nick’s (n)-line life

I haven’t posted for a while as I’ve been wrapped up with my dissertation deadline. Happily this is now all wrapped up and, despite word deciding it was going to loose 4 hours of my work on the morning of hand-in day, it seems to have ended happily. Now it’s just a question of finals to worry about :s

One of the core issues I deal with in the dissertation is the concept of moral relativism, a fascinating and oft-misunderstood concept. After letting one of my friends read the work they offered the following advice:

Don’t LOOK at anything in a physics lab.
Don’t TASTE anything in a chemistry lab.
Don’t SMELL anything in a biology lab. Don't TOUCH anything in a medical lab.

and, most importantly:
Don’t LISTEN to anything in a philosophy department.

Probably very fair :)

Organisations for this summer continue. I’m working as the director of an English camp in Hunan and this is now coming together well (aside from a few hickups with numbers). We’re running a teacher recruitment conference this Saturday and after that everything will progress very quickly. I’ve also been offered some legal work in HK which is always very enjoyable and stimulating. After having invested so much time (and travel-costs) in Asia it’s great to be bringing in a profit from my skills at last.

The two year Chinese Studies Master’s course I’m taking from next September remains a little uncertain, I’m still of unsure of which University I’ll be studying at. Man postgraduate study is expensive! (around GBP £8k)

My new [free] 19inch monitor

I was delighted to come across a free 19 inch CRT on the giveawy forum. It’ll means I no longer need to strain my eyes with my blurred 21 incher. The downgrade in size is disappointing though :( Now it’s just a case of finding a flat panel for my unused DVI slot… and, being a geek, if I ever have any free cash I’d love to go tri-monitor by picking up a cheap PCI-16.

Isn’t the tube size just the most annoying thing too? Surely it’s a misrepresentation to call it 21inch if there’s only 19inchs of visible tube. Remind me of the whole hard-disc size scandal.

On the downside the new beastie is frickin’ heavy! Carrying it just a couple of hundred metres to a taxi and then upstairs to my room left my arms aching. I was also offered renewed faith in human nature when two separate strangers offered to give me a hand carrying it (and no they weren’t trying to steal it!) I wonder if it’s to do with perceived group affiliations (I was on a university campus at the time). Anyhow, free tech-toys make my day :D

Now that time isn’t such a problem, some sensible posts will follow the random person waffle…