what's the point of emailing your friends anymore?

I just realised today -- I know, I'm slow -- another contributor to the introverted global community we are becoming...

Most people choose to bcc when sending group emails these days.

In fact one of the reasons I started this blog was to not bombard my friends with my opinions when I can remember I actually have a blog, or 5!

Some "friends" find my opinions and general who-ha emails offensive, or unimportant in the grand scheme of their mundane, self-aggrandizing lives; which has me on a constant mission to redefine my "friends list".

My blog allows comments, so it can encourage discussion. However Gmail is great for threading email conversations together, and since most of my friends use it, it's not like it's going to clutter your inbox with massive amounts of messages from the -- hopefully -- ensuing "reply alls".

So what I want to know is why? Why are we all so afraid of having someone reply all?

I don't understand, you send a link to youtube, a news article, a blog post, whatever!! Yet people are afraid of people they know interacting...

If it's not worth people you know and like enough to send the email out to, why are you sending it in the first place!!?

my body ate my kit kat faster than my mind was willing to accept

in my mind i have 2 fingers left, in reality there was only 1. none.

at over 233 calories per 45g bar, I don't want another GOD DAMN kit kat!

i want the last 27 seconds of my life back! :'(

Court Upholds Free Speech at Major Catholic Event

The Federal Court’s decision on Jul.15 -- the day that this year’s World Youth Day (WYD) festivities began -- to strike out a clause making it illegal to "annoy" an attendee of the Catholic Church-organised event is being viewed as a win for civil rights in Australia.

..."It was simply pushed through on a Friday without even any announcement from the police or government that these new laws were in place," he [Cameron Murphy] adds.

...The new regulations only came to light with the 27 June issue of the Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales, a weekly publication of the NSW government listing legislation and regulations. The regulation pertaining to WYD was listed under a "Special Supplements" heading.

International press service

Why does it have to be like this? Why do our worthless politicians have to constantly kow-tow to these equally worthless zealots?

american drug war: the last white hope

documentary into the failings of the american "war on drugs".

This is not some 'pro-drug' stoner film, but a collection of expert testimonials from the ground troops on the front lines of the drug war, the ones who are fighting it and the ones who are living it. After 4 years of production including several sold out test screenings in New York, Austin & Los Angeles, the final version of American Drug War "the last white hope" is locked and loaded.

American Drug War - The Last White Hope pt 1/8

note: this is part 1 of an 8 part series...

fuck cctv straight up the ying yang!

I've been wondering how to achieve something similar to this for quite some time now, thank goodness for people smarter than me! :¬D

How To Make An Invisible Mask


I wonder if you could make itn like a neckalce pointing all the led's upwards and also if it works in the day time... time to experiment!!

Impotent paraplegic told: no church wedding

An Italian bishop has reportedly told a young paraplegic he cannot have a church wedding because he is impotent, despite his fiancee being aware of the problem.

smh.com.au

I don't know what's more ridiculous, the story or the fact that the "sanctity of marriage" is still believed in. :¬P

fat jesus

these pics all came up on a google image search for fat jesus:




this one didn't, but this guy is hella cool:

Tibet seen through Chinese eyes

For his birthday, the Dalai Lama, Tibet's spiritual leader, would demand a set of human intestines, two human heads, blood and a human skin as gifts... if China had not "peacefully liberated" Tibet in 1959, it would still be a medieval society and the Dalai Lama would still be asking for those heads and skins.

al jazeera

ok then... :¬P

american "democracy" in action

i wish i could clarify the translations, seeing as how al jazeera these days, doesn't seem to be the al jazeera of yor.

related article: afghan children paying family debts.

politician attempts to empathise with his voters

Janet Albrechtsen, an Australian newspaper columnist, told Al Jazeera that the summit was a symbolic exercise that did not tap adequately into the opinions of those living in Australia's suburbs.

"This is a fantastic and very clever political manoeuvre to ingratiate yourself as a new prime minister with the intellectuals and the media establishment of the country," she said.

Australians discuss republic option

So when did the liberal party ever attempt to even look like it cared about Australians? Oh that's right they didn't, they just spent their time kissing George Bush's sorry arse.

domino effect?

First Iran Opens Its 1st Oil Products Bourse.

Now Russia quietly prepares to switch some oil trading from dollars to rubles.

I smell the seeds of war, or some type of doomsday seeds. :¬P

Stop Blair!

