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The Arab world, in case anyone hasn't noticed, is in a revolution. Tunisia revolted over unemployment, food inflation and freedom of speech and information. Robert Fisk correctly predicted that this would spread to other countries. Now prominent in Egypt, Mubarak is almost certain to fall (the non-intervention of the armed forces is extremely notable). Yemen, Syria and Sudan, after the independence referendum, is well on the agenda. Following more work by Wikileaks, the Palestinian leadership has been shown to be untrustworthy and corrupt (and this surprises who, exactly?).
On more local political issues Sunday I had the task of taking the service for a address at the Unitarian Church on the 'successes' of Stalin's Soviet Union. I decided against politeness and quoted from Steven Fritchman, Robert Conquest and Max Shachtman for opening, reading and closing words (Shachtman's words have a great resonance in my opinion). It is ridiculous and embarrassing that at a Church that claims to support human freedom, democracy and equality that there is support among some of the congregation for murderous quasi-fascist regimes such as that run by Stalin, and worse still try to find excuses and justifications for the events that occurred. There are no justifications. The Stalinist regime butchered nearly the entire leadership of the October revolution. They let millions of people in the Ukraine starve to death; by any metric related to freedom, democracy and the welfare of ordinary people Stalin's rule was in fact worse that than that experienced under the Tsar!
In my personal life there is light at the end of the tunnel with the difficult parts of my last post; I have submitted an appeal for my assignment grade for my course on Managing Innovation; the exam is next Monday. In the meantime I have received the assignment grade for Organisational Best Practise - 77% - which is much closer to my average. The exam for that is Tuesday. Even better news is that an extension of settlement for our house in Dunedin has been approved and Members Equity Bank have decided to offer us the requisite monies. So within the next two weeks our place in Dunedin will be in our legal possession.
RPG Review Issue 10 is incredibly late; over a month now. I am just putting the final touches on it, and it should be ready by the weekend. It's getting close for the next issue to be released! I really should organise myself better in regards to this 'zine, however as a huge volunteer task I tend to put it off. Besides there's real gaming to actually do - last Sunday tested out the latest edition of Paranoia, which has a simple system some nice new roleplaying features, and a total railroad for an introductory scenario. Finally I have just submitted a review of Shadowrun, that weird combination of fantasy and cyberpunk, to rpg.net; should be published next week.
On more local political issues Sunday I had the task of taking the service for a address at the Unitarian Church on the 'successes' of Stalin's Soviet Union. I decided against politeness and quoted from Steven Fritchman, Robert Conquest and Max Shachtman for opening, reading and closing words (Shachtman's words have a great resonance in my opinion). It is ridiculous and embarrassing that at a Church that claims to support human freedom, democracy and equality that there is support among some of the congregation for murderous quasi-fascist regimes such as that run by Stalin, and worse still try to find excuses and justifications for the events that occurred. There are no justifications. The Stalinist regime butchered nearly the entire leadership of the October revolution. They let millions of people in the Ukraine starve to death; by any metric related to freedom, democracy and the welfare of ordinary people Stalin's rule was in fact worse that than that experienced under the Tsar!
In my personal life there is light at the end of the tunnel with the difficult parts of my last post; I have submitted an appeal for my assignment grade for my course on Managing Innovation; the exam is next Monday. In the meantime I have received the assignment grade for Organisational Best Practise - 77% - which is much closer to my average. The exam for that is Tuesday. Even better news is that an extension of settlement for our house in Dunedin has been approved and Members Equity Bank have decided to offer us the requisite monies. So within the next two weeks our place in Dunedin will be in our legal possession.
RPG Review Issue 10 is incredibly late; over a month now. I am just putting the final touches on it, and it should be ready by the weekend. It's getting close for the next issue to be released! I really should organise myself better in regards to this 'zine, however as a huge volunteer task I tend to put it off. Besides there's real gaming to actually do - last Sunday tested out the latest edition of Paranoia, which has a simple system some nice new roleplaying features, and a total railroad for an introductory scenario. Finally I have just submitted a review of Shadowrun, that weird combination of fantasy and cyberpunk, to rpg.net; should be published next week.