Mental Mumblings

Of Breakaways and Splinters

2011-06-01T19:38:00.000-07:00

Recent events in one of the MMOs I play have given me pause. Specific details aren’t necessary, and I wasn’t there for the actual arguments that preceded the fallout, but suffice it to say, it ultimately amounted to a difference of opinion on how the group was being run.

The fallout from the argument resulted in several long standing and core players of the group breaking away and forming their own group and for me personally, resulted in several people I consider friends leaving. Now I’m left with the decision to either stay with the friends who stayed or leave with the friends that left, but that’s not why I’m writing today.

The thing that has shaken me is the fact that something like this actually happened. I can’t help but think that everyone involved in the initial conflict has overreacted to what took place. When I take a step back and look at the big picture all I see is that something very minor in something as trivial as a game has caused two people with conflicting personalities to come to verbal blows. This spiralled to the point of drawing the proverbial “line in the sand”, that people who were there at the time felt they needed to choose sides. Several days after the initial conflict that started it, there are still ripples of this effecting others in the group as more and more people decide to leave or stay based, not on the argument itself, but on those who have left or stayed. Others still have been brought almost to tears because of what once used to be a cohesive group are now being splintered. In the last handful of hours, other members have left, not for the initial argument, but rather for the way it’s been handled by the group leader, one of the people in the initial spat, enforcing the policies set down for the group on some members but not others, particularly himself, adding an element of “Who Watches the Watchmen” to the whole affair. All this over something as trivial as a game.

We all like to cry foul at politicians for playing these sorts of games at the level of influencing government and policy. But it seems that, given the chance, ordinary people will do the same in things far more benign, such as an online game and the workplace. What does all this politicking get you? Well, once all is said and done it can net you quite a bit of power and/or influence, but at the sake of real friends, is it worth it? I’m sad to say that for some people, it really would be. This leaves me with one final question. Things can function quite well without all this crap, so why do we persist in doing it anyway?

A Trip To Remember: Final Part

2011-04-27T20:50:00.000-07:00

My last day in Prague before jetting home gave me some time to go see a couple of the sights around the city that were pointed out to us during the city tour and those that we took a passing walk through/around. Seeing as my flight home wasn't scheduled to leave until 8:30 that night, I had ample time to stroll the cobblestoned streets, while trying to avoid a serious ankle injury in the process, and enjoy the city. I started out with a walk across the Charles Bridge, which I had taken a couple pics of as we drove across the river earlier.

This brought me to what is called the "Castle District". After strolling through the winding streets, I took a funicular to the top of the hill the overlooks the entire town. We were told of a lookout tower on the top of the hill which looks like a mini Eiffel Tower, so I made my way through the parks towards it with the promise of spectacular views of the city from the top, and they weren't lying.

After the walk down the stairs, there was a walking path that takes you down to the bottom, or if you're silly, up to the top..., it was shaded with drooping trees and walking through them offered some really nice shots of the path ahead and the town, glimpsed through the branches and leaves.

Passing across the Charles Bridge again, I wandered through the streets of the Old City toward the Old Town Square. As it was lunch time, I decided to have a bite to eat in an outdoor restaurant. It was a fantastic meal that was topped off by the best dessert.

After lunch, it was time for another stroll through the Easter stalls to see what was on offer and another shot of two of the Astronomical Clock. What was really good with the Easter festival is that they had all sorts of things on display, including a blacksmith working on metal which he heated in a small portable forge and a weaver working on making...something, I'm not terribly sure, I couldn't get a good look at it, on a loom. It was fascinating to watch the shuttle fly back and forth.

With a nice walk back to my hotel brought me to the end of my trip. A short wait and a drop off at the airport for my flight to Paris. One thing I have learned with my job of having to travel is that when flying the time to one's flight is inversely proportional to the distance to the gate, that is to say that the amount of time until your flight will dictate how far away your gate is, the longer you have to wait, the closer it is to the entrance, the shorter the time the further away the gate, and this was proven once again in Prague and Paris where in Prague I had a nice, comfortable 2ish hours before my flight and my gate was right in front of the security check point, while in Paris, we were slightly delayed and arrived 20 mins later and the boards advised that my flight to Singapore was boarding meant that my flight was on the other side of the airport that needed not only a full blown marathon to get there but a train transfer to a second terminal as well. Ugh.

It was a fantastic trip on which I got to see so much. The sights were incredible and although I saw and did as much as I could in the two weeks I was there, I know that I barely scratched the surface. I will definitely be going back.

A Trip to Remember: Part 8

2011-04-19T13:49:00.000-07:00

My final day of planned events in Prague started out with a trek to Karlstein Castle, an old Gothic castle built on the top of a mountain. The day go off to a great start with some, as the tour guide put it, typical Czech traffic jams. The others in the van, a group of ladies from Ireland and one man from Germany along with myself added that despite cultural boundaries, traffic jams all look identical. The van could only go so far up the mountain before we all had to pile out and hike the rest of the way, but it did give us a chance to get a great view of the surrounding woods.

Once we made it up, the castle looked like one of those fairy tale castles you see drawn in books. It was fantastic.

And the views it offered around it were great.

Alas, once again we were not allowed to take photos inside the castle, but it was a great tour and I even managed to snag myself a nice chunk of Lapis Lazuli, something that I've been looking for for a little while now. After the tour we made our way down and back to town and thats when those lovely Irish ladies turned out to be not so lovely...what with their talk about writing (read riding) cheques and bouncing cheques...if you know what I mean...

So, moving on...tonight I had a folklore dinner with traditional music, songs and food from the area, and I have to say that this dinner was much better then the one I had in Vienna, which was great. Tonight though, they got everyone participating, singing along and dancing. It was hard not to join in when the singer was going around the tables and threatening people with a giant wooden spoon if they didn't join in. We were all served wine from these nifty looking things, I've no idea what they're called.

The music started playing.

As we arrived, we were asked where we came from and they played a local song for each of us. As it turned out, I wasn't the only Aussie in the room as they were playing Waltzing Matilda for another group when we arrived.
After the music started, the singer came out followed by the dancers.

It was a great night, and after this I've made a resolution to myself. After being seated with a couple of Italian ladies who only had a little bit of English and me struggling through with my badly mangled and broken Italian, I'm resolved to going back and learning it until I can speak it fluently.
Tomorrow is when it all comes to an end. My long flight home tomorrow night gives me enough time to see a couple of sights I marked down on my first tour before heading home.

A Trip to Remember: Part 7

2011-04-18T10:42:00.000-07:00

Yesterday saw me on a train for a 4 hour ride north to Prague. It would have been just as boring as the previous trips except this time sitting across from me was a very nice American couple. We got to chatting and it turns out they are on a European trek to celebrate their retirement and spending of their kids inheritance. It was nice having some people to chat to and made the trip go by a little quicker. Upon getting into Prague, I had a driver waiting for me who welcomed me to the city with a handshake before setting off for my hotel.

After checking in, I decided to go for a walk and have a look at some of the closer tourist sites. It turns out that at the moment there is an easter festival on in the city so down little lane-ways and in the town squares there are tons of stalls set up selling easter wares. In the Old Town Square, I also came upon what is called the "Astronomical Clock"

This clock shows the positions of the sun, moon etc, but currently it is not working. It should start working again in June. A shame really. Wandering through the stalls was an interesting time, there was so much on offer and I got to try some local baked goods.

I'm not sure what their called but they are a type of sweet bread. The dough is spiraled onto those wooden paddles, sprinkled with sugar and then it's baked over hot coals. It comes out almost like one of those soft giant pretzels except sweet. After baking they are ripped into sections. Very tasty. I ended making a big loop back around to my hotel, seeing some very nice architecture along the way.

Today was the grand city tour which included a walk through the castle district and through the famous Prague Castle. Crossing the river we saw the impressive "Charles Bridge" which has two watch towers at either end where you can climb to the top and look out over the city.

After getting out, we wandered toward the castle where the Changing of the Guards was taking place. We stayed for a portion of it but as it was so crowded, we couldn't see much of it. Even with my height, I could only see the tops of the guards heads and their bayonets.

We continued through the castles with so many things inside and as we made our way down through the lane-ways that intersect here and there through the district we got such a great view of the city.

One thing I'm not liking overly much however is the fact that quite a lot of the streets are still cobblestones. Now normally this wouldn't be a problem, but because they are all uneven and different sizes, well...I have trouble walking on a normal footpath made from stock standard concrete at the best of times without breaking my neck. These things are almost certainly a death sentence unless I always watch where I put my feet. I've counted at least 3 separate occasions where I've almost rolled an ankle walking on them...

Tomorrow is another castle tour and in the evening a folklore dinner, which should be fun.

A Trip to Remember: Part 6

2011-04-17T11:54:00.000-07:00

Today saw another ad-hoc tour, this one out to the Vienna woods including trips to the hunting lodge of one of the Hapsburg's which has been turned into a still functioning nunnery, a working monastery and the largest underground lake in Europe. The woods themselves start quite close to the city and cover a large area throughout the area.

