Placing several Wikileaks pages on the Australian government Internet censorship list may have woken the slumbering monster. The Age reports that Wikileaks will be publishing the complete list shortly (I just searched for it but obviously it's not up). I for one will be very curious to see what is on the list. Or rather, what beyond their initial sales pitch (to ban all child porn sites) has crept onto the list. The message here? Don't fuck with Wikileaks because they will fuck you back.
I should be upfront about this. I've been banging this drum for almost six months now to anyone that will listen. Tiresome though my friends may find it, it's certainly important. At least to me. The current administration in Australia plan to censor the Internet. Ostensibly this is to prevent people from looking at child porn and thereby save the children who are being abused. Huh? What's that? Preventing people from looking at child porn on the Internet will not save one single child and the money would be better spent on tracking down the people that upload/share/distribute this vile material? Seriously? Wow, never would have thought that.
The Australian government's model of censorship involves keeping a confidential list of the websites that are deemed "inappropriate". The minute you have confidential lists without independent arbitrators is the same time that suddenly any website condemning the government or disagreeing with their policies starts disappearing. The beauty of all this? We would never know! It smacks of Orwellian contempt for the people and in a country which has a fairly free media, it's also a bit disturbing to suddenly start pulling the strings on one form of media. What next? A Ministry of Truth to ensure that all of our media is "factually correct"?
More interesting to note is that the only countries currently censoring any individual pages from Wikileaks are China and the united Arab Emirates. Wow, we really are at the forefront of human rights violations now.
Showing posts with label Australia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Australia. Show all posts
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Internet, I like your old stuff better than your new stuff
When I was in high school I was very big into music. I couldn't play an instrument to save myself, but surely my flannel shirt, ripped jeans and Converse sneakers (perfect for sneaking obviously) gave me some kind of credibility. I remember how smug I felt when things I'd been listening to became popular with the mainstream kids on my school. After all, I'd been listening to that stuff for a number of years already. I was old skool.
Well, I'm beginning to feel that way about the Internet. My Facebook account has long since been hunted down and beaten in the street. I've flirted with the idea of starting up a Twitter or micro-blogging account. But honestly? Just because the technology is there to do something doesn't mean it's actually worth doing or in any way shape or form a good idea. We'll leave out how micro-blogging would be a mental impossibility for someone as sefishly verbose as me. So yes, I still (occasionally) blog here. I still use Yahoo Messenger - a decade of online chatting now, how bout that? Outside of blogs, the majority of sites I hit on a regular basis are all ones I've been using for years and years. I also still spend hours a day online in one capacity or another.
Despite Web 2.0 being very much the centre of user-generated content, I remain a fairly passive user of the Net. I basically never comment on blogs or forums, despite being an avid reader of both. I don't upload/make/share/revenge-post videos or photos. Outside of this blog I don't actually generate any of my own content. Which I guess ultimately puts me in some kind of middle band, those heavy Net-users that don't contribute all that much themselves. This is by no means an indictment on myself or the millions of other middle-band Net users. Judging by the sheer volume of trash being produced by heavy content-generators it may be for the better that me and my ilk are not filling the wasteland too.
So I'm one of the heavy users whose habits haven't changed. I haven't embraced the new possibilities. Some days there are things I would like to do/make/contribute but most of the time not. It's entirely possible that as someone who has spent a very heavy decade online that I'm just a wee bit jaded and uninterested in creating more rubbish or trying in some bizarre fashion to find my 5 minutes.
Saw Slumdog Millionaire on Friday. What an enchanting film! Yes, it has a predictable ending but the strength of the film is entirely in how they get to that ending, with the method of explaining the lead characters past being just the right side of clever. Gorgeous soundtrack to go with it. Yup, I enjoyed this one. Was also nice just to go see a movie again, even if it was on my 'Jack Jones'. Looking at the playlist and posters up... Danny Boyle, Bryan Singer, David Fincher and Darren Aronofsky. Hmmm... must be Oscars season again...
It would appear that soon enough I'll be starting The Great Property Hunt of 2009. Can't believe it's already been a year. Hopefully a downturn in the economy means an upgrade in living standard for me. Pretty selfish point of view when you consider that so many people will be downgrading and others losing their housing entirely (less so in Sg, but definitely in Australia and other countries).
