Since I turned 18 I have participated in democracy quite a number of times. As of this weekend, I still have not accepted a single “how to vote” card from any of the people outside the polling venues.
You’re welcome.
You want to know how amazing Apple is?
I know you do!
I’m getting pretty well kitted out in all things Apple these days – I have the Macbook pro 15″ i7, iPhone 3GS, and now a wireless bluetooth Apple keyboard and trackpad.
I only just bought the keyboard and trackpad to help my posture when in the Mac, but then I’m thinking “hold on… will this thing link to my iPhone?” Why not? And yes it does!
So then I’m texting people, controlling my ipod all from my wireless keyboard, and yes even writing this blog via my wireless keyboard to my iPhone on the WordPress app and BOO YAH! a blog on the net without network internet and without a computer and without text typing thumbs.
Ahhh, Apple… surely you will be the rise and downfall of our civilization..
This is Mike Dicker signing off from anywhere there’ mobile reception!
I’m going through the who to vote for thoughts again, as with my NRL followings I’m not completely loyal to any team so I’m not going to vote for the safe party by default each time.
Here are some thoughts which I’m not blaming on one party in particular but things I might consider:
1) I’m still annoyed that electricity prices have been allowed to go the way they have, it’s a necessity and usually the less money you earn or have the more costly a house you need to live in because it’s not energy efficient at all.
The solar idea may have been a good one, the government would have basically put in another power station with all these installations but probably at the cost to those who can’t afford to own a house and therefore have to pay higher bills and not benefit from rebates. I know people getting credits on their bills but these are only really available to home owners. So it’s almost like those worse off are paying for those better off to have cheaper bills.
It doesn’t seem right.
But if you are a home owner I totally don’t blame you for getting it, it’s either get it and reduce your bill or do nothing and increase it.
2) Carbon tax. Another tricky debate. I don’t think it’s anywhere near as simple as saying we’ll start with something like cars. If you drive a car you should pay a carbon tax, if you drive an older car you should pay more.
This will hit exactly the same people as above, especially those who must have a car to get to their job that isn’t accessible by public transport and are struggling to make ends meet anyway.
3) Boat people. Don’t get me started on boat people!! No that’s a total joke. I’m not sure where I stand on this, which may sound stupid, but there are a lot of people who need our help and it needs to be handled better, I just don’t know where you draw the line… If that sounds harsh it’s not meant to be, I just don’t know if you put limitations on it, with exceptions of course, or what…
I’m the first to admit though that I probably don’t know enough about these issues yet so will continue to check them out.
Just some thoughts…
I went to see Ed Vedder’s solo show at the State Theatre tonight. As I expected, he was fantastic. Crowd were fairly enthusiastic, although there were a few pockets of loud (drunk?) idiots who couldn’t stop yelling for most of the night. One female bogan even tried to get an “Aussie Aussie Aussie” chant going. Thankfully only one moron returned the “Oi Oi Oi”, and she didn’t try again. Phew.
Highlights for me were Porch, Immortality, Dead Man, Golden State and Hard Sun.There was also a brilliant new version of ‘Better Man’ that was quite difficult to pick at first. Completely new melody and rhythm to freshen up a familiar song.
Only got one photo (during the final encore [featuring Jimmy Barnes' daughter, who was one half of the support act]) as the venue staff were very attentive to enforcing their ‘no photography’ rule in the section we were seated in. Posted on Twitter as per Dicker’s request.
Right, I’m off to bed. Not too much tinnitus this evening for once.
c’mon hungry beast season 3 on ABC1!
Woohoo!
What is hungry beast? You can check the video below but basically think of the 7pm project on channel Ten except the journalism is good, funny, engaging, funny, and insightful.
So the whole gay marriage debate seems to be centre stage at the moment with the Get-Up campaign to promote gay marriage kicking off today, the gay & lesbian mardi gras coming soon, and the Fred Nile group organising themselves for a protest against gay marriage. I’ve noticed a few twitters on the subject and received a few emails from both sides…
At the risk of displaying my ignorance, I have a 2 questions:
To my mind if homosexual people do not have the same legal entitlements as married people then it is probably our job as christians to fight for their right to those entitlements – that is, if we are serious about loving all people regardless of race, colour, creed or sexuality. The gay couple who live together in de-facto and then split are as much entitled to equal super, and equal ownership of shared material possessions as the heterosexual de-facto couple who split.
This is not a question of Christian faith but a question of justice and upholding the rights of the vulnerable.
If we want to make this an issue of christian principle then we should also deny the marriage of pagan heterosexuals. If we are serious in saying (as the bible does) that homosexuality is no worse a sin than heterosexual immorality (sleeping around, unfaithfulness, promiscuity etc) then we need to be consistent with our stand across the board. Homosexuals who are denying the lordship of Jesus are as much entitled to marriage as Heterosexuals who are denying the lordship of Jesus.
If you’re going to make a stand for one or the other, just be consistent in applying your theology – if Jesus gets angry about anything, it’s hypocrisy and double standards.
Personally, if homosexuals get married or not, what difference does it make? They still need to hear the gospel and be radically transformed by it.
So we’re hoping to get a new house soon.
If by soon, you mean some time in the next couple of years. We hope.
Our architect (the father-in-law) says we’ll be moved in by Christmas. I’m less optimistic and assume it’ll be mid 2012.