Our first stop was at what was once the hunting lodge of Rudolph, the crown prince of Austria, right up to when he shot his mistress and then himself. Yeah, an odd one. In order for him to be buried in the family crypt, his father had him declared mentally unsound, all because he refused to give up his relationship with his mistress. Anyway, afterwards, his father gave the lodge to a group of nuns who turned it into a convent, and it's still in use today. Apparently they spend 8 hours a day praying...

After here, there was a short trip to a monastery that has several monks and priests wandering about doing monkly and priestly things like praying and...praying and...anyway, we got a tour through it and it was actually quite impressive inside with stands for the Gregorian chants that are performed each day, in Latin, the inner garden, the crypt, the housed fountain. Right as we were leaving, there was a motorcycle gang waiting outside as a priest was giving a blessing and flicking holy water on the bikes, before hopping on one himself and taking it for a spin around the block...it was a pretty odd sight to say the least.

Again we hopped on the bust for another short trip to a massive underground grotto which housed the largest underground lake in Europe. Kept at a constant temperature of 9 degrees, it was a little chilly going inside, not to mention a bit of a tight squeeze. I forgot to duck coming back out and got a bump to remind me to do so next time.

Then after going through these tunnels, we came to a flight of stairs down to the boats. Our guide advised that there were 86 steps down, so those of us who didn't feel able to walk them could stay where we were. He also mentioned that even though normally there is 86 steps, occasionally there will be an elusive 87th step and someone will find it. And who was the one to find it? Unco. I also found the 88th and the 89th step too. Luckily I was already at the bottom.

After a quick tour of the lake, it was back up and out and back to Vienna. After a short break, I had my final tour, which included a trip to the amusement park for a trip on the oldest ferris wheel, which offers some spectacular views of the city, particularly at twilight.

Then it was off to a traditional wine tavern for a three course meal of traditional Austrian fare and a program of music, singing and polka dancing.

All in all a pretty good time. Tomorrow will see me at the tail end of my travels with a 3 days in Prague before heading home again.

A Trip to Remember: Part 5

2011-04-15T11:13:00.000-07:00

Well, here I am in Vienna. After being picked up at the station and being driven through the city streets, I was struck at just how much some of the streets and buildings looked so much like those in Budapest. On the way to my hotel, I was given some interesting information about the city by my driver as well as him pointing out a couple interesting sights along the way.

Seeing as I got in rather early in the day, I strolled around looking for a place to find a bite for lunch and then on to something else. As I turned a corner, I came across this.

Of course I went in and ate there, but all the while Lisa's voice was ringing in my head saying "We didn't come halfway across the world to eat at "America Town". After lunch, I wandered across the road to a place called the Hofburg, which was the winter residence of the Hapsburg family, who ruled Austria and the surrounding empire for over 600 years. It now houses several museums. The one I went into that day was the silver museum and the Sissi apartments.

The silver museum had items from the imperial kitchens, displaying things like dinning settings, cutlery, porcelain and glassware. Some of these things were exquisite, with intricate details.

I think I'm going to let my mother know that I want all my meals served on solid gold tableware...lol. During the tour, there was something very fascinating:

This napkin fold was only ever allowed to be used for the Emperor when he was dining. The fold itself is a closely guarded secret and today this napkin fold is only ever allowed to be used at dinner with foreign heads of states, kings, queens, presidents etc and the ability to make this napkin fold is known by only 2 people in the whole of the country and will only be passed down via word of mouth to the next person to take over.

Today saw the grand city tour with an extended tour of the beautiful Schonbrunn palace, the summer residence of the Hapsburg family. The city tour took us around the street called the Ringstrasse which used to be the old city walls. They were torn down the street was put in. Along the street the aristocracy built their houses along here. Then we arrived at the palace.

The tour throughout it was great, but unfortunately we were unable to take photos inside. Once the tour ended, I headed off for a look at the imperial treasury. The things kept here range from the imperial crown, orb and scepter:

Right through to the coronation mantle:

And yes, that has been embroidered with real gold.

A Trip to Remember: Part 4

2011-04-13T12:31:00.000-07:00

The weather forecast today looked set to make things hard for my next tour. With predictions of snow and rain, I went out today hoping for the best. My last tour is something you cannot go to Salzburg and not do, the Sound of Music Tour. Overall, I was actually a little disappointed with this tour, but I'm not sure if it was because of the weather or the actual program itself.

We started off the tour with a drive around the Miralbell palace gardens, where the Do Re Me song was performed, but we only drove around the outside. Our first stop was lake and the villa outside which Maria and the children fell in the water.

In the movie, this house is never shown. All shots at this location were from the house looking OUT over the lake. Shots of the house from other angles used a different house altogether. From here the weather turned really sour and it actually started snowing and got really, really cold. But for a boy from Melbourne, snow falling from the sky is still a rather unique phenomenon. From here we hopped the bus for a ride out to the Hellbrunn Palace to see the gazebo from the scenes in the movie.

It was moved here from it's original location near the house in the first picture because that house is privately owned and they wanted it in a place where the public could go and see it. Something interesting about the scene in the movie when Leisl was supposed to run around the seats in the 16 going on 17 scene, apparently when she was rehearsing the scene, she was doing the lap of the gazebo on the chairs but at the end forgot to stop and went flying through the window and sprained her ankle. After being taken to hospital and coming out shortly after, she went on the finished the scene. According to the tour guide, in old VHS copies of the movie, you can actually see the bandage on her ankle in this scene. After a short stop, we got back on the bust and drove past the villa shown in the scene when Maria is singing "I Have Confidence In Me" and then out to the town of Mondsee where the weeding scene was filmed. Here again snow started falling heavily.

We had some spare time in the town to look around and try the local food, and I have to say traditional apple strudel with vanilla sauce is very, very nice. From here we headed back to town. As I said, the tour itself was a little disappointing in what it showed us and how long we had at each place. Once we got back it was still quite early, so I set off for the Mirabell gardens. Walking through them and seeing the famous scenes it's hard not to break out into song.

From here, I decided to take a stroll through old town and make my way up to the citadel and from there make my way to Nonberg Abbey. The walk took a little time and in my usual fashion, I completely missed the turn to get to the stairs that led up, but on the bright side I stumbled upon a rather interesting find. Just before the stairs up there is a walled cemetery. I strolled in because I saw mobs of people going in and out and I was quite shocked to see just how many people were wandering through. It might sound kind of grisly, but it actually was a rather beautiful place. So much colour and decorations, and not only that, but, as it turned out, the scene where Maria and the family hid from the Nazis when at the abbey.

I've always wanted to go up and rattle those gates like they do in the movie, but there were way to many people watching...

So, after strolling through the cemetery I found the stairs up and the stairs up and the stairs up and the stairs up and wait while I catch my breath and the stairs up. Thank god I didn't have to go all the way to the top. I strolled around and got to the front gates of the Abbey.

And turning left from here, and a little bit back, is the scene, just at the end, where the car comes driving out and the nazis just sit there trying to start theirs because the two nuns have sinned.

Something else interesting is that there are still nuns in this abbey, but they are actually a silent order of nuns, so there are no singing like there was in the movie etc.

As I said earlier, I was a little disappointed in the tour and what it did and didn't show us. With the exception of Mondsee, which is about a half hour drive from Salzburg, everywhere else is either accessible on foot - Mirabell gardens, the cemetery and abbey or by taking a local bus - Hellbrunn palace. I would like to come back and do it again but this time on my own. One thing I do really like about Salzburg is that almost everywhere in the town is accessible on foot, the old town and all the sites in there, can all be reached with a little walking.

Overall I've really enjoyed my time here and would definitely come back. Tomorrow sees me hop the train to Vienna. See you there.

A Trip to Remember: Part 3

2011-04-12T14:02:00.000-07:00

The next day began with a trip to the Budapest train station for what would be a 6 hour train ride to my next destination, Salzburg. While it started out exciting, because it's something that I've never done before, by the end of the journey, I was over it. Overall, it's slightly more enjoyable then a 6 hour plane flight, but only because you have some very nice scenery to look at in some places.

After arriving and checking into the hotel, I was given a few brochures by the receptionist that held several different tours. I had already booked a couple of tours of the city before I left, but a couple took my interest. The first was a Mozart dinner concert. A live concert featuring songs and performances of Mozart's work with a 3 course dinner served between each performance. The second was a tour of the Bavarian mountains, crossing the border into Germany and visiting a lake and a couple of villages.

After making arrangements, I went up to my room and was delighted to find the hotel event places a little chocolate on my pillow. After a small issue with the TV in my room not working, they moved and upgraded my room, score! Also, 2 more chocolates on the pillows! After getting ready, I left a little early so I could stroll through the old town before heading off to dinner. I'm glad I did because there was so much to look at.

