Another list... But I'm suppose to do this one :)

My blog does not represent the views of Murdoch or any of its affiliates. All posts are NOT to be taken seriously and are written only for entertainment purposes.


Oh just vote for this already! Just click here! It takes about 3 seconds. You won't regret it, I'll reward you with cake...

Well, as you can see, I have a total of 10 people who read my status messages on Facebook, MSN and Gtalk.




Ten things. Ten absurd things that you should know about Murdoch that you won't find anywhere else. That I love. 


Surely you think I can pull this off without annoying anybody. Well I guess I cooooould, but, where's the fun in that? Actually, this probably won't be one of those posts


1. I love the fact that there are rabbits (I could say a hundred other species, but I'm a big fan of vermin.) on campus, they only come out at night, and they freak out when humans are around.


2. I love that hidden on a Murdoch server is the BIGGEST dictionary of programming languages in the world. Seriously. No one else has done this. Yet it's not promoted anywhere, not linked on the Murdoch site, well, Diarmuid, finally your site can be revealed to another 5 people! CLICK THIS THING HERE AND IT'S ALL GOOD STUFF and with the type of people I get to visit this blog, it'll actually probably be used...


3.  I love the fact that when sitting an exam, I can only remember the unit code, not the actual unit name. Except of course for ICT218. If you forget that unit name, you really haven't been paying attention.


4. I love the fact that there are lots of vending machines on campus, in place purely for the purpose of supplying energy drinks.


5. I love the face that the security crew come in during the Murdoch IT Society LANs and sit and watch stuff.


6. I love the fact that I've met people with similar passions to me, I have an absolute love for things people don't even understand and there are others, in fact, HEAPS of others.


7. Sadly, I love the fact that I have access to a huge collection of digital books and journal articles, meaning I can work on essays at 3am without going to uni. And these databases cost literally THOUSANDS of dollars  for the uni to access, so seriously come here. ABUSE IT.


8.  The couple of times my TAFE housemate has joined me going to a LAN, he can't believe what the campus is like. A SMALL, FREAKING CITY. There's a bank and two ATMs, (Cause the Ref doesn't have EFTPOS ;) ) There's a health center that has REAL nurses (and a whole lot of FREE services) there's a library with 4 levels, heaps of computers and an inbuilt cafe. It is the largest campus is Australia (I think?) It has it's own private police, who stand with speed guns, giving me evils... It is daunting at first but, you get to know you Schools area and  feel in a community. 


Most importantly, it has its' own pub. You know you'll have to go there eventually.


9. Sort of building on the last point, Murdoch has it's own Ontology. Damn you ICT256 (But do it anyway. You learn interesting things about learning and how we as humans organise knowledge.). A language. An environment heated with opinions and intelligence. People who are there for the purpose of discovering and who, in certain situations, almost understand one another.  It isn't just a small physical world, it's a small society, if I say "ECL" to a person at a train station, they'll think I'm mad (although, if you say anything to a random at a train station they'll think you're mad.) but if I say it at Murdoch they'll understand I mean a series of buildings down the back that they'll rename to "ECLIT" if people didn't think that sounded like E-Clit, an electronic... Candle LIghTer.


10. The fact that I've scored 2 years worth of parking permit, meaning when I rock up late to uni it's still pretty easy finding a park, as they gave me the opportunity to start a blog and incentive to keep it relatively on topic , that a few people have enjoyed. And I've enjoyed writing. 


