base jumping life
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one black jelly bean
There are roughly 144 jelly beans in the packet of “original gourmet jelly beans, 20 Flavours.” (Each one weighs roughly 1.10 grams, there are 40 grams to a serving, about 4 servings in the pack (150 grams))
Prominently marked on the flavour key on the back of the package in the middle of the top row, is the black Licorice (sic) (Liquorice! *ahem*) flavour. Since I was craving for that yummy aniseed flavour, I started to look for the black jelly beans. At first I thought that they must have settled to the bottom of the packet, so I kept tipped all the jelly beans out onto my desk.
And I found one black jelly bean.
Come on, I know that there are people with violent revulsions to all things aniseed, but one? Aniseed seems to be a thing that people either love or hate.
There are a couple of reasons why there was only one jelly bean:
- The company figures that most people don’t like the black ones, so only puts one in.
- and doesn’t completely ignore the aniseed lovers.
- Gets people like me to go out and buy more of their product (they sell black jelly beans separately)
- Someone on the production line really likes the black ones (and figures that everyone else doesn’t like them)
- Some random factory packaging fault (the most boring reason!)
- Aliens…
Oh well. Too much sugar is bad for you. 
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creativehedgehog.com turns one!
Happy birthday, creativehedgehog.com. Though the blog itself was started on a blogger account a little while before, conveniently for memory, this domain was birthday present. So it happens to be my birthday today as well. And I have received five “happy birthday” emails from some of the forums I have signed up to. Automatic emotion, I guess.
Wow, a whole year. Where has the time gone?
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freedom of speech for bloggers
From Free speech online ‘under threat’ [BBC]
Amnesty International is calling for bloggers to blog about the problems some bloggers have faced when blogging- like being arrested for expressing an opinion contrary to their government.
The sad fact remains that not all repressive governments are ousted dramatically- the world would collapse into chaos, there are just too many dodgy governments out there. Politics is not “fair”. These repressive governments like to make sure that a nice rosy picture is painted to the outside world, so they can get a long with other countries. This involves suppressing and silencing the press.
Simple censorship works with the traditional mediums, it is easy to stop presses, close offices, etc. The problem for these repressive governments is that the internet is global. Dissenting voices can be heard all over the world all most immediately, at the click of a mouse, the press of a button. Uncomfortable evidence leaks gushes over borders, and so the governments restrict internet access, lock up the bloggers. Of course, they do this with the traditional journalists, but the right of the blogger must also be recognised. The crackdown doesn’t have to be as harsh as a prison sentence, it could be the loss of a job or other benefits, which has happened even in more “progressive” nations.
The thing about the internet is that it allows for some degree of anonymity. You could have server space in the US, a readership based mainly in Australia, and be writing from Bolivia, (as I was at one time). You don’t have to publish your full name (though a simple whois will often reveal these details) or any contact details.
Some people feel that since they have nothing to hide, they might as well use their full names- the celebrities do! Perhaps a “real person” online persona adds a degree of credibility.
Thankfully, I don’t live in a country that restricts freedom of speech. I’m posting this to raise awareness for the people who do.
“Freedom of expression online is a right, not a privilege – but it’s a right that needs defending,” said Steve Ballinger of Amnesty International. “We’re asking bloggers worldwide to show their solidarity with web users in countries where they can face jail just for criticising the government.”
Amnesty International
Also Amnesty’s web page about the situation.
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the franken-puter
what is it, exactly, that I use to do all my computer based work?
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escalators and MKs
remember you know you are a third culture kid when…? Well I’ve thought of another one.
Escalators (ie, mechanical, moving staircases) are not something you see in third world countries very much. When a TCK gets to use one, they still have that specialness that others have forgotten, TCKs value escalators.
When we went to the airport in Cochabamba and the escalators were switched on, we used to ride up and down over and over again, just for fun.
Now I’m at university, there are escalators going up nine stories in the Menzies building. If I have less than ten minutes spare before I need to get to a lecture in the Menzies building, I’ll often ride to the ninth floor, look at the view and ride down again, to kill time and just for fun.
Of course, this could just be my own personal quirk of liking escalators, but I reckon that: “you know you are a TCK when you think that riding on escalators is fun, and you are over the age of 10.” Any TCKs out there who value escalators as much as I do?
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learn about manners
Manners Matter with Hoops and YoYo is a very cute flash animation series of six manners lessons. There are some real classics: my favourites are “opening a door” “wash your hands” and top: “use a napkin.”
These guys make me think how cool it would be to have an animated cartoon series using flash, or some other medium.
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when power supplies die
If you look at the first two weeks of this month, you’ll see that I had a nice, every other day posting schedule going on. Then calamity struck, as I realized that the battery indicator was approaching the red and going down fast. “That’s odd” I thought. So I checked the cord, and it was plugged in. “Oh oh.” I pulled out the plug and had a look at it- “hmm. Hot and discoloured. Not good.” So I had to power down my laptop before the battery forced it to, and tried to figure out what to do. I slept on it, and figured that I would go shopping the next day.
Oooh. Maybe that’s not the best idea. Since this computer is a hand-me-down, I don’t know all the ins and outs of it, so I called up my parents in Bolivia (South America) and had a chat. Since the paper yellow pages are pathetic for actually giving you information that you can use, they looked up all the information on the web for me. I got a few phone numbers. It was nice to talk on the phone, but I’m not looking forward to the bill!
So I rang up the first phone number, and was promptly told that I would have to ring the Apple service centre, as they didn’t stock the power supply.
After waiting till Monday and the normal business day, I rang up the Service centre. Problem: Apple doesn’t support my computer anymore, it’s too old. Solution: nice man on the phone gives me the phone number for Apple Bits.
Enter Apple Bits. Yes, they do have power supplies. No, not right at this minute, but they can work on repairing one. After ringing back a couple of times, they finally rang and said they have one! It’s not the exact same “flying saucer” model, but it will work. So I said good bye to my power supply, traded it in for 10$. Now I have a new (for me) one, and I can use my computer again!
The best part about this story is how the price just kept dropping. At first, I thought it would be 219$ – the price of a brand new textbook or two. Then $95. Which is dropped to 65$. 65$ slips to $60. And with the trade in? $50. Paying for a piece of computer equipment with one note of cash?
Priceless.
This laptop is becoming more and more a franken-puter!
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arts computer science
If you would like to join the noble few who do a double degree of Arts and Computer Science at Monash University, Clayton, or are already wacked enough to torture your brain with extreme left/right brain changes of focus, then here is the best hand book entry for the course, (code 2672). It actually exists, (for now!) is more than a summary, and uses the up-to-date unit codes for the Computer Science subjects.
I’ve saved this to my hard-drive, because it has moved recently, and was very difficult to find again. It is one of the few truly useful online resources at Monash.
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shower guilt
After reading the paper this morning, including the many articles about the current and continuing drought in Australia, I felt convicted to get a bucket and catch the cold water that comes before the hot in my shower.
The amount was a good litre of water, for about 60 seconds of run time. A whole litre! that’s 7 litres a week. 28 a month. roughly 252 since I’ve been in Australia. And that’s just water that hasn’t had me in it!
Shorter showers. 4 minutes really is a decent length of time to soap up and rinse. Brushing teeth without the water running. To this list add catching unused shower water, and we can help save our water for the future.
We used the litre of water on our garden.