| Guys, have you heard anything about this? |
[Nov. 27th, 2008|09:51 am] |
Is it really true that the government is trying to introduce an ISP-level filter in an attempt to reduce child pornography? Is it true that it will be totally ineffective, raise internet usage prices, block acceptable sites accidentally and slow down internet speeds up to 80%??
I can barely believe it. I thought sanity reigned in the Australian government these days. Please tell me I'm right.
If I'm not right, Getup has a petition here that you can sign (and please do!) |
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| Please read |
[Jun. 18th, 2008|04:01 pm] |
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I'm just going to take this opportunity to advertise my literary blog (inspired by Helen), which I've had for a while but I don't recall ever telling anyone about.
So read, and comment, adn argue with me! Suzy, I'm talking to you especially. I miss our long-running verbal bookbattles. |
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| (no subject) |
[Apr. 13th, 2008|07:09 pm] |
( I'd like to remind you all of the wonder that is Where's Wally>
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I don't know... does anyone else remember Where's Wally, other than Mrs Wallington dressing up as him last year? I still have about three of the books sitting on my shelf, but I hadn't seen the TV shows in ages. I don't remember them being particularly funny last I watched, but last night my teeth were aching so much I could hardly eat, just from being clenched into a permanent deaths-head grin, it was so hilarious. It's full of the most adorkably bad puns, storylines that make virtually no sense and really terrible animation, and best of all, Odlaw gets crushed to death every two minutes (incidentally, Michael pointed out that 'Odlaw' is 'Waldo' backwards - I always wondered where Waldo came from)
I suppose last time I watched it I was young enough to take it seriously. Wally reminds me forcefully of Captain Carrot, he's so gorgeously nerdy. I think we all need more Wally in our lives... |
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| Sorry is the first step |
[Feb. 13th, 2008|07:06 pm] |
I know many of you may not agree with me, but today I felt proud to be Australian. This is a good article, which may or may not help convince you. I feel very strongly about this issue, as you may have noticed. Usually I accept other people's opinions as their own business, and while I may not agree with them I accept that that's cool. This time, though, I will flatly say that I believe that if you do not believe in saying sorry, you are wrong.
ETA: I now possess a deep hatred of Brendan Nelson. I also discovered that I do actually hate John Howard, with a passion that surprised me. But wasn't it a clever move on Rudd's part to offer Nelson a position at the head of a bi-partisan effort to improve the living conditions of Aborigines? He basically forced him to accept, though his speech was rather disgraceful. I mean, veterans? What? Fuck. You. Brendan Nelson. |
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| The Satanic Verses |
[Jan. 20th, 2008|12:43 pm] |
My parents gave me a copy of The Satanic Verses for Christmas and, truth be told, I'm having a little difficulty getting into it. In the meantime, I've been reading about the controversy it caused when Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa ordering Rushdie's death over it. It all seems a little medieval to me, not to mention completely over-the-top and crazy. I didn't realise that the Japanese translator was actually stabbed to death because of it, and the Italian translator injured in a similar incident. Rushdie himself and the Norwegian publisher of the book also escaped assassination attempts. Rushdie had to live under police protection for nine years or something like that. The whole affair resulted in the temporary cessation of diplomatic relations between the UK and Iran.
It just seems like such a crazy situation. This was the twentieth century - people don't get condemned to death for blasphemy any more, especially when they are a citizen of a foreign country. What's more, if they're guilty they should be tried fairly in a court of law. I don't know about anyone else, but I'm pretty into freedom of expression myself. I find it fairly hard to believe that there are people out there who are religious enough to actually murder someone over this. Isn't the sanctity of life more important than a bit of blasphemy? Apparently, the fatwa can't ever be removed because Khomeini died in 1989 and a fatwa can only be removed by the person who put it on in the first place. |
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| (no subject) |
[Jan. 17th, 2008|08:48 pm] |
Because, more and more often these days, I dream about dropping out of school, running away from home and becoming a deminer.
Well done everyone on your university places! I'm unnaturally proud of you all. |
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| Thoughts on the Election |
[Nov. 27th, 2007|10:14 am] |
The ecstatic joy I thought I would feel if Howard lost still hasn't arrived. Actually, for once I both pity him and respect him greatly. It's because of the speech he made when he conceded defeat - he looked and sounded like he was about to start bawling. I greatly admire people who show emotion, I think because I am so incapable of it myself. It's a completely irrational feeling in this case though, because he was quite obviously trying to hide it. But it was so sad. Suddenly he wasn't the powerful man that he was before; all the glamour was gone. All that was left was a little old man, who progress left behind. After eleven and a half years of giving everything for his country, his country just tossed him aside like a used condom. I believe that he always did what he thought was best - it was just not what we thought was best.
Also, all of you who didn't come hand out pamphlets with Madeline and Grace and I missed out. It was actually the best fun ever.
In addition, I was so incredibly tired after handing out pamphlets in the sun for three hours, then going to my school's ballet show and sitting in the sun again, then going to Madeline's election party and getting to bed at half past twelve made me so amazingly exhausted that for the first time since May my sleeping pattern is back to normal. So thank you, election! |
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| More election stuff |
[Nov. 23rd, 2007|10:13 am] |
FAQ about voting
What does the senate do, etc?
Where do each party's preferences go?
Well, I didn't know this - if you're thinking of voting for a minor party, I'd look here
Party scorecard
Actually, not very useful. I get the feeling GetUp does not exactly support the Libs. Which is as it should be, obviously.
How should you vote?
Quiz. We all like memes here, don't we?
imisshoward.com
I found this rather amusing. It's a sort of mixture between fashion and damning condemnations of John Howard.
