long time no post eh?

Well, it's been a while since I've posted here and I must say that I am sorry. I have been a bit busy of late though... Let's see... the last time I posted I think that I was in Canada.. Now I'm back in Australia. I am also no longer a research scientist either. I now work in the patent office looking at pharmaceuticals... Yup, a nice government job, no more grants to write... no more worrying about where the next paycheck is going to come from and blah blah blah...

I'm living in Canberra too.. The nation's capital, and in the mountains. I have to say though, I am really glad that I don't live in sydney. Too many people, to much traffic, too many people, and more people than I ever want to be around again. (did you catch a theme there?) I also got myself a little motorcycle to drive around. Yup, I'm a biker now. Got myself a little 2008 Honda CBR125RR. It's a fire engine red sports bike...but with a baby engine. I think that it was probably a good bike to get through my Learner's on, and then my Provisional licence, but man once I get through them, I want a 600cc sports bike. So if anyone out there wants to donate to the cause, just let me know... Just throwing the idea out there :)

Well anway, I think that I might like to go to bed now, but it's been nice catching up. I might even try to

Happy Birthday

Well, it's February 2nd again. So I would like to wish my dearly departed brother Chris a happy birthday. You would have been 32 today. Just think, 32 years ago today was born my arch nemesis, bestest child-hood friend, a participant in all my happiest memories growing up, and the cause of my saddest moment where in addition to the loss, I learned that sometimes, things don't just work out. Sometimes they hit the fan in the worst possible way. A painful lesson, but one that I will carry and remember.

BUT, I'm not bitter, harbouring guilt, or anything negative like that. I choose to remember what you were to me, good and bad. The good because that is who you were, and the bad as a reminder of how fast and far we can fall.

I still think of you daily, probably more now that I am leaving NS for Oz, and I seem to feel it more too for some reason. I don't know, and I won't stop to analyze it. Just accept the loss, accept the accompanying sadness, and try to focus the loss into something positive, and smile at you because I know you are doing the same.

You cut me deep Chris.

You cut me deep.

Happy Friday to All and to All a blah blah blah blah blah.

Well today is Friday, and it's the Friday before Christmas. Yes, I am at work, but what can I say, I have been staring at the screen for too long this week... So I'll take a break and stare at the computer screen instead.

So I've been pretty busy lately... Showing the house to some people who seem interested in it... Potential bidding war??? Would be kind of nice right before Christmas... I probably shouldn't say things like that over the internet though eh....

Also, my lovely daughter just turned 3, and my handsome devil of a son turned 7. Scary stuff that is... Truly scary. So December becomes a pretty expensive month around the Amon household.

I was reading a little review about the new Disney movie about the princess and the frog, I can't remember the name of the movie (it very well may be "The Princess and the Frog" but I don't know... Note to Disney people, it wasn't driven down our throats enough)... And the main critique was that the princess, Tianna or something like that (see: Note to Disney above) isn't a good role model for young girls as she's still the same run of the mill princess that they've been feeding us since Snow White. While Snow White was allowed to stay with the dwarves because she cooked etc (ie servant girl), Tianna is a waitress (ie servant girl), but at least she gets paid for services rendered. And she is saving up to open her own restaurant. And she's black... sorry of African decent, not from the whites in Africa, but from the other, non-white people in Africa.... (see why I hate political correctness, there are white people in Africa too.... and I thought that we all originated somewhere in Africa anyway... yes I know, the debate gets confusing. Bugger it.) So Disney is trying to appeal to the, ummmmmmm, people who... I am confused now... and now I cave in... trying to appeal to the black community. but then I am forced to remember Aladdin, I didn't realize that Aladdin's chick was white, I thought her skin was rather dark too, oh sorry, she was Disney's attempt to appeal to the Indian (not Native Americans) population... Maybe Disney was trying to break into Bollywood? Never saw that coming did you. Didn't think so.

But, what my original point was, was that Tianna is a bad role model for little girls because Disney is portraying women as servants and princesses. But the article I read really focused on her appearance in all the princessely attire that will be marketed, and not her working outfit (ie apron and waitress garb). And the article said that this was a bad thing. I don't see why.

Sure, Disney will make a mint and possibly find a way to pay off Wall Street and end the economic crisis which Obama will then get credit for (he IS the first black President of the United States (crap I said it again)) from all the little girls wanting to by princess clothes and toys etc... Take my daughter for instance. She LOVES princess stuff. Her bedspread, toys, clothes etc etc and the list even goes farther than I know. But she loves it. So why is this so bad? Why is it bad that little girls are wanting toys etc of women that are dressed well and in good shape. Unreal expectations for their own appearance?

Which is worse, providing our daughters with role models (albeit cartoon) who are in good shape and physically fit, or having the media tell us that we are all fat? On the one hand we have health professionals etc telling us that we need to start looking after ourselves better by eating right and exercising, etc so that we don't gain excess weight; and then we have critics telling us that princess etc are bad role models because most girls will never attain that appearance (because we are an overweight society)... To put in other words because I like to see myself write, Doctors say we're fat, Disney throws us skinny princesses, critics say that's bad to show our daughters.

I think someone's dumb.

I chose the positive modeling...

Let my daughter love the princess, she likes to dress and is happy.

It is possible though, that I completely missed the point of the whole article though. In which case, sorry about that... But my idea stands on its own. Do the math. You'll agree....


I've missed you blog. I've missed you for too long... Let's never fight again...

k

I'll keep this short

Hello all, and I know that you have greatly missed me. So sorry for the long absence, but I have been pretty busy with stuff and the like...

