everyone seems to be trying their hardest to ignore. Terrorism is "the use of violence and intimidation in the pursuit of political aims." Whether it is perpetrated by states (the U.S., Britain, Spain, Australia and friends in their Afghani and Iraqi adventures) or private individuals (the young men in London), violence and intimidation turned to political ends is terrorism. Just as they are terrorists, so too are we.

Saturday, August 06, 2005

Bond (the string quartet, not the spy)

I've just watched the DVD of Bond live at the Royal Albert Hall (which I bought on special at JB Hi-Fi in Canberra). I normally don't like recordings of concerts and this DVD demonstrates most of the reasons.

First, and most importantly: the music. A lot has been said about Bond's music. It's been called "classical", "New Age", "crossover" and "pop" by various reviewers. They were banned from the British classical music charts because their music isn't in the "classical idiom" and isn't by a recognised classical composer (I don't call myself an aficionado of classical music, but even I can recognise the sources of many of their songs). In spite of their use, sometimes a touch too heavy, of elements more reminiscent of dance and rock music, Bond's music is fantastic and the DVD of this concert isn't an exception. Far from the usual complaints of poor quality live recordings, the audio on the DVD is crystal clear and well mixed.

Second: the concert itself. While the music is great, the video is not. Some parts are awfully cut, with awkward, even amateurish, transitions between shots. The camera work is uninspired and uses a number of truly peculiar shots. One camera that is used way too much is positioned on the ceiling above the stage focussed directly down. Another is the roof and balcony cameras. The video editors have done a great disservice to the music and the band.

Third: the menus and extras. The menus are well designed and easy to navigate. A few tricks might have been welcome (the photo-gallery might have benefited from the usual trick whereby one need only press a direction, rather than a direction and enter), but on the whole, pretty good. There are a number of extras included: an interview with Bond, two music videos, a small gallery of publicity shots and a quiz on the DVD and some a poster and ring-tones on the DVD-ROM.

In short, the music is great, the extras are interesting and the menus are well presented. The only down note is the video which, while not bad, is not brilliant. If you're a Bond fan, I'd encourage you to get it. If you've been under a rock for the last couple of years and haven't heard them, you might like to think about it: at the place I bought it, this DVD is cheaper than the albums on CD.

Friday, August 05, 2005

Vendetta (by Throwdown)

As I'm on a roll of posts about anime, books, blog-posts and the like, I've decided to branch out into music as well. My first post on music (this one) is a bit of a review of the album Vendetta by Throwdown (released in Australia by Road Runner Records).

It's a solid metal album, heavy on the guitars and drums, with powerful vocals. While it is good and will be going on my playlist, there isn't too much, in my opinion, to differentiate it from the offerings of acts like Killswitch Engage, American Head Charge (thought tend to be slightly more melodic) and Fear Factory.

In short: kick-ass metal, but not too inspired.

And Watchings and Listenings...

I've just added another "W" and an "L" to the name of this blog to stand for "Watching" and "Listening". "Watching" has been added due to the fact that I've reviewed some anime before and am likely to do so again. "Listening" has been added in anticipation of my next post, a review of an album.

Intelligent Design

Intelligent Design is dangerous. The thought that anyone, anywhere, could think of teaching this as fact (which, in the scientific sense, implies some form of verifiability) is truly mind blowing. Have we not yet moved on from being frightened by thunder and lightning?

If science teachers were to stop teaching science and start teaching poetry would that be a good thing? Why ought we ask (or allow) them to teach religion in science class?

RSChem is Burning Down, Burning Down, Burning Down...



RSChem is currently on fire. There haven't been any reported injuries, but they have evacuated that precinct of the campus.