Where that last photo was taken was in the middle of a courtyard, I was standing there just after I had taken the photo and the bells of the 4 churches around the place started ringing. What was amazing, apart from the fact that it scared the crap out of my because it was so loud, was that after the bells had stopped, you could still hear the reverberations in the air for a while afterwards. A short distance from here was the monastery where the concert was being held. Up a short flight of stairs and I entered this great ball room that had been decked out with tables and chairs all in white.

After taking my seat, a waitress came around and offered an aperitif, a pre-dinner drink meant to stimulate the appetite. With our drinks brought out to us, the lights dimmed and in strolled the performers. The music started up and in walked the singers.

After a couple of songs, the first course was served and so on through to the end of the show. It was a really great time. Here is a recording of the first song that was performed. The picture isn't very clear as the lights were dimmed.

The next day started with a quick breakfast and then a tour of the city. We were taken through the town and shown sights including Mozart's birthplace, his home, the Salzburg zoo, the old town, etc. As the weather turned a bit rainy, our tour guide took us to a couple of extra places that aren't normally included on this tour.
One of the interesting sites shown were these houses:

Interesting because the houses themselves are cut directly into the rock of the mountain. When they were build, they only built the front facade, the rest goes back into the mountain. She explained that the town got it's name, Salzburg, because of the salt mining that gave the town it's wealth and because of that they call salt white gold.

As you leave the town, no matter which direction you look there are breathtaking mountain views. Several of them still had snow. As we drove towards the outskirts of the town, this one was directly ahead of us.

After the tour ended, I had a couple of hours before my trip out to the Bavarian mountains, so I wandered through the shopping district, had some lunch and a coffee. After being picked up for the next tour, I discovered we had the same tour guide as the earlier city tour, which turned out to be really good because she knew what she talking about plus we got to see some extra sights. Because of the bad weather, she again took us on an extra visit to a mountain called the Obersalzberg. The views from it were stunning.

Shortly after, it started snowing. Once we got down from the mountain, we headed into Germany to go to a lake and a couple of small villages in Bavaria which were incredible. The weather had turned so cold that I even had to buy a scarf to keep it from my neck, but a little bit of cold is worth if when you walk out of the shop and see a view like this:

A Trip To Remember: Part 2

2011-04-10T11:50:00.000-07:00

This morning greeted me with some spectacular news. The airlines had found my luggage and it would arrive in Budapest in the afternoon and delivered to the hotel soon after that. With that knot of worry untied from my stomach, I headed for a nice breakfast and then off for my tour.

Our first stop was at the site of some ancient Roman ruins, dating back to the second century. According to the tour guide, the area we were in was settled by the Romans and divided into to areas, the military camp and the citizen camp.

Standing there, looking at these ancient structures fills you with a sense of awe at just how old this area is. To think that so many centuries ago, people were wandering this area, living their day to day lives. I mean, Budapest as it stands now is itself over 1000 years old, before that it was conquered by Turks and settled by Romans, Greeks, the Huns, and others I'm forgetting to mention, so the place just breathes history.

After the ruins, we visited the jewelry center Caprice, where we got shown the history of jewelry making in the area, particularly diamonds as they cut and polish the gems there. Alas, they did not allow free samples.

After drooling over so many precious gems in one place, we were prodded and herded back onto the bus for a visit to the town of Szentendre, a beautiful town with streets of cobblestone. We wandered the streets with our guide who gave us gobs of local history, half of which I can't remember now. The town has a Mediterranean feel to it because of the people who settled there.

After some souvineer shopping, we were off to Visegrad to see the ruins of the summer palace of King Matthias and a delicious 3 course lunch, with traditional Hungarian food including, as the tour guide put it in her somewhat, delightful broken english, "Bread Crumbles", atop the hill with spectacular views of the Danube.

After lunch we headed off for Esztergom, the seat of the Hungarian Catholic Church and visit to the magnificent Basilica. Here is also the border of Slovakia. The Basilica itself is the largest in Hungary and 4th largest in Europe. Inside and out it is a magnificent structure that dominates the entire town from atop the hill on which it stands.

After recovering from the awe of this place, we headed back to Budapest. The only small issue we had with the tour was that it was supposed to end with a cruise down the Danube back into the city, however due to the cold weather and strong winds, the cruise ships weren't operating today so instead we took the scenic route through the mountains and forest back to the city. All in all a great day. Tomorrow sees me on a train bound for Salzburg.

A Trip To Remember

2011-04-09T14:23:00.000-07:00

After a long time, if you can't remember when the last time was, it's been too long, I decided I needed to get away and have a holiday. Making the decision was the easy part and the trip itself is only the culmination of almost a year's worth of planning. So, with the decision to go actually made comes the choices of just exactly where to go. With some vague choices bouncing around my head, I wandered into the local travel agency and gathered a couple of brochures. After a couple of days of flicking through, the choices were made. I'd settled on a tour of 4 great European cities that I'd always wanted to see.

They were Budapest, Salzburg, Vienna and Prague.

With everything all booked and paid for, it was just a matter of playing the waiting game, and soon enough, it rolled around and I was ready to depart.

Whoever said "Half the fun is getting there" obviously never flew halfway across the world. After the initial excitement of actually knowing your on that plane for your well deserved holiday wears off, about 30 seconds after take off, it becomes nothing more then boring, blank stare at the seat in front of you, wishing the person sitting in that seat wouldn't put the seat back because my legs are getting crushed and I can't see the screen! Ahem...Anyway, after the initial 7 hour flight, I arrive at my stopover, Kuala Lumpur. Now, normally airports aren't all that inspiring, but after seeing this one, wow. It is massive and from the small part that I saw, seemed to cater to just about everything. It was like a giant shopping centre.

It even had trains that came right into the terminal to pick up passengers.

And this is where the well laid plans start to show cracks. What should have only been a 2 hour stopover billowed out to a 5 hour stopover due to delays. But, as I've said before, there is nothing I can do to fix this, so out came the book and I took a seat and began to read. Now, as much as the delay was really annoying, I could not find a fault with the service of the flights that got me from home to Rome. Malaysia Airlines staff were there to answer any request a passenger had while flying, the seats were relatively comfortable and the food was actually some of the best airline food I've ever had, and it actually had the look of real food!

After finally boarding the plane we had a lovely 12 hour flight over to Rome. I for one knew there would be no problems at all because of one simple thing. Our flight had several of these people on it.

Yep, nuns. And as everyone knows, a flight that has a nun on it is guaranteed not to have any problems. However, due to the long delay, we arrived quite a while later then we should have, and what should have been a 2 hour wait for my final connecting flight to Budapest was only about 40 mins. I had to run from one end of the airport to the other only to arrive at the gate as they were boarding the flight. Damn that was close.

So, up we go again for one final flight, this time only an hour and a half. So we land, everyone scuttles to the baggage carousal like good, well behaved children, and we all wait for our bags. And as I watch others grab their bags, I still wait...and wait...and wait...until finally...the gates to the carousal close and no more bags appear. Blast, this is exactly what I need, been flying for the last 20 something hours and now my luggage decided to take a trip without me. So, I stand in another queue to fill out a lost property form etc, but the person in line ahead of me decided to chat up the lady behind the counter. Meanwhile I've got a transfer outside, waiting for me, but is already late because of the later flight and blah blah blah. So after finally filling out the lost property forms I make my way out and...sure enough, because I'm so late, my driver had to leave.

So I hop in a taxi and head off to my hotel. At this point, the only thing I care about is getting in and taking a nice shower. I arrive at my hotel and check in.

It's quite a nice place. So I give my bag details to reception, as my luggage will be delivered here when they find it and go up and take a nice hot shower.

Now, seeing as I have almost a whole day, I decide to go for a little wander around this area. The state Opera House is two steps away from my hotel and the building is absolutely amazing.

After snapping a few pics of it, I decided to look for a place to sit and enjoy some nice local coffee. I turn around, and as if in answer to my thoughts, I find this place.

So I wander in and order a cappuccino and a piece of Esterhazy cake. A layered cake of some kind that was so delicious.

The other thing that struck me as fantastic was the service. It truly puts Australian restaurants and cafes to shame. The quality of service? Impeccable. Speed? No sooner had I ordered was it on the table ready for me and to top it off, there was no hurrying you out the door. They were content to let you sit there and relax as long as you'd like.

After the coffee and cake, I headed back to my hotel room. It was getting later in the afternoon and I began to feel the effects of travelling that long without a proper night's sleep, so I turned in early so I could get a fresh start for my first tour the next day.

Day 2.

After a quick breakfast, I waited for my pickup to take me to my tour for the day. A tour of the Parliament and the entire city. Our first stop was the Parliament building. Along the way, we got some interesting facts about the country by our tour guide before stepping inside the lavish building and wandering it's magnificent halls.

Just before we entered, the tour guide mentioned that there were in fact 3 Parliament buildings here. Amid the confused looks she explained that when the government was taking commissions to build the Parliament building, they liked the designs of the top three so much, they decided to build all three. The fist place winner, shown above, is where they hold Government sessions now.

