I blogged too early, it seems. My submission was published in today’s SMH Heckler. Cool.
What I find sad, though, is that my first published work isn’t about Christian topics, and not even about biology, but rather a whinge.
Ah, science…
This idea was no doubt unbeknownst to those in Chinatown on Saturday night since all lights were blaring from 7:30 to 8:30pm. No change from the usual. At least the Energy Australia building was blacked out though - that would have hit the front pages on a slow news Sunday if it hadn’t.
Not much difference in the city night skyline according to SMH photos, which wasn’t surprising I guess.
What I want to know is if it actually made a difference. Or was the carbon dioxide emitted by combusting all those candles far greater than the total coal energy saved by turning very few of the city lights off for an hour on a Saturday? Perhaps it made a difference in terms of media exposure or raising awareness. But perhaps the thinktanks behind these genius ideas can come up with more useful and practical ways to save energy next time.
I guess the SMH Heckler isn’t interested in publishing an article that, in part, bags its own readers out. So here is is on my personal publishing platform, Wordpress.
There’s always much whinging about the standard of train services. I don’t disagree with these sentiments, but I reckon other factors like passenger etiquette have much to do with how much you enjoy your train ride. Or not. This is but a selection of the shining examples on show inside CityRail trains, in no particular order.
Big Kahunas are boys who have trouble keeping their legs together. Be it a low sperm count or overzealous showmanship, they decide that they must take up two seats worth of leg space to air their boys out, while pressing their leg against yours. Euck.
The Blackberries are close cousins. These overfed, overpaid executives must stay connected using all sorts of telecommunication paraphernalia which live in, of all places, their pants pockets. It’s great fun sitting next to one of these types, if you like an antenna in your thigh.
Mobile Megaphones, in the spirit of sharing their dinner plans with the rest of the carriage, choose to scream their conversation at their mobiles. I pity the person at the other end of the line. Oh, and TALKING LOUDER IN TUNNELS doesn’t make the signal any stronger, only the anger of fellow commuters.
iPod Blasters are sharing folk who blow their eardrums while polluting their air. I don’t want to hear JT bringing sexy back, and don’t care much for the latest hard trance groove. Alas, if only I were an otologist.
Knee Rubbers overestimate their flexibility and slenderness, and choose to always sit in the aisle seat. Doesn’t matter if there are two empty seats next to you – just block people from sitting down. And better yet, when people try to get past you, just casually sit up in your seat because this will obviously give them enough room to manoeuvre past your protruding knees.
Broadsheet Readers are also a pet hate. Pulling out their broadsheet newspaper behind you, they decide your hairstyle needs drastic remodelling and proceed to fluff your hairdo with today’s news. The most time-starved offenders even bring the newspaper in its delivery tube and perform a splitting rendition of nails-down-a-chalkboard while unwrapping their hairstyling device.
And if you’re fortunate enough to knock off early in the afternoon, you’ll be rewarded by hoards of school kids (travelling for free, no less) who make it their job to fill up empty seats with bags, talk like Mobile Megaphones, and like, are like soooooo like whatever to the death stares they receive from disgruntled co-passengers.
Now pass this article through someone’s hair and give it to that eavesreading Big Kahuna sitting next to you, and squeeze past that Knee Rubber blocking your exit from the aromatic evening train.
Thankfully not much has started in terms of research for my PhD, so I can still have proper weekends. A relaxing day at home, dealing with computer maintenance (that actually relaxes me, how weird is that…) and using my favourite power tool, the chainsaw. Not related of course. Our dog’s sleeping posture nicely sums up the day.
Also, while we’re at it, might as well sum up my n3rdy tips for good computer health…
So, that Office 2007 Ultimate student offer was the real deal! Office 2007 is pretty cool on first impressions. This ribbon thing (the revamped toolbar) could take a bit of getting used to. I like Outlook 2007 - the ability to have multiple colour-coded calendars is great because I can plan my experiments on one calendar and my life on another, and only sync the life calendar with my phone without getting reminders to do PCRs all the time. I urge you all to go forth and buy Office 2007 for $75. Bargain!
In other news, our Canon IXUS digicam broke at 180FM after it took a tumble which surprisingly wasn’t my doing. Took the camera to Canon in North Ryde this morning, and was quoted a whopping $295 for replacement of the lens structure. And this camera is only a couple of months old. Late last year, I took our old IXUS to 180 and that broke as well, costing $220 to fix. So the lesson is either (1) don’t buy an IXUS camera because they’re really quite fragile, or (2) don’t bring things you don’t want broken to youth group. Perhaps the second, because there have been many breakages, not just of my stuff.
My goodness. Has Microsoft gone nuts? Got an email from a friend of mine about the Microsoft offer, which is selling Office Ultimate 2007 to uni students for $75! Is it legit? Would Microsoft sell something that’s worth $935 retail for more than 90% off?
