tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60900472024-03-08T16:03:20.040+11:00Stuff v.3- Hardened battlehorse of sexual innuendo -Madshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15278230134365529738noreply@blogger.comBlogger614125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6090047.post-35352375496936763182008-06-01T15:48:00.002+10:002008-06-01T15:53:57.809+10:00Bye bye bloggerSo! Haven't been here a while; almost a year, in fact. No real reason - life happened (there was <a href="http://onedayinthelife.blogspot.com/2007/03/um-yeah.html">this</a> and <a href="http://onedayinthelife.blogspot.com/2007/04/few-things-have-happened-recently.html">this</a> and many other things), but mostly I lost interest. Also, well, <a href="http://www.facebook.com/">facebook</a>.<br /><br />But! I've been posting quite a few links to my facebook profile recently, and have been getting more and more annoyed at how limiting that method is. So! I'm going to try to keep a blog again... but not here. So, please direct your browsers over to <a href="http://justsomethings.wordpress.com/">Just Some Things</a>, my new wordpress site.<br /><br />Good bye, Blogger. It's been fun, albeit with large doses of frequent frustration!Madshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15278230134365529738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6090047.post-47002600343172808492007-06-17T10:44:00.001+10:002008-11-14T05:06:37.963+11:00Score!I am a <a href="http://cognitivelabs.com/word_shoot.htm">Word Shoot</a> champion!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ASwWAmcIQl8/RnSEF-QuS6I/AAAAAAAAAAs/tt0LfeLMBfI/s1600-h/wordshoot.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ASwWAmcIQl8/RnSEF-QuS6I/AAAAAAAAAAs/tt0LfeLMBfI/s400/wordshoot.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5076827918100745122" /></a>Madshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15278230134365529738noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6090047.post-40294893715285365072007-06-08T23:13:00.001+10:002007-06-08T23:13:12.163+10:00Amy Winehouse - Teach me tonight<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p><object height='350' width='425'><param value='http://youtube.com/v/Rakv-LKhdow' name='movie'></param><embed height='350' width='425' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' src='http://youtube.com/v/Rakv-LKhdow'></embed></object></p><p>One day I'll stop raving about Amy Winehouse... but today is not that day. 'Teach me tonight' is one of my all-time favourite songs, and she absolutely nails it in this video. It's like she's directly channelling Dinah Washington. Classic.</p></div>Madshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15278230134365529738noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6090047.post-5116868509738389272007-06-05T12:08:00.000+10:002007-06-05T13:06:35.971+10:00Explain awayI'm a huge fan of <a href="http://www.slate.com/">Slate</a>'s <a href="http://www.slate.com/?id=3944&cp=1787&nav=navom">Explainer section</a>, which provides answers to all kinds of random and bizarre questions, as well as the slightly puzzling, everyday kind. Some of my favourites:<ul><li><a href="http://www.slate.com/id/2167194/">Bees Overseas</a>: How do spelling contests work in other countries?</li><li><a href="http://www.slate.com/id/2165573/">Erotic Services 101</a>: When is a massage more than a massage?</li><li><a href="http://www.slate.com/id/2163595/">Should I Snort My Dad?</a>: The dangers of inhaling a cremated parent. (Apparently it's only dangerous "if you make a habit of it.")</li><li>I like this one mostly just for the title - <a href="http://www.slate.com/id/2162292/">What Would Jesus Smoke?</a>: The Christian doctrine on bong hits.</li><li><a href="http://www.slate.com/id/2156925/">I Mailed a Letter to Paris</a>...Who pays the French to deliver it?</li><li><a href="http://www.slate.com/id/2153760/">Does James Bond Have a License To Kill?</a>: The rules and regulations of British intelligence, explained.</li><li><a href="http://www.slate.com/id/2151658/">What Are the Protests Like at Gallaudet?</a>: Chants and cheers in American Sign Language. (Gallaudet is a university for the Deaf in Washington, DC. There were <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/15/AR2006101500631_pf.html">large-scale protests</a> there last year.)</li><li><a href="http://www.slate.com/id/2150398/">Pin the Tail on the Dolphin</a>: How to attach a prosthetic flipper. (Special bonus material: <a href="http://www.spawar.navy.mil/sandiego/technology/mammals/mine_hunting.html">Mine-hunting dolphins</a>!)</li><li><a href="http://www.slate.com/id/2143302/">How Heavy Is a 500-Pound Bomb?</a>: Six hundred and six pounds.</li><li><a href="http://www.slate.com/id/2139026/">Why Do They Club Seals?</a>: Can't they just shoot them?