Still no useful code coming outta this parsec.

On the other hand, I could tell the author of a short Python program what it was doing and why. This is impressive only because I hadn't ever seen any Python code before and don't do object-oriented code. The nice thing is that I could finally see a reason for bothering with o-o design.

BTW, python looks cool and I can now see why there is a Make-Perl-Like-Python debate. Though I'm still not on the for side.

Canberra - The Windy City

Canberra is more beautiful than I had remembered. Perhaps it was the company :-)

Did the tourist thing - walked up Mt Ainslie. I'm so glad we did that before I'd seen the hill in profile - it wasn't nearly as strenuous as it later looked from the roof of Parliament House! The view from Mt Ainslie is gorgeous - and there's so much greenery in Canberra! It's a very pretty place.

Obviously, we also visited the new Parliament House, which is full of wonderful paintings. I had always wanted to see the Tom Roberts painting of Federation and now I have done! It's as dark as it looked in reproductions. As another tourist was saying - they didn't have any artificial light in 1901 and that's probably why the painting (set in the interior of a hall somewhere) is so dark.

Went to a couple of cafes and started to wonder if all Canberra waiters are on the effeminate side... it was almost like being in a Newtown cafe!

I was introduced to a number of books during my stay and have decided that I need to join a library and start on an extended reading list. I'll do this after I get back from Brisbane next week. One good thing about not having a life-partner is that I can get caught up in my own interests without feeling guilty.

Depression?

One of the books I was introduced to links depression with pessimism. An interesting point is to assume that pessimism - the feeling or assumption that one can't - is the basis of (learned) helplessness and that this may be a causal factor of depression.

It's also interesting to read a philosophy PhD disagreeing vehemently with Freud's methods and conclusions...

lilo: The Corporation As Adolescent
I agree with lilo's insight that a corporate entity is effectively a legal "person" which can display fear, hope and the need for instant gratification. In my recent experience, government departments can be described the same way. With bonus schitzophrenia for added fun.

ajv: Playing The Numbers Game
Unless you've got some proven, medical reason for getting to a particular weight, don't express your body-image in numbers. Expression of weight or self-image in terms of numbers (dress size, kgs, cms, BMI) is listed by Dolly as a cause for eating disorders in young women. I do understand you're neither female nor a teen, but that doesn't make you immune. YHBW!

Speaking of Newtown...

Canberra reminded me of a snippet of a Whitlams song, which isn't quite appropriate:

In love with this girl
And with her town as well
Walking 'round the rainy city
What a pity there's things to do at home...

If you haven't heard it - pick up the MP3 from their web site.