Are you Pro Terrorism or Anti-Government? Is there a difference?

John Howard and the State Premiers have agreed to introduce a raft on new legislations to “combat the threat of terrorism”.  Essentially, these extend the authority of Federal Police to detain suspects without charge via electronic tag and home detention for 12 months at a time.  A whole year… of being confined to your house… WITHOUT CHARGE.  Essentially the government now has the authority to lock people away from society for no more than a notional view of theirs that you are a potential terrorist.

Apparently the government has information that they have 800 people on file as suspects that could be a party to terrorist activities in Australia.  Eight Hundred.  Eight Hundred people who apparently are plotting terrorism?

Seriously, where do they get these numbers?  I attended a seminar for work on terrorism and security and a very senior Federal Policeman told the audience of people in charge of public and private infrastructure that there was no real terrorist activity in Australia although Willie Brigitte was a member of al-Qaeda.  So we have gone from zero to 800 in a bit over 12 months?!

Let me tell you the real reason for the magical 800 and the new legislation to protect us from them… it’s the governments view to rule the country by fear and to keep the public paranoid about a perceived threat.  In 4 years, we have had two major terrorist events in two cities on the other side of the world from Australia.  Yes they happened, and they were tragic, but why do we suddenly need these new draconian, anti-constitutional laws that deny people their democratic rights as citizens of Australia?

Its simply because Howard wants to remain in power and needs to continually demonstrate his tough stance and his role on the world stage, which in all honesty is two fifths of sweet FA.

To the Federal Police monitoring internet traffic for pro-terrorism (read anti-government) propaganda, my email details are on the right hand side there of your screen.

A hot shitty day

I can't believe my work today... at about 1:30 today, the air con ceased to function. I sit by the window and have a weezy vent above me and the sound it makes all day dims into background noise that you don't notice until it stops... suddenly...



It wasnt hot today, but it never came back on at all and come 6pm tonight when I left the office, it was rather "funky" in the office. One of the girls in the team is 8.999 months pregnant and she was feeling rather feint and quesy this afternoon.



About 4pm, an email came out from the facilities guy saying that there was an electrical trip and that A/C wouldnt be on until the morning...



Then I heard a little rumour that they have actually shut the A/C down for maintenance deliberately and because they wanted to skimp on money, they did it during the day rather than pay penalty rates for night work. Given I work in a 24 story building there would have been about 1200 pissed off people today.



My company doesnt own the building, but we are the principal tenant and the owner of the building believe it or not is a filthy rich Singaporean widower who is as tight as a fishes arsehole. Hence the credence to the rumour...



To top a perfect day, my carriage was cut down to 4 carriages and whilst I got a seat, it was cramped. Then when the passengers slowly filtered off and free seats became available the guy sitting next to me didnt get up and give us some room. He was also one of those arm rest hogs. I was up against the window and the Blue Mountain trains have armrests like movie theatres do... protocol is that the middle rest belongs to the guy in the window seat while the aisle rest belongs to the guy on the aisle - sounds reasonable. Well this guy was a "I'm entitled to both arm rests" kinda guy. Well I was punching away on the laptop and found my arm hanging on the keyboard in desperate need of a rest and he's reading his New Christian Daily newspaper sprawled out across both rests.



*SHOVE* I go... and get momentary relief. Then when I am mid typing and hence elbow leaves the rest he sticks his elbow back on the rest.



The arsehole - good christian type too! - plays this silly game all the way to Lapstone where he got off. He could have moved at Blacktown and by the time he did get off, I was ready to bloody hit him.



So hot, tired and sweaty from the office and a cramped train i got home... Niki offers me a beer instead of my usual mineral water and the treadmill fades away for the evening as I watch the NFL on Fox.....

Fumbbl Cup IV

I have signed up for the Fumbbl Cup. The Fumbbl Cup is essentially the global world cup of Blood Bowl. Any registered coach is able to enter one team in a variety of qualifying tournaments with the ultimate aim of getting to the final 32 teams which will be a straight knock out.

The method to get these final 32 teams is incredibly confusing and I rate myself a snowballs chance in hell. I have though been drawn against a rookie coach from Germany who has only ever won one game of Blood Bowl on fumbbl.

I will keep you updated on my progress, I have two weeks to get the match played.



Fumbbl Cup IV :: FUMBBL :: Online Blood Bowl League: "

Do you have what it takes to win the

"

Greystanes Cricket - Round 2

Greystanes opened their home ground this weekend and it has to be the driest patch of dirt this side of the Great Dividing Range! The field was bone dry and the grass was dead and the council has “aerated” the field to try and get some life back into it. The result is this dust bowl:

On the plus side, the home game saw a BBQ set up and Big Nick Nardo’s “Marque” was erected on the boundary.

Then after a few snags and a chat, Greystanes won the toss and BOWLED!! Yee Gods, skipper Terry Hoban did a Ricky Ponting and sent the opposition in. But it proved successful early on as both Terry and Enoch Harris with the new ball took early wickets to have the opposition at 2/20.

To sum up a long day in the field though, the slow outfield kept the scoreboard down but crucial drop catches saw Wenty Leagues crawl to 153 all out. Terry Hoban was the pick of the bowlers with 5/14.

At stumps in reply, Greystanes are 1/8 off 8 overs with Simon Agius the man to fall to what appeared to be a very unlucky LBW decision.

With the rain this week, the outfield should green up a bit and settle down to ensure Greystanes remain at undefeated after 2 rounds.

(More photos available in the Lime Kettles Photo Album)

Bloody football...

Spent Saturday night at the Aussie Stadium to see my team the Dragons play the Tigers for a spot in the Grand Final. You can read all about it in the papers, but I am basically gutted. Can't blame anyone, can't blame the ref, St George were simply outplayed by a Tigers team that threw the ball around and seemed to never make a mistake.

The crowd though was huge and I took the girls to their first really big game. They have been on the grass at Kogarah, WIN and Penrith Stadiums before, but this was their first big game under lights with fixed seating. Kate said "I think the players would be so nervous because their are so many people here... I'd be nervous too if I had to do my dancing in front of all these people."


But to their credit, the girls cheered all night. I spent most of the night with my head in my hands and biting my nails, but the girls were chanting "Saint George! Saint George!" all night right up to the final siren. Brooke was giving the Tigers fans heaps behind us all night...

Kate though took the loss hard as she was very pumped for the game. She was wearing my old jersey and was so excited. But what really was strange was that she was very sad at half time. We asked her what was wrong and she said "St George are losing... they only have 6 points"... Pretty weird seeing your own kids actually giving a shit about the football... I would have loved for the Saints to win just for them not for anything else.

This morning after the game, Kate made for me while I slept in a bit, a big banner sign saying "Go The Dragons!". She even got some poles from the back shed to stick it all together with sticky tape. About 8 A4 pages, some red paint and sticky tape all before I got up...

I can only imagine if we had won... the girls would have been going ballistic.

Good painting, bad camera...

I have come to the realisation that my camera is not real good at capturing miniatures... the paint looks gluggy and hideous. In reality, I am pretty happy at the first one. I will leave the base now too and concentrate on the remaining models and then base them all at once at the end. 

Dwarf Painting - The Inking Process

Stage 2: The inking has just been done (and is still wet). Purple and yellow ink for the clothes, chestnut for the skin and horns (looks crappy atm, I know...) and a black paint wash on the beard... You'll notice the beard has now gone grey. Dont know if a double base coat is a good thing or not yet.

Also I am not too sure about inks... Never really used em before...