I just finished a 1 hour tutoring class. I could not be more frustrated. The course organization is awful. I was promised to be given the tutorial problems a week before todays class, yet despite me asking the professors and course organizers, I never received them - I only had the solutions. I figured I could wing it on the spot by asking a student to lend me the text book, however no student had the textbook on them. I managed to work backwards from the solution to find out what the problem was, but it made the whole teaching process pretty confusing. To make things worse, 10 minutes of class was meant to be dedicated for the students to meet up with their group members. I thought this was going to be an easy exercise, but it turns out that the professor hadn't told them what groups they were meant to be assigned into yet. The assignment is due next week! I ended up putting students in groups organized in alphabetical order - but it took a long time and we ended up going over time.
To top it all off, students were asking about several typos in the assignment (which I haven't been given a copy of!), and there are several computer issues with the online tutorials which I don't have access to.
It's good to know this course hasn't changed since I was enrolled in it.
In other news, I made a salad yesterday. Wooh
Monday, August 26, 2013
Friday, August 23, 2013
People are dumb
I went to a debate last night that was being held at UNSW in CLB7. The debate was titled "did God create man, or did man create God". It started at 6:30 on a Friday night, which was perfect for me because I don't have friends. As soon as I entered the debate I noticed the intense security - 2 bouncers at each of the 3 entrances. The crowed was filled with at least 80% Muslims wearing burqas, dish dash's etc. There were 4 main speakers: 2 well respected Muslim writers and 2 Atheists (a journalist and the president of the Sydney University Atheist society).
Now I know you probably don't want to hear about philosophy or religion very much, so to make this a little less painful, I'll stuff in the occasional racist joke.
The first speaker talked about a supposed proof of the existence of God. His first line was "Allah Exists because it's obvious he exists and it's common sense. And the 'atheist narrative' is patently immoral." Later through his speech, he made arguments for the proof of God which were essentially a pretty reworking of Thomas Aquinas's first cause argument and also countless of examples showing the inner evil of atheism.
At that point, I figured the debate couldn't get any worse. I was wrong. The Sydney Atheist leader stood up to make rebuttal speech and I couldn't have been more disappointed. There were so many gaps in the previous argument that I thought could have been refuted that would have been relevant to the question. Instead, he stood up and rambled on about the immorality of religion and relied upon analogy to 'prove' his points.
I left the debate shortly afterwards because I knew this was just going to be another debate where both sides would completely miss the question. This is the 3rd religious debate I've attended in Sydney and they all end up the same way. All speakers come in to address a certain question, but then get side tracked and go down the morality path. Whether God is moral or not is a completely separate question.
What frustrates me most, however, was how the people who attended these debates don't go for the sake of acquiring knowledge or new ideas - they go to hear what they want to hear. The Muslims who were bursting out "insh'Allah" to the accusations that atheists were immoral weren't attending the debate to get their ideas challenged. They were going to reaffirm their belief that Allah is the one and only God. This is a scary thought and it leaves me quite pessimistic about humanity as a whole.
I think this goes further than religion though. I'd suspect it's human nature to want to reinforce cultural bias. The election coming up between Tony Abbott and Kevin Rudd is a pretty good example. I think we're all sick to death of seeing the ads on TV about how Tony Abbott is an evil criminal out to destroy Australia or how Kevin Rudd is trying to destroy jobs etc. But these ads are on TV because this shit actually works!
I was talking to a roommate a few days ago and he/she told me that he/she could never vote for Kevin Rudd because he's too smug. Whilst that may be true, it's so totally important NOT to judge someones ability to serve as prime minister based off their character traits! Vote for the party, not the person. Vote based off the political policies the party plans to implement, and ignore the irrelevant character traits and awkward photo shoots. Fuck.
Alright alright, I've you're still reading this then you've been really patient with me, so I feel like I need to reward you with a racist joke.
Question: "What is the difference between a couch and an Asian you see on the street?"
Answer: "Nothing. They're both made in China.
Now I know you probably don't want to hear about philosophy or religion very much, so to make this a little less painful, I'll stuff in the occasional racist joke.
The first speaker talked about a supposed proof of the existence of God. His first line was "Allah Exists because it's obvious he exists and it's common sense. And the 'atheist narrative' is patently immoral." Later through his speech, he made arguments for the proof of God which were essentially a pretty reworking of Thomas Aquinas's first cause argument and also countless of examples showing the inner evil of atheism.
