I'm moving!

All gone to here

Some links to the world savers

Some places around where some different thoughts on the whole carbon credit fiasco:

New Internationalists - a bit too left for the latte lefties, but raises some valid points:

Rather than stop the flow of oil, coal and gas, the offset industry tells us that we can continue as normal. We can drive as much as want, fly as much as we want, and eat our non-organic Coldplay mangoes in the Canadian winter. We need not reduce; in fact we can now consume our way out of the problem. Now we can buy offsets on top of our Caribbean holiday and thus ‘neutralize’ our impacts. It is a seductive argument.

Australian Conservation Foundation - Appropriately left enough and has the popular stance on carbon credits.

One of the other suggestions gaining popularity is going ‘carbon neutral’. The basic idea is that you pay someone else to compensate for the greenhouse gas emissions you cause.

Hancock Watch- As far as I can work out they don't want any logging done anywhere and are most hysterical about the Hancock company and about forests being planted for carbon credits and then dug up? I am pretty sure this is an anti logging site - but does have some good links to other sites. Try to ignore the hysterical photos of dead and bloodied wildlife.

Government definitions - well we can't solve the problem until we define what the problem is - plenty of jargon and meaningless words. Also we won't be able to say who's fault it isn't until we have roles and responsibilites properly misunderstood.

CarbonPlanet - umm. Pay close attention to the pretty graphic, which as far as I can tell is just another way to pay for something else you don't need.

Live Earth - find out how much of a carbon footprint you make!! All the popstars are doing it so it must be a cool cause right?

Investment Opportunity aka get rich quick off the environmental woes. - Probably masterminded by Casey Serin.

Climate Positive Help the boy cross the river with the whole world on his shoulders! (Could they be less obvious?)

Creating a market

Some days I wonder harder than others if perhaps I have gone insane. Driving home yesterday in the usual bumper to bumper, I heard an interview that was so full of paradox I felt my head would implode. Driving home with the hundreds and thousands of other drivers all wanting to get home as fast as humanly possible. Driving home not as fast as humanly possible, because there are hundreds of thousands of other people trying to do the same thing. Driving home, in my car, because there is no alternative to get me from home to work. Driving home, because it would take me approximately 3 hours EACH WAY to use public transport; adding 4 hours onto my working day.

So here we all are driving, our fossil fuel guzzling, air polluting machines that cause death and carnage and get us to places more slowly than anyone would like, and I hear this “hard hitting current affairs” piece on the radio. They were interviewing some CEO's of carbon credit companies. The big issue, apparently, is that there is a lack of standard auditing procedures for said carbon credit companies. Consumer organisations are up in arms: How does anyone know that they've done what they've said they would do? Apparently it is up to the government or some accreditation board to ensure that these companies are doing what they said they would do. There is accreditation for such activities apparently, only it isn’t standardised. Apparently people (and seems a lot of people) are forking over money to unaccredited companies and there is a concern that they might not get what they paid for? The big problem according to the CEO's of said companies is that other companies are unaccredited?

Umm hello?

The problem is that people are TRYING TO PAY PAYING SOMEONE ELSE TO DO THE HARD WORK. So it's okay to use plastic bags with abandon, driven 8 cylinder car, spend $4,000 on a pair of jeans sewn together by a 5 year old, if I pay someone else to undo all the nasty things I did?

Isn't that like deliberately hurting someone over and over then saying sorry every time and exepcting all the hurt feelings to just go away?

I was incredulous that these CEO's were talking about the new pioneering market and how it was important to give consumers good value for money.

Hey? It's a market? In what, exactly? Consumer? Consuming what? I think the consumers have all consumed quite enough, thank you, it's how we got ourselves to this ridiculous point in the first place.

Now we are going to buy our way out of it?

