Ha ha huh?

The kind of joke you hear at seminars on cognitive science:

A back-propagating network walks into a bar.
The bartender says, "What are you having to drink?"
The back-propagating network says, "Can you repeat that 5,000 times?"

HAHAHAHA!!!

Oh, my sides...

Coffee cart conversations

What I heard while waiting in the queue this morning:

Universities exist for two purposes:

1. To keep young people off the streets and hide unemployment

2. To keep middle-aged malcontents off the streets

Not the best thing for a PhD student/hopeful academic to hear first thing in the morning, but maybe this guy was just fed up with all the paperwork and bureaucracy. I try not to be naive, but surely it can't be that bad?!

Happy Bunny

Happy Bunny, originally uploaded by Larakate.

I thought about buying a t-shirt of this while I was in the USA, but ended up settling for a pin instead.

Holidays!

I'm looking forward to the uni holidays. Not that I get a holiday from my PhD. Technically, I only get four weeks off per year, and I've already used that up. Besides, I don't think I'm in a position to take time off from my research.

I'm looking forward to a break from teaching. Don't get me wrong, I'm still young and naive enough to like teaching. It's quite fun, most of the time. But it is a distraction. If I didn't have a class to teach in 15 minutes, I could be struggling to write my first chapter. Or, I could be sneaking home early to make a dessert for my bible study's BBQ tonight. If it wasn't for this class, I wouldn't have spent an hour and a half brushing up on the physics of X-rays and putting together different accounts of the discovery of X-rays for the class to compare to see how misleading textbook narratives of the history of science can be. And if I wasn't teaching a science and religion class online, I wouldn't have spent a good deal of the weekend marking journals.

Of course, the distraction of teaching can be good at times. If I'm getting frustrated with my work and need a break, I can check my online discussion groups. Unfortunately, that doesn't work so well if the lazy things aren't posting any messages!

It will be good to have a break from teaching. I'll be able to focus on my PhD and hopefully make some good progress. Progress is sorely needed - I feel like I'm about 8 months behind, which is not a nice feeling. But then, I'll have to find a new distraction. I'll be back to checking my email every 5 minutes to see if anyone is actually replying to my emails (oh hang on, I'm already doing that...). If I'm really desperate, I might have to return to the 1824 forum! Even though there are other people here in the FASS, I still crave human contact!

Is anybody out there?!?!

I'm so tired of waking up tired

How wonderful would it be to sleep soundly at night. To get more than a couple of hours of undisturbed sleep. I don't even remember the last time I slept right through the night. Actually, there's one exception to that. The first night after I returned from overseas, I slept solidly from 9pm to 6am. Unfortunately, I was still tired when I woke up in the morning, and the following night I was back to my usual pattern of waking up every hour or so.

I go through different stages with my waking patterns. For awhile I woke up every morning at 3:30am, then 4:30am and 5:30am. At the moment, I wake up at 1:30am every morning. No idea why. This morning I woke up at around 4:30am, and spent the next hour or so looking at the clock every few minutes, waiting for 6am (5:30am just seems to be too ridiculous a time to get out of bed!). Then I managed to fall asleep again, and didn't wake up until 6:20am. Very frustrating. And very tiring. Thank goodness for the Coffee Cart - I don't know how I'd get through a morning at uni without it!

The other thing that goes along with these frustrating sleep patterns is extremely bizarre dreams. I don't even know how to begin to explain what they are about - too fragmented and just weird. It really makes me wonder what on earth is going on in my subconscious!!

Quotes

You may have noticed that I post a lot of song lyrics and other quotes on this blog. The reason? I often find that other people have already expressed how I feel much better than I can. Another example:

I'm a little bit tired of fearing that I'll be the bad fruit nobody buys.
- Missy Higgins

Amused or offended? (Part 2)

Jesus came upon a small crowd who had surrounded a young woman they believed to be an adulteress. They were preparing to stone her to death. Jesus said: “Whoever is without sin among you, let them cast the first stone.”

An old lady at the back of the crowd picked up a huge rock and lobbed it at the young woman, scoring a direct hit on her head. The young lady collapsed dead.

Jesus looked over towards the old lady and said: “Do you know, mother, sometimes you really p*** me off.”


(Link)

Amused or offended?

Walking across a bridge, I saw a man on the edge, about to jump. I ran over and said: “Stop. Don’t do it.”

“Why not?” he asked.

“Well, there’s so much to live for!”

“Like what?”

“Are you religious?”

He said: “Yes.”

I said: “Me too. Are you Christian or Buddhist?”

“Christian.”

“Me, too. Are you Catholic or Protestant?”

“Protestant.”

“Me, too. Are you Episcopalian or Baptist?”