The second place winner, shown above, was used for the courts. The statues on top represent figures like "Justice" and "Truth" and "Enlightenment" etc. Now it is some form of museum.

And the third place is currently housing the ministry of agriculture.

So we head inside and the beauty of the place inside is simply amazing. Gold leaf has been worked everywhere, stained glass windows over 100 years old, the Crown Jewels. Just wow.

After finishing this tour, it was onto a bus for a tour of the whole city. The city itself is actually made up of 2 cities called Buda and Pest. Buda being on the west side of the Danube and Pest on the east. Another interesting fact about the name is that the locals don't pronounce it as pest, like an insect or vermin, they pronounce it as Pesht, with an sh sound. The names themselves mean water - Buda and ovens/fire - Pest.

Anyway, a drive up to the citadel offered a great view of both cities with the Danube flowing between them.

Following on from this we drove up to what is called the "Fisherman's Bastion" which stands as a lookout over the city.

After this we headed back to the drop off and ended the tour. It was quite a day. The next tour is a trip out into the country side and back into the city via cruise ship down the Danube.

We Need To Operate...STAT!

2011-01-10T15:26:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been some time, right through to the new year in fact, and the new year brings a new set of problems. Recently I was forced to operate on a dear friend of mine and replace a vital organ with a newer model. Naturally, being the good child of the digital age that I am, I took many happy shots to document the occasion.

We start with the first opening, allowing us to move freely, or at lease with less restrictions, within the body of the patient. This first opening was easy enough to perform without the need for any tools.

Next, my trusty nurse was on site to hand me my scalpel in order to perform the needed incisions.

Next was a series of careful cuts and manoeuvrings to allow me to remove the effected organ without damaging the surrounding tissue. From here it was touch and go and things could have gone either way. It was a matter of not trying to pull too hard to damage the surrounding tissue, but having to pull just hard enough to dislodge the organ that needed replacement.

Once I had the failing organ removed, I was able to examine it closely and discovered just what kind of state it was in. All I can say was that it was in a terrible condition and I was surprised it lasted as long as it did before failing and shutting down.

The replacement unit had arrived a little earlier, but it was kept in a clean environment in order to reduce the chances of rejection in the patient. Here we can see the protective layers it was stored in before it was removed and implanted into the patient.

After it was removed from it's static proof storage, it was implanted successfully into the patient, with little incident and all the vital tubes, veins and arteries were reconnected successfully.

The patient was then closed up and taken to recovery in order to rest up and get back on his feet as soon as possible.

After a brief stay in recovery, the patient left in good spirits and showing no signs of rejecting the replacement organ. With the capacity of the replacement organ 4 times that of the original, that should last quite some time until replacement is needed again.

We heard little complaints from the patient until about 2 weeks later, the video card died and immediate surgery was needed to replace the failed organ. Alas, due to the emergency nature of that surgery, no pics were taken.

Reality Bites

2010-09-23T02:43:00.000-07:00

With the year slowly winding down to a close the current crop of TV shows will also be wrapping up for the year. Some will go quietly and die on a dark corner of the studio lot, if you’re very lucky, you will even get a final episode to tie off loose ends or really piss off the fans depending on the amount and types of hand waving the producers do to explain open plots that they didn’t get to finish before the axe. Others will come roaring back, ready for the new year. Still others will refuse to die, against all odds and, much like a flea infestation, continue to annoy.

For me, the genre that falls into the latter category the should be put into the first is Reality TV. What was supposed to be a genre that shows people the face whomever, regular Joe Blow or Mary Celeb, without a script has become such a farce that it’s laughable.

The contestants on reality shows like Idol and X factor or most recently Master Chef are so fake they compare to a work of art forged by a five year old with finger paints. Trying to endear themselves to the audience by touting some sap story about how they’ve always wanted to be a singer/worked all their life to get here/they don’t get the benefit of the doubt and will shine if only given the chance in an effort in earn the vote. I’m also sick of hearing about the journey they’ve been on when they invariably get voted off. It’s been an emotional roller coaster has it? Had it’s ups and downs? Didn’t know what was going to happen? Wow, that must have been some intense cake you were baking or song you were warbling. I hope you get frequent flyer points for all those trips!

The judges are little better. Some of the questions they ask are just as bad as field reporters interviewing disaster survivors. “You were singing a song about love. But what was going through your mind when you were singing it?” Oh I don’t know Mr Genius, murdering puppies? Or even better “I’m sorry, you won’t be coming back. The public and us feel you just not good enough. How does that make you feel?” Oh it makes me feel FANTASTIC! Or how about “Don’t take this the wrong way, but you’re dancing is horrid, you have two left feet and you are going to have to try harder on this then you have ever had to on anything else in your life in order to be half as good as the guy who is second last in the leader board.” Thanks, because there are so many other ways to interpret those comments.

The makeup of the panel almost always exclusively follows the following formula:
The Nice One – During the audition process they are usually the ones saying things like “Oh, that wasn’t quite what we’re looking for, but you do have something unique and you should keep up practicing as you will find yourself soon. Here have a freshly backed cookie” usually while woodland creatures are frolicking around them. Ostensibly, this judge will most often be a female, or at least has been in the ones I’ve watched.

The Nasty One – Usually these ones are so nasty one has to think it’s an act put on for the camera’s. They will spend the entire run of the series pointing out every little flaw, mistake in a performance, general stuff up, often with such bile that the only thing that could make it worse is if they had a sack of bunnies next to them and as they are rendering their judgements will periodically take one out and break it’s neck. Generally they spout things like “You will never amount to anything no matter how hard you try so you should stop now.” And woe betide any who question their assessments of them or they will be treated to a spiel like “Who the hell do you think you are? You’re a nobody. I’ve been in the industry for years. I know something about and you just made yourself look like a fool”. These judges will usually be male.

The Mediator or Balance – This one, like the name implies, balances out the extremes of the other two, and will usually sit between them in order to mediate the arguments that crop up around the other two. The Mediator usually will say things from either side of the spectrum, but very rarely travels down to either extreme unless someone REALLY blows them away. Things like “You don’t have the strongest voice or can hit the right notes. Take some time and practice and try again next year and I can see you doing really well” or “You’re did quite well with that dance, I can see the improvement you’ve made since you started the competition. Well done.” This type of judge can be either male or female.

Most of these shows will have a panel of 3 judges, but occasionally one crops up that has 4. If one does, expect the forth to be a Cloudcuckoolander. The link will explain everything.

Next, as the genre has progressed the very concept of some of these programs shows a horrifying lack of creativity. Some of the earlier ones were ok, but as time went on, weirder concepts have crept in or rehashes of previous failures have been produced. An example of the former, one from Australian TV at the moment involves someone taking a job interview in their own home while providing dinner for their potential new boss. Seriously. You could come up with nothing more exciting then sticking a camera in a home and filming a job interview and dinner? Riveting TV! Let’s see, what new show can we create but has everything in place already so we won’t actually need to do any extra work. I know! Jr Master Chef. How original. Instead of getting a group of adults in and having them cook, we’ll do exactly the same thing and just lower the age threshold on the application form. We’ll make MILLIONS! Or what about something that they axed because no one cared about it anymore. Australian Idol. I know, we’ll move it to another network and change the name to include an X because that makes it awesome. We’ll even use one of the old judges as well. Yep, X Factor!

Every new show they make to fit in with it is even worse then the last as they exhaust concept after concept in order to pull in the ratings as people get bored. Seriously, how many times can you watch fat people push themselves to loose weight or celebrities ballroom dance. It’s time Reality TV fades from reality forever.

The Rat Race

2010-08-17T21:53:00.000-07:00

Since the announcement of the Federal Election a couple of weeks back, political commercials have been popping up more and more in all the varied media outlets to the lead up of the big day this Saturday. I’m not sure if it’s just that this time I’m taking more notice of the different ads but I have been noticing many more ads for many of the minor parties who are running in the Senate, the house that votes whether to push proposed legislation into law, block it or send it back for further review. Sure, there are many more ads on mediums like Facebook and the like, but there even seems to be ads on the TV for parties like the Greens, which I can never remember from any other election and even radio ads for the religious whack job party, Family First.

This year there also seems to be much more mud slinging in these campaigns rather then stating policy. I know every political campaign does this during every election, but for some reason, this one seems to be much more rife with it. This time around you’re more likely to see a commercial along the lines of “The leader of this major party supported this, which hurt the country. Vote for us” or “The leader for that major party didn’t know about this issue. Vote for us.”. This year there also seems to be many more minor parties up for election to the Senate and this is where I think we run into an issue.

For the House of Reps, the ballot form is simple. There are only a handful of candidates for your electorate, 4 or 5 or 6, and you put a number in each box from 1 to however many candidates there are indicating your preference. Simple and easy.

