queen of the republic
In this post, I’m going to spout my opinions on whether Australia should a) become a republic (with president or whatever) or b) still have the Queen as our head of state.
What my opinion boils down to is “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”, and here’s why.
The every day lives of every Australian is not affected whether we have a Queen or not. We can make our own decisions about international policy, without interference from a monarch, as the British can. We are pretty much independent, with the added bonus of being able to romp it in at the Commonwealth Games (unlike the Olympics, which has big countries like China, USA, etc. that usually manage to thump our medal count.)
People seem to want a republic for the simple feeling of freedom. We have freedom already, and changing the head of state will not change that.
In fact, look at the world. There are places where basic freedoms are denied. The freedom to turn on the tap and be able to drink the water, even get water at all. The freedom to eat three meals a day. The freedom to say what we like, talk to who we want to, and the freedom to choose many trivial and non-trivial things.
Comparing our situation to that of other nations makes me ask whether the Australian Republican movement’s efforts couldn’t be devoted to somewhere where it would matter more.
No, I’m not a monarchist, nor a republican. I think the current system works, and there are other problems out there more worthy of our attention.
One of our problems is the rabid republicans and mad monarchists… Come on Australia, choose to leave it alone.
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clever tactics, ABC
I watched and enjoyed The Abbey, and Australian made reality/documentary where 5 everyday women from different walks of life go and live with nuns for a month, getting up really early, go to all the church services and adopt Benedictine practices such as silence, humility and hard work. The goal (besides good TV) is for a spiritual experience, whatever that means.
However, this isn’t a post about monastic living, but of clever TV tactics. You see, the ABC (Compass runs the timeslot) screened this program, which was made in late 2006/early 2007, in mid 2007. This is before they screened the “original” British program on five 21st Century men in a monastery (2005), now showing Sunday nights in late November.
The reason this is clever is this: There is funding for Australian made television, also showing a new idea to the local audience will be good for ratings. That is, if they had showed the British version first, some people wouldn’t have bothered watching the second incarnation of the idea.
Well done ABC, this was intelligent.
More info:
The British version (men)
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 of the Australian The Abbey (women)
There is also an American version (both men and women.)
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the cheesecake we had to have
Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.
I made this cheesecake a little while ago, and have just gotten around to uploading pictures.
The first thing I had to do was crush up a packet of Marie Biscuits, (plain biscuits) and mix these crumbs with a few table spoons of melted margarine, then press this into the base of the dish to make the base. I popped it into the fridge to set.
For the filling, I had two packets of philly cheese, softened them in the microwave, and started mixing it with an electric beater. I added about 250 ml (half a 500ml jar) of thickened cream, and mixed it till it was smooth. I added to this maybe a cup or so of icing sugar, to take away a little of the savoury taste. Then I melted half a block, maybe more, of dark chocolate in the microwave. This I mixed into the cheese and cream.
After mixing up the filling, I poured this into the dish on top of the base. Smoothed it and spread it out a bit and put it into the fridge. At this point I cleaned up my cooking utensils and had a bit of lunch.
While the cheesecake looked pretty good, with grated chocolate on top, I didn’t think it was finished. The beaters, just cleaned, where going to get another outing- this time in the rest of the cream. I whipped the cream till it was very thick, adding a little squeeze of orange juice to knock back the richness- you couldn’t taste the orange, but it did temper the richness of the cream a bit.
After adding the whipped cream to top off the cheesecake, I grated a little chocolate on top, and then left it in the fridge to set.
The next challenge was transport- it was a big cheesecake and it would be good to share with a group of friends. We found the old electric frying pan was a good fit, so I used that.
So, that was my first attempt at cheesecake making, and it tasted alright, so I was impressed.
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what are you doing?
Twitter is the new “yes mum I’m still alive” tool. Remember when blogs came out, people were saying that instead of emailing people about what you were doing, you could blog it and tell them to check your blog? Twitter has taken that over and made it better.
I don’t think blogs are dead or on their way out. Twitter messages are restricted to 140 characters or less, so for more lengthy articles another medium is needed. That said, twitter messages can be pretty meaty:
writing: email. blog. planning: girlsBrigade. travel. uniWork. examStudy. but sleepy. need mo’ coffee!
It’s amazing what you can communicate in 140 characters. I find with a blog post I like to write a few paragraphs at least, and so don’t blog when I can’t write that much- the same goes with emails. Twitter allows me to update as I have something to say- not when I have an essay to share.
The reason twitter has replaced blogging as the medium to let your friends and relatives know what you are doing (aka “yes mum, I’m fine”) is that it is mobile, quick and easy. You can send a text message update, send from IM or one of the many twitter programs available, or use the twitter website itself. On the road, especially on the greyhound in the middle of the night, I could reassure my loved ones that I was going fine- or let my friends know that I was having an awesome time on the road, all with a (hopefully) pithy short message.
But it’s PUBLIC Alison!
Sure, you post twitter stuff and anyone on the web can read it. Same with your blog. Some people get the “privacy shiver” when they think about this, but all it takes is some intelligence. Looking over my twitter feed, it gives a fair representation of my life- if you know me and what I’m doing. “chilling with elle and matt” – unless you knew who they were, you would just be able to think “that’s nice” with out knowing exactly where I was or what I was doing.
Don’t post private addresses, full names or heaps of detail- and for private stuff, email still exists- you can still use it. Twitter is just like anything else- safe if you’ve got at least half a brain.
Twitter is fun- and combined with it’s features and ease of use, makes it a great tool that won’t be going anywhere any time soon. And yes, mum, I’m doing fine. 
You can check out my updates at /twitter or my username is titanium_geek.
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list of dwarves in the hobbit
As I revise for my upcoming English exam, I am surprised that there is no simple list of the dwarves in The Hobbit (or There and Back Again) by J.R.R Tolkien. I suppose that there are 13 of them and they are hard to keep track of and develop as characters, and thus are just there to add numbers to the band of adventurers off to reclaim treasure from Smaug the dragon.
The list:
- Thorin Oakenshield
- Dori
- Nori
- Ori
- Balin
- Dwalin
- Fili
- Kili
- Oin
- Gloin
- Bifur
- Bofur
- Bombur
There you go, all thirteen. Ordering is taken from the Chapter “Queer Lodgings” where the dwarves are ordered to come in pairs at five minute intervals while Gandalf talks to Beorn.
Of these, the ones developed by Tolkien are: Thorin, as the leader of the group, Balin, the watchman who befriends Bilbo, Dori, who “a decent fellow” helps Bilbo along as they flee the Goblins, even carrying him on his back and helping him up a tree. Oin and Gloin are responsible for fire starting, Fili is one of the younger dwarves and called on for his eyesight and aim, and Bombur has the comic role of being overweight.