“Baptist.”

“Me, too. Are you Baptist Church of God or Church of the Lord?”

“Baptist Church of God.”

“Me, too. Are you original Baptist Church of God, or Reformed Baptist Church of God?”

“Reformed Baptist Church of God.”

“Me, too! Are you Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1879, or Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1915?”

He said: “Reformation of 1915.”

I said: “Die, heretic scum,” and pushed him off.

Eavesdropping

The kinds of things you hear while waiting in the Coffee Cart queue:

It's a good day for sunbaking.

I want to buy some shorts for summer.

I know! Let's all wear shorts and skirts tomorrow!

I have a cute pair of short shorts. They're white with like coloured stripes. Maybe I should wear them with my wedges!

I'm excited about summer coming. It's like the best thing that's happened to me all year!

The Shining

OK, so it's not a Stephen King novel, but I still found this a little scary.

Hillsong presents a program called Shine, designed to help girls "navigate successfully from girl-life into womanhood."

According to the website,

Shine presents the truth that every girl has intrinsic value and is somebody. This journey is explored through the concepts of worth, strength & purpose ...

• I have worth! - Through skincare, makeup, haircare and nailcare, girls discover their value in their God created uniqueness.

• I have strength! - Explores the power of choice in each girl’s life and reinforces the truth that decisions determine destiny. Covers willpower, feelings, peer pressure, problem solving, etiquette and respect.

• I have purpose! - Purpose and destiny are examined in the light of looking after themselves; identifying the hopes and dreams they have for their life and the confidence and tools to walk in them. Shining.

Skin care, make-up and etiquette lessons? Isn't this teaching young women to conform to the standards of this world?

While the program claims to be presenting the girls with 'Christian principles', I can't help but wonder what kind of message is being promoted. Is it that our value comes from being part of God's creation, or from following fashion? Does strength come from ourselves, or from God? Is our purpose in life to live out our dreams, or to glorify God?

I have personal experience with female adolescence (surprise, surprise) and the expectations and peer pressure that goes along with it. My teenage years were not particularly fun - I went through a bit of an 'ugly duckling' phase, I got teased a lot at school and at youth group, and I was not a confident person at all. Sure, once I started wearing make-up I felt a little better about my appearance, but what really made me feel better about myself was knowing that God loved me as I was, and so much that Jesus died for me. Trying to live up to society's standards is not going to help young women at all unless they can grasp this truth.

I love that there are young, female Christian musicians around who are writing lyrics that present this kind of message. One of my favourites, which I think I have quoted before, is Bethany Dillon's song 'Beautiful'.

I was so unique
Now I feel skin deep
I count on the make-up to cover it all
Crying myself to sleep cause I cannot keep their attention
I thought I could be strong
But it's killing me

Does someone hear my cry?
I'm dying for new life

I want to be beautiful
Make you stand in awe
Look inside my heart,
and be amazed
I want to hear you say
Who I am is quite enough
Just want to be worthy of love
And beautiful

Sometimes I wish I was someone other than me
Fighting to make the mirror happy
Trying to find whatever is missing
Won't you help me back to glory

You make me beautiful
You make me stand in awe
You step inside my heart, and I am amazed
I love to hear You say
Who I am is quite enough
You make me worthy of love and beautiful

BarlowGirl don't seem to be that well-known in Australia, but they are played on 103.2 from time to time (many thanks to Donna for introducing me to their music!). I love this song 'Mirror', because it captures how our sense of self should come from our relationship with God, not how we view ourselves in the light of society's expectations.

Mirror, Mirror on the wall; Have I got it?
'Cause Mirror you've always told me who I am
I’m finding It’s not easy to be perfect
So sorry, you won’t define me
Sorry, you don’t own me

Who are you to tell me
that I’m less than what I should be?
Who are you? Who are you?
I don’t need to listen
to the list of things I should do
I won’t try; I won’t try
You don’t define me; You don’t define me

Mirror I am seeing a new reflection
I’m looking into the eyes of He who made me
To Him I have beauty beyond compare
I know He defines me

And one last one from BarlowGirl - the last few stanzas of 'Pedestal'. This is slightly off-topic, but still a great song. It's about the desire to find someone to look up to, the disappointment when our earthly role models fail to live up to our expectations, and our need to be in a relationship with God.

I can't deny this need inside
I have to find the perfect one
But I wonder if behind my need
There might just be a reason

Is my life just one big searching
For the one I can adore?
It never works
And I'm just left here wanting more

Could it be this hunger's there
To drive me to the one
Who's worthy of all worship?
Would my searching then be done?