The Senate is another matter. The ballot for the Upper House lists many more candidates because you’re voting for the whole state as opposed to the electorate. This year there are 60 people alone in VIC that will appear on the ballot. When voting in the Senate, they give you two choices on how to vote. The first one is called “Above the Line”. What this means is that you put a 1 in the box, above the line, for the party you wish to vote for and that’s it. The party then will allocate it’s own preferences with the votes it receives this way, and in some cases, they have allied with minor parties in order to get seats and some of their allotments might go to them. This means that they may pass along to a preference to a party to don’t like or don’t agree with. There are ways to see the way each party will allocate their preferences so you know where they are going.

The second option is to vote “Below the Line”. This is done by putting a number from 1 to however many candidates are up for election, in this case 60, in every box below the line on the ballot form. Choosing this option allows one to allocate their own preferences based on their own whatever’s, it means that YOU get to choose where the vote goes. The problem with this is that it is particularly daunting and time consuming, especially if you decide to investigate each candidate or party’s position on issues. Come election day, many people are in the mindset that, after standing in a line on a Saturday morning to get to a voting booth, they either don’t want to stand around for any more time then necessary filling in all those boxes and just want to get in and out as quickly as possible or they don’t know how the system works and so feel intimidated with this giant sheet of paper that they have to fill in, so go with the easier option.

If you really want to make your vote count as much as possible, you really should take the plunge and vote below the line. That way, at the very least, you know exactly where your vote is going. The reason we wind up with whack job Senators like those from Family First is because the major parties send preferences to them.

Overall though, the one thing I’ve learned about election and politics in general is that there are no “good” guys and “bad” guys. There are just varying degrees of bad guys and your decision to vote for either one being influenced by which of them is the lesser of two evils.

Today's Top 5

2010-06-03T19:27:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since my last post here and I've been deciding what to put in. I've an idea for a long term project but that will have to wait until more time can be set aside on a regular basis but in the mean time I've come up with a Top 5 type of series, where I will list my 5 favourite X

The first will be my Top 5 favourite characters/TV personalities.

Number 5:

Number 5 on the list is Judge Judy.

The no-nonsense courtroom judge who dispenses justice with little empathy towards the idiots and the stupid people of the world. She will even tell you outright whether or not you are a complete idiot with memorable phrases like:

"Have you ever heard of the KISS principle? Keep It Simple, Stupid?"
"You are not a good witness. Because a good witness answers a Judge's question directly, and my question to you was a very simple one. A SIX YEAR OLD COULD ANSWER IT!!!"
"Don't spit on my cupcake and tell me it's frosting."

It's even better when you see the other person squirm under her

Number 4: Rowan Atkinson

Rowan Atkinson in any of his comedic roles is pure gold. His expressiveness means that he doesn't even have to speak to play a fantastic comedy role ala Mr Bean. He manages to pull of the dry, acerbic wit of Black Adder with nothing short of pure genius. Personally, these two roles are what I like him for the best, possibly because they are two opposite characters.

Number 3: Stewie Griffin

The youngest member of the Griffin family, but by far the funniest, with his constant efforts to slay his mother and his plans for world domination, it's hard not to adore the little guy. No matter what plans go awry, he'll always be back with new one ready to put in into action.

Number 2: Ralph Wiggum

Ralph is the ultimate non sequitar. You can almost guarantee that no matter what he says, it will have absolutely no bearing on what is taking place on the scene, but he does it in such a way that he is completely oblivious to how it makes no sense. In his mind, it's a perfectly reasonable observation and comment to the current conversation. However, occasionally there shines through the possibility that he is smarter then he appears to be. No matter the case, he is a character that is at once lovable and hysterically funny.

Number 1: Karen Walker

Drunk, high, immoral. All of these can be used to describe Karen Walker. A person so politically incorrect that it's nothing but funny. Constantly drunk and does not want to see the ensuring battle when Pharmacist and Back-Up Pharmacist meet. Her high-pitched voice delivers perfect one liners that make you hold your sides with laughter and she doesn't do an ounce of work, in fact, she pays HER boss. It's a good reason she's number one.

May The Sauce Be With You

2010-04-05T00:34:00.000-07:00

About a month back I saw an interesting page on the net that documented how one Italian family made their pasta sauce. The page is no longer reachable otherwise I would add the link, but it got me thinking. Our own family, being Italian, have that day as well, where the whole family get together and make a year's supply of pasta sauce, and reading through the page mentioned above and speaking to a few other people at work who do it as well put the idea in my head that I should document the way OUR family does it.You see, every region has their own method for making it and, indeed, every family has their own take on the regional traditions, and it's really fascinating that, for what is essentially the same end result, the way in which different families get there can vary.

So, we begin with the essentials:

Around February/March signs will appear that will tell people that tomatoes for sauce are available to be bought. Usually they are bought by the case. This year, our family did 15 cases of them. Along with the juicy fruit, you need tools

The tubs are used when the tomatoes are actually minced and are all liquidy while the baskets are for draining and carrying the washed tomatoes and the bottle tops are pretty self-explanatory

The tomatoes themselves need to be washed as they've only been packed into the foam cases with whatever vine leaves and other stuff has been put in there as they've been packed.

Washing also gives the washer the fun task of being the first to go through and pick out whatever ones are not suitable for use. Some may be over ripe, some might have mould etc, what you would expect the fruit shop to pick through when putting it on the shelf to buy.

Now, I know this next part differers from what other families do. Some other families will cook or boil the tomatoes but we don't. After they've been washed, a couple of people will sit down and begin slicing them up into halves or quarters, depending on the size of the tomato, so it can fit into the mincer. As they are being cut and put into a large tub, salt is sprinkled through them, twice. The first time when the tub is about half-full and the second time, when the tub is completely full.

The salt acts to flavour and preserve the sauce. There are many, many tubs to go through before all the sauce is done.

Next, we pass the tomatoes through the mincer and we have what will become our sauce. The mincer separates what we call the "skins".

That is simply the chunks of the tomatoes that were solid, rather then the liquid we need for the sauce. However, the skins themselves still contain quite a lot of juice from the tomatoes themselves and so we pass them through the mincer once to make sure we get as much from them as possible. Once the skins have come through again they are not as juicy, so putting them through again wouldn't yield as much liquid. After it's been passed through, it is perfect for the compost pile or, in the case of my grandparents old house, the chicken coop.

Another area my family differs from others is how we put the basil in. After speaking with other people, I've learned that they will put a couple of leaves inside the bottle before filling them. We used to do that, but it got quite a hassle when the leaves would stick in the neck of the bottle and you would have to poke them down. When we do sauce, we use a more time saving effort.

As we are mincing the tomatoes, a few basil leaves go through as well. That mixes in with the sauce, saves time when trying to put them in the bottles and frees up a person to help elsewhere.

When a tub is filled with sauce, it's carted over to where the bottles are waiting to be filled.

And that is only the bottles that will fit on the tables. The bottles are filled the old fashioned way. We have a couple of small pots and funnels. We fill the pots and pour the sauce through the funnel and fill the bottles. Not too fill or when they are cooking they will force the caps off and they will leak.

Once they've been filled and capped they are stacked into big drums that we fill with water

We light a fire beneath them. Once the water is boiling we put out the fire and let them cook in that hot water for several hours. Once the water is cool enough, usually the next day, the drums are emptied and the bottles stored for use throughout the year. Depending on the amount we do, we may need to do 2 boilings.

As we are working away outside, more work is being done inside. Because it is a day where the whole family gets together, a family meal is being prepared. And because we are hard at work making sauce, what better meal can be made then pasta? Nothing. The sauce is as fresh as it can get, literally just coming from the mincer. With it only needing a little onion and garlic fried before:

Nothing can possibly taste better then fresh! This is what we worked hard for throughout the day:

It truly is a family day. Ourselves, we had family fly in from interstate to help. It's a day when even the youngest family member can help with something. It is a hard day's work but the effort put forth is rewarding.

Human compulsion is a curious thing

2010-02-13T03:46:00.000-08:00

Over the past couple of weeks, I've noticed a habit people have. Many other people notice this habit and comment on it, so it's not a very original observation and I doubt much insight will be gleaned from it, but I wanted to discuss it anyway.

While standing at an intersection, waiting to cross a road, with several other people waiting to cross as well, a person approached the corner and walked up to the button and pressed it. Does the person, for ease of reference we'll call him Bob, not notice the half dozen plus people all standing at the intersection waiting for the lights to change? Did Bob think we were all waiting for his timely appearance to work the mysterious button or did he think that, out of all the people waiting at the corner, he was the only person to think of pressing the button? Another person approaches the corner and does the same thing before the lights change and we all cross. Why? There is a group of people already waiting to cross, surely one of them has already pushed it. Is it because if you push it and THEN the lights change you think you have accomplished something? It an interesting compulsion. Another similar one happens when people are waiting for the lights to change and Bob, after pressing the button once and waiting for a few minutes, steps forwards and presses it several more time. Surely he can't believe that pressing it in rapid succession is going to make the sequence of light changing happen any quicker? This also happens with people waiting for an elevator. They will wait and then step forward and pound the button several times, as if that will make the elevator car move quicker up or down the shaft to reach where they are waiting.

