Elebits

Emily picked up a second-hand copy of Elebits for $20 recently. I got to play it a little when I visited Edmonton this Easter. I have to say, it is probably the most fun game I've ever played on the Wii.

The aim of the game is to capture cute, tennis-ball-sized "elebits" that you find roaming your house. You are armed with a "capture gun" that doubles as a long-range object manipulator. Using your gun, you can open fridges, lift couches, turn on TVs etc from a good 10 metres away. The end result, of course, is absolute madness as you throw potplants, books, and kitchen appliances around the room, desperately hunting down "elebits" within a limited timespan.

Perhaps the best part of this game is its accessibility. Emily's mother and brother (Stella and Timothy) both joined in and were having great fun. Timothy sometimes struggles with Wii games because of the Wiimote is very sensitive to small movements, but he was getting very good at pointing and controlling the camera to focus on objects that interest him. Stella was also showing off her Elebit-shooting skills, though she was much more gentle with the environment than Emily. ;)

Anyway, this looks like a fantastic party game, and something to train people in the use of the Wiimote.

Writing the Conclusion

So I'm writing the conclusion for my thesis, and finding it surprisingly difficult to write. I'm taking the simplest approach possible: read my table of contents, and write a sentence or two about each subsection. Unfortunately, this approach forces me to face two facts::

1. how much work went into making my thesis
2. how terribly incomplete my thesis still is

I just have to stop thinking about what more should/could have been done.

Philosophy of Science

How do you know the world is not an illusion? How do you know that everyone else in the world is actually self-aware? How do you know the fridge light turns out when you close the door? These are the kinds of questions that bug me some days.

Science has definitely washed its hands of theology/philosophy. For example, the scientific method cannot help us answer "is anyone else real like I am?". You cannot establish a common ground for discussion (also known as intersubjectivitiy) for such a question! How can you sit down and discuss with a person whether or not they are a figment of your imagination?

However, according to the Wikipedia entry on Philosophy of science:

... specialists in the philosophy of science stress the requirement that observations made for the purposes of science be restricted to intersubjective objects ...

If we were to assume that noone else is real, then wouldn't intersubjectivity become impossible? There can be no intersubjectivity without at least two subjects! Does that mean that science itself is based on the assumption that other people are as real as ourselves? Does the success of the scientific method itself provide scientific evidence that other people are real?

I can't answer that question tonight, but I think the answer is "yes", in which case a scientist can claim something about the nature of other people. Not bad really.

Anyway, g'night to whoever is out there! I say that on the assumption you are real and equal, in which case I should treat you as I do myself. :)

Boxes on a Big Boat

I just received word that my boxes have started shipping. I've been told the name of the ship, and managed to dig up this photo (yes, there are people who photograph and document all the boats they see). Anyway, it seems to have left Sydney in the last few days, dropped in to Melbourne, and is now headed to Djakarta, Jakarta. I have no idea where it's going after that, but probably China, and then North America. It won't arrive in Vancouver until late April so it must be pretty busy.

Disturbing Sleep

Saturday morning I woke up with 3 subluxed (ie. almost dislocated) finger-tips which took an hour or so to sort out. I've been having ongoing problems with my teeth because I tend to grind them while I sleep, and a few nights ago I had a very long and disturbing dream.

I'm hoping that whatever is bothering my subconscious will go away soon.

Catch 23 Banking

Many people were suggesting that I fight the bank, and the situation was annoying me enough. Here's a copy of the first email I sent. Let's see how it goes:

To whom it may concern,

I was recently notified that my savings account with [bankname] would be changed from a fee-free account to a fee-paying account. I am now living in Canada, and so tried to close this account yesterday by calling [bankname]. However, I was advised that it is impossible to close the account without being physically present at a branch. It is clearly not possible for me to get to any [bankname] branch any time soon, but I would still like to have the account closed as soon as possible so as to avoid additional fees.

Please be aware that, within that one phone call, I was able to authenticate my identity, have my phone banking password reset, have my internet banking re-enabled, and have my account changed to a different "product". [bankname] seems perfectly happy to grant access to my money over the phone after passing simple challenge-response security questions. However, [bankname] claims to be unable to stop charging me fees for an account that I do not want, unless I make myself physically present. This seems an inappropriate way to treat a customer and certainly doesn't improve my view of [bankname]'s operations.

So, with all due respect, I insist that my account be closed and my money transferred to a different institution. I can provide the account details when requested.

Sincerely,
Peter Harvey.

Catch 22 Banking

One of my Australian bank accounts was recently changed from "student" to "normal", which means I am now charged monthly fees. Considering I haven't used the account in 2 years, I felt it was time to close it. However:

1. You can only close the account from overseas if you have faxing authority.
2. You cannot setup faxing authority unless you are in the branch.
3. Someone can close the account for you if they have power of attorney.
4. You cannot setup power of attorney unless you are both in the branch.
5. You cannot transfer all money out of the account, because then you would just incur account keeping fees and additional penalties.

Note that none of this is to protect my money, as they were perfectly willing to enable internet and phone banking to let me transfer cash out. Their rules only prevent me from leaving the bank.

I will close my account, with prejudice, next time I am in Australia.

UPDATE: I just closed a Canadian bank account over the phone. The only questions they asked, after verifying I was who I claimed to be, were "who are you now banking with?" and "what account would you like your money sent to?". Very pleasant.

Voting in Canada

I was discussing the Canadian voting system recently, and I am absolutely shocked. They have no preferential voting scheme! Do you know what that means?

• In Canada, if you vote for a minor party, and that party does not win, then your vote will be tossed in the garbage. I'm not joking. There is no incentive for voting for the party that most accurately represent your views. Worse, if there are two parties with similar policies, then they will probably split their constituents evenly between them and neither will win. For example, if 60% of voters are left-wing, and there are two left-wing parties and one right-wing party, then the right-wing party would win (the two left-wing parties would get 30% each, and the right-wing party would get 40%). How stupid is that?
• In Australia, if you vote for a minor party, and that party does not win, then your vote will be attributed towards some larger party selected in advance by the minor party. This lets me vote for a minor party but, on the chance they lose the election, my vote will be attributed to the next closest party in terms of policies. For example, I can vote for the minority Greens party, with the assurance that my vote will be attributed to whichever party has created policies that are closest to the Greens.

Voting in Canada is also completely optional. People are not encouraged to consider each party on its merits - they only bother to vote if the policies of one party will somehow affect their personal lives. The voting system implicitly discourages a government that is "for the benefit of all", because a large number of people with "moderate socialist" views would not bother to vote.

To be honest, I'm not very interested in voting in Canada. I'm more interested in changing the voting system so that my vote would count. :(