‘Til All Are One

Two different tests, one same outcome. Things that make you go hmmmm…

Which Transformer Are You?

You are Optimus Prime! Take this quiz! Quizilla | Join | Make A Quiz | More Quizzes | Grab Code

I AM 64% OPTIMUS PRIME

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LotD:  Transformers: The Game

"Freedom is the right of all sentient beings." — Optimus Prime

This one throwaway line in the new Transformers film is in fact homage to the original Transformers series. As observant readers of this blog may have noticed, I am quite a fan of the Transformers multiverse, particularly of the 1986 animated film (amongst other things, it has an awesome soundtrack and some great vocal work). Optimus Prime was a childhood hero of mine, so this motto has always struck a chord with me.

It also makes me wonder, if the Autobots are such strong advocates of freedom, are they themselves programmed with Free Software? Conversely, are the Decepticons proprietary?

LotD:  The 10 Real Reasons Why Geeks Make Better Lovers

A must-see film for anyone who grew up in the ’80s. 

More info here. It’s a shame that the official site requires Flash 8 to run. That locks us GNU/Linux users out

I’ve always had a passion for computing and information technology. I remember as a kid messing around with a Radio Shack computer (with 4KB RAM!!!) which my dad had bought. After this (around 1985), we purchased an IBM PC XT (with full specs as shown here, but minus the HDD). That machine proved to be an enduring source of education and entertainment. It felt so cool back then to be able to use MS-DOS 2.1 and GW-BASIC!

Over the following years I played around with new versions of DOS (by MS, IBM and even Caldera), Windows and even OS/2 (which was awesome but since it couldn’t detect my CD-ROM I was forced to use Win95). I was a natural, and I quickly became the ‘computer guy’ in my circle of friends and family. I developed a passion for technology, and I would read and experiment as much as I could on the subject.

I only considered converting that into a career in high school, but once that had happened my motivation became strong. I commenced a computer science degree at The University of Sydney, but after a year I decided that I was ill-suited to coding. By the end of the second year (during which I had deliberately avoided CS subjects), I felt that my path lay in the humanities, with information systems and government (which I was doing as a minor) looking awfully tempting. For my third year I had transferred to The University of New South Wales, doing a plain-old Science degree. This, I felt, suited my broad mind (I’m the kind of person who likes to know a little about everything) very well. After some false starts and changes, I graduated with a Bachelor of Science, majoring in History and Philosophy of Science and Technology and minoring in Government, Politics and International Relations.

What a change that was from computer science! It was truly fascinating stuff (I loved it), but unfortunately it meant that I had trouble finding decent employment. In Australia, the humanities have the highest unemployment rate of all the graduate disciplines. I didn’t want to be stuck in a dead-end office role, where most of my skills would go to waste.

For a while I had been toying with the idea of finding employment in the IT industry. Recently I concluded that it would be impossible to do this. I may have the skills (I spend most of my free time at one of my computers), but I have no formal recognition (certifications, etc.) or experience. After a couple of weeks of heavy pondering and several meetings, I decided to bite the bullet and enrol in a training college to get the qualifications I need.

Today I completed my enrolment at the Computer Power Institute of Technology, and within ten months (full time: 11am to 4pm Monday to Friday) I should have a Diploma of Information technology (Network Engineering). That’s right, I’m training to be a network engineer! That’s something I’ve dreamt about for years!

My orientation is in Monday, and I officially begin training on Tuesday. I’m so excited! I’ll going to try to be diligent in reporting my progress in this journal. If you’re reading this (that means YOU!), stay tuned.

Yesterday I watched the new Kino version of Metropolis. No, I’m not talking about the anime (which I must see sometime since I’m a huge anime fan), but the 1927 Fritz Lang cinematic masterpiece. The movie is silent and in black and white, and for the time it was very cutting-edge in terms of technology, plot, budget and overall size. Unfortunately, the original 1927 version no longer exists, but this Kino version is the most complete to date, including the excellent Gottfried Huppertz orchestral score (re-recorded to make it sound better). The score was clearly written for the movie; orchestral sounds substitute very well for the lack of speech and sound effects.

The last time I had seen Metropolis was when I was a child. Although I didn’t understand much, I was freaked out by the plot and the silent nature of the movie. I recall having a few nightmares about robots and I could not even look at the video cover (which featured a picture of the Machine-Man robot) after that.

The plot itself was very interesting. It’s amazing what can be done without any speech (there was some ‘speech’, but it was just text on the screen). Having been released during the height of the capitalist/communist struggle for political supremacy in Europe, this movie was universally panned by both sides for supposedly supporting one side or the other.

The main theme of the movie is a single phrase: "The mediator between head and hands is the heart." You’ll need to see the movie in its entirety to understand what that means. It is a very powerful theme, as is the imagery employed: mechanical machinery; a small army of uniformed, undifferentiated workers; clocks and watches; and many others.

All-in-all, I loved this movie. It’s a shame that the original no longer exists, but Kino expertly crafted the most ‘complete’ version they could. Missing scenes were summarised on the screen in text.