Hiatus 2: revenge of the work overload

My last post was three weeks ago. That's OK, because it featured wonderful/tasty pictures of Daniel Craig. To recap: I've finished two presentations, and hand in an essay on flight strategies tomorrow. After that, I may be able to do some more regular posts.

Hiatus time

It's the time of the year, folks. Tomorrow, I will be spirited away to Fort Lorne, in which I will engage in long-distance fitness, intellectualisation (Thomas Paine, bitches!), cleaning and repairing my barely-functioning Vickers, learning stealth and diversionary tactics, and earning a well-earned brake from the front line.

Anyway, I'd like to show a few photos/paintings of my one and only.






And these...


...are the bastards I'm repairing. I'm still on my first guns, and this is how they repay me. Charlie's gone through 11 sets since his first Pup. If he wasn't winning us the war, I'd shoot down that bloody Haig.

The personal and the political

As the various posts under G-BIT can testify to, I am entire pro-gay rights. On marriage, anti-discrimination, child adoption, etc, I am on the side of equality and social justice. On the opposing trench of the culture war are the ‘mo foes: from secular rednecks who believe gays to be ‘sick’ to religulous folk who believe Leviticus 20:33 to be the entirety of the Bible.

Previously, I’ve seen this as a political issue; that of social justice and human rights prevailing over logical fallacies and moral self-righteousness. As gay issues don’t affect me directly, I’ve never seen them as a personal matter. However, this has now changed. One of my friends came out recently (alright, so it was actually months ago, but I’m lazy, OK?). Now, for me, the issue of gay rights suddenly has a face. What was once merely a political movement is now a fellow human being (from now on known as Miss A), who is still a second-class citizen because the cowardly government is too afraid to do what is right, for fear that it will lose the Christian Right vote. Even though passing pro-gay rights legislation (such as those mentioned previously) would in fact be popular and probably boost the ALP’s vote, the party’s ear is firmly tied to that of people and organisations who dedicate their lives to ruining those of others (hmmm, what does THAT remind me of?).

As the title suggests, what was once a political issue has now become very personal. There are people who believe Miss A isn’t worthy of the same basic human rights they take for granted; that she is fundamentally evil human being because of something as otherwise trivial as her sexual orientation. Understandably, I take this as personally as she does. For this reason, the brutality and hatred that lies within the anti-gay populace now seems much harsher and more pointed than it previously did. The good folks at the CDP, the ACL and the AFA want to force Miss A back into the closet so she fits into their myopic view of ‘family’. If she resists, this same folk have set up organisations to ‘cure’ her of her orientation. These ‘pro-family’ forces have the capacity to do tremendous damage to Miss A’s life if they have their ways in gay rights legislation, and, on a wider scale, Australian society’s views on gay rights.

And that’s where the ‘pro-family’ hypocrisy of these organisations comes to an absolute head; they are entirely anti-family. These organisations work to divide parents against their children by repeating countless lies about homosexuality-that it is evil, that it is changeable, that it is the product of emotional child abuse, and so on. This has broken up countless families as misguided parents have rejected their children. If Miss A ever wants to start a family of her own, these same ‘pro-family’ groups will fight tooth-and-nail to prevent her from getting married, undergoing IMF treatment or adopting children, under the mantra that depriving gays of their rights is best for children and society.

Ultimately, Miss A has done me a tremendous favour-not simply for being the fine person and friend she is, but-for me-giving only the strongest reason to remain committed to the rights of gays, bis, intersexes and transgenders. Thankfully, if past civil rights movements are anything to go by, time is is most certainly on our side.

More kittehs!!1!

Given how popular my previous pet post was (the comments almost made halfway to double digits!), here are some more photos for groupthinkers to 'awwww' over. Remember when I said that there were plenty of highly undignified photos of Miffany?

It's no trick of the light-she really is that fat.

Either very bored or very snobbish-I still can't tell.

And who could forget Meral?

Someone's been eating the ritalin-it's the only explanation for the permanently surprised look.

And to round up up the little bundles of scatty, sweet and cantankerous joy-Merlin.

You interrupt by bathtime for this? A photo?

Contortionist kitteh needs new chiropractor.

Quite possible the most undignified photo taken since this.

All this site needs is more sarcasm, and it'll be just like Anonymous Lefty (with more ethnically diverse kittehs).

Mandatory kitteh post.

It seems fashionable these days to have a post on your kittehs. Captain Lefty's doing it. Feministing has it. Even military HQ, bastion of immaturity and sex fetishes, does it. So, I'll do one.

Meet the pets (Ceiling Cat fundies be warned; it includes puppehs as well).


This is Skipper, at 11 years old (in October 07). Summed up by local acquaintance Jamie as "a bad combination of stupidity and determination" referring to her tendancy to pick up rocks and bricks from the bottom of farm dams and carry them to shore. As of 6:22ish 2/2/2009, she was rockin' it up with other dogs in that giant off-leash park in the sky.


