A bit late this time round.
Wealth
Net Cash: $55.19
Thanks to time zones I can put the Bones II kickstarter in next weeks accounts.
Jobs applied for: 0
Health
Net Calories: 1504 Calories
Pizza on the weekend was a bad idea. The rest of the week had been pretty good.
Weight: 92.8kg
I got a more accurate figure this week as I gave blood today and they checked my weight.
Fitocracy points: 304
Fitocracy is having some major issues with their recent updated version, but that's still no excuse for me not exercising as much.
Life
Books read: 0
I did pick up The Signal and the Noise by Nate Silver which looks to be an interesting read.
Games played: 6 Flowerfall, 7 Wonders, 2x Hanabi (including my first loss), Ricochet Robots, and The Resistance: Avalon
Bones painted: 0 (I undercoated 2 and bought some more paint. I've now spent more on paint than on the figures themselves)
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Sunday, October 20, 2013
By The Numbers 42/52
A better week in pretty much every way. I can walk again.
Wealth
Net Cash: $332.42
About half the surplus is from my monthly bonus, the other is from the fact I bought a lot of groceries late last week and didn't need to buy any this week.
Jobs applied for: 0
Health
Net Calories: -1732 Calories
Yay, under my target
Weight: 92 kg
Fitocracy points: 200
Fitocracy level: 17
Life
Books read: 1
I finished Against a Dark Background
Games played: 8. Glen More, Roll Through the Ages, and 6 games of Magic: The Gathering
Bike riding: 162km
Since I can walk, I can ride again as well.
Bones painted: 1/3
I'm still working on my elven ranger. No pics as until it's done.
Wealth
Net Cash: $332.42
About half the surplus is from my monthly bonus, the other is from the fact I bought a lot of groceries late last week and didn't need to buy any this week.
Jobs applied for: 0
Health
Net Calories: -1732 Calories
Yay, under my target
Weight: 92 kg
Fitocracy points: 200
Fitocracy level: 17
Life
Books read: 1
I finished Against a Dark Background
Games played: 8. Glen More, Roll Through the Ages, and 6 games of Magic: The Gathering
Bike riding: 162km
Since I can walk, I can ride again as well.
Bones painted: 1/3
I'm still working on my elven ranger. No pics as until it's done.
Sunday, October 13, 2013
By The Numbers 41/52
Wealth
Net Cash: -$1.90
Too much snacking and buying lunch at work.
Jobs applied for: 0
Health
Net Calories: 1477 Calories
Weight: 93 kg
Fitocracy points: 235
I did some seated exercises with the dumbbells.
Life
Books read: 0
Still working my way through Against a Dark Background
Games Played: 1 To Court the King
Bones painted: about 1
I finished up the skeleton guy from last week, and have no started on an elven ranger which I've been using for DnD
Net Cash: -$1.90
Too much snacking and buying lunch at work.
Jobs applied for: 0
Health
Net Calories: 1477 Calories
Weight: 93 kg
Fitocracy points: 235
I did some seated exercises with the dumbbells.
Life
Books read: 0
Still working my way through Against a Dark Background
Games Played: 1 To Court the King
Bones painted: about 1
I finished up the skeleton guy from last week, and have no started on an elven ranger which I've been using for DnD
The Tragedy of Klothan the Traitorous, formerly Klothan Demonsbane
Klothan was born in one of the temple cities on the Plains of Lamora. The plagues took his family when he was quite young, as they did many others, and he was raised in one of the temples among the other orphans. As he grew his strength of arms was matched on by the strength of his faith. It was natural that he would become a champion of good, using his strength and faith to defend against the forces of evil.
Klothan fought in the first demonic incursion that occurred in the city of Sateda, hunted down several demon worshiping cults, in one case defeating the demon they had summoned in single combat.
In light of this, when the girl prophecised to be the next high priestess of Charol, the Goddess of Mercym was kidnapped by demon worshipers, Klothan was the one chosen to find and rescue her. Klothan tracked down the cultists, but by the time he entered their lair, the ritual had already begun. Though he wreaked havoc on the cultists, he could not defeat the demon they had summoned. After a duel that lasted hours and seeing no other way of accomplishing his mission, he made a deal with the demon, his life and soul for the girl's. The demon agreed and Klothan's life was ended.
Klothan expected that he would experience an eternity of physical and mental torture in one of the hells, but the demons were more creative in his torture than he could have expected. He was conscripted as a general into the demons' army, leading the forces he had once so fiercely fought against. Sateda was razed, the Plains of Lamora tormented, but the worst was to come a number of years later, when Klothan was ordered by the demons to assassinate the girl he had given his soul to save the night before she was to be elevated to the rank of High Priestess.
