The Time Has Come

I've moved home...
please find me at
http://planettelex.bur.st/

Oh, and if there's anyone interested in redesigning the new Wordpress blog just let me know :P

Anyone got a spare $2000 they dont need?

I've had one of teh worst fortnights in the world that ended up with 2 more cancellations for NCYC, leaving our crew about $2000 in the red...

ARGH I'm sick to death with this stuff...

Oh so true...

The real dilbert comic is here...

no, it IS a shitter...

the other day i had my toilet replaced, we're getting waterwise in my local area and new showerheads and toilets are being installed all over the place. thursday was my turn, the plumber ripped out my old toilet byt kicking it lots and bashing it with a hammer then proceeded to install the new toilet and cement it in place.

it's gained about 3cms in height.

normally this wouldnt phase me, but im only 5 foot 8 and the extra 3 cms is extremly noticable when one decides to go to the toilet... my feet just touch the ground.

i just wanted to share that with you all... wont you be glad when i move to the new blog?

why do i feel like more of a sell out now i'm working in the church than when i was working in a petrol station?

now i'm doing what i've studied and been called to do, why is it that i feel like more of a sell out?

ive got to answer that question in the next year or i'll have to return back to the petrol station life...

My council's got this waterwise program. Basically they provide a free toilet and shower change to make them both more water friendly, as I'm in a rental appartment I'm not allowed to do the changes myself, so the showerhead's been sitting here for days and my toilet's had a brick in it for a while too.

Anyhow, the plumber was due at 11 - 11.30am today and as it's now past 12pm I'm getting a little concerned. I'm due at work from 2pm and i REALLY need to be there because 5pm's my deadline for a mailout.

It's quite a conundrum, if he arrives in the next 30 minutes will he be able to fix it all up in time? If he doesnt arrive at all do I just leave him a note saying "you suck" and hope he makes another time with me...

In other news Allianz still are yet to arange someone to assess the damage to my car, this probably means it'll be damaged until at the least late January.

I've been a paid livejournal user for about 3 years now, and an unpaid user for a while prior to that. Infact my stats currently read:

Date created: 2001-03-03
Journal Entries: 1,704
Comments: Posted 2061 Received 2,150

2005 brings some changes to my online projects, firstly I'll be launching a youth ministry website that I hope will gain national support hosted by the kind folks ar unitingchurch.org.au and created and designed by the lovely folks at redfish bluefish and yacmas. I'm hoping that this will provide a neat space for youth workers and leaders to write articles, connect, learn...

Along with this I've decided to not pay for lj anymore and move my blog to Bur.st who will allow me 1GB of hosting, the ability to put up a blog using wordpress among other things. lj has been fine for what I've been doing up until now but it's beginning to annoy me with it's inflexability, and the fact that it'll cost me less to have a bur.st account than it would to have a lj is just plain old stupid, lj doesnt even host anything for me.

So, I'm leaving lj... I may continue to post here on occasions as wordpress has a lj addon but sometime during January I'll be moving web-homes.

huzzah!!!

Mr Turco said no one had told him that hanging the work would result in the show's cancellation. "I approached them with the idea of bringing an edgy show by emerging artists here. I showed them an issue of our magazine, and they were psyched," said Mr Turco, publisher of Animal, a quarterly publication that features photographs and graphics inspired by urban culture.

"When we hung the show on Wednesday, we were asked to take down the Bush piece," Mr Turco said. "I agreed but said I thought it makes a strong addition and I would rehang it for the opening."

He did that and, on Thursday, the meandering hallway of the market, on Manhattan's West Side, filled with a gallery crowd of artists, models and rap singers. But the presence of a disc jockey and open bar created a nightclub milieu. That provoked another person who helps manage the market, Mr Turco said.

"The party's over right now," the market worker told him before calling security to clear the crowd.

"I said, 'Let's walk and talk this over,' and when we passed Chris's painting, he flipped," Mr Turco said.

"If I didn't take the show down he was going to have me arrested, seize the art, and evict me from of my office."

Full Article: Making a monkey out of Bush

I like the piece...

Currently Listening To: u2 - Love And Peace Or Else

Who else hasn't had the same thought go through their mind at one point of time or the other?

A radio reporter in Philadelphia has resigned from her job after an angry message, left by her on the phone of a lobby group whom she believed were spamming her, was sent to her employer and the media.

Rachel Buchanan, 27, wrote that she had been receiving unsolicited email at her web mail account from a group known as www.Laptoplobbyist.com.

The group makes money by charging $US20 to send faxes to people in power and lobby on selected issues such as minimising separation of church and state and preventing the UN from "brainwashing our kids" into "despising" America.

Ms Buchanan wrote that she had called the number at the bottom of one of the emails only to go to an answering machine. This annoyed her, she says.

Unfortunately, she left her name and number when asked to do so by the recorded message. She put this down to an automatic reaction as she normally leaves these details many times a day in the course of her job.

