This is not a dress. This is a sacred robe of the ancient psychedelic monks

And the laugh of the week goes to the U.K. governments suggestion that they may soon be implementing smoking licences (article). I just cannot believe how ridiculous some government measures seem to be lately. It would not worry me but since the media thrives on panic and terror alot of the public seem to actually fall victim to the scare tactics and may start believing they are not capable of buying (or not buying) a packet of cigarettes without first having jumped through hoops for the government that is apparently elected serve them.


A license to smoke? It is just so laughable. What makes it even more ridiculous is the fact the consultant who thinks it might be a good idea has said the form will be complex and tricky to further deter would be smokers. As if any government needs to actively try to make a form complex. Once I fill in the form, have my photo taken, and send it in with a £10 processing charge I am then issued a license that is valid for one year... so the next year it all starts again.

What has intrigued me is the number of non-smokers who have used article comment sections to say how great an idea it is because people smoke outside buildings/smoke near their kids/stink.. etc. I am not sure why they think this will change if someone has to register to smoke. Their problem is not with smokers as a whole it is with people who are rude. I would never smoke near a child, or smoke near people eating etc. I had to step over at least 4 different puddles of vomit on my way to work this morning but I am not suggesting a license be required to buy kebabs after dark. Also, if smoking stops killing all these thousands of people then the government will be seeking to cover the loss of money from cigarette taxes with some other levy and pension services are going to be further strained.

It must also be obvious that if the government were able to dupe the public into accepting smoking licenses then their decent further into the bully/nanny state would surely continue. With a little effort we could soon spend our lives applying for the privilege to live with the drinking licenses, blogging licenses, sex licenses, voting licenses, etc.

Charlie Brooker has a hilarious take on the future here.

I urge, plead, and beg anyone and everyone to watch this movie if you have not already. It is called zeitgeist, it is free on google video, it is 2hrs long and, in my opinion, enthralling.

It may just be me but I find myself feeling extremely cynical and depressed over certain spheres of the world around me more and more lately. These spheres for me are free speech, religion, world politics and the limited transparency of big business/government. All of these themes have been worsening over time but zeitgeist manages to tie them together and show that the same factors are driving the vehicle as a whole. It also shows the cyclical nature of the tactics used by those grabbing for power - Drag America into war (while hiding the fact that America is actually the aggressor), sustain war for as long as possible, reap massive profits for duration, reap more profits during the extensive rebuilding of the economy after the war, seek new enemy to drum up fear in docile public... $$$.

This documentary also reveals one interpretation of modern religion and how its spin has evolved as a process of history and the skewing of ancient astrological theories. Even if the theory strikes you as absurd (putting aside the fact that people with faith in god are required to believe maximal amounts of the absurd supported by zero evidence) it is still fascinating and hard to ignore when looking at all of the similarities pointed out. I have not checked on these differences and similarities though.

Anyway http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com/ has info on public screening days on the 15th of March and other sorts of activism being cooked up.

Picture this. Your brother (or father, uncle, husband..) has a smudge on his history. When  he was 20yrs old he got drunk at a party and had sex with a woman. The woman claims it was rape. Your brother is charged and tried, found guilty and sentenced to a period of incarceration. He is not sued in a civil case because he is not wealthy and it is deemed to not be worth it. So, he serves his time in prison and is released to rebuild his life. Fast forward 25years, your brother is now 45, and he wins a lottery prize. The rape victim from his past hears about this and decides to launch a civil litigation case to seek compensation for the rape 25yrs ago.

I think it is ridiculous.

I am not just sitting here randomly thinking about rape and rape compensation laws, I have been reading about Iorworth Hoare and Mrs. A. Hoare raped Mrs. A in 1988 when she was 59. He was charged with her rape and a string of other sex attacks and was imprisoned for life. While on weekend release in 2004 he bought a lottery ticket and won £7million. After a string of rejections Mrs. A has successfully asked the High Court to change the law to allow her to lodge a civil compensation case for the 1988 rape. The fact she could have sued him after the attack in 1988 but chose not to (he was not worth much money) is no longer an issue. (You can read an article about the ruling here).

I do not think I am being insensitive towards Mrs. A for thinking this is out of line.  Mrs. A, and numerous journalists, are claiming that "justice" can now be served. So, do rapists who are broke and face imprisonment for their crimes escape true justice? Justice is served by the law and the law courts, not by private litigation lawyers.

I think people are being blinded by the emotions evoked since Hoare is a monstrous sex attacker. This ruling will affect alot of people who are not sex attackers though. It also puts a huge dent into the whole process of rehabilitation. Why should someone try and rebuild their life and re-assimilate with society if this will always hang over their head, waiting for them to become successful or lucky.

Something I find comical about working with slimline leased dell computers is that dell seem to treat them as disposable. Anytime there is a problem they send someone out with a new computer which they plug in, and they take off your old one, never to be seen again. I think they get converted into coasters or frisbees or something. But anyway, my computer seems forget who I am and how my programs are setup everytime I startup, but I do not want to call the help people for help because they may see that I am using a government computer to store large amounts of digital contraband and can barely find the time to look busy in between procuring more contraband and fiddling with more unnecessary apps.

So I am left to somewhat indulgently setup firefox, winamp and whatever else everytime I restart. And it is fun. And I am a loser. Here is todays work:

I watched Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal the otherday. It was fantastic, dealing with a man's difficult relationship with his own faith. The title of the film reminded me of David Koresh, of WACO fame, because Koresh thought he was the messiah who had been sent to earth to understand the seventh seal of god. This, and a challenge from my girlfriend to read the bible a bit more before criticising it, inspired me to read the book of revelations which is written by someone named John (but most probably not the apostle John), relaying a message he received in the form of a vision from an angel.

I must say, I was super impressed by the book of revelations. It was like a mini sci-fi story, complete with plagues, angels of death, war, and revenge. The thing that fascinates me most is that god is painted as this whole and holy being, the ultimate symbol of love. If this is the case, why can he not just take those with faith to heaven and make it the end of the line for all of the lost souls? Instead, he unleashes a war on the world for a 1000 years, before releasing Satan, and then kills everyone AGAIN, along with Satan. So full of love.

You have to feel a little sorry for Tom Cruise. First there is the new book published by Andrew Morton which includes alot of tabloid speculation, mixed with worrying looking truths. Second, there is a leaked video of him talking about Scientology and how it is down to them to fix everything in the world, from science to criminal rehabilitation. And thirdly, is there any chance he will ever be understood? When you look at what he is championing I doubt there will ever be acceptance. This poisons his role as an ambassador. Anyone he is seen with is suspected of being in the process of being lured to the dark side.

That may not be so far from the truth though, in the video he talks of it being his job to show people the way, stating people are either with them, or not with them. And those people who are with us "are really with us". The videos are being censored by youtube, which is no surprise given the known trigger happy scientologist lawyers.

It is hosted here for the time being, anyway... </div>
Going off exerpts from the unauthorised biography the scientologists worked hard to win over Cruise and I suppose they want to use it for all they can.

The most striking thing from the whole thing for me is how much better Cruise looks with sideburns than without - with all his money and style advisors who would tell him to cut his sideburns off above the ear like some poor school child who suffers bowlcuts for school.

omg omg.. new year, new start.. like fuck. It is the new year, it shall prove to be a big year for me personally but it is still a continuation  of last year and a precursor to next year. Midnight on nye does not harbour any special powers with me, it does highlight our need to label and categorise, organise and summarise, reflect and predict.

I watched the Science of Sleep last night, Michel Gondry's latest. It was a good watch. I felt really awkward with the relationship between the two main characters, I am glad it remains unresolved. It was like watching a child's dream, an imaginative child. It looks like the set would have been a massive arts and crafts all-in. Fun watch. Gael Garcia Bernal and Charlotte Gainsbourg are both great to watch with their intentionally stunted relationship. I kept seeing their previous roles inside my head though - especially Gainsbourg since I only saw I'm not there last week.