Had to call my Mum tonight. Had a weird dream in the wee hours that she and Dad had been away and they came back but Mum was really upset with me. Perhaps a little guilt playing into it there as I hadn't called or emailed in a while. Seems that all the family is fine and noone we know directly has been affected by the bushfires. Awful stuff. Surreal to follow it on the news but then someone at my work, with little English, asked me if my family was ok when she ound out I was from Melbourne. Strange moment to get al emotional. Guess I am in the category of people that can be thankful nothing happened to anyone I know. Still feel awful about those that have been affected.
Ok enough. Other things to say but at some point you have to crawl in to bed and try to beat that high score on DS Boggle.
Well, I'm beginning to feel that way about the Internet. My Facebook account has long since been hunted down and beaten in the street. I've flirted with the idea of starting up a Twitter or micro-blogging account. But honestly? Just because the technology is there to do something doesn't mean it's actually worth doing or in any way shape or form a good idea. We'll leave out how micro-blogging would be a mental impossibility for someone as sefishly verbose as me. So yes, I still (occasionally) blog here. I still use Yahoo Messenger - a decade of online chatting now, how bout that? Outside of blogs, the majority of sites I hit on a regular basis are all ones I've been using for years and years. I also still spend hours a day online in one capacity or another.
Despite Web 2.0 being very much the centre of user-generated content, I remain a fairly passive user of the Net. I basically never comment on blogs or forums, despite being an avid reader of both. I don't upload/make/share/revenge-post videos or photos. Outside of this blog I don't actually generate any of my own content. Which I guess ultimately puts me in some kind of middle band, those heavy Net-users that don't contribute all that much themselves. This is by no means an indictment on myself or the millions of other middle-band Net users. Judging by the sheer volume of trash being produced by heavy content-generators it may be for the better that me and my ilk are not filling the wasteland too.
So I'm one of the heavy users whose habits haven't changed. I haven't embraced the new possibilities. Some days there are things I would like to do/make/contribute but most of the time not. It's entirely possible that as someone who has spent a very heavy decade online that I'm just a wee bit jaded and uninterested in creating more rubbish or trying in some bizarre fashion to find my 5 minutes.
Saw Slumdog Millionaire on Friday. What an enchanting film! Yes, it has a predictable ending but the strength of the film is entirely in how they get to that ending, with the method of explaining the lead characters past being just the right side of clever. Gorgeous soundtrack to go with it. Yup, I enjoyed this one. Was also nice just to go see a movie again, even if it was on my 'Jack Jones'. Looking at the playlist and posters up... Danny Boyle, Bryan Singer, David Fincher and Darren Aronofsky. Hmmm... must be Oscars season again...
It would appear that soon enough I'll be starting The Great Property Hunt of 2009. Can't believe it's already been a year. Hopefully a downturn in the economy means an upgrade in living standard for me. Pretty selfish point of view when you consider that so many people will be downgrading and others losing their housing entirely (less so in Sg, but definitely in Australia and other countries).
Had to call my Mum tonight. Had a weird dream in the wee hours that she and Dad had been away and they came back but Mum was really upset with me. Perhaps a little guilt playing into it there as I hadn't called or emailed in a while. Seems that all the family is fine and noone we know directly has been affected by the bushfires. Awful stuff. Surreal to follow it on the news but then someone at my work, with little English, asked me if my family was ok when she ound out I was from Melbourne. Strange moment to get al emotional. Guess I am in the category of people that can be thankful nothing happened to anyone I know. Still feel awful about those that have been affected.
Ok enough. Other things to say but at some point you have to crawl in to bed and try to beat that high score on DS Boggle.
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Exit Strategies
Have to say, Singapore will need to pull some magical, million dollar note dispensing rabbit out of its hat to convince me to stay. You'd be really surprised at how far along my exit strategy is. Yes, I actually have an "exit strategy". I'm officially an adult.
I have a definite contracted job to return to, should have accommodation sorted by the time I leave Melbourne and have started doing the maths on how much money I'll need to buy a car etc. I'm still going to cast a line for positions in Canada and Japan but I think coming back here suits me best. Over the next month I miss concerts by Public Enemy, TZU, Neil Young alone! Very biased as this is hardcore concert season in Australia, but after a year and a half of covers I find I really miss venues like The Forum, The Prince of Wales and St Jeromes.
The only caveat on returning is that I won't be staying at my parents place, not even for one night. That just can't happen. Hence why I need an actual strategy for my return here. I don't need to give work notice until sometime in March so Singapore and the Gods of Romance have rapid work ahead of me in order to convince me to remain there.
