svaens

Interested in Java?

2010-09-15T03:03:00.001-07:00

For those interested in Java, I have started a new java development blog, here. The first topic, Hibernate!

Why are deaths in war OK?

2010-08-22T18:35:00.001-07:00

Death is a part of war. That seems to be a given. I don't go to the office every day thinking I might not make it back alive to my girlfriend tonight. But somehow it is OK to ask our soldiers to live in that kind of paradigm. However, the real tragedy of war is the civilian deaths. The people who didn't ask for war, aren't the cause of war, but are just at the wrong place at the wrong time, and killed. Collateral damage, as they call it in order to obfuscate the real meaning; the bloody death and maiming of innocent children, mothers, fathers. That along is a reason never to have another war again, no matter what the so called justification. You just have to listen to Howard Zinn speak, a great anti-war activist who has recently passed away, to be convinced of the wrongness of war. "War cannot be tolerated". Howard Zinn's great speach, that I refer to here can be found 52 minutes into this tribute tribute to the great man himself.

There is nothing good about war. And there is no reason that can possibly justify one. Anyone who tells you otherwise, has either been brainwashed himself into believing the lies their government has told them, or is part of that war machine themselves.

update:

I should not restrict my comments to death. The effects of the war on children do not stop at mere death. Death in this case would be perhaps a relief. Everyone should watch this article from dateline.

Democracy in Australia and the GetUp website

2010-08-21T16:43:00.000-07:00

I am an Australian. And as a citizen of that Country, I like to see democracy working at its best. Of course I have a particular leaning, and that would be towards the political left. Some might even call it the far left. It all depends how far to the right you are coming from!

In any case, I have found a great political website called 'Getup' which seems to take the kind of position in various issues that I can support. GetUp is, as described by Wikipedia,

"a non-partisan Australian political organisation that campaigns on issues important to its members"

and by the website itself:

"an independent, grass-roots community advocacy organisation giving everyday Australians opportunities to get involved and hold politicians accountable on important issues." Receiving "no money from any political party or the government. We rely solely on funds and in-kind donations from the Australian public".

It has promoted issues such as;

No internet censorship
Lower carbon emissions
Rights for asylum seekers

and many more.

All these are very worthy issues. I don't think there has been a case that I have received an email from GetUp asking if I can support an issue in some way, that I have not done so.

GetUp surely could be said to have political-left leanings. Obviously those that subscribe to it most likely share those political leanings. The members would, I would guess, be like minded people concerned for the wellbeing of their fellow Australians, and all peoples of the world. So what about the ideas that you, or I, come up with? There seems to be no good way to get your new idea known. You are left with a not so obvious email form, from which you can send your idea. It disappears into the void in a split-second. And I don't know how takes care of those ideas.

I would like to see more transparency in the selection of new campaigns at GetUp. So I have written an email to state that. Here is what I have written to GetUp:

Dear GetUp staff,

GetUp seems to be a great tool for democracy in Australia. A campaign
is made known, and based on the support for that campaign amongst the
people who participate in GetUp, a campaign makes progress, or not. It
is even possible to give financial support towards specific campaigns,
and this is very important.

However, as for the creation of new campaigns, a member seemingly only
has the ability to suggest, privately, via this submission form. If
the suggestion is not picked up by GetUp staff, the new campaign
doesn't get off the ground.

My criticism is that their should be more transparency in the 'new
campaign' selection process. As a democratic process, it should be all
the members to choose if this gets placed in the 'new campaign' list
for support (or not). Not some faceless people within your
organisation.

For example, it would be great to create a 'new campaigns' section
into your website which works similar to the website
http://www.gopetition.com.au
People can go there and look at the new ideas, and if they like them,
they indicate so by clicking a button or so. If they dislike it, they
can also indicate so. Those 'new campaigns' which are most current and
most liked become the new GetUp campaign on the main page.

I recognize that this introduces difficulties, and perhaps this opens
the website to a forum of views from across the political spectrum
(rather than just your end of the spectrum). But it would to me seem
more democratic. And in the end, is this not what we like to think our
country, Australia, is based on?

Kind Regards,

Sean van Buggenum

Perhaps if you also like the ideas mentioned in the email, you could let them know?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Update

A new post from GetUp (Sat 18 September, 2010)

There seems to be a real positive development from GetUp; a new "campaign ideas forum" where one can vote for your favourite ideas! Well, I won't be conceited and think it was as a result of my email. I don't think I've had anyone listen to me yet ;)
But that wouldn't be the point anyway. The real point is that this is great news, however it came about, and I hope to see this bring about an even greater increase in interest in politics (in how our country is run) than GetUp has no doubt already brought about.