</li><li><a href="http://www.slate.com/id/2138847/">How Did Airbus Ace Its Airplane Evacuation Test?</a>: There were only 33 injuries.</li><li><a href="http://www.slate.com/id/2136726/">What Does a Chinese Keyboard Look Like?</a>: How they type in the PRC.</li><li><a href="http://www.slate.com/id/2135975/">This is George Bush. Is Anders Rasmussen Available?</a>: How world leaders make phone calls.</li></ul>Madshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15278230134365529738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6090047.post-91413940865119966702007-05-28T11:12:00.000+10:002007-05-28T11:19:25.660+10:00Facebook is taking over the world<a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/05/24/facebook-launches-facebook-platform-they-are-the-anti-myspace/">Article at TechCrunch</a> about the new <a href="http://www.facebook.com/">Facebook</a> Platform, that gives third-party developers access to the facebook API so that their applications can be integrated with the website. There's some pretty fascinating facts and figures there: "Facebook is growing 3% per week, which is 100,000 new users per day", it's the "6th most trafficked site in the U.S.", and "50% of registered users come back to the site every day." That's some impressive stuff.<br /><br />I'm not usually a fan of social networking sites, but I have very quickly become hopelessly addicted to facebook. Of course, it helps that it's not hideously ugly like <a href="http://www.myspace.com/">myspace</a> (I do not understand how people can spend any significant length of time on that website). One of the main reasons that I don't post here much anymore is that slowly but surely my entire life is being moved over to facebook!Madshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15278230134365529738noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6090047.post-70881632099888357052007-05-23T16:44:00.001+10:002007-05-23T16:44:19.374+10:00Unseen Doctor Who!<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p><object height='350' width='425'><param value='http://youtube.com/v/ezO4XN1kqGY' name='movie'></param><embed height='350' width='425' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' src='http://youtube.com/v/ezO4XN1kqGY'></embed></object></p><p>Very exciting discovery on youtube! Unseen Doctor Who! Just after the regeneration! Hooray! (yes, I'm obsessed.)</p></div>Madshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15278230134365529738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6090047.post-80657914105724492282007-05-23T15:31:00.000+10:002007-05-23T15:50:28.568+10:00Amy Winehouse goodnessMy obsession with everything <a href="http://www.amywinehouse.com">Amy Winehouse</a> continues! I bought her latest CD on the weekend, Back to Black, and have been playing it continuously ever since. 'Rehab' is still particularly fabulous, but I'm also a big fan of the song <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oan_WhqoD10">Tears dry on their own</a>, which sounds a bit like The Supremes, but on speed (this is a good thing).<br /><br />There are a few remixes of the song Rehab on youtube. The one <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YA5fWIndlA">by Jay-Z</a> is a perfect example of how <u>not</u> to do a remix - absolute, unadulterated crap. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEtO_PoXlV0">This one</a>, however, by <a href="http://deserteaglediscs.com/">Desert Eagle Discs</a>, is pure, unadulterated gold (the video's pretty good, too). If you don't want to watch the video, you can just listen to the song on the group's <a href="http://www.myspace.com/deserteaglediscs">myspace page</a>.Madshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15278230134365529738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6090047.post-55707521278346267342007-05-22T10:06:00.000+10:002007-05-22T10:12:14.152+10:00The Obama Effect<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/16/us/politics/16web-elder.html">Fascinating article</a> about what has been called, at various times, the "Bradley effect," "Wilder effect," or the "Dinkins effect," and what could possibly be the "Obama effect." Apparently pre-election polls often overstate the strength of black candidates in the US, because "white poll respondents are reluctant to tell African-American telephone interviewers that they are not going to vote for the black candidate." The effect is also seen when polling data is collected via face-to-face interviews.<br /><br />The point is made, however, that the candidate does make a difference - "Jesse Jackson was identified as a black leader, Obama is seen as a Senator from Illinois who happens to be black."Madshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15278230134365529738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6090047.post-17520361615162672462007-05-14T22:55:00.000+10:002007-05-14T22:59:53.978+10:00Monday madness!Haven't done this for a while... (this week's questions are <a href="http://mmadness.blogspot.com/2007_05_01_archive.html#6267446484584094973#6267446484584094973">here</a>.)