At that point, I figured the debate couldn't get any worse. I was wrong. The Sydney Atheist leader stood up to make rebuttal speech and I couldn't have been more disappointed. There were so many gaps in the previous argument that I thought could have been refuted that would have been relevant to the question. Instead, he stood up and rambled on about the immorality of religion and relied upon analogy to 'prove' his points.
I left the debate shortly afterwards because I knew this was just going to be another debate where both sides would completely miss the question. This is the 3rd religious debate I've attended in Sydney and they all end up the same way. All speakers come in to address a certain question, but then get side tracked and go down the morality path. Whether God is moral or not is a completely separate question.
What frustrates me most, however, was how the people who attended these debates don't go for the sake of acquiring knowledge or new ideas - they go to hear what they want to hear. The Muslims who were bursting out "insh'Allah" to the accusations that atheists were immoral weren't attending the debate to get their ideas challenged. They were going to reaffirm their belief that Allah is the one and only God. This is a scary thought and it leaves me quite pessimistic about humanity as a whole.
I think this goes further than religion though. I'd suspect it's human nature to want to reinforce cultural bias. The election coming up between Tony Abbott and Kevin Rudd is a pretty good example. I think we're all sick to death of seeing the ads on TV about how Tony Abbott is an evil criminal out to destroy Australia or how Kevin Rudd is trying to destroy jobs etc. But these ads are on TV because this shit actually works!
I was talking to a roommate a few days ago and he/she told me that he/she could never vote for Kevin Rudd because he's too smug. Whilst that may be true, it's so totally important NOT to judge someones ability to serve as prime minister based off their character traits! Vote for the party, not the person. Vote based off the political policies the party plans to implement, and ignore the irrelevant character traits and awkward photo shoots. Fuck.
Alright alright, I've you're still reading this then you've been really patient with me, so I feel like I need to reward you with a racist joke.
Question: "What is the difference between a couch and an Asian you see on the street?"
Answer: "Nothing. They're both made in China.
Thursday, August 22, 2013
Smart Sparrow
Both of my jobs are awesome. I love tutoring because it's one of the few things I think i'm kinda good at. Sadly however, the course topics are getting progressively harder, so I can notice the kids who are falling behind because they haven't done any homework since the start of semester. The other job is starting to get really interesting too. Even though it's mostly about computer coding (which I thought I would hate), it's kinda cool being able to have an influence on a program that could be revolutionary to the way Universities teach. UNSW is working with a company who created a program called Smart Sparrow, and I do all my coding through that program and adobe Director. My first project is to create an online tutorial for an Engineering Design course. I think that's really cool because Engineering design, unlike any other Engineering course, has multiple different answers which gives me an opportunity to be creative. Check out the link to see a brief sugar loaded ad for what our team does http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tc9ZlBUQ7hU
I figure I'm probably boring you with Engineering, but in for a penny, in for a pound... I also went to a lecture today (I know, I know) for my Design course. The guest speaker was talking about intellectual property. I took the lecturers card and kept it for potential later use. I've been clutching onto an idea for a few months now that I think is a good invention that could generate electricity. Maybe it'll be worth looking into once I graduate? It almost certainly won't, but maybe it will :)
In other news, I have snapchat now. That's right, if you know me and if you're a good friend of mine prepare yourself to be bombarded with photos of; food, dog shit, broken stuff, beer and selfies.
Oh, I also decided to hop on the bandwagon and join twitter. So far I don't feel attached to it at all, but i'll give it a while for it's heroin type affect to drag me into it's beauty.
I figure I'm probably boring you with Engineering, but in for a penny, in for a pound... I also went to a lecture today (I know, I know) for my Design course. The guest speaker was talking about intellectual property. I took the lecturers card and kept it for potential later use. I've been clutching onto an idea for a few months now that I think is a good invention that could generate electricity. Maybe it'll be worth looking into once I graduate? It almost certainly won't, but maybe it will :)
In other news, I have snapchat now. That's right, if you know me and if you're a good friend of mine prepare yourself to be bombarded with photos of; food, dog shit, broken stuff, beer and selfies.
Oh, I also decided to hop on the bandwagon and join twitter. So far I don't feel attached to it at all, but i'll give it a while for it's heroin type affect to drag me into it's beauty.
