Oskar, the INTP

My obsession with reaching self knowledge through questionnaires has culminated in me doing the Myers-Briggs test, reportedly the best and most accurate personality test available. The result: I am an INTP. This is the one personality type (out of sixteen) associated with Introversion, Intuition, Thinking and Perceiving. The other sixteen are combinations of these four qualities and their opposite components; Extroversion, Sensing, Feeling and Judging. A general description of INTP's is included below:

INTPs are pensive, analytical folks. They may venture so deeply into thought as to seem detached, and often actually are oblivious to the world around them.

Precise about their descriptions, INTPs will often correct others (or be sorely tempted to) if the shade of meaning is a bit off. While annoying to the less concise, this fine discrimination ability gives INTPs so inclined a natural advantage as, for example, grammarians and linguists.

INTPs are relatively easy-going and amenable to most anything until their principles are violated, about which they may become outspoken and inflexible. They prefer to return, however, to a reserved albeit benign ambiance, not wishing to make spectacles of themselves.

A major concern for INTPs is the haunting sense of impending failure. They spend considerable time second-guessing themselves. The open-endedness (from Perceiving) conjoined with the need for competence (NT) is expressed in a sense that one's conclusion may well be met by an equally plausible alternative solution, and that, after all, one may very well have overlooked some critical bit of data. An INTP arguing a point may very well be trying to convince himself as much as his opposition. In this way INTPs are markedly different from INTJs, who are much more confident in their competence and willing to act on their convictions.

Mathematics is a system where many INTPs love to play, similarly languages, computer systems--potentially any complex system. INTPs thrive on systems. Understanding, exploring, mastering, and manipulating systems can overtake the INTP's conscious thought. This fascination for logical wholes and their inner workings is often expressed in a detachment from the environment, a concentration where time is forgotten and extraneous stimuli are held at bay. Accomplishing a task or goal with this knowledge is secondary.

INTPs and Logic -- One of the tipoffs that a person is an INTP is his/her obsession with logical correctness. Errors are not often due to poor logic -- apparent faux pas in reasoning are usually a result of overlooking details or of incorrect context.

I think that is a pretty good description of me (and I'd know, wouldn't I?). So have you done the Myers-Briggs test before? What was the result? Was your result better then mine? Why? Am I beeing too pushy whith these questions?

If you would like to try a free online version of the test, then this one is pretty accurate, though some of the links its website are very dubious. These explanations of the types are also quite good.

Be like Oskar, don't have better things to do!

Right, so I've found another great way to procrastinate. I now regularly read about a million web-comics, so I can be sure that at least one will be updating soon ALL THE TIME. I cycle through them, waiting for one to update. This is great because I was exaggerating and really only read six of them, so I end up re-reading them several times every day.

That said, I do think that some of the best humor around these days can be found in online comics.
I will once again provide you with a list (listing has become my 'thing' if you haven't noticed), this time of some of my favorite web-comics. Hopefully you will also like them and start wasting your life too!

Dr McNinja: My favorite comic at the moment. It combines some brilliant meme-trend-setting material, with bizarre circumstances, plenty of 'in' jokes and some decent art. Also, it's about a doctor who comes from a long line of Irish ninja and his 10 year old, mustache sporting, sharp shooting sidekick called Gordito, who rides a raptor called Yoshi.
Check it out at: http://drmcninja.com

XKCD:
Old favorite of mine, I have been reading this comic since about half way through year 11. Might be a bit mathsy for some, but usually a good read. Some really clever stuff too, which is contrasted by the very simple drawings, mostly sick figures.
One of my favorites: http://xkcd.com/435/

Dinosaur Comics:
I've had mixed responses about this one. Perhaps its a bit too nerdy, even for the people who are nerdy enough to talk to me. It features the same images in every comic strip, with the writing altered each time. It has some good jokes about linguistics, literature and philosophy as well as a smattering of less intellectual jokes about sex, eating and cephalods.
Couldn't find my favorite, but this one is pretty good. Be sure to read the text when you hover your mouse over the image. http://www.qwantz.com/archive/000298.html

Saturday Mornin Breakfast Cereal:
I've only started reading this one recently, but it is quickly making its way up my list of favorites. It usually features a scene designed to give you one impression, then turns your idea of what's going on around with a second scene or sometimes just an additional sentence displayed below the comic.
This one's great: http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1481#comic

Least I Could Do:
This one has its ups and downs; I really enjoy the superhero/starwars refferences and Rayne's (the main character) spontaneous actions, however it sometimes takes its more risque' jokes too far and can be downright disturbing. Not for the easily offended.
http://least.coulddo.com

Hope you like them too.