This is Buzzwinker, almost 10, notorious for having eaten 4KG of dog food (then requiring a vet to have him throw it up again), eating a wrapped christmas ginger house (wrapping and all), and for eating lethal snail-bait and needing his stomach pumped. Not the cheapest pet, by a long shot. Incidentally, he also came the closest to death: 41.8C, with the cutoff mark for a dog being 42.

This is Bessie Bunter, 4. She also needed her stomach pumped (at the same time as well. Now there was a night to remember). She is by far the brightest, and therefore one of the naughtiest-I've lost count of how many times she's snuck upstairs to eat the kittehs' food.


This is Merlin. Don't let the inquisitive and intelligent appearance deceive you. He is not the brightest spark in the proverbial fire. Despite his chronic laziness (spending 23 55/60 hours sleeping in my sisters room, only leaving in the evening to go downstairs to find her), he routinely gets into fights.


Here's Meral. Commonly known as 'Feral Meral' and 'Mad Meral' because she willingly leaves the house to venture into the yards. She is the most intelligent of the cats (who are, incidentally, all siblings) which isn't saying much to be honest.


This is Miffany. This is an extraordinarily dignified photo of her-there are plenty of worse ones I could have chosen. She is notoriously scatty, and will tear off in a random direction whenever she perceives some sort of danger. However, she also sleeps with the dogs, often lying on top of the dogs for comfort.

I swear, I'll have something interesting soon.

Lolpolitik

Rummaging through my PC files, I came across some home made motivational posters. Ahhh...memories.

T to the A to the P

Recently, I've bought Casino Royale. (I've also bought 2 seasons of Scrubs, so expect some pics of Judy Reyes soon) And when it comes to Daniel 'Holyjesusmutherfuckinchrististhatbodyforreal?!' Craig, the photos speak for themselves.And of course, who can forget...


To Mr. Craig, the tappiest 40 year old since Arnie in T2.

My spiritual journey.

First up-sorry for the constant lack of posts (although the previous post should have kept all readers epically busy). There just isn't much to get outraged by these days*. I'll dig through my articles on the computer and see if there's anything of interest.

I would, however, like to state that I have undergone something of a religious development. Initially, I was an agnostic. It was my hope and belief that there was some sort of beyond-world, where people could be held account for crimes for which they were not held on our world. I never knew what this 'beyond-world' was. It could be the classic Christian idea of heaven and hell. Equally, it could be the Hindu concept of reincarnation. I never went further then this belief.

But, since several days ago, I've begun to hunger for something more. The mere hope that there was something beyond us failed to satisfy me; I needed something more. I wanted more from this life. And through that convoluted process, I became an atheist.

Now there was a predictable plot twist.

Ultimately, I've come to the conclusion that hope in no way means belief. Some sort of beyond-world system of justice (whether this system is dictated by a deity or not is irrelevant. I've never believed in any sort of god) would be great, and it is something I still hope for. However, I've decided that without any observable evidence, this mystical beyond-world simply does not exist.

To finish, I'd like to show a picture I've always enjoyed-a type of futuristic shanty town. Courtesy of MeganeRid of DeviantArt, 'Top of Their World.'


*Perhaps I should start reading the Sun.

Eat sh*t, newfangled technology.

Captain Lefty doesn't like new technology:

Of course, the important thing is that Microsoft got out of its obligation to at a bare minimum expense, and the stores didn’t have to deal with the hassle that comes from the fact that even the third generation Xbox 360s are badly-designed pieces of sh*t that almost all break within the first one to two years.

(my emphasis)

I heartily agree. "First one or two years"??1! I hope he isn't serious-because if he is, then I'm never buying a new console again. If I've forked out hundreds of dollars (and that excluding the games, controllers, memory packs etc) for a piece of machinery designed to entertain, then I want my money's worth. My Nintendo 64 was bought about 1999/2000, and is still running strong. Chances are, there are SNESs and even NESs out there that are, outlasting their sh*ttier brethren.

Gaming consoles...they don't make 'em like they used to.

Yes! We have power!

You wouldn't believe the past near-2 weeks I've had. 12 days ago, one of our spies took this photo from within the enemy's HQ, before being captured and executed.



General Blair has unleashed kamikaze winged monkeys to bomb our communication systems. These primitives, although low in intellect, are vast in number and have destroyed a number of intelligence facilities, which left us temporarily defenceless. Thankfully, winged monkeys are not bred for their wit (a mindless soldier is, after all, a loyal soldier) and in their ecstasy of destruction, we were able to regroup.

For the past 12 days we've been using WW1 methods (morse code, pigeons, horses, antique tanks etc) for our defense. It was, I can assure you all, not pretty. Thankfully, We were able to set up a temporary computer system to regain footing for the war (hence, the return to posting).



Unfortunately, we have been forced to use early 20th-century technology to build it.

Mission to Lorne: FAIL

I've been away for a few days (difficult to notice given how few posts are written here) down at Lorne, a small outpost from the main battlefield HQ of Melbourne. My mission was simple: enter nature reserve in a civilian territory, and take key shots of areas that would be useful hiding areas against teh enemy. There was, however, a minor hitch: I forgot to bring the photography equipment. If it weren't for the poor communications, I would have certainly been court martialled to General Mother.

Private's success in continuing the culture war: FAIL.