<br /><br /><i>1. Which web browser do you prefer?</i><br />Firefox! Although I'm forced to use IE at work, which is supremely painful.<br /><br /><i>2. Are you a PC user or MAC user?</i><br />PC - I drool all over the look of Macs, but then find I can't get anything done when I have to use one.<br /><br /><i>3. Will your next computer purchase happen within the next year (do you think)?</i><br />I only got my current laptop last year, so it'll probably be a while before I upgrade again. So far (touch wood) I haven't had a single problem with this one.<br /><br /><i>4. Will you purchase your next computer at a local store or via the internet?</i><br />Probably the internet; my current laptop is a Dell, and ordering it online was completely painless.<br /><br /><i>5. Have you had any experience with Windows Vista?</i><br />My Dad just got a new laptop, and it's on there.<br /><br /><i>6. What are your feelings about this new operating system (if any)?</i><br />I haven't had much of a go at it, but it seems fine to me. Personally I think people expect a little too much from Microsoft when they launch a new operating system: you can't do something completely and utterly radical when your software is on 95% of computers across the world. Although, I've been using the new Office for a while now, and that's pretty revolutionary, and in a good way!Madshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15278230134365529738noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6090047.post-32725818157943698482007-05-14T22:24:00.000+10:002007-05-14T22:54:10.709+10:00Things I've readA few articles I've found interesting lately:<br /><a href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/04/16/070416fa_fact_paumgarten?currentPage=all"><br />There and Back Again</a>, by Nick Paumgarten, looks at the phenomenon of the commute in the US. Paumgarten rides along with one woman who travels <i>six and a half hours a day</i> to and from work. He makes the very good point that, for many people, the extra two hours of leisure time granted by the introduction "of the eight-hour workday are now passed in solitude. You have cup holders for company." What's the point of having that extra time if you spend it in your car, on your own?<br /><a href="http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2007/05/07/sloane"><br />Handguns in Roxbury, Tanks in Baghdad</a>, by Wick Sloane, made me cry the first time I read it. Sloane, a writing teacher at a community college in the States, describes what happened after one of his students was shot and killed. Although I think he stumbles a little towards the end when he tries to connect the murder to the financial inequities that exist in the education system, it's an important point to make, and still a moving story.<br /><br />Philip Weiss examines a new kind of radicalism at Columbia University, in <a href="http://nymag.com/news/features/30629/"><br />One, Two, Three, Four, Can a Columbia Movement Rise Once More?</a> Apparently <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Students_for_a_Democratic_Society">Students for a Democratic Society</a>, one of the most important and prominent student political organisations of the 1960s, has reformed. As Weiss points out though, the Israel/Palestine issue makes everything just a bit more complicated this time around.<br /><br />And finally, on a slightly more bizarre note, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/13/fashion/13nimoy.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&ref=fashion&pagewanted=all"><br />Girth and Nudity, a Pictorial Mission</a>: Leonard Nimoy (of Star Trek fame) is taking photographs of obese women.Madshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15278230134365529738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6090047.post-90810852592419511382007-05-10T16:29:00.000+10:002007-05-10T17:00:42.400+10:00Life, university, and everythingI had a surprisingly good day at work today, which happens infrequently enough that I thought I should mark the occasion with a post!<br /><br />Part of my job involves talking to high-school kids about uni, about what it is and why you should apply and, most importantly, why you should come to my uni in particular. Today it was a group of 14 and 15 year-olds, who I usually dread. But this group turned out to be kinda fantastic: polite and engaged and actually interested in what we all had to say. The two things that seemed to really resonate the most was that, firstly, <i>it's ok if you don't know what you want to do when you leave school</i>, and secondly, <i>it's ok to change your mind.