I have a definite contracted job to return to, should have accommodation sorted by the time I leave Melbourne and have started doing the maths on how much money I'll need to buy a car etc. I'm still going to cast a line for positions in Canada and Japan but I think coming back here suits me best. Over the next month I miss concerts by Public Enemy, TZU, Neil Young alone! Very biased as this is hardcore concert season in Australia, but after a year and a half of covers I find I really miss venues like The Forum, The Prince of Wales and St Jeromes.
The only caveat on returning is that I won't be staying at my parents place, not even for one night. That just can't happen. Hence why I need an actual strategy for my return here. I don't need to give work notice until sometime in March so Singapore and the Gods of Romance have rapid work ahead of me in order to convince me to remain there.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
"Let Jakey do it!"
In the past year and a half I've spent more time around babies and toddlers than I have in my life. Despite a basketball team's worth of siblings, none of us have yet added to the family name (or anyone else's for that matter!). While in Singapore, I have had frequent occasion to hang out with my friend's son at barbeques and football nights and the like. His son, Billy, seems to love me and frankly I respond well to kids and they to me. Must be a similar mental plane thing, I guess. Billy is a cute kid whose Mum stays at home much of the time to look after him and was aided by a maid when Mum was at work. He's two and a half years old and I can rarely understand a word he says.
Last night I went to my ex-girlfriend's house. We haven't seen each other obviously for over a year and a half and her boy Jake is now a real human being, far from the infantile poo machine I saw when I left. My ex and her husband both work full-time and Jake is sent to childcare during the day. I've always had a bit of a thing about childcare. I think it's a really wonderful thing, especially in a world where increasingly the average family is required to have two incomes just to make ends meet. However, on a personal level, and given my own vocational field, the idea of leaving my kid in the care of someone I don't know and may not be properly qualified kind of gives me the creeps. Many years ago I used to occasionally go out to the pub with my younger brother and we'd meet girls that he knew or who were friends of his friends. If I had a dollar for every 19-20 year old girl I met in that bar who was a childcare worker with no recognisable qualifications I'd have... well... at least enough for a round of drinks for the boys. Additionally these girls were hardly paragons of responsibility when you enquired about their job and what they did each day and how seriously they actually took it.
...breath...
So little Jake goes to daycare now. We went and picked him up, drove back to her place and ordered a pizza. Jake and I re-bonded over the Incredibles and he was even calling me Daddy after I cut up pizza for him and fed it to him. My ex was highly amused by this and impressed that Jake took such a quick shine to me; not always the easiest of feats with a two and a half year old. Me? Well the whole Daddy thing creeped me out a little in a sense of "oh.. what might have been..." but I had such a lovely time. I think the best thing was seeing how much my ex loved her role as a mother; a role she deeply feared all through the pregnancy. Ultimately, I saw that she was happy and that in turn made me happy. My ex is family to me and you always want what's best for family.
... double breath...
The point of all this was the sheer difference between Jake and Billy. Exactly the same age. One in daycare. One at home with Mum. I realise kids learn and develop at significantly different rates but I couldn't help but wonder. Jake's vocbulary was better. He listened to his Mum (and me!) more than Billy. He interacted in a more social way than Billy is able to. I realise this is all highly circumstantial and an unfair comparison given learning rates etc. But as I said, I can't help but wonder whether childcare is actually better for a child's development than being at home with Mum (sans brothers and sisters in both cases).
Scary/Amazong moment :
As my ex went to put on the Incredibles DVD, Jake shouted "Let Jakey do it!". My ex gave him the dvd, and he opened the wooden cabinet with the "child-proof" lock on it, then proceeded to press the eject button, insert the dvd and set it all playing for himself.
That boy will be surfing the Net and responding to this blog before either of us knows it methinks.
Last night I went to my ex-girlfriend's house. We haven't seen each other obviously for over a year and a half and her boy Jake is now a real human being, far from the infantile poo machine I saw when I left. My ex and her husband both work full-time and Jake is sent to childcare during the day. I've always had a bit of a thing about childcare. I think it's a really wonderful thing, especially in a world where increasingly the average family is required to have two incomes just to make ends meet. However, on a personal level, and given my own vocational field, the idea of leaving my kid in the care of someone I don't know and may not be properly qualified kind of gives me the creeps. Many years ago I used to occasionally go out to the pub with my younger brother and we'd meet girls that he knew or who were friends of his friends. If I had a dollar for every 19-20 year old girl I met in that bar who was a childcare worker with no recognisable qualifications I'd have... well... at least enough for a round of drinks for the boys. Additionally these girls were hardly paragons of responsibility when you enquired about their job and what they did each day and how seriously they actually took it.
