Ass-Crafters

Minecraft is the new indie game going around. It's a game where you're a miner. You mine blocks. Its a blocky, randomly generaated world with lava and water and enemies and gold and all that epic stuff. There are even trees, and they grow.

It's still in Alpha, which is like pre-pre release, so most games aren't even announced to the public at this stage. Well, minecraft is both announced and out there, being played and bought (Half price in alphaa, three-fourths when it moves up to beta, and then full price at release) by many many people. It has about as much functionality as many normal, full priced games, and with a big haloween update coming up soon, which includes and ENTIRELY NEW FUCKING DIMENSION OF TITS AND LAVA AND AWESOME (okay, maybe not tits. But we can hope, right Notch?). Okay, so Notch, the guy who makes the game, does a lot of updating. New block type, new item, new whatevers, it's an update. He has Secret Friday updates, where he updates, hands out the files (every update after you buy the game is free) and leaves you to find the new whizz-bang. So yeah, he updates a lot.

He's also swedish, I think. But whutever.

Now this notchman puts a lot of his time into this game. He has an entire community of fans, a brilliant game, and wild ambitions. And now, he's releasing a mega-haloween-update. Its fucking huge, and it includes stuff that people have been begging for (or at least contemplating) for ages. He's nice enough to put it in. Well, it's not really nicety, it's simple economics. But the development process is really interactive, and the community plays a huge part in forming the game. In fact, I think at one point there was a guy from the forums that made a zombie-pigman texture, and its set to be included in the update.

This mega-update has put a halt to the slew of weekly mini updates for a month or so, because this shit is huge. And fair enough. I mean, he's condensing this all, bugtesting it and pouring away hours into this, just for you people, half of you that probably pirated that shit anyway. But he's not too concerned about piracy, because if you love the game, you love him and its only ten fucking dollars people.

Stopping updates for a while to release this update seems like a reasonable idea, and all of the mine-crafters, or mine-craftians, agree. Well, almost all of them.

Some of them are raging dicks. I shit you not, some people have a huge problem with this.

Some people were so annoyed they DDOSed (denial of serive attack) his servers and websites, making them completley useless for a while. Then they sent this message:

" Minecraft is currently experiencing a stimulation provided by us.

It's purpose is to send Notch a clear message of how the future of minecraft will turn out unless he gets to work, namely by influencing the amount of sales taking place, due to the attacks.

Start providing your customers with the updates that you promise them.

We have roughly 83,000 bots available, and preserved for this seizure, we could if we wanted to keep this going for weeks, however we have decided to give it a week, and see whether or not your attitude, and commitment will change, we believe it will when money stops rolling in for the time being...

anyhow, no we're not from roblox, or any other minecraft clone, not to mention none of us have been around 4chan for years, and nor has any real 4channers for that matter, its all newfags now, and has been for quite a few years. Hurr we're a bunch of fags who don't understand economics, time management or game development"

Well, they said almost all of that, aside from everything after the "hurr", but it's true. Listen the the sheer arrogance of these arseholes. Read it.

Look ,if you have a problem with the man taking time of from regular uptates, TALK THE THE MAN. He'd be more than happy to let something slip your way, like sneak peeks or even little updates. He's a nice man, and if you were that desperate, he's help you out.

But if you think that attacking his website is going to solve anything, you're a fucktard. He is an indie game developer. He has a limited ammount of time. He can only work on one thing at a time and his work is giong to be two things: Work on the game, or work on the website and community.

If he needs to get shit running on his website, he can't work on the game. You are slowing the entire process down.

Also, lets take another look at that statement, "a simulation". It's not an accurate simulation at all, since most people are reasonable and can understand why he's not spoonfeeding you arseholes constand updates. HE HAS OTHER WORK TO DO. FUCK YOURSELF WITH A RAKE. People will still buy the game, and your righteous assholery solves nothing. At all.

Let him get back to doing what he loves, and we love. Take your primitive understanding of people, time management, economics and life in general, and shove it somewhere painful. You are not entitled to any of this shit, you didn't even pay the full price, and nothing either of these parties signed ever dicated that constant updates would be an all-prevelant reality. He's doing his best, and you are happily crushing his spirit. There is just so much wrong with this attack, I must dub you all Ass-Crafters. You craft ass.

Fuck you, ass crafters, and take your DDOS with you. Nobody loves you.

Heh, Ass-Crafters.

Anthony: Civic Duty

Haven't posted for a while, and the others have pretty much given up. We've got our exams, and life, and whatever the fuck we happen to be doing right now. I've been writing, which reminds me, I have an English assignment dues sometime next week. I might want to start that sometime.

But really, I've not got anything to yell about. I've expended most of my 'care' on things that direcly affect me, using it all up and leaving none to spare for the bizzare inctricacies that make up the rest of the human race, and certainly none for entertaining you lot.

Nevertheless, with only 2 blog posts in the same ammount of months, I feel I've got some sort of duty to get up here on my poor, dented soap box and rave a little, especialy since it's going to be the last for another little while. Maybe two weeks, maybe another month. Regardless, here's a post. It yells about some things I'm not even sure about as I type this, and it's probably going to veer all over the place like a drunk midget driving a semitrailer in the Russian countryside, mid-winter, carrying a load of freshly murdered nuns in a fifty-foot long trailer, while on fire. Also he's blind, and I'm just wasting time.

Lets see... stupid people. I've farmed that one a few times, but maybe I can squeeze a little bit more out of it? I mean, there are plenty of stupids out there. My old favourite breeding ground for the fucked-in-the-head, youtube, still never fails to deliver a great steaming heap of ignorance to my monitor every day, and with their new auto-update feature, I can see the undammed hatred and stupidity flow on in REAL TIME! Golly, how amazing.

Pretty much every single one of these comments could be sloved by making the writer do one of two things: Either do some fucking research, or take a step back, take a REAL fucking deep breath, and realize that it's the internet, and contrary to popular opinion, it's not serious bizness.

I'm not backing up on the reasearch idea though. It should be mandatory that people have to be even the SLIGHTEST bit informed about whatever they are typing. I'm all for freedom of speech, but when knee-jerk uninformed spam starts to flood the general medium, some sort of quality filter has to be imposed. I suggest a neat little feature that automaticaly googles the supject in question in a new tab whenver you try to post. I manage to do it, and it solves arguments just like that. five days, three pages and five-and-twenty buckets of hate, or just a simple few words searched into google. Whick is preferable?

It also gives you time to cool off, so that's both problems in one.
God, I'm a genius.

I'm not really sure anyone checks their posts, either, what with all the spelgin mistkaes and the incorrect gramatical sentences, the terrible bad phrasing and the general shoddiness of the sentences formed, you can TELL nobody checkes their psots.

THat should be a new feature: One that reads your comment back to you, giving you a chance to realize how fucking retarded that just was. Ideally, it would also have a keyword and phrase based stupid-o-meter, and it would fatally eletrocute you if your score fell bellow "cuttlefish". It's not hard to be coherent, people. If a small, fleshy sea-animal is doing it better than you, well. All I can say is; Gather up the shotguns, it's cullin' time.

But I've said this all before. It's getting old. We KNOW people are stupid. What else is there? Politics? No, that's jsut stupid people with power. Rights? Equality? Religion? They're all just a matter of differing viewpoints, and there's enough yelling and debate about that already.

Education? Okay.

I hate the shit. It's not organized properly, it fustrates and confines me.

Thats about it.


...


Fuck.



Waaait.... Illegal products? No, that's Alexes job, because it requres research, and despide my advocacy of said activity, I refuse to take part.

