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Indonesian Justice, More Plans, Life Update, Adelaide Institute and Unitarians, Good Liberals.
The Schapelle Corby case has really captured Australia's imagination and surprise over the Indonesian justice system. Just to put Corby's case into perspective, consider the legal action applied against the architects of violence in East Timor in the last days of the occupation. Nice to see that you can kill 1500 people and dislocate a quarter of a million and receive a promotion, but if you have a few kilo's of marijuana on you it's 20 years jail.
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luciusmalfory are plotting a naughty but educational website. It's a long-term plan, something that will take probably a year to set up. 'Nuff said on that matter. Secondly, brendan and I bounced around a couple of ideas for a Paranoia supplement. I shot a letter off to the publishers and they're very interested indeed! Which goes to show, when I work on it I can have a really silly sense of humour.
Saw Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy on Saturday. Didn't think much of it, not as good as the TV series. I gave it a 4/10. Zaphod was sufficiently annoyingly, tho'. Have spent some time upgrading my home computers. Will end up with four different operating systems when finished. Debating internally on whether to buy a Compaq ProLiant 3000 that's on the cheap. On the work news front, Inmatrix just rang to say that they now want me as permanent part-time on contractor fees. Nice. Meeting with Cameron from Swinburne last week went very well, looks like RPG journal is a going concern. Speaking of which, Scene 10 of Ten Thousand Islands is complete. Have also been playing more of the one-to-one Nephilim/Call of Cthulhu crossover withcaseopaya, which is really developing into quite a story. Finally, Outbreak of Heresy starts this Sunday.
Crazy thing happened at the Unitarians last Sunday. A person approached the Church to give a lecture on Florence Nightengale some time back, which was all fair enough and he gave a reasonably accurate report, although certainly nothing special. However, a little bit of subsequent investigation reveals that the speaker, one Geoffrey Muirden, is a former leader of the anti-Jewish and historical revisionist Adelaide Institute. That's not so good.
Full congratulations are due to Petro Georgiou and his colleagues in their valiant stand against the government's inhumane treatment of asylum seekers. Labor for Refugees will be organising a protest in favour of Petro's actions. This should attract some media attention.
luciusmalfory are plotting a naughty but educational website. It's a long-term plan, something that will take probably a year to set up. 'Nuff said on that matter. Secondly, brendan and I bounced around a couple of ideas for a Paranoia supplement. I shot a letter off to the publishers and they're very interested indeed! Which goes to show, when I work on it I can have a really silly sense of humour. Saw Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy on Saturday. Didn't think much of it, not as good as the TV series. I gave it a 4/10. Zaphod was sufficiently annoyingly, tho'. Have spent some time upgrading my home computers. Will end up with four different operating systems when finished. Debating internally on whether to buy a Compaq ProLiant 3000 that's on the cheap. On the work news front, Inmatrix just rang to say that they now want me as permanent part-time on contractor fees. Nice. Meeting with Cameron from Swinburne last week went very well, looks like RPG journal is a going concern. Speaking of which, Scene 10 of Ten Thousand Islands is complete. Have also been playing more of the one-to-one Nephilim/Call of Cthulhu crossover with
caseopaya, which is really developing into quite a story. Finally, Outbreak of Heresy starts this Sunday. Crazy thing happened at the Unitarians last Sunday. A person approached the Church to give a lecture on Florence Nightengale some time back, which was all fair enough and he gave a reasonably accurate report, although certainly nothing special. However, a little bit of subsequent investigation reveals that the speaker, one Geoffrey Muirden, is a former leader of the anti-Jewish and historical revisionist Adelaide Institute. That's not so good.
Full congratulations are due to Petro Georgiou and his colleagues in their valiant stand against the government's inhumane treatment of asylum seekers. Labor for Refugees will be organising a protest in favour of Petro's actions. This should attract some media attention.
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I've heard about the traps that there can be some small problems obtaining payment.
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Hmmm... That's typical for every games company on the planet. One shouldn't get into rpg's to try to make a living, that's for sure.