</i> I occasionally get asked what my best piece of advice is for new university students, and those two things are what I say every time. Plus, high-school is just something to endure before you get to uni, but the teachers don't often like that one.<br /><br />I didn't really know what I wanted to do once I finished school, apart from go to uni to do... something. I still don't really know what I want to do once I (finally) finish my degree, but increasingly I'm getting to be ok with that. I see so many high-school students who are freaking out because people keep on asking them what they want to do with their lives. If I can't work it out at the age of 22, how on earth are they supposed to at the age of 16 or 17? <br /><br />Most of the high-school students I talk to seem to view picking a uni degree as some enormous, unchangeable decision, when in reality I think it's one of the most flexible, changeable decisions that you can ever make. It'd be interesting to do some kind of study of how people's career plans and their major interests change over the course of their time at uni. I unexpectedly discovered a passion for American history; others decide administrative law is the greatest thing since sliced bread, or that being an actuary is indescribably (and inexplicably!) sexy. I don't think it's made clear enough to students that the preferences that you put down on your uni application form do not have to dictate how the rest of your life pans out, and more often than not, they don't. And it's this omission which often makes my job equally frustrating and fabulous, like today.<br /><br />I have heaps more to say on this subject, but this is all starting to sound a little like a careers advice talk, so I'll stop. Also, it's 5pm, so I get to leave my boring, 9 to 5 job!Madshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15278230134365529738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6090047.post-62701442772813540412007-05-07T22:32:00.000+10:002007-05-07T22:36:15.909+10:00You can eat off pretty much any surface in this houseWe have our first house inspection tomorrow, so tonight saw an extreme flurry of cleaning in preparation. I don't think it's at all an exaggeration to say that not only is this house now the cleanest it's ever been, but that it is, in actual fact, the cleanest house in the <i>entire world</i>. If the agents find even one thing wrong with this gleaming example of cleanliness tomorrow, I cannot vouch for the sanity of myself or my housemates.<br /><br />And now, to bed. Cleaning is tiring! Not to mention I had a root canal this morning (whole other story), which I've found can also take it out of you a bit :)Madshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15278230134365529738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6090047.post-5722894867238772642007-05-06T20:00:00.000+10:002007-05-06T20:01:59.761+10:00Po-moQuote of the afternoon:<blockquote>I'm so po-mo, Foucault isn't even po-mo enough for me!</blockquote>I love it when pretentious arts students get together...Madshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15278230134365529738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6090047.post-34129697934310732302007-05-06T13:14:00.000+10:002007-05-06T13:16:07.603+10:00ComicNerdy American history comic! Hooray! (found by <a href="http://nonsocial.blogspot.com/">Crip</a>, who kindly emailed it to me)<a href="http://www.explosm.net/comics/635/"><img alt="Cyanide and Happiness, a daily webcomic" src="http://www.flashasylum.com/db/files/Comics/Rob/carnival.png" border=0></a><br />Cyanide & Happiness @ <a href="http://www.explosm.net">Explosm.net</a>Madshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15278230134365529738noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6090047.post-1219673907232923762007-05-01T11:49:00.000+10:002007-05-01T11:53:05.241+10:00Metallica docoAs a public service announcement, I'm telling you all that SBS is showing <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0387412/">Metallica: Some Kind of Monster</a> this <a href="http://www.sbs.com.au/whatson/index.php3?progdate=05:05:2007">Saturday night at 10.10pm</a>. I've raved about this movie <a href="http://onedayinthelife.blogspot.com/2005/05/nobody-cares.html">before</a>, and I'll rave about it again: even if you absolutely loathe Metallica I promise you'll find something enjoyable in this doco, even if it is just laughing at the therapist Dr Phil.Madshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15278230134365529738noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6090047.post-1364617875423610572007-04-30T20:00:00.000+10:002007-04-30T20:02:35.264+10:00McSweeney's list hilarity<a href="http://www.mcsweeneys.net/links/lists/25L.T.Chong.html">What People Said