Trends and the public opinion? James. And he's off being crickety or some shit.

Global warming? Censorship? How I;m a misunderstood genius?

Fuck this shiiiit. Just read through the archives, laugh, don't take too much of it seriously, and have some fun.

Anthony: Not dead.

Neither am I really in a blogging mood.
STFU.

Anthony: Right to be Disgruntled

Fuck you and your first-world problems. Kids are starving, entire religions persecuted and families living on grains of rice, but oh no, your cellphone won't charge, or your parents insist you spend time actually preparing for exams, or god forbid, get a job.

So fuck you guys, stop being so selfish, don't take everything for granted. Right?

No.

Screw that. I live in a first-world country, I have first world privliges, and I'm not just going to give any of this up so you people can feel better about trying to help others.
What the hell do you people get off on, telling everyone they need to be greatfull for everything? Sure, it's great to be free and rich, and goddamn, we have so much more than so many other people. You think I don't know that? You think I'm not aware of the millions that live terrible lives? You think I don't appreciate what I have?

I do. Immensely. But I'll be dammned if I'm going to spend my every waking moment either in active praise and appreciation of the fact, or sitting around feeling guilty for it. No, I'm going to be out using it. That's what it's there for. Funny that.

How do you want me to display my praise and amazement at modern technology? Pray to the kettle? Have a freakout every time I see a computer? Seizure at toasters?
They were invented. They're useful. Now stop using them as guilt-leverage, or I swear by whatever god happens to be the most convenient at the time, I will shove the nearest appliance inside an orifice of yours where it just shouldn't go, and we'll see how much you appreciate its existance then, shall we?

Same goes for feeling miserable.
I hate people who pull the "oh some people have it worse" card. So fucking what if that guy has no legs? Does that somehow stop me from being able to feel misery?
If shit breaks, I'm going to complain because it violates my standard of living. Yes, it's not great, good or even acceptable that some people will never even hear of half the things I have that exist to simply make my life that little bit easier.

But if they break, or I have a bad day, for the love of satan just let me be. I don't want to hear about how some people have no organs, eyes or limbs and can still be happy. Is that shit supposed to make me feel better? Or just guilty for not being crippled?

Either way, it's not working. It's just making me angry and sad. Angry at the stupidity of the people who use this as personal leverage against me, and sad at the fact that other people haven't shot aforementioned people.

Once again, the same goes for ambition. I will strive for perfection, happiness or at least a comfy seat and decent movie, because I can. Sure, that guy strives to overcome a crippling disease, but do I happen to be him? Am I responsible for him?
No. Then in what way does the existance of him and his disease stop me from trying to get further in life?

It's not that I don't care about other peoples problems, it's that I care more about myself than them. There's no way that their inconvenience with major life barriers is going to stop me from grumbling at the slow startup time of my epic computer. We just have different standards of living, different things to complain about and different things to do. So let me do my shit and spend the time you would have spent being righteous at me, helping them.

Or you could just be a complete twat. You know, you've already got that down quite well.

WE ARE ALL EQUALS ~ALEX

Let me start this post with a disclaimer, just to prevent any interjections, although that sort of thing is not likely. I am not racist, nor am I sexist, nor do I have any generalised prejudice against any sort of majority or minority on the face of this earth, perhaps with the exception of Nazis, although thats not really up to me to judge, so I would just leave them alone. But there is one thing about all this that really pisses me off; The strive for equality.

Alright, I believe that women should be able to vote, work etc. I also share this same point of view for anyone of any race or type. However, I believe that discrimination should not be something we force upon people.

We live in a "banned" society as of the mid to late 2000's - for all I know it could have started in the 1990's. If we don't like something, we ban it. That's that. This
is the worst sort of political stance, in my opinion, and I would never have full support for anyone who saw issues in such a way. Of course, that is not to say opinion is wrong, however there are absolutely no issues that are so black and white that banning is necessary. After all, those who do not support something can just avoid it can't they? For the sake of argument, we'll look at smoking in the workplace. At this point in time, 2010, smoking in Australia is banned in all indoor workplaces as well as many outdoor areas. Everyone has the right to a smoke-free workplace. Many companies now refuse to hire smokers because they believe that the breaks smokers take throughout the day result in unproductivity. I am not going to say that everyone should smoke indoors, its absurd and would result in many health problems, as well as the immediate effects such a measure would have on people with asthma. But, if we were to go back before the ban and play out events differently, it would result in new circumstances. Many companies would realise that their hiring pools are dwindling due to their smoky environments, and many would start to VOLUNTARILY ban smoking. Others would not uphold the ban, and both smokers and non-smokers would be happy.

Discrimination is banned. Now, maybe its just me, but I dont see how such a thing is possible. Discrimination is a mindset, and while many people VOLUNTARILY ban discrimination by not practicing it themselves, I believe many people are entitled to their prejudices, so long as no violence is committed or anything dangerous comes out of it. People are people, and they will always have a certain view on the world, and it is not the job of a government, a union or any other organisation to alter it. So of course, in the age of banned discrimination, a new problem rises; "If I treat those of a minority as disadvantaged, will I be seen as discriminating?"

So now, we dont have disabled people. We have "differently abled" people (I think I ranted about this earlier, go search it for yourself). We bend over backwards to allow minority groups to gain places in establishments we worked hard to earn places in ourselves; university, high-profile jobs. If you can earn the place, it's yours. But you shouldnt get a free ride because you are of a different culture or are a woman; I dont disagree with the idea of women or people of varying ethnic backgrounds getting into establishments and high profile jobs, I just dont believe that they should get preferential treatment above everyone else. And yes, for the record, if you do not have the same capabilities as a normal human, you are "disabled", if you are a member of one of the races that have been in Australia longer than the white people, you are "Aboriginal" (or if the case may warrant, Torres Strait Islander) not "Indigenous". Indigenous is a general term used to describe anyone native to anywhere (which encompasses anyone on the face of the earth), and when I say Aboriginals or Aboriginal, it's not like I'm calling you a "boong" or a "coon". The intent behind the word classes the offensiveness of the word, if you called your friend some derogatory obscenity that would make any self-respecting old lady pass out, he probably wouldn't care. If you yell it in hate speech, then maybe its time to get a bit annoyed. Honestly, I believe half of the derogatory terms are taken too hard, especially the Andrew Johns scenario. He called another player a "black coon", and while I can see how you get offended, really if he were the bigger man he would point out that its offensive and let it go. Sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never hurt me.

On a similar topic, with the government attempting to ban the wearing of the burqa, wouldn't this be considered ironic? Australia has spent decades trying to make up for decades more of racial assimilation against Aboriginals, yet now we are trying to assimilate muslims into our own culture. Some claim the burqa to be "anti-feminist" and maybe in some contexts it is, but generally speaking, no it is not. This is the women's religion, they follow it. They uphold the rules of the religion, because they follow it. Australia is a free country (or so I am told), and if they really weren't happy with their circumstances, they could easily be changed. It's as simple as that.

I will leave with a final anecdote, told to me by a relative. Bear in mind that my hearing it and passing it on is a third hand story, as this happened to a friend of the relative;

This friend worked for the government, who prides themselves on being 'equal opportunity'. This is the late 80's or early to mid 90's we're talking about, just for context. Several aboriginal men working in the same branch were given money, a truck and other supplies in order to do some surveying work or something similar, the money, truck and supplies were necessary to the job. Several days later it became apparent that the men and all their government-owned supplies were gone. No complaint was lodged, no case was filed, nothing happened. The government ignored it. The story finished with a question; "How would this have been handled if the act had been committed by white men?"