Thanks to the guys at GetUp for the chance to have even greater member input!

Julian Assange for Australian of the Year

2010-08-10T19:01:00.000-07:00

Julian assange, a figure of international repute, almost needs no introduction. But for those not aware of his recent work in the field of journalism, Julian has been intimately involved in the wikileaks organisation which has the stated aim of being "a multi-jurisdictional public service designed to protect whistleblowers, journalists and activists who have sensitive materials to communicate to the public." (1).

To quote further, directly from the wikileaks website itself, we discover the stated values the website, values which all persons who support truth and democracy would like to see held by their respective governments;

"We believe that transparency in government activities leads to reduced corruption, better government and stronger democracies." (1).

It has been said, in a ruling by the US Supreme Court, that "only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government" (1). This is what wikileaks aims to protect; a free and unrestrained press, towards the benefit of all the citizens of the nations which protect these values.

However, after recent events, this organisation, which is in my opinion and the opinion of many other Australians (and citizens of other nations) fighting for truth and democracy, has come under attack from powerful forces in the US. Julian is personally bearing the brunt of the majority of these attacks. Wikileaks has recently been the conduit for the leak of many thousands of classified documents relating to the war in Afghanistan. The release has been compared to the "Pentagon papers" (2) release by Daniel Ellsberg in the US in 1971 (3)(4)(5). Daniel Ellsberg has since been "the recipient of the Inaugural Ron Ridenhour Courage Prize, a prize established by The Nation Institute and The Fertel Foundation, and ... he accepted the Gandhi Peace Award from Promoting Enduring Peace. On September 28, 2006 he was awarded the Right Livelihood Award." (6).

I would like to see Julian Assange awarded the prize of Australian of the year, for several reasons;

1. I can not think of another Australian who has done as much for democracy and transparency on an international level, in a world that has far too many dirty secrets.
2. The work that Julian is currently involved in now is of particular importance, given the consequence of the misinformation to the public which forms an important part of public opinion on many important topics (one of them being the war in Afghanistan).
3. Has been involved in (7) landmark legislation in Iceland to promote a "safe haven for press freedom" (8).
4. Julian himself would benefit greatly from some positive attention, at a time when the negative press is sounding overwhelming.

In the end, the prize should be based on the intentions and the actions of the nominee. But it will always be a subjective matter. I would like to see Julian become 'Australian of the year' because I personally think he deserves it. I know also that many other Australians feel the same way.

To nominate Julian Assange for Australian of the year, visit the 'Australian of the year' website and give your reasons why you think he should be awarded the prize. I have done so, and given my reasons. You have just read them.

Australian of the Year Award Nominations close Tuesday 31 August 2010

references:

1. Wikileaks: About
http://wikileaks.org/wiki/WikiLeaks:About

2. The Pentagon papers, wikipedia entry
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentagon_Papers

3. Comparisons of wikileaks leak of Afghanistan documents to Pentagon papers
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/news/2010/07/100728_wikileaks_nh_sl.shtml

4. Comparisons of wikileaks leak of Afghanistan documents to Pentagon papers
http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2010/07/daniel_ellsberg_interview

5. Comparisons of wikileaks leak of Afghanistan documents to Pentagon papers
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/breakfast/stories/2010/2922249.htm

6. Daniel Ellsberg wikipedia entry
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Ellsberg

7. Wikileaks: 'Iceland safe haven for press freedom'
http://www.swedishwire.com/politics/5052-wikileaks-iceland-safe-haven-for-press-freedom

8. Iceland Modern Media Initiative
http://www.immi.is/?l=en

Additional background information

9. SBS Dateline: The Whistleblower
http://www.sbs.com.au/dateline/story/watch/id/600572/n/The-Whistleblower

10. SBS Dateline: Inside WikiLeaks
http://www.sbs.com.au/dateline/story/watch/id/600647/n/Inside-WikiLeaks

The Evil Empire

2010-05-31T16:10:00.000-07:00

A comparison of the United states of America and the Evil 'Galactic Empire' of the Star Wars franchise.

