New Year Resolution

I've had success with this year's resolutions. They were achievable (important) and I've been largely able to stick to them.

I started playing regular sport, I've read more books and I've been going to bed earlier.

The reading has dropped off a bit lately as I've been bogged down in the literary equivalent of treacle. However, I'll be picking up the pace after I bought three novels on eBay for $10 delivered!

Tennis lessons didn't start till September, but I've made the effort, picked up some skills and have a team organised to start full-scale competition in February. I even bought some tennis shoes today so I'll be fitted out just right.

What of this years resolutions?  The usual ones like drink less, be more patient, get out of bed earlier, can be trotted out, doomed to fail, but that's not what works.

I need some more a tangible goals.

My Dark Sports Secret

I realise that as a blogger- just learning the ropes - I should have an aversion to sport and to celebrity sports people - but... this...

Warne over and out

No, No, No, No, No, No, No.......

Podcasts

Of all the Web 2.0 technologies, I really love the podcast.

The freedom to choose the program that I want, when I want is very liberating. 

How I despise being trapped in the car in peak hour gridlock with some FM bozo yelling at me between endless commercials for mobile-phone plans or some ' new ABC' presenter droning on about their lame topic of the day (yep Richard Stubbs and Lindy Burns, I mean you). Podcasts set me free.

My favouites at the minute are

Boxcutters

Film Buffs Forecast

Footy Heads (between seasons at the minute)

Also, as a one-off, John Doyle giving the Andrew Olle Lecture 2005.

Citizenship Test Leak

Painfree has been given some drafts from the question bank for the Howard's new citizenship exam, the You're Oright, Bloody Beauty Ocker (YOBBO) test.

Two examples are:

Q22 You are informed by your navy that some asylum seekers drifting in to Australian waters are throwing their children overboard to avoid being turned away. Do you:

a) Ask for verification  of the story.

b) Instruct the border protection agencies to expedite the transfer of the asylum seekers to the Australian mainland because they are clearly under duress and have taken leave of their senses.

c) Immediately feed the story to the media in order to score some cheap political points.

 

Q99

Your country has an indigenous population that has a twenty-year shorter life expectancy, four fold increased infant mortality as well as alcohol, violence and unemployment problems.

Do you:

a) Remove their peak body of representation.

b) Legislate to deprive them of reclaiming their tribal land.

c) Remove reconciliation from the national agenda.

d) All of the above.

Colin Hay

Mark your diaries now. Colin Hay at the Corner in Melbourne on 12 January 2007.

iPod use now legal

The Financial Review (2/12) reports that the Senate passed the Federal Government's new copyright laws after backing down on the 'single copy' stipulation of the legislation.

In draft form, the laws allowed for only one permanent copy of any copyrighted material to be kept by consumers. The Apple iPod however, creates a copy on both the user's personal computer as well as the iPod itself.

Justice Minister Chris Ellison conceded that the laws were excessively restrictive. "The amendment will...render legitimate the ordinary use of digital music players", he said.