Equality my arse.

Anthony: Religion, Fustration and Mishmash

Reading back across a few posts in the large archive of hate, I noticed that Alex made a post about religion at one point. It was a good post, go find it.

But the point, as it is, is presented as such: Don't Convert.

Sure, other religions may fustrate you, be it with their dramatic il/logicality, their blatant excuses for bad behavior, contradiction of personal belief or restriction of freedoms, but thats's no reason to be a fucktard about it. It's like trying to convince a gay not to be gay because butsecks can perhaps cause spinal trouble or some shit. Sure, it might, but in the end, it's not affecting you, so stfu.

There is an exception to this rule, and that's why I'm here.
It goes thusly;

If said religion breaches personal rights, disrupts your life or actively seeks to iconvenience or negatively effect you and/or your life, then the above rule is void and may be replaced with common sense.

In other words: If that religion is damaging your life quality, strike back with common sense in order to remove them from your life.

This is of course very general, but you get the idea. I'm all for spirited debate and a rant here and then, but sometimes people take it too far.
We all have our own reasons, and sometimes its best left at that.

If I can convert someone, not strictly even to atheism/agnosticism, but simply to a little bit or practical thinking, then my life is made a little better for the fact that I may have just helped them in some way. Of course, I might have started a chain reaction that leads to depression from a lack of purpouse, but that's a bridge to cross when it's reached.

Many people do simply use religion as a comforter, and if it works for you, then thats nice, but please don't try to convert me. I've got my own chance-created universe to laugh at, don't put a funny little cloud-man in there, I'm not sure I can stand that much comedy.

Half the problem of religion, and in some cases depression, in my eyes, is purpouse. Lack of it, or not being able to meet it, seems to be a pretty big problem. Long ago, I kinda had some sort of gradual revalation, that pretty much ended up with me believing that life, in general, is there to be lived, oppurtunitues, lack of, and everything else, all in a fucking bundle dumped on the doorstep of your consciousness. You're shoved into it, bundled around a bit and eventually you fall out, whether or not you had a good time. Delayed gratification doesn't come into it at this point, because the reward is uncertain. But what you can see and feel here is tangible, and you can work with that for now.

Of course, I was nowhere near as eloquent at the time. And my continued belief in something like this ends up fustrating me as I see too many people living for a future. Not just 'the' future, but 'a' future they believe exists. Not enough people live for the now, or at least, not enough people live for the now without being complete fucking morons. I say this because I can't imagine the morons having any plans for the future other than "fuck, drink, drugs, douchebaggery", and even then, it's a vauge, habit-instilled subconscious memory.

But hey, it's the same old 'live for the moment' shit.
Take the fucking chance, because hey, some people regret taking an oppurtunity, but most regret letting it slip by. Sitting back gets you shit, but leaping forward gets you somwhere.

All the anger that's here, all the fustration and yelling in this blog, ammounts to not very much. Practically nobody reads this. Those that do and don't know me get offended, I laugh, things go on. It's an outlet of sorts, like venting nuclear waste into space. Fuck-all is going to complain out there, and if it does, it's hardly going to be able to stand up to the torrent for long.

Not many people get a lot of things. Some of these things I say, some others say. Some i disagree with, some i agree with. There will be protestations, sometimes on my part, and often I will disregard my own advice, becuase I like you lot to think that I'm human, squishy, mortal and fallible.

Now, If you'll excuse me, I've got some wisdom to impart on the real world. And no, it's not poop.


Well, maybe some of it is.

Anthony: Content

I came home, booted up the de-humidifier, turned on the music and did the f**king washing up.

Now, it's a few hours later, and I'm hungry. As I'm frying up some snags (with assorted veggies, dad, I'm not going to get scury), I decide that the music is nowhere near loud enough.

I turn it up, and go outside. Nah, can't hear it.
I go back inside and rinse and repeat.
Yea, you can hear it outside now.
Maybe the neighbours can hear it.
Better turn it up a bit to be sure.

Much better.

Anthony: Home Alone

So, I'm now home alone for 2 weeks. And the first thing I do?
No, not getting wasted.
No, not getting high.
No, not having a kickass partay.

I'm washing fucking dishes. We had dinner last night, then the family buggered off, leaving me with four peoples worth of crap to clean.
I am sad.

Also, on an unrelated note, teachers seem to have to be really carefull when teaching interesting subjects, like evolution, the big bang, and 9/11.
They always use phrases like "allegedly", "theoretically", "possibly", and keep on reffering to the fact that much is speculation, and trying to promote the idea of open thinking.


Look, if we're not able to think openly by now, there's no hope, and if we're narrowminded, they why are you teaching us this?

FFS, I hate the lowest common denominator policy.

Anthony: Not dead yet.

Also I'm 16.
Other than that, nothing to report.

Anthony: Fanboys

What is it about the human condition that drives people to take sides to blindly?
In every topic imaginable, in every single goddamn area it's spread, you are almost certainly going to get people who swing to one end of the spectrum and stay there, stubbornly resisting any attempt to lure them back to the land of reason, or worse, over to the other side of the spectrum, because that's just what either side needs, another slavering fanboy.

What is wrong with you people? Does listening to facts after the first five seconds make you uncomfortable? Is your capacity for information on any given topic so small you have to resort to a 'first come, first serve' policy? Are you TRYING to be as much of a dick as you possibly can? Well congrat-u-fucking-lations, people, you made it. To be precise, you made it over the finish line, twenty miles into the distance and show no signs of stopping.

I've mentioned before how people can form an opinion on anything, and said opinion will inevitably be nonsensical in at least three ways.
What I have NOT mentioned is the rather explosive reaciton you get when you place two polar opposite viewpoints, or two opposing parties, in any sort of communication, be it direct, indirect or even by hear-say or one another.

It is somewhat stupendous.

To give a classic example, lets head over to the console-wars. This is a time-honoured tradition and goes as thus: Every generation pretty much gets a new set of consoles. Dedicated gamers are required to pick a console/platform and defend its worthiness to the DEATH. No excuses, and no getting thrown off by measly things like facts or rational thinking, oh no.

To take a recent example, InfinityWard had a product-shot of a certain battlefieild simulator posted on their intawebs. They chose to take the shot with a 360 box, probably purely for aesthetic reasons. The response? Fully grown MEN whinging about how the PS3 version was being underplayed. And of course in the resulting conflagration noone gave a shit about the PC version, because it just sits at the back with its superior functionality and occasionally has shit chucked at it for being able to do things other than play games.

Actually, that point is null and void now for PC fanboys (rare though they are) because every console has at least seven amazing bits'n'bobs that the PC had years ago. Hell, even the DSa is trying to be multi-purpouse, and its a fucking handeld little PIXIE of a gaming machine. It can barely run games ffs, just leave it to die in a corner already and move on!

But we're going off track here, back to the hate.

Fanboys, fucking stupid. Learn to think, and use a form of decision-making that does not involve spotting the besterests comppanies logo from halfway across a room and venturing over, offending everyone who DARES even think that your chosen brand might not be destined to rule the earth.

But if you're a Google fanboy, (and I know you exist) then you can go ahead and say that, because its probably true. Those fuckers are ambitions. First a search engine, then advertising, then videos, then more advertising, then every option you could possibly shake your drooling, idolizing fanboy head at, then MORE advertising, and then a Google Operating System? Fu....
I'll refrain from making the obvious joke about it having built in advertising and get back to the original topic again.

What fanboys don't seem to realize is that in the end, whoever has the 'best' item is the one who can utilize it to the best end result and preferably for the least cost.