When I think about it, aren't they getting exactly what they paid for? A guilt-free approach to consumerism? Aren't they looking to PAY SOMEONE ELSE TO FIX THE PROBLEM? Does someone who buys designer clothes, drive a 4WD, take regular overseas trips for fun, actually care if the money they give for carbon credits actually does what they are paying for? Nothing else in their lives is value for money, should this be any different?

There's a problem with the environment, so to fix the problem people are going to SPEND their way out of it? And they are spending money, paying a company to plant trees?

What really amazed me was the people at these companies talking about the emerging 'market' of carbon trading. Let's be serious folks, they are talking about planting trees. That's not a market, that's fucking gardening. There is no consumer DEMAND for tree planting. There is no market for planting trees. We can't water our own gardens when we need to and we are paying someone else to plant trees so we can consume fossil fuels guilt free. ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS?

And apparently everyone else except me thinks this is a good thing.

It is a good thing that an entire industry and apparently a brand new consumer market has sprung up around the fact that we are happily destroying the environment?

What.
The.
Fuck.


Profit is going to save the world?

I call shennanigans

So Casey is in Australia?

On a one-way ticket using an ETA.

Don't buy it. You can't enter the country on a tourist visa on a one-way ticket.

"lol Nigel"

Casey Serin - An Alternate Take



ahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahahahahahahaha






The pompous twit has finally turned.

It started as a trainwreck...

Sometimes irony, is just too ironic.

I first found Casey Serin and his dreadful plea for sanity, via the (RIP) old trainwrecks site.

I loved the trainwrecks site, it gave me a quick link to the weird, the awful, and every now and then the wonderful. (Whirlygurl I think you rock, but hey you want to stay private). Trainwrecks disappears thanks to the hidesous Heaven Nose. No links for that site, as it appears to be written by a total psycho, WHO MAKES NO FREAKING SENSE WHATSOEVER.

Casey I've watched on and off switching from bemusement, to contempt, to pity, to disbelief, to WTFOMGGETAJOBULOOSER, yet he keeps blogging. Every now and then I expect the punchline to be posted, but it will probably just twitter out to nothingness. Hey who knows the fucker might get a job. HAH!

An interesting drama is unfolding with the SerinBlogWars. Chief antagonist seems to be Nigel Swaby. As far as I can work out he's a petty little nobody that wants to be part of the cool kids. Cool kids seems to be the posters at Exurban Nation. Stuff at Exurban is sometimes funny, sometimes downright disturbing. WTF, people are stalking Casey? Isn't this what he wants, the infamy, the attention? As far as I can tell Nigel is running 3 or more blogs that are pro Casey but Anti Rob Cote. He's not even good at the internet insults is Nigel. He's failed to mention Hitler, Chuck Norris or anyone's Mom. Seriously give it up Nigel, and move along. The one that 'spoofs' Rob Cotes site is kinda sad. He really reminds me of an old flatmate - aka Peabody, cus he was such a contemptible little twat. Yes twat, the worst thing about living with Peabody was the feeling of contempt you had to deal with every day.

There's also the commenting blogs. Regular Exurban posters, plus all the ones that just try and back on to the extra traffic that come from linking inside a nasty dirty little Blogowar. And do not forget the morons trying to leverage their latest multi layered marketing scheme on the world.

Seriously they are all mostly fucked.

And the worst thing, it's so fucking awful you just can't look away.

Umm new performancing

yer kind of teh suckage again

Bastard of the year award

What an asshole.


This poor woman has NO OTHER OPTION YOU FREAKS.

The 35-year-old Evans' bid for a baby began in 2000 when she and
Johnston sought fertility treatment at a clinic in Bath, southwest
England. During an examination she was diagnosed with a pre-cancerous
condition of her ovaries.

Prior to the surgical removal of her
ovaries, she and Johnston had IVF (in vitro fertilisation) and six
embryos were created in 2001. They were later frozen and put into
storage.

Yuh blah blah blah man's rights to financial freedom. How about give her sole custody of her fertilised eggs. He loved her enough to have a baby with her and now he's changed his mind?

