Binnsy's Hovel

Now that I’ve finished laughing, I thought I’d better post these images of the new public relations campaign by the military of Japan. The purpose of these images is to make the nation’s defence force seem endearing.

Vive le Prince Pickles! Surely he will save Iraq from dem dastardly tewwowists and Amewicans.

I am also somewhat chuffed because in the past couple of hours I managed to help a Greek person and a Chinese person with their wireless Internet connection here at uni. Not a great feat, you say? Well, consider this: Their laptops were configured for all words to appear in their mother tongue. Thus I just reconfigured two laptops to accept the uni’s wireless internet: one in Greek, the other in Chinese – neither language do I speak.

So, like I said, chuffed.

Until next time…

Some twat just rang up 2GB suggesting the complete legalisation of ecstasy, ice and other illicit drugs, in the interest of quashing the black market trade in these substances. There was no apparent alterior motive, but the problem here is the complete disregard for the safety of the present and future generations.

If the substances are legalised, even if they’re only available over the counter at pharmacies, who’s to say that a whole new breed of drug addicts will surface because they’ve obtained drugs from a parent or friend?

You idiot.

In other news, my fair nation of Bynzekistan has been having a go at establishing itself in the RP dungeons of the NationStates forums. In accordance with the long-past decision to bolster our military – or rather, peacekeeping forces – we’ve placed an order for weaponry, jeeps and helicopters, and also a Learjet for the President’s diplomatic trips. Plans are also underway to start up a NS news service of some sort, not unlike Reuters. Should be intriguing.

I’m also attempting to revamp an old RP I started way back at the end of 2005. Most of the nations involved are long gone, fed up with NS and the forums, but some are still around, and new participants are always welcome.

And I got bored of appropriate and relevant post titles, so we’re back to randomness.

Until next time…

Apparently, this year, top secret plans have been hatched to attempt to reunite the two most disparate factions of the Christian faith, the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England.

Under normal circumstances I wouldn’t have a problem with this at all. I believe that the Church needs to muster as much strength and solidarity as it possibly can in a time when faith and human dignity are struggling to keep hold.

I have issues, however, with what The Times believes are the reasons for this attempt at a peaceful religious reunion.

This article states that the reasons the two churches are making all and every attempt to recombine are not purely for social benefit after all, but rather to restrict and compensate for some of the liberal ideas that have crept into Anglican doctrine, for example, the ordination of homosexual priests.

I chose to be baptised in the Church of England because of its liberalism. Because it is different from the Roman Catholic way. Because it is a progressive, changing, adapting ministry where faith is the key motivation for every word and deed. Tradition is important and assuring, but it is merely an accessory to faith in a changing world.

Unlike Catholicism, where right-wing, backward-thinking, traditional and ultra-conservative dogma are the guiding forces. Ambition and financial backing are all that’s needed to run the largest Christian fellowship in the world.

To clarify, I am referring here not to ‘Catholics’ and ‘Anglicans’, the followers of the aforementioned religions, but rather to the religions and their administrations themselves.

But with this news, that Anglicans and Catholics hope to reunite under the unerring authority of the Pope, I am disheartened.

The furore concerns the publication of an inter-religion document, Growing Together in Unity and Mission, which hopes to ‘foster discussion and reflection’. In a response to the article in The Times, the Anglican Communion claims the press has exaggerated the purpose of the document and the talks between the two faiths.

Sensational claims or not, I would reject the authority of the Pope, merely because the Papacy, the Bishops, the entire Catholic Ministry is the reason I am an Anglican. Mankind has fucked religion up quite enough for me. My God is a caring god, an honest god, a kind and accepting god. He believes that no matter who you are, what you do, what gender, race, colour, sexuality you are, you are entitled to inhabit your spot on this planet and live your life.

Anyone who believes otherwise is still living in the Middle Ages.

Until next time…

I just finished watching the newly released DVD of Little Miss Sunshine and I am utterly impressed. The story is rich, heartwarming and intriguing, the characters are so diverse and all fit into the narrative so snugly, the film is so well-shot (in a very Wes Anderson-esque style), the dialogue so shrewd, the soundtrack appropriate. All is good in the world when a film can be so perfect.

Go check it out.

Until next time…

I was an advocate for nuclear power once, a long time ago.

How amusing.

Until next time…

For several months at the Hovel last year, I leased a spot on my blog to other blogs I thought worthy of mention. The last few months has seen me through some tough times, and the Hovel fell into some disrepair. However, with the revamping of the Hovel with new colours and all the old trimmings like the ClustrMap on the right, I thought I’d best get back into the renting game.