New Calculus Theme.

So, I've started to see the absolute brilliance of maths. I've always found it kind of interesting, but the stuff we're doing at uni is so awesome that I am seriously considering straying away from my intended physics life pathway. If only mathematicians got to help design the most powerful machines in the world...
Anyway, I've got a new banner (don't criticize it yet, I'm not finished) and name for the blog (which I'm planning to start updating regularly again).

In the spirit of all this, I've found a limerick that is mind bogglingly perfect:

Here it is:

Which, of course, translates to:

Integral t-squared dt
from 1 to the cube root of 3
times the cosine
of three pi over 9
equals log of the cube root of 'e'.

And it's correct, too.

Six books to take back in time (or possibly read)

I recently saw a brilliant T-shirt, produced by the author of one of my favourite webcomics, Dinosaur Comics. I will be purchasing one in the near future, but quite apart from being an examination of my strange ideas of style, this post is about the kind of things you would take with you, were you forced into the past (or preserve during an apocalypse). What do I consider the most important works of modern times?
I have compiled a list of the six books that I feel make up a formidable chunk of current knowledge and techniques that I would not wish to be without. I willingly admit that there are surely books much more complete than the ones in my list (indeed all six of the books in my list happened to be on my bedside table, perhaps a hint of some influence on my choices. All were also on special at Borders within the past five years :) .), but i have not read them. Here goes:

A Short History of Nearly Everything, Bill Bryson.
This book was my first and most obvious choice. It contains an extraordinary amount of information, covering our current understanding of cosmology, as well as a general history of how we arrived at these conclusions. It provides many specific statistics including the size and gae of the Earth and Universe, as well as a rough guide to the kinds of thought that could be used to expand on this existing knowledge.

Bad Science, Ben Goldacre.
I did not choose this book for its specific content, but the tools it explains and promotes. It coveres the basics of the scientific method, the use of statistics and the potential ways they can be manipulated to apparently give false conclusions. It provides reasons for holding a skeptical world view and suggests tools for maintaining this view.

The Origin of Species, Charles Darwin.
One of the most influential books in the history of Western thought, though unintended. I have chosen this book because of the amazing way it explains the processes and complexity of life (one of the more significant aspects of the world if which we live).

Collapse, Jared Diamond.
This book is a historical study of the sustainability of human civilisations. It provides strong evidence for the idea that almost all human civilisations that have failed have done so because of self instigated environmental degradation. It also gives suggestions as to how this might be avoided in the future. This book would be particularly significant if brought into the past, as it could be used to prevent much of the damage done to our resources, or if taken past the apacalypse, ensure we don't repeat our mistakes.

Six Easy Pieces, Richard Feynman.
Six essays based on six lectures by one of the greatest modern physicists of all time. In this book, Feynman explains the basics of physical chemistry, classical mechanics, conservation of energy, gravitation and reletivity, quantum physics and how physics can be applied within other sciences. While being extraordinarily informative and useful, the contents of this book are easily readable and persuasive.

Sophie's World, Jostein Gaardner.
So far my suggested books have all been related to science, or at least practically oriented, so you would be forgiven for being surprised by my final contribution. Not only is Sophie's World one of the greatest works of fiction of all time, it is rich with history and my other (than science) love; philosophy. This book covers the history of philosophy from ancient Greece to modern times, pacing itsself and asking as many questions as it answers, keeping the reader as intelectually challanged as the characters in the story. This book would be invaluable as a source of knowledge of thinkers throughout the ages and stimulating intelectual thought and discussion.