For example, you in the Red Corner, have your shiny, $300+ PS3 Lite.
You in the Yellow Corner have your wonderful *handheld gaget* that cost *many*.
Over in the Red Corner, we have the obligatory 360-humping twelve-year old who blew all his pocketmoney EVER on this sleek gaming machine that will be obsolete in the next year.
And all the way in the Green Corner I have a trusty stick, which cost me no more than the effort it takes to bend down and grab something heavy enough to bludgeon with.

Who wins here?
Maybe if you all just put the consoles down and go home we might get out of this without anything major being broken, eh?

Anthony: Filling Time

Really, I could blog about the fact that my school sucks at organizing, or the fact that taking a walk is fun, or that murdering people to use their skin as a raincoat is not condoned by common law, but I wont, because I should have been in bed some ten minutes ago.

Yames is going to have to blog it up here, or Alex, because I have three seperate projects to finish. :D

Anthony: Being Concieted and Education

I'd like to yell about how fucking stupid some people are when it comes to schooling. We're in year ten, which means out School Certificate Exams, or our O levels or whatever for you english, and whatever else you damn americans have :D. This means we have to study. Oh woe of woes.

Now, I've never done that, and I've breezed through with higher-than average marks. But I can study, and its an easy habit to get into.

But I see people who have done this for years bitching and complaining how they have to spend half an hour every day or two revising. And then before the test they desperatly cram as much random studying in as they can, stress out and fuck up.

What is wrong with you people?

During class is worse. People don't seem to realize that if the teacher gives you a pile of work, you can finish it quickly, mock the slow people and then have fun? Instead, they dick around all lesson and get in trouble.
These people intend to go on into years 11 and 12, and they are completley doing it wrong. They are going to crash and burn, because they don't know how to put learning before fun.

I'm not good at it, but knowing how and trying is a damn sight better than not trying at all.
It just gets on my nerves watching people make such stupid fucking mistakes and churning out sub-standard work.
I just wish I could have some decent teachers that actually recognise the effort I put in so I can get out of these shitheap classes.... oh, wait, no. I cant, because they RANDOMIZE the classes! Fucking arse.

Teachers just get in the way of my learning. I'd be happy to just learn with a friend and a book but half the textbooks they give us, especially maths, are so badly made that they need a translator.

Fucking edumacation.

16MG INCOMPETENCE RED: or how the Australian Government needs to look busy in the eyes of the non-smoking taxpayer ~ALEX

Hello again. As we speak, the Australian Government is strongly considering the legislation for plain cigarette packaging. Honestly, I can only describe this as the government attempting to please the public while doing very little for the cause of anything.

First of all, cigarette brands will still be existent. Those of appropriate age (i.e. 18+) and those with correct ID to prove this (if you are under 25 you will be asked for ID) will head down to the shop WHERE THE CIGARETTES ARE ALL BEHIND AN UGLY BLACK CUPBOARD, before buying their packet of Marlboro Extra Tar. Of course, you may have noticed I capitalized the most important point. In almost all major supermarkets and many newsagents, cigarette packets are kept behind a black plastic shelf in order to mask the 'pwetty culorz' from the small children who will obviously be so tempted to buy cigarettes with their pocket money. Sorry junior, but last time I checked you're only 2. You need to at least progress beyond formula before you start thinking about cigarettes. On an interesting side note, this never happened and I doubt it will to most people. Most factors that influence cigarette smoking are not packaging related.

And this brings me right to the second point, the 'raise the drinking age to 21' point, as I have so aptly named it. Why is raising the drinking age to 21 pointless? Anyone who has ever seen an American College movie (or indeed real life) will back me up when I say that THEY WILL JUST BUY IT UNDERAGE. The government may be living in a fantasy world of heavy policing and law-abiding citizens, but unfortunately many people have the potential to break the law, and if pushed, many will. Sometimes this push involves, oh I don't know, raising the drinking age to 21? Maybe you could just go out, get a fake ID, and go buy yourself a bottle of Jagermeister or whatever your poison is before K.Rudd notices that those primary school kids who were attracted to those 'pwetty culorz' have gone out and bought IMPORTED CIGARETTES. That's right. Imported.

Many tobacconists will stock a more extensive listing of brands than many major supermarkets, convenience stores or newsagents. For those sticklers out there, here's the Australian RRP listing for cigarette brands for our market [http://www.c-store.com.au/industry/tobacco-pricing.pdf]. I can think of several brands that don't appear on that list, and all of those brands are smoked by the high school kids that the government is trying to 'save' by implementing this legislation. These brands are imported from other countries (notably asian countries such as Japan (Mild Seven) and Korea (Wigo) and will therefore most likely not be included in such laws. Kids will get their colours, and their cigarettes. The laws are therefore then, in effect, pointless.

They've also done studies on these plain packets, claiming that they reduce 'street cred'. No, they won't. As the cigarette market gets policed more and more tightly, they turn from something which you know is bad and think to yourself 'hmm...i'd better not...' to something that is 'dangerous'; i.e. has the excitement of danger attached to it. Buying cigarettes will morph into a whole different game, and the game will be associated with more and more danger appeal. And besides, it's already been announced that obesity is a greater cause of premature death in Australia (even more than cigarette smoking). Can't you do something about that?

Comment if you agree/disagree/have any points of interest. I'm happy to hear feedback, argument or anything else relevant. I haven't proofread this (nor will I) so if you see any typos, you can put them up and I'll revise it.

James: Kates Party

It's me again. Over the past few days we have witnessed yet another facebook phenomenon. It all revolves around this girl named Kate. She was having a party in her Adelaide apartment but she left the event as public. So anybody could invite anybody to the event. By the time she closed the event over 70,000 people had listed their rsvp as "attending". Us Australians never thought we'd see someone overtake Corey Worthington as the biggest partier ever, but we may have seen it happen. Since the event went up there are over 500 facebook groups on various topics relating to kates party. There are quite a few funny ones: "I hope there's security at Kates Party, we don't want any randoms to show up!", '"Mum im going to Kates" "are many people going" "just a few' and "From a scale of 1 to Kate, How big is your party?". If you go on facebook often you would have noticed a trend towards turban groups, don't you worry someone made a group for that too: "Which Turban should I wear to Kate's party?". The event has got so big that there is now a Kate's party in every capital city in Australia for people who don't want to go to that hole called Adelaide. I love these internet phenomenons. They are what has made the internet so popular, well that and the porn.

I think despite people constantly warning us that facebook is full of pedophiles and stalkers most of the people on there just wanna be able to catch up with their friends when they aren't with their friends (although there probably is quite a large number of pedophiles and stalkers on facebook too, just as long as you don't accept any creepy looking old men to be friends with you it should be fine though). Facebook has revolutionised the way we contact people and interact. Facebook has games too, such as farmville and cafe world of which I have both been addicted to. As long as you don't spend every waking moment on these games then they are fine.

In conclusion Facebook is awesome as long as you don't play farmville or are a pedo.

James

p.s. Any other business that wants to pay me to write another glowing report of their product is quite welcome to give me as much money as possible.

Also I just found out Kates Party is a fake party, but try and tell that to the 100,000 people including me who is going to a Kates birthday celebration party this weekend, as remember in my Australia Day blog entry Australians will take excuse to have a party, so even if it is fake expect 100,000 people celebrating Kates Birthday this saturday and then expect 100,000 people celebrating Sickie Day the next day.

