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On Sunday I hosted a Bi Luo Chun Yum Cha for the ACFS, which was well-attended and a great deal of fun. It was great to have a number of my friends in attendance, and I am especially thankful for the efforts of Tower L., in providing the tea and preparing much of the food. Representatives of the Chinese consulate were present who are, as always, exceptional in their diplomatic politeness. Appropriately, and in stark contrast to the vitriolic chest-beating that occurs in some circles, I also attended a Labor Academy event earlier in the week, "Peacebuilding in a World of War". From the keynote speakers, John Langmore presented quite a reasonable argument advocating a liberal international order (increased international developmental aid, international treaties, etc). In contrast, I almost felt sorry for Peter Kahlil, MHR and Chair of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Intelligence and Security, in trying to make an argument that the AUKUS submarines purchase was part of the international peace-building. That argument has been pretty soundly demolished even within the Labor Party by Labor Against War.

With my own "political anarchist" leanings (synonymous with "libertarian socialism" and differentiated from both "lifestyle anarchism" and "social anarchism") I identify war as a function of the State. As per the "realist" school of international relations, there is no global state or enforceable international law (with the exception of Chapter VII of the UN Charter), which means that each State attempts to expand its power and influence at the expense of competitors and ultimately seeks monopoly rule. Within the State, each State attempts to enforce its own model of political economy and property rights and its own legal code. The military is thus the ultimate weapon used by the State against external competitors as the police are the ultimate weapon against internal competitors. "Peace" is something that exists between States as a form of a temporary détente and within States with the legitimation of civil rights and a just distribution of resources, a temporary détente in class war. In other words, "Peace with Justice" (to use the title of Clinton Fernandes' book on Noam Chomsky), as opposed to an authoritarian peace established through fear and oppression.

I make these words also in recognition of the passing of Helen Hill last week. Helen was a tireless activist and academic for the idea of self-determination and peace with justice especially for the people of Timor-Leste and also the South Pacific and Tanzania. For Timor, as the official Timor-Leste government statement notes, her work began in 1975 with her first publication on the subject, "The Timor Story", released in 1976. Helen stuck with the Timorese people in solidarity right through those violent and difficult years of occupation from 1975-1999 when so often activists were bluntly told that the cause was impossible and could never succeed. But eventually, it did, and while nation-building after independence has been no walk in the park, it has been their journey for which people like Helen showed the practical meaning of solidarity. Deskansa Em Paz, Dr. Helen Hill.
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As is often the case, RPG Review is late - even given that this issue is a double-issue (51-52) covering the more prosaic aspects of life; food, buildings, and clothing, which of course is often overlooked in RPG games or worse still, with Anglo-American contemporary styles transplanted to a quasi-medieval fantasy setting. I will admit being inspired by "histoire vue d'en bas et non d'en haut" ("history seen from below and not from above", Lucien Febvre) in putting together this issue. As a result of what needs to be written, I have a small mountain of gaming products from the very old to the relatively new on my "to review" pile, which I am working through this weekend: The Free City of Haven, Thieves' World, Night City, Chicago Arcology, The Lost City of Gaxmoor, and Pantopican, all of which will find themselves on rpg.net as well, of course. This will certainly occupy the rest of the weekend of course, albeit with some time out for "actual play" with Tim R's "Mage: The Ascension" game.

Apart from that I have been a little unsettled this week which really has taken a hit on my usual productive self. I wonder whether it has been a vicarious effect of a close friend, or whether it is even in part due to the onset of daylight saving time. This is actually a serious matter with health studies, including higher blood pressure, increased heart rate, interrupted sleep, and mood changes. As with so many things we look towards ourselves for the causes of malaise, when in reality it is often circumstances and the environment. As these are outside our control, adaption is the more sensible strategy, even if we are more prone to distraction instead. It is fortunate that, by the end of the week, I realised how distracted I had become and have since pulled my finger out with a return to normal levels of progress.

As an example of distraction, I have been engaging over the past few days in an AnCap vs AnCom debate group, which I know I shouldn't. Several years ago I abandoned engagement in the said group when, after a poll of members, something like 90% of AnCaps said that they would not change their ideology even if it was provably and objectively wrong. I considered this remarkable enough, but an even more convincing moment was when a fellow traveller posted a quote questioning the legitimacy of poverty and attributed it to Emma Goldman. With one single exception, the AnCaps were infuriated. It was never revealed to them (until now) that the quote was actually from Ayn Rand. Naturally enough, none of them had the humility of intellect to even check. The problem, of course, comes from the two types of anarchism, and the translation is ambiguous. On the one hand, it can the absence of rulers (the anti-State, anti-ruling class, libertarian left), on the other the absence of rules (the anti-governance, pro-private property, libertarian right).
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Delightful Saturday evening with Brendan E., who is a arthouse tv expert without realising it. The Throways was a much better film that most reviewers suggest, and Ash vs The Evil Dead was quite hilarious. It is interesting from a retrospective that Ash Williams has become such a arthouse culture icon (Number 1 Greatest Horror Movie Character according to Empire Magazine); he's a complete idiot, but sufficiently brave and tough to make up for it. Apropos I have currently working on reviews of the presentation of the undead in Dungeons & Dragons with Libris Mortis (3rd edition) and Open Grave (4th edition).

Sunday was a gathering of The Philosophy Forum, another good turnout. Grame Lindemeyer presented on Data, Information, Meaning, Intelligence and Consciousness - rather overlooking the importance of language in all this I'm afraid. After the presentation chaired the committee meeting of the RPG Review Cooperative and covered a lot of ground, before running the second session of Eclipse Phase which has seen the PCs end up as agents for Firewall. Tonight was our mashup between The Secrets of Cats and Call of Cthulhu.

Last night attended a presentation by Laure Akai, Secretary of the International Workers Association, on the practice of anarcho-syndicalism. Quite well attended, it was a potted tour of the various small chapters around the world and their very modest successes with direct action methods. It was organised by the Anarcho-Syndicalist Federation of Australia which I may have sympathies with their end goals, but their purist restrictive membership means that it is not possible for me to join. Overall it reminds me why I am not involved in what are ineffectual and purist anarchist political groups.

Work goes well; swapped out some long-overdue dead disks on the storage array, cleared the stale NFS handles on some compute nodes, and now have Edward running with more processors and with more jobs on it than I've ever seen. Have also finished by presentation for Multicore World next week in New Zealand. Work keeps on making noises about wanting to send me to the OpenStack Summit in Austin, Texas.

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