"The Australian government has said it will oppose any new laws legalising gay civil unions.
Prime Minister John Howard said he did not intend to allow the institution of marriage "to be in any way undermined".
...
The head of the ACT government, John Stanhope, said Mr Ruddock's reaction revealed homophobia in the Howard administration.
"One has to pose the question of whether or not the real reason (for Mr Ruddock's stance) is that there is no place in John Howard's Australia for homosexuals," he told ABC radio." (BBC)
"The Sex and the City image of women seeking casual encounters for pleasure does not quite fit the latest research.
Nine out of 10 women interviewed in a snapshot survey said they thought one night stands were immoral." (BBC)
I bet this gets lots of attention. But it's a study of only 46 women so it's barely seems worth writing a paper on, let alone making the news.
It's been ages since I've had a properly geek post, so here you go: one really annoying thing about SQL Server 2000's stored procedures is that it doesn't automatically update the relevant script if you update the stored procedure name. The solution is to manually update the name in the script, or you'll get a lovely SQL-DMO error 21037.
I came across this at work today, I had no idea that 1 in 20 people in London are refugees: "According to Refugees and asylum seekers in London: A GLA perspective (2001): 'Refugees and asylum seekers in London are estimated to number now between 350,000 and 420,000, or about one in 20 of the city’s resident population. This is a proportion around 30 times greater than the UK average'."
"The Federal Government will try to override laws introduced to the ACT Parliament this week that would allow marriage celebrants to officiate over civil unions between same-sex couples.
The move is reminiscent of the Government's 1997 disallowance of a Northern Territory law legalising euthanasia." (The Age)
So, where the bloody hell am I? I'm in a country that doesn't treat queer people as second-class citizens, and I'm staying here until John Howard is gone.
The World Lecture Hall is "your entry point to free online course materials from around the world".
This Vegetarian passport site has text or images of phrases explaining lacto-ovo vegetarian and vegan diets in 80 languages. Perfect for the vegetarian traveller.
"Platial provides a home for people who love quirky geographical information or just want to mark the locations that have meaning to them.
...
You might say Platial is a cross between MapQuest and LiveJournal. Built on the open interfaces for Google Maps, the 2-month-old site is one of a new breed of map mashups -- web applications created by mixing an already-existing open mapping platform with original software.
Platial co-creator Di-Ann Eisnor says she built Platial for what she calls "neogeographers," who use digital maps to tell stories and chart eccentric routes through familiar terrain." (Wired)
"The British Museum said yesterday that it would return the cremated ashes of Australian Aborigines, more than 160 years after they were taken." (Guardian)
"Melbourne is the proud capital of street painting with stencils. Its large, colonial-era walls and labyrinth of back alleys drip with graffiti that is more diverse and original than any other city in the world. Well, that was until a few weeks ago, when preparations for the Commonwealth games brought a tidal wave of grey paint, obliterating years of unique and vibrant culture overnight." (Guardian)
And speaking of The Proposition, the Guardian travel section had a good interview with the director, John Hillcoat.
I think the final paragraph says most of what you need to know about Australia:
"Flight time: London-Brisbane 22˝ hrs inc stopover.
Train/coach time: Brisbane-Winton 27hrs."
Last night I read Kinky Friedman's Blast From The Past. It's always a joy reading Kinky.
Tim Berners-Lee on Web 2.0 (and other topics): "Mash-ups are called Web 2.0, but they are data integrations - taking a piece of display technology like a map application and doing a handcrafted data integration. I've yet to see a mash-up that uses semantic Web data and crafts it - the fact that everyone has their own mash-up tells the story. What I've always wanted to do is take an arbitrary thing, a data file, and if it's got something that can be mapped, drop it into a map and see what occurs without programming." (BCS)
And he has a blog!
While I'm in review mode, last week I read Playing the Moldovans at Tennis by Tony Hawks, who it turns out wrote the Beastie Boys parody, Stutter Rap (No Sleep 'Til Bedtime). It was a good light read, and now I'll know to carry a torch when trying to negotiate the streets of Moldova after dark.
I saw The Proposition tonight. It was a lot gorier than films I'd normally see but overall I liked it. I don't know if it was the cinematography or the impact of the countryside itself but I was almost surprised to remember that I'd see Islington, not the outback, when I left the cinema.
The English garden and fine china were almost over-played but I think it's impossible to really express how alien the country must have seemed to people who've grown up with it. I used to be irritated by the way European settlers named towns and features after places back in Europe, but now I see it as an act of hope and desperation, as if they hoped they could tame and make green a wild brown country by naming it for a settled verdant one.
The flies almost deserved a credit line. I think it's the first film I've seen that captured the small but unignorable, inexorable presence of flies in such visceral detail.
David Wenham reminded me of Richard Roxburgh as the Duke of Worcester in Moulin Rouge!, which was a bit unfortunate.
The script was less about the proposition itself than the past and future choices faced by Charlie, the outlaw, and Stanley, the British trooper. It was a lot more subtle than the plot outline suggests but it was written by Nick Cave, so that shouldn't be a surprise. Each character has moral choices, and the results can be hard to bear. My description doesn't really do it justice, so go see it for yourself.
