I Went For a Walk

I had to go to Centrelink today to sort some stuff out (which was, as always, massive pain), but on my way back I happened to see the above sign. It caught my attention. It seems like such an odd mix of things. So I stopped to have a look. Another couple of signs in the window also caught my attention.

Horse Vet

Here's a thing I wrote about what it would be like if Dave was a horse vet.

David Thorne: Horse Vet

Have you ever punched a horse to death? I have. My name is David Thorne.

She'd said the horse was behaving oddly. Show me a horse that isn't. They're mad creatures. But there was always the chance that it would have to be put down, and I'd enjoy that, so I agreed to come and take a look at it.

"Your horse needs to be put down." I said.
She seemed dubious. "You haven't seen it yet."
"You've heard of the horse whisperer? That film was actually based on me. Of course, in real life it's more like horse shouting. But I don't need to actually see a particular horse to know what to do with it."
"Are you sure you're a real vet?" she asked.
"Fine, I'll look at the damn horse."

A Simple Recipe

This is a quick and simple recipe to make for yourself for dinner when you're at home by yourself for the evening.

Lectures are shit

God I hate lectures.

Someone... talking.... really slowly... and with weird... pauses and EMPHASIS... and... while talking... really slowly... they repeat... that is, they REPEAT themselves... over and over... and say exactly what's written on the slide... even though you can read it on the slide... and they almost never... never seem to have planned (or rehearsed)... so they repeat... themselves... or explain something... out of context... or that isn't part of the... isn't supposed to be in the lecture... or they get out of sync with the slideshow... and repeat themselves when the right slide comes up... or they explain things... in the wrong ORDER.

Youth, Respect and Power

Today's modern industrialised societies are often said to have a “cult of youth”, a worship of the idea of being young. This could be linked to our consumerist culture and the constant search for new products and experiences. The “seductive power [of objects of consumption] lies mostly in their not having been experienced before [and] the young, by definition, fit the bill … as objects of consumption” (Bauman 2007: 59). This positions youth as desirable but not respected, a thing to be possessed but not admired.

Masculinity and Femininity

“Masculinity” and “femininity” are terms which encompass broad categories of behaviour deemed appropriate for and typical of those categorised as male and female respectively. These definitions are somewhat recursive as masculinity is defined as behaviour typical of males (or more specifically, men) and men are then expected to behave in masculine ways. The terms are also defined in opposition to each other, in that masculinity is whatever femininity is not, and therefore men are expected to behave in “not-feminine” ways. But neither exists as an objective standard outside of society and “vary across cultures and change over time” (Cameron 2007: 23); “Manhood does not bubble up to consciousness from our biological makeup; it is created in culture” (Kimmel 2001: 267).

Copyright in the 21st century

In 1557 the guild of stationers was granted a royal charter and became the Stationers' Company, leading to the creation of the stationers' copyright, which was a private agreement “granted by a group of businessmen who agreed to allow one of them the exclusive right to publish a specific work in perpetuity” (Patterson & Lindberg, 1991, p22) rather than an actual law. This copyright was created for two purposes; to protect the publishers of works and to aid the government in its attempts at censorship. (Patterson & Lindberg, 1991, p25) Modern copyright differs in its goals and execution, but is in some ways based on that first version.

Maggie's farm?

I ain’t gonna work on Maggie’s farm no more
No, I ain’t gonna work on Maggie’s farm no more
Well, I wake in the morning
Fold my hands and pray for rain
I got a head full of ideas
That are drivin’ me insane
It’s a shame the way she makes me scrub the floor
I ain’t gonna work on Maggie’s farm no more

God, what an arsehole. "I'm too special to clean things." Wanker.

I ate some spam

I've often wondered what spam is like, and I've seen it in supermarkets plenty of times. I've always been put off by its reputation, but it's in every supermarket so obviously some people like it. It can't be selling solely by the power of morbid curiosity. So today, I decided, was the day. I would eat some spam.

Australian Kindle owners

Amazon is trying to get Australians to switch to amazon.com.au but apparently if you do this you lose access to the ebooks you purchased from amazon.com. Here's log of (part of) the conversation I had with one of their support people:

Me: Lately amazon.com keeps telling me I can switch to amazon.com.au for ebook purchases. Is there any benefit to doing that other than seeing prices in AUD? It seems like a hassle to be using the .com.au site for some things and the .com site for others, especially when AUD and USD are so close in value anyway.

Regie(CSA): The reason why the system keeps telling you to transfer your account to Amazon.au it is because you're country settings is from Australia, correct?

Me: I am in Australia, that is correct.

Regie(CSA): That's is the reason, Mathew.

However, you can ignore the email about the migrating, Mathew.

Me: It's not an email, it;s a message that keeps appearing at the top of the page when I view items at amazon.com

And my question is, is there any benefit to switching, other than seeing prices in AUD, or is that the only thing that would change?

Regie(CSA): No, Mathew.

Regie(CSA): If you switch to Amazon.au, all your books that was purchased from Amazon.com will not be available to view or read unless you switch back to Amazon.com.

...

Me: Why would anyone want to switch their account if it will remove access to the books they already purchased? This is insane.

Regie(CSA): I do apologize, Mathew.

We don't have the information/

...

Me: OK, so is there some way I can make sure my account doesn't ever get switched to the au site? Because I don't want to lose access to my books.

Regie(CSA): No need to worry, as long as you will not accept the migration.

Me: So there is no way for me to just say "no, I don't want to switch" and have that be the end of it? It's just going to keep asking me forever?

Regie(CSA): Yes, Mathew.

I can't imagine what the hell they're thinking with this decision.