Tornadoes Sounded Like Before the Invention of the Freight Train</a>: "Really heavy men jogging".Madshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15278230134365529738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6090047.post-17638989178919515782007-04-30T13:14:00.000+10:002007-04-30T13:16:28.178+10:00But I said no, no, noI've been listening to <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LD5sahXoj0U">Rehab</a> by Amy Winehouse pretty much non-stop for the last 24 hours, except for when I listened to <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EGk8nI9fvg">F**k Me Pumps</a> instead. Seriously addictive stuff.Madshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15278230134365529738noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6090047.post-55656703678038641972007-04-28T09:25:00.000+10:002007-04-28T12:02:42.688+10:00"Rewriting the Ad Rules for Muslim-Americans"Interesting article in the New York Times about attempts by companies to <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/28/business/28muslim.html?_r=1&hp=&pagewanted=all">market to Muslim-Americans</a>. I thought this little tid-bit was particularly telling:<blockquote>Ms. Salzman said JWT [an advertising agency] had little trouble surveying Muslims in Britain, but found it had to clarify at the start of each phone call in the United States that it was not calling from a government agency.</blockquote>Madshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15278230134365529738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6090047.post-10078151692712431202007-04-23T20:48:00.001+10:002007-04-23T20:59:50.663+10:00Feeding my Doctor Who obsessionI've become, well, mildly obsessed with <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/">Doctor Who</a> lately. And now that I have quite a lot of free time on my hands, as well as a less than taxing day job, I'm able to fully indulge this obsession by finding random Doctor Who-related videos on <a href="http://www.youtube.com/">youtube</a>. Which is how I came across this episode of <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/grahamnortonshow/shows/show_six.shtml">The Graham Norton Show</a>, with <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/faces/david_tennant.shtml">David Tennant</a> (aka the tenth doctor) as special guest.<br /><br />I swear to God, this is one of the funniest things I have ever seen. Below is part 1; make sure you watch all 4 parts so that you don't miss where stoner Alex really does travel through time and space.<br /><div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p><object height='350' width='425'><param value='http://youtube.com/v/oTOF8Z474oY' name='movie'></param><embed height='350' width='425' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' src='http://youtube.com/v/oTOF8Z474oY'></embed></object></p></div><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTOF8Z474oY">Part 1</a> | <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_POhCSqO5k">Part 2</a> | <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZte73npgSU">Part 3</a> | <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nX-oVR1qiKA">Part 4</a><br /><br />(On a side note: god it's an enormous amount of hassle to embed a video from youtube! You've got to sign up and then add your blog and make sure that you select blogger beta rather than just plain old blogger and... bah. Very annoying all round.)Madshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15278230134365529738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6090047.post-7029458473344755272007-04-20T14:09:00.000+10:002007-04-20T14:10:45.552+10:00It'd be sad if it wasn't so hilariousWays that you know you've been spending too much at the physio lately: when the physio offers you a job.<br /><br />That's three job offers in a week. High five to me!Madshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15278230134365529738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6090047.post-17353883291464256022007-04-19T15:33:00.000+10:002007-04-19T16:10:15.333+10:00Abortion banThe US Supreme Court has <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/19/washington/19scotus.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&hp&adxnnl=0&adxnnlx=1176955768-cVRvhjcitIRAHt6V8Y/pXg">voted to uphold</a> the federal Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003. The decision is "the first in which the court has upheld a ban on a specific method of abortion".<br /><br />The decision is pretty, well, stupid for many different reasons, not least of which is that Justice Kennedy, who wrote the majority opinion, "said that pregnant women or their doctors could assert an individual need for a health exception by going to court to challenge the law as it applied to them." Because when you're gravely ill and need a termination, you definitely time to wait around for the Supreme Court to make up its mind. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norma_McCorvey">Norma Leah McCorvey</a>, more famously known as the 'Roe' in <i>Roe v. Wade</i>, waited three years for her case to go before the Court. In the meantime, she of course had given birth - bit hard to get access to an abortion when your daughter is 3 years old. As Justice Ruth Bader Ginsurg quite rightly points out, this is unrealistic and "gravely mistaken".<br /><br />Ruth Bader Ginsburg's dissenting opinion is incredible (and yes, I have enough time on my hands now to read dissenting Supreme Court opinions - you too can experience the fun <a href="http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/06pdf/05-380.pdf">here</a>; the dissenting opinion starts on page 49 of the pdf). She methodically goes through all of her objections to the Court's ruling, labelling the justifications used to avoid including any exception to protect a woman's health "flimsy and transparent". As she so rightly points out,<blockquote>The law saves not a single fetus from destruction, for it targets only a <i>method</i> of performing abortion...the procedures deemed acceptable might put a woman's health at greater risk.</blockquote>She goes on to say that <blockquote>Eliminating or reducing women's reproductive choices is manifestly <i>not</i> a means of protecting them. When safe abortion procedures cease to be an option, many women seek other means to end unwanted or coerced pregnancies.</blockquote>She's particularly hard on the sections of the majority opinion that seek to 'protect' women and their 'fragile states' from any emotional pain because of the "bond of love the mother has for her child." As she says, <blockquote>This way of thinking reflects ancient notions about women's place in the family and under the Constitution - ideas that have long since been discredited.</blockquote>She quotes some past Supreme Court decisions that make this evolution in beliefs clear. I particularly liked this one, from the 1873 decision <i>Bradwell v. State</i>:<blockquote>Man is, or should be, woman's protector and defender. The natural and proper timidity and delicacy which belongs to the female sex evidently unfits it for many of the occupations of civil life...The paramount destiny and mission of woman are to fulfil[l] the noble and benign offices of wife and mother.</blockquote>I could go on quoting her opinion for a very long time, but instead I'll just leave you with this, her final paragraph:<blockquote>In sum, the notion that the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act furthers any legitimate governmental interest is, quite simply, irrational. The Court's defense of the statute provides no saving explanation. In candor, the Act, and the Court's defense of it, cannot be understood as anything other than an effort to chip away at a right declared again and again by this Court - and with increasing comprehension of its centrality to women's lives.</blockquote>Madshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15278230134365529738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6090047.post-61627258049719458942007-04-19T10:52:00.000+10:002007-04-19T10:53:34.285+10:00Cakes made of awesome<a href="http://www.threadcakes.com/">Threadcakes</a>! <a href="http://www.threadless.com/">Threadless</a> t-shirt designs on cakes! Awesome!Madshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15278230134365529738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6090047.post-24739859415470527122007-04-17T22:50:00.000+10:002007-04-17T23:28:11.881+10:00A few things have happened recently...So yes. <a href="http://onedayinthelife.blogspot.com/2007/03/um-yeah.html">I dropped out of uni</a>. Maybe some very belated explanations are in order?<br /><br />It's just for this semester, and I fully intend to go back in semester 2. I already had a little tiny neurosis about the fact that I was going to be almost 24 by the time I graduated; dealing with the fact that I will now be almost 25 when I finally finish my bloody undergrad degree has been, well... challenging. But! The decision is made, the forms are in (although, funny story: looks like the uni has actually lost my form, which should be fun), and I've moved on. Pretty much.<br /><br />Of course, the decision was made a lot easier by the fact that it would have been pretty much impossible for me to finish this semester. I don't think it would be exaggerating to say that so far 2007 has been pretty crap. <a href="http://onedayinthelife.blogspot.com/2007/02/just-some-things.html">I mentioned a while ago</a> (February 23 to be exact) that my back has been giving me a bit of trouble. Yeah, I'm still having a few problems - problems which mean that have seen my visit the physio 8 times in the last 7 weeks. At the moment I'm going twice a week, as well as half an hour of exercises twice a day. There was about a week there in the middle when I pretty much could not move; standing up for more than 5 minutes was excruciating, and sitting was completely out of the question unless I had very large amounts of strapping tape covering my lower back. I missed a bit of class because of that, as you might imagine.