So there's my list. As a final comment, you will probably have noticed my lack of lists of which horses won races and who won which battles in the past. This was a diliberate choice I made, not an oversight. I made the list with the intention of trying to accumulate as many important ideas, not to get rich by predicting the outcome of the battle of Hastings. In that case, why did I not simply choose a detailed text book from each of the subjects that i consider important. Sure, a text book of Physics, Chemistry, Biology, History, Philosophy and Environemntal Science would have made up a substantial portion of our current important knowlege, but I do not think it would be a very accessable or interesting series of books, besides, it would probably be too heavy...

So, do you agree with my selection of important books? What books would you take in place of them? Also, even if you do not have the opportunity to take them back in time, these are all books I would reccomend you read.

Oskar at Uni

That's right, I am starting (The) University of Melbourne. I have just finished O-week and will have my first lectures on Monday. It is at the same time an exhilirating and daunting idea. So without further ado, a run down on my subjects, clubs/societies and experiences so far.



Subjects:

Physics 1: Surprise surprise, I'm doing physics. I'm really looking forward to this and given my struggles to do well when I'm not interested in a subject I think I might do well accademically (moving from "why do cars have crumple zones?" to "what is the nature of reality?" might have something to do with it).



Calculus 1: As some of you may know, I have never really struggled with maths, just had trouble keeping motivated during the mindless repetition that seems to follow the actual learning. I will have to put up with this and commit to the subject though, because I need a good mark if I want to do Advanced Physics in second Semester.



Global Environment: This subject is described as an introduction to Earth Sciences. It looks like being a very interesting undertaking, covering geology, meteorology and paleantology amongst other things. It is also a subject with reletively few people enrolled, which I think will make for an interesting dynamic when compared wth the large groups enrolled in most of my other subjects.



From Plato to Einstein: My token arts subject required under the new 'Melbourne Model'. This is a history of Western thought. Basically it covers some philosophy of science, a subject that I am fairly interested in.



Clubs and Societies:

Physics Students Society: This looks like a great group and a look through their quarterly 'maglet' ElectroMAG reveals that they have the same sense of humour as me: "Emma recently invented a machine that allows her to travel through time, but as yet she has only managed to travel in the forward direction at the rate of aproximately one second per second." They are also a reletively new group (only founded late last year), which makes me think that they might be more welcoming and open to new students than some of the older, more established clubs.

Melbourne University Mathematics and Statistics society: I ran into these guys near the Science Students Centre and had revealed to me that I was their nth visitor and that this allowed me to gain a full rebate of the $2 entry fee. They also have a common room and invited me to visit and (on hearing I was a physics student) have a conversation of the probabilistic/deterministic nature of reality.

ScienStudents Society: This is one of the biggest and oldest societies on campus, I felt compelled to join them as I am a science student. The majority of members are actually not science students, but they seem to offer lots of free and cheap stuff (mostly food and alcohol).

University of Melbourne Secular Society: Given my views of religion, science and philosophy it is no real surprise that I have joined this club. They run various meetings, discussions and seminars as well as encouraging secualr though and education.

Experiences:
I haven't really done all that much yet (O-week was a bit slow because my hobbies don't include suffering from alcohol poisoning), but I did attend a few seminars on subjects and met the heads of first year Physics and Earth Sciences. They seemed like nice people who weren't out to see you fail at anything (always a good sign).

Youmay also have noticed that my banner and the name of my blog have changed. The administrative staff made a decission that with the increasing likelihood of someone else who understands physics looking at the website, the title should cover something that I am more familiar with. This, coupled with my desire to include some sort of pun and my name restricted me to simple-ish mechanics, so Coupled Oskarllations (it sounds like you're mispronouncing coupled oscillations) it is.

Plans for Australia

Having spent the past 13 years aquiring knowldege and the past three months observing the world, I can now reveal what I would like to see hapen to my country accomplish in the next 10 years. Some of my hopes and suggestions may seem completely unrealistic and unachievable, but I feel that all my ideas listed here are within our capacity if we work hard and start soon. I have ommited any ideas that rely on yet unachieved technology or circumstances ("the aliens come down, fix poverty, global warming and inequality, then leave us with a parting gift of an unlimited resource machine" for example). In this way I guess my ideas are socially optomistic and progressively pesemistic. They are certainly not just my ideas and many of them have been borrowed from others or developed through discussion with others. If anyone can see improvements to or practical problems that may face my dreams then please highlight them.