Then she lost her temper and after calling laptoplobbyist.com again left a voicemail wishing their children ill. She described it as a "terrible message."

This voicemail has been published on laptoplobbyist.com's website and says:

"Hi, my name is Rachel, and my telephone number is [number]. I wanted to tell you that you're evil, horrible people. You're awful people. You represent horrible ideas. God hates you and he wants to kill your children. You should all burn in hell. Bye."

Full Article: 'Spam rage' leads to reporter quitting

Of course, even though the book of Romans does in explicit detail tell us that all spammers will indeed go to hell Rachel Buchman resigned from WHYY.

A mp3 of the lovely message can be found at this link and while Rachel is being demonised for her actions and the lobbyist is being praised for being in the right...

I think this is horrific and what's actually needed is not to force Rachel to resign, instead it's to uplift her and follow her lead... what would happen if the average person's response to spam was to hunt down the originator and phone them up or yell at them a little?

I'd think that ther'd be a lot less spam going around that's what...

Currently Listening To: u2 - A Man And A Woman

Well folks,

Here we go again.

Abbas has finally had a decision on the Protection Visa that has been in process for about 9 months now. Unfortunately he has been turned down. This means that if he doesn't appeal the decision he will probably be returned to detention pending deportation. This is exactly where he was two years ago, sitting in a detention centre, waiting to be deported. He had been waiting for almost two years before that, when the Federal Court deemed his continued detention illegal.

If you've managed to follow the movements of the last few months, you would know the ruling that released him has been overturned, so within the law Abbas may be returned to detention indefinitely.

The appeal deadline for the Protection Visa is early January and at this stage Abbas doesn't want to appeal the decision. He has been down and getting worse since his release from Baxter in September and (understandably) has no faith left in the bureaucratic processes. It will be 5 years on January the 5th that Abbas has been in Australia seeking an outcome.

At the moment we are seeking a political solution to the problem with Christopher Pyne MP talking to Sen Vanstone on Abbas' behalf and Laurie Feguson MP (Opposition Spokesperson for Immigration) taking some sort of interest in the case also. Trish Worth is also doing everything she can to call in favours from her time in parliament. Thankyou to all of those who responded to my last email, by writing a letter (sorry if you didn't get it, my email list is evolving). Politicians often do respond to the public's concerns; usually not on the timeline we would want or in exactly the way we would want, but they do respond. Christopher Pyne has been quite helpful so far and should prove to be a friend in parliament.

If you haven't already, now would be a superb time to write a Christmas Card to Sen Vanstone wishing Peace on earth and Goodwill to all people, especially Abbas Al Khafaji.

The Hon. Amanda Vanstone, Senator
81 Flinders Street, Adelaide SA 5000

We are also trying to get a couple of other coalition MP's onside, so if you live in any of the following electorates, a letter to your local MP would go a long way to finding a solution to Abbas' situation. Better yet, if you are willing to arrange a meeting with your MP, you, Abbas and myself or another of Abbas' friends, that would be fantastic. The electorates we are working on are...

Makin -

Mrs Trish Draper MP
959 North East Road
Modbury SA 5092


Kingston -

Mr Kym Richardson MP
209 Main South Road
Morphett Vale SA 5162


Boothby -

Dr Andrew Southcott MP
760 Marion Road
Marion SA 5043

Letters to Sen Vanstone, really just need to mention Abbas Al Khafaji's name and maybe ask for a Permanent Protection Visa.

Letters to local MP's should give a bit more background than that. I'm assuming because you are on this list, you have an idea of the history. If you need more info, just let me know. The pertinent points are...

Ask for your MP to speak to Senator Vanstone to ask her to bring this situation to an end.
Ask for a permanent protection visa.

Stick to these points and things you know to be true. Mistakes will slow down his visa application.
Ask what they are going to do with Abbas now and suggest that it's not really feasible to send someone back to Iraq in the current climate, especially as without papers, he will not necessarily be accepted into Iraq.

Do not be aggressive in your letter.

Make the letter as personal as possible- in your own words.

A hand written letter is more valuable than a printed one, but any letter is great.

Apart from all of that, we are trying to keep Abbas' spirits up. Any prayers/ positive thoughts you can send his way would be fantastic. It would be good to light a candle every night as a prayer for Abbas; for his mental state and for a good outcome SOON. There are currently 86 addresses adding up to over 300 people on this mailing list, so at least 86 candles glittering away on Abbas' behalf is a beautiful image.

Thankyou for all of your work to date. If there is someone you think might be interested in this email and hearing more about Abbas, please forward this on and ask them to get in touch so I can put them on the mailing list and give them any more information they need. If anyone is willing to arrange a meeting, particularly with Trish Draper or Andrew Southcott, let me know. If you have access to a church newsletter and would like a notice to go in it asking people to respond to Abbas' situation in some way, let me know and I'll put something together. It is always good for people to mention him and general asylum seeker issues in points of prayer during the service too.

Thankyou again.

