Category: Politic

Change in the Air
by Kimliatach

‘This changes everything’ is an astonishing book. Clearly a book I have been needing to read for some time. I’m at about 7 of 20 hours in and I am just blown away. No other document I have ever read about climate change has ever spoken so clearly about the hard realities of facing climate change, nor has any other document at the same time offered such reasonable hopes.

I don’t yet know what my response will be, it is very clear to me that I have become too complacent, too apathetic, too comforatable looking away. I will not ignore it any more, what I will do remains to be seen.

I write this five weeks before my family and I fly to the other side of the world, around Europe and back like the comfortable twenty percenters we are.

I am increasingly aware that global warming is not presently the headline issue it needs to be in both Australia’s and Americas elections this year. America at least has one potential candidate who is treating the issue with seriousness here in Australia neither of our majors want to talk about it and The Greens present marketing isn’t I’m sad to say, going to rock the status quo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxLwmGPMLJk

 

I just love rockstar statistician Hans Rosling have some more if you liked that one. Start with my favourite and the close second.

Build Complete

Finished my saw horses which involved almost a complete rebuild of the first. My joinery leaves a little to be desired, but they are solid, square and built to fit me. Nice and tall at almost 800mm high so I don’t have to bend over to much but also not so high that it is uncomfortable to brace a piece with a foot. I was keeping a build log but I abandoned it in a fit of pique at my carpentry ineptitude, I’ll persevere with the next project regardless. Thinking of trying to film it in fact. There is room in the design for a cross brace between the legs but it doesn’t appear necessary at the moment.

Saw-Horses

All timber scavenged from the tip, screws from my now dwindling collection.  Looking forward to using them in the next project.

Creative

No painting last night making up for it this evening, pressing on with the castle.

 

 

 

Blue Oysters
by Kimliatach

Daily

Lots of driving, a tip run which yielded a much more limited supply of timber than hoped and some more unsatisfactory carpentry. I didn’t finish the second sawhorse today. Borrowed an old saw and wood plane from the farm today hoping to achieve cleaner cuts. Instead although finer the saw cannot cut straight and the wood plane needs new handles, disassembly and sharpening before it can be used, reverted to my own tools and am facing the same assembly stability issues as on the first, at least I am not having to do it squatting on concrete though.

We are eyeing up the creation of a fence dividing the front from the back yard so we can allow our hens to free range more and stop our youngest F from bolting straight out the front to rattle the gate whenever he has his boots on. The hen house needs a better handle for moving it because at present the mover has to be very close to its wall which is awkward. The dump has again furnished me with the timber required for this modification. I find the tip a terribly depressing place it is all so wasteful, the wall of green waste which could be enriching the local parched soils, the mountain of mixed metals and the disgusting fly blown scree of plastic is disgusting and filthy in more ways than one.

Finished ‘Career of Evil‘ while taking a crowbar to palettes and crates at the tip. It stumped me in the end as with the others. I was about half way though by the time I got around to googling Blue Oyster Cult lyrics from which are used in every chapter heading and elsewhere throughout the book. I was half convinced they were fictional as if I have heard before I have no recollection of it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdXfkkyI1nQ

Politic

Immediately began a book which has been on my need to listen list for months now ‘This Changes Everything‘ Naomi Klein. It is of course infuriating but very, very good. I downloaded it after reading this excerpt last year and have postponed or as she says ‘looked away’ since then.  I am self assessing my own political complacency in recent years already so we are of to a worthy start only an hour or two in.

Noticed that one of my former teachers and generally cool person Dr. Kristen Lyons has recently announced as The Greens federal candidate for Moreton. An area I have lived in repeatedly, getting the candidacy seems unlikely at this point but not impossible. As always I will be encouraging everyone I can in both left and right politics give their first preference to the greens or minor parties as I don’t believe either of the majors deserve the $2.50 in campaign finance a first preference is worth to them.

Creative

Began colouring the castle last night a little preemptively as the ink layer needs another pass. But it was cathardic to see such progress on a card that has taken such a long time already. Update picture soon.

Links

This lovely thing

Ma’agalim – Jane Bordeaux from Uri Lotan on Vimeo.

Thanks to this for reminding me that I haven’t touched my colouring project in a week or more.

 

Go home Hut. You are drunk.