So, do we encourage teenage girls to find their value and purpose through external beauty and inner poise? Or do we concentrate on helping them to strengthen their relationship with God: our Heavenly Father who created us and who gives our life purpose and meaning; Jesus Christ, who died to bring us back into God's family; and the Holy Spirit, who was sent as our advocate and guide?

Doesn't seem like a tough choice to me...

Awwww...

How cute is my Matey-bird?!

For those of you who have never met my gorgeous bird, this is Mate. We've enjoyed his company for about 16 or 17 years. I'm not sure exactly how old he is. He was originally my brother's bird. For some strange reason, he didn't feel the need to record Mate's birthday and celebrate it every year. When Tim moved to Canberra several years back, I inherited Mate. I don't know why, but Mate had always liked me. Maybe it's my hair - he used to like landing on my head!

For the first time in his life, Mate visited the vet today. He took it quite well actually. Impressive - he's apparently the equivalent of 70 years old! I can tell he's getting on in years - he's slowing down a bit and getting grumpier - but he's still going well.

I was a bit suspicious of vets since my budgie died last year the night after a visit to the vet. However, Mate had been getting quite agitated, squeaking and picking at his feathers. So, off we went to a specialist bird vet in Waterloo, Mate's cage strapped into the passenger seat in my car. I don't think he enjoyed the car ride much. The intertia from accelerating and decelerating disturbed him a bit, but he was still happy to chirp and whistle to me.

Mate coped very well with the vet - I was very impressed. He even had a blood test and an injection of antibiotics. I could tell he wasn't happy with me, because he ignored me all the way home, but after a bit of a rest he was talking to me again. It's probably nothing serious, but he does have a slight skin infection, and the vet also tested for kidney and liver disease (still waiting for those results). Apparently, feather-picking can be brought on by boredom and hormones. It seems that this wasn't the best time of the year for me (his 'girlfriend', as the vet called me) to have gone away for a whole month!

The main outcomes of this experience: I have to give Mate antibiotics twice a day for 10 days - holding him in a towel and putting two drops directly into his beak. I just tried this for the first time. He was not impressed! Also, Mate's diet is apparently not good, and while his weight is on the low side of normal, he has some fat deposits somewhere he's not supposed to. I didn't know this, but bird seed is the equivalent of fast food. Sunflower seeds are like McDonalds. So, Mate needs to eat more greens and stuff like pasta, rice and potato. It will be interesting trying to train him to eat this stuff! Such an old bird - he's quite set in his ways! And I've tried to give him more things to play with and destroy with that powerful little beak. I think he's a bit confused by all this new stuff!

A whole camp full of soldiers...

While overseas, I attended two conferences. The first was the annual conference of the British Society for the History of Science, held at the University of Leeds. This was quite interesting, and I met a few big names in my field. I enjoyed the second conference more, however. This was the Third International Pascal Centre Workshop - Interpreting Nature and Scripture: History of a Dialogue, held at Redeemer University College in Ancaster, Canada. It was a smaller conference but it lasted longer, so I had more opportunity to get to know people. The topic was more specialised as well, so it was closer to my own research.

Now that I've attended a couple of conferences, and I have an idea of what happens, I feel a little more confident about presenting a paper of my own. Also, my research is getting to the point where I actually have something I can talk about, instead of just vague assertions and hunches (though there's still a bit of that!) I'm hoping to head over to New Zealand in December for the annual conference of the Australasian Association for the History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Science, otherwise known as 'AAHPSSS'. (Man, these associations have mammoth names!)

Unfortunately, Australia is a little isolated academically. There aren't a huge number of opportunities to attend conferences locally. So, I'm also thinking (and dreaming) about going to the BSHS's annual postgraduate conference in January at the University of Brighton. That's Brighton in England. That means I could be in England in January. The middle of winter! To spend just three days there would be a waste of such an expensive flight, so if I go, I may as well spend a bit more time there. Paris is just a hop, skip and a jump across (or under) the Channel, so why don't I spend New Year's Eve in Paris?

NEW YEAR'S EVE IN PARIS!!

What an exciting possibility! Anyone want to join me??

Well, I'm not sure if this will happen, but it would be exciting if it did. In the meantime, I can dream!

I WANT TO GO TO BRIGHTON!

(By the way, 10 points for the first person who can tell me where the title of this post comes from. 50 points if you're a guy - I'd be very impressed!)

Amen, brother!

I was very happy to read this letter in yesterday's Herald:

Thank goodness for Dove moisturising cream. Over the weekend I saw the new ads on TV and posters on bus stops. It's just wonderful to see real women in advertisements - and don't they look fantastic with their real curves? So much more appealing than those stick figures that we see on the catwalks. Here's hoping it starts a fashion trend.

Roger Clark
Five Dock

I've been gone so long...

