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My poor neglected livejournal!
Been over a week since I posted an entry...
I have almost, almost, almost finished section 3-4 (Data Security) for my thesis. It should be on the web in draft form by this time tomorrow. I'm pretty happy with it as a summary of the history of Internet fraud, anonymity and encryption, intellectual property and computer hacking. I'm also thinking of combining the following two subchapters ('The Public Sphere' and 'Technical Standards') into one - this chapter is already close to 50,000 words and I don't think it needs to be much longer!
Aside from writing myself into the ground, I've tinkered a bit with the Australia Pacific Journalism Centre website (no, that work is not mine), something that I should also have finished by tomorrow as well. Regrettably my amusing attempt to have a new employer per week hasn't come to fruition as January 21st came and went without offers :/
Next Sunday I'm speaking at the Melbourne Unitarian Church on (quelle suprise) "A Man of Great Spirit: The Life and Philosophy of Dr. Jim Cairns", so if anyone's in town it starts at 11am. Speaking of that half-way house to infidelity, I spent my birthday (Jan 20) on a road trip with said people to Daylesford, spending some time among natural springs and parklands, a very fine second-hand books, records and video store and dropping into a art gallery built out of a former convent. Hahaha. We love our irony. Had a great theological conversation with one of the members aptly helped by a three volume Systematic Theology written by a lecturer in such material from Princeton University in the 1880s.
I've also started rereading Roger Peyrefitte's 'The Keys of St.Peter', a little something I picked up which I though severina_242 would be interested in being a fellow apostate and all. However, she's currently engrossed in the land of hobbits and elves, so such realistic reading may be an uncomfortable diversion. Personally, I think Peyrefitte is one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century, and certainly one of the best French authors. To be sure, I think Alain Robbe-Grillet is a clear winner on matters of style (the new french novel), but Peyrefitte wins on his scandalous realism and impeccable research.
Spent most of Invasion Day at the Melbourne Museum in Calton gardens which, in the decade I'd lived in Melbourne, had never been through even though I'd walk through the Carlton gardens on almost a daily basis. A pleasant experience, quite enjoyed the exhibits, especially the mind/body section.
Oh, and for Jan 26.. Happy birthday Slammer Worm!. Speaking of which, heads up for a new little virus,
In the "Democracy, but only if it gets the results that we want" department, some expected news. The AFA acts on the
gay marriage poll.
The world's most dangerous
geek has new plans. Heh.
I recently had a debate with angel80 on the proposed banning of religous symbols in state institutions by the French government. Whilst that was over the hajib it seems that Sikh's are now also are target:
Paris Sikhs alarmed at proposed turban ban.
How to keep an eye on the Queensland election. My good friend Billy Bowe, always with a very sharp sense of political nous, has created this beauty. Speaking of which, bloody Mark Latham has a livejournal.
Finally, just to keep us all happy and to sleep well at night, can anyone please find fault in the following article which suggests we'll have to pack up from the planet by 2050?
I have almost, almost, almost finished section 3-4 (Data Security) for my thesis. It should be on the web in draft form by this time tomorrow. I'm pretty happy with it as a summary of the history of Internet fraud, anonymity and encryption, intellectual property and computer hacking. I'm also thinking of combining the following two subchapters ('The Public Sphere' and 'Technical Standards') into one - this chapter is already close to 50,000 words and I don't think it needs to be much longer!
Aside from writing myself into the ground, I've tinkered a bit with the Australia Pacific Journalism Centre website (no, that work is not mine), something that I should also have finished by tomorrow as well. Regrettably my amusing attempt to have a new employer per week hasn't come to fruition as January 21st came and went without offers :/
Next Sunday I'm speaking at the Melbourne Unitarian Church on (quelle suprise) "A Man of Great Spirit: The Life and Philosophy of Dr. Jim Cairns", so if anyone's in town it starts at 11am. Speaking of that half-way house to infidelity, I spent my birthday (Jan 20) on a road trip with said people to Daylesford, spending some time among natural springs and parklands, a very fine second-hand books, records and video store and dropping into a art gallery built out of a former convent. Hahaha. We love our irony. Had a great theological conversation with one of the members aptly helped by a three volume Systematic Theology written by a lecturer in such material from Princeton University in the 1880s.