And in other news, Maurice Bejart is dead. One of the best choreographers the world has ever seen. I'll admit I didn't know much about him, except through secondary sources, but he was the guy who did Bolero and the Rite of Spring. i.e. amazing. I can't believe he's dead and I've never seen one of his ballets. |
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| *bounces of the walls with excitement* |
[Nov. 21st, 2007|08:31 pm] |
I should not practise piano more often (incidentally, I think I just inadvertently made a Catch-22ism.)
Today, Beethoven emerged from my stunted fingers!! Yes, Beethoven!! Yes, you heard right - Beethoven!! Yes, I am excited.
And, Hanon exercises - TWO HANDS!!! Such a feat of coordination has never been equalled!!!
So yes, all should bow down in awe at my sheer virtuosity. |
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| (no subject) |
[Nov. 17th, 2007|11:10 am] |
Here is a quiz which can tell you how to vote, according to the things that are important to you: www.howshouldivote.com.au
Not that most of you need any help deciding, but I just think it's interesting. It's very slow though. Apparently I should be voting for:
1. Democrats (looking at this candidate's profile, I worry because she doesn't seem to know how to use commas properly, but anyway)
2. Labor
3. Greens
4. Liberty and Democracy party (never heard of it)
5. Family first
6. Liberal
In other news, I now have a devianART: http://placematsgalore.deviantart.com/ yay! Now I have a reason to do more art, and this is a good thing.
And, omg Catch-22. I spent ages talking to Helen about it yesterday, but I just can't get over how fucking brilliant it is. READ IT!!! |
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| Booth Adoption |
[Nov. 15th, 2007|11:16 am] |
I have been assigned to Nunawading South Primary School from 8-11am on the 24th of November (just in case you have been hiding under a rock/studying for too long)
It is pretty close to Nunawading Station. It is possible to change, but the other possible places are even more annoying to get to.
BE THERE OR BE SQUARE!!!! |
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| Just call me.... Procrastinator extraordinaire! Or not. Either way. |
[Nov. 14th, 2007|03:04 pm] |
Is it weird that I'm addicted to vocabulary games? I love them like nothing else. And this particular one feeds the hungry, too, so everyone wins! I can't get past level 45 and I guess most of them besides.
ETA: bizarre coincidence. I posted this before I checked my friends page, and ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) rain_and_snow posted it just before I did.
Another very, very cool thing would be stumbleupon (www.stumbleupon.com) which chooses sites that it thinks you would like virtually at random. You then rate the sites it gives you so that the more you do it the more accurate it gets. |
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| Because I am bored |
[Nov. 9th, 2007|03:39 pm] |
Stolen from Jie, who stole it from Helen, who stole it from someone else. Bold those you've read, italicise the ones you want to read. Leave the ones you've never heard of normal.
( books are shiny ) |
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| (no subject) |
[Nov. 8th, 2007|12:01 pm] |
OK, so this election thing is more complicated than I thought. Actually, I'm a bit confused - but it is possible that there is a meeting next week some time that we (or I) have to go to to get assigned a booth and materials and stuff. But it is also possible that it is all done by email. It doesn't seem like we can choose where we want to go, but it will be in the electorate of Deakin somewhere. I don't know how big Deakin is though.
So who wants to come to the meeting (if it even exists) with me? Come on, you know you want to. |
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| (no subject) |
[Nov. 7th, 2007|06:30 pm] |
Gracious asked me to put this on lj, so here we are: who wants to adopt a polling booth with me and Grace and Madeline on election day? It's gon' be fun!!!!
See here for info: http://www.getup.org.au/campaign/AustraliaGetsUp07&id=123
See here for more info, possibly more useful too: http://www.getup.org.au/blogs/view.php?id=560
The point: get people to think about who they are voting for by handing out pencils and having placards with slogans and stuff. Especially in the senate, in which the libs currently have the majority - which they use to block everyone else's legislation and pass all of theirs.
We all spend our lunchtimes talking about politics anyway, we might as well use it. Oh god I sound like one of those young people advocacy groups. coughOaktreecough.
You don't have to come the whole day, I for one have something on at 2pm so I'm just going in the morning. I'm thinking somewhere around Box Hill because it's pretty central and easy to get to for everyone. |
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| I'm not doing great at this updating thing, so I think it's time for another entry. |
[Nov. 6th, 2007|12:25 pm] |
I don't update because nothing interesting is happening in my life. Oh yeah, except that today I finished my exams! Yay! Not really. I don't feel happy about this, particularly. Maths paper 1 was great! I was happy. Paper 2 was more like a plane crashing into a busy metropolis - but it wasn't too bad, I guess. There was only one part of one question I didn't answer at all, and I'm fairly confident I got most of the rest of it at least partly right. But I really want a 7... I may have to pray.
Anyway. Did you guys hear about the Department of Workplace Relations getting fined for breaking its own workplace relations laws? I don't know the full details, but they wouldn't let their employees attend an anti-WorkChoices rally in their time off. So... they have to pay a $10 000 fine to... themselves. I found that highly amusing.
In other news, I may get a job at Boost. I really, really, don't want to work at Boost, but it's rather positive that I got through to the second round of interviews. I really don't know anything about the job because they didn't tell me anything and they didn't give me a chance to ask questions. If I get it, well, a job is a job, I suppose.
I do believe that is all I have to say. Good luck with the rest of your exams, all! |
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| Election |
[Oct. 14th, 2007|01:13 pm] |
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I'm shattered. One week. One tiny, useless little week and I can't vote. |
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