In fact recently I was questioned by someone, where do I get the inspiration for the humor I include on this blog, I gave him a rather poor answer that I'll repeat now. The fact is, all the humor in the post was discovered as I was writing it this isn't a very good example but my infamous assignment timetable post, was done during an assignment, on the fly. Coming up with various ideas on things I'd prefer to be doing than writing the assignment. Or things I wouldn't mind happening. The actual ideas behind blog posts have mainly jumped out when I've thought "If i were back at O week, all the way back in 2008, (OKAY, it's only a year ago but I wanna get nostalgic here.) what would I wanna be told by future me." (One day I'm going to get us all together and when going to have a party. The only snag will be that everybody knows the anecdotes.) Or chatting with my sister, who looks fondly back at her time at... Curtin (as if that's physically possible. Although my other sister has recently graduated from Murdoch, so a might have a few more stable topic ideas from her.) It's because she grew up with me. I kinda got what makes her laugh, and she was the one person I could easily force to read it, so, that being my audience is who I wrote it for. So yes Trudie, this is for you. But all the other readers who for some reason have stumbled on this after finding articles on "Apologies for animal cruelty." I'm glad that you have enjoyed it, but if you email me, you can shape the future of this blog by adding the humor you want, written by me.


11. It's appears that I'm not very enthusiastic about the current tread of this blogging voting (I'm concerned how the earlier clitoris joke will be taken (AH HA. I DID SAY IT!), but I must stop this sour grapes type complaining and just enjoy my audience while it lasts, so I'll embed a You Tube vid I did a while ago. Why is it the 11th thing I love about Murdoch? It gave me hope for a while, a few laughs, a concerned sister and caused there to be some traffic to the mits murdoch website (free quota.). It's a some memories which will always link to my AWESOME time at Murdoch, it's not advisable to ask the story behind it, but it's one of my few vids on You Tube, and seeing this blog is mainly about mocking my own incompetence, I thought this would be an adequate way to end this post.

Who is really thinking of the children, and what are we REALLY teaching them? An explanation into why a zombie apocalypse shooter game should be exempt from classification.

My blog does not represent the views of Murdoch or any of its affiliates. All posts are NOT to be taken seriously and are written only for entertainment purposes. 

Recently, the video game Left 4 Dead 2 or “L4D2” was banned in Australia. Due to the fact that we’re a protective society, we do not have a video game classification that can handle “Adult” games, the game in its full form is unable to be released in Australia, due to the ability to use a selection of everyday items as weapons and the fact that the “Infected” in the game can be decapitated, looking particularly brutal.

On one level, this is good, a control of the media flow allows Australia to be unsubjected to the violence and bloodshed of an interactive medium showing lots of gore. But on the other hand, what is banning this game really telling us? Putting for once second aside the commonly used debates that the majority of Australian gamers are actually adults and that this is just the government wanting to control the media we see (Hey, in my opinion, China is going better because of it.) and ultimately, our society, banning this is doing much more.

Under part 5B, Item 5 of the Classification (Publications, Films and Computer Games) Act of 1995, it states that “Software whose main purpose is for training, instruction or reference, as a manual, a lesson, an encyclopaedia or a guide” is exempt from classification. Left 4 Dead 2, should logically be entitled to this, here’s why:

Australia, as a country is very patriotic when it comes to standing behind fighters, even now, the ANZAC day tradition lives on, commemorating the braveness of ordinary people fighting for their countries, but more importantly, the comradeship when it comes to fallen soldiers. Veterans will often tell heart renching stories of the friends and the bonds created during the hell of war. L4D2 is a co-operatively played game, meaning when you play, under most circumstances, you are playing with 3 real other people, all people who want the group, not just their characters to survive under these gruelling unfortunate circumstances. I am not saying that we should look at a selection of gamers as veterans, but look as the game supporting people willing to help others survive during a hell on earth. During the game weapons and health can be either used by a player or given to someone else, and seeing you can only hold one “med kit” it does warm your heart to see someone willing to heal someone else, when they desperately need it themselves. In fact, it encourages this, notifying all players when another player stops a zombie hindering another person. One of the many achievements is healing someone when you have less than 10% health yourself, often people don’t know this and gain it performing a gesture, admitting that another player is better than themselves in some way, and would prefer them to survive rather than use it themselves. The words “A lesson” are a very interesting choice to use in these guidelines. A lesson is interpreted as a moral or an honourable principle people should uphold. It should be debated that companionship is a lesson. A lesson worth fighting for.