Found a new album through a folk channel on lj, it is called huggable dust, by Okay. It is fantastic. The music is slow and dreamy but the guy must have a damaged voicebox or something because his voice is beyond raspy and provides a grating edge to the songs.

I feel positive about Labor making inroads towards reconciliation with Australia's indigenous populations. I think we should make the apology of our government formal, as it stands now the country still seems to be trying to forget the past while attempting to move forward. This is not working. We need openness and active actions towards reconciliation. I am ashamed that making attempts to rectify the appalling Aboriginal health crisis were considered 'unpopular' with the nation by the Howard government. I hope this too will change with Labor taking control. Kim Beazley, while opposition leader, went on record to state he would turn the health crisis within the Aboriginal community within two terms if elected. Kevin Rudd re-iterated this when he took control. He now has to step up to that.

If the media or factions of the public cry out that spending more money on Aboriginal health is 'not fair' (how we Aussies love to throw around the fairness card) since more is spent on the average indigenous person versus non-indigenous then we need to slam the message home that it is necessary since the Aboriginal public is facing an epidemic, they are on average 300% sicker. That is atrocious, to think that the average life expectancy hovers around 37-40yrs for Aboriginals in Australia! I hardly call that a fair-go.

To improve health the new government will have to tackle factors that directly affect health, this would have to include housing and education. No small task but I do not see how we can possibly live with ourselves or hold our heads high as a nation if we let this crisis run on indefinitely. I get so frustrated when I hear people say they do not want to say sorry since they did not do anything wrong and that it is all in the past... no one is asking any one member of the Australian public to come forward and apologise. It is the country that needs to apologise and that needs to be done by the government, if only there was more of a public outcry for action on reconciliation - then the government will be pushed forward more quickly.

I had not realised until earlier this year that Canada faced problems comparable to Australia with its own indigenous population. Two years ago they announced they were spending C$2 billion on tackling poverty, health and education within the indigenous community (article). Following this, they have just announced they are providing the Inuit community autonomous status, along with a chunk of land the size of France (article). I am not suggesting this is the answer to addressing Australia's issues (I am not sure allowing autonomous status is what is wanted by the indigenous or non-indigenous community) but it should make our inaction look even more pathetic in comparison.

Monday the 26th of November, 2007 - another fantastic night for free speech and debate.

Oxford University hold a free speech event and decide to invite far-right politician Nick Griffin and holocaust denier David Irving. Students of the university purchase tickets and it is hoped that by encouraging mature debate the students will be able to see the views expressed by the controversial figures and get their own grasp on their views expressed through questioning.

HOLD UP! WHAT ARE YOU THINKING... how dare you allow there to be controversial views shared at a free speech debate. We are obviously not mature enough to handle the debate of views deemed unsavoury. I want to know why. We do not seem to have any confidence in our own intelligence or any faith in our democracy. What kind of a sham democracy is it that decides what can be debated. Who gets to decide what is safe to talk about and what is not? It is my right to offend people and it is everyone else's right to question me. Stifling debate and pushing certain opinions to the underground will do nothing to discredit and marginalise them.

I understand that there are times when free speech could be used to incite violence and I do not believe this should be left unchecked but what happened at the Oxford University Union was not an occasion that could be called into question for threatening public order. We need to grow up.

Here is an interesting article talking about free speech in relation to the Oxford debacle.

Surprises all around that the Pakistan Supreme Court today quashed the last legal challenge to Musharraf's presidency bid... if only it were so simple for all of us to suspend everyone's rights and liberties when people actually try and exercise the democratic rights they are led to believe they hold. He is like a spoilt child who has been told he cannot have all the kids toys to himself. His government is a sham, his judiciary is a sham, Musharraf is a sham - he will not last.