Klothan fought in the first demonic incursion that occurred in the city of Sateda, hunted down several demon worshiping cults, in one case defeating the demon they had summoned in single combat.
In light of this, when the girl prophecised to be the next high priestess of Charol, the Goddess of Mercym was kidnapped by demon worshipers, Klothan was the one chosen to find and rescue her. Klothan tracked down the cultists, but by the time he entered their lair, the ritual had already begun. Though he wreaked havoc on the cultists, he could not defeat the demon they had summoned. After a duel that lasted hours and seeing no other way of accomplishing his mission, he made a deal with the demon, his life and soul for the girl's. The demon agreed and Klothan's life was ended.
Klothan expected that he would experience an eternity of physical and mental torture in one of the hells, but the demons were more creative in his torture than he could have expected. He was conscripted as a general into the demons' army, leading the forces he had once so fiercely fought against. Sateda was razed, the Plains of Lamora tormented, but the worst was to come a number of years later, when Klothan was ordered by the demons to assassinate the girl he had given his soul to save the night before she was to be elevated to the rank of High Priestess.
Monday, October 07, 2013
By The Numbers 40/52
No comment this week.
Wealth
Net Cash: -$72.36
Jobs Applied for: 0
Jobs applied for at my current work two months ago that they finally decided they can't actually appoint anyone to for business reasons after advertising and interviewing people for the role for the second time in 5 months: 1
Health
Net Calories: 1680 Calories
Not much by exercise and a lack of sleep has led to extra snacking (a sugar rush is a short term solution but I can't just spend 45 minutes on a treadmill at home to work it off anymore)
Weight: 92 kg
Go figure
Fitocracy points: 0
Crutches still in use: 2
Another check up at the hospital this week. They said I can put some more weight on my right leg (about half my weight) and I got new rubber caps for the bottom of the crutches which were rather worn out (I think I do a fair bit more walking than the average person on crutches).
Life
Books read: 0
I'm in the middle of reading Against a Dark Background.
Games Played: 2 Hacienda and To Court the King, both online
Bones Painted: 2/3
I decided to move up from furniture and paint an actual figure. I chose this guy because I don't have any flesh tone paints yet and since his head is a skull it avoids the whole issue of flesh tones, and I'd liked how the skulls on the previous two pieces turned out. I still have a bit of detail work and tidying up to do, but I think it's coming along well. I'm also really impressed at the quality of the pictures my phone takes.
Wealth
Net Cash: -$72.36
Jobs Applied for: 0
Jobs applied for at my current work two months ago that they finally decided they can't actually appoint anyone to for business reasons after advertising and interviewing people for the role for the second time in 5 months: 1
Health
Net Calories: 1680 Calories
Not much by exercise and a lack of sleep has led to extra snacking (a sugar rush is a short term solution but I can't just spend 45 minutes on a treadmill at home to work it off anymore)
Weight: 92 kg
Go figure
Fitocracy points: 0
Crutches still in use: 2
Another check up at the hospital this week. They said I can put some more weight on my right leg (about half my weight) and I got new rubber caps for the bottom of the crutches which were rather worn out (I think I do a fair bit more walking than the average person on crutches).
Life
Books read: 0
I'm in the middle of reading Against a Dark Background.
Games Played: 2 Hacienda and To Court the King, both online
Bones Painted: 2/3
I decided to move up from furniture and paint an actual figure. I chose this guy because I don't have any flesh tone paints yet and since his head is a skull it avoids the whole issue of flesh tones, and I'd liked how the skulls on the previous two pieces turned out. I still have a bit of detail work and tidying up to do, but I think it's coming along well. I'm also really impressed at the quality of the pictures my phone takes.
Tuesday, October 01, 2013
By the Numbers 39/52
Better late than never
Wealth
Net Cash: $116.05
An improvement on the last few weeks.
Job Applications: 0
Health
Net Calories : 1701 Calories
An Enterprising excess of Calories
Fitocracy Points: 0
Weight: 93 kg
Life
Books read: 1 The Complete Yes, Prime Minister
Games played: 2 an online game of The Hanging Gardens and a session of DnD
Bones painted: 1 A treasure chest. I will probably come back to this one to do a wash to bring out the coins, and redo the metal bands in a brass rather than the current metally brown I got by mixing brown and silver.
Wealth
Net Cash: $116.05
An improvement on the last few weeks.
Job Applications: 0
Health
Net Calories : 1701 Calories
An Enterprising excess of Calories
Fitocracy Points: 0
Weight: 93 kg
Life
Books read: 1 The Complete Yes, Prime Minister
Games played: 2 an online game of The Hanging Gardens and a session of DnD
Bones painted: 1 A treasure chest. I will probably come back to this one to do a wash to bring out the coins, and redo the metal bands in a brass rather than the current metally brown I got by mixing brown and silver.