Mind you, when the Mimesis RPG gears up, I intend to break the tradition by paying authors in a timely manner.
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I process some of their print materials: what a horrible, horrible organisation stocked with (non-specifically) horrible people to deal with.
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Ahh, as soon as I saw the words on the handbill alarm bells started ringing. I did a bit of research on them for my PhD.
As much as I despise censorship, I also despise their lies. Their comments on the holocaust (e.g., it is a Jewish swindle to fleece German taxpayers) is utterly abhorrent.
Nevertheless, as mentioned, the speaker actually didn't express any of that during his lecture. It was quite a middle of the road biographical presentation of Florence Nightingale.
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Processing their work would be, ahh, interesting.
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I've been an inconsistent reader of your lj for a while now. I have a feeling that we may have chatted a few years ago, on oz.org.
It is interesting. But not as interesting as attempting to maintain a front of civility when I inadvertantly engage Him (being the head of AI) in work-related discussions.
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Very slim chance of that. Somehow my life has almost been completely devoid of IRC... But still...
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I'll have to do some research (read: ask Jo) if perhaps i met you on a Melbourne trip, or similar. But then: Why am I assuming you're in Melbourne? I may be living in a colourful world of false memories, in which case I apologise ;)
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Yep, I'm a Melbourne person. Although I have been known to visit SA on a few occassions as well..Hmmm.. curiouser and curiouser!
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Legally thin ice that, but it would make sense from one POV.
Did you get to reading this?
Angry redneck army roaring at the gates (http://www.dailytelegraph.news.com.au/story.jsp?sectionid=1292&storyid=3206907)
By PIERS AKERMAN
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-B
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18. Telling the truth about Team Corby
A perceptive subscriber writes:
In all fairness to News Ltd, you should acknowledge that The Weekend Australian removed itself from the pack a week ago by tip-toeing ever so gingerly around the Corby family's own past and present drug, jail and alcohol problems in this fascinating read. Similarly, The SMH (http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,15357324%255E2702,00.html) last Thursday published this excellent piece (http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/The-white-knight-for-the-defence/2005/05/26/1116950819431.html) on Ron Bakir by reporter Colin Kruger which buried the following aside right at the bottom:
His own brother is presently facing charges in Southport magistrates court involving extortion, possession of dangerous drugs, wilful damage, entering premises with intent to commit an indictable offense and assault.
The "join-the-dots" implications of Kruger's piece were interesting, but have gone completely unnoticed in all the hysteria. Put those two pieces together and it sounds like there might be a story out there folks. Which members of the free press will go and find it rather than fan our xenophobia?
CRIKEY: Derryn Hinch, albeit a shock jock with much-reduced credibility, was tip-toeing towards a certain theory yesterday when he said: "I think I know who put the drugs in the bag." Is anyone game to go a bit further? Who would have had access to that boogie board bag?
60 Minutes can't claim to have much credibility left after continuing to pull out the cheque book to secure the exclusive role of taxi driver for the family as they travelled to and from Friday's sentencing. Sunday night's piece was particularly ordinary as this dysfunctional family (dad has six drink drive charges and a drug conviction to his name) was interviewed immediately after the sentencing. They just shouldn't have been exposed to such questioning when traumatised.
Even Piers Akerman was bagging the Packer network on the Nine-controlled Sky News last night when he declared that it had "inflamed the situation" with emotive and one-sided coverage. The Daily Telegraph has probably been the worst of the Murdoch papers, but Akerman claimed its reports had more depth and analysis than Nine's shallow and one-sided TV grabs.
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-B
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Piers Akerman should talk to some retired Indonesian magristrates. They estimate about 85% of court cases are subject to bribery, so that claim isn't so dumb after all.
The place is so bad you don't have (to quote
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Those who were tried and found guilty are all on death row.
Pending appeal I believe...
...they are where we can get good and angry.
Hmmm... Yes, but I still think the natural law principle of "the punishment must fit the crime" has stronger appeal.