I will keep this short, but I would like to let the blogosphere know that I will be moving back to Australia as soon as possible in February of 2010. I have accepted a job working with my old department in Sydney, Australia and I am honestly excited for this next stage. I have enjoyed working and living here in Nova Scotia for the past two years, and our time here will be remembered fondly. I will, as it should go without saying, really miss my family here, as well as the friends I'll be leaving, again.

The real-estate agents are coming by our house tomorrow and we will then decide who we wish to sell the house with, and then it will be on the market as soon as possible after that. So, if you're interested in buying a house, please let me know and I will point you to mine!

I have to run back to work, but I thought that I should at least let all my readers know this.

Beware of Zombies.

I know, I am a scientist and I am writing to inform you about the very real threat of Zombies.

More specifically, what to do if they attack.

I am taking this directly from a real scientific and published article too.

For referencing:

Title: WHEN ZOMBIES ATTACK!: MATHEMATICAL MODELLING OF AN OUTBREAK OF ZOMBIE INFECTION

Authors: Philip Munz, Ioan Hudea, Joe Imad, Robert J. Smith? (Note that the "?" at the end of Smith?'s name is real and supposed to be there... That's part of his name.)

Journal: Infectious Disease Modelling Research Progress

Editors: J.M. Tchuenche and C. Chiyaka

Pages: 133-150

The paper (Introduction section) starts off by defining the zombie as:

"A zombie is a reanimated human corpse that feeds on living human flesh"

and then proceeds to give us a run-down on their historical concepts and development into what we now know are zombies as:

"slow moving, cannibalistic and undead"

and that once a susceptible human is bitten by a zombie,

"it leaves an open wound. The wound created by the zombie has the zombie’s saliva in and around it. This bodily fluid mixes with the blood, thus infecting the (previously susceptible) individual."

As this article is written by Math guys in Ottawa (Ottawa and Carleton University), there is some pretty convincing looking graphs and mathmatical bits to show that they know what they're talking about. They assess whether quarantine, or finding a cure quickly would work in preventing a zombie take-over... And they don't.

The discussion of this article starts with drawing the conclusion:

"An outbreak of zombies infecting humans is likely to be disastrous, unless extremely aggressive tactics are employed against the undead."

Which I would agree with. Especially the extremely aggressive tactics part.

The article concludes by saying that:

"In summary, a zombie outbreak is likely to lead to the collapse of civilisation, unless it is dealt with quickly. While aggressive quarantine may contain the epidemic, or a cure may lead to coexistence of humans and zombies, the most effective way to contain the rise of the undead is to hit hard and hit often. As seen in the movies, it is imperative that zombies are dealt with quickly, or else we are all in a great deal of trouble."

Lesson learned.

For further reading on this article, please follow the link ZOMBIES.

For further viewing, I would recommend....

Night of the Living Dead (1968)

Knight of the Living Dead

Shaun of the Living Dead (I liked this one alot)

Too funny...

Rebecca was just looking at some stuff on youtube, and she found this... We watched it over and over again... yes, it's that funny...

A fine day indeed

Well, there's no special reason for today being such a fine day... I'm ultra far behind in my analysis of the last 2 weeks' experiments, with no sight that next week I'll be able to do any more analysis. Which means that I will be three weeks behind in my data analysis when I take 2 weeks off for holiday... And I wish I could say that I could catch up in a week. But alas, my experiments are too big and require too much time to get all the information that I need out of them...

So I succumb and write to you.

Feel special because despite my mounting mountain that threatens to crush us all in its inforgiving weight and bulk, taking with it much of my poorly deserved sanity and dwindling patience, I choose to converse with you.

So I started playing my guitar again a while ago. And I have also put a nice Baha'i healing prayer to music which has taken me a little while, not so much on how to play it, because I had written most of the music a while ago but was struggling with words. So I opened a prayer book that was given to me as a gift from another Baha'i, and right on the inside of the cover, there was a nice and short healing prayer. How to sing it is what has taken my a little while though. I try to get through the prayer twice in the song, and the second time I sing the "verse" a bit different, maybe a fifth or so higher. I struggle with the change. I have started to record it as well, and if I could find a decent place to post it, I would. So if you find a place, let me know.

So what else is going in... My wife's parents and youngest sister are coming up from Sydney Australia in ONE WEEK!!! How awesome is that!?! We really can't wait as it's been about a year and a half since we last said good-bye, and it'll be another 3-4 weeks until we get to say good-bye again. But I assure you that the time leading up to that 3-4 week point will be well cherished. They've never been to NS before so it'll be nice to show them around a bit. We'll go down to Yarmouth to meet my parents and show them where I lived. And I think that they wanted to go to Sydney NS, to see what their Sydney lacks. And we'll see what else comes up. I am really just looking forward to even having a coffee with them. A nice chat over coffee. Just like old times.

Well, my day is now slipping away and I realize that I still have alot of crap to do before I can even begin to think about the crap that I have to start on Monday....

BUT, I would like to say that I am glad to see that my dearly beloved Aunt Marsha has written again on her blog (check the link to the right.. Couch Potato). Welcome back! facebook only has so much that it can offer you, and honestly, I now only really use it for some of the slightly addictive games that it has. If you are a friend of mine, and you look on my profile, you'll see that I have a fair number of friends now. Honestly though, I only really have about 4. and they're probably annoyed and have given up on me for my lack of contact with them (yes Mom, you are included in the 4, and the annoyed with me bit too!) The rest of the "friends" are people I require for gaming purposes. I don't know them.

Cheers,

Mike