And yet another fantastic week has passed in the struggle to choke challenging debate, the struggle to make everyone sit down, shut up and give up what is left of their personal freedoms. Governments just want us to relax and watch American Idol, as Bill Hicks would put it.

I was disappointed when I saw the reaction to James Watson's comments regarding intelligence between white and black populations not being equal this week (original Sunday Times article). They were truly provocative comments, but we are not talking about someone dropping nooses outside local shopping centres, Watson is a world leading scientist who is a pioneer in the study of DNA. Why not encourage intelligent debate and analysis and let the public and scientific community get to the bottom of his opinion? The point is not whether his opinions are right or wrong, the point is we should have dealt with them differently. If we were to take a more robust and pragmatic approach we could learn from the issue instead of just mercilessly beating the man with a media storm.

I think the Science Museum were weak in their decision to cancel the talk to be held by Watson this week, if they were to take a more scientific approach and encourage debate and discussion then they would have had a world of publicity and alot more respect within the scientific community. Instead they have bowed down to politics. They must have taken their lead from Ken Livingstone who says that "such views are not welcome in a city like London" - how absurd that he has any say over what views are held by anyone, within London or not.

The potential for a similar occasion occurred when it was announced that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was going to be making a speech and answering questions at Columbia University earlier this year. There was an instant cry to cancel the talk and stifle his opinion as his state is seen to sponsor terrorism and extremism. Instead, the University said it would rather promote debate and discussion. Tickets for the show sold quickly and the public were given the opportunity to hear from Ahmadinejad first hand instead of being spoon fed information. And the result of providing this public platform of debate? The Iranian President did not stand up too well to question and debate, looking quite foolish as a result.

In no way can anyone compare Watson and Ahmadinejad, but we can Compare the Science Museum in London and Columbia University in the U.S. The Science Museum has been found lacking and the public has been left with a weeks sensationalist headlines and no understanding.

Hoorar for us...

I tend to believe that governments use major events to increase control over their greatest opponents, the people they govern. One can see this through the free ride 9/11 gave the Bush administration, the massive curb in privacy and freedom that followed, or the privatising of the school system in New Orleans while people were reeling from Hurricane Katrina, the list could continue...

I read something interesting in a nytimes.com story today (read here), it was interesting and disappointing in two ways. The first issue concerned the Democrats apparently considering backtracking their promise to repeal the new laws passed in August allowing the U.S's NSA blanket approval to wiretap all foreign based communication (the Protect America Act). This could mean any US citizen being legally tapped if they receive an international call or deal with someone from another country. The fear of the Democrats is being attacked as weak on terror if they take away investigative (read invasive) power from the state. I am sure the White House would accuse them of being soft of terror so it is a genuine fear. The thing that disappoints me is that they are not scared of being labelled soft on privacy, freedom, or extremist by their public. I do not think we do enough to protect our way of life and our personal freedoms.

The second issue I had with the article was this short paragraph

A competing proposal in the Senate... may be even closer in line with the administration’s demands, with the possibility of including retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies that took part in the N.S.A.’s once-secret program to wiretap without court warrants.

What the fuck? I had never heard about this before and that in itself is wrong. If a goverment has been illegally snooping on it's own residents why is it no big deal? Why is nothing done? It makes it sound like the Protect America Act and the Democrats approval or rejection are absolutely meaningless. The snooping on US citizens has been happening illegally anyway. This is just a way to put a legit face on yet another facade of the police state that is forming.

The general issue reminds me of an article written by Henry Porter, he has a weekly article and he usually uses it to blast Governments for slowly taking over our personal freedoms and he blasts the people for letting it happen. His article used the English DNA database that is growing rapidly as its basis but we are talking about the same issue (Porter article).

We are all fucked. Most Germans thought Hitler was a funny little man who would come and go quickly but when they realised what they were dealing with they had sat back and let enough of their personal freedoms be taken off them so that they were all helpless. We are all fucked.