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As is Schapelle. One thing which is getting up my goat is the 'She has approved an appeal, even though there is a risk that the sentence will be increased.' Duh, the prosecution is already appealing the sentence, so she can't lose anything by appealing herself as well.
The Indonesians are at least consistant there. Schapelle has recieved a sentence which is actually far lighter than others who have been found guilty of importing similar amounts. We may not agree with the sentence, in fact I don't either, but it was not a vindictive sentence.
As I said, the sentence is not something that we can argue with -- legally it is consistent. We can argue with the fairness of the trial, we can argue about the utterly incompetant mishandling of evidence, we can hope that the judge's order that the evidence be burnt is not carried out before the appeals, we can argue about the de facto presumption of guilt, we can argue about the general harshness of drug sentences, but that particular sentence is consistant with a guilty verdict and Indonesian precedent.
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The holocaust revisionists are an interesting case, and one that really gets into the nitty gritty of free speech. They have learnt how to clothe their hate speech in the trappings of academia, and to the extent that they are historical researchers (which is limited but not completely non-existent) they should have a right to say what they say - but if you read that link you will see how a close examination can cut through the cloak of academia and expose the racism within. Thanks for it, it was educational.
But I think its important that in dealing with them people make the distinction clear, and not show them the hypocricy they show us. Respect their right of free speech up until they step over the line, and then make it very clear to them that they have stepped. Make it clear that they can argue any point they want if they behave with genuine tolerance and inquiry, but that they can't just dress themselves in the trappings of academic inquiry and make snide accusations. In summary, I guess if he made the report and it contained nothing offensive, then nothing needs to be done.
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OK, fixed now. It's the summary of their court case..
I guess if he made the report and it contained nothing offensive, then nothing needs to be done.
My thoughts as well. Committee members are a little surprised and embarressed given the general milleiu of the church, but I don't think anything further needs to be done. Just a little more double checking in future.
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But what about Marvin?
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and there was the old marvin hiding there too. which I thought was rather cool.
-B
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Well, the voice was obviously good ;-)
But the character was not nearly depressing and funny enough. And the actual robot was a ridiculous design.
Again, the TV series version was better.
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Strange, I would've thought that Mos Def as Ford Prefect would be the only good thing about it...
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1st
Re: 1st
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It just keeps going down... IMO..
Book 7.5/10
Radio Series 7/10
TV Series 7/10
Movie 4/10
Mos Daf wasn't bad, but it wasn't exactly a good performance either.
playing devils advocate or just being cynical??
But at least Schapelle Corby's family will be making a LOT of money out of that 20 years.... they have signed a contract with a media organisation (surprisingly not the one I work for), and I have no doubt that there will be a TV mini series made out of this.
Then there are the magazines like Woman's Day who will also buy their stories.
I guess they will have enough money to go visit her quite often.
As for Hitchhikers - I agree. They missed out the classic "mostly harmless" and "It's so amazingly, amazing I think I'd like to steal it!"
*sigh* is there such a thing as a good movie anymore?
Re: playing devils advocate or just being cynical??
But at least Schapelle Corby's family will be making a LOT of money out of that 20 years
Divide by 20 for lost income.... Let alone the fact that an Indonesian jail wouldn't be the best place in the world to spend the prime of one's life.
*sigh* is there such a thing as a good movie anymore?
I'd rather suspect that it's a case of wait for video for most things these days...
Re: playing devils advocate or just being cynical??
Yes, I realise all that - as I said - being cynical.
She has been told by an Australian that has spent time in an Indonesian gaol that if she does appeal the sentence, to avoid the media publicity and to so so "quietly".
I'd rather suspect that it's a case of wait for video for most things these days
Bit of a shame really, the experience of going to the cinema is good.
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I suspect it's going to get worse rather than better...
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Heh. They're worth a pretty penny these days. Possibly one of the first truly narrativist games (i.e., the rules did not matter, as long as you were playing in accord to your character - and it was amusing!)
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Heh. I'm sure the won't mind if you plead nicely.
I actually have _two_ copies of the first edition and one of the second. Guess I liked it...
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