“Truth is ever to be found in the simplicity, and not in the multiplicity and confusion of things.”
Issac Newton
March 9, 2009
March 8, 2009
Words of wisdom
“Time is gods way of keeping things from happening all at once”
Anonymous
March 1, 2009
$15,000,000 spent on staring. (By Ozzyfrog)
It was a clear, smooth Sunday morning and I was at a flying lesson, holding short of Runway 17R for takeoff. We got our clearance, lined up and applied full power. At takeoff speed, I lifted the nose gracefully (well, I like to think so anyway) into the air and the Cessna began climbing. All was perfect, until I banked at 500 feet. With a loud “wumph” my door spontaneously decided to unlock itself and open. Being in a car doing 60kph with a door open would be interesting, but being 700 feet in the air, and halfway through a turn with nothing keeping you in the plane but your harness is even more interesting. As I went to shut it, I caught a glimpse of the Melbourne Ferris wheel, and even in a situation like that, I marvelled at how silly it was.
I have written about it before, on Ozzyfrog’s Rants, but times have changed. When I wrote about it, the views and the prices were just as bad, but now it’s worse. For now, our beloved Ferris Wheel is broken. I see. And this is no ordinary breakdown, it will in fact be out of action for 6 months. Apparently, it cracked due to the 40C+ heat we experienced. Last time I checked, Ocean Liners do not fall to pieces when it gets a little sticky. Buildings do not collapse if it gets a bit nippy. And, dare I say, most other Ferris Wheels do not crack when it gets a bit hot. And where did the engineers think they were building it? In Norway? Of course it’s going to get hot, we’re in Australia. So, in the Global Economic Crisis, we have built an expensive Ferris Wheel in the yuckiest part of Melbourne, which is now broken. No wonder our economy is going a bit downhill.
But, I have an idea to save our money. Firstly, of course, don’t build stupid things that we don’t need and then break. That’s the obvious part. But for my second point, I will dive deep into a mystery that I have pondered over for many minutes. And it is this; why are roads and intersections so expensive? Whenever you drive past an intersection that will be repaired the council puts a sign up, telling you how much it will cost. And then you try not to choke on your chewing gum when you read the price. $15,000,000! How can a bit of asphalt with some white lines on it cost squillions of dollars? And I’m not talking about the Champs Elysees, this is an ordinary intersection. Quite how they spend so much on asphalt still mystifies me. And they still haven’t done anything on the South Eastern Freeway. It’s still at 80 kph, and I have seen no improvements or changes made at all (except the closure of a lane). I understand that they need to repair it, and that takes time. But how they expect to repair it by hiring a couple of men in hard hats to stare at it is beyond me. Every single time I go on it, the men are either not there or staring at the road, using there mind powers to get the road to fix itself.
Another example is a roundabout on Belmore road. It was perfectly functional, but then the men with their mind powers spent months painting white lines everywhere, and left it in exactly the same state that it was when they first arrived. What they did was turn up, do some staring, remove the old lines, paint new ones 3mm to the left of the previous ones, and made the surface all patchy. Every morning I go round it I try to spot something that has been changed, but I still haven’t seen anything. So here’s a hint to the government and the councils; next time you build a road, just put some inexpensive asphalt on it and don’t spend the equivalent of a Learjet on it. And make sure that it actually needs fixing. And last but not least, tell the workers that staring rarely gets the job done.
My belief in Believing (By Caiphas)
Belief in anything has been a constant battle for me. Since I started to ignore the idea of god, I’ve been looking for something to keep me sane in this life. It isn’t as ease as some would believe. But after much work, I have figured out what I believe in.
I follow the existentialist belief that there is no god and the only way that a human can find meaning in life is to make something of it for himself. But, I don’t believe that there is absolutely no order to the events of the world. Yes, there is no accurate way to predict the distant future, but why would we want that? Discovering the world of tomorrow is so much more exciting that being informed about it. There must be a pattern in the chaos that is life, however remote, that we follow. Maybe it is in the past, I don’t know. But what I do know is that the present cannot exist by itself. Only when a past has been sorted out to define a future for itself can the present truly exist.
The idea of heaven is insulting to me now. After much thought, I see that heaven is the equivalent of a cheat in a computer game. You may spend months, even years trying to get through on your own skill. Then, when you get the cheat, everything becomes so easy that all enjoyment is lost. Heaven is that cheat. You spend all you life striving and then, when you die, everything is given to you on a silver platter and it’s worth is lost. I believe that heaven isn’t a place, but a moment that every one should experience before they die. When people say that their life flashed before their eyes, that is my version of heaven. All you deeds, good and bad, Presented in an instant that will determine if your life was worth it. That is my view of heaven.
