Monday, February 26, 2007

My Next Holiday

As I alluded to (hehe, I think it may have been more than an allusion) in my previous post I am off to India in April with one of my friends for a holiday. A few of you have asked when I'll be going and where I'll be staying and as I just received my flight itinerary I thought I'd post it here. I'll be spending all my time, outside of transit, in Udaipur. I'm actually starting to get a little excited now.


Itinerary-

Saturday April 7 - Depart Brisbane for Singapore.

Sunday April 8 - Depart Singapore for Delhi.

----

Saturday April 21 - Depart Delhi for Singapore.

Sunday April 22 - Depart Singapore for Brisbane.

Philosophy, Morality & Society - Major essay - Pt. 2

Another semester down, phew. For whatever reason, well actually many reasons, I was just overwhelmed this semester. It's not that the work was too hard or anything similar I think that it has more to do with the fact that I've not had more than a single weekend off for over a year. My plan to remedy this: an international holiday. That's right, I'm off to India in a few weeks. I thought that unless I just make a booking I'll never give myself a break so that's what I did.

I got my final essay in today. I had quite a bit of trouble reducing that argument to so few words. There is just so much more information I wanted to include but I had to leave it out. If anyone wants to read my essay you can find it HERE or browse through some of my others by clicking |uni papers| above.

This semester I'm studying three subjects: An Introduction to Buddhism - Body & Mind - Business & Professional Ethics. I'm looking forward to all three but I am perhaps more eager to get back into the religious studies subject and the Body & Mind subject looks quite good too. Having said that I'll probably end up enjoying Business & Professional Ethics more :)

Now to get back to the Buddhism lectures.

Thursday, February 22, 2007

Philosophy, Morality & Society - Major essay

I'm having one hell of a time writing this last essay for Philosophy, Morality & Society and it is not just the crappy word count. Well, the word count is pretty limiting; with only 1500 words I'm not sure how anyone can do justice to any question! My essay question is to describe how Professor Peter Singer argues that the interests of animals should be given equal consideration with the interests of Human beings and to outline whether I think that there is a moral divide between human and non-human animals. I think that there isn't any morally significant difference but how am I supposed to answer this question in only 1500 words!

Secondly, I received a telephone call from Centerlink, Australia's state welfare agency, the other day and I was advised that I am being cut off my meager pension. The reason, basically, is because of a loophole. I'm on disability pension (DSP) and, it seems, that to be eligible for DSP the candidate doesn't only need a debilitating medical condition but that condition needs to be being currently treated and stabalised.

Now this seems adequate on the surface but in my case I seem to slip through the cracks. Let me explain. I have a debilitating back condition. I usually describe it as a broken back but no vertebrae are in fact damaged. I have a perforated disk. The fluid in this disk has since drained out and I've been left with a mass of scar tissue surrounding the disk. The problem with this is that the disk itself has no nerves, and for good reason. If the disk had nerves every time you moved you would aggravate those nerves as each vertebrae slid around. Scar tissue has nerves so every time I move my spine I get quite severe pain. Surgery is out as the disks above and below are showing signs of weakness and were surgery to be performed the pressure on these disks would increase exponentially and hence increase the risk of them deteriorating further.

Now, on the surface, this would seem like a pretty good case for DSP but this is where the loophole comes into question. The criteria states that the condition needs to be stabalised and being currently treated. I've had masses of treatment and the outcome was, basically, that there is nothing that can be done other than some physio to slightly increase my mobility. Since then I have received no treatment, because none is available, and my condition isn't stabalised, it's in fact getting worse, because of there being no treatment available.

So because there is no treatment available for this condition I am not entitled to DSP. Now this seems absolutely absurd to me. My only option is to seek out the same, expensive, treatment that I've already had so I can reapply for DSP. It seems absolutely absurd that people with treatable conditions are eligible for DSP but people with medical conditions of which there is no available treatment are not entitled to DSP. In my opinion I think that this should be reversed if anything. What a way to clog up our health system; have possibly thousands of people with un-treatable medical conditions receive treatment that will do nothing just so they can get the pension that they need because they have limited-to-no access to work.

So this is my dilemma this week. I have this essay to complete but I'm also battling state bureaucracy and back to receiving daily treatment that I not only don't need but have to take time out of studying to travel to.

Bloody Centerlink. Your admin really need to go and read some Rawls.