A long time has passed without even a hint of a posting on this blog. I'm sure you've all been waiting breathlessly for my return to the blogosphere, desperately wondering where I've been.

Did something terrible happen to her while she was away?
Is she still suffering from jetlag?
Has she given up on the blog all together?!

The answers are no, no and maybe, but not yet.

I had a fantastic time while I was overseas, packing as much as I possibly could into those four weeks. The highlight of my trip was definitely Cambridge, England. Cambridge, Massachusetts was also quite pleasant, but it doesn't even come close to the 'real' Cambridge. Such a beautiful place, relaxed but academic atmosphere, punts along the river, exquisite old buildings and the best part of all - a whole library devoted to the History and Philosophy of Science! I didn't want to leave. Sure, I could apply for a post-doctoral fellowship there once I finished my PhD, but maybe I could give up my PhD and move to Cambridge right away! The thought crossed my mind, and was entertained for more than a moment. After all, there seemed to be a number of jobs available... But I'm so over working in retail, so I decided to come home to finish my PhD. Cambridge will have to wait. Unless there's a conference there I could go to sometime...

Feeling kind of sleepy. Time to end this post. Perhaps there will be more later...

I'm leaving on a jet plane...

In about seven hours, I will be heading off on a a whirlwind round-the-world experience. Three countries and six cities in four weeks - I think I'm going to be exhausted by the time I get back!

I'm going to London, followed by Cambridge, Leeds, Ancaster (Canada), Boston and New York for a combination of conferencing, research reconnaissance and touristy sight-seeing.

I'll try to post here from time to time, to let you all know what I'm up to.

But now... I think I should go and pack my suitcase!!

Long time, no post

On Sunday, my cousin asked when I would update my blog yet. I thought it was lovely that someone actually looks forward to reading more of my ramblings!

So, here is a special message, just for my lovely cousin Caitlin!

I hope your knee isn't hurting too much, that you made it back to school today without any dramas, that you're enjoying To Kill a Mockingbird, and that you're keeping Andrew in line! Looking forward to seeing you on Tuesday (fingers crossed!)

My Russian lexicon

These are the words and phrases that I can say in Russian:

Hello

Good morning

Goodbye

Yes

No

Please

Thank you

Good

Of course

Grandma

Aunt

Mum

Dad

Stop tormenting me!

Go away

Shut up

Hug me

I love you

Christ is risen

He is risen indeed

How do you say (insert English word) in Russian?

I can't carry on a conversation yet, but it's a start!

Another crazy quiz, but I like this result!

You are Romans.


Which book of the Bible are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Grrrr...

A woman does not want the truth; what is truth to women? From the beginning, nothing has been more alien, repugnant, and hostile to woman than the truth - her great art is the lie, her highest concern is mere appearance and beauty.

Friedrich Nietzsche
- Beyond Good and Evil

Why?

I had a discussion recently with my fellow FASSerians Nadine, Shannon and Jared about the conundrum that is Paris Hilton. Jared argued that she is a postmodern icon, presenting a critique of our society. The rest of us thought this was giving her far too much credit.

Last week I received the story below from a professional history of science email list (where it actually generated some discussion...)

SCIENTISTS SEEK EXPLANATION FOR PARIS HILTON
Hotel Heiress’ Popularity the Subject of Oslo Conference

Over two thousand of the world’s leading scientists converged on Oslo, Norway to attend a conference devoted to one of modern science’s most baffling phenomena, the continuing popularity of hotel heiress Paris Hilton.

In recent years Ms. Hilton’s worldwide fame has puzzled scientists, who have been at a loss to explain the gathering celebrity of a person who by most measures does not possess a distinctive talent, ability or personality.

But as the hotel heiress’ popularity has reached critical mass over the past twelve months, some of the most prominent voices in the scientific community called for the Oslo conference, which had been originally slated to discuss global warming, to focus on Ms. Hilton’s career instead.

The University of Tokyo’s Dr. Hiroshi Kyosuke, who wrote the definitive work on how the universe was created, is among the scientists in Oslo baffled by Paris Hilton’s surging success.

“I have a much clearer idea of how the solar system came to be than I do about Paris Hilton,” Dr. Kyosuke said.

As seemingly insoluble a mystery as Paris Hilton is, however, Dr. Kyosuke hopes that the scientists in Oslo will come away with at least a workable theory of Ms. Hilton's allure.

“The better we understand how and why Paris Hilton got here, the easier it will be to predict when she will go away,” Dr. Kyosuke said.

Elsewhere, Carl Edward Roland, the man who spent 56 hours perched on a crane above Atlanta’s Buckhead district, said today that he was only trying to beat a record set by the magician David Blaine.