Valedictions Paul Mees, Degree Number Five, Gaming Updates, Animal News

[tcpip]

Public transport academic and advocate Paul Mees Paul Mees has died. With some mutual friends, mutual politics, and a common bus-ride home, Paul and I shared a number of energetic and involved discussions spanning the nature of the democratic and less-then-democratic left in Victoria, the consistency in how successive Victorian governments failed to address the needs of public transport users or to learn from other international examples (Zurich was a prominent example), and even occasional forays into religious aesthetics. Paul always expressed his opinions with enthusiasm and humour, with a rapier wit. He serves as an inspiring example of a principled and dedicated individual, and sadly, one who had died too young. There was still many years of great work that could have come from his deeply analytical and creative mind.

Enrollment in my fifth degree has occurred, a Postgraduate Diploma in Economic Policy at the University of London. First course will be in public revenue, which I think I know a little bit about (and will discover how little I really know), but especially interesting in seeing the application in developing countries. On a somewhat tangential matter have been working through an excellent older essay on nanosocialism, and a review of the political tendencies in transhumanism. Apropos to other education matters, feedback from my major assignment and tutorial participation for the Graduate Certificate in Tertiary and Adult Education at Murdoch University (degree four) has been received; marks are sufficiently good that it makes a High Distinction grade very probable.

Gaming-wise, last Sunday witnessed the third session for the ongoing battle for the ruins of Warsaw for Twilight 2000 as the wicked Baron Czarny and his mercenaries marches tanks and troops towards the brave civilian milicya in their barricades. Even after nuclear war, there are those madmen who think they can become a ruler of a wasteland! Thursday ran a session of Savage Worlds (Deluxe) with the one-shot Viking scenario, as a break from our usual Eclipse Phase game. It went quite well, and the game does satisfy the claim of being "fast, furious, and fun". There are a couple of quirks in the rules, and we made a couple of minor mistakes, but overall it's quite good. More extenstive discussion at the Melbourne Roleplaying Salon thread. Significant work has been made on RPG Review issue 20, which specialises on monsters, aliens, and the other. Also, my review of The Morrow Project has been posted on RPG.net.

Last Tuesday night another one our rats died, Pierrot, one of our 2012 NYE ratlings. Her short (1.5 yr) life came to an end due to an unnoticed malignant tumour. Her rat housemates (Picador and Prankster) however seem to be in good health. In better news of this ilk (and location), a certain individual didn't make it on the estate committee of management which is quite a fail for a former MP, perhaps something to do with prior history running puppy farms (TW: animal abuse). Meanwhile, to quote Katharine Murphy at The Guardian, twit Senator Cory Bernardi "has once again raised the spectre of decent folks rushing off to marry the family cat should gay marriage be legalised", because apparently same-sex marriage leads to polygamy, which leads to bestiality. What? You didn't make that logical leap?

Comments

[notthebuddha.livejournal.com]

A legitimate fear of marriage creep would involve natural persons marrying corporate persons.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

Imagine the polyamourous marriages ("You have to marry the company to work here"), imagine the divorce proceedings!

[notthebuddha.livejournal.com]

Yeah. IIRC, I tried to get corporate marriage included in one of the TRANSHUMAN SPACE books, but could not think up a suitably entertaining farcical abuse.

Maybe if criminal co-conspirators married to avoid compelled testimony, but one still screws the others by secretly maintaining a prior, separate marriage with an off-shore bank that gets claim to the loot when they disavow it was earned as part of household income, but the majority ownership in the bank has been laundered and ends up in the hands of a crooked DA, etc If I was Charlie Stross, I'd come up with some way that everyone ends up married to a cryogenically suspended goat whose trust ends up controlling the world.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

I can certainly imagine Charlie Stross doing that... I think I might suggest it to him.

Actually, I just did :)

[horngirl.livejournal.com]

Wait, a postgraduate certificate counts as a degree? Then I have three, on my way to four ;-)

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

A postgraduate certificate, diploma, etc, is actually higher than a degree under the Australian Qualifications Framework.

[horngirl.livejournal.com]

Sometimes it's easier to count bits of paper ;-) Then I have four, working on the fifth.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

As much as I appreciate their existence and recognise their value (after all, I have two), I'm not going to count Cert IVs as degrees! A degree is Bachelor's level and higher...

[greenglowgrrl.livejournal.com]

I was only saying to a friend I don't know how ratty people manage. The goodbyes are so soon compared to dogs and cats, but there is long enough for each personality to be indelibly imprinted on you. Sorry to hear about Pierrot.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

I have seen, felt, and held so much death. Accepting that and enjoying the life of these fantastically clever little bundles of personality really does make it worthwhile.