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Second Philosophy Essay

I received the comments back for my second essay this semester and I would have to say that I'm in complete agreement with them. Usually I'd disagree and pick the markers comments apart but this time I'm fine with them. I knew I wasn't perfect...this time.

You see, I'm having trouble answering the essay questions with such a tiny word limit - 1500 words. The question for this last essay was 'What are the central claims of moral relativism? Is moral relativism a plausible meta-ethical theory? Answer with reference to both objections to the theory and defences of it'. To me, at least, I had no idea how to answer this question, coherently and justly, in only 1500 words; and this seemed to be the only criticism of my essay, in essence.

I have two sets of comments for this essay, the first set from the guy who marked it and the second from my tutor. Both were almost identical. My arguments were clear, my exmples were unique and interesting, and the essay shows 'shows abundant research, passion, and understanding'.

The negative criticisms were uniform too and basically said that I was too ambitious and tried to cover too much ground with too few words; and I totally agree - I am ambitious!

Now, at least, I know where I need to focus for the next essay.

Friday, February 16, 2007

Peta's Chicken Adds

The results are in for the add competition that the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, PETA, were conducting. The competition was aimed at people with advertising and/or artistic skills to produce an add addressing the plight of chickens in the world. There are some fantastic entries but don't just take my word for it, have a look yourself. LINK

Milk Gone Wild!



I'm vegan, how about you?

University of the Sunshine Coast

Today I was at the University of the Sunshine Coast talking to my friend at the Student Union 'cause they (the Uni) have been advertising for at least four years that in their Bachelor of Social Science (community work) degree the student has the option of taking an international placement. Jodie went to see the coordinator to organise this international placement and it turns out that it is not actually available. While it was once an option it is no longer; no one has been able to do an international placement for at least four years. The University still advertises that it is an option however, hence getting the Student Union on their case.

It seems a little strange that since the University has known for four years (at least) that NO student is able to do an international placement that they still advertise it as an option. It would seem that their advertising guys, or girls, are not afraid of euphemistic lies.

The University of the Sunshine Coast has great academics and, now with wireless networking, pretty good facilities too. I say pretty good because the car parking is the worst on the coast. It is such a shame that their second, or third, rate administration is letting them down. If you're going to advertise yourself as a University with such high standard academics then get some better administration staff to go along with it. Administration is pretty vital to be accepted as your weakest link.

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Work

I started working back at Govinda's Vegetarian Cafè today. For those of you in the area, or who are just curious, this is the location on Google Maps --LINK-- I was a bit worried that I'd have forgotten my recipes, or more that I may be a bit slow and not have everything ready in time, but it all ran smoothly. I cooked a Potato, Cauliflower and Zucchini vegetable curry, Mixed Vegetable Pakoras, a special Dhal (it was actually a bit of a compromise but special sounds better), A Mango Semolina Halava, Papadums and Plain White Rice. I'll be back working there tomorrow as I'm now doing Tuesdays and Wednesdays but I'm yet to know what I'll be cooking; just have to wait and see what veges are available. I would have preferred more spices to work with too but I think I went okay considering the outcome.

To Those of you who have been asking for recipes and cooking advice, I'm considering starting up a web page where I'll host my recipes and cooking advice. Probably a bit of simple food related philosophy too. When I get some time and get all this together I'll let you all know the URL.

Anyhow, back to researching this Peter Singer essay.

Friday, February 09, 2007

Re: New Blogger Three Column Layout pt. 3

I got it figured. Damn that took ages. No to just adjust some of the styles etc.

Re: New Blogger Three Column Layout pt. 2

It seems that the code didn't display. Anyone know how to display all the html code in a blogger post?

New Blogger three column layout pt. 2

Thanks Been for helping with the new three columns. The two sidebars are now good and the center column is now dynamic but only sideways. I've had to change the overflow to auto so the content would show. With overflow on hidden or commented out it just displayed what was on the screen and nothing more. Strange seen as there is no height property. Still need to adjust the margins a little too. I'll wait 'till the columns are done first though. I'll post the code here just in the off chance someone stumbles across this post who knows what to do. I wish I could have just started from scratch.