We, European citizens of all origins and of all political persuasions, wish to express our total opposition to the nomination of Tony Blair to the Presidency of the European Council.

http://www.stopblair.eu/

"Isril" and the wrath of god

I honestly don't know how to comment; too emotional.

source

american style justice

In case it is taken down, I recreate here:

Date of Execution:

July 9, 1985

Offender:

Henry Porter #551

Last Statement:

I want to thank Father Walsh for his spiritual help. I want to thank Bob Ray (Sanders) and Steve Blow for their friendship. What I want people to know is that they call me a cold-blooded killer when I shot a man that shot me first. The only thing that convicted me was that I am a Mexican and that he was a police officer. People hollered for my life, and they are to have my life tonight. The people never hollered for the life of the policeman that killed a thirteen-year-old boy who was handcuffed in the back seat of a police car. The people never hollered for the life of a Houston police officer who beat up and drowned Jose Campo Torres and threw his body in the river. You call that equal justice. This is your equal justice. This is America’s equal justice. A Mexican’s life is worth nothing. When a policeman kills someone he gets a suspended sentence or probation. When a Mexican kills a police officer this is what you get. From there you call me a cold-blooded murderer. I didn’t tie anyone to a stretcher. I didn’t pump any poison into anybody’s veins from behind a locked door. You call this justice. I call this and your society a bunch of cold-blooded murderers. I don’t say this with any bitterness or anger. I just say this with truthfulness. I hope God forgives me for all my sins. I hope that God will be as merciful to society as he has been to me. I’m ready, Warden.

source

FINALLY!!!

Political stunt or not; it's about time the non-indigenous Australians said sorry to their indigenous brothers and sisters!

kevin rudd's speach

I'd also like to take this opporunity to say a big "FUCK YOU!!!" to the original Australian rat pack, John Howard, Peter "Lou" Costello, Tony "Budd" Abbott and Alexander Downer. Yeah um, "FUCK ALL OF YOU!!!" if there was justice in this world you would all be paying for sending Australian's to fight a bogus war with your American masters.

untitled

We didn't do it before with the tall side to the moon and Scott reaching to darn stars in the dark night sky.

Yet we had the efficiency to place our lips on those words that allowed us no remorse for our ill got moments of self-aggrandisement.

And the sea swallowed our primacy, pulled at our eyes with her sure tidal momentum, touched us with her smooth glinting song

To us it was nothing, the beauty of it all enveloped the universe and disappeared sooner than it was noticed

And so our snug coterie bundled onwards, bumping between lashings of rock and snow swept tundra, holding to itself, memories walking through the hills, echoes of memories of echoes of memories...

if our opinions meant anything, we were -- at this point -- the richest men to have walked the land; and we expended our fortunes mercilessly upon the ancient citizenry, who when laden with such riches, lamented over their deprived youth...

Elderly men dabbled in the profound dark arts of the dead. Women bore half-breed children in our wake. We proselytised a nation of boy-men, a dawn of half-formed hunters. They erected testaments to our hardened will, and our likenesses became their esoteric signs of divinity.

Conversation with a muttering madman: alternate paragraphs, theopposablethumb takes the even numbers.

the mystification of experience

In fact, the world still seems to be inhabited by savages stupid enough to see reincarnated ancestors in their newborn children. Weapons and jewelry belonging to the dead men are waved under the infant's nose; if he makes a movement, there is a great shout — Grandfather has come back to life. This "old man" will suckle, dirty his straw and bear the ancestral name; survivors of his ancient generation will enjoy seeing their comrade of hunts and battles wave his tiny limbs and bawl; as soon as he can speak they will inculcate recollections of the deceased. A severe training will "restore" his former character, they will remind him that "he" was wrathful, cruel or magnanimous, and he will be convinced of it despite all experience to the contrary. What barbarism! Take a living child, sew him up in a dead man's skin, and he will stifle in such senile childhood with no occupation save to reproduce the avuncular gestures, with no hope save to poison future childhoods after his own death. No wonder after that, if he speak of himself with the greatest precautions, half under his breath, often in the third person; this miserable creature is well aware that he is his own grandfather.

These backward aborigines can be found in the Fiji Islands, in Tahiti, in New Guinea, in Vienna, in Paris, in Rome, in New York — wherever there are men. They are called parents. Long before our birth, even before we are conceived, our parents have decided who we will be.

John Paul Sartre, Forward to The Traitor by André Gorz (London:Calder, 1960), pages 14-15.

tell us what you really think.

Primary Choices: Hillary Clinton

"The Times’s editorial board strongly recommends that they select Hillary Clinton as their nominee for the 2008 presidential election."

'nuff said?

3 minutes of hate: when we gonna get ours!?

About 2min 28sec in.

Granted I don't own or watch television anymore so this could very well be taking place and I'm just missing out on all the fun.