Just because the baby isn't born yet, he had every intention of fathering her children. He can't change his mind now.

Does the whole world need to grow up?

So apparently it's myspace's fault that people are stupid?

The lawyers who filed the latest lawsuits said the plaintiffs include a 15-year-old girl from Texas who was lured to a meeting, drugged and assaulted in 2006 by an adult MySpace user, who is currently serving a 10-year sentence in Texas after pleading guilty to sexual assault.

Last June, the mother of a 14-year-old who says the youth was sexually assaulted by a 19-year-old user sued MySpace and News Corp., seeking $US30 million in damages. That lawsuit, pending in a Texas state court, claims the 19-year-old lied about being a senior in high school to gain her trust and phone number.

So apparently people lie on the internet? Wow?

And the parents don't feel any responsibility in letting their 14 year old wander off to meet a complete stranger?

So if she had have met him via friends would they sue the friends? Did they arrange to meet over the phone are they gonna sue their phone company?

Idiots.

It's so horrid I can't look away

By the way.. out of about a thousand people who received the email I only got one person somewhat interested. I’m surprised more people are not willing to put their money to work at 24%. Maybe because people don’t understand they can be private lenders on real estate.

Good lord!!!

This guy is not just out for his two minutes of internet fame. He's a crook!!

Give me your money, even though I've lost all mine and I'll pay it back. Promise. No really, I will.

How stupid do you need to be

This guy is so stupid, arrogant and self centred he might just be the role model for his generation.



It's so, so awful, yet I just can't look away.

They just don't get it

digg - Americans Aren’t Fat Because They Lack Willpower-It's Because They’re Broke





Sigh, performancing broke my post.



1. She's right

2. The diggers just don't get it.

powered by performancing firefox

Owing Your Parents

When I was about 11 or so, I had a teacher ask the class a question.

"Who thinks they owe their parents a lot?"

He was one of those rare teachers who used to actually get us to think. Thanks again Mr. Fraser you were indeed an inspiration and I often wonder what you are doing now. Hopefully inspiring more kids to think for themselves. He often used to ask these kinds of questions and we all knew the drill - raise your hand for yes and do nothing for no. I was sitting at the front of the class and sat there without raising my hand.

I couldn't see the rest of the class.

I turned around.

Every other person had their hand raised. Except me.

To my credit I didn't raise my hand to go along with everyone else. He started asking people why they had their hand up. "They've given me everything I have, I owe them a lot" "They've fed me, clothed me, bought me things, I owe them a lot" "They buy me everything I want, I owe them a lot".

Over and over in the same theme. "...I owe them a lot". I was only 11, but I was really confused. "Owing someone something" implies a debt. It implies a debt that can be paid off. It implies that it is quantifiable and at some point said debt will be repaid and I imagine at that point you can sit back and say 'Yep I sure paid back my parents for everything they did for me, I'm done here time to move onto Nanna and Pop"

I was thinking to myself I don't OWE them. They're my parents. It's their job to feed me, clothe me, buy me stuff, love me, teach me, chastise me, show me. Only it's not a job, THEY'RE MY PARENTS. You can't repay that, it's done. It's kind of an unconditional thing. Just because I don't feel a sense of debt, does that make me ungrateful? Or was every other kid in my class suffering from some sort of conditional love kind of deal?

I wasn't aware of every other kid in the class and their particular relationship with their mum or dad. One girl - L - was arguing quite viciously that she owed her parents "a lot". She seemed particularly passionate about it. I remember feeling perturbed that she felt so strongly that she owed her parents so much.

I'd spent a lot of time at her house and had seen her relationship with her mum and dad first hand. L always got a lot of Easter Eggs, went to the Royal Show every year and got every single show bag there was to get, Christmas was completely over the top. She always had the latest, and most fashionable of everything. We played in the same basketball team. My Dad was the coach. Every single training session, L got a lift with us. Every single game, L got a lift with us. Her mum would come and watch the finals, but regular games she got a ride with us.