Another player perspective is the fact that some people are unfortunately, born violent. In our society, unfavoured tendencies such as these are, normally, suppressed through years of therapy, trying to get to the root of the anger and finding ways to avert it, however, when anger problems are identified, a person cannot immediately suppress such feelings, they need to be vented. Simulated environments can do such a thing. Left 4 Dead allows people to vent tendencies of wanted to divert their anger and be able to actually get the satisfaction making someone else feel pain, without actually hurting anyone in the process. Let’s take another example, the example of pornography. As you may or may not be aware, there are large collections of pornography which are drawn, simulating some of the more unusual nieces, such as paedophilia and bestiality, now if there’s a way for people that are “satisfied” with these sort of material, who unfortunately can’t really be “cured” then isn’t it fantastic that there’s a way for these people to vent their urges without any abuse occurring, isn’t that at least, something which should be supported as an alternative? Not if the Australian government has anything to say, if the leaked ISP website ban list is anything to go by as it lists several drawn pornographic sites as they depict such acts of abuse.

Desensitisation is largely classed as a negative thing, slowly degrading society by making more and more aggressive or distasteful tendencies accepted. However, there are such groups which require to be desensitised to violence as part of their job. The Australian Army is reported to be using the “Operation Flashpoint” game series to allow army officers to be calm in situations of battle, and be able to handle acts of aggression in a real world environment. Although “zombie apocalypse” might not be as a respected field to be able to handle, and the availability of weapons and ammunition on the streets freely is an unlikely scenario, this game does teach the act of management and working under pressure in a group environment, navigation and decision making intense situations. And aren’t they good qualities to have in any business employee?

So, are we, as a society, ready to learn something, in a place, everybody believes is a bloody environment which has been the apparent downfall of a generation?

I hope so.

There may be a test.



Note: I am perfectly aware that materials cannot be given an E rating when their content would give them a “M” but I believe that L4D2 is so, ahem, educational, that it should void that requirement

.

A very late post... with heart...

My blog does not represent the views of Murdoch or any of its affiliates. All posts are NOT to be taken seriously and are written only for entertainment purposes.

Before I get on with this weeks post, I understand, due to the fact that the sweet new micro site is up and I'm on said site I thought that I might get a few new visitors, eagerly awaiting my post to try and show that I still have what it takes to get visitors and not cause a fuss, I though I'd direct their attention to some of my most proud moments, answering such questions as

What do they mean "Leaving assignments to the last minute?"

and what about your advice about new bloggers?

All I've read is some advice for year 12 students about proper advice on how to use lampshades

Why do most of your pot have a discloser statement? Is that why they call you controversial? HEY? WHAT DID YOU DO?

Did you really compare exams to having sex?

Or Death?

REALLY? Your kind of creepy... How did you get this job again?

Troll through my archive, there's some stuff hidden there that even I've forgotten about. Like other things you can do with a pen during an exam. But if you find that stuff too offensive, vote for me, then you can send me complaints ALL THOUGH NEXT YEAR!

But now onto that task I was meant to do...

From Disorderly Accounts of Uni Life

So why this overly corny statement? Did you just copy the example? Weren't you suppose to post this on Flickr?

Long story, no, yes but I have a google account and I am using an alternative social photo sharing site.I do owe an explanation, and I'll give it to you.. IF YOU DO ONE THING FOR ME.

go to THIS SITE click the VOTE FOR ME  button, type in some details and click submit.

Have you done it yet?



NO YOU HAVEN'T... Try again.

Look, I know you have to enter in an email... But they don't send you spam, you know how I know?

Cause one of those two votes are mine... Look, c'mon, you know you want this good stuff to continue!! Well, good stuff LINKED ONTO THE MURDOCH WEBSITE STILL!! Yeah.

Blogger people.. I know I'm posting on the last day but please don't kick me out...

