Vita Activa Prosequitur

[tcpip]

Last Saturday night was the Victorian Secular Lobby meeting; a smallish gathering with last-minute cancellations. I gave a presentation which outlines an effective strategy for the small group in the upcoming state election. The following day The Philosophy Forum discussed A World Without Evil at the Unitarian Church; this was preceded by David Bottomley's (son of a former Minister) charming recollection of his childhood at the old (since demolished) neo-gothic church building. This was the second week in a row I had been, the previous week to see the Federal member for Melbourne and old uni colleague, Adam Bandt, speak on avoiding austerity budgets. His reasoning was sound, but sometimes I think he could do with some more fire and brimstone in his presentation. There was also the AGM afterwards; another substantial financial loss and decline in membership. As an more disinterested observer these days, watching the slow-motion train-wreck is almost amusing.

The work-week itself started fairly difficult; Suki rat made a late night decision to chew the stitches out from her tumor removal. So she was rushed to the emergency vet in Collingwood. They're really good there; they flushed her wound and stapled her up. She was in a bad way, in some stress and having lost blood so she spent time in a heat and oxygen tent. Eventually we made it home, and exhausted, the following day I went through three solid days of conducting Linux, PBS, and OpenMPI classes. Feedback was excellent, which remains inspiring. After that I has another presentation to give, to the Young Professionals CPA, where I spoke on Free and Open Source Software For Business Applications (slides available). I thought I was completely scattered; they thought otherwise, and I heard a few horror stories about how proprietary business software is both damaging and expensive.

In the realm of entertainment, my review on The Dead Kennedys gig has been published on The Dwarf; next gig will be The Tea Party and SuperJesus. Gaming-wise RPG Review has been delayed as the author of a key article has dropped out leaving me several pages short. Will be work on an alternative for the weekend. Last Sunday ran another session of Werewolf:The Yugoslav Wars, which involved planning for the capture of a Sarajevo business leader of ill-repute. Thursday night was another session of Masks of Nyarlathotep in Kenya with the party making their way substantially towards the base of the appopriately named Cult of the Bloody Tongue; true to the theme of the game, an impending death and insanity toll approaches.

Comments

[iris]

Poor Suki! I wish her quick recovery.

[tcpip]

She's recovering well, especially for an older rat. Mind you she was recovering well the first time. This time I don't think she'll be able to chew the staples out!

[zenicurean.livejournal.com]

I understand the rationale for conscience votes, but they always seem to have a whiff of the party-political cop-out about them, don't they?

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

The whiff is not so much the party-political cop-out which would be "this is a conscience vote because we're not sure". Such matters are typically referred to parliamentary committees and the like so the parties can thrash out where they stand.

No, conscience votes are almost always about given religious believers in a political party the opportunity to vote in accord to their religious doctrine instead of what would otherwise be a matter of policy.

Well, at least that's the experience here...

[zenicurean.livejournal.com]

I think we might be a touch less religious about it. We've got one lot who fairly consistently treat nuclear power as a conscience issue, and whatnot. But the overall pattern is certainly very similar: Typical conscience votes are about the sorts of social issues where religious (or near-religious) sentiments tend to count for a lot.

Either way, I suppose it can be... convenient. The party gets to abdicate responsibility and brag about it because they're doing it in the name of individual conscience, and sometimes the mass of representatives gets to fish votes from both sides.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

Yes, it sound a touch less religious if nuclear power is something that comes up for a conscience vote. There is no way that would even be considered here. Plus, you're quite right about it being very convenient and in the style mentioned. It's a bit weird for people to vote for a party because of their policies (let's face it, short of scandal an MP's personal vote is usually a few percent), and then for the party to avoid taking an stand.

[mr-figgy.livejournal.com]

If you're interested in reviewing the newest version of my novel when it comes out, it's going to be available for print on demand distribution in Australia. I'm sure the marketing people won't mind any publicity whatsoever that I can drum up on my own.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

No problem. So when should I expect my Gift Knight package? :)

[mr-figgy.livejournal.com]

Just letting Kickstarter finish auto-collecting my pledges, they say they'll be done by the 14th. Then I start putting things together.

[redcountess]

Sorry I didn't see you at The Tea Party :-)

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

I didn't end up going, which possibly just as well. I find them incredibly boring.