A quick glance and one could say there were similarities between the foreign policy of the US, and that of the fictional 'Galactic Empire' of the Star Wars movies. Of course, the Galactic Empire was ruled by a super intelligent "Dark Lord of the Sith". And while some of the presidents of the United States (of northern America) could be said to be intelligent; Are they really evil? US foreign policy, as a whole, does come across as particularly malicious and hateful. But
there is not a obvious and open trend there among its leaders. One certainly shouldn't try to apply the term 'Intelligence' to Bush Jnr. So, perhaps the analogy needs to take on concepts from other movies, such as 'Being John Malkovich', a movie in which John Malkovich (playing himself) was somehow possessed by another person who had discovered a portal to the mind of John Malkovich, at which stage he could control the behaviour of his host. Do we need to consider the same being true of the US Presidencies? Is there some maligned intelligence behind the scenes controlling the puppet strings of the commander and chief of the US? Did some evil minded person find the portal to the mind of George Bush Jnr, and now President Obama? After all, Barack Obama comes across as an honest, well-meaning kind'a guy. So what the hell is going on when more than a year on in his presidency, the US still imposes sanctions against Cuba exacerbating the conditions of the poor, still supports Israeli violence and oppression of the Palestinian peoples of Gaza and the West Bank, still threatens Iran for its decision to exercise its right to develop nuclear technologies and still has troops in Iraq and Afghanistan against the wishes of its citizens and most the people in the rest of the world. Ahh, perhaps that is Capitalism at work?

I wish the evil 'Galactic Empire' was just some creative, fun, fiction from the tales of 'Star Wars'. But unfortunately, it is not.

The US is the evil empire now, but the British Empire came before it. Australia would be it if it were powerful enough. Howard Zinn once wrote:

"the world is topsy-turvy, that things are all wrong, that the wrong people are in jail and the wrong people are out of jail, that the wrong people are in power and the wrong people are out of power"

This, I think, pretty much sums it up. In the end, it is not directly the American people who are responsible for the deaths of so many innocents in the world, but their government, and the governments of the other nations (including my own, Australia) which support the policies of the US. However, it must always be remembered that it is we the people who put the government in power. And it is our right and responsibility to take them out of power if they are doing the wrong thing. This is something that most of us do not take seriously enough. We close our eyes to the sufferings of so many thousands of people simply because 'we're alright'. So then the guilt does indeed come back to us. It sits on the shoulders of all the American people, and the people of all the western world.

Time to wake up, and bring down the Evil Empire.

How?

No longer be a part of it!

In the Australian Outback

2010-05-23T18:29:00.000-07:00

Recently, my girlfriend and I decided to take the time out to travel through the Australian outback. Of course, we only had 2 weeks available. This is precious little time in comparison to the time required to see any amount of Australia. Australia is such a large country. Our trip would be either minimal, or rushed. We would try to see as much of at least NSW as made sense given the time we had. It would anyway be an eye opener for me, someone who has never been much more than 150 kilometers west of the Australian east coast. You can read more about our travels here:
Travel Experience.

A Paradox of Time Travel? ... Or just a silly idea

2010-03-19T17:07:00.000-07:00

One of those thoughts you get whilst half awake at 6:30am .....

The Magical Multiplying Ball Paradox

To open my blog, I thought i'd start with a strange realization I had whilst dreaming ... half awake, half asleep, one lazy Saturday morning. Don't ask me where the inspiration for this came from, because I don't know. I do know one thing. It sounded a whole lot more impressive when I was half asleep than it does now. Nonetheless, I need something to write here, and so here goes..

1. time traveller travels back in time and places his ball next to the original ball A, calling it ball B (even though they are the same ball)

2. The change in the past means that there are now two balls existing together. For Einsteins conservation of energy to hold true, one of these balls MUST be destroyed before the point in time where the time traveller (the time-traveller, or ANY time traveller) is able to take this ball and travel back in time with it to a point in time where the two balls exist together, and place his ball, next to original balls A and B calling it ball C.

3. The change in the past means that there are now three balls existing together. For Einsteins conservation of energy to hold true, one of these balls MUST be destroyed before the point in time where the time traveller (the time-traveller, or ANY time traveller) is able to take this ball and travel back in time with it to a point in time where the three balls exist together, and place his ball, next to original balls A, B and C calling it ball D.

and so on ...... So the same person could, if he/she willed, create a loop in time where an infinite number of balls were produced.
Change the balls to apples, and we just solved the problem of world hunger ;)

The algorithm could look like this;


startTimeTravelRecusiveLoop()
{
wait(till year 2010)

// assumes the person involved will ALWAYS want to perform this action of time-travel
if (at least 1 ball exists)
{
takeBallToYear(person, 2009, ball);
}
}


takeBallToYear(Person personInvolved, int year, Object ball)
{
int currentYear = getCurrentTime();

travelTime(year);

takeBallToSelf(ball)

startThread(startTimeTravelRecusiveLoop());

travelTime(currentYear);
}

Yet another paradox to suggest that time travel just can't be possible. Time-travel can't possibly be possible because according to the above scenario, it allows us to break the law of the conservation of energy.