I've done it myself, in all three of the situations above. It's almost like some kind of compulsion, pushing me to press the button, see if I can make the lights change, or the elevator arrive faster but why?

Why do we feel compelled to press that button when clearly everyone else waiting has already done so, or hammer the elevator button in the vain hope that it will make the car move faster, or to reach out and touch that wall/bench/etc that has the "Wet Paint" sign just to see if it is actually wet?

Next time you're out at a street corner, count how many people approach and press that button

The Great Australian Internet Blackout

2010-01-21T13:48:00.000-08:00

For those who frequent this blog, wishful thinking to think that but what the hey, I have made a small change for the week of the 25-29th of January. This blog, as well as my other one Ianis' World will be taking part in the Great Australian Internet Blackout.

This innitive is to protest the Australian Government's attempted filtering policy which will see Australia end up like China but obliterating our nation's freedoms under the guise of protecting the children. The only problem is, it won't work.

Please, don't let Australia become a communist country overnight and take part by visiting this website The Great Australian Internet Blackout and blackening out your websites and social networking profiles. Don't let your freedoms be taken away!

Proportion Control

2010-01-15T17:09:00.000-08:00

Welcome to 2010. Ringing in the new year was the flash of fireworks, beat of music and the cries of "racist" from across the Pacific. What was it that caused this knee-jerk reaction? A KFC commercial in Australia advertising their product and sponsorship of the cricket during summer. Why are they saying it's racist? Well, the ad shows a white Aussie passing around a bucket of chicken to a group of black West Indies and the accusatory finger of racism was pointed.

Here is the offending ad

Was the ad actually racist? Well, that question isn't relevant to what I want to discuss here.

Was reaction to the ad and responses to these reactions blown out of proportion? Yes, yes they were, and that is what I want to discuss.
This isn't the first thing that has been blown out of proportion and I hardly believe it will be the last, and it isn't just things of a political nature that get blown out of proportion. For example: Parents claims that the internet is evil and full of nothing but predators and paedophiles, the South Australian Attorney General when he says that violent games will erode the very fabric of morality if they let them into the country or the hype for the latest blockbuster, even you and me do it, think of a time when you were given crappy service by someone, at the time it was the worst indignation the world has ever known and you would have trumpeted that fact to everyone who could here, but when you look back you realise it was just bad service. Everyday things are blown out of proportion, but why?

I think there are a few answers to this. First of all, it sells. If you walk past a newspaper and it has the word "Racist" in big bold letters on the front page, you're going to stop and pick it up. If a news story breaks and in the graphic it has the word in it, you're going to want to pay attention. If a movie poster says "Blistering Action" it grabs your attention and you want to see it. Making something out to be more is one of the oldest marketing tricks in the books and it still works.

Another is because it feels good. If you say something loud enough, someone is going to hear you. We all love to be the centre of attention and the start of something and trumpeting for a cause will do that. You then spew forth points, exaggerated to make your side look good or their side look bad and you get a sense of satisfaction. I was watching an episode of The Young Turks on Youtube, the episode that was their response to the Aussie response to their first show denouncing the ad as being racist and as I watched it I felt myself building up to a point where I was going to launch into a tirade about how they didn't understand the context, their racial remarks, that we are two completely different cultures etc. I then realised that I was doing it too, what they did and what countless others have done on either side of the debate and that was blowing the issue completely out of proportion. The points I wanted to make to them had already been made, by many people more eloquent then I, so what would shouting them again actually accomplish? And you know what they say about doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result. So I sat back and thought for a moment about what was happening and it led me to make this post.

There will always be things that are blown out of proportion, it's the nature of the society we live in, does that mean that we should just be trying to do and say things that don't have any type of double entendre? No because no matter how hard we try someone, somewhere will find something negative in it and sound their Trumpets of Righteousness, as in the case of someone sharing their food with other people. So, how can we avoid it? Well, in all honesty, you probably can't. So to deal with it I would suggest calmly and plainly explaining what is actually going on once and leave it at that if you are the other party. If people continue to blow it out of proportion, nothing else you can say will deflate that balloon, if anything it will just add to it, so just let it go.

The Silly Season

2009-12-14T20:56:00.000-08:00

Ho, ho, ho.

Yes, it's that time of year again. Christmas is a time when we are supposed to think of others and be grateful that, for those of us who can, we can spend a day with our families.

The lead up to the grand day is another thing entirely. The trip to a shopping centre takes on a whole different experience.

We start with something that is usually pretty tame, finding a parking spot. Under normal situations, this presents a challenge for most drivers on any given day, tackling things like wayward shoppers crossing the road in unexpected places, finding the perfect car park only to find out that the person on the left can't seem to park between the white lines or straight. During the Christmas period, trying to park ones car at a shopping centre becomes something of a death sport. You have two options when it comes to parking at a shopping centre. You can either drive around for nigh on 20 mins, driving up and down aisle after aisle looking for that elusive spot that you know everyone else missed or the even rarer the "Finished Shopper" whom you will stalk like some creepy person until they make it back to their car and will happily wait another 20 mins while they load and leave. This option presents a couple of dangers. First, you have to continually navigate the car park, making sure small children don't suddenly appear between a parked car running to get to the toy store. Second, if you find a car park, you then have to try and distract the other people looking for it, so you will try to make it seem there is nothing down this stretch of road, but loath if someone else spots the vacant spot as well because it suddenly becomes like the home stretch of a grand prix and you will both plant your accelerator, almost reaching escape velocity, just to try and get there before the other person. Third, the dreaded "Space Stealer". This person pops up in the worst times. You will be waiting happily for the "Finished Shopper" to leave, basking in the knowledge that you have found a space when, to your horror, another car has pulled into the vacant space you waited for.

A sense of outrage is quite common. How dare this person steal your space. You drove up and down for AGES trying to find it, and they just come in and steal it right out from under you. So what do you do? Sometimes it's an honest mistake and a couple of calm words and an apology later and the space is yours again. But it is a stressful time, what to buy for nan, auntie Jane has decided to come at the last minute and you don't have enough food, cousin bob has decided to become a vegetarian so your lovingly crafted Christmas lunch/dinner now needs to contain a tofu turkey, it's surprising not more people snap under the pressure and become babbling loonies. So, do you wind down the window and abusing the "Space Stealer", insulting everything from their parents to their ability to drive or do you swallow the lump of rage and move on?

The second option has it's own set of difficulties to overcome. For those who do not want to drive up and down looking for that elusive spot just outside the doors, you can park in the "No Man's Land" The parking spaces put so far away from the shops you wonder why they bothered to put them there in the first place. Making this choice means you must make an expedition back to the shopping centre with a cut lunch and Thermos full of water just to make the trip, it makes it doubly hard for when you leave if you've got an armful of plastic bags or trolley full of items needing to be packed, all the while dodging those who are trying to park closer. When you leave and have someone following you for your space, you run the risk to taking an earful of abuse when they find out where you've parked and they have just wasted 20 mins following you out there.

Once parking is done and you're inside, take a moment to catch your breath and get your bearings. Usually during this time it is usually a veritable sea of bodies, all moving to find last minute presents and food. Going into any shop presents a risk of it's own. Trying approaching a bin or stand and go through the goods there. After a short time, people think you've spotted a bargain and will swarm all over like flies to old meat to find what has attracted your attention for so long and will whatever your looking at be better for them then it is for you.

Reach for the last item of something on a rack of shelf and if the timing is wrong, then you could almost lose a finger or arm. Fights can break out over who was here first and who should get that last item. Then there are the poor staff. Trying to keep stocked shelves that forever seem to be empty, being abused by stressed customers because they've sold out of a particular item that was advertised yesterday or that the toy bought for little Timmy doesn't work and they shouldn't sell shoddy merchandise.

Once you've shopped yourself to exhaustion, usually not because you've got loads of stuff, but just trying to navigate through people in said shops, you might be a little hungry or thirsty or both and a stop for lunch is in order. The food court can present a similar range of problems for the shopper as did parking. Watch as two different parties spot the same table and make a mad dash for it, leaving behind the straggling grandmother under the load of bags or the tottering child. Or watch as others hover next to a group that is just about finished and will pounce on the table the second it's chairs are free. It might be safer getting your food and eating standing up, because even the few stools and benches that are normally vacant will be filled too.

The prepared among us have done their Christmas shopping throughout the year, buying presents several months in advance when sales are on or items are discounted, needing only to go out a day or two before to get the perishable items needed to finish off the feast. Those not so prepared still have not gotten those presents for their siblings and/or parents and the utterly unprepared won't do anything until Christmas eve, fighting the throngs of people doing the same.

