Argh, I hate the job centre sometimes.

[betajaen]

Any tips/advice? What should i say to prove my knowledge, and secure a place (I really want this job). Will they be interested in my website/Youtube videos showing off my engine?

Great news!

You could ask your boss from the repair shop you worked at for a reference. That would prove you are capable and have the knowledge to repair computers. As well have previous experience such as working in a shop, talking to customers, selling stock, etc.

Talking about your home network and computers is a great idea. You should also mention your involvement with Ogre and other programming projects you have on the go, that may help. Perhaps a portfolio of your work may be useful.

[McSwan]

Grats Scatchy, I wish you the best of luck. I was going to suggest starting your own computer repair business.

Monkey sphere could well be correct. But I don't think the evidence is conclusive. It could have been that primates stuck together in groups due to sustainability reasons, larger group == no food. Bigger brain and size == greater capacity to explore a bigger region, hence larger sustainable group. Then we get to humans, larger sustainable population, hence a bigger population. This model fits with reality, whereas the most obvious flaw I can see in the monkey sphere is that we don't live in groups of 150. In fact, research shows that people who live in cities are happier, than country folk per capita, and hence have a lower suicide rate. I can't name 1,000,000 people that's I've interacted with, but I am happy to interact with them. Unless they smell bad, or have bad breath.

The fact is, our brains are different from monkeys. I suspect that we can learn to be in groups much larger than 150, beyond what the neocortex suggests. Also, much smaller groups too.

I would suggest it's not about 150 people. The cat example was about the fact that it's really about concepts. ie I'd be really upset if my hard drive crashed.

The theory came about because the the most complex thing in a primates existence was other primates. Now, in human societies one can learn about concepts that can be at a similar complexity.

I think researchers and mentally active people probably reduce the numbers of people they are familiar with, so they can concentrate on there area of research.

Uh oh, counting friends time. Woot, I got past 1. One day I'll get to use my other hand for counting friends, one day, just u wait...

[McSwan]

oh,

Obviously you've never had a pet.

I had about 16 cats and 2 dog from about age 0-10, they all died . I think there was a cat disease or maybe a poisoner? around our house that killed them. I know one of our dogs died from being baited. Eventually we took in a stray, she got sick too, but recovered after much care. She lived for about 16 years.

[Kojack]

You went through 1 cat every 7.5 months? Doesn't sound like a very cat friendly area.
I've had a couple die from feline aids (like the human version, but spread by injuries when fighting. Also can't be passed to non cats), and 2 get hit by cars (including a norwegian forest cat, which were pretty rare in australia apparently). Also almost lost one kitten to an 8-10 foot long carpet python, but I fought the thing off and saved the cat. And my current cat has hyperthyroidism, so it's virtually a skeleton with fur.

Anyway...

Good luck with the technician job.