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A Death in the Family, ARCS Video Collaboration Workshop, China and the Olympics
Just before we were about to head off to the second session of our fortnightly Call of Cthulhu game (Masks of Nyarlathotep, Horror on the Orient Express), ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
caseopaya received a 'phone call that her brother had died at home the night before at the rather young age of 49. Although the cause of death has not yet been determined, he suffered from type II diabetes and had a nasty foot infection; I am guessing blood poisoning and subsequent septic shock at this stage. I had only spent a few days with the 200cm, 120 kg ex-biker with a surly morning mood, but I found him quite likeable (after 9.30am). He was a genuine person of substance who appreciated the same and clearly cared a great deal for his little kid sister and the feeling was reciprocated; caseopaya is currently making arrangement to go to Perth for the funeral.
Twice in the past fortnight I've had to attend the three-day ARCS Video Collaboration Workshop twice, once in Adelaide and once in Melbourne. Both went well, and I will never cease to be amazed by the endurance of Access Grid advocate Jason Bell who can, quite literally, talk for the better part of three days on the subject. For my own part, slides and notes of the presentation I gave are available. I've also put in a application to present to Linux Conf Australia where I'll try to summarise the three-day experience into a single session!
I readily admit upfront that I care little for the elite of competitive sports; I consider the real "medal count" of a country is the general level of activity and health, rather than how well a highly specialised select group performs. Australia may do very well in the Olympics, but when the average member of the population has questionable levels of fitness I think we are a failure rather than a success as a "sporting nation". This aside however, the media spotlight on China has been at least successful in uncovering how frightened this totalitarian dictatorship is of even modest criticism; spending $100 million USD on the opening ceremony where a sixth of the population lives on less than $2 USD per day is an obscenity. Whilst China itself has lost the media battle, in "free and democratic" Australia Channel 7 censored a Tibet advertisement; they (and some of their advertisers) will be receiving some terse correspondence from yours truly.
caseopaya received a 'phone call that her brother had died at home the night before at the rather young age of 49. Although the cause of death has not yet been determined, he suffered from type II diabetes and had a nasty foot infection; I am guessing blood poisoning and subsequent septic shock at this stage. I had only spent a few days with the 200cm, 120 kg ex-biker with a surly morning mood, but I found him quite likeable (after 9.30am). He was a genuine person of substance who appreciated the same and clearly cared a great deal for his little kid sister and the feeling was reciprocated; caseopaya is currently making arrangement to go to Perth for the funeral.Twice in the past fortnight I've had to attend the three-day ARCS Video Collaboration Workshop twice, once in Adelaide and once in Melbourne. Both went well, and I will never cease to be amazed by the endurance of Access Grid advocate Jason Bell who can, quite literally, talk for the better part of three days on the subject. For my own part, slides and notes of the presentation I gave are available. I've also put in a application to present to Linux Conf Australia where I'll try to summarise the three-day experience into a single session!
I readily admit upfront that I care little for the elite of competitive sports; I consider the real "medal count" of a country is the general level of activity and health, rather than how well a highly specialised select group performs. Australia may do very well in the Olympics, but when the average member of the population has questionable levels of fitness I think we are a failure rather than a success as a "sporting nation". This aside however, the media spotlight on China has been at least successful in uncovering how frightened this totalitarian dictatorship is of even modest criticism; spending $100 million USD on the opening ceremony where a sixth of the population lives on less than $2 USD per day is an obscenity. Whilst China itself has lost the media battle, in "free and democratic" Australia Channel 7 censored a Tibet advertisement; they (and some of their advertisers) will be receiving some terse correspondence from yours truly.
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On the other hand, I'm impressed by the athletes. America, too, battles the wave of epidemic obesity in our populations. That doesn't stop my awe at the beauty of a gymnasts routine or the spectacular performance of a diver. I could care less about the medals. Its about the athleticism for me. :-D
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Ugh. Such trivialities are one of the things I loathe most about mass media - they don't want to be "controversial".
Yes, the Great Wall is interesting. Yes, the cuisine is interesting. But in context...
That doesn't stop my awe at the beauty of a gymnasts routine or the spectacular performance of a diver.
Oh, I agree.. athletes are gorgeous. :)
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