Saturday, August 17, 2013
watching grass grow
Good news! I finished the City2Surf in 1 hour and 9 minutes! I know that's a pretty bad time by most peoples standards, but in all honestly, i'm just glad I finished the run. Sadly however, the run came at the cost of my hearing ability. I listened to bangarang waaaaaaaay too many times. But on the bright side, I also hear faint echos of dubstep wherever I go, which is kinda cool.
A friend of mine from my old old high school, JIS, contacted me yesterday telling me he was in Sydney. I left JIS in grade 8 which means I haven't seen this guy in about 9 years. His name is Dallas, so I'm just going to assume he's a Texan redneck now.
Uni work is piling up and I’m finding myself disgustingly calm about it. I really need to get working on my assignments now so I can finish them on time. Buuuuuuuuuuuut they’re soooooooooo booooooring :(
In other news, Jasper and I have decided to collect discarded couches from around the neighborhood and litter them around the outskirts of our back yard. I'ts mainly to entertain guests for the party we're hosting sometime later this month. However, we've discovered that we can also use these couches as an alternative to cutting the grass. We leave a couch on one spot of the backyard for a few weeks to suffocate the grass from sunlight, then we move the couch. I like to think of it as a modern day crop rotation technique - bring on the next agricultural revolution!
A friend of mine from my old old high school, JIS, contacted me yesterday telling me he was in Sydney. I left JIS in grade 8 which means I haven't seen this guy in about 9 years. His name is Dallas, so I'm just going to assume he's a Texan redneck now.
Uni work is piling up and I’m finding myself disgustingly calm about it. I really need to get working on my assignments now so I can finish them on time. Buuuuuuuuuuuut they’re soooooooooo booooooring :(
In other news, Jasper and I have decided to collect discarded couches from around the neighborhood and litter them around the outskirts of our back yard. I'ts mainly to entertain guests for the party we're hosting sometime later this month. However, we've discovered that we can also use these couches as an alternative to cutting the grass. We leave a couch on one spot of the backyard for a few weeks to suffocate the grass from sunlight, then we move the couch. I like to think of it as a modern day crop rotation technique - bring on the next agricultural revolution!
Friday, August 9, 2013
jobs
I just finished week 2 which means that I've completed my first week of being a tutor. I love it. It's the first job I've started where I haven't been yelled at by the boss and/or started a fire. It's a lot more rewarding than the private math tutoring job I had once I left high school. All the students are really clever and attentive which makes it really fun to engage them with difficult questions. I also just got hired to work as a partial web designer for this new program UNSW is designing. It's called SmartSparrow and my professor has hopes that it'll compete with the MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) released by M.I.T. and Stanford.
In other news, I'm running the City2Surf tomorrow. I'm nowhere near ready. The gym membership I purchased isn't working - the card has been in my pocket for 3 whole days now, but I still don't feel any fitter. I'm in the red group which means that I'm at the front of the pack. I really want to paint half my face blue, carry a fake sword with me and shout out "FREEDOM"! at the top of my lungs when the gun goes off but sadly all my friends are in the green group, so there's not much point.
In other other news, Jasper left his phone in my room accidently last night. He also accidently left his 6:00am alarm on even though he didn't need it. I think I activated my inner cave man this morning because I grabbed the phone, meshed the keypad with my palm a few times, then gave up and chucked it at Jaspers door.
In other other other news, I discovered an easy and convenient way to make penne. I was playing computer games with Lachie and Collin for a few hours last night, and decided I didn't have enough time to overlook boiling pasta - so I decided to let the pasta sit in a bowl of warm water for 2 hours. By the time I got back to it, the pasta was perfect (by my standards). The roommates had a very different perception about leaving Penne to marinate in water, but I could tell they were just jealous. I've decided to copyright this invention and call it Manne. All the Italians will wan't Manne once they hear about this.
In other news, I'm running the City2Surf tomorrow. I'm nowhere near ready. The gym membership I purchased isn't working - the card has been in my pocket for 3 whole days now, but I still don't feel any fitter. I'm in the red group which means that I'm at the front of the pack. I really want to paint half my face blue, carry a fake sword with me and shout out "FREEDOM"! at the top of my lungs when the gun goes off but sadly all my friends are in the green group, so there's not much point.