Yours without guile
Nathan March

for Abbas

Currenttly Feeling: crappy

Therapy mentioned tonight that he was contemplating his top 10 cd's from 2004. It seems that since triple j have released their top 10 CD list he thought that as a radio dj it was a part of his new found calling to release his own top ten.

triple j really had their jobs cut out for them this year, no Radiohead, Coldplay, Muse, Powderfinger or You Am I cd release to take a few of the spaces up and so I'm not surprised that a number of the dj's have completely different lists. I am however surprised that William Schatner's "Has Been" didn't make it onto ANYONE's list at all!!!

That being the case I started to contemplate what were my top 10, in doing so I decided that numbering them would be one of the harder jobs of the task, hence why I'm still up with a half full glass of coke at 1am in the morning...

Heh, so... here's my Top Ten for 2004.

1. A Ghost is Born - Wilco

This cd got number 1 without much thought, these guys continue to surprise me with their musical ability and it's a cd that has had a lot of rotation on my cd player this year.

2. Summer Make Good - Mum

I wanted to be different, hardly anyone will have this cd and even less of you will have it in the Ltd Edition format that I do :) Needless to say that I'm a musical snob and I'm damn proud of it and these guys are one of the best things that has ever happened to my ears. Their gig in Adelaide last year ssent me into a spin that took me a few weeks to recover from.

3. American Idiot - Greenday

Normally these guys would shit me to tears, but this year's release really made me turn around and have a second and third listen, it's a rock opera from a band that's growing up and yelling out for people to pay attention to them again., probably not worthy of the number 3 but I felt that they deserved it for effort.

4. John Butler Trio - Sunrise Over Sea

And the Aria goes to..... John Butler. This cd should lose a few demerit points for the 20 minutes of Rain Forrest noises that comes at the end of the cd. I bought this to listen on a road trip and as I drove through the mountains to Tahmoor I thought I'd accidentally ran over a bird and got it stuck up my vent...

That being said it's a great cd and well worth the Arias that he received for it.

5. Little Chills - Darren Hanlon

Ahh my little indie collection jumps for glee when Darren releases another cd. This cd is full of great little ditties and I enjoy playing it around the house... He also deserves a place for writing a song titled "(There's Not Enough Songs About) Squash."

6. How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb - U2

I'm running out of spaces, and I've got to include the U2 cd in the list... It's formula U2 which makes me kind of depressed that the days of Zooropa and Pop may have gone by, but it's still a great cd. Currently getting a lot of rotation in my car and house it'll continue to get a lot of play through the next few years.

7. Smile - Brian Wilson

So, I added SMILE, if you have an issue with this then go and suck on a lemon. Therapy and I were talking a while ago about if we liked it or not, and although I'm still not sure if i do indeed like it, the cd needs to be in this list because it exists. Brian Wilson put together the remaining pieces of this fabled album and released it this year and although it may not be to everyone's tastes it's certainly getting a lot of play here.

8. There Will Be A Light - Ben Harper & Blind Boys Of Alabama

Ahhhh, there's nothing like some good old time gospel roots and blues music and there's never anything like a new Ben Harper cd.

This cd is heavenly.

9. No Roots - Faithless

Uncut dealt with this cd harshly, but Uncut loves Johnny Cash and John Cale (who are great musicians by the way). My point being is that they never seem to deal well with dance, electronic or rap that well. I love this cd because it's fun to listen to, the video clips that are coming out for it are great and I just love hearing Maxi Jazz's voice again.

10. Time In The Sun - Junior

I've given this position to some mates of mine in Adelaide... Favoritism? Yes, I won't deny that but it's still getting tonnes of rotation in my cd player, it's still one of the first cds to be in the player on a road trip and it brings back tonnes of memories, so bite me if you think that Xavier Rudd or Elliot Smith or The Libertines should have made it.

Special mention goes to these cds:

- Butterfly Boucher - Flutterby
- Xavier Rudd - Solace
- The Libertines - The Libertines
- Uh Huh Her - PJ Harvey
- Seven Swans - Sufjan Stevens
- Dear Friends and Enemies - Big Heavy Stuff
- Please Describe Yourself Dogs Die In Hot Cars
- From A Basement On The Hill - Elliott Smith
- Inner North - The Guild League

Therapy's just pointed out that I'm a sexist pig and that there are no females at all on this list, sure that Mum has a female vocalist and that PJ, Butterfly and the chicks in The Guild League get a mention, but all up none of them made it top 10. I guess that I could just add PJ or Little Birdy to make me a little less sexist, but to tell you the truth I don't care :)

Besides... I hate Little Birdie, the Dresden Dolls make my ears bleed after the third listen, Delta Goodrem makes me cry, Missy Higgins is great but too cliche at the moment, I'm not going to mention Kylie Minogue or Hillary Duff and all The Waifs did this year was release some live double cd for the Christmas rush...

Currenttly Feeling: bored
Currently Listening To: The Brian Jonestown Massacre - geezers