Anthony: Youtube

Youtube is selling out, but what's really bad about this is the fact that they are undermining the basis of the internet: Global Shared Content. At least, in my idealist mind, that's how it works. Info for everyone, and fuck the country. But youtube are not not letting me acess videos based on my country.
FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK.

that is all.

Anthony: Win For Greenpeace, AKA "We know where you live!"

This is fucking amazing. Worldwide influence, billions funneled into their cause, and greenpeace are reduced to blustering about the 'oil-funded denial machine' and the fact they they 'know where we live'. I kid you not. In a recent Greenpeace blog post, a member threatened:

"If you're one of those who have spent their lives undermining progressive climate legislation, bankrolling junk science, fueling spurious debates around false solutions, and cattle-prodding democratically-elected governments into submission, then hear this:
We know who you are. We know where you live. We know where you work. And we be many, but you be few."


They also encourages "mass civil disobedience" and pretty much said that Democracy, and the very governments that fund them, (as far as I know) have let them down and need to be shown the error of their ways. Thats just fucking amazing. BRILLIANT move there.

Let me guess, you forgot that half of your goddamn name is PEACE? You've crossed the line from peacefull protesting to terrorist organization. And I mean that. They have threatened the government, and encouraged breaking the law. Terrorists.

Endgame, you fucking morons.

James: On Holidays

So it's been a while since my last post as Anthony eluded to in his last post. The truth is that I'm not funny and I'm not angry. So I have to find something different to talk about to Alex and Anthony which is difficult, so please excuse the lateness in this post (btw this is only one of the reasons I haven't posted in 3 months, the main reason is because I'm mega lazy and have been spending my time playing COD and going on facebook). Before I start what I was actually gonna talk about I would just like to make a reply to Alex over his internet censorship post. I couldn't agree more with him but I do think it's a bit harsh for us to be compared to Soviet Russia because after all dystopic totalitarian state of Soviet Russia is reminiscent of you! (Russian Reversals ftw!, even though I could have spent more time on that joke I instead decided to play COD)

So it's holidays again. Once again I am feeling a bit underwhelmed by holidays. I'm not complaining about holidays because as I have already established I am lazy and just want to do nothing (or play COD) all day. The main problem I have with holidays is that seem to come at a time when I am already not paying attention in school. By the end of term you do know work at school anyway and you're with your friends. So this makes school good. Taking this rare state of school bliss away from us kids is the equivalent to the dystopic totalitarian state reminiscent of Soviet Russia. The exams are mid-way through the term so that's when we actually do work. School starts to get good in the final 2 or 3 weeks of term when we do no work and only bludge. When we get back from school we will of course realise this was stupid and do a bit of work before the exams but then get tired and once again fall into the same trap. See in my opinion I think that this is all part of a massive conspiracy cooked up by the government in order to make sure that people believe Global Warming is happening. This may seem very farfetched and indeed it is. But think about it, all these kids are sitting around at home with the heater on for 2 weeks. They are gonna notice that the room is getting hotter, albeit only after playing many days on COD. I'd go further into this point, but I forgot where I was going. Anyway just remember the mutant ninja squirrels will take over the earth.

Easter has come and gone and I went to the Easter Show this year. Since I've got older I really haven't enjoyed the Easter Show. To me it's a place you go if you want to see animals that stink beyond belief or you are some mega moneybags who can afford to actually do other stuff whilst you're there. There was one okay part when me and my brother decided to re-enact a thing we did a couple of years ago. We went to the chilli stand and we decided to eat the hottest chilli that they had. Last time it was 10++/10. This time however we were happy to know that there was a chilli hotter than that. It was 14/10. Luckily this time I was prepared and had an ice-cream already bought when I tried it. I learnt an important lesson, if you're gonna be stupid at least be prepared so that it isn't quite so stupid.

If this blog entry seems stupid and pointless, it's most likely because it is. I'm tired from staying up all night a few nights ago (trust me, not a good idea when you cant sleep the next day) plus my sister is having a sleepover tonight, so I may struggle to get enough sleep tonight. I'm going to see an MA 15+ movie (one that actually deserves to be MA, not one where parents are over-reacting to the point that there will be no movies because some parent will be offended that Woody from toy story is a cowboy and that as there are no cowboys anymore that is reflecting negatively on our kids) tomorrow to annoy one of my friends as he turns 15 the next day. I know that's really really mean but I need to take advantage of the little holiday time that remains as when the holidays end I will regret this blog post as I will most likely be complaining about the massive amount of work I have to do.

Til next time when I can be bothered to get off the PS3 and write a blog,
James

ALEX: Censor this blog post

Obviously the Australian government has decided that the internet is NSFW. The communications minister, Stephen Conroy, has campaigned for a compulsory filter over all Australian internet, claiming it will benefit the general populace by blocking out child pornography and other such things that are bad for us. What I really want to know though, is why the government has declined to publish the list of sites they intend to block.

"Experts" have claimed that this is a bad idea because the strain of the filter will slow internet speeds. I say that this is a bad idea because it limits freedoms. Now you're probably thinking, "What kind of crazy person is he to want people to be able to see child pornography and other illegal activity over the internet?" but you would be wrong. Rather than a step in the right direction, this is like putting a barbed wire fence around the continent to stop sharks getting in. Frankly, it's stupid, and there is no better word for it.

First we will have an internet filter. We will then gradually lose the right to publish free information. Slowly, personal freedoms will become a thing of the past, and our country will decline into a dystopic totalitarian state reminiscent of Soviet Russia in the previous century. We will get our new cars after those in power get them. We will not be allowed to do certain actions because those in power do not approve of them, even though these people happily live in freedom in their mansions, while we line up to buy a loaf of bread and a single egg, and spend our 25 cent a week wage, getting by with the minimal of necessities, while those above us live a life of indulgent luxury. As it was in the Soviet era, this system will inevitably be bypassed by those with the means; crime will be abundant, figures in crime will have great power, corruption will reign and our slice of the world pie will fall into chaos.

This is not so much an act on child pornography as it is an act on principle. Information, no matter what its content, should not be withheld from the public blindly. This leads to the increased belief that Australia is becoming a nanny state. And I agree with those that say this.

There needs to be a level of trust in the community for the community to function well. And that trust is breaking down, increasingly so because of irrelevant laws like this. Internet filters can easily be bypassed, no matter what sort of filter you try to use. It's the "Net principle" (pardon the pun): It is easier to cut open and eliminate the net, than to patch up crack after crack to keep it in good condition. Think about this, and it explains why there is no such thing as a crime-free society. Because it is easier to evade authority to enforce it completely. Although I will say, in no way do I endorse crime. I respect authority.

Which brings me to my second topic, related to the first; the film "Kick Ass". It has sparked controversy with certain aspects of the film, the film itself described as "an explicitly violent school holiday film starring an 11-year-old girl who shoots people in the face and uses obscene language, experts say."(SMH 28 March 2010 [smh.com.au]). What gets me here, is that the so-called "experts" say the film is not suitable for young children, although some people mistake it to be, and it should be given an R(18+) instead of an MA(15+) rating. Apparently, parents could mistake it to be a children's movie by aspects in the film trailer, and take their young kids to go see it. Except for one little flaw. The classification system. MA 15+ requires the viewer of the film to be 15 years or older. ID has to be shown when going to the cinema or buying the film. What kind of parents take any sort of young children who aren't able to handle this sort of movie to a film rated really not suitable for children. This is political correctness gone wrong, and I have so much rage it can't be expressed through computer. Conclusion; jail the parents who complain the film isn't suitable when they take their young kids to go see it. END.

Anyway, merry easter. I'll blog again soon, and yes, this one has been a while in the making.