<!-- The code -->






<data:blog.pagetitle/>
* -----------------------------------------------
* Blogger Template Style
* Name: Mr. Moto Rising (Ellington style)
* Designer: Jeffrey Zeldman
* URL: www.zeldman.com
* Date: 23 Feb 2004
* Updated by: Blogger Team
* ----------------------------------------------- */


p.navigation-bar {background-color: #ffffff;}

p.navigation-bar {background-color: #ffffff;

text-align: center}

p.navigation-bar {background-color: #ffffff;

border: medium #ffffff solid;

text-align: center}

p.navigation-bar {background-color: #ffffff;

border: small #ffffff solid;

padding: 1%;

text-align: center}

p.navigation-bar a:link

p.navigation-bar a:visited

p.navigation-bar a:link {color: white;

text-decoration: none}

p.navigation-bar a:hover {background-color: #D3D3D3;

color: #ffffff;

text-decoration: none}


/* Variable definitions
====================
type="color" default="#ffffff" value="#ffffff">
type="color" default="#555555" value="#555555">
type="color" default="#ffffee" value="#ffffee">
type="color" default="#ffffee" value="#ffffee">
type="color" default="#999988" value="#999988">
type="color" default="#bbbbaa" value="#bbbbaa">
type="color" default="#555544" value="#555544">
type="color" default="#555544" value="#555544">
type="color" default="#555555" value="#555555">

default="normal normal 100% 'tahoma Trebuchet MS', lucida, helvetica, sans-serif" value="normal normal 100% 'tahoma Trebuchet MS', lucida, helvetica, sans-serif">
*/

/* Primary layout */

body {
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
border: 0;
text-align: center;
color: $mainTextColor;
font-size: small;
}

img {
border: 0;
display: block;
}

.clear {
clear: both;
}
/* Wrapper */

#outer-wrapper {
margin: 0 auto;
border: 0;
width: 100%;
text-align: left;
background: $mainBgColor url(http://www.) top right repeat-y;
font: $bodyFont;
}

/* Header */

#header-wrapper {
*/background: #bba url(http://www.blogblog.com/moto_mr/headbotborder.gif) bottom left repeat-x;
margin: 0 auto;
padding: 0 0 15px 0;
border: 0;
}

#header h1 {
text-align: left;
font-size: 200%;
color: $pageHeaderColor;
margin: 0;
padding: 15px 20px 0 20px;
background-image: url(http://www.blogblog.com/moto_mr/topper.gif);
background-repeat: repeat-x;
background-position: top left;
}

h1 a, h1 a:link, h1 a:visited {
color: $pageHeaderColor;
}

#header .description {
font-size: 110%;
text-align: left;
padding: 3px 20px 10px 23px;
margin: 0;
line-height:140%;
color: $blogDescriptionColor;
}


/* Nav Bar */

#navbar-wrapper {
padding: 0 16px;
}

#navbar {
width: 100%;
float: left;
}

/* Inner layout */

#content-wrapper {
width: 100%;
margin: 0 auto;
padding: 0px 0;
}

#main {
position: fixed;
padding: 15px 15px 15px 15px;
top: 200px;
left: 226px; /*Set left value to WidthOfLeftFrameDiv*/
right: 226px; /*Set right value to WidthOfRightFrameDiv*/
bottom: 0;
word-wrap: break-word; /* fix for long text breaking sidebar float in IE */
overflow: auto; /* fix for long non-text content breaking IE sidebar float */
}

#sidebar, #sidebar-l {
position: fixed;
padding: 5px 5px 5px 5px;
left: 0;
width: 226px; /*Width of left frame div*/
height: ;
overflow: vhidden; /*Disable scrollbars. Set to "scroll" to enable*/
}

#sidebar {
left: auto;
padding: 5px 5px 5px 5px;
right: 0;
width: 226px;
color: $sidebarTextColor;
word-wrap: break-word; /* fix for long text breaking sidebar float in IE */
overflow: hidden; /* fix for long non-text content breaking IE sidebar float */
}

#sidebar-l {
color: $sidebarTextColor;
word-wrap: break-word; /* fix for long text breaking sidebar float in IE */
overflow: hidden; /* fix for long non-text content breaking IE sidebar float */
}

/* Bottom layout */

#footer {
clear: left;
margin: 0;
padding: 0 20px;
border: 0;
text-align: left;
border-top: 1px solid #f9f9f9;
}

#footer .widget {
text-align: left;
margin: 0;
padding: 10px 0;
background-color: transparent;
}

