almost home

roma★
sheepfilms
Lint Roller? I Barely Know Her
Claire Keane
noise dept.
occasionally subtle
Alisa U Zemlji Chuda
DEAR READER

Origami Around
YOU ARE THE REASON
🪼
todays bird

oozey mess
Xuebing Du
Peter Solarz

JBB: An Artblog!
PUT YOUR BEARD IN MY MOUTH

@theartofmadeline

No title available
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@greensslade
We cannot change anything unless we accept it. Condemnation does not liberate, it oppresses.
Carl G. Jung (via stardust-seedling)
young trotsky looks like jean ralphio
"Cuz I got exiled by Staaaaaaaaaaaliiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnn."
I WAS LAUGHING SO HARD WHILE TRYING TO REBLOG THIS I CLOSED THE TAB AND HAD TO SCROLL FOR FIFTEEN MINUTES TO FIND IT AGAIN BUT IT WAS WORTH IT
this
They’re your public services. Sign now.
Would love to see Victorian stats #carbontaxhysteria
The excitingly titled "why you should vote below the line, dammit!"
So I'm a political geek. But most of my friends aren't. As a result, I like to think I am pretty dandy at talking politics without making people fall asleep, and only mentioning the word dandy twice (no-doz usually supplied). SO, I am getting on my preferences bandwagon one more time before the new year as the crowd cheer "encore" (wait, no, that was me, in my mind). The most recent Victorian Election which I most sincerely hope all you Victorians voted in, saw us Greens win 4 new seats, 2 in the upper house (the long bit of paper) and two in the lower house (the small bit of paper). This is great news, because we are coming closer to being represented in parliament proportionately to the amount of votes we receive. More on the inadequacies of preferential two-party preferred voting later. I'm here to tell you that yes, your vote is actually powerful and makes a huge difference. And that you must be wise about HOW you vote, especially in the Legislative Assembly (upper house...you know, the big bit of paper). This year thousands of Victorians may have unwittingly voted to elect: The "Vote 1 Local Jobs Party". While I appreciate voting instructions embedded in the name of a party, this mob got just 1.28% of the primary vote in Western Victoria (you need 16.67% of the vote to get in...more on that soon). The Democratic Labour Party. These guys have essentially become the embarrassing distant uncle of the Labor Party after the family fight of 1955. The leader of the DLP became the idol of Tony Abbott (yes, Abbott is a Liberal, yes, it is all rather weird). These guys did get 2.56% of the vote in Western Metro Melbourne though, a bit better that the voting instructions party. In Northern Metro Melbourne we saw the butt (and every other private part) of every voting joke elected to the Upper House. Congratulations Sex Party, your porn industry funded party got a seat in parliament. Granted, these guys are pro marriage equality, euthanasia and further separation of church and state, but i'm guessing not many of you northern suburbites particularly wanted a party advocating the East-West link go ahead. BTW, they got 2.88% of the vote. And now, the piéce de résistance, in Northern Victoria and Eastern Victoria we have a party that declares themselves as "Advocating for the politically incorrect, a voice of reason, science and conservation" as well as "the voice of hunters, shooters, fishers, rural and regional Australia and independent thinking Australians everywhere" (dafuq?). Yes, the lovely people at the Shooters and Fishers Party have come to parliament demanding access to guns for children on the tail of a vote of 3.5% and 2.44% respectively. For perspective, and to highlight my point, the Greens polled higher in every single jurisdiction mentioned above. In Western Victoria, for example, "Vote 1 Local Jobs" got the 11th most votes. yep. Even the Shooters and Fishers got more votes than these guys! But how the hell did these parties get in? And the Greens didn't? This is what they call preferential voting. On the little bit of paper you ALWAYS have full control over where your vote goes: if your first vote doesn't get enough votes, it goes to your second vote and so on until one of two candidates gets enough votes to win. In the Upper House, the Legislative Assembly, the big bit of paper, there are 5 spots to be filled from your 1 bit of paper. Take that no-doz now. Now, if you vote "1" above the line, you are essentially saying to that party "I trust where you have decided your default preferences should go for above the line voting". This saves time if you can be bothered looking up in the 2 weeks leading up to the election what these "preference flows" are, and you agree with them. But apart from me and a few other political geeks, I don't know anyone who does that, let alone anyone who knows what to look for or that they exist. So, essentially, if you voted above the line, in Northern Vic for The Sex Party or Palmer United Party, you inadvertently elected a party that advocates kids shooting ducks. Because both these parties essentially said "if we don't get in, we want the gun-toters in". Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of the Steven Bradbury spirit, but that's sport, this is politics. In the interests of transparency, the Greens did help elect The Sex Party in Northern Metro with the left over votes after the Greens got over the 16.67% needed to win a seat (hang in there, let the no-doz kick in). The choice in the end came down to between Family First (who believe Climate Change is a hoax, that women get pregnant to get welfare and that abortions should be illegal), I think those votes ended up with the best of those two. SO! How does this happen? Imagine all the votes in your piece of the state stacked up neatly in piles according to height, or by the number of votes. The most at the start and the least at the end. Now, have any of those parties already got 16.67% of the vote? Take 16.67% of their votes away from those piles and put them in a seat, they are now elected! Now, re order the votes according to how many votes are left after you have given a seat to those who got at least 16.67%. Who has the least amount of votes? Move those votes to whoever gets the second preference from whoever got the least votes. Now who has the least? Move them to their second preference! Keep going in that fashion until a party has 16.67% of the vote. You will need to feel each seat with one party getting 16.67% of the vote. Do you see how all these parties got in with hardly any votes? They took advantage of the fact that most Victorians (and Australians) vote above the line, so, most parties direct their preferences, through preference deals, to 1 or 2 parties. Incidentally, it could have been that the "Country Alliance" got a seat in Northern Victoria as well, or instead of the Shooters. The Country Alliance essentially being the Shooters and Fishers under a different name. You can't rely on all parties to pick preferences in order of how close other parties are to their own policies, they will pick parties that might preference them high in another area of the state, or who promise to 'play nice' in parliament. Now, to the premise of my argument. VOTE BELOW THE LINE! If you think that the Pirate Party (real party) is better than the Rock n Roll Party (real party), you can vote accordingly and your vote will count even if the Pirate Party have a preference deal with the "Vote 1 Alpaca Farmers Party" (not a real party, but I would love to see it), your vote will go to the Rock n Roll Party if the Pirate Party don't get enough votes to get a seat. And then if the Rock n Roll party don't get enough votes to get a seat and you give your next preference to the "Stop The Greens" Party (real party, srsly), that's who it goes to. You can now hold your head high knowing that you have made a conscious decision about who you are voting for, you may have spent a few more minutes in the voting booth, you may have Googled the "No Smart Meters" Party (again, real party) and the "Australian Cyclists Party" (not making these up people!) and found out a little about them. What's more, I have literally witnessed vote counts (yes, I sometimes watch people count votes in my spare time, what of it?) where a candidate has won by 2 votes, even after double checking the votes! Sadly, the person who was 2 votes behind was the Greens candidate. Everyone is always saying that politicians can't be trusted, so don't trust them with the rest of your votes after 1. Take the power back and start a little grey lead pencil revolution! (I was hoping to include the Australian Sports Party, "The 23 Million" and the HEMP party, but I ran out of room, so I have awkwardly added them to the end of this post.)
Did you vote above the line in Northern Vic for the Liberal Party? Your vote helped get the shooters and fishers into Victorian Parliament. Voted for Labor above the line? You got the Shooters and Fishers cousin in: The Country Alliance. Labor and Liberal would rather have parties that support the killing of endangered wildlife and a distraction of their habitat and a subsequent chaotic parliament than the Greens. The idea of keeping the Greens out of parliament will prove very costly indeed for this government and for democracy. Always vote below the line to ensure you have control over your vote. #vicvotes #green14
@_spock, you are a legend for this! Just to be clear, this isn't what actually happened, the Greens only advocate metaphorical blowing up of electorate results, the likes of which Sam Hibbins displayed. We don't actually want to blow up the electorates we're elected into, no no, that would be disastrous.