The weather report might say it's going to be -2C tonight but spring has definitely arrived. The daffodils are well and truly up, and on my walk to work this morning I saw two (male) mallards mating in the canal.
It's kinda nice noticing the tiny signs that show that spring is on the way in a way that I wouldn't have in Australia, but I could have done without the cold. I thought it was because I'd gotten used to going somewhere warm in March but it turns out it's the coldest March in years, and for the first time ever it's been colder than December, January and February.
"Goths tend to be the weirdo intellectual kids who have started to view the world differently." (Guardian)
And now they rule the world!
"Virtually all indicators of the likely future for the diversity of life on Earth are heading in the wrong direction, a major new report says." (BBC)
Government orders spoof site shut
"A spoof John Howard website that featured a soul searching "apology" speech for the Iraq war has been shut down under orders from the Australian Government.
Richard Neville, an Australian futurist and social commentator was "mystified" to discover his satirical website johnhowardpm.org had been blocked on Tuesday with no explanation from either his web hosting company, Yahoo or the domain name registrar, Melbourne IT.
He said that after two days of silence, a customer service representative from Melbourne IT today informed him by telephone that the site had "been closed on the advice from the Australian Government".
Mr Neville's satirical "apology" speech ran on a mocked-up version of a spoof website that resembled Mr Howard's own, and after going live on Monday, received 10,500 visits within 24 hours.
...
Mr Neville describes the parody as an act of satire and culture jamming, and is now running a link to a PDF copy of the speech on his website." (The Age)
Ridiculous. Even the US lets the parody site whitehouse.org co-exist with the official whitehouse.gov.
It prompted me to look into what rights Australians have to freedom of speech.
According to this research note on Free Speech and the Constitution from the Parliamentary Library of the Parliament of Australia, "Members of the Commonwealth Parliament reaffirmed the principles of the [Universal Declaration of Human Rights] during a sitting on 10 December 1998 to mark the 50th anniversary of the UDHR and pledged to give wholehearted support to the principles enshrined in the Declaration."
Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states: "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers."
However, "The Australian Constitution does not have any express provision relating to freedom of speech."
Mobile phone tours in museums have enough mainstream awareness to merit an article in The Age, but as the article points out, there are issues with roaming and mobile call costs. There's no mention of implementation at any Australian museums, but I don't know if that's because there aren't any, or because the article was bought from overseas.
I think podcasts are also a viable alternative. I'd love to see links between city tourism and museums so that people can hear museum content over a whole city.
The bad news on food miles: "At the moment, science can't help - as we simply don't know enough. My personal advice would be to do what ever best satisfies your conscience, but don't kid yourself that by so doing you are saving the world." BBC
"The Australian media's coverage of Muslims and Arabs is tainted with a racism that portrays them as "tricky, sleazy, sexual and untrustworthy", according to one of the country's most experienced journalists.
Muslims are portrayed as uniformly violent, oppressors of women, and members of a global conspiracy opposed to Australian values, said Peter Manning, former head of ABC News, now Adjunct Professor of Journalism at Sydney's University of Technology. He said that the words "Arab" or "Muslim" were associated with terrorism in 89 per cent of articles that appeared in Sydney's two major newspapers in the year after September 11, 2001.
He did not confine his criticism to the media, however, adding that it was time politicians stopped "stoking up the embers of racist hatred"."
"The Australian Government has joined the United States to oppose efforts by the United Nations to protect world heritage sites such as the Great Barrier Reef from global warming."
My emphasis, and my disbelief. I never realised the Australian/US 'special relationship' would go that far. I think we need to describe Howard as a PIMBY - "Please, In My BackYard".
Cyclepaths and more cyclepaths.
It's still cold enough that I'm putting off getting on the bike - it tried to snow tonight - but I guess I'll be out there at some point.
A positive update on the new 'morality' in Indonesia:
"The Indonesian Government is backing away from a sweeping anti-pornography law that would outlaw kissing and revealing clothing.
Demonstrations against the law, which has the support of mainstream Islamic organisations, have spread from the artistic community and the resort island of Bali, with prominent Indonesians claiming it was alien to Indonesian culture and an attempt to impose sharia law by stealth.
After accompanying President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to a meeting with the National Commission on Violence Against Women, State Minister for Women's Empowerment Meutia Hatta Swasono said the new law should focus on banning obscene materials, rather than criminalising personal conduct.
"We also ask that women are treated fairly; it's as if they are blamed by the way they dress," Mrs Meutia said.""
I read The Shadow of the Wind recently, and really enjoyed it. At times it almost veered into 'holiday reading' tweeness, but it was saved by some close observation and the author's fresh turn of phrase.
Anyway, I found myself noting passages I liked, and here are some of them*:
"One of the pitfalls of childhood is that one doesn't have to understand something to feel it. By the time the mind is able to comprehend what has happened, the wounds of the heart are already too deep."
