Nerd Words...

x. Love him or hate him...Eddie Perfect at least made some pretty damn good points on consumerism. And in the spirit of this, after my belated perusal of Crikey, I stumbed onto this blogspot http://%20www.thezeromovementsucks…
Apparently Coke was trying to create a grass roots movement using "our technology" of blogs, podcasts etc, except it horriby backfired. For which I'm infinitey grateful, mainly because I think their ads are chauvinist, shallow and a little lame.

x. South Australian State election seems to continue to exist in its "nobody gives a damn" and to be honest, I don't. Really, I have to choose between Nigel Smart and vini ciccarello (I can't spell her name), both of which seem to represent the absolute mediocrity of state politics. And Rann is a soulless media-manipulating politician, whilst Rob Kerin is just inept. I feel horrible that I just seem to have an absolute lack of faith in what our state government can achieve. But I know that I still have to be infomred and vote, a kind of resigned faith in the democratic process.

That's the thing though? Regardless of whether its state or federal poitics, it just seems to be the same power politics, the same male egos clashing and shouting, without regard for the country they are meant to be representing. This week has been a celebration of Howard's 10 years in government, and it's hideous to look back on it, and then to think whether there is a capacity for us to move forwrad, and realise, that for a long while, there isn't. It's just the same tired politics either side, no fresh ideas, no concern for anything other than pragmatic popularity policies even if they divide and marginalise. Or in the case of wheatgate, just seem to demonstrate an absolute lack of respect for the accountability which should come with public office. I hate this continual disastisfaction and the fact that there doesn't seem to be anything pointing us in a better direction. Not to mention seeing it repeated in a smaller scale at university.

from a former labor voter, to Wayne Swan (as recalled by Swan)

"The ALP needs to understand that not all Australians are gay, Asian, or Aboriginal, or belong to some kinky lobby group".

two fantastic articles showing some statistics about religions
http://pewglobal.org/reports/displ…

this one discusses the relations between different religions in various countries. in particular it reveals younger muslims mainly muslim countries view the US more favourably than their older counterparts. female muslims also view the US more favourably. It also reveals that Turks are more anti-Christian than anti semitic but Jordan and Lebanon are extremely anti-semitic with noone saying they had a favourable impression of Judaism and its followers. Additionally Germany and the Netherlands are the most concerned about Islam and have the least favourable opinions towards it.

http://www.religioustolerance.org/…

this one surveys catholics and should dispel many of the images of catholics as intolerant etc... a significant majority believe it is immoral to discriminate against homosexuals! prepare to be surprised.

x. Honestly, some people just can't take a joke. http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsite…
Satire is there as political commentary, and to make people laugh. Launching formal proceedings is ridiculous.

Crikey has just been piling up in my email box because I seem to want to take a mental vacation, However, I vcouldn't resist taking a look at today's focus on political donations (after a debate on it last year where it turns out we were lying through our teeth for the majority of it).

I found this little gem on Howard's current comments on manners, pre marital counselling, etc from Hugo Kelly.

"And no-one's commenting that the party founded on the idea of individual freedom and the government butting out of people's business is suggesting ideas like compulsory counselling and making TV networks more polite. John Stuart Mill must be getting little rest, what with the constant turning in his grave"

The one good thing from philosophy courses is that these references now make much more sense.

Hey, back on the topic of naming that Georgia raised (http://www.livejournal.com/communi…) -- what surname(s), if any, would you give your children if you were to have any? I feel like there are problems with all the options I can think of -- please tell me if you have any other ideas.

x. both -- This is most people's first response but I think this only works for two generations, maximum, due to the exponential increase in the number of surnames. Two is pleasant, four is awkward but perhaps bearable, eight is just ridiculous. The Spanish tradition is to have the mother's paternal surname as the first surname, and the father's paternal surname as the second (so it's still patrilineal but both parents are identifiable). So would you expect the next generation to drop one of the names? Which one? Would you be offended if your kid didn't want your name? What order would you put them in? And if this is a feminist thing, is there any point when the original surnames were patrilineal anyway?

x. just one (father's, mother's, whichever sounds better) -- Would you and your partner both have that surname yourselves? If not, wouldn't the parent without their surname as part of the kid's feel awkward being unidentifiable as eir parent by the surname? If so, who's lost their birth surname, and would that offend eir parents?

x. just one as the surname, the other as the middle name -- Which would go where?

x. one parent's given name as the child's first name, and the other parent's surname -- Again, which where? Would it be on gender lines? This only works for one or two kids, unless you have a lot of middle names.

x. a hybrid surname (eg. Smith + Lee = Smee) -- Doesn't that sound stupid?

x. none at all, or a letter, country/city name, etc (eg. Malcolm X, Alice Melbourne) -- Would that be awkward for the child? Wouldn't it be nice to be identifiable as the child's parents by name alone?

x. have an even number of kids and alternating -- Wouldn't that be awkward for the kids having to explain that they're full siblings but with different surnames? What if you don't manage an even number? What order?

x. no surname, and letting the kid choose once an appropriate age -- How old?

I like the city name idea best, or something sweet and invented like "Lovechild", but I would also want my child to have a name that was identifiably related to mine and the other parent's. It's difficult, eh?

For the record, I got married recently and remained Ms Juliana Qian. I'm thinking I should drop the Ms too, because my gender should be as irrelevant as my marital status. My husband (ooh, isn't that novel) kept his birth name as well. We considered hyphenating but he already has two surnames, and my first name is four syllables already, and if I were to take his two I'd want to add my mother's birth surname too, so I'd end up "Juliana Huang-Qian-Campbell-Type". A mouthful. Swapping wasn't really considered; I'd feel like I was pretending to be someone else. A hybrid like "Qipe" sounds stupid.

For those who've read "Female Chauvinist Pigs". And for those who probably should at some point....

http://www.theage.com.au/news/opin…

That said, I still reserve my democratic right to call Paris Hilton a skanky ho. After all, we live in the world of the tabloid and ohnotheydidnt

originally posted to my journal but thought i'd post it here so ppl who don't read mine can have a look!

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.…

Before you say "WAAAAAAAAAAH!!! Right wing columnist - he doesnt know anything! boohoo!" you should know that this man is not affiliated with any political party.

He is currently geology professor at Adelaide University and was formerly head of Earth Sciences at Melbourne University. nothing to sneeze at.

I hope greenpeace's balls are aching after having them kicked so brutally on the point of a naturally non-static climate.

 

The Intelligent Design debate has been resolved, well at least within this particular court case. Interesting that a republican backed candidate delivered a verdict against ID being taught in this particular school.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/20/…

That still doesn't shake my faith in the Flying Spagetti Monster though and his true words about how we came to be on this earth. Ramen.

http://www.venganza.org/

 

 

 

 

An article just on the poll results can be found here in today's Sydney Morning Herald, while The Age has nicely combined their coverage of it with the latest Nielsen poll of voter intentions (Coalition-friendly results reveal how little it actually matters to most Australians, I guess). I'm posting to ask the same question posed by the poll, and a few others.

PM John Howard is quoted as saying, 'I do not accept that there is underlying racism in this country.' Do you agree or diagree with him? Why? And how do you explain the recent events in Cronulla in the context of your view?

Also, what's your reaction the poll results? Are they what you had expected?

For the record, I disagree, and I would have expected a minority to think that we're racist and a smaller majority to support multiculturalism. However, I want your personal opinions rather than your rebuttal of mine, so I'll refrain from posting my reasoning till the comment wars begin (: