A Week Is A Long Time (in politics, religion, gaming, study etc)

[tcpip]

Tomorrow is the meeting of international expert for Dr. Virginia Tilley on whether the legal definition of apartheid applies to the occupied territories. Made a submission to the government's Expert Panel on Asylum Seekers, which emphasises preventative measures. Labor-Green Alliance (FB) continues to power along with good numbers and interest. Next month the Fabian Society will be holding a meeting at the Melbourne Convention Centre on the subject.

Last Sunday attended an excellent service at the Unitarians with Nigel Sinnott quoting from
Julian Huxley's "The Humanist Frame" (1961) on a new religion of knowledge founded on evolutionary principles (see page 26). It dovetailed quite nicely with David Miller, from the Atheist Society, discussing "Atheist Religion", argued that religion (following Feurbach, and more recently, the Macquarie Dictionary) should be understood as the dedication to higher spiritual values, to which David included notions such as "truth", pointing out that we can revere, die, and even kill for such values.

Only one review on RPG.net this week, Other Worlds, a fairly good indie story-game. Currently finishing off a review of Space Opera, and starting a review of Space 1889, a game which our alternate Thursday group has given up on using the rules, on the grounds they're just unplayable. We'll be playing GURPS Space 1889 from now on. Also just putting the final touches on RPG Review #16, which will be ready within the next few days.

Received results for my GradCert in Project Management this week, Distinction and Credit for Project Management and Advanced Project Management, completing all requirements. I must have bombed the exam to only receive a Credit overall, but after three PM exams in three weeks I think I'd had enough. For the first trimester in quite a few years now, I don't actually have anything on - which means I should catch up on writing articles instead. Also on-topic, Steven Covey has died, a person who took a principled stance in a fairly grubby world of the "self-help" industry for managers.

Comments

[janewilliams20.livejournal.com]

I love the way you say "die, or even kill". Too many people would put those the other way round.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

I find killing for a cause a loss less palatable than dying for it.

[zenicurean.livejournal.com]

That's a heartening attitude in a world where killing for the truth is an exceedingly popular pastime.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

I'd like to think it's becoming less common or, more likely, less capable. After all, with the development of decentralised information technologies certainly forms of "direct censorship" become less successful.

[fwuffydragon.livejournal.com]

Steven Covey! I have his book. So sorry to hear about that.

And yay for time off for you. It's nice to have a break sometimes.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

I take it you liked Mr. Covey's book then?

I confess that it said on my shelf for quite a while, such was my disdain for the genre. When I read it, I was pleasantly surprised by the principles espoused.

Although it has been pointed out to me that he would let his religious biases breach those principles, such as his opposition to marriage equality.

Edit: I'm even less informed than I thought I was; apparently he changed his position, in a just manner, because his principles contradicted the doctrines of his church. Way to go Mr. Covey!

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/631013/Franklin-Covey-rewrites-policy-on-gay-rights.html?pg=all

[fwuffydragon.livejournal.com]

I filtered out the religious stuff, but found some of the principles useful.

I prefer David Allen's approach, though.

[mr-figgy.livejournal.com]

David Miller shares a name with the best Mayor that Toronto had in recent years. I miss having that Mayor, but he believed strongly that people with his office should get a limited number of terms. In the first election after him, somebody ran a poll which suggested he would have won handily had he run again.

It's also easy to miss a man with some reasonable intelligence, after having to cope with Rob Ford as a Mayor for any length of time.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

Well, our local David Miller is quite an extraordinary character in his own right. Since about 1971 he has be running the Melbourne Existentialist Society with lectures every month. On top of this is there work he does for the Melbourne Atheist Society, along others too I suppose.

He's a quiet powerhouse of an individual.

[abomvubuso.livejournal.com]

The application of apartheid to the occupied territories. Now this is a subject I'd love to read more on.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

I'll see if I can get you some notes.... although this said, there is of course, Virginia's existing books on the subject and the one that is forthcoming from Pluto Press.