<br /><br />And then my mum had a massive stroke.<br /><br />The stroke happened on the evening of March 20, but my dad didn't call me or my brother until the next day at around 6am; it was the stereotypical early morning call, where your first thought is "no-one calls at this hour with good news." Which was true. I was on a flight at 9.15am (as an aside, I think I deserve some crazy respect for my high level of organisational ability that morning!), and made it to Hobart just after 12pm - mum had been transferred from Launceston by air-ambulance because apparently they don't have a neurology ward at the <a href="http://www.dhhs.tas.gov.au/agency/lgh/">LGH</a>. Who knew.<br /><br />Anyway, the next week or so was as crap as you can probably imagine. There was brain surgery and ICU and then HDU and living out of a suitcase and only two visitors at a time and... well yeah. Not a fabulous time.<br /><br />And then of course there was the unnecessary stress of trying to work out what I do about my courses, with the HECS census date fast approaching. So I came back to Canberra the next week on the Wednesday before the census date, met with various people, including all my lecturers, my physio, and faculty advisors, and decided to drop out. I'd promised one of my lecturers (who was absolutely wonderful, by the way - went far far beyond the call of duty in helping me out, and I'm not sure I would have made it through that week without his help) that I wouldn't make my final decision until Friday afternoon, and I didn't: the form was handed in at 4.50pm, so no-one can accuse me of rushing into the decision!<br /><br />I'd originally planned to move back down to Tassie until July, but after talking to even more people etc. I've decided to stay up here and work full-time, which will hopefully earn me enough money to do the travelling I'm desperate for, and to take some of the 'financial burden' off my parents' shoulders. My boss up here has been absolutely fantastic throughout this entire debacle, and while she couldn't offer my a full-time job, she made sure that she found me someone who could, which means that as of today I have gainful full-time employment until classes go back in July!<br /><br />So yeah. That's what has been happening in the life of me. There are a whole lot of other issues both related and unrelated to all of this which have been going on and for various reasons I don't particularly feel like airing on a public blog. As I said before, life has been generally crappy the last few months, but things are looking better. My mum's doing well; she's been transferred back up to the LGH, which makes it easier for everyone. She can talk and write and speak and everything like that - it turns out if you're going to have a massive stroke, my mum did it pretty well. She's still fully paralysed down her left side, so she's got months and months of rehab ahead of her (side note: many hilarious conversations can be had with the phrase "my mum's in rehab"!) - I don't think anyone was expecting me not to take out the 'most physio in 2007' award for my family, but looks like I might just be beaten by my mother...<br /><br />But yesterday she wiggled her toes and today she bent her knee. So right now, things could be a hell of a lot worse.Madshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15278230134365529738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6090047.post-25581861206856918262007-03-30T16:45:00.000+10:002007-03-30T16:46:08.742+10:00Um, yeahSo I just submitted a form to drop out of uni for a semester. Discuss (while I have a minor freak out).Madshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15278230134365529738noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6090047.post-80168040292296932412007-03-18T11:58:00.000+11:002007-03-18T12:01:52.458+11:00Super stunt<a href="http://www.zug.com/pranks/super/index01.html">The Super Stunt</a>: this story is bloody incredible. A group of guys managed to get <i>two vanloads</i> of 'party lights' through ridiculous levels of security at the last Super Bowl, that they then gave out to the audience to spell out a secret message at half-time. Crazy stuff. Make sure you also check out the <a href="http://www.zug.com/pranks/credit/mj-credit-card/index04.html">Michael Jackson credit card prank</a> as well...Madshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15278230134365529738noreply@blogger.com1