~Alex

Anthony: Someone else has to blog now.

Really, i've had 5 or so blog posts in a row, and you guys just aren't pulling your weight. Start blogging, or i stop paying you. *serius face*

BUt as of now it is about 2AM, and I am attempting to pull an all nighter. I said once that I have always wanted to get out in the early morning under my own steam and actually apreciate the cold and wet and noisy animals and hurried commuters and whatever the fuck else the morning has to offer. I figure that since it is the Easter holls, and my sleep schedule is completley messed already, and the fact that I can never make myself get up in the morning, i should just pull an all nighter, eat some 'nanas and sleep during the day, or not at all.

It also has not escaped my notice that people need to take shit a little less seriously. Now, this is going to sound pretty screwed up, coming from the guy that bombards you with hate, bile and new things to fear/loathe/cry at every week or so, but it's a fact, just like bees and drop-bears.

Stop freaking the fuck out, CTFD and at the very least, be quiet about it. Maybe if we did this a little more then the USA wouldn't have a 10% depression rate.

Also, Caro, stop making me feel guilty about swearing.

Anthony: Sticking to Standards.

I don't mean standards as in markers of QUALITY, I mean standards as in markers of CONTENT.

Has is never occurd to you braindead, unwashed masses that if you insist that everything fits a certain criteria, you get NO FUCKING PROGRESS?
No? How the FUCK do you miss that?

When I see someone who believes in evolution trying to hold things in place like this, it sickens me. Why? Because it's a paralell, if flimsy, connection. Evolution practically = change! How can you ever understand the theory and not understand that this applies to everything we know and have?

Go and fucking die in a hole, and dont you DARE inconvenience me with the placement of your cold, smelly corpse.

Anthony: Have I Mentioned How Much I Hate Other People?

Just wondering. I'm sure I don't tell you all enough how much I hate the general population.

Anthony: Understanding is where you fail.

My little world of ignorance and hatred would be a much better place if people could somehow find it in their small, shrivled hearts/brains/thinking organs to actually take some time to try and UNDERSTAND shit, instead of passing instant judgement or ignoring it altogether. Believe me, this is more common than you'd think. But I'm not here to solve problems for you, I'm here to whine about my own, so let us run with my experiences for now and see where we end up.

People constantly fail to understand me. This is not surprising, given that I am so complex and illogical in every way I sometimes perplex myself.
But what gets me is they fail to understand the most basic things about me, which in turn make my life a fucking trial. It's a VERY easy thing to understand, which irks me all the more.

Problem: JUST BECAUSE I CAN HAVE SOME FUN IT DOES NOT MEAN I AM AN IMMATURE SHIT THAT CANNOT HANDLE ANYTHING.
This is not an extreme of the problem in any way. This is what most people seem to think of me. Now, it's true that I am 'somewhat eccentric'. I do defy social norms.
I am different. I behave erratically. But I have demonstrated on many occasions that I can behave like a boring person, stand up to pressure and all that bullshit. But of course, none of this is recognised. The only thing anyone ever seems to see is some silly shit with no eyebrows who gets far too angry at things they cannot understand.

Fucks sakes. It's not enough to have to explain my every abnormal actionm, i now have to deal with the disbelief when I act like a normal person to get shit done, just like you think I should.

There shouldn't be an unwritten rule about this shit, but there is. It seems that you have to have every aspect of you displayed proudly on your sleeve at all times to get it recognised. Nevermind my competence, let's all disregard it because I'm not ALWAYS acting like he could be solving, fixing or improving something.

I have explained numerous times that I act the way I do because of several reasons, which I shall state again:
1)It irritates stupid people. Unfortunatley, there are too many of theese people around.

2)It would kill me to act like a normal, boring person all the time.

3)Repressing ones inner desires to act silly and break shit will inevitably lead to more mental trauma than giving in (moderatley) to these urges.

But no matter how many times I repeat myself and make it ever clearer for those with small brains and limited memory spans, I'm inveitably categorized as stupid and slow. I'm also categorized as insane, but I can run with that because it's mostly true. It's just not true that you can't be insane and smart at the same time.


Also, speaking of UNDERSTANDING things, I have more to yell about.

I am generally regarded as a pretty intolerant sort of person. This is, for the most part, true. But I am actually a fairly UNDERSTANDING (here comes that word again) person.

I don't reject things because I don't understand them. I reject them because I disagree with them. The world would be a better place if this was the norm.

Of course, there are exceptions, and some things are blanketed when I disregard others, because I am too lazy/busy to research EVERYTHING, so I make do with a fair ammount of things. I am an informed sceptic, for the most part.

But, as is evidenced in society (and me) people fear and alienate what they do not understand. This is not a healthy attitude, and neither is treating understanding like belief.

If I believe that cannibalism in remote pacific islands is wrong, that's all cool. But If I understand WHY they partake in this, and show my knowledge of such, I would be immediatly labeled as in favour of canibalism, and most probably served up to the cannibals as food by people who think they understand irony.

This is not the way the world should work. People are getting dumber and more narrowminded, and it seems the only way to fix this is with hammers.

Possibly even flaming hammers.

Quote of the Post:
Everyone is entitled to be stupid, but some abuse the privilege.
Unknown

Alex: On study

Once again, I make my news-worthy opinionated posts, although this one isn't about why some vice or other is being stomped out by those that 'used to be cool', this one is about questioning everybody and almost everything they've done at one point or other. Yes, I'm talking about study.

Chances are, you've studied on at least one occasion in your lifetime. Maybe it was because you were forced to, maybe you decided that it would help you do better at whatever it was that you were attempting to do better at. Maybe it was because you needed to pass the [insert subject here] final and you stayed up all night only to get an E in the exam the next day because it was all the Red Bull and No-doz could do to stop you from falling asleep. I have never done this, although I almost inevitably will at some point due to the cyclic and hypocritical nature of human stupidity, i.e; I see someone doing the same thing and say to myself "I will never do such a stupid thing", but eventually I will and then my previous statement has just been proven wrong. But hey, I'm rambling.

Studying is something that people can claim there can never be enough of. Of course you take breaks, but apart from that, study like hell! To this I say, [put on voice of assumed grandeur] you sir, are WRONG!

Why? I'll tell you why. You ever been to the test for the selective schools? I did (I actually did well enough to get into North Sydney Boys High School, but really that's another story) and no racism or anything, at least half the kids are asian. To take an example from a certain person I know, these kids work very hard to get into the selective schools, and due to their amazing work ethic (something I admire in a way) they study non-stop until they get into that school, then study non-stop once they're there. This, I think, is wrong.

Pardon the cliche, but it is always said that childhood is the best time in your life, and while horribly depressing as it may be, it is almost certainly true (with the exception of retirement, which is kind of like Childhood: Uncensored and Uncut. I really won't go into detail with this reference). When you are a young child, you have little if any responsibilities, you have your own misinterpreted sense of freedom, you never need to 'mind your language' as you don't know any foul language (and if you do you don't know how to use it properly) and you can get away with anything really. This I like, but unfortunately one of my biggest life regrets is that I didn't realise all this until it had slipped through my fingers, filtering out the goodness and leaving me with work and all other types of painful effort.

Childhood is freedom in a sense, and to rob someone of their childhood is akin to robbing someone of their brand new European luxury car before they even got to drive it, or if they drove it once so they know how good it is but can never ever get a new one because they're so damn expensive. Anyway, when you force your child to study every day of the week so they get into a school where they can study every other day of the week so they can get into college to study some more to pass their exams to wind up in a job where they work all day and sleep all night until they die, you have done something wrong. Give your child a life! I mean, if you must, make them study for exams or something, but don't force them to study around the clock so they can work for the rest of their lives.