So it is with great pleasure that I announce my blodger for this week is New York Nitty-Gritty, a photoblog by New Yorker Frederick Otilius. The site contains some amazing photos of the city of New York and its surrounds. Go check it out.

Climate change made a bit of a reappearance in the media today, in particular in The Australian, where a rather amusing article attempted to explain the basis and novelty of carbon trading. This activity involves the purchase of ‘carbon credits’ (in the form of hard copy, paper certificates, much like traveller’s cheques or bond papers) in order to offset your own or your household’s carbon emissions.

The principle revolves around the mindset that buying these credits will compensate for your contribution to climate change, e.g. via flatulence, the use of electricity and water, the pollution from your car. And yet, in reading the article, I couldn’t help but feel that the whole ‘carbon credits’ thing is merely an opportunistic scam engineered by bored shares and commodities traders tired of working with coal, gas, oil and stocks. If not them, then it has to be a scheme from ingenious entrepreneurial types wanting to make a quick couple of million from the climate change fad.

Admittedly, the company in question, Easy Being Green, puts the money back into distributing energy-efficient light bulbs and water-saving shower heads, but in a fledgling industry that turns over around $300 million a year worldwide, a few environmentally-friendly household widgets that you can easily find yourself at Bunnings doesn’t really seem all that substantial.

But maybe it’s just me. Maybe carbon trading is indeed the way towards a cleaner, healthier future for our planet. If money really does make the world go round then maybe money can fix it too.

In personal news I submitted a review for the film Blood Diamond to the University of Western Sydney newspaper, The Western Onion, and it was accepted! How excitement.

Until next time…

I found it fascinating yesterday to research the history of my local electorate, Hawkesbury. For the past 57 years it has been a very safe Liberal seat. In fact, before the current Liberal member, Steven Pringle, Kevin Rozzoli represented the seat for 20 years, and before him, Bernard Deane held the spot for 22 years.

It makes you wonder how seats become ’safe’. Are we all not so open to change that trying someone different becomes such a radical notion? Despite the fact that our local paper, the Hawkesbury Gazette informs us every week of the horrors and misdemeanours of our present local government, election after election the same party, the same candidate, is named victorious.

Funnily enough, Labor did get a shoe in in Hawkesbury between 1941 and 1950. Their member was the jovial-sounding Francis Joseph Finnan, the son of a compositor and grandson of a publican who owned a pub in the Rocks area of Sydney. Finnan’s role in the Hawkesbury was largely uneventful, and he was forced out of the area to Darlinghurst when the electorate’s boundaries were redistributed.

Of note later in Finnan’s career, however, was his appointment as president of the Hunter District Water Board in 1953. A highly controversial point, as many believed he was awarded the position solely on his political merits and barely because of any administrative experience, Finnan went on to cement the infrastructure for much of the Hunter’s contemporary water system, mainly with money he acquired from the government.

There are stories and histories like this all through the course of Australian politics. We are still a relatively young nation, and in this way we can probably think of all our leaders, at all levels, as pioneers, charting a course into the future. But we need new captains. New directions. New voyages. Australian politics has stagnated, and it needs some fresh water, starting at the local level.

I personally would like to see the day when the seat of Hawkesbury is toppled from the Liberals’ grasp, and placed into the hands of Labor, or maybe even the Greens, the party I support. Because it is only when change is initiated that change can occur.

Until next time…

Paramount Pictures has set Thursday, May 22, 2008 for the release of the next Indiana Jones movie, which the studio is now officially referring to as the Fourth Installment of the Indiana Jones Adventures.

From theraider.net.

How excitement!

Until next time…

In the leadup to an election, watching the news is like reading a pamphlet on the biggest issues facing Australians and global citizenry in general. Oh, look, here’s a paragraph on climate change. And over there is interest rates, and then down there in the corner is a little bit on the war in Iraq.

My biggest fear with climate change has been realised. It was not the politics-redeeming big issue that I’d hoped would re-erect the ancient demos philosophy in the over-cluttered yet barren and lifeless world of Australian politics. Right this second, looking at theaustralian.com.au, I see not one mention of the word ‘climate’. The story is the same at the Herald equivalent, and even over at the online Tele, where the Ralph Fiennes sex scandal has made top billing.

My next biggest fear is that the issues pamphlet will be tossed out – like all other junk mail – once a victor is decided. That’s what usually happens…

Until next time…

Just between you and me, I think Bill Leak’s cartoons in the Australian of late have been of incredible quality. He had a bit of a dry patch last year but the wit, astuteness and hilarity are back in full force. My personal favourite of the last couple of weeks is this…

Until next time…