Also at around 2min 41sec, everyone starts making the "no deal" hand signals, from that popular tv game show. Was Goldstein once a popular tv game show host, who went fifth columnist?

why do I care; what do I really care about?

I managed to get out of my house today; I was resolute to do something even if by myself and not let my Saturday be a total waste. I went down to the ICA to check out the BlackSKYwhite: Astronomy for Insects performance piece. However upon arrival I was sorely disappointed to find out that it was sold out.

I decided to go to Marks and Spencer buy two pizzas go home and watch a film. On the way to the ICA which is a short walk from charing cross station — you can figure out the walking distance, since google still hasn't added that into their maps application yet! :P — and back home I noticed as you do in a heavily populated city like London, the many poor, homeless, destitute people, walking or laying in some grotto or cavernous sanctuary from the bitter and unforgiving cold night air and annoying London drizzle.

Many ask for spare change, not been in the best of moods I simply told them I had none. I still prefer to acknowledge someone's existence rather than simply ignore them, which though seemingly more cruel, I've been thanked by homeless people for at least "having the decency to speak to [them]".

I donate to three charities — I have a sponsor child, I donate to amnesty international and z-sustainers — probably for no other reason that to satisfy my conscience. So I can — in some sick perverted way — make out like I'm doing something worth while in this world, making a difference, putting my money where my mouth is; however, the reality of it is a lot more meaningless than all that.

So I think to myself, what is it exactly that I care about if I donate to charities yet won't give to real live starving people in front of my face? What is it that I really care about if I donate to political writers, yet I can't get off my ass and organise a protest or get arrested for defending my right to take a photo in a public place as a free and respectable citizen of the world, which belongs to no one person and is everyone’s to call home?

Am I a hypocrite? I tell most people I am. I think we all are. However, I believe there is more. Is it empathy? Definitely, but it's not the only ingredient. Or is it to prove my own humanity to myself? The humanity that was force fed to me by the religion in my upbringing, the same humanity we’re told to defend at all costs by government? Or the same humanity that Hollywood sells us while prices in theatres rise to more than the average family can afford and more people are been targeted for "pirating" films that glorify breaking the law.

fucking police state!

On my way home from a "lovely London tapas" — it was quite lovely for “a London” — my friend, let's call him "Jimmy de Smitz", and I are on our way home, we walk to Farringdon station where an altercation is taking place, between one guy and a dozen or so of the "ol' bill".

I pull my iphone out for fun and snap a few photos, not really caring about the guy, who could've very well been in the wrong, but just to show my friends how lovely London cops are, and how so incredibly weak they are that it takes about ten of them to suppress one drunk(?) guy.

The next thing I know a couple of "the bobby", "the fuzz", a couple of greasy Philippino box spring hogs, surround me and demand I give them my brand new, shiny iphone — my phone costs more than half a pigs' weekly pay, gross — with all my information on it, for taking photos in a PUBLIC PLACE!!!

A few of them tried surrounding me and Jimmy was yelling at me to just walk out of the station. I couldn't be arsed to run away, just wanting to go home and sleep; however unwilling to give these vagrant, lowest rung of society, hired goons of the Blair/ Brown government's suppression of human rights types, my piece of the latest technology free of charge, one of the power hungry whores starts demanding I delete the photos.

stupid me for not thinking (see this isn’t a totally biased story, I also made an error) started deleting from the last photo and the iphone automatically goes to the next photo on the left. had i started from the most left photo of police brutality documentation, the photo of my bedroom wall would've come up and these sector 7G morons looking over my shoulder would have been none the wiser. Seriously I kept deleting each photo and each time she’d yell “DELETE IT!!!”
I was like, “Are you stupid, there’s more than one here I am deleting them!”
Then she demands my iphone again, “right if you’re not going to delete them, then give me the phone!”
We went back and forth like this till I had finished, I called Jimmy and we went through to the train platform. Then it had hit me and I became extremely pissed off for complying and not just running off.

I guess the thing that really grinds my gears is that goddamn London is the most surveilled city in the world, I probably could've palmed these fat sluggish drones from my presence and walked away; however with over 4 million cameras watching my every move what can you do?

Well I went home comfortable in the fact that I earn more than 4 times what one of these stupid low life bastards earns, my friends are real and people respect my profession more than they ever will accept these mindless lap dogs . Why do people hate cops so much? Try interacting with them.

With that i leave you with a couple more, recent, examples of police brutality on artists:

• Photographer faces trial for snapping police


• Photographer sues police

another year, another resolution

let's see if i can keep this one up for more than 5 minutes.