Okay, so I'd like to tell some background to this image. So there I was, after cycling through a new career idea every thirty seconds and driving both my sisters crazy and I'd finally settled on... Advertising. A major called "Marketing and the Media" and I was excited and I was all like Happycat.. I had my whole life starting to take shape. And it was all in MY CONTROL. I will admit that it was scary I've never been a good one with leading, even myself. I loved ads. I kept 15 Gigs worth on my hard drive, took some of my faves to school and was ecstatic in year 12 when I got to make an ad in Media. I had DVDs full of ads, memorised and created jingles in my head.

And then the TISC page loaded.

"Please enter in your unit choices in order of preference:" I rattled in the various marketing majors and I got all excited, then hovered over the submit button. down in the corner, a little notification bar said "javascript;" and I started thinking, "Oh great, a javascript base, that means less coding for error returns and very slow load times while the whole form is downloaded and rendered, although, the URL has https, so I guess I can take a small bit of comfort in knowing that it's being encrypted before being saved inside the SQL database, oh there must be a sweet backend connecting all these university created database look ups to return the course names, I wonder if it annoys the universities having to create one database... in... a... standard... format..." I could feel my heart slow down. My brain may not be the best wired in the world, but I could tell, I was about to make a mistake if I clicked submit then. I thought to myself, you know, I like I can reel of the ISO-OSI model much better then describing the Codes and Conventions of Media. I can tell the class of a network in terms of using a private addressing structure much easier then profiling someone into a stereotype. Hell, I don't even like profiling people into small boxes. I don't like manipulating people into buying something they don't want or need.  I only like ads which are clever, and more about telling a good joke or doing something cool rather than the product itself! I'd suck as an advertising account executive! And plus.. People in my generation swap careers after about 30 years, so I can do all that when I become a bitter young man when I realise that no matter how many hundreds of thousands of dollars I get as a CIO (about $130,000 is the media salary.)  an IT job won't probably get me a social life.

I LOVE FIXING PROBLEMS ON PEOPLES COMPUTERS. ESPECIALLY NETWORK ISSUES. I love my modems configuration and REALLY wanted to know what DMZ actually meant! How a firewall worked.

I HAD TO ADMIT IT TO MYSELF. I'M A GEEK AND DAMN PROUD OF IT. AND I WANTED TO SHOW IT TO THE WORLD. So I flicked though the TISC manual, changed some preferences and here I am. Two years later.

More or less... Happy. :D

So if you come to a point when you unfortunatly have to change course cause you just hate/not as good as you should be at what your doing. Forget how unhappy you THINK it makes you, and go for what your heart and your head are really set on. Even if it looks boring, it's what you secretly want to do, and that will make you happy. I was a bit iffy about my IT degree at first, it's a uni major, I could barely manage high school and uni is a lot more work, but somewhere deep down, I love it so much I put the work in where it is needed and somehow am passing.

Some may look at the pic I took and see a horrible purple wall with some badly torn pages. I see the wall in the room where I study (sometimes.) I see the font I love (Callibri, the new standard font in Word 2007, I like it, everybody else hates it, but I'm a geek so I like change :P ) I see one of the few abbreviations I actually do sometimes.I see a message that is rough around the edges, but clearly showing a message that is sweet and sincere. OH MY GOD, I just typed sincere without needing to spell check it. I see me. In pages. In place where I spend the vast majority of my times. It's me, in my place. Printed on my laser printer (IP: 192.168.126.250 )

That is me. That is my sort of story and moral behind it.

That is love. (Oh baby don't hurt me, no more..)

Yeah I should of stuck it up at the LAN party, but then people would of thought I was weird or something.

Wow, thanks... That was awesome.. I'm voting for you

Schucks, thanks... It means a lot

Hey just one question before graffitti of the week, that girl you were seeing, is it true she actually had a boyfriend all along and was too embarrassed to tell you cause she was scared how you were going to act cause you were being waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay to clingy?

What are you doing with that bat.... You're going to hurt someone doing that, you know? Stop walking over here...

Graffiti of week:

From Disorderly Accounts of Uni Life

Real Mature Andrew, REAL Mature.