But she owed her parents 'a lot'.

The thing is, at that age, I thought her parents were shitty. L and her sister seemed to have to fend for themselves a lot. They were always getting fed at our house, they went home to an empty house after school and for the most part, her mum and dad were always out doing other things.

"Mum needs time to do things for herself"
"Don't make too much noise, Dad's trying to read his new books"


Fast forward 20 or so years and her mum that she owed so much to abandoned L and her sister to their own devices once L hit 19. By abandoned I mean, went to another country to be with her new boyfriend. L's relationship with her Dad was completely destroyed by her Mum as her Dad was The Bad Guy in the divorce. Truth be told I thought during my late teens that L's mum was going to turn out to be a lesbian she espoused that much hatred for men and bullshit feminist rhetoric. If a 16 year old can pick up that she was reading too much feminist rhetoric, that woman must have been one bitter twisted bitch.

"Mum's going through a tough time right now"

So here L is in her mid 30's. One fucked up relationship after another, desperate to find "the one". Every guy she picked was unavailable, either emotionally or physically. A string of on again off again relationships.

"John would commit, but things are just stressful at work right now"

"He's still living with his old girlfriend, but they're not together anymore"

Yeah, right.


So I guess in a way she does owe her parents. Not sure how you repay that kind of thing though.


I'll happily continue to not owe my parents anything. And they'll happily continue to be there.

Thanks Mum, thanks Dad.

The Mad Abbot strikes again

Dismay over anti-abortion 'bias' - National - theage.com.au


Can he even spell "conflict of interest"?


When the hell did this country start ignoring this rubbish?

Hmm

So I'm fooling with the formatting.

Think I need to get the colour wheel out.

Sweet jesus

So I figured I'd splurge and move to the new blogger. So you need a proper e-mail address to do that right?

Turns out you don't and I should know better than that. So aaaanyway I didn't bother to sign up for a gmail account at first and for about 45 mins my work email address was showing on my blog.

Not that anyone besides me reads it. But still.

Fuck!

testing performancing again

phew seems to have been the stupid antispam filter thingamy preventing performancing from working.

fingers crossed it works more betterer now.

Three chords and the truth?

U2 lead singer and human rights activist Bono wants to talk with Prime Minister John Howard about boosting Australia's aid to poor countries.

The Irish rock star, whose band opens its Australian tour in Brisbane tonight, said wealthy countries should donate more of their GDP (gross domestic product) to help combat global poverty, particularly in Africa.

But he said he wouldn't meet with Mr Howard if he wasn't serious about the issue.

Bohoo.

Don't get me wrong, rah rah Bono's causes and all that. But last time I checked he was a pop star.... Feel free to give your money, but really. Does this mean heads of state should clear diary time when Oasis come to town? How about the winner of Australian Idol?

And the country will sit back and vote them in again.

"The ABC has told the stars of it's high-rating show The Glass House that this will be their last season.

The national broadcaster gave no reason for the decision to axe the comedy show, which has been at the centre of a storm over allegations of anti-Howard Government bias."



The Age has best beware, before you know it they will be accused of being pro-anti Howard media reports. Given they will probably end up in the hands of Rupert or Packer I guess there is not a lot of chance that they would be able to continue any pro-anti-Howard sentiment.

The thing that is most disconcerting is "a day after Liberal NSW senator Connie Fierravanti-Wells said co-host Corrine Grant had been guilty of a serious conflict of interest because she was the public face of the ACTU's workplace relations campaign". She's an actor, is she to make editorial decisions on what work she will and won't take based on her politics?

Performancing

Okay so blogthis doesn't work anymore and performancing is having issues I suspect working around the firewall in the office.

Gah, now I'm having to post the old fashioned way.

On the plus side the in-built Firefox spellchecker is teh awesomeness.