The fourth wave of feminism cannot come from women
Hear me out. Feminism has brought us (and by us I mean humanity) many wonderful things: more equal wages, work conditions, the right for women to vote and equality under the law in general, most of the time.There's still a way to go with some of these issues as well as many others, but generally speaking, women today have it better than 100 years ago. Notwithstanding, there's MANY parts of third wave feminism that have not been realised yet, between everyday sexism, family violence rates, and still, 1 in 5 women are raped in their lifetime. The next wave of feminism must come from people who are not women. Because women live in the world and around half of the rest of the world aren't women. The non-women of the world need to step up. A moment to clarify. By non-women I mean anyone who does not identify as a woman. Most of these people will classify themselves as men, others as trans*, intersex, gender diverse or queer just to name a few. Feminism has largely focused on women getting what men have. Quite fair really, men had (and have) if pretty good, what with promotions in the workplace, the majority of parliament and generally ruling the world, yes, there still needs to be more women in power. However, this also diminishes the power that women were told they could have, that is, power in the home. Lets put this into context. I have found out that I am to become a father. By far the most exciting news about the most important job I will ever undertake. And there it is. Raising a child IS the most important job I will ever undertake. The most important job is not becoming a politician, becoming a specialist counsellor, retiring with lots of money, it IS raising a child. And while women have quite rightly demanded that they are equal members of the non-home world, the same cannot be said (with noble exceptions) for men demanding their place in the home world. Annabelle Crabb writes of a wife drought (bit.ly/WifeDrought): men and women, both off to work, both earning money, both making their way up the corporate ladder, but no one at home to do the chores, do the child rearing. If we are truly to proceed feminism, non-women need to take up their role as parent with open arms. But as with women rising in the workforce, there are countless accounts of everyday sexism, making this world a women's only world. Ever seen a surface cleaning advertisement with a male protagonist? And no, Mr Muscle does not count, he is an idealised man who makes a cleaning chemical to make his Mum's life easier. You're doing feminism wrong, from 1st wave through. I admire your ability to fuck up 100+ years of hard fought for progress Mr Muscle. Ever seen any sort of baby product marketed at a man? No, because everyone knows that men don't buy baby stuff. Been on a baby forum lately? The default profile picture is a stylised silhouette with long hair and a bow. Sure, non-women can have long hair and a bow, but i'm balding, I don't identify with your long hair and bow. I find your presence of hair intimidating. And yes, you have thought it "sweet" when a man "babysits" his own children. So yes, I think it's "sweet" that you're in a "man's job" as Director of a company (have I been kicked off the Tumblr yet? No? Good.). Ever seen a male childcare worker? And if you did, did you question his motives? And don't get me started on girls and boys toys and the appalling way our media has portrayed anyone with the guts to speak up against it (bit.ly/GenderDecember). What's that old man doing with those children? Is he a paedophile? No, that's what we call a Grandfather playing with his Grandchildren. And yes, I deliberately said playing with his Grandchildren, because for the majority of Grandfathers, playing means playing chasey, hide and seek, in the sand pit, with dolls, with toys. It does not mean molesting. Ok, sure, women are biologically created to grow a fetus into a baby for 10 months then breast feed and whatever, but surely we are not settling for that as a reason men cannot bring up children (and please don't use the words Manny, househusband or any other 'masculised' version of a traditional female role. It's called parenting fatherfucker). This is just the start though. We need to blow this whole idea of gender roles out of the water. For one, the idea of a gender binary where there are two islands, one with women and the other with men is ludicrous. We have trans* and intersex people in the world who don't fit in your world of islands. But that's a feminism rant for another day. By bringing non-women into the home we are recognising the incredibly important role of raising a child, not outsourcing it like we do everything else in our lives. We give credence to a wide variety of talents that any non-woman can possess, non-women can be workers AND parents. What's more, it affords non-women respect. You are not confined to the tight, repressive box that society has built for you. You are not violent, abusive, power hungry and hyper masculine, you are anything you damned well please and society will respect you for that. And there it is. To afford men the opportunity to transcend this condescending 'violent box', we must welcome them into the home, as parents, homemakers.
Northern Victoria: this is why voting below the line matters. Because of the flow of preferences from Labor, Liberal and several micro parties, it is looking quite likely that two parties that want to see national parks open to shooting and a general free for all, will represent this region. More shockingly, they look like achieving this after the Greens got the third highest primary vote in the region. Voted for almost any party apart from the Greens above the line? You voted for this. Make your vote count by voting below the line. #vicvotes #green14
Lousy is only the start of it.