Next time you venture to the shops, take a moment to watch this dance and laugh at how funny it is when it's all for a single day where we are supposed to relax and enjoy the company of family and others.

Left 4 Dead 3: The Office of Film and Literature Classification

2009-10-18T20:42:00.000-07:00

Picture the scene: A board room with a group of people around a table, debating the latest batch of movies and video games heading to our shores. They pick up a copy of "Left 4 Dead 2". "Hmm." ponders one member, with a frown on his face. Another member takes the box from the first and utters some disapproving clucks before shaking his head. Another hand reaches across and extracts it from the grip of the second person. A soft gasp is heard as this person looks at the box. "Zombies? Decapitation and piles of bodies? Splashes of blood? Oh no no no no no, we can't let the Australian population be exposed to such violence. It will warp anyone who sees this, it will destroy our moral values, it will harm our children, we must think of the children!!!!" A couple voices of reason rise up, mentioning the fact that the first game received the MA rating, but these nay-sayers are shouted down, the giant BANNED stamp is hauled out, inked up and the game is now marred by a giant red word across it's face. It is then tossed on a pile of similarly banned titles while the board reaches for the next one, smug in the knowledge that they have protected the people from such evil, as all the while the real world passes them by and heads deeper into the 21st century and slowly they are Left 4 Dead.

The Classification Board has refused classification on the Left 4 Dead sequel citing the following: "The game contains realistic, frenetic and unrelenting violence which is inflicted upon “the infected” who are living humans infected with a rabies-like virus that causes them to act violently"...“The player can choose from variety of weapons such as the pistols, shotguns, guns and sniper rifles. However, it is the use of the “melee” weapons such as the crowbar, axe, chainsaw and Samurai sword which inflict the most damage. These close in attacks cause copious amounts of blood spray and splatter, decapitations and limb dismemberment as well as locational damage where contact is made to the enemy which may reveal skeletal bits and gore. Projectile shots to infected humans can cause abdominal wounds which can reveal innards or even cause intestines to spill from the wounds." *makes a wounded motion with my hand over my heart and my other hand pressed to my forehead* Thank you for protecting me from the evils of virtual abdominal wounds, innards and intestines. I mean, the years where I helped with the making of salami and seeing real intestines and innards of animals is nothing compared to the virtual guts of a virtual zombie as I hit them or shoot them with a virtual weapon.

Yes, the game is violent, but it was never intended to be played by underage people. It was meant to be played by adults, who should be free to choose what to they want to view, read and play. If it was meant to be played by children, the guns would be slingshots and shoot flowers and the infected would be bunnies that are holding magical buckets that every time a flower is shot into it, some pollution in the world is cleaned up meaning more happy bunnies to fling flowers at. Some members on the board even pointed out that the first game was given the MA15 rating, but that wasn't enough to save the game from the BanHammer

This rating comes about because Australia's classification system for media is not only one of the strictest in the west, but one of the most archaic. The system does not have a R18 rating for games, even though every other type of media does. This results in games that are deemed too violent, racy, etc to be refused classification, meaning they cannot be sold in the country. I briefly touched on this in an earlier post.

There have been numerous calls for the R18 classification to be brought in, but there is just one problem. To do so, it needs the unanimous support of all the attorney-generals, and currently, all but one is in support of it. Meet Michael Atkinson, Attorney-General for South Australia:

This is the man who believes that the country is still living in the 1950's and the golden age of oppression of basic human freedoms. He is the ONLY Attorney-General who is opposed to the introduction of an adult rating to games. He claims that it is because he is opposed to children being able to get access to this type of media, and that by opposing the introduction of this rating, he is making Australia a shining beacon of moral decency in a world of decay. Nice sentiments I'm sure Mr Atkinson. How's life back there in the 50's? There's only a few things wrong with that stance. First, by standing against the people, a majority of which do want this classification brought it, you are not protecting the children from accessing these types of materials, in fact you're probably making it easier for them to access it. By making it so retailers cannot sell the games in Australia, where they can conduct ID checks on those buying the games to see if they meet the age requirements, you are forcing people who want these games to purchase them online from another country and mailing them to their homes. There are no age checks and so someone of any age can buy these games. Secondly, you're hurting the economy. Game purchases are becoming more and more a part of the spending of the people. I don't have exact figures, for that I'd have to consult one of my most recent issues of Hyper magazine, who did a recent article showing the figures, but the numbers are large, and are gaining ground. By not allowing this classification, any games not meeting the current standards are banned from being sold in the country, taking money away from local retailers and finally, by forcing the game producers to either reproduce their products without the offending material or not be sold in the country, they will eventually just choose not to sell to us. They can forgo the profit of a country of 20 million people in favour of a world with a population of 6 billion sans the population of Australia.
As if his ancient stance wasn't bad enough, in his infinite wisdom, he is also blocking the release of a public paper that canvasses the opinion of the Australian public on whether or not an R18 classification should be introduced. Studies done by Bond University indicate that a majority of people whom they interviewed want an R18 rating to be introduced and many Psychologists back this study and condemn the position of Michael Atkinson.
Electronic Frontiers Australia is running a campaign to have the R18+ classification for games introduced in Australia. Hopefully they can get somewhere and Australia can finally return from being Left 4 Dead.

Come Fly With Me

2009-09-26T07:00:00.001-07:00

Well it's been a heck of a week. Flying out to Adelaide on Monday for most of the week, driving in and out of the city and going north, south, north, south etc. On top of that, a dust storm blew up and across east and blanketed Sydney in an eerie red haze before travelling north to cover Queensland in it's blanket.

Travelling as often as I do, I have started taking notice of some things at the airport. First off, people don't like seeing someone breeze past the regular check-in line and go into the "priority" line and get served first. Until I was able to do it, I was with them. Now when I do it, I see the looks some people have on their faces.

Another thing I've noticed is that when the announcement goes over to say that the plane is ready for boarding, a lot of people will jump up and hurry to be the first in line to get through the gate. It's an interesting thing, because the staff of the airline are not going to close the gate after x amount of time and whomever is still waiting in line to get on won't be allowed to. Everyone who is there will get on. Plus, if you get on and get in, you may very well have to get back up and out to allow someone else to get past you into their seat. Yet many people will still try and hurry to be the first in line. It must be an instinctual thing. I mean, we certainly hear it often enough growing up. "You have to be the first in something" "You have to be the best in something". I wonder if all those houndings have somehow made it so that if there is a line or a queue, we all want to be ahead of the person standing in front of us.

I've also come to realise something else. The job of flight attendant is not one I envy. Dealing with the general public is not fun, particularly when some people are petty and whiny. Flight attendants have to be parents to a planeful whiny, crying children who throw tantrums when they don't get whatever they want. I recall a time last year when a flight was delayed due to extremely high winds and general bad weather. I was standing in line to get my ticket reprinted and the man in front of me was abusing and berating the poor flight attendant behind the counter, as if it was her fault the flight was delayed. I intervened, pointing out that it wasn't her fault they delayed the flight. She didn't get on the phone and tell them that it would ruin your day, so make it run later. She was only relaying information given to her to ticket holders. It deflated him enough that he didn't wish to continue arguing with her, retrieved his new ticked and moved off. The gratitude from the flight attendant was apparent by just looking into her face. Knowing the kinds of people they have to deal with, I always make a point to say the little niceties to them like please and thank you. When approaching them behind a counter put them at ease by asking them how their day is, make a little joke, get them to smile or laugh. It will also make them more receptive to your requests and more willing to help you out with your enquiries.

So next time you fly, take a little time to say thank you to a flight attendant. It may end up making your trip a little more comfortable for they remember the ones who were friendly toward them.

Big Red Car

2009-09-15T04:43:00.000-07:00

I would have to say that one of my pet peeves is other drivers on the road. Not all drivers. Some out there are quite good. No, my annoyance is with drivers who think it's a good thing to drive 20 KM below the speed limit in the right lane of the freeway.

My usual commute to work takes me partway along one freeway and a short distance on another for around 15-20 minutes. That's just long enough to notice a couple of these people, but over the last couple of days, I've had to travel further along the second freeway to get into the city, and during these trips I've noticed several more. The section of freeway has 4 lanes, and you would think this enough to avoid those who decide to take a nice country drive along a road that is supposed to be traveled on at 100, but no. I've noticed something in drivers. It seems that if a freeway is quite wide, like this is and one person sits on a speed of 80, almost all the other drivers seem to have a compulsion to do the same, so they don't overtake each other. Maybe it's because they all think they are doing 100 because everyone is doing to same speed as them or maybe it's because of something else, but it gets very annoying when you try to change lanes to overtake one car, only to find that there is another car in the new lane doing the same speed.

It's an odd phenomenon, almost like when you see one person yawn, you feel the need to do so as well, it's contagious. In any event, I don't have a problem if you don't feel comfortable doing 100 on a freeway, but please don't sit in the right lane, the overtaking lane and do it. Move over into the left lane so others who can do the speed limit can pass you.