In other other news, Jasper left his phone in my room accidently last night. He also accidently left his 6:00am alarm on even though he didn't need it. I think I activated my inner cave man this morning because I grabbed the phone, meshed the keypad with my palm a few times, then gave up and chucked it at Jaspers door.
In other other other news, I discovered an easy and convenient way to make penne. I was playing computer games with Lachie and Collin for a few hours last night, and decided I didn't have enough time to overlook boiling pasta - so I decided to let the pasta sit in a bowl of warm water for 2 hours. By the time I got back to it, the pasta was perfect (by my standards). The roommates had a very different perception about leaving Penne to marinate in water, but I could tell they were just jealous. I've decided to copyright this invention and call it Manne. All the Italians will wan't Manne once they hear about this.
Friday, August 2, 2013
Jet Laaaaaaaaaag
I still can't sleep. I'm fighting with my brain 24/7 to make me sleep at the right time. If I were to personify my brain, he would be a patronizing, stubborn British Gentleman in his early 40's named 'James'.
The arguments James and I have when I try to go to bed go something like this:
Matt: Alright brain, let me sleep.
James: I can't let you do that, Matt.
Matt: But we're in Australia now!
James: No, I'm very sure we're still in China.
Matt: It's dark outside!
James: Don't worry, I'll wake you up at 3:00am.
Other than my recent downfall into schizophrenia, not much has happened in my life since I've been back. Perhaps the most interesting and exciting event I accomplished since being back was making my first bucket of curry. It's amazing how fast I can regress back into my old self once given the option of TV, Mario Kart and a fridge full of food. I'm kind of like the incredible hulk in a way, except I'm triggered by hunger and I transform into a hobo.
In other news, class is kinda cool. One of my subjects MMAN4100 (or is it MECH4100? I dunno, i'll write down whatever the course name is once I'm given it in the exam) is really cool. It's a subject based on job experience. They get about 12 companies who have really creative problems they want solved ranging from resizing crates to noise dampening centrifuges. These companies don't want to actually pay people to do their work, so they come to Uni and make students solve their problems for them and 'pay' them with compulsory work experience. It's a balanced deal though because what the companies gain by not paying students, they loose by having inexperienced idiots solve complicated problems.
I really want to see what vibration analysis is like in the real world so I think i'm going to join Sydney Water's project and see if I can figure out their resonance issue. I would ideally like to do something more directly related to mechanical engineering but all the real world problems are solved by mindlessly plugging values into a computer and seeing what pops up. Vibration analysis (so I'm told) is one of the last areas of mechanical engineering that isn't hijacked by computer analysis.
This is all coming at a good time because my industrial training report that I handed in last year just got marked. 100%! Wooh
The arguments James and I have when I try to go to bed go something like this:
Matt: Alright brain, let me sleep.
James: I can't let you do that, Matt.
Matt: But we're in Australia now!
James: No, I'm very sure we're still in China.
Matt: It's dark outside!
James: Don't worry, I'll wake you up at 3:00am.
Other than my recent downfall into schizophrenia, not much has happened in my life since I've been back. Perhaps the most interesting and exciting event I accomplished since being back was making my first bucket of curry. It's amazing how fast I can regress back into my old self once given the option of TV, Mario Kart and a fridge full of food. I'm kind of like the incredible hulk in a way, except I'm triggered by hunger and I transform into a hobo.
In other news, class is kinda cool. One of my subjects MMAN4100 (or is it MECH4100? I dunno, i'll write down whatever the course name is once I'm given it in the exam) is really cool. It's a subject based on job experience. They get about 12 companies who have really creative problems they want solved ranging from resizing crates to noise dampening centrifuges. These companies don't want to actually pay people to do their work, so they come to Uni and make students solve their problems for them and 'pay' them with compulsory work experience. It's a balanced deal though because what the companies gain by not paying students, they loose by having inexperienced idiots solve complicated problems.
I really want to see what vibration analysis is like in the real world so I think i'm going to join Sydney Water's project and see if I can figure out their resonance issue. I would ideally like to do something more directly related to mechanical engineering but all the real world problems are solved by mindlessly plugging values into a computer and seeing what pops up. Vibration analysis (so I'm told) is one of the last areas of mechanical engineering that isn't hijacked by computer analysis.
This is all coming at a good time because my industrial training report that I handed in last year just got marked. 100%! Wooh
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