/* Default links */

a:link, a:visited {
font-weight: bold;
text-decoration: none;
color: $linkColor;
background: transparent;
}

a:hover {
font-weight: bold;
text-decoration: underline;
color: $hoverLinkColor;
background: transparent;
}

a:active {
font-weight : bold;
text-decoration : none;
color: $hoverLinkColor;
background: transparent;
}

/* Typography */

.main p, .sidebar p {
line-height: 140%;
margin-top: 5px;
margin-bottom: 1em;
}

h2, h3, h4, h5 {
margin: 0;
padding: 0;
}

h2 {
font-size: 130%;
}

h2.date-header {
color: $dateHeaderColor;
}

.post h3 {
margin-top: 5px;
font-size: 120%;
}

.post-footer {
font-style: italic;
}

.sidebar h2 {
color: $sidebarHeaderColor;
}

.sidebar-l h2 {
color: $sidebarHeaderColor;
}

.sidebar .widget {
margin: 12px 0 13px 0;
padding: 0;
}

.sidebar-l .widget {
margin: 12px 0 13px 0;
padding: 0;
}

.main .widget {
margin: 12px 0 0 0 ;
}

li {
line-height: 160%;
}

.sidebar ul {
margin-left: 0;
margin-top: 0;
padding-left: 0;
}

.sidebar-l ul {
margin-left: 0;
margin-top: 0;
padding-left: 0;
}

.sidebar ul li {
list-style: disc url(http://www.blogblog.com/moto_mr/diamond.gif) inside;
vertical-align: top;
padding: 0;
margin: 0;
}

.sidebar-l ul li {
list-style: disc url(http://www.blogblog.com/moto_mr/diamond.gif) inside;
vertical-align: top;
padding: 0;
margin: 0;
}

.widget-content {
margin-top: 0.5em;
}


/* Profile
----------------------------------------------- */

.profile-datablock {
margin: 3px 0 5px 0;
line-height: 140%;
}
.profile-textblock {
margin-left: 0;
}

.profile-img {
float: left;
margin: 0 10px 5px 0;
border:4px solid #ccb;
}

#comments {
border: 0;
border-top: 1px dashed #eed;
margin: 10px 0 0 0;
padding: 0;
}

#comments h4 {
margin-top: 10px;
margin-bottom: -10px;
font-weight: normal;
font-style: italic;
text-transform: uppercase;
letter-spacing: 1px;
}

#comments dl dt {
font-weight: bold;
font-style: italic;
margin-top: 35px;
padding: 1px 0 0 18px;
background: transparent url(http://www.blogblog.com/moto_mr/commentbug.gif) top left no-repeat;
}

#comments dl dd {
padding: 0;
margin: 0;
}

.deleted-comment {
font-style:italic;
color:gray;
}

.feed-links {
clear: both;
line-height: 2.5em;
}

#blog-pager-newer-link {
float: left;
}

#blog-pager-older-link {
float: right;
}

#blog-pager {
text-align: center;
}

/** Page structure tweaks for layout editor wireframe */

body#layout #outer-wrapper {
padding-top: 0;
}
body#layout #header,
body#layout #content-wrapper,
body#layout #footer {
padding: 0;
}
]]>




From here everything is just contained in its own div.

Thursday, February 08, 2007

Three Column New Blogger

How's everyone liking the my new three column layout? I wish Blogger.com had a three column template as it would have saved me quite a bit of trouble. This is when I wish I was a programmer! Sites still getting a once over so there'll likely still be few posts here for a while. Be sure to check out my other blog by clicking Philosophy and Religion in my new nav bar above.

Changes to come will hopefully be some dynamic sizes for my containers, not sidebars though, and......well, I'm not really sure at the moment.

Prize!

Today I found out I won a prize; it's a CD but I'm not sure by who. I wrote a short opinion piece for a magazine on sport as a religion and, it seems, the editors liked it. Here's hoping that I like the CD.

Sunday, February 04, 2007

Blogger Problems

It's been a while since I've posted and the, main, reason is that I've been having a few problems with Blogger.com. I'm not entirely sure whether the problem is with my PC or the Blogger.com site itself; maybe I've just made the code too heavy, hmm.

Well, I've created a temporary blog over at Word Press that you can find <--HERE--> but I've not yet posted over there. Hopefully I can sort this issue out soon and have the blog back up and running.

You'll likely notice some changes going on here as I play around with starting this blog anew.