CENSORED TO PROTECT THE CHILDREN

2009-09-09T16:06:00.000-07:00

I don't claim to be very political. Like most people, I "know" how the Government should have handled this situation or that situation or how better to spend the tax payer's money. I do admit that I like watching the late night airing of Question Time in Parliament, but not for the political insights, but because what usually takes place is worse then the bickering and fighting that took place in the Big Brother house. It's hilarious how much like children these adults can act. "Mr Speaker, that person didn't answer my question.", "Mr Speaker, that person completely gave us the run around", "Mr Speaker, that person made fun of me." to which the speaker will reply with "Will the Member for *insert constituency here* answer the question." and "The Member for *insert constituency here* will leave the floor for 2 hours." and so on. It's massive joke, and these people are running the country.

There is one issue that I have been following, however, because of how it will affect me, and that is the Government's mandatory ISP level content filtering policy. The basic idea is that, bowing to the hand wringing of lazy parents who demand someone else solve the problem, rather then they actually monitor what their child is browsing, the Australian Government has decided to implement an Internet filtering scheme. ISP level filtering will provide a "Clean Feed" of Internet into all Australian homes. It is mandatory and no one will be able to opt out of it. Currently the Government are conducting trials as to it's feasibility with a number of different ISPs, the tests to end soon. This has outraged many people in the country because it reeks of something that one would never expect a democratic country to ever think about, namely breaching of the basic freedom of speech. As it stands now, the Government is claiming that the filter will be used to block things like child pornography and things of that dark nature. However they have stated that it will also include everything that falls under the RC, Refused Classification, description.

RC is what is given to content by the Office of Film and Literature Classification when it feels it does not meet certain standards. Barring Western Australia and certain indigenous communities, RC content is not illegal to own, just illegal to sell in Australia. Things that will attract this ratings are games, as Australia does not have an R18+ rating, any games that cannot be classified as MA15+ are RC. This one is another whole issue in and of itself. Pornography that contains fetishes such as spanking is also deemed RC. Other types of media that are too long to list may also be blocked with this filter if it gets the RC rating.

Part of the problem is that putting it under such a broad scope, practically anything online could be given RC and put on the ACMA blacklist, blocking it from being viewed. This list will remain secret and there is really no way to appeal to get taken off this list. Recently a veterinary site was put onto this list, and the already available, government issued filtering software started blocking this site. It's scary that such decisions are left up to the shadowy and mysterious body to deign what may be appropriate and what isn't for people to view. If one were to exercise their basic freedom to criticise the government on something it did or didn't do, this body could essentially deem the comments as inappropriate and ban anyone from seeing it. It's a slippery slope from there.

Many people, including Christian organisations, social workers, child welfare groups, all groups the government is claiming they are trying to protect, say they do not want the filter and that it won't work. One ISP went as far as to put their hands up to take part in the Government tests just so they could prove that it wouldn't work, saying the would make public everything that failed during the tests. This ISP was promptly denied to take part in the trials. The Senator in charge seems ludicrously bereft of any idea of what this policy entails, whenever being presented with facts and figures on how it won't work, denies them, claiming that the other side does not know what they're talking about. He has also contradicted himself several times on what will and won't be covered with the filter.

An online petition has been created, which can bee seen here, for people to sign in order to voice their objection to the proposal. The same group has set up a parody website showing the dangers of the filter, cleverly called CensorDyne, a play on the toothpaste for sensitive teeth. They have produced a TV commercial as well, objecting to the plans, using humor. I personally found it quite funny. It can be seen here. A blog I frequent as well is following the issue and is quite a good read. Somebody Think of the Children, think Helen Lovejoy screaming this in several episode of the Simpsons, quite an apt description of the situation.

Another development, as recent as last night, news.com.au, reported that the PM's website suffered a DDOS attack by Anonymous. They said they were declaring war on the Australian Government for it's breech of human rights and are calling for the resignation of Senator Conroy, minister for communications, who is in charge of the effort to put this in place. This sort of thing really only gives ammunition to supporters of the filter, and while some might want to say good job to these people, it will only hurt the position of those trying to sink this idea using the correct channels. It unravels the work these people have put into the campaign to stop the filter. News article here. As it currently stands though, to bring this policy into being, the Government needs a majority vote in the Senate to ratify it, and currently they don't. The entire Coalition, which is the Liberal and National parties currently don't support the plan, as well as some Independent senators. Hopefully it will stay that way when it comes to be voted on and does not get through.

Another possibility of this is that, as the current Government does not have a majority in the Upper house, and they continue to fail to get policies pushed through, as what happened recently with a healthcare issue, it could cause a Double Dissolution. How this works is laws drafted in the lower house need to be approved in the upper house before becoming law. In most situations, the government has control over both houses so passing laws isn't a problem. However the current government does not have control over the upper house. This means that if they wanted to, the party controlling the upper house could stop any law being passed, meaning the government could not govern. This in turn would force the Governor-General to dismiss the Parliament, the upper and lower houses. This is the Double Dissolution. The people would then need to go to the polls and vote in a new government. This has only happened once before, in 1975. There is talk in the media that it may have a small chance of happening again.

One final thing. I love the irony of the All Powerful and All Knowing Emperor Rudd holding China up as the example of how ISP level filtering is working perfectly without any drawbacks, yet as recently as a few months ago, the Chinese govt ratified new laws saying that every computer sold has to have filtering software installed because ISP level filtering just isn't working. The Economy, Basic Human Rights, care to try for a hat-trick of screw-ups Emperor Rudd?

9, 10 Here We Go Again

2009-09-05T07:58:00.001-07:00

Well, it's been a little while since I posted last, partly because I've been rather ill lately and partly because of other things, the birth of my niece for one. Anyway, as I've been sick, I made a trip to the supermarket to pick up one of those travel packs of tissues, the small ones.

Well, I noticed something that I thought was odd, and I've noticed it with a number of other things as well, not just tissues. Now, this pack had 4 of those pocket packs in them and in each pocket pack there were 9 tissues. 9 tissues seems like such an odd number. Wouldn't it make more sense to make it a nice round number, like 10? Does 1 extra tissue make that much of a difference? Or is it because the packs are based on their weight? I couldn't say as to the weight of the pack as it doesn't say on the individual packs how much they weigh and I was so wasted with the illness when I bought them I didn't care about the packaging of the whole pack, I just needed a tissue. As I said, I've noticed this type of quantity in other things as well and am rather curious as to the explanation. If someone knows, let me know!

You Filthy Pigs

2009-08-26T20:44:00.000-07:00

Well, I didn't know the first post here would come so soon after setting up the blog, but here we are.

I went to lunch today to the local shopping centre with some other people from work. After getting our food we did the usual wander to find a table. The place was packed, but I could have sworn not 5 minutes before there were a ton of empty tables. Now there wasn't any.

We finally came across one, but there was just one problem. The people who were there before us, hereby known as "the pigs", decided to get up and leave their rubbish, plates, napkins, a small bottle of open apple juice, tipped on it's side no less, at the table. The rubbish bin was no further then 1.5 metres away at the most, and the pigs have just got up and left the table in a mess. Whatever happened to cleaning up after oneself? Now, the centre does have cleaners, which do wander around the food court to clear the tables and clean them, and one could argue that, well, that is what they're paid to do, but no. The state the pigs left their table in was just out of pure laziness, particularly when you saw how far away the bin was from the table. It's a shocking state when you have some people are so lazy they simply can't put a couple of plastic plates in the rubbish.

It takes all of a handful of seconds to clean up after oneself, and it makes things just that much better for everyone involved. The people working at the centre can clean and wipe over the table quicker meaning that the next people can use the table after you have finished with it quicker. The turnaround time for everything is a little quicker meaning people can get back to what they were doing before stopping for lunch, whether it be work, shopping etc. It also makes the area a much more enjoyable place to eat. I know I would prefer to eat at a place that has clean tables rather then surrounded tables stacked high with rubbish.

And So It Begins

2009-08-26T19:09:00.000-07:00

Well, here we are. I'm not sure how well this will go or how long it will continue for, but I'll try to keep it up for as long as I can. I've toyed with the idea of making a blog for a little while now, and while I do have another one, you can see it here, it's devoted to the journal entries of the character I'm playing in my DnD game, so isn't essentially MY thoughts per se, but Ianis'.

I wanted a place where I could throw out my random thoughts and observations about things and see where they take me, hopefully on an interesting ride. If anyone does read this and finds what I post about offensive or what not, I'll say here and now and no more after this. I gave up chasing the approval and opinions of people a long time ago, and since then it's made my life that much better. That means that now, when I speak, I say things for me, not for your approval. That's not to say I'm racist, sexist, ageist, other-type-of-ist, far from it in fact. It just means, I don't beat around the bush, so if you don't like directness, don't complain to me, simply stop reading. No one is forcing you.

And now, since I guess I've set out on the road, we'll see where it leads.