I am not Bob Geldof, I am not Al Gore, I am not Johnny Oxfam but I am so fucking frustrated everytime I read or think about Burma - which is getting to be more and more. I must admit that I usually tend to hold onto my opinion about world issues such as Burma as alot of people in my life use E! Entertainment as their main news source. The more I hear about Burma the more I want to get militant with the worlds leaders. How can a country hold elections, decisively elect a party, only to be gripped by 40years of oppressive military dictatorship. And as time goes by it comes to be accepted as the way Burma just is. We do not hear a thing about it because all international websites are banned within Burma, speaking out is banned, acting out is banned, at the moment standing in a group of more than 5ppl is banned. How many people were exploited to build the new capital city of 'Myanmar' in the mountains? How much of the national budget is spent on the military or ridiculous projects such as building a new city in the middle of nowhere. The country is being run into the ground. I am quite ignorant when it comes to alot of the world issues at the fore today but something that stands out to me about Burma is the reason for all of the control. It is not an oppressive regime based on religion or racism or expansion it seems to be solely based on power. The junta oppress the people because they can. No one has stopped them, no one did anything when they killed thousands of protesters in 1988, no one has done anything while they have kept Suu Kyi under house arrest for over a decade.

The U.S. do have weapons, trade and investment sanctions on Burma but the problem is that Burma does not need the West for any of these things, they are being supported by China. I think now is the best time to act as China are trying to put a legitimate face on for the Olympics. As we speak monks and students are protesting and troops have been deployed. If no one does anything again then we are all fucked, the Burmese in the right now, the rest of us eventually.

I am not proposing some kind of invasion and I am thankful Burma is not rich in oil or uranium or whatever else is fashionable so there are not countries knocking at the door with their tanks to 'help' them. I think we should ramp up the sanctions and threaten to boycott the Chinese Olympics if the situation is not rectified. The problem is that it is almost desirable to the Chinese that Burma are excluded from the rest of the world. In 2005 they exported just under $1Billion worth of products into Burma. To convince them something needs to change we need to risk them losing something more valuable - what would be better than world leading countries not turning up to their 'perfect' Olympics built on corruption.

This photo was taken in the last few days, hundreds of people have been arrested for peacefully demonstrating, monks and students are having tear gas used on them, curfews have been placed on the nation.

I had the extreme good fortune of spending Saturday in Blackpool over the weekend. It was Beverley's bday and she wanted to take me, her parents, her two brothers, one of her friends on a car trip to the fair at Pleasure Beach and for the lights along the main strip. It is not the kind of place I think I ever would have seen if I was not seeing Beverley, and I do not think it does attract alot of tourists... but that is a guess. It was definately very busy but it looked like it was mostly english.

The order of the day was fairy floss, blackpool rock, bright lights, rollercoasters, screaming kids, tired parents, casinos, strip clubs, short skirts, drunks and fish and chips. It is enviable how they have managed to fit so much into one street. It is not so much that there is not room on the street but more that there are Discount Shops selling sweets and fairy floss next door to a strip club and packs of drunk girls in tiny skirts and cowboy hats dodging kids running along the strip loving all the novelty shops and lighting. Judging by the reputation of the place though it does not always go without hitches. Alot of the restaurants have big bold signs in the window saying "Couples or Families ONLY".. an obvious sign of trouble with hens and stags in the past. I did not see too much outlandish behaviour.. except an old man throwing up on the footpath while I was walking past him and another drunk running up to cars stopped at traffic lights and rubbing his bare arse against the windows.

The highlight was definately the Big One..


it is an old ride but it was just good fun. It climbs to just over 200 feet and drops down in what must be an almost vertical line - really fun. There is another one there called InFusion which is a little more daunting since there are no carriages, your feet dangle and you spend more time upside down but my hands went numb on that one from all the blood leaving my upper torso.

