Second Life - how close am I getting with my current avatar?

I'm no artist, and the default system for designing avatars has a lot of limitations, but let's have a look. How's this, I wonder, as a caricature cum idealisation? Hmmm, not too bad I think ...

AAP conference

The Australasian Association of Philosophy conference at the Australian National University this past week was one of the most stimulating and enjoyable conferences or conventions, or whatever, that I've been to. Taking place over almost a full five days, it soon began to deliver the timeless feeling that I'd always been there. It was well organised and extraordinarily diverse in range. I was at the conference to take it in as a sociological experience (this was the first time I'd been to this annual event), meet some new people, give support to friends and colleagues, and present a paper on one of my pet themes (the "defying nature" theme - why does this idea persist, and what are the implications?).

I drove up with Ole Koksvik, a fellow grad. student at Monash. Ole is doing his research Masters in philosophy of mind, defending a moderate version of dualism; he's thinking that he might do further graduate work at ANU. Indeed, ANU is one of the institutions where I'd like to work, myself, when I've finished this second PhD that I've taken on. The ANU faculty and its research output are very impressive, and the place would suit my interdisciplinary interests in philosophy and law.

We took my car, but Ole ended up doing slightly more of the driving than I did. I needed to nap briefly during the trip back - I'd stayed awake to 4 am watching Wimbledon on TV, then got up about three hours later to have breakfast and check out. As a result, I was getting pretty tired during one of my turns at the wheel, 100 kilometres south of Albury, and handed over to Ole for awhile (mindful of all those warnings about driver fatigue that dot the Hume Highway). A half hour nap, followed by some fast food a bit later when we pulled into a service centre, revitalised me. It was nice when I finally pulled into Albert Park last night, and to see Jenny again - not to mention Felix!

Even more from Newcastle - Nick and Ben

(Two of) my young nephews - Nick and Ben. Note the evidence in the foreground of Nick's sole foray to date into modelling. I'm not sure his career as a model will be as salubrious as Amanda's, but who can say?

Now, I really must catch up with events in Canberra in my next entry.

Newcastle!

The photos I've been uploading in the last few entries give some impression of our Newcastle trip, I hope, although I didn't end up with pics of everyone we saw. It was all a bit rushed. Jenny and I had less than a week, sandwiched in between an examiner's meeting at Monash and having to get back in time to deal with quite a few things in Melbourne before I could head off almost immediately to the AAP Conference in Canberra (about which more another time). So we were flat out trying to catch up with our families and some of our most dearly loved friends in the limited time we had. To add to the complications, the usually-robust Vicki Coughlan was quite sick with a skin disease that had hit her out of nowhere, while Amanda Pitcairn was in the midst of preparing for a trip to the Maldives ... so we were lucky to see her at all!

Everyone was lovely, of course, and I hope we can catch up with them soon.

Newcastle trip - Jenny's family

Jenny with her sister, Suellen + her Mum and Dad. Newcastle, June 2006.

My family - Newcastle trip

Ross Allen; my sister, Bev; Dad; Mum; me. June, 2006.

Beauty and the beast

Amanda Pitcairn wields the mobile phone as Russell Blackford monsters her - all in good fun, June 2006.

Newcastle trip - Jenny and Amanda

Best girlfriends - Jenny Blackford and Amanda Pitcairn, June 2006.

Newcastle trip - Russ and Amanda

Russell Blackford and Amanda Pitcairn, June 2006.

Nice photo

Rjurik Davidson, Russell Blackford, Jenny Blackford.


Ellen Datlow has posted this cool photo of Jenny and me with Rjurik Davidson here. Click on the link and you'll see that Ellen has a whole lot of great shots from Conflux.