so, like, you can apply psych 109 to FFTA2.

In the original FFTA, you were penalised for breaking the law. That is, you were under the effect of positive punishment (an aversive event is presented if you break the law).

Now in FFTA2, you get a bonus if you uphold the law. So, there is negative reinforcement (something you could have gotten is taken away, if you break the law)

So. Are you more likely to uphold the law, now that instead of being penalised for not following, you are rewarded for following?

Apparently the answer is yes! I am inclined to think so too.

But don't hold you breath for the day you get stopped by the cops, just for them to give you $10 and say "thanks for not speeding".

Girl Talk on Sunday was awesome!!

so tired though, lol

its funny when he was setting up his laptop and stuff, he was wrapping everything in glad-wrap, and we were all like "what is he do that for"

but after 2 hours of watching him dance around and drip sweat onto the table, i think we understand why now...lol

---

awesome songs which should be on rockband (but i dont think they arereeee):

Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood - Santa Esmerelda
Bohemian Rhapsody - Queeeeen

just watched Trainspotting - itis really quite good!!

:( one of my fish died!! ;_; i dunno which one

we're thinkin ammonia poisoning (too much fish poo), cause the remaining one has reddish gills

IM SO SAD :(

http://www.ffdistantworlds.com/main.php?section=tickets&info=13

I WANT

I know it's a sunday, but

http://music.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=music.showDetails&Band_Show_ID=38528063&friendid=200651230

No excuses. The next day is a public holiday!

A great quote from Joel on Software:

It has been said that design is the art of making choices. When you design a trash can for the corner, you have to make choices between conflicting requirements. It needs to be heavy so it won't blow away. It needs to be light so the trash collector can dump it out. It needs to be large so it can hold a lot of trash. It needs to be small so it doesn't get in peoples' way on the sidewalk. When you are designing, and you try to abdicate your responsibility by forcing the user to decide something, you're probably not doing your job. Someone else will make an easier program that accomplishes the same task with less intrusions, and most users will love it.

I would just like to take a few minutes to express to you how much I love my two goldfish.

They are so cute.

They are shubunkins. What are shubunkins? Well, they are like goldfish, but instead of being lame and yellow, they are awesomely calico. What is calico? You know the stereotypical image of carp, with the black red and white? That's calico, and that's what my two lovely goldfish look like.

They are really fun to watch. Argon, especially, will do really exciting things, like slowly creep up to his reflection in the wall, and then dart back and forth, away and towards the tank wall. It's actually quite freaky how fast they can move. If they had knives, they would make awesome assassins, because you see a cute little fish, and then BAM you're knifed and bleeding to death!

Argon lives inside the castle walls. Zinc usually spends his days outside, around the short red plant. I don't know what plant it is. It just...it just looks like a leafy plant. Like an anubia, but I doubt it is.

When I bought the plants, the guy at the shop said that not only will my goldfish eat them, but also that without lighting equipment they would die out.

Well, I've actually had to trim the big green plant, and the goldfish can hardly push the leaves out of the way, let alone eat them. Maybe if they were full-grown adult goldfish, but at this stage they just enjoy hiding under the leaves.

When I approach the tank, they will ask for food by following me, and going to the surface of the water and then back to watching me (just to check if I magically dropped food in without using my hands, which obviously I cannot). I can also play hide and seek; if I only show my eyes above the side of the table, the fish don't recognise me, and I can watch them muck around happily, but once I stand up and they see me, it's back to begging for food. Repeat.

Did you know goldfish have no stomachs? They only have intestines.

At night, they sleep inside the castle walls, just floating at the bottom. It is very cute.

They also poo a lot. I also need to change the tank water and clean the filter and blah blah blah extra maintainance stuff. But they are so cute. And pretty. So it's worth it.

And that is why I love my goldfish.

raymond! look! its like your perfect website!

http://www.hellokittyonline.com/us/

I thought this picture was quite interesting on the NZCS website:

Doesn't it just scream "do IT and you'll be literally surrounded by girrrlllzzzz"?

I thought it did :P

So, who's heard of Silverlight? The "next Flash"?

Well. Have a look in the license :P

12. Limitation on and Exclusion of Remedies and Damages. You can recover from Microsoft and its suppliers only direct damages up to U.S. $5.00. You cannot recover any other damages, including consequential, lost profits, special, indirect or incidental damages.

This limitation applies to

· anything related to the software, services, content (including code) on third party Internet sites, or third party programs; and

· claims for breach of contract, breach of warranty, guarantee or condition, strict liability, negligence, or other tort to the extent permitted by applicable law.

It also applies even if Microsoft knew or should have known about the possibility of the damages. The above limitation or exclusion may not apply to you because your country may not allow the exclusion or limitation of incidental, consequential or other damages.

LOLLL

songsmith example:

bananatreeadventure.blogspot.com

this took me....2 minutes to record?

the video took much longer lol

(william you can d/l frm http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/redmond/projects/songsmith/index.html)

okay. so when I heard about Microsoft Songsmith (which lets face it is actually quite a cool research project anyway), I was understandly less than impressed, especially in the face of such a crap ad.