We did not even drive to the end of the lights, they seem to go on forever, it may help that the traffic crawls along at around 10kms/h...

I have always enjoyed working, I like the constancy and the social interaction of it all and I also like facing challenges and proving myself. My first proper job was working in a backpackers hostel which I stayed at for around 3.5 years. I had a fantastic time there and my role slowly developed over time, with my responsibilities and pay increasing with it. I packed in that job to come travel in the U.K. and Europe and kind of expected to find work I would enjoy over here as well.

Since being over here though I have had markedly different experiences at different places. I have worked in a bar which was great but the money for bartending in England is horrendous. I have worked in an admin role for a croissant manufacturer, this job seemed strange when I was first offered it but turned out to be the best job I have had in the U.K. The people were cool to work with, the work required thinking (electronically laying out the pallets to fit on lorries and creating VB apps for them to analyse their performance) and it was deadline driven which I enjoy. I was even working for inbound insurance calls a little while and I actually really enjoyed it. The people I was working with were young and fun, all sorts of people called for all sorts of random stuff and it required confidence and logical thinking.

By far though, the worst jobs I have had in the U.K. have both been linked to the Civil Service. The first was for the N.H.S and was just admin/office bitch role. Fair enough, they did not have a challenging role for me, that is fine, but the vibe in the office was horrendous. No one seems to enjoy being at work, people operate within mini clique's in the office. I was only given minimal work that did not fill half the day but was made to feel like I was creating work and stress for someone else by asking if there was anything else to do. In the end I used to sit in front of a computer (which was switched off - I did not have a login) and everyone in the office would pretend I was not there.

The second worst job, which is still my current job, is working for English local government. I am on a switchboard but it is not a very busy switchboard. On an average day I receive around 30 phone calls (nothing for a switchboard really) and each lasts around 5seconds. I work an 8hour day... you do the math. At least at this job I have open internet privileges. Over time I have slowly perverted what is the norm and now wear jeans everyday, hardly shave, constantly have one of my earphone buds in and play music and youtube off this computer all day long. This would have disgusted me in the past but you have to make your workplace bearable and there is no chance of this job getting anymore stimulating or challenging. To be honest this job should not exist, with the internet the need for generic switchboards is reducing. If the other 6 or so staff in this office had all of the calls I receive routed to a central phone they could each answer the calls when they are free. They already answer me when I don't know the answer to someones query. The problem is that everyone here is so afraid of change. They have all worked in the same jobs for 15yrs+ and they cannot bear to see anything change.

I was witness today to the saddest thing I have seen since working here. Someone who has been working within local government for 18years has been forced out due to cutbacks throughout the civil service, this is sad by itself but I understand these things will happen, what is sad is the attitude towards this guy who was leaving. They brought in a temp to do his job a week ago (it is not like his job does not exist anymore, all that matters is that there is one less permanant staff member listed), he has taught the temp, they wrote a card, did a whip around for cash, sent out a message for people to come along to a presentation. About 5ppl were here when he got given the card, someone explained how they thought they would give him the cash instead of purchasing a present so he could spend it how he wants and then asked if there is anything he wanted to say. He said "Not really..." awkward silence ensued. Then he walked out. Near on 20years of this guys life. Fuck that.

p.s. Kate McCann did it.

Went to the Manchester Academy to see Architecture in Helsinki last night. I had not seen anything at the Academy before so didn't know the exact location.. I have also not seen AIH live before and ended up having a horrifically awkward conversation with Jamie Mildren (pic below - guitarist/trombonist) outside the venue where I basically asked him where the academy was, he pointed behind me, then I asked him if it was the academy with live music tonight.. to which he just nodded with a bizarre look on his face. Quite embarassing, not recognising him would not be so bad if he wasn't 6'2 with massive dreds and a huge red beard.. lol.



