A Death in the Family, ARCS Video Collaboration Workshop, China and the Olympics

[tcpip]

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), 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.

Comments

[mr-e-cat.livejournal.com]

please pass on my condolences and if there's anything I can do for either of you in Perth let me know.

[forwrathandruin.livejournal.com]

No snark/confrontation intended:

What do you have to say regarding the conditions of Tibet pre-Chinese hostile-takeover? What about the accusations of a theocratic dictatorship where the average citizen fared little better than the citizens of North Korea do now in terms of quality-of-life?

I'm not well-versed at all on the China/Tibet debate, and it seems like an issue where everyone falls on the side of Tibet, with the exception of a view voices whom you'd expect to deliberately be against the grain.

I read this post and was disappointed there were no references to Robin

[greylock.livejournal.com]

Out of interest, have I met caseopaya that I would be aware of?

(Remembering is an entirely separate issue).

[nvcarnie.livejournal.com]

At least your media is showing how awful it is living under such a rule. Our media does these little filler features on the great wall, strange foods in Beijing, etc. Talk about ridiculous. :-/

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

[amarafox.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry to hear about caseopaya's brother.

That's sad and tragic. Too young to die :(

[mr-figgy.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean about the olympics. Even the Canadian athletes, who aren't huge standouts in terms of summer olympics, are still far removed from the physical condition of the average Canadian to the point that it seems more like a political/commercial event or possibly a circus.

[1phish2phish.livejournal.com]

Please pass on my condolences to caseopaya.

[telarus.livejournal.com]

sorry to hear about the death in the fam.

[ninboydean.livejournal.com]

I tend to find the coverage on Tibet rather offensive - why should people disproportionately care about that region, when the U.S. and other western powers have so many colonies - historical and contemporary - which have much worse human rights problems?

That said, the ignorant view that many leftists have, that because this is a Chinese issue, they are somehow not imperial, or that Tibet shoudln't be freed, is really disgusting. I don't understand how people can be for Iragi, Palestinian and Ossetian freedom, yet oppose the same when it comes to China / Tibet. Pure hypocrisy.

[serehfa.livejournal.com]

Sorry to hear of your loss.

I have not watched the olympics; I could not stand thinking about what all that money, spent by every participating group but especially China, could have done towards the welfare of its disadvantaged people.

[amazinggoatgirl.livejournal.com]

Aww, sorry to hear about that, y'all.