Things I’ve Seen

These pictures, from a Sydney Morning Herald article, are six of the seventy or so children that are being detained, in some cases for years, in some cases for all of their life so far, in Australian immigration detention.

Eleven-month-old Tina’s parents came to Australia in 1996, seeking asylum from China. They have been in Villawood, where Tina was born, since August 2003. Their three-year-old son, Benny, has also grown up in detention.

Speaking through an interpreter, Tina’s father, Hai Lin, said: “When a baby is born it is very healthy, very lovely. But now, without proper food here, the baby cry all the time and is angry and upset, and often there is high fever. I wish, I wish just for the Government to allow the release of parents to give our children proper medicine. My baby is not normal anymore. There is no proper medicine. My child don’t know anything and he is growing up now and starting to understand he is kept inside forever.”

This is Saqlain Abbas. He’s about the same age as my son, and has spent the whole of his life in detention, because his Afghani family arrived in Australia without the correct paperwork.

The Australian Medical Association has condemned Australia’s policy as child abuse:

[AMA President] Dr Haikerwal said: “Young children have done nothing wrong and should not be subjected to what is in effect child abuse - being behind barbed wire and not allowed to flourish.”
… the medical association … called at its national conference on Sunday for all children in detention to be freed.

Government backbencher Petro Georgiou has taken a principled stand to speak out against the inhumane policy of his government:

Asylum seekers continue to be detained for periods longer than prison sentences imposed on violent criminals, and may be detained indefinitely.

… There is no independent scrutiny of whether it is necessary to keep people detained for lengthy or indefinite periods

…The harmful effects of long-term detention on detainees’ mental and physical health have been documented by health experts, and the Federal Court recently found that the Government failed in its duty of care to provide adequate services to psychiatrically ill long-term detainees at the Baxter detention centre.

… One of the enduring strengths of this nation is our commitment to justice, tolerance and compassion for others. Our treatment of refugees and asylum seekers who have arrived uninvited must surely reflect those deeply held values.

Chilout have lots more, including a whole load of things you can do about it. Please do.

We cannot stand by and witness the mistreatment of children carried out in our name and on our behalf.

This is an issue of human rights, not politics.

Now this is a funny propaganda piece for organic produce… Store Wars

Use the farm, Cuke. Reach out with your peelings.

By the way, by using the word ‘propaganda’ I don’t mean to imply something negative; I have a lot of sympathy for the cause promoted by the film. The film is propaganda (”information that is spread for the purpose of promoting some cause”), and it doesn’t pretend to be anything else.

There are some things that can place great strain on a friendship. Boasting about your new Powerbook is one of them….

Look, I need help. Seriously. My work starts offering new laptops paid for by salary sacrifice, and I just can’t help myself. A week or so later and I have a brand new PowerBook. I blame this on genetic flaws. Something to do with the Y chromosome, definitely.

The full story I’ll save for another day, but for now I’ll just gloat over my new hardware.

And gloat he does. But I can take it. I’m mature enough not to be totally consumed with envy.

In the New Yorker, Anthony Lane expresses clear opinions about Star Wars III.

The general opinion of “Revenge of the Sith” seems to be that it marks a distinct improvement on the last two episodes, “The Phantom Menace” and “Attack of the Clones.” True, but only in the same way that dying from natural causes is preferable to crucifixion.

Is it the annoying robots?

I still fail to understand why I should have been expected to waste twenty-five years of my life following the progress of a beeping trash can and a gay, gold-plated Jeeves.

But that’s not the heart of his complaint:

No, the one who gets me is Yoda. May I take the opportunity to enter a brief plea in favor of his extermination? Any educated moviegoer would know what to do, having watched that helpful sequence in “Gremlins” when a small, sage-colored beastie is fed into an electric blender. … Also, while we’re here, what’s with the screwy syntax? Deepest mind in the galaxy, apparently, and you still express yourself like a day-tripper with a dog-eared phrase book. “I hope right you are.” Break me a fucking give.

I’m sure this is all true. And Star Wars parts I and II both sucked.

But I’m still going to go and see it.