Monday, September 23, 2013
By The Numbers 38/52
The general mood at the moment is FML. No individual issue is too bad or annoying, but the cumulative weight is getting to me.
Wealth
Net Cash: -$40.59
Less income, higher transport costs.
Jobs applied for: 0
Health
Net Calories: too many
forgot to keep track for Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and well aware that I ate too much on those days (especially Sunday where I was just constantly hungry. Many a museli bar was eaten that day)
Fitocracy points: 0
With one leg out of action, whatever momentum in doing exercise I'd built up has gone away
Weight: 93 kg
Fortunately this hasn't gone up yet with my inactivity. Let's hope it stays that way.
Life
Books read: 1 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson. I stand by my assessment from last week while part way through in that it is a pale imitation of Against a Dark Background (set in a solar system with conflict brewing, initiated by the death of family members, a quest that takes the characters to interesting places in said solar system, enigmatic technologies with uncertain motives (on this particular point, the Lazy Gun beats qubes hands down)) with a few specific features that tend to pop up in KSR's work (a focus on politics and a strong belief in individual action on grand scales).
Games played: A handful of games of Magic: The Gathering
Bones painted: 1 following on from the coffin last week, this week is an alter in a similar color scheme. The current work in progress is a treasure chest.
Wealth
Net Cash: -$40.59
Less income, higher transport costs.
Jobs applied for: 0
Health
Net Calories: too many
forgot to keep track for Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and well aware that I ate too much on those days (especially Sunday where I was just constantly hungry. Many a museli bar was eaten that day)
Fitocracy points: 0
With one leg out of action, whatever momentum in doing exercise I'd built up has gone away
Weight: 93 kg
Fortunately this hasn't gone up yet with my inactivity. Let's hope it stays that way.
Life
Books read: 1 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson. I stand by my assessment from last week while part way through in that it is a pale imitation of Against a Dark Background (set in a solar system with conflict brewing, initiated by the death of family members, a quest that takes the characters to interesting places in said solar system, enigmatic technologies with uncertain motives (on this particular point, the Lazy Gun beats qubes hands down)) with a few specific features that tend to pop up in KSR's work (a focus on politics and a strong belief in individual action on grand scales).
Games played: A handful of games of Magic: The Gathering
Bones painted: 1 following on from the coffin last week, this week is an alter in a similar color scheme. The current work in progress is a treasure chest.
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Party Games Aftermath 3: Reflections
The initial idea for what became party games was an in depth comparison of the two major parties, comparing them on a number of policy areas with one post a week on a different area (so one post on the NBN, one on health, one on education, etc). The look at the minor parties was to be a side project. I can't quite recall exactly what changed my mind, but I think it was one of the announcements that the number of parties contesting the election (I recall a blog post by Antony Green with links to all the parties as a starting point).
My initial idea of waiting for responses from the parties before doing the write ups obviously was a non-starter. I was wildly optimistic on how responsive they would be. In fact the recurring theme of the project was a gradual disillusionment, interspersed with occasional positives.
The number of xenophobic right wing parties is worrying. Fortunately they seem less organized than the few on the left and centre. There's also a few that seem to be people who haven't thought through the whole political party thing, and only one of those had the self awareness to admit it (The 23 Million for the record).
The engagement of the parties with the people was a mixed bag. The smaller parties made better use of social media such as twitter, but the majors also had an active, although more one way presence. I won't comment on tv coverage, because my only tv sources were Media Watch, Gruen Nation, and The Hamster Decides. Most of my news on the campaign came from watching #auspol and #ausvotes on twitter. Both hashtags were quite busy.
One last disappointment, it turns out the Google Doodle shown on election day isn't unique. They have two different ones they use that they just swap the flags when they use them for different countries.
About a third of the way in, I started to realize just what I'd got myself into, but even though at times coming close to hating the project I kept slogging through (pre commitment to a full series helped with this). This was partly frustration with the subject matter, and partly time pressures (in the two weeks before the election it took up most of my free time). One thing that kept me going was the feedback from people, which was consistently positive, so thank you to all those who did give feedback. A curiosity was a friend who liked nearly every entry on facebook while taking a position of avoiding the election as much as possible to the point of reviewing a different movie each night. I hope I wasn't his only source of information (I'm pretty sure he would have done his due diligence before voting).
The series represents about 10% of the total all time traffic to my blog.
Will I do this next election? I'm not sure, but the odds are in its favour. I'll still be doing research on all the parties around then, but I don't know if I'll blog it all like this time. If I do I'll probably be a bit more organized about it, making sure I have more time. That also assumes a reasonably full term has passed. If Abbott tries to swing an early double dissolution, I will probably still be too over it to get motivated enough to do a full series.
