Farewell Murmur, VPAC/VeRSi Merger and clusters, Marriage Equality

[tcpip]

Yesterday our dear little Murmur rabbit passed away. She was always such a tiny thing, and it seems that contracting a cold was a little too much for her slight frame. We'd had the pleasure of her company since 2006, after she'd been returned as an unwanted pet. Never exactly the most friendly creature she would cautiously climb on people if they stayed still, and didn't pay her any attention. Indeed, for a rabbit, she thoroughly enjoyed climbing always seeking the highest vantage point. It is not too unusual for rabbits to take up climbing in search of food and water, but Murmur apparently did it for pleasure.

In work related news, it comes as little surprise that VPAC will be merging with VeRSi. Essentially the Victorian universities wanted just one organisation to deal with when it came to eResearch initiatives. Making use of my relatively recent qualifications, I've volunteered to assist in the merger process. That will occur simultaneously with managing the installation of a new cluster (further major announcements pending) and a new file storage system.

Politically, the big event of the week was the failure of the Australian parliament to support marriage equality. With the LNP refusing a conscience vote within their own party, and Labor MPs divided on the issue it was an inevitable result in both the Senate and the House of Representatives. Anthony Albanese made the insightful comment that parliament is way out of touch with the rest of the population on this issue, and as a result it will be revisited. It is insightful as it bares recollection that politicians are interested in system stability. In a democracy, the people must lead, and only after then will the politicians come following behind them. Until then the desire not to change remains strong; even it is means ensuring that bigoted and laws discriminatory in the first order (yes, that is directed at Senator John Hogg) remain in place.

Comments

[serehfa]

Sorry to hear about the rabbit. Its been a sad pet year for you guys by the sound of it.

[tcpip]

Well, when you have a menagerie our size life and death is pretty close all the time... On better news the cat has fully recovered from his folly. My credit card might take a little longer!

[fluffyblanket.livejournal.com]

RIP , Murmur ...

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

Not the best, no.

I take some comfort in the fact that she was well cared for, and seemed to appreciate it all sometimes :)

[amarafox.livejournal.com]

Poor Murmur :( I hope she has all the carrots she can eat!

[laura-seabrook.livejournal.com]

As regards the dual defeats of marriage legislation this week - I was not surprised in the least. I put part of the blame on how publicity for the campaign (on both sides) was handled. Rather than being explained/promoted as "Marriage Equality" (which would have have fed into the "fair go" attitude) it was predominately referred to as "same-sex marriage" and "gay marriage". That meant that firstly the issue became seen as a validation of gays/lesbians, and secondly that it was something "extra" done for THEM, rather than for EVERYBODY in Australia.

But really that's a misconception. Ideally as an single adult you ought to be able to marry another single adult (not counting issues like incest et cetera) regardless of either party's sexuality or gender. But the way it was promoted it seemed to be about EXTENDING that right only to gay/lesbians. Trans and Intersex folk - who are valid stakeholders with issues around marriage - were totally written out by both the promoters and media. The State legislations that are going through the motions right now are more like the New York model, which also ignored trans and intersex (yes T & I can get married under that, but not in their own genders). My great fear is that the state legislations will get passed, and then everyone will take it that the issue is over and done with. :(

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

It's not surprising given the LNP was refused a conscience vote. Although even then I imagine less than 1/3 of the Liberal MPs would have voted for freedom from Statist interference and the right of individuals to form contract by mutual consent.

Yes, I am doing that deliberately :)

Alex Greenwich did try hard to promote the issue as "marriage equality", but a lot of the media and detractors called it "gay marriage". I rather suspect however, that didn't make too much of a difference to the overall vote. Those who are bigoted against gay people are not swayed by the equality argument.