They were supported by Caribou who were playing trippy electronic instrumental stuff featuring two drum kits, keyboards, bass, two guitars, a xylophone, a recorder and a lot of chanting! The lead singer, Dan Snaith was quite excitable and the music was cool. I found myself trying to pigeon hole what kind of music they were playing but couldn't. It was not until I got to work today and looked into Caribou and its origins that I found out Dan Snaith has previously released solo electronic records. I was confused because one of the songs had verses and a chorus but the majority had an element of chanting overlaying crazy drum sessions and catchy beats and electronic noise featuring throughout. It was a great pre-cursor for what was to come.

Architecture in Helsinki were quite a big group for the tiny stage and the club was hot as hell! Ridiculously so, there were actually statements made about petitioning to get air con put in, lets see how that goes. Anyway, the group were super energetic on stage, especially Cameron Bird and Kellie Sutherland. Kellie sounded great, she does all of the melodic singing and sang it as well live (while sweating it out in a koala top) as she did while recording. They were not overly polished in their delivery but everything about the set was fun, they were cool to watch and it was impossible to stand still.

Top night!

Upcoming shows are Kate Nash, maybe John Butler Trio, and then..... INTERPOL!

Due to the disproportionate amount of time I spend randomly trawling the web while working I try to keep up with Australian news websites as well as English web and there is definately a different flavour left by each. I love the BBC and the Guardian/Observer, but English news is very predictable. I suppose it is aimed at the English people, who are also quite predictable. There is a large emphasis placed on left vs. right wing over here and you can see the battle being played out everywhere, especially when it comes to which paper you buy and what websites you read your news on. It is not fair but I find myself judging someone if they are buying a rag like the Daily Mail.

Guardian will do a cover story talking about corruption charges or a military Generals comments on where the war is going, on the same day the Daily Mail will cover with a picture of people at a Romanian bus stop in a poor town stating 'They are coming to the U.K. to rape our daughters' and will compare the tits of an English girl and an Iraqi to determine the current status of the war - on both fronts.. hah.

Australian news seems to be alot less polarising. It still has quirks, any statistics or numbers in general in the Daily Telegraph seem to be doubled compared to any other papers but reading a specific paper does not seem to make such a comment about the reader as it does in the U.K.

The front page of www.bbc.co.uk today was quite stock standard- Pavorotti passes, Talks to be held on Darfur, Hunt for Germany terror suspects, Syria fires on Israel, Mosquito virus enters U.K. Compare this with www.smh.com.au- Pavorotti passes, Chaser team arrested for APEC prank, Girl gives kiwi a kick in the 'bills', Child porn arrests made, Sex abuse of dog under investigation(..wtf).

The Australian news seems to carry the inherent nationalism subtly displayed by alot of Australians. If it did not happen in Australia, then who cares? Maybe it follows from the geographical distance between Australia and 'the world'

Here is the dog sex article - http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/sex-abuse-of-dog-under-investigation/2007/09/06/1188783391472.html

Quite disgusting, there are sick fucks about. It is especially cruel to leave the dog on a highway afterwards for someone else to discover, if you are happy to ream it in half and dislocate its hip then you may as well kill it afterwards for its own good, or could the bastard not bear to do it after the connection he had made (with his knob).

I do not think bestiality is something I will ever understand. I remember someone breaking into the agriculture plot at my highschool when I was 13 or 14 and raping one of the sheep so bad it would never walk again. What is a teacher really meant to tell the kids? Do you have to keep farm animals in locked cages when they live in urban areas? How can you possibly counter the desires of the devious. If you lock up your sheep you might find someone has snuck into your backyard and fingered your hamster or something.

I have been watching all this talk of digital litter and the developing issue of digital snooping quite closely. I am quite well spread out over the internet and have no problem with friends and strangers viewing my profile, my pictures or my blog (my blog on myspace - no one I know knows about this lj, I dont think - but that is the point). The problem I have is being snooped on by employers or recruitment agencies or receiving targeted spam. About a month ago I read an interview with a recruitment consultant who said he regularly viewed peoples facebook profile to see what they were 'really' like. This threw me a bit because it means that either this consultant has asked and been accepted as the potential employees friend, or the potential employee has allowed open access to people in the same network/s as them, or the recruiter has some kind of backdoor access to peoples facebook profile.

