Hello Senator Conroy,

I'm writing to express my concern regarding the plan to regulate and censor the internet. I understand the good intentions and motivations behind the scheme, but am deeply concerned from a logistical as well as ethical point of view. I will keep this brief as you will be receiving contact from thousands of other concerned Australians and I do want my voice to be heard.

We can't stop the flow of undesirable content on the internet, and to attempt to regulate the policed parts of the internet misses the point as the vast majority of the kind of content you're seeking to protect us from isn't located or disseminated in the same way as regular internet content. Protecting people from this kind of content is problematic at best.

Logic dictates that on the well regulated sections of the Internet can be more easily monitored and traced for law enforcement which would yield far better results than treating it like it doesn't exist. I (and the rest of the Australian internet community at large) would personally much prefer to see more resources put into the hands of the federal police and groups who tackle these sort of issues on the ground than in something we know to be fatally technically flawed from the outset.

The other technical issues aside and I'm sure you've heard them all before and are not likely to be dissuaded on this, there's a greater ethical issue at stake. It is inherently dishonest to represent this as an effective tool to fight child predators as banning access to websites certainly doesn't help identify them. The moral imperative to protect our community and our most vulnerable means that the most effective approach is surely the approach we must take.

It simply unethical to proceed down this road when there are other avenues that offer a much greater level of protection to our community. To squander our resources in this way when it could be more effectively used is sickening. Simply restricting access to certain sites provides no deterrent, it provides no way of monitoring these people, and it doesn't achieve what it sets out to achieve. I'm asking you to please reconsider and have a full and frank discussion with experts and the Australian public. We care deeply about our freedoms and we care deeply about our most vulnerable and we're convinced there are better ways of dealing with these issues.

Get Up - Save the Net

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A close family friend passed away last week. He was a huge influence on me and my circle of friends. Matter of fact he treated us like family and taught me a lot of stuff, like how to swing a hammer, how to take yourself less seriously. What amazed me about him is how large he lived. He will live in my memory as this loud, boisterously friendly, funny, larger-than-life and wonderful human being. I miss him already and my heart goes out to his family. The world is a richer, better place for him having lived.

I am so lucky to have very close mates and sometimes I don't remember how amazing it is to have these huge extended family and collection of people that care for me. And it's not just that they've put up with their kid's friends, but welcomed us all in as surrogate family members and I'm so grateful for each and every kindness they have shown me. I know that they've helped me become a better person and I love them all.

Posted by funnelbc at 9:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

So much stuff on. So busy. So damned snotty. Had what should have been a 24 hour sniffle turn into a multiple day festival of snot thanks to being overtired (I can only guess - maybe it was always going to be this bad).

I have a towering pile of work to do and I really have struggled to get on task with the combined effect of being completely over the moon about getting engaged followed up by random headcold.

As soon as I'm feeling up to it I desperately need to get back to the gym. It's frustrating but I don't want to go there while I'm sick and get worse. Blech.

Posted by funnelbc at 9:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Was cleaning up my hard drive (in a typical work avoidance manouvre) and found this. Did it a couple of years ago. I don't think I was having fun at work then...

Posted by funnelbc at 9:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This firefly press video really got my mind thinking about letterpress all over again.

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mountain, originally uploaded by funnelbc.

It's hard to describe and quite difficult to convey in words. I think what may make more sense is to describe it in terms of "The Mountain". All people who live in the southern part of Tasmania refer to Mount Wellington as "The Mountain". When it's cold people will note that there's snow on the mountain, and when it's unseasonably warm, they will also note that "it's funny how much snow is left on the mountain considering how warm it's been". Basically it's like a giant primitive weather station. If there's snow on the mountain, it's cold or it's been cold recently. That's a uniquely Tasmanian way of looking at things, but there you go.

But more than that, the mountain (using the lower case version now as it feels funny to refer to it in upper case) leaves a strong impression as it's always there. I think some people find it vaguely oppressive, but I have always loved the mountain and like a lot of people find that it's the biggest and most potent symbol of home that I can imagine. My girlfriend's family have always been in the same spot, so for her it's her parents house, but because my family moved around a fair bit, I didn't really have a house that's always been there to come back to. In that way the mountain fills that role.