Net zero population growth:
I know I sound like a broken record, but overpopulation is one of the biggest problems that faces the world today. A stable population size would allow increases in efficiancy to effectively add to our resource pool, rather than slowing down the inevitably increasing rate of depletion. I realise that eventually a reduction in population size will be necessary, but a stable population would be a good and managable medium term goal. A halt in population growth could be achieved by a combination of further education on contraception and the dramatic effects of overpopulation, scrapping the baby bonus, making abortion widely available and heavily cutting down on immigration.

Harnessing the 'new monsoon':
If, as is predicted, the recent floods in Queensland become an annual event during the new weather patterns we are experiencing, then I propose a new water redistribution system. If we were to build a large dam in central Southern Queensland and dig drainage channels so that water could run from mid to Southern areas of the coast into this dam then we would be able to greatly reduce the impact that the increased rain would have on the communities that inhabit these areas. The water in this dam could then be fed into the Murray-Darling river system in the Northern reaches of the Darling river. This would transport the water south without the need for vast pipelines and would ensure that the Murray's mouth was not at risk of re-closing. The new excess water going down the river system would allow a relaxation of the tight irrigation laws, allowing a greater food production in allong the river. Unfortunately this still leaves most of Victoria without Northern Assistance for water, so it is likely that desalination and cutting down on water use would have to continue.

Refilling the inland sea:
For those of you who don't know, Australia's interior was once filled with water. A relic of an earlier climate pattern, it slowly dried up, leaving us with the interesting rock formations in the nullabor and red-centre and not much else. I propose that we make some attempt to refil this vast area with water in order to increase rainfall and productivity of inland regions. If possible (if we are able to collect enough water in it) we could use excess water from the 'South Queensland Superdam' I suggested we build above. If this was not practical, then it might be viable to pump sea water into lake Eyre. Doing so would make previously unusable lands good for farming and habitation.

Solar farms and Alchohol/Sugar storage. It occured to me while being driven through cane feilds in Queensland just how inefficiant our current production of sugar is. For a start, plants generally exhibit 1-2% efficiancy in collecting the sun's energy, a figure far outmatched by our current solar pannels. Not all of the energy collected by the plant is put to use making sugar and we don't collect all the sugar in the plant. We use energy running sugar mills and transporting the cane pulp around and ulitmately end up with an impure product. Electrolytic cells that produce sugar from CO2 and water could probably run at around 60% efficiancy and be powered by solar cells with a much lower space use and upkeep cost than the current cane farms.
This idea brought another to my mind: why not use sugar as a means of storing energy for later use (it is often said that the limiting factor in solar power is the battery, so why not do away with the battery all together?). I later decided that ethanol would be a better chemical to store energy in as it can be fed into fuel cells in its pure form and is less likely to be eaten by bacteria . I also believe the efficiency for an electrolytic cell producing ethanol is around 80%, the same as that of an ethanol fuel cell.

Decentralised living:
I am, as some of you probably know, a decentralist. I was impressed by the multi centred living that I witnessed in Queensland and New South Wales (although perhaps it was just the result of a lower population density) I think we need to move away from large urban areas surrounding a small industrial/commerce area. Incentives should be made available for people to move and work into regional centres, particularly out of large cities. Another related idea I have is to only allow skilled immigration on the condition the the migrant spends a certain amound of time providing their skills to a regional/rural community.

Pomegranite farming:
This is really my Dad's idea. He informs me the pomegranites are the ideal crop for Australia because of their low water use and the comparatively low quality of our imports. They grow well in Callifornia, a comparative climate and orriginate from the Middle East where water is equally (if not more) scarce as here in the lucky country.

So there you go, my hopes and dreams for the future. Mr Rudd's infrastructure package could go a long way towards some of these, though I think it might be a bit late to bring these up now when local councils are already planning where they are going to put their next community hall. Maybe someone will read this and be sparked to do something about it, or perhaps all these ideas have already been considered and rejected as being too costly, impractical or impossible. Thank you for reading,
Oskar.

Oskar (and Rory) in Brisbane.