My one "advice of the blog post" however, is don't not study at all. If you don't study at all, you will probably eventually fail your exams, and then you end up working all day and sleeping all night, except your working will be packing boxes and we all know that gets dull after a while, and before you know it, you'll want to do something else, which starts the cycle all over again as you try to re-enter university. And guess what? This time, you'll have to study, because no amount of "real-world experience" can match word for word what is written in your textbook (note: the previous sentence was part sarcasm and part not, in case you were wondering. If you ask a university professor, they'll tell you it was not sarcastic, which just goes to show you whether you'll fail uni or not).

Long story short; study, but not too much.
I'll find something else to blog about soon

~Alex.

P.S: Comment if you have any interesting points, complaints, or incoherent ramblings around this subject.

Anthony: Valentinez

I have naught to say on the topic other that: Most women just think of it as an excuse concocted by men to get laid more often.

This is, of course, probably the case.

Is there anything wrong with that?

Quote of the Post:
I know that there are people who do not love their fellow man, and I hate people like that!
Tom Lehrer (1928 - Some Time )

Anthony: Obligatory Holliday Blues

As the holliday comes to an end, it is usual that one should feel some small measure of dread. After all, the days of sunning, eating and breaking things whenever you want are almost over, and you have a job/school to go back to and slave away at for another 8-10 weeks.

My sense of dread is not so much dread as weary acceptance that bad shit is going to happen. After all, I am attending a school populated by retards and questionably-talented teachers, and a school which cannot update its webstite to inform students when they are supposed to return (it sounds simple, but for unobsetvant and forgetfull people like me, that sort of thing is needed, and they are supposed to cater to the lowest common denominator).

I can forsee nothing but boring for the next few weeks. We'll have the "Welcome Back" teachers, which spend a week or two being REALLY boring and condescending. We'll have the "Snap to Action" teachers that launch into a tirade about how beign back from the hollidays is no excuse to be at any less than 110% efficency.

Of course, you have the inevitable shuffling of classes that are based of irrelevant marks we recieved last year in irrelevant subjects. I will inevitably end up in a class with at least three retards for my main subjects. My electives, maths class and any other classes that are sorted individually will also be complete dives. All the good teachers will be teaching the classes of my friends, thus creating a source of endless envy for the rest of the year.

Also, its SC year. We, Year 10, will complete our second stage of schooling and obtain certificates that show we are capable of basic learning. Note that these now mean nothing for an extra year, as we are unable to actually LEAVE school untill 17, in year 11. They upped the leaveing age (as far as I understand) and are talking about making the HSC compulsory as well, making the SC irrelevant and marinating us students in a cesspool of angry, stupid would-be dropouts.

We turn 16 this year. This means, of course, the worst. The inflated egos, the bad driving, the boasting about said driving, the inevitable sexual exploits (real or imagined) from the douchebag group, and the bragging about said exploits. The stress from people who don't realise that the SC counts for nothing if we stay in school will envelop the entire grade in a fog of hyperventilation and freak-outs.

Really, it seems like this year is going to be a complete flop. But in reality, it'll probably just drag past like any other year, as the individual days speed past like F1 cars on the ceiling(New Scientist reference FTW) and the year drags past like a cripple hamster on a wheel.

As for the real world, the debunking of Global Warming, an increase in political correctness and more government paranoia ahead.

Wow, I'm a real fortune teller now.
Quick, someone pay me large ammounts of money!

Quote of the day:
Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain.
Friedrich von Schiller (1759 - 1805)

James: Australia Day, Sickie Day and more

Hi all the people who read this blog, I know it's been a while since my last post but in the holidays I really can't be stuffed to do anything at all except sleep, eat and watch tv. In Australia at about this time every year we always talk about what it is to be Australian, seeing as it is almost Australia Day. So here is what being Australian means to me:

1. You don't care what happened on Australia day all those years ago and instead focus on getting yourself totally pissed. Lamb is usually what people eat, not because it's the nicest type of meat or even because it's cheap but because Sam Kekovich will come around to your house and beat you if you don't eat it.

2. You get thrown out of the Big Day Out, or at least leave in the back of an ambulance. See us Australians we will take any opportunity to drink too much (see point 1 for more details), so of course going all the way out to Homebush for a festival which the aim of going is seeing how fast you can get kicked out (much like our visits to the school library, but more on that another time).

3. You take a sickie on either the day before or the day after Australia Day. This great Aussie tradition dates back to the first fleet, when the convicts would chuck a sickie to get out of building buildings for the British. Now-a-days though you don't get beaten for having a sickie in fact it's quite the opposite, you get a nice day on the beach enjoying yourself with the 20 million other Australians who took a sickie too. Our wonderful, totally independent *cough* *cough* premier has been talking about a different national day for us to celebrate and I totally agree. It should be called "Sickie Day", and everyone phones in on Sickie Day and tells their boss that they're sick, but of course the boss doesn't care 'cause he's sick too. the problem with this is it would create another 2 Sickie Days, one before and one after, and to respect the wishes of the Australian people eventually every day shall be known as Sickie Day, and when we get to that point then of course we will no longer need an excuse to get pissed and instead just enjoy not remembering anything and dying young, but hey, at least we're doing something with our lives.

4.(Yes I know that the last point was overly long and pointless)but the final 2 reasons that you know you are Australian are being talked about a lot in the news lately. You favour a republic. I personally am surprised that there is still debate going on about this, everyone knows that we Aussies want to become a republic because it's one more thing that we have beaten Britain in. But seriously, the recent visit of Prince William has showed people like Tony Abbott that we still want to Monarchy but really we want to be a separate country so we can celebrate another public holiday for that.

5. If you are Australian, then you are a racist! This is the rest of the world's view of us. First Blackface; then the KFC ad; then the bashing of Indian students; what next, because the sand at the beaches is white, we are racist? However most Australians I know are not racist. I am sure that there are lots of Australians out there (such as my grandparents) who are scared of the other cultures, but I think we should be embracing them, as us Aussies took the land over from the Aboriginals on Australia Day 1788, so what would be the difference if they took over us on Sickie Day 2015? Australians should see that the bulk of our culture is not made up of all the things above, although they do form a major part of who we are as a nation, but no we should think that our identity come from being a Multicultural nation who strive to offer opportunities for everyone and a nation that is accepting of people from all around the world, so that they can enjoy the wonderful things Australia has to offer (Points 1,2,3,4 and 5).

So in conclusion us Australians must celebrate tomorrow as if we had another day afterwards to recover, which thankfully we do, thanks to Sickie Day.

From a Proud Aussie,
James

p.s School goes back on Friday so expect 3 different moaning and groaning later this week from Alex, Anthony and myself as we complain about finishing our holidays

ALEX: The Holiday Issue (or how I am yet to think of a better title other than ALEX: TRIPLE YOUR PLEASURE AND EXTRA SHORT!!!)

No it is not an issue with holidays; I personally love them and if I had the choice, I would take one and never stop. No this is just one of those blog things where I address multiple points from one post: a bumper edition or whatever else you can be bothered to name it.