Last night on "The Project", Australian journalist Mia Freedman said: "We accept that gay people can’t change who they love and who they’re sexually attracted to, so why do we think that people who are sexually attracted to children can be rehabilitated" At this, I yelled and screamed at the TV for several reasons. Much of the coverage of this outrageous statement has been directed at the bigoted idea that gay people are paedophiles. And rightly so, as this was one reason for my yelling; homosexual people have been struggling for decades to rid of this damaging myth, and for the most part in the western world, have succeeded. But my trouble with this statement and the ensuing commentary goes much deeper for one reason: Paedophelia ≠sexual attraction to children Freedman went on to apologise for her analogy today, but as you can see, Freedman just does not get it, still: "The idea that someone could – or should – be ‘cured’ of their sexual orientation is repugnant. So that’s what informed my analogy" Sexual orientation refers to the sex or gender of adult you are attracted to. Paedophiles, contrary to popular belief, are not attracted to children, but rather, are compelled to aggressively and deceivingly exert power over children. An attraction would suggest that a respectful and equal relationship based on intimacy could be formed from it. Children cannot possibly enter into a respectful and equal intimate relationship with an adult, which is exactly why paedophelia is, and shall remain, a crime. This futile link that Freedman made last night is reflective of a much larger problem in society; the desperate lack of knowledge about paedophelia. This leads to fear, hysteria and a lack of a reasonable debate on the issue, as was highlighted on "The Project" last night. A more reasonable analogy could have drawn a link between child abuse, family violence or rape, all of which, have seen some (if limited) success in reducing recidivism and preventing the crimes in the first place. Like all issues of this nature, there is no cure all, but many projects have gone a long way to reducing the incidents of these crimes. Several health promotion projects, coupled with a change to the justice system have seen the reporting of family violence increase to levels closer to the actual incidence of family violence. Part of this has seen a push to educate the public; events like white ribbon day have seen more men, in particular, understand what family violence is and take a pledge to never stand by and let it happen. The report last night targeted sentencing and punishment of convicted paedophiles. This area has seen some remarkable innovative justice initiatives (http://bit.ly/RestorativeJusticeMF) for victims and perpetrators of sexual assault. Restorative justice is used in these initiatives to help victims of sexual assault have their voice heard and gain closure on their trauma and gives perpetrators the opportunity to understand the full impact of their crime. Amazingly, these projects have seen a massive decrease in recidivism. So the examples I gave may or may not work with convicted paedophiles. And I'm sure we will never have a 100% cure all for this horrible crime. But at the very least, we need to increase our awareness of paedophelia, with fear, and yearning for retaliation put to one side. What we are wanting to do is protect children from what can be one of the most life threatening, life destroying acts that could ever be done to them. Paedophiles are accomplished at making sure their crimes go undetected. Paedophiles are more often than not a family member of the victim. Victims are usually petrified of telling anybody about how they are being abused for fear of punishment from the perpetrator. We need to learn the signs of our children being groomed. (http://bit.ly/SECASAGrooming) We need to learn the signs of our children being assaulted. (http://bit.ly/SECASAProtecting) And if the worst happens, we need to know how to best support our children. (http://bit.ly/SECASASupport) If you have been triggered by anything in this article, please call 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) For more info, please visit: https://www.1800respect.org.au/ http://www.secasa.com.au/
Including my own, I can count 15 bikes on the 7:47 service from Castlemaine to Bendigo, there's realistically only room for 8. This is the first service to #bendigo of a morning and is clearly in demand. I have been in conversations with Minister Mulders office on this matter before, all I got was that they are making new trains in Dandenong, it'll be a while before the trains are usable and stop complaining, Melbourne commuters have to stand up all the time (I paraphrase). Public transport is a service that if provided in abundance, it shall be used very regularly, if provided scarcely, it shall be scarcely used. Complacency and ambivalence from our current government shows a lack of courage and/or will and/or ability to provide more frequent, polydirectional, integrated and accessible transport. It shows contempt to those too poor to drive and worst of all malevolence toward our deteriorating environment, worsening #climatechange and increasing our collective dependence on fossil fuels. #victoria, we deserve better, we deserve the #greens. #bendigo #vicvotes #springst
Standing room only. Time for another carriage on the 7:47 to Bendigo? Or maybe even an earlier train, Minister Mulder? #springst #vicvotes
Time for another carriage on the 7:47 to Bendigo? Or maybe even an earlier train, Minister Mulder? #springst #vicvotes
25 things Castlemaine Hipsters never say:
In keeping with the Herald Suns 50 things Melbournians never say (note, I didn't actually read the Herald Sun, I saw the link on Facebook, for real) I thought it fitting to make a local version: 1: Have you got today's Herald Sun? 2: I hate wearing wool. 3: There's never anything to do in Castlemaine. 4: I love rail replacement buses. 5: Have you got coffee that ISN'T Coffee Basics? 6: I think I might vote Liberal. 7: Castlemaine has too many op shops 8: Are there even any cafè's in this town? 9: I wish Castlemaine had an arts scene. 10: I think our train service is the best in the world! 11: I hate kale. 12: I wish there was a decent green grocer in this town 13: I moved to Castlemaine for the hot rods 14: Let's move to Maryborough! 15: I wish all these bike riders would get off the road 16: Pedestrians give way to cars on Mostyn St 17: I wish we had a Maccas in this town 18: I wish we had a Coles/Woolies in this town 19: I wish we had more porkies in this town 20: No I don't have a library membership 21: I wish there were some decent bands at the Royal for a change 22: I hate the Wesley Hill Market 23: Let's leave town, the State Festival is on 24: Where can I find a second hand book shop in this town? 25: I hate bush dances
Congrats Mt A Shire! #racismitstopswithmecastlemaine #racismitstopswithmebendigo
Congrats Mt A Shire! #racismitstopswithmecastlemaine #racismitstopswithmebendigo
Racism, #itstopswithmebendigo. I will not remain silent about racism in my community, I'd encourage you to do likewise