BBC news (and many other places) are carrying the story of the mystery pianist who has turned up in Kent. It reads like an unlikely movie plot; or perhaps a chapter from an Oliver Sacks book…

The man has not said a word since police picked him up wandering the streets of Sheerness, Kent, in a soaking wet suit and tie on 7 April.

His social worker Michael Camp said the man, in his 20s or 30s, is usually very anxious but “comes alive” at the piano.

Orchestras around Europe are being contacted to see if they know him.

…The man’s talent came to light after staff at the Medway Maritime Hospital gave him a pen and paper in the hope he would write his name.

Instead the patient, dubbed The Piano Man, drew very detailed pictures of a grand piano.

The man shocked staff with a performance of classical music after Mr Camp showed him the piano in the hospital’s chapel.

But what is this bit about…?

She said that the labels had been removed from every item of clothing the man was wearing when he was found on The Broadway in Minster, Sheerness.

sA over at Progressive Ink has some thoughts about this:

There’s even a disclaimer, obviously placed there by the BushFish.org folks, that reads: PLEASE NOTE: The Bush Fish does not suggest that President Bush is Divine. It is intended to represent Christian Republicans who support the President’s position on God’s role in government.

Little tip, free of charge, of course: “If you have to say something like, “The Bush Fish does not suggest that President Bush is Divine,” then you probably went a little too far with the whole thing … don’t you think?

Just a little…

I deleted my extended rant about this subject before posting because I can’t find language which is adequate to express my views but still suitable for a public forum. Suffice to say that I questioned the motives, sanity, humanity, christianity and parentage of those behind this.

Ozy and Millie: No dice

If you haven’t yet read Ozy and Millie from start to finish, do so. When you have a few spare hours. Then go and buy some of Craig Simpson’s merchandise. Buy it for me, if you don’t want to buy it for yourself…

I work for a company which, among other things, makes software for call centres - including those incredibly annoying ones that call you at the least convenient time. That’s not the part of the company I work in, so I feel little need to defend them; but when I have, I’ve generally argued that improving the quality of information which a company uses when choosing who to call is good for everyone: the higher proportion of calls that get a positive response, the happier the company is, and the fewer customers they’ve upset. The same argument, of course, applies to targetted advertising…

So I was depressed to get a call from my mobile phone company today (in order to not protect the guilty, I shall refer to this company only as “Vodafone”). The call went something like this:

Me: Hi, Chris speaking.
Vodafone: This is [name] from Vodafone. I’m calling to let you know about some new plans that might be of interest to you. Is now a good time?
Me: Not great, but I can spare a minute or two.
Vodafone: Fantastic. Now, do you remember receiving a letter from us about new plans in the last couple of weeks?
Me: No, but I probably just recycled it.
Vodafone: [forced laugh]. OK, well it looks as if you spend about $25 per month on your mobile phone bill, is that correct?
Me: Yeah, that would be about right.
Vodafone: Well, in that case [short pause, keyboard clicking noises] the plan you are currently on is probably the best one for you. Thank you for your time.
Me: [Too stunned at this to even think of a witty comeback]. Thank you.

The Geek Test rates me

23.4714% - Geek

Only someone writing a test for Geekness would feel they should quote the result to six significant figures…

Nu Cardboard: All the Fives

…in a few hours, the time will be 05:05:05UTC on 05/05/05. Woohoo! Nerds rejoice!

At halfbakery there’s a related proposal I’d love to see implemented: Odometer Serendipitous Pattern Notification Device

A factory-installed or after-market option which sits inline with your odometer or computer (you’ll need to tell the mechanical version the current mileage). The device comes pre-programmed with most interesting patterns, but the user can dis/en/able general types of patterns to reduce the frequency of notification. Furthermore, the user can store a small number of individually chosen patterns (birthday, phone number, etc).

A mile/kilometer or two prior to the odometer event, the device chimes in an unobtrusive manner to notify the driver. Basking in the glow of the serendipitous occurance, the driver overcomes lifes little annoyances for the rest of the day. After all, isn’t it the little things that make life enjoyable?

Seriously. I want one.