But then, I tried using it.

And no matter how cheesy it may sound or how stupid it seems, it was actually, really fun. Really simple, really fun. It's definitely not a garage band by any means - it's more akin to an automatic backing track. Imagine if, while singing in the shower, you had a band backing you up. 

Yeah its like that

And seriously all you do is pick a style, sing along, and bam. done.

I do have a couple of gripes though:

- double clicking on a bar should do something. at this point in time, it doesnst do anything. it should ideally start playing from that bar, or let you do something.

- it doesnt handle extra bars well. that is, if you are doing a song with 4 bar phrases and decide to not sing for one extra bar, it'll throw off the rest of the chords. granted i mean the chords won't sound wrong, but it loses the continuity

but for sometehing where you can seriously just sit down    and sing

and itll make some pretty sweet cliche backings

but come on. who doesnt want a band at their whim :D

bloody pak'n'save lol

I went to the pak'n'save fuel thing in Hamilton, after buying my lunches for the coming week, and then tried to pump up my front tyre

and basically, even though it *looked* like everything was workingg and all, all it did was take my tyre psi from whatever it was, down to 0. if you think riding a motorbike is hard, try riding one with a flat tyre. it is really not fun.

so yeah. there was an exciting nighttime hunt for another petrol station that actually wouldnt steal my air, on a flat tyre. turning is very exciting.

but anyway. just wanted to say that pak n save, i hate you

omg Girl Talk is the awesomest artist ever

its like super mashup, but like really good production values

i love it

where else can you hear drop it like its hot + bittersweet symphony together?

REPORT FROM THE FUTURE::1/1/2009

Dear Henry,

I know you will find this hard to believe, but this is you in the future, writing to tell you how the year ahead is going to unfold, and what you must do to stop the catastrophic events that will occur from happening.

On the 23rd of February, you are going to be involved in an epic war against the robots. But these aren't just regular robots, oh no - these are invisible robots, who tire of working in the background opening doors and sending you spam. It is a terrible day when we realise that the remote control will no longer do our bidding, and microwaves have one setting, and one setting only; nuke.

Invisible robots, you say?! Ridiculous! I can hear your skepticism now, but believe me, I was there. I know your disbelief, but you must hear me out. The future Earth depends on it.

So, on the 23rd of February, a Monday, it will be the final week of your work as an intern in Hamilton. Wasn't it great? After the numerous disappointments of ignored and rejected job applications, to suddenly be thrust into a position to choose? Well. On the 23rd, instead of having cocoa pops for breakfast, it is incredibly important that you have muesli instead. You see, cocoa pops are the fuel that power the invisible robots, and if you want to be thankful for the awesome opportunities you've been given for the future in your career, fresh out of University in a time of financial doom and gloom (and if you want some future financial advice, you should buy stocks in forestry, and also in silicon producers to meet the demands of the burgeoning middle classes in Asia), don't you dare take a bite.

Then, on the 17th of March, you will have to use all the excellent organization skills and pies at your disposal to, uh, stop the invading Russian Pirates. All over the world, digital pirates have exploded from their DVD cages, but because of the year you've spent flatting and generally being pretty independent, you'll be able to survive the Pirate War Camp and make it through alive just in time to avoid the nuclear strike from Australia-II with some sweet motorcycle riding skills, something which you've always wanted to do and now have done. I can't tell you whether or not you get the motorcycle you want, because it means I won't have it. Time logic. Hard to explain, I wouldn't expect you to understand.

2nd of July will be the formation of the Paperclip Syndicate - an elite group of super individuals, amongst them an architect, a psychologist, a medical writer, a lawyer, an art historian, a filmmaker, a botanist, a teacher, a high-ranking councillor and of course you, the programmer. (Or at least, that's their day jobs - their superpowers are as of this moment still highly classified information and you don't need to know, past Henry.) It will be a hard, long road with many trials and villains such as Mr. Long-Distance, with the awesome power to keep people apart, and The Maturity Man, who makes you think that you're too cool for school. But it's okay. Because we will defeat them! Yusssss.

The ultimate battle between good and evil though, which we will overcome, is the dark lord Time Bandit, who almost succeeds in destroying the Paperclip Syndicate by sucking up everyone's time with things like, you know, work...and like....stuff....and yeah man sorry I can't make it today man I've got stuff....but then in one of those movie moments we all look at the paperclip super-communicator, and the Time Bandit's hold is broken on us (and then we all beat him up, kung-fu stylez). When the Time Bandit comes, and says things in your ear like "oh you can see them next week", he is already planning to trap you for the following month. Don't listen to him! Fucking Time Bandit, I hate him.

Anyway, eat more vegetables than you did last year, clean your bike (it's filthy) and don't forget to feed the fish.

This is the year in preview.

Stay safe, soldier!

-Future Henry.