First of all, Duty free. I went through various duty free shops on my trip to Vanuatu and back (and yes, Vanuatu is an excellent place although everyone there drives a van and instead of public buses they use vans, so it is rather confusing but anyhow) these duty free shops varied in size. The vanuatu one sold a few cartons of cigarettes from places around the nation (they were mostly Australian Winfields, Marlboros from God-knows-where and Peter Jacksons) but needless to say we didn't buy anything there. We instead bought from Sydney duty free which was cheaper and much, much bigger (although many things in duty free can still be considered expensive, Dad pointed out a bottle of wine that cost more in duty free than it did in the shops normally). We bought a camera, which was worthwhile, a bottle of gin and the obligatory two cartons of Longbeach cigarettes for the relatives that smoke them (i.e; more than you or even I would think). Duty free is good because it is cheap, and that about sums it up. But don't buy rip-off wine. Or mystery cigarettes with warning labels similar to the ones we had on our cigarettes in Australia 10 years ago and are now on Vanuatu-an (Australian-made) Winfield blues 10 years later. If they were 10 years old, it would not surprise me. So don't buy smokes in Vanuatu duty free. Or better yet, don't buy them at all and give the money to me instead. On the plus side, I'm not carcinogenic, or so I'm told.

Part 2: Software. I hate software, and that is the end. Why? Because it is vital to computers and is difficult to install, and even harder to use. I installed some camera software for the new camera, and not only did it insist on not working (as in, it would tell me I needed to update it and personalise settings, but it would not actually load the software) but I needed it to work so I could upload videos. One day I shall form Dalsoft, a software company that does nothing, and does not make software. It will be the greatest service to the world ever since people stopped buying cigarettes and gave the money to me instead (Oh and I apologize for the health remark, pointing out that smoking kills is like captain obviousnessness talking. They should write 'Smoking is uncool' etc. on the warning labels, or not even have them, so people don't see smoking as such a death-defying adrenalin rush [I won't continue on this note, maybe another time, so google it for more info]).

Part 3; Cup noodle. I had one on the plane, and while delicious, you should probably eat the paper cup instead because it'd be more filling, taste better, and be better for you. I would have, but I didn't want to scald myself or sit in a puddle of boiling water for several hours, especially because that would be no good for the house of your future children, if you catch my drift. Still, cup noodle is delicious, and it will almost definitely not harm you to have a cup noodle.

Ok, that's me done. I might update the ol' Orange Painful in a while, but not likely I'll do it this week or month. I'll let you guys know.

Stay crunchy in milk,
~Alex

Anthony: I <3 Terurists!

Terrorism. One word.
But the fear and change that this word inspires in our modern world will never cease to amaze me.

Before 9/11, terrorists were funny little Middle Eastern men with turbans who got lost on the way to bombing the post office.
Afther the incident, they are now tall, dark-clad Middle-Eastern men who seek nothing more than the senseless murder of innocents.

While I do say that it is closer to the mark that before, it's blown way out of proportion. I can imagine many terrorists would be scared out of their wits, bribed, guilted or threatened into carrying out the crime. They are human beings, just like most of the rest of us.

However, that neither reduces the sentence or the effect of the crime, and nor should it. What they do is not a good thing. Duh. (This bit is really just a disclamer)

What I find most alarming about this is the small fact of security.
Now, I do say that there is a case of before/after prejudice here.

If some security official had decided to install reinforced and locked doors on all commercial flights before 9/11, he would have been regarded as a paranoid official seeking to make life harder for us.

If he installed it AFTER, he is lauded as a hero for his valient efforts to protect the nation. You see how this goes, and there's little we can do about that. It's probably a good thing though, because if people were praised for pre-emptive measures all the time, we would have to come to the airport a week in advance, take drug tests, undergo strenuous physical and mental tests, run through simulations of plane flights (complete with all the discomfort of waiting for the loo), have full body cavity searches every other day and have all of our posessions burned to be on the safe side.

As things go now, that's not too far in the future. After the recent (failed) attack, the govnernment is considering installing full body scanners as well as metal detectors. Also, for airports that do not have these devices, apparently 'mandatory pat-downs' are reccomended.

My problem with these scanners is partly because they are capable of capturing images of people in the nude. I would feel just a little uneasy about this, but not overmuch, because I highly doubt anyone would want pictures of that.
But imagine what it could be used for, and despite the facts that it is 'intentionally blurred', and the person who views these images never sees the actual person, the possibilities are... less than ethical.

There is also apparently cheaper, less revealing software out there that is just as good at detecting any anomalies. Not sure why they're passing that one up. o.O

My overall prediction is that we will eventually be fired from giant cannons into trampolines, but they will remove the trampolines for fear they will be tampered with.

Problem solved.

Alex: on 2010

Here are my educated predictions for 2010:

1. Smoking laws will be upped; if you say the word 'smoke' within a 100m vicinity of other people, you will be interpreted as advertising cigarettes to children, and sentenced to death.

2. People will complain about hospitals.

3. The drinking age will be raised to 40. 41-year-olds will applaud this move and talk about how it finally brings justice about, etc.

4. People will complain about the education system. Nothing will happen.

5. Facebook will be dead, because people will realise that it's just a less-fancy myspace, with less stalking.

6. K.Rudd's children's book will sell 1 million copies before someone decides that there are connotations associated with a female dog (a protagonist of the book), and all copies are burned. K.Rudd will be hated for no apparent reason.

7. Political Correctness will remove our interpretation of colour. We will hereby refer to people of all races as "equally coloured". The same applies for colours, until eventually buying paint will most likely be described as a hate crime when you ask for a coloured paint.

8. The ice caps will melt. Someone will complain, and it will be recorded as a hate crime among seawater. The offender will be hated by all.

9. Someone will point out that hip-hop sucks. Once again, hate crime.

10. Alcohol will be served in plastic glasses. People will cut them apart and scratch others with them.

11. People will realise that Kanye West - Taylor Swift jokes are NOT THAT FUNNY. GET OVER IT!

12. The Simpsons will continue to make episodes, regardless of quality. This is not necessarily a bad thing.

13. If you say the words 'young', 'child' or 'old', you will be shot. The new term is 'differently aged'. (On a similar note, disabled people ARE disabled, sorry but you are not differently abled, it is a disability when you are unable to perform certain bodily functions e.g; walking. It does not necessarily impair you, but it does not mean you are 'differently abled'.)

14. The man who originally said the word 'smoke' and was sentenced to death escapes the charge after claiming a discrimination charge.

15. There will be a miraculous increase in the Food industry, when police find knives in people's bags and they claim to be chefs. "I need this knife for work, and if you've got a problem with that, then that's discrimination."

16. Fat people will be told to "slim up" but they won't, and if you have a problem with that, then they'll sue you.

17. Advertising of alcohol and junk food will be banned in Australia, and it will be celebrated by having a massive party where McDonalds caters and Bundy provides free rum. Children under 18 "discouraged".

18. Saying the words 'McDonalds' or 'Bundy' will be known as advertising alcohol and junk food. Lawyer'd.

19. Instead of going to the bank to collect money, you will just sue someone. This will be the new method of financial gain, until you yourself get sued for something e.g; when someone breaks into your house for drug money and stubs their toe on your 'faulty' flooring.

20. Tiger Woods will be continually ridiculed, for a while longer.

That's all for now. More soon.

Anthony: I am not an optomist.

No siree. I am far from it.
I am not optomistic about 2010 in the slightest. I'm already seeing signs of it's imminent fail.

First of, despite all the contrary signs, they kept making the crappy glasses that proudly bear the number of the newest year to come our way.
I thought it would end when they ran out of the "00"'s in the middle of the number, but they somehow managed to make glasses with the eyepieces in the "01". Don't ask me how they did it.

Also, the weather so far has been shite.

And I have to face the HS this year. Fun times will not be had by all.

Have fun with all your years.