And even after that, where do we go. I believe that the soul is what makes animal life different to rocks or liquids. After all, that’s all life really is. A freak occurrence where oil mixed with rock to create life. I believe that the soul is part of the ether that makes animals “Alive”. When we die, our ether returns to the chaos that it came from and, when it is time, returns to create life in any way shape or form.
Many have tried to answer that ultimate question, I believe that I have answered it. Only you can really decide for yourself if what I say makes sense.
February 28, 2009
February 1, 2009
Words of wisdom (Caiphas)
Every star shines. It’s just a matter of being somewhere quiet enough to truly appreciate it.
The obsession of the year. (By Ozzyfrog)
Something is very, very wrong in the book industry. I never thought that it was possible for people to become more obsessed with a book than the Harry Potter series, but somehow, they have. The Twilight series has undeniably become an obsession for so many people lately, and it only seems to be getting more popular.
In the beginning, generally only girls found an interest in it, but now it seems even guys are getting into the vampire love story. And me? Well, I have to say I’m not really into Vampire boys. But that doesn’t seem to have stopped thousands from reading it. I have tried, and tried again to understand why this book is so popular, but I just can’t. It isn’t superbly written, the story line doesn’t sound that fantastic, and it doesn’t have any underlying messages hidden in it. If you aren’t familiar with it, it’s about a girl who falls in love with an (apparently unbelievably) good looking guy. The only problem is, she later finds out that he’s a vampire (I would’ve thought that the rather large fangs would’ve given it away, but there you go). I suspect the this continues for the next three books, with a few other creatures coming into play, and a few hiccups along the way.
Then of course, came the movie. Now this really wasn’t very good. As a friend put it, “the best part was when she fell in the mud”. So then, back to the eternal question, why is everyone reading it, including boys? Well, for the first time ever, I really don’t have an answer for you. Girls probably like the cuteness of the guy, but what do guys see in it? And anyway, it’s a book. You can’t see anyone, the people in it can be as god like as you want them to be. I don’t know, maybe I’ll have to read it. Fat chance.
January 31, 2009
What Pilots Do (By Ozzyfrog)
As many of you will know, I am a keen flyer. I love flying and airplanes as much as Tamasys loves anything with RAM and a Hard Drive, and as much as Caiphas likes drama, comedy and acting. While browsing on Facebook, I stumbled across a group called “what pilots do”, and I must admit, it is rather true, even in my case. Because I’ve been neglecting this blog, I decided to post some of the ones that I think are true and even apply to me…
- you say or hear “niner” and think nothing of it (I’m even guilty of saying it in maths)
- information Whiskey has a special place in your heart
- You know way too many acronyms (AGL, MSL, VFR, IFR, VMC, IMC, CFR, ADM, AIM, AFM, POH, ATIS, ASOS, AWOS, CTAF, NOTAM, FSS, VOR, DME, NDB, ILS, VASI, PAPI, REIL, HIRL, MIRL, RCLS, ATCRBS, TRSA, KIAS, KCAS, the list goes on)
- you know “kilo” is a letter, not a weight
- you watch every plane that flies overhead, even though you’ve seen them up close and fly them
- you know the call signs for many major airlines
- you play every video game with the controls ‘inverted’… cause the default setting is WRONG, just wrong
- you see red lights up ahead while driving and use both feet to brake (that’ll probably happen on the odd occasion)
- you know exactly what “Flying the Victor 181 from Gulf-Foxtrot-Kilo to Foxtrot-Alpha-Romeo” means
- you can tell what maneuvers the plane above you is doing and say it aloud
- and you can critique those maneuvers and offer suggestions to perform them
- you are at the airport and name all the planes for hours without thinking twice
- you don’t think of weather as good, bad, or ugly, but rather as VFR, MVFR, or IFR
- whilst discussing skiing holidays and the fun to be had on the slopes, you consider it funny to say “The only slopes I have done recently are glideslopes,” only for the entire room to go quiet and look at you with a look on non-comprehension
- you wish your car had magnetos
- your desktop background is a picture form airliners.net
- you understand that Zero is a number and Oscar is a letter; there is no ‘Oh’
- you actually consider driving with the hood on
There are litrally hundreds more, and I’m sorry if you don’t understand some of them. You can always ask me to explain them….
Ozzyfrog's and Caiphas's Rants 