As you may have guessed after reading the title, we are now in Brisbane.
When you last heard from us, we were in Sydney and about to leave to take the ferry to Manly. You may or may not be pleased to find that we both escaped the ferry ride without harm.
We left Sydney the next morning on a bus to Coffs Harbour, a 9 hour trip.
Coffs wasn't very interesting if you weren't "in to" surfing [or cool], so (after seeing the big banana and the all new big slurpee [Coffs seems like an odd location for a gigantic slurpee sculpture as there are no 7/11s in town]) we continued on to Ballina (4 hours atop a Greyhound).
Ballina was a great little town with very little to do but lots of nice people (Perfect!). We spent two nights in Ballina, then took the three hour bus to Brisbane, where we are staying with some relatives of mine.
Yesterday (our first full day here) we went in to the city to experience the wonders of Brisbane. We visited the Brisbane museum, which turned out to be a modern art gallery (urgh), the state museum, much more to my taste (full of interesting information and displays) and the 'Sciencenter', full of interactive things, but a little bit small. Rory won a Slurpee T-shirt in a competition on his second 1.2-litre Cola Slurpee (over 3-litres were consumed that day).
We were lectured on the faults in democracy by a sweaty man why asked where the cultural centre was, then made several (well rehearsed) cutting remarks about the state of culture in Australia.
And now, to profile some of the many diverse we have encountered on our travels:

Andrea and Gaphlibaliba: Hailing from Italy, these two were the first other backpackers we met. We shared a dorm with them in Sydney. Gaphlibaliba was very nice but did not speak English.

Nick: Hailing from Saskatchewan, Canada, standing 5 feet tall and possessing the combined muscle mass of both Rory and myself, Nick was quite a guy. We shared a dorm with him in Coffs where he was staying three weeks for free while cleaning the YHA for a few hours a day.

Irma: Irma was from Switzerland. We had a conversation with her while eating our $7 all you can eat pizza in Coffs. There were no spare tables in the room, so she was forced to sit with us. Our conversation revolved around the fact that both me and Rory have met someone from Switzerland before (Rory had a French-Swiss Physics sub teacher and Oskar's aunt Romi).

Brick:We met Brick in the TV room in Coffs, where he gave a constant, frustrating commentary on the episode of NCIS we were watching. He was in Coffs doing a training course to become a security guard. He was about 7 feet tall and... built like a tram inspector.

Zeva: Zeva's actual name was Zufit (most of our fellow travelers listed here do not have their real names used {we made up better ones for them}). She was from Israel, so enjoyed the local fruitbats of Ballina (where we met her).

Pierre:As his name might suggest, Pierre hailed from noneother than France. He was a really nice guy (contrary to our opinions of the French), who we shared a room with for both nights in Ballina. He seemed to enjoy our anti-George Bush jokes.

Jamie: We saw this guy in Coffs but only met him in Ballina. We were cooking our dinner at the same time as him which allowed us to talk to him without feeling awkward (we struggle with the most petty of social interactions). We were cooking rissoles with couscous, mushrooms and corn when he began to cook his dinner. His culinary skills were comparitively amazing as he ignited his frypan of meatballs in a epic red flame (hence his name Jamie). On closer interrogation by Oskar, Jamie was revealed to be a chef in his native Southern England. He was kind enough to improve our meal with a sprig of coriander (which Rory thought ruined it). Jamie was somewhat impressed by our magazine choices, Australian Warship for Rory and Australasian Science for Oskar.

The 4 Stooges: We didnt actually talk to these blokes, but on observation, these 4 brits (of which at least one was a distinct Cockney) kept to themselves, playing poker and watching the YHA's DVDs. Oskar offered one a Bavarian Cheesecake, which he refused politely. Oskar gives the most terrible of Cockney impersonations (Rory edited this post).

Celine: Celine was from Winnipeg, Canada, (the slurpee capital of the world). She Arrived late-ish on our last night in Ballina, so we didn't really get to know her...

Richard Lionel: The afformentioned anti-democrat from Brisbane. He approached us on a street in Brisbane City, then asked us "What is the difference between Australia and a yoghurt? Leave one for a few weeks and it'll develoup a culture! HA HA HA" He later said that democracy is the was the stupid rule the intelegent because the stupid far outnumber the intelligent. In retrospect we both would have liked to challenged his ideas, but at the time were both too scared of him.

That's all for now, until next time,
Oskar (and Rory).