Try it and find out: http://www.itsnotcheating.com.au
I reckon the URL seems dodgy. But a genuine Microsoft site has information about it, and so does the SMH.
I’m a sucker for these things so I went along with it. They’ve sent me a product key via email and I’ve downloaded the 502mb installation file. There was a warning during purchasing, however, where Firefox said that information was being sent over an unencrypted connection, so I hope my credit card details haven’t been haxored.
Was chatting to Matt, a friend from church, last night on MSN. He’s a fan of rock music (which I’m oblivious to) and made mention of a new song out by Good Charlotte with lyrics:
Baptized in the river
I’ve seen a vision of my life
And I wanna be delivered
In the city was a sinner
I’ve done a lot of things wrong
But I swear I’m a believer
Like the prodigal son
I was out on my own
Now I’m trying to find my way back home
Baptized in the river
I’m delivered
I’m delivered
Lately I’ve noticed quite a few ‘Christian’ ideas seeping into popular culture, especially songs (which I guess you could say reflects this pop culture well). Words like heaven, sin, and even Jesus and messiah pop up time and time again. Just do a search on any lyrics engine and you’ll find a load of songs to do with these. Of course there are heaps to do with love as well.
And then this morning, saw a blog on the SMH about Junkies, Christians and the void, in which ‘the void’ was described as:
“Growing up, I thought I was weird or depressed because so often, I’d sit back and feel like I was going to be swallowed by an aching emptiness, this void and that everyone else was just getting on with their lives and didn’t feel it as well.”
Seems teenagers may feel this void, and that it may be linked somewhat to the hardcore punk rock that has been picked up by this age group:
“Ive just turned 18 and like many teenagers have become obsessed with the void (the reason for the rise of emo-ism and basically any band that can be labelled as whinge rock). I found that I blamed this feeling of emptiness, absolute shittiness, and the desire to adopt genocide as a profession on other people.”
Or, is this an attributing factor to why people drink?
“I find that the feeling of emptiness also goes away when I drink, but it comes straight back as soon as I sober up. Drinking isn’t a very healthy way to fill the void though, so I guess I’ll just have to keep on travelling.”
Or is God just another way to fill the void as one comment suggested:
“Oh my goodness. Sam you hit the nail on the head! I went to a Catholic School and every year we had reformed drug users come and tell us about the horrible lives they used to lead and how Jesus saved them. I thought it was about replacing one addiction with another (they really REALLY seem to get into their faith, almost as if it was a substitute for their prior addiction.) Perhaps it’s about filling the void?”
Or perhaps Christianity really does shed some decent insight into this matter…
“It became clear to me that right from the very beginning of mans [sic] separation from God; he has been trying to figure out a way back, how to fill that void, without even realizing that might be what he is looking for. However, just by his very nature, every chance he gets he stuffs it up…. Each of us has our own Egypt our own wilderness and our own forms of slavery, be it drugs, sex, addictions, overeating, depression… it [God] gives me constant affirmation that I dont need to spent my life sweating the small stuff. Im not a happy clappy Christian, just a regular quiet believer who stuffs up on a regular basis.”
Food for thought.
… is truly another man’s treasure. At least at Reverse Garbage it is.
Sara, Ernie, Nuggy and I drove down to Marrickville this morning and spend a few hours walking around the dusty warehouse of the Reverse Garbage co-op. It literally is ‘garbage’ that is sold. Offcuts, potato sacks, lots of random bottles and toys and paper. Like factory left-overs or something.
Not as many things as a good 2-dollar shop in Eastwood, and the things are pretty crap. Although, you’ll find rolls and rolls of butchers paper, which is great for youth group and childrens’ ministry. That was the main point of the visit. Also got a few random bits and pieces, two hessian bags (they sell quite a few things ‘by the bag’ which means you pay by volume!), and a ‘wide load’ sign (never know when that will come in handy).
Worth a visit if you’ve got nothing else to do. But take a gas mask, or take lots of antihistamines beforehand.
A very happy Hallmark day to all!
February 14th - what card companies, chocolate manufacturers and rose growers look forward to in the shortest month of the year. Too much commercial hype around a very simple concept that shouldn’t be restricted to one day of the year.
A few selected quotes from people on the SMH News Blog about Hallmark Day:
February 14 doesn’t mean anything and is simply a commercial reason for giving gifts. How about giving someone some flowers when YOU feel like it?!
…if you need valentines day to remember to give your partner some flowers or some extra attention, then some thing’s wrong with you…
When did we actually need a special day to remember and love someone? Why not do something special on any other day of the year and not be such a cliche.
Of course this represents one extreme, but I lean towards that extreme. Why need February 14th in order to do these things? From now on, I declare the new Valentine’s Day to be June 7th. Go the rebellion. Starting 2008.
And to smother flames, I do agree with those that say Hallmark Day is just a nice opportunity to stop what you’re doing and do something different/special. But why follow all this commercial hype - it’s a shame, it’s like what Christmas and Easter have become…