Newsflash

Sydney, Australia (23 August 2010) There has been a recent addition to the non-existent Number 17 Inc. paycheck list – a small feline which has been labelled by the Number 17 board of directors as “Schrödinger’s Cat”. It has been the centre of much recent attention, appearing in not only a recent poll, but also made a guest appearance in a recent post. However, the new furry employee has also caused a small amount of controversy, as its work conditions have come under scrutiny by various animal welfare groups

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I do not know of any undesirable music originating from number 17.

Some of you may have heard me say that 3000-level units can only be done in third year. The SIO has informed me this is not the case, as long as you meet the prerequisites. As such, I humbly apologise for any inconvenience caused by my assertion.

Therefore some of you should note that 16 February is the day you can vary your enrolment on MyUni. This is especially important for B.Com/B.Law second year transfer students as it would otherwise be impossible for such students to complete their major in two years. If you are one of these students, and your major does not have any 2000-level units as part of your elective requirements, I would suggest you do a 3000-level unit this year.

So I assume Justin made that poll on the right of Number 17 (certainly wasn’t me) since he’s expressed some enthusiasm in the past over it . And yes; perhaps I shall expand somewhat on what are extremely tentative plans.

Murphy and I were somewhat amused by the idea of a group Europe trip at the end of this year, in early December when exams are finished, for about two weeks or so. A few of us talked it over dinner several days ago and we sort of settled on 4 days per country, and 4 countries (Germany, France, Spain and Italy), which seems fine and dandy. And… yeah, that’s pretty much the only planning we’ve done so far. We might follow a tour itinerary but almost certainly won’t be in one (less flexibility, more expensive, etc). I’m sure we can find a lot to do. Any ideas/contributions? My experience with planning overseas trips (and Europe) is rather limited to say the least.

And so – open invite! Being a trip of this nature; I’d hardly expect every man (and woman) and their dog (or cat) to jump on and join, but the more the merrier (to a certain point, of course). Who wants some? =]

And oh; with regards to people not getting along with each other… hum. That can be, ah, sorted out .

Internet censorship plan gets the green light, Sydney Morning Herald

It appears that Senator Stephen Conroy, buoyed by the ‘success’ of the censorship trials, will submit legislation next year to implement internet censorship. If you’d like, there is a discussion paper on how the process to refuse classification of websites will be made transparent and independent, available here.

Note the poll.

Sydney, Australia (21 August 2009) The results of a recent poll on Number 17 has caused speculation in the public arena over the past few days as to whether the company, run by the enigmatic zombie-esque Hans, has achieved the impossible – human cloning. Initially it was disregarded as another stupid publicity stunt, but at a press conference earlier today, Number 17 Inc.’s directors may have made the biggest mistake of the corporation’s history.

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Could this be your iPhone next?

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A few Canadian mathematicians have devised a mathematical model for surviving a zombie attack. According to the Wired article:

It is possible to successfully fend off a zombie attack, according to Canadian mathematicians. The key is to “hit hard and hit often.”

Anyway, the model focuses on modern zombies, which are “very different from the voodoo and the folklore zombies.” It takes into account the possibility of quarantine (could lead to eradication, but unlikely to happen) and treatment (some humans survive, but they still must coexist with zombies), but shows that there is only one strategy likely to succeed: “impulsive eradication.”

“Only sufficiently frequent attacks, with increasing force, will result in eradication, assuming the available resources can be mustered in time,” they concluded.

And if we don’t act fast enough?

“If the timescale of the outbreak increases, then the result is the doomsday scenario: an outbreak of zombies will result in the collapse of civilization, with every human infected, or dead,” they wrote. “This is because human births and deaths will provide the undead with a limitless supply of new bodies to infect, resurrect and convert.”

If an infection breaks out in a city of 500,000 people, the zombies will outnumber the susceptibles in about three days.

I guess nuking Racoon City in Resident Evil was the best thing to do.

Pic unrelated. It was the first result on Google Images after typing in Hans' full name, and also displayed at the funeral.

Number17 Centre (12 July 2009, 8:32PM Sunday) After the shocking news on Thursday night, plans were quickly made by the corporation’s directors to hold a funeral for their CEO and benevolent dictator, Hans, on the 12th of July.

The funeral held earlier on was mostly a private matter, with only family, friends, the Number 17′s board of directors, the media, Kevin Rudd, the Chasers and a hobo from a nearby alley invited.

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Number17 Centre, 9:20PM Thursday, July 9 2009

Ladies, gentlemen and fellow countrymen. I hold this press release today in order that you may know the truth on a matter that has been rumoured about in the community for several days. I speak to address the rumour that has been circling that the CEO of Number17, Hans, has passed away. I say today to you all with grief that the rumours are true. Our founder, our CEO, our Führer – has passed away. Hans was confirmed by our doctor dpham to have died at 9:04 PM AEST on July 8 2009.

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