It is that last option that worries me. If everyone played by the rules then I would have complete faith that I could control my own publicly accessible profile using the privacy settings of each technology, but they often don't. I do not allow people from my network to see my profile, I do not allow strangers see my myspace profile either but does that really count for much?

I am worried that someone is going to develop a tool that will exploit any or all of these networking sites. They are a veritable gold mine for marketers and fraudsters (not that the two are any different) and being able to data mine the information would be priceless as it is constantly getting more and more popular and more and more specific. In the end, if someone were to create a backdoor on these technologies so your information posted to myspace/facebook/ljournal/flikr/amazon/wherever could be correlated and sold I would feel extremely exploited and it gives me an uneasiness using these products now, even though they may never be broken. It is like writing a diary with photograph evidence that you think your grandmother is going to read.

Another reason for concern is how little we know about the internet. What will happen to our defunct facebook profiles when we stop using the sites. Will they really be wiped? I doubt it, there is no need to wipe anything anymore. We will never run out of space and the data is worth something to someone. Does a privacy policy mean anything for a company that has stopped trading? Are pictures of me pilled off my nut going to be indexed on the web somewhere when I am 10years older? Murdoch owns myspace for fucks sake, that is reason enough to cancel my account.

Here is the article that got me thinking about this today - http://news.com.com/At+Rapleaf%2C+your+personals+are+public/2100-1038_3-6205716.html?tag=news.2

Being a troubled smoker, I was mortified to see this article today as I now know that if I wanted to live to 100 (which I doubt will happen, thank fuck!) I should not have been inhaling while smoking. It makes me wonder why the Marlboro 'Ma would bother sucking down cigarettes if she was just bum puffing. I am not a troubled smoker because it has become some kind of target for uptight crusaders intent on infringing my social justice, I am troubled because I genuinely wanted to quit but was wooed back by that sweet acrid fulfilment that only a cigarette gives. I feel better about myself since I now smoke Marlboro Lights, which are light so must be good for me. Jenna Jameson smokes them too so it makes me shit hot in bed.





The way I see it I am quite the upstanding citizen by lighting cigarettes instead of shooting up a cheeky hit of brown... it has become all the rage. Heroin is so vogue right now, it is last years pink. I find it difficult because it seems to be creative, talented people who are endorsing this lifestyle and the younger generation of sheep following are probably trading in their cider habit for Class A as I write. I do find Russell Brand, Pete Docherty, Amy Winehouse intriguing but maybe that is because I do not find it quite so shocking that we expect our young stars to live the lifestyle they sing about. It extends their 15mins because they are only expected to survive for 45mins anyway... who can imagine Amy Winehouse getting old?

I now have myspace, facebook, and livejournal. I must be really bored or really arrogant. I only want to spend time looking at something if it is about me. That is not the case but I had to convince myself of that when I was setting up this account so I can give myself another avenue to spread my view. I would prefer to be diligent in writing a physical journal but I write like an infant and my mind moves quicker. Also, this can be multimedia - woo

I have been somewhat obsessed with Bill Hicks lately, I was introduced to him about a year ago (while really high) and felt something for him straight away. Is it possible to have a mental metaphysical connection with a dead person? It is a little over the top to think there would be any kind of connection anyway, the man is just a legend and he is timeless. I think I am just a bit of an obsessed admirer. I want my kids to listen to Bill Hicks, if they agreed with everything he says they would have problems but I would want to know them anyway.This job saps my soul a little bit, it is a circular thing, I have no responsibility and no challenges to face in the workplace and so I entertain myself and dream of a job that stimulates and asks something of me but I think the fact I have spent so long in these shit jobs I may not be able to fulfil a role that requires even minimal application. On a lighter note, this is really funny