I've also started rereading Roger Peyrefitte's 'The Keys of St.Peter', a little something I picked up which I though severina_242 would be interested in being a fellow apostate and all. However, she's currently engrossed in the land of hobbits and elves, so such realistic reading may be an uncomfortable diversion. Personally, I think Peyrefitte is one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century, and certainly one of the best French authors. To be sure, I think Alain Robbe-Grillet is a clear winner on matters of style (the new french novel), but Peyrefitte wins on his scandalous realism and impeccable research.
Spent most of Invasion Day at the Melbourne Museum in Calton gardens which, in the decade I'd lived in Melbourne, had never been through even though I'd walk through the Carlton gardens on almost a daily basis. A pleasant experience, quite enjoyed the exhibits, especially the mind/body section.
Oh, and for Jan 26.. Happy birthday Slammer Worm!. Speaking of which, heads up for a new little virus,
In the "Democracy, but only if it gets the results that we want" department, some expected news. The AFA acts on the
gay marriage poll.
The world's most dangerous
geek has new plans. Heh.
I recently had a debate with angel80 on the proposed banning of religous symbols in state institutions by the French government. Whilst that was over the hajib it seems that Sikh's are now also are target:
Paris Sikhs alarmed at proposed turban ban.
How to keep an eye on the Queensland election. My good friend Billy Bowe, always with a very sharp sense of political nous, has created this beauty. Speaking of which, bloody Mark Latham has a livejournal.
Finally, just to keep us all happy and to sleep well at night, can anyone please find fault in the following article which suggests we'll have to pack up from the planet by 2050?
no subject
On the Sikhs, what a load of nonsense. If the turban is not religious, then they can wear a pony tail or a bun! Or go to a Sikh school. How about protecting my rights to be free of claptrap!
I wish you guys would learn how to spell hijab, which, by the way is pre-Islamic and related to the tradition in many uncivilised societies that makes women the property of men. According to an Islamic scholar I heard on the Beeb the other night, the Koran makes two just mentions of clothing for women - one gives them the option of wearing hijab as a sign of Muslim identity and in the other it only says women should cover their breasts for modesty. According to said scholar, hijab has been taken up as a fairly recent thing by young women who want to challenge anti-Muslim prejudice in the West. However, she also went on to say that a lot of young women are still forced to wear it by family and community pressure.
Since compulsion remains a strong element, even in the so-called 'free' societies, I still favour the school ban. After all, they are only asking girls to take it off within the school gates.
Otherwise, the Koran is full of anti-women shit (such as encouraging men to beat wives who fail to obey them and twaddle about men being served by houris in heaven). If young women want to be identified as Muslims, they are identifying themselves with all that crap as well. You cannot take the hijab out of context, as if it is some sort of choice like a bikini versus a one-piece swimsuit.
Women in the west have had to fight for decades for their right of self-expression. Just give us the right to be free of the symbols of men's guardianship over us when we're in school at least!
no subject
Sorry to seem pedantic about spelling. Of course there are a number of ways to transliterate Parsi or Arabic words, but the difference between hajib and hijab is one of pronunciation, unlike the difference between Koran and Qu'ran.
no subject
Whereas I will prefer to concentrate my energies on the actual oppression of women per se rather than the expression or symbolic affinity thereof.
no subject
And furthermore...
This is the correct analysis and strategy, in my considered opinion:
http://www.secularislam.org/women/liberation.htm
no subject
no subject
If the turban is not religious, then they can wear a pony tail or a bun! Or go to a Sikh school. How about protecting my rights to be free of claptrap!
No, there is no instrinsic right for a person to be free from others espousing claptrap. Lest of all that your own words are determined to be that.
I wish you guys would learn how to spell hijab
A spelling flame?!? On livejournal?
Wow. I thought spelling flames on usenet were funny.
Better get The Guardian to tighten up their spelling as well then.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/france/story/0,11882,1109248,00.html
Hajib, Hejab, Hijab, Qu'aran, Koran...
You cannot take the hijab out of context, as if it is some sort of choice like a bikini versus a one-piece swimsuit.
You can actually. Plenty of people have appropriated religious symbols to their own use and to incorporate subcultural meanings. Goths and crucifixes is an obvious example.
And besides, the context is actually quite mixed in any case...
http://www.isop.ucla.edu/cnes/outreach/media/veiling/docs/sondra_hale.htm