So today while waiting for my dinner to be cooked at a nearby italian restaurant I took this photo near my house and felt like I was home. Even if home is close enough to the mountain to know it's there. That's all.

Posted by funnelbc at 9:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

dedicated to being more fearless.

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This is from this forum thread, as it's stolen a good chunk of my evening I thought I would put it up here also.

If more people were to have actually seen his work before the added subtext of all this hoo-hah, then I'd be really interested in the responses. This isn't cultural snobbery on my part - it's just the earnest wish that more people could see his photography and make own their own damn minds instead of participating in a larger debate where they know fuck all and nothing about the work they are commenting on.

Whacking Bill Henson with the cultural hang-ups and the creeping feeling of self loathing that we have because of the mainstream media's sexualisation of children is not only hypocritical it requires an unbelievable feat of logic.

Why... fancy that, here's the latest issue of Dolly Magazine. What's inside dear sub-teen and teen (and most definitely underage reader)?

THE GUY ISSUE This month's mag will tell you everything you need to know about the opposite sex. Tear open the sealed section to have hit bits explained, flip to our hot footy boy fever shoot to read about what guys think about girls and dating (and for a perve) and then read our story about the attitude he finds irresistible. Consider yourself well educated!

HANGING OUT WITH THE JONAS BROTHERS
Wanna spend a day with the hottest brothers ever? Who doesn't! We follow the JB boys as they eat brekkie, hop on and off their tour plane and chill out backstage. Plus, Joe Jonas dishes about girls!

HIGH SCHOOL SURGERY
Cosmetic surgery among teen girls is on an alarming rise and celebs are leading the charge. We ask the question, how young is too young to go under the knife?

Certainly there's some in depth explorations of what it is to be young, and deep meditations on our culture? And nothing anyone at all could find objectionable and unsuitable for the audience intended?

Do we need:

To stop young people being exposed to sexual images before they have the tools and cognitive faculties to deal with them? Yes.
To Start a dialogue about what messages we think are acceptable for young people to be exposed to? Yes.
To have a greater understanding what it is to be young and the challenges of growing up? Yes.

To take down the artwork of one of Australia's most prominent photographers dealing with the thorny idea that young people are reflections of the culture we project onto them? Do we need to ignore the uncomfortable idea of teenage angst & alienation? No. (For anyone who isn't familiar, the alienation of youth is a big a part of his work as the idea of transition from childhood to adulthood and the related issues - not just sex).

The level of exposure of commercial soft-porn is higher than it's ever been, but we somehow think that complaining about an artist who's intent is clearly so far removed from the day to day exploitations is an acceptable and logical way of dealing with the problem of children being over exposed to sexual messages? Or abused by a family member in the suburbs? It somehow deals with broken men who take out their sexual disorders on strangers and relatives?

I'd like to re-state what others have more eloquently put - the boogieman isn't Bill Henson and his work, it's our Media and the messages (that we as a culture, by and large, accept) out there. To object vociferously to Henson's work begs that you do the same about the absolute crap that's in our news-agencies and on our tv's & radios - and I'd suggest that they are a more urgent, deeper and more systematic root cause the kind of problems, abuses and societal ills we're talking about.

Posted by funnelbc at 10:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

Amazing and timely, read it if you've got a second

It's about stuff.

Related Story of Stuff with Annie Leonard

Posted by funnelbc at 4:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Here's to a Happy New Year, starting afresh and all that.

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This is just amazing read some of these stories to give you a bit of perspective.

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Had a huge financial setback on friday, which was annoying - something cost a lot more than I thought it would, but that evening I got a letter with a huge bill in it, and after the initial freakout, i'm convinced they have made a mistake and will be speaking to them on Monday.

What's interesting is that considering the sums of money involved I didn't really fall off the deepend too badly. My teeth hurt though, I think I ground my teeth badly last night.

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