Either way, we got emailed some (final?) plans this morning and I’m almost allowing myself to get excited…believing it might actually happen…
The project involves us selling our unit (pretty much done); some friends selling their unit (hopefully soon); us purchasing a lovely corner block property (pretty much done); renovating the existing house, so that our friends can move into it (nowhere near done); us building a new house on the back of the property and having our own little street frontage with shared backyard/vegetable gardens/BBQ area etc (waaaay down the track). It’s a vague attempt at living in long term community with close friends from church. Letting kids grow up together and seeing if we can all ‘play nice’ and share resources. A sort of middle-class commune.
In the meantime we’ll become wandering gypsies, roaming the southern suburbs of Sydney between temporary housing, until the property is ready. Hopefully this won’t end up all post-apocalyptic and we don’t have to fight any marauding gangs while we’re ‘on the road’.
I’m looking for a witty anecdote that goes with this formula:
“Couldn’t organise a ___________ in a ___________.”
Some popular ones are:
There are few more that I know but really aren’t suitable for saying out loud or printing in text (if you know what I mean?).
So I’d like some which are a bit more clever and less likely to offend people with the language and content.
Got any suggestions?
Add a comment below. (No crude ones please).
So James bought me a ticket to the Big Day Out – #2 Sydney show – as a christmas present (thankyou James!).
And because the BDO organisers didn’t sell enough tix to the 2nd Sydney show they made it “bring-a-friend-for-free” deal, so Pete and Todd came with.
I haven’t been to the BDO since 1996 when it was at Moore park so wasn’t sure what to expect of this one… I must say, I was expecting it to be filthy hot and crowded but thankfully it wasn’t… nice!
I must say I did feel somewhat out of touch not recognising many of the bands that were playing the BDO but it was refreshing to realise I did know some of them (heard on JJJ) and just didn’t realise I knew them… And it was good to be introduced to some new music and see what BDO youth culture looks like nowadays (maybe I should claim the ticket on tax each year as youth research? hmmmm…).
Of course I wore my tried and true concert going out fit – cut off cargos with zip/velcro pockets to keep your stuff secure in the mosh, black tee, sneakers, and hat (because after 96 BDO I’m more sensible about sun protection). However, I soon realised that I was probably the only one in such an outfit… seems the modern male concert goer where’s board shorts, singlet or no shirt, or they wear skinny jeans… how they stop their stuff falling out of their pockets in the mosh? Easy, they don’t really mosh. Sure they get right up the front and move a bit (I was there for Tool, Deftones and Rammstein) but the mosh is soft if you ask me… dudes stand there with their iPhone, digital camera and handbag doing squat… soft I say.
And the modern female concert goer… well lets just say some super tiny cut off jean shorts and a bikini top or bra will get you by with the status quo (there must’ve been a memo about female concert uniform… you’d be hard pressed to find anything different).
Anyway, enough of fashion… I went really to see the Deftones and Tool, but I was glad I caught Children Collide, Paul Dempsy, Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, Washington, and (surprisingly) Rammstein… yes, that’s right Rammstein. I’m as surprised as you are.
Now I’m not really a Rammstein fan (they’re quite frightening!) but man they put on a good show! I’ve never seen such theatrics or pyrotechnics from any band ever. Certainly there were some vulgar theatrics (those who were there, you know what I’m talking about) but by and large they were super entertaining.
I’m not going to get their albums or become a big fan, but I certainly wont miss their show if I happen to be at a music festival where they’re playing.
I stayed to the end for Tool as well and because I only really have one of their albums I knew all but 2 of the songs they played… but they were worth it just to see the drummer Danny Carey who is AMAZING! (youtube him). I would’ve loved if they played Forty Six & 2 (my Tool favourite) but they finished the set with Aenima and Stinkfist and that was great.
All in all, a good day out! And I even escaped sunburn, woohoo!
I might even go next year… I’ll see…
…I just couldn’t be bothered – does that count as an excuse?
Life is fairly busy right now for me. Loads of family related stuff happening; we’re trying to sell our place; potentially buy/build a new place; find a place to live in the interim 12 (or so) months that will take; work is fairly full on; and I’ve been a bit unwell also (although I think the unwell thing is just a symptom of all the other stuff going on, which has limited my sleep… never a good recipe). I’ve been trying to keep my physical activity up (running etc), but even that has been intermittent.
In any case, Twitter/Facebook have been the limit of my online activity – which appears to be more than the other guys have been doing! Obviously our lives are all going through a hectic patch.
A side-effect of all this rushing about has been that my ‘matters of faith’ have certainly suffered. My work roster has meant I haven’t been to church in weeks, and I haven’t really made up for that anywhere else. When I should be relying on Christ, I’m actually wandering off looking for my own big pile of resources that are “certain to get me through this rough patch”. The results have been fairly predictable: I’m short tempered; constantly tired (sleeping poorly); highly stressed; and generally fairly unpleasant to be around.
I know some of the tools and strategies that would correct (at least some of) this behaviour, but being told what to do just makes me more irritable.
Ok, enough whining from me. If you’re the praying type, I’d appreciate a few moments of your attention. If you’re the ‘giving advice’ type, I’d appreciate you saving it up for a moment when I’m less likely to snap.