"I realised how easily you can lose all animosity towards someone you've deemed your enemy as soon as that person stops behaving as such."
There was a beautiful pun where characters were discussing the Catholic Church and the mysterious Fermin said, "let's not mention the missal industry".
And finally, "a story is a letter the author writes to himself, to tell himself things that he would be unable to discuss otherwise."
* Of course, one person's interesting snippet is another person's trite crap.
Incredibly, the Commonwealth Games are actually good for something: "On the eve of the Melbourne Games, the Queen has highlighted the global spread of AIDS and urged the Commonwealth's 1.7 billion citizens to take better care of their health.
The Queen's message comes as health authorities prepare to use the Commonwealth Games as a platform for tackling HIV/AIDS, targeting visiting leaders and officials from Pacific and African nations, as well as raising local awareness." (Age)
I love the idea of the Ubiquitous Museum.
"This is a system that allows us to use our mobile phone like a magnifying glass as a tool to discover hidden history and stories, as we stroll around town."
And it gets cooler:
"What makes this system unique is its participatory approach. Users are encouraged to be providers of information, not just to be receivers."
I've always had a fascination with uncovering and presenting the layers of history hidden under the city streets. It's the kind of content that museums have unique access to and unique resources to develop, but at the same time it's difficult to find the resources. Hopefully as standards develop, it'll be easier to produce re-usable content.
3hive recommends new bands, and provides links to their mp3s. It's a nice way to discover new music.
It's rare to read anything that might acknowledge gender as performance in the mainstream press, so I really liked this quote from Felicity Huffman about preparing for her role in Transamerica:
"It made me think of my own femininity and my own lack of femininity, because I take it for granted. It became a lesson in learning femininity as if it were a foreign language. Everything was studied, unfamiliar, everything I had to practise. You become extraordinarily self-conscious." (Guardian Weekend)
Oh, if only:
"Gay marriage could be legally recognised in Victoria by the end of the year, with an independent MP preparing to introduce legislation into State Parliament." (Age)
"New by-laws championed by Tangerang's ambitious mayor, Wahidin Halim, aim to run gamblers, drunks and prostitutes out of his satellite city on Jakarta's outskirts. They are enforced by a small army of "public order officers" who cruise the streets able to arrest at whim.
The move has created a de facto curfew for women in Tangerang who, if they are caught alone at night, must prove they are not prostitutes.
As well as banning "physical intimacy" in places visible to the public, a by-law states that any woman "who behaves suspiciously" in streets, hotels, theatres, coffee shops — even private houses — will be jailed.
This week, on International Women's Day, thousands of Indonesian women demonstrated against the morality crusade. Several regional administrations, including Tangerang,have introduced by-laws reflecting Islamic sharia law. A proposed national anti-pornography law will ban public kissing and any clothing considered alluring. Baring a navel would earn a jail term." (Age)
And to think I barely even noticed it was International Women's Day.
Is it tragic that I'm excited by this? I'm hoping it'll also include good films as well as 'hit movies'.
"Channel 4 has signed a multi-million dollar deal with 20th Century Fox to buy the rights to a raft of hit movies."
BBC
These clips from the BBC's Planet Earth are brilliant. I couldn't help but laugh at the bird of paradise, jumping and clicking like a lunatic and I loved the moment it turns around to reveal blue, blue eyes, though it also kinda scared me.
Some quick book reviews...
Paul Theroux's "The Happy Isles of Oceania". While a nice break from grey London skies, Theroux has an irritating habit of following a fresh, perceptive comment with an vexatiously inane comment. Amazingly, this travel book didn't make me want to pack my bags and visit the countries he has. It did, otoh, make me want to start canoeing or sea kayaking again.
I've also recently read Ann Bannon's "Odd Girl Out", and "I Am a Woman", partly because I love pulp fiction and I guess partly because it puts modern lesbian life into perspective.
Ann Bannon's website includes the introduction to "Odd Girl Out", which includes the fabulous phrase, "She found herself climbing down a ladder of flesh into a cesspool of Lesbian depravity". Not so fabulous if that was the only depiction of lesbians available to society, but I wouldn't mind climbing down that ladder now.
Ah, Australia. My travelling correspondent reports the following conversation:
me: [My friend Mia] was complaining about the lack of types of tofu in london supermarkets
mum: there's not much here either...
me: no?
mum: ...I think there are only 4 types at coles. And it's not local and fresh.
me: the tofu is imported?
mum: no, it's from nsw or vic. In chinatown they make some types in the shop.
"In the original ad, two well-dressed women engage in a lengthy round of violent kung fu fighting in a basement before sharing a passionate kiss, followed by a head-butt.
...
The true inspiration for the ad, he says came during a day at the park during a recent trip to San Francisco where “everybody was kung fu fighting. Those cats were fast as lightning!” In fact, he says, “it was a little bit frightening. But they fought with expert timing.”"
French Connection Replaces Lesbian Kiss in TV Ad with Beheading from my new favourite site, fakegaynews.com>.
"One of the biggest and most complete giant squids ever found is on display at London's Natural History Museum." BBC