A photo posted by @liatach on

Sleep and chicken politics
by Kimliatach

A week of very bad bedtimes. Weening from the bottle compounded by sleep training and long and busy days have left both of the parents in this house worn down.

Depressing political maneuvers abound today. Federal regulation of free range eggs at categorical failure in all but one respect. Egg cartons must now display stocking density on the pack. 10000 hens in 1ha shed with a tiny caged patio they can choose to visit will continue to be called ‘free range’ in many states and will override the better requirements some states had maintained. I even went so far as to call the relevant ministers office yesterday,  for all that it accomplished. Despite now having hens it will be some time before they adjust and even at peak laying we will still need to supplement with purchased eggs. It is disheartening when the big supermarkets can essentially write their own regulations. 

That is hardly the worst thing proposed today but I don’t have the energy to really let rip on the monumental idiocy of this proposal.

I accomplished nothing last night and am not long for bed this evening looking forward to painting just as I am able. N has been making progress in the garden and restoring an antique table from degraded enamel whitewash. My birdbath is a failure until the interior of the dish is enameled the metal oxidises so quickly the water turns to a nasty orange soup in the course of the day. Going to start the sawhorse project this weekend.

Windy Day
by Kimliatach

Daily

Kindergarten today. Nothing makes children go completely bananas like windy weather and we had wind and rain in abundance today.

Politic

Continuing from yesterday’s topic. The ludicrous behavior in the senate reached new heights overnight with federal Labor staging a 30+ hour filibuster in attempt to block senate voting reform which has in the end passed anyway. I am a fan of this particular change and I approve it on the basis of expert advice. Preference deals are just one of the shady elements in our Federal politic and removing them for good benefit our democracy even if the consequence in the short term is a LNP majority in both houses. I can’t believe I just wrote that. Nothing good will ever come of the LNP getting a double majority ever again. The very idea is terrifying. The forthcoming election, likely to occur while we are in Scotland, if the PM uses his DD triggers, will be hard fought but presently still looks likely to be won by the buffoons in power at the moment despite their glaring ineptitude and malignance. For now I’m praying that the ALP have hired some competent PR this time around. Their behaviour this week doesn’t lend credence to the idea unfortunately.

Creative

Only managed a sketch an half last night and I’ll be lucky to get that half done tonight. It has been a long and exhausting week.

 

Bad politics
by Kimliatach

Finding myself infuriated by the actions of the Federal ALP today. Following their pattern over the last couple of months, ever since it was revealed a number of wet Labor strongholds are now under direct threat from the Greens the ALP have been on the attack and spreading deliberate and disingenuous misinformation about the Greens. Culminating this week in an attempt to derail senate voting reform by suggesting the senate talk, not vote, about gay marriage. Then accusing the Greens of voting against marriage equality all over social media when they sided with government to continue working on the sorely needed senate voting reform. Only today to chicken out of actually voting for marriage equality when given the opportunity.

Such pathetic pollies this batch.

In the US Sanders took a beating on Tuesday and it is now hard to remain hopeful. There remains a chance and given I think it is either him or Trump as the next president I’m going to cling to that hope. I genuinely believe Hillary has no chance against Trump. He will wipe the floor with her like Reagan did to carter in 1980.

Apart from the fact that she may be about to be indicted, apart from the fact that her campaign has again been characterised by blatant lying, amnesia and manipulation. Apart from the fact that she characterised the Iraq war as a business opportunity. She hasn’t got what both Sanders and Trump have, outsider status and unfortunate and scary as it is some Sanders supporters are apparently considering Trump preferable to Clinton if Sanders is eliminated.

Creative

Only just now sitting down to create some more sketch print drafts of evolution cards. With a helping of Mr.Robot on the other monitor.

 

 

Tuesday 15th
by Kimliatach

Media

Started watching ‘Dirty Wars‘ while painting during nap time today. Infuriating stuff.

Finally got around to starting ‘Mr.Robot‘ last night. Widely recommended to us months ago. Two episodes in and loving on Christian Slater channeling Tyler Durden. Made easier no doubt, by the fact that there was a time when I thought he was one of the coolest men on earth. Looking forward to slamming another few episodes this evening.

I’ve been listening to ‘The Consolations of Philosophy‘ for a couple of hours now. Loving it and find excuses to snatch minutes here and there.

Creative

A pair of sketch drafts completed during nap time, though one was a redo of previously completed sketch. At fourteen of fourty-four as of now. Sharing the two cards I made a couple of weeks ago as I can now be sure they are safely with their recipients. Both are single layer papercut and ink on card.