...breath...
So little Jake goes to daycare now. We went and picked him up, drove back to her place and ordered a pizza. Jake and I re-bonded over the Incredibles and he was even calling me Daddy after I cut up pizza for him and fed it to him. My ex was highly amused by this and impressed that Jake took such a quick shine to me; not always the easiest of feats with a two and a half year old. Me? Well the whole Daddy thing creeped me out a little in a sense of "oh.. what might have been..." but I had such a lovely time. I think the best thing was seeing how much my ex loved her role as a mother; a role she deeply feared all through the pregnancy. Ultimately, I saw that she was happy and that in turn made me happy. My ex is family to me and you always want what's best for family.
... double breath...
The point of all this was the sheer difference between Jake and Billy. Exactly the same age. One in daycare. One at home with Mum. I realise kids learn and develop at significantly different rates but I couldn't help but wonder. Jake's vocbulary was better. He listened to his Mum (and me!) more than Billy. He interacted in a more social way than Billy is able to. I realise this is all highly circumstantial and an unfair comparison given learning rates etc. But as I said, I can't help but wonder whether childcare is actually better for a child's development than being at home with Mum (sans brothers and sisters in both cases).
Scary/Amazong moment :
As my ex went to put on the Incredibles DVD, Jake shouted "Let Jakey do it!". My ex gave him the dvd, and he opened the wooden cabinet with the "child-proof" lock on it, then proceeded to press the eject button, insert the dvd and set it all playing for himself.
That boy will be surfing the Net and responding to this blog before either of us knows it methinks.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Will be grouchy if work calls me early tomorrow
Gave in to stomachy temptation and changed my flights so I'm heading back to Melbourne a couple of days earlier. When I booked in May I was able to get 10 days back home for a reasonable price but any more than that was an extra $800!! When I called today they told me I could extend in any way I wanted free of charge. Is the economy really $800 worse off? I couch that in terms of things that we (expats anyhow) have to pay. Either way I have just another reason to praise global downturns. I know this is all going to suck for far too many to count, but frankly this works in my favour.
As much as I say it's all about my stomach I realised today that the fact is that I'm just a bit homesick. Can't wait to see my sisters and my parents. Very concerned about my eldest sister. She asked me to stay at her place if I want to on the pretext that her airedale needs some looking after. So I'll do as she asks. Of course it's just to look after the airedale. For a dog-hater I'm good like that ;)
That, and I just have the strong need to get away from Singapore.
For the last 9 months I've been hating my job. Largely because I didn't think I was doing it as well as I'm capable, so distracted was I by my study. The last two days? I loved being there. Honestly. I forgot that I used to love that feeling. In conversation today the concept of introverts and extroverts came up. Noone ever believes that I'm actually very shy. They laugh when I tell them I used to skip any kind of presentation at university because I couldn't bear the thought of being in front of even 10 people let alone the amounts I deal with now. 10%? Who really cares? I'd rather take my chances out of 90% than take my chances with the slavering beasties that make up university tutorial groups. Anyhow, there it is. I'm not what I appear to be. Terrifying, isn't it? Not as terrifying as doing a job you hate. So I'm happy because work has made me happy after so long.
It's been a Ben Folds kind of night. The first two are just two of the most gorgeous songs ever written and the third just an excellent cover.
As much as I say it's all about my stomach I realised today that the fact is that I'm just a bit homesick. Can't wait to see my sisters and my parents. Very concerned about my eldest sister. She asked me to stay at her place if I want to on the pretext that her airedale needs some looking after. So I'll do as she asks. Of course it's just to look after the airedale. For a dog-hater I'm good like that ;)
That, and I just have the strong need to get away from Singapore.
For the last 9 months I've been hating my job. Largely because I didn't think I was doing it as well as I'm capable, so distracted was I by my study. The last two days? I loved being there. Honestly. I forgot that I used to love that feeling. In conversation today the concept of introverts and extroverts came up. Noone ever believes that I'm actually very shy. They laugh when I tell them I used to skip any kind of presentation at university because I couldn't bear the thought of being in front of even 10 people let alone the amounts I deal with now. 10%? Who really cares? I'd rather take my chances out of 90% than take my chances with the slavering beasties that make up university tutorial groups. Anyhow, there it is. I'm not what I appear to be. Terrifying, isn't it? Not as terrifying as doing a job you hate. So I'm happy because work has made me happy after so long.
It's been a Ben Folds kind of night. The first two are just two of the most gorgeous songs ever written and the third just an excellent cover.
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