Author: cottonward

‘We couldn’t see through the bullsh*t’

Was snoozing through a postgrad info evening at the Hilton tonight, as previous stellar alumni were prattling on about how great the uni is, when one of the presenters [I haven’t included his name here, as I might follow it up] spoke about how he’d already had a great uni degree but when he hit his mid-30s, he was working for a big institution and a stream of quantitative finance graduates started giving presentations to the company based on the latest mathematical theories. “I started feeling like an old fogey. I didn’t know what these new theories were. We couldn’t see through the bullsh*t because we couldn’t understand what they were talking about.” He added that on a global scale, “that’s why the GFC happened”.

So several years ago he went back to uni, studied and caught up. ‘”When they came in and did a presentation, I knew what they were talking about. I could point out holes in their theories. They couldn’t bullsh*t me.”

On the study front, he said postgrads should expect to spend three hours out of class studying for every one hour of time spent in class.

‘Undergraduate life was all
about recreation, fornication,
inebriation and application’

he said, warning us “it’s different for postgrads” and we’d all have to work hard and get high marks. Every speaker urged us to do the postgrad courses part-time — classes are held on weeknights and intensives on weekends.

And another thing …

Gordon Boyd dead at 86

Gordon Boyd
Gordon Boyd

He had a lovely deep voice. He hosted the talent program Showcase from 1965-1969. The musical director was the famous Hector Crawford. For Showcase, they travelled around the country, looking for the best acts. It was vastly different to the approach and attitude of Australian Idol! Showcase also ran again in 1974.

(I sound like I should be in the Masters Games, which are on in Sydney now.  It looks like they’re all having fun. Prince Frederick got dumped in the Harbour during the yacht race. A competitor has died —  in his late 40s. )

Cheesybite

CPS.SYV91.071009091943.photo00.quicklook.default-180x245

I hate it. It’s based on the traditional Aussie Vegemite but has to be kept in the fridge (unlike Vegemite, which is so full of salt it could last anywhere). Cheesybite is a mild caramel colour and lacks the saltiness and tang of Vegemite. Kraft says they made Cheesybite so you can spread it without butter. But I spread my Vegemite without butter anyway, as I usually have it on water crackers. I like it thick and plain. I prefer the biting flavour of Vegemite.

Also, Cheesybite has less vitamins, less salt and more fat.  It will always be chilled because you have to keep it in the fridge. And you have to eat it within four weeks, whereas Vegemite lasts forever. Fail!

Pooh, a bear of Very Little Brain returns

7240383A new book has been written by David Benedictus. I read an extract on Sunday.  It doesn’t quite match the same tone and whimsiness of the A.A. Milne classical stories. It has the basic character traits right (which would be difficult to get wrong, since they’re so thoroughly outlined on websites.)

Favourite original quotes, which I got from here:

“It is more fun to talk with someone who doesn’t use long, difficult words but rather short, easy words like ‘What about lunch?’ ”
— Winnie the Pooh

“Just because an animal is large, it doesn’t mean he doesn’t want kindness; however big Tigger seems to be, remember that he wants as much kindness as Roo.”
— Winnie the Pooh

“If you live to be 100, I hope I live to be 100 minus 1 day, so I never have to live without you.”
— Winnie the Pooh

It’s about the return of Christopher Robin (the real one died in 1995). I will definitely get it. Am struggling to get through Tony Abbott’s Battlelines at the moment. A bit yawnful.

A copyright-free pic by Spictacular. Tigger, Kanga, Edward Bear (Winnie-the-Pooh), Eeyore, and Piglet.
A copyright-free pic by Spictacular. Tigger, Kanga, Edward Bear (Winnie-the-Pooh), Eeyore, and Piglet.

Police are spying on us

Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House on an overcast day.
A mega-crim's getaway boat? Or just part of the NSW ferries service? It was suitably dark and overcast at the Dangerous Ideas conference.

David Mutton, who was the NSW Police’s chief psychologist for 11 years, is now a lecturer at UWS in forensic psychology. “Crime pays,” he said, conceding he’d made a good living out of it.

He was speaking at the Dangerous Ideas conference at the Sydney Opera House. Mutton said that most people think it’s OK if the police spy on lots of people because “if you’re not doing anything wrong, it doesn’t matter”.

But then he gave us an example of how a “cleanskin” (innocent person) can be under surveillance for being unwittingly associated with a criminal — eg. the criminal’s accountant or former school friend. He told a story of how a woman at a bar could get involved with a criminal, unknowingly, and then all her activities, including bedroom gymnastics, would be caught on film, phone, email etc and observed/cheered on by the surveillance team.

Also, if you’re a cleanskin, you can be called in and be forced to tell the truth and spill your guts about anything you know (under pain of five years’ jail if you lie or refuse to talk). These meetings are kept secret (you hope!).  “There’s no right to silence,” Mutton said, despite your innocence and lack of involvement.

By monitoring phone conversations, police psychologists can detect criminals’ vulnerabilities and use that to derail them, particularly in interviews.

Continue reading Police are spying on us