J-card

Vale-card-2

 

More insects…

Small #moth on my keyboard. Approx 10mm. #macro #insect #lepidoptera

A photo posted by @liatach on

 

And an Amazing gallery of work by Sergey Kolesov. Includes a number of pieces of his I have not seen before.

Sex Ed
by Kimliatach

This was in the feed this morning and I watched it with coffee. I think he makes some really good points…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Hoy3axy8C0

but he doesn’t go so far as to offer up idioms that can replace the demonstrably outdated baseball language.

 

Relevant XKCD

Alt Text: I once got to second base with a basketball player. She was so confused.

 

I think the way we do sex education in Australia needs a fundamental overhaul

For starters it is done too late. It is not uncommon for students to not have covered this area at school prior to high school biology. Which is long after most children will have begun forming completely erroneous connections about sex, particularly so in the age of internet porn. Ideally a number of fundamentals should have been covered well and truly prior to the embarrassment of puberty setting in. Girls should not be being shocked and frightened by their first periods. Boys need some lessons in hygiene and safety. Safety, both personal and public is the fundamental basis of this idea.

All children need to be explicitly taught what consent means, how it can be offered, when it can be taken away and what the responsibilities of each party is at every step of the way.

All children need to be made aware that ‘normal’ encompasses a huge and divergent variety of body types, relationships, attractions and desires.

All children need to be taught something of the nature of what is taboo in our culture and why. They should not be learning that bestiality is wrong from South Park first. See also ‘Consent’, again.

I am very grateful that I underwent puberty prior to ubiquitous smartphone ownership. The trauma and embarrassment was quite sufficient without preserving it forever in digital archives. Sex ed for me was high school biology and a little health. It was dull, embarrassing and pretty forgettable. I have seen only a few examples of any human biology and reproduction taught in my time as a teacher and I have explicitly delivered no such content. It has not been in my curriculum, I have argued for its inclusion a number of times, particularly when working with older grades but I have not won those arguments. I have read parts of the forthcoming ACARA health curriculum and I am pleased to see sex ed included from middle primary onwards. But I do seriously question how many schools will implement that particular curriculum, let alone allocate class time and teach it in the memorable and interesting way it deserves.

I think that many teachers are afraid that the public is more puritanical than they actually are, or that there are a few particularly vocal and zealous parents who will make trouble for them and the faculty if this content is introduced in primary schools.

Arming our children with the knowledge to experiment safety when they are old enough is to my mind far better than sending our children into puberty unarmored. If done well in time organisations like Safe Schools wouldn’t even be necessary and we might even put a dint in the frighteningly high rate of teen suicide in this country.

An example of Sex Ed done right. This is delivered for 8 year olds.

 

 

 

Daily

Swimming, painting, eating Ice Cream talking to friends on the phone. A good day with yet more painting to do.

 

 

Tickets and Shiny Things
by Kimliatach

Tonight we bought tickets!

Our journey will begin mid May flying north to a changeover in Tokyo Haneda then over the pole to Heathrow and from there on to Glasgow. We will be returning late September via Singapore. Thanks to a very able attendant at Flight Centre we were able to lock in the bargain flight we found using this with slight alterations so we have no airport changes and no unpleasantly long layovers. Feeling rather excited to finally be locking things into place. We tried very hard to find a way to spend a few days in Japan but in the end it wasn’t achievable. We will get less than three hours to stretch our legs before the long haul over the pole.

The new laptop arrived and it is a beauty. It has so little bloatware I don’t even need to do a clean windows install to begin with which is nice. I’ve barely begun transferring things over or installing software and I need to get cracking making this lavish purchase work for me. Much as I would to see how well it can hack Witcher 3 at max settings there is no time like the present.

New computer! That’s a sand dune on my desktop I assure you.

A photo posted by @liatach on


Politic

Disappointing results from Super Tuesday in the US making a Trump vs. Clinton election ever more likely and frightening because I don’t believe she can beat him. I cannot adequately articulate the unspeakable horror of a Trump presidency…

 

tony nodding

Even Tony Abbott’s performance as PM would pale into insignificance by comparison. I believe Sanders could beat him and he is not out of the race yet but the handicap is now very, very large.

 

Link

I’m not allowed to buy things or I would be backing the hell out of this.