Don't read the news.....

....just the headlines

Every day I promise myself I'm not going to read the news, but I can't help myself.
If I did keep my promise, I would miss out on gems like these two. Oddly enough, they both come from the South of the USA.

In an endeavour to stop a man doused in petrol from setting himself alight, police shot him with a Taser. Really.

The next one is about a couple who fell to their deaths in flagrante delicto. A pretty sad story, but a headline writers dream.

Naked couple's sex death plunge

Lazy

I have been extremely lazy in keeping this updated, but that's partly because I'm experimenting with different ways of expressing myself (poetry and song writing at the moment is a heap of fun) and partly because I spend what little free computer time I have reading other people's blogs. If you have a few minutes, visit Sweet Namasté. I read it a few months back and thought "meh", but since then she has moved on and is living with a family on the West Bank. Her pictures and stories humanise the Middle East without the heavy, depressing rhetoric of most of the stories I come across. It makes me aware that my time could be better spent without completely quashing my hope.

HBTM HBTM HBDM HBTM HHH HHH HHH*

Woo hoo!! The Foundation Day long weekend once again coincides perfectly with my birthday. Unlike certain people (Norm, Woz, Jillie, I'm looking at you) I love making a big deal of my birthday. Not because it's my birthday, but purely because I'm more likely to get "Yes" when I invite people over. I just love to surround myself with friends and family and my birthday is the perfect excuse, a sort of mid year Christmas. So if the weather stays fine, Sunday will find me basking in the backyard drinking and making merry, while my friends come and worship at the altar of me. If it rains, I hope we fit in the shed.

Just hope no one brings any myrrh. :-)

*Happy Birthday to me
Happy Birthday to me
Happy Birthday dear me
Happy Birthday to me
Hip Hip Hooray
Hip Hip Hooray
Hip Hip Hooray

Jeff Buckley

10 years ago Jeff Buckley went swimming and never came back. I always wonder, after the succcess of Grace, if he would have gone on to be known as a brilliant song writer or if he would have disappeared, leaving behind a trail broken songs. From the music he did manage to record before his death, it was obvious that he played music "outside the box", but to watch and listen to him sing was to see and hear real emotion and power. Every syllable, every emotion was squeezed out, kicking and screaming and laid bare before the audience.

RIP Jeff Buckley

Zimbabwe

I have thought about the Australian Cricket tour to Zimbabwe since the Australian Government announced its ban and have come to the conclusion that they have it right. Sadly it is at the expense of my favourite sport (and Johnnie's), but something had to be done. It is patently obvious that the ICC (Ineffectual Cadre of Cretins) have no intention of doing ANYTHING, EVER. They seem to think that the World Cup is over they can sit back an rest until the next one. Then again, maybe their indolence is not such a bad thing when you consider the last actions they took was to sack Darrell Hair for upholding the rules of the game and, coincidentally, reinstate Zimbabwe as a Test playing nation (which way did Zimbabwe vote, I wonder?).

The problems in Zimbabwe go way beyound cricket, this may not even be a blip on the radar there. That any country in this day and age has an average life expectancy of 36 defies belief.

Just say ....sorry what was the question?

This post over at The Age is one of the most reasonable arguments against marijuana use I have seen in a long time. The argument that pot is harmless, as put forth by the older smoker, is based on the misapprehension that the weed today is the same as back in the day. It's not. Its stronger and covered in pesticides and other harmful chemicals. (But what deterrent is that going to be to people who gladly ingest those chemicals in pill form?)

The best argument (and i say best because it has been one that has always haunted me) I have copied from the Age article.

"the truth is marijuana probably isn't gonna make you kill people, and it most likely isn't gonna fund terrorism, but well son, pot makes you feel fine with being bored -- and it's when you're bored that you should be learning some new skill or discovering some new science or being creative. If you smoke pot you may grow up to find out that you aren't good at anything."

Look here

My older son is going to be playing indoor cricket for WA at the National Titles in Sydney next month and I'm going along as a sort of diarist/chronicler. I'll be keeping notes here.

Fascism

This article from the Guardian web site by Naomi Wolf argues that there are 10 necessary steps that need to be taken to "destroy constitutional freedoms" and ... well, have a read. It just wears me out thinking about it.

Caption

This site makes me question, and a lot of my bullshit is germinated from there, and I just noticed the catchphrase contest was still going, so I thought I'd chuck this in, because it sums it up for me.

I can kick your arse, or oughta, but I can't make you think.

I didn't say it was good, but it sums it up for me. Hell, I may use it.

Blogs are bad

I remember, when I was younger and more idealistic, thinking that free and open speech was a wonderful idea, because, surely, if everyone knew everyone else's motivation and listened to the reasons behind their actions, this would help spread understanding and love through out the world.
'blogging and online forums have proven me wrong. Well, not completely wrong. Everyones still gets to have there say, but NO ONE LISTENS. There is no understanding, just opportunity to spew forth your opinion (fuck off, i see the irony) with none of the give and take, the listening and understanding that a normal conversation requires. Is it because of the anonymity afforded the writer by their pseudonym? Or that distance removes the physical threat when you behave badly? Or is it the "me" generation, like so many Lleyton Hewitts, growing up believing Mummy and\or Daddy's constant flattery and pandering in their misbegotten attempts to raise their "self esteem"? Am I wrong to blame the medium? Maybe it truly does reflect society and we are all a bunch of whiny, selfish babies.