Garage Sale, Aboriginal Issues and Art, Opera, No Usenet!, the NZ Option Part IV, A HIV Cure?

Garage sale was so successful I've had to give serious thought to giving up IT support and taking up selling books and records as a full-time occupation (heh, like I wouldn't enjoy that!). Despite not selling any of my computing books I did get two job offers simply by having them there, one as a BSD sysadmin for an ISP and the other as a DBA for a landscaping company.

Last Sunday Frank Hytten, Victorian Coordinator for Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation, provided a very presentantable outline on the main issues in indigenous history and representation at the Unitarians. Very interested to see that each and everyone of the key suggestions that he provided were exactly the same which I put up as part of ALP state policy some years back - none of which have been implemented by the government.

Update: OK, so memory isn't my good point, that's why I write things down... After the Unitarian's I went to an end of year function with Michael Danby (Federal Member Melbourne Ports), Tony Lupton (State Member, Prahran), Johan Scheffer (State Member, Monash Province), John Thwaites (Deputy Premier, State Member, Albert Park). Had a bit of a chew on the ear of the latter three on land tax issues. Am writing a paper on the Labor Party and land tax and why it's a good idea.

Went to Opera Australia last night with severina_242. The first performance was Monteverdi's "Il Combattimento Di Tancredi E Clorinda" which came with a dull score even duller modern dance, but underneath the obvious Christian propaganda there is actually quite a clever narrative. The second was Purcell's "Dido and Aeneas" which came with an excellent performance, especially by the sorcerer (Thomas Moran), and a far better score and stage setting. Although the single-prop aeroplane on the right panel of both shows was a "little" anachronistic.

Afterwards took the opportunity to view the contestants to the 2004 Archibald Prize. Was quite impressed by this years winner, Craig Ruddy's potrait of aboriginal actor Davild Gulpilil (whose claim to fame includes Walkabout, Storm Boy, Corcodile Dundee and Rabbit Proof Fence. The combination of "Australian" medium - charcoal on "colonial" wallpaper - is very similar to severina_242's own recent exhibition works. I was also impressed by Carolyn McKay Creedy's monochrome (blue) potrait of Bruce Spence which had surprising detail and Paul Worstread's "Me", a sour-faced comic rabbit with the banner "Autism is not a metaphor".

Google groups is stuffing up on me. No matter where I try to post from I get "Unable to retrieve message" errors (normally their database hasn't been fully updated in this case). I haven't been able to post to usenet for days. I'm going to have to back to a news client at this rate.

Meanwhile New Zealand continues to look good. The conservative National Party now holds 30.4 per cent in a recent opinion poll whereas the centre-left Labour Party has 50.1 per cent in the latest Herald-DigiPoll survey - and they've just introduced civil unions for same-sex couples. Doing a bit better than the Australian Labor Party aren't they?

Is there a
cure for HIV?

The Telegraph sets new standards in media in the
Galloway defamation trial. "The Telegraph claimed it was in the public interest to publish its story regardless of whether it was true". i.e, If we hear of a good rumour, it's our job to publish it.

I don't often pay attention to such things, but from the sublime game of
cricket. SA all out for 29. From zey

Brain-breaker of the week goes to an Alabama lawmaker who wants to ban positive potrays of of gay characters from public libraries and to destroy said books. Mind you, this is the state which recently decided to keep "separate schools" for blacks and whites as
part of their constitution - and we're supposed to look up to this par examplar of "democracy"?