My initial idea of waiting for responses from the parties before doing the write ups obviously was a non-starter. I was wildly optimistic on how responsive they would be. In fact the recurring theme of the project was a gradual disillusionment, interspersed with occasional positives.
The number of xenophobic right wing parties is worrying. Fortunately they seem less organized than the few on the left and centre. There's also a few that seem to be people who haven't thought through the whole political party thing, and only one of those had the self awareness to admit it (The 23 Million for the record).
The engagement of the parties with the people was a mixed bag. The smaller parties made better use of social media such as twitter, but the majors also had an active, although more one way presence. I won't comment on tv coverage, because my only tv sources were Media Watch, Gruen Nation, and The Hamster Decides. Most of my news on the campaign came from watching #auspol and #ausvotes on twitter. Both hashtags were quite busy.
One last disappointment, it turns out the Google Doodle shown on election day isn't unique. They have two different ones they use that they just swap the flags when they use them for different countries.
About a third of the way in, I started to realize just what I'd got myself into, but even though at times coming close to hating the project I kept slogging through (pre commitment to a full series helped with this). This was partly frustration with the subject matter, and partly time pressures (in the two weeks before the election it took up most of my free time). One thing that kept me going was the feedback from people, which was consistently positive, so thank you to all those who did give feedback. A curiosity was a friend who liked nearly every entry on facebook while taking a position of avoiding the election as much as possible to the point of reviewing a different movie each night. I hope I wasn't his only source of information (I'm pretty sure he would have done his due diligence before voting).
The series represents about 10% of the total all time traffic to my blog.
Will I do this next election? I'm not sure, but the odds are in its favour. I'll still be doing research on all the parties around then, but I don't know if I'll blog it all like this time. If I do I'll probably be a bit more organized about it, making sure I have more time. That also assumes a reasonably full term has passed. If Abbott tries to swing an early double dissolution, I will probably still be too over it to get motivated enough to do a full series.
Sunday, September 15, 2013
By The Numbers 37/52
Wealth
Net Cash: -$162.58
A trip to the dentist, and a lower than normal pay since I took a fair bit of time off last week (a bit more than a day between going to the hospital for the leg and finishing early each day to have better bus options).
Jobs applied for: 3
Health
Net Calories: -24 Calories
On target, and a lot better than the last few weeks
Fitocracy points: 138
Weight: 93kg
Life
Bike Riding: 0 km
Yeah, crutches and bikes don't mix. I'm really hoping I'm allowed to get back to life when I go to the hospital on Tuesday
Books read: 1
I finished The Art of Thinking Clearly. I'm now reading 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson which makes me feel like I'm reading a less good version of Against A Dark Background by Iain M Banks.
Games Played: 2. Roll Through the Ages and a session of DnD.
Bones painted: 1
I started with something easy to start with, since I was a bit out of practice and was working with a limited set of paints (particularly no flesh tones). I need to tidy up some of the high lights and the inside details aren't finished, but it's turning out ok. I was planning to make it look like stone, but coal black is a lot greener than I thought it would be and so green it is.
Net Cash: -$162.58
A trip to the dentist, and a lower than normal pay since I took a fair bit of time off last week (a bit more than a day between going to the hospital for the leg and finishing early each day to have better bus options).
Jobs applied for: 3
Health
Net Calories: -24 Calories
On target, and a lot better than the last few weeks
Fitocracy points: 138
Weight: 93kg
Life
Bike Riding: 0 km
Yeah, crutches and bikes don't mix. I'm really hoping I'm allowed to get back to life when I go to the hospital on Tuesday
Books read: 1
I finished The Art of Thinking Clearly. I'm now reading 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson which makes me feel like I'm reading a less good version of Against A Dark Background by Iain M Banks.
Games Played: 2. Roll Through the Ages and a session of DnD.
Bones painted: 1
I started with something easy to start with, since I was a bit out of practice and was working with a limited set of paints (particularly no flesh tones). I need to tidy up some of the high lights and the inside details aren't finished, but it's turning out ok. I was planning to make it look like stone, but coal black is a lot greener than I thought it would be and so green it is.
Monday, September 09, 2013
Party Games Aftermath 2: Interactions
My initial aim for the Party Games series was to be more in depth than I ended up being. One cause of this was simply underestimating the amount of time it would take. The other major factor was that my initial plan was to send each party an email with questions after reading up on them and incorporating their responses into the write ups. On this I was wildly optimistice. I contacted 41 of the 54 parties by email (after a certain point I gave up on this and just focussed on the write ups) and only received a few responses.
The first to get back to me was the Katter Australia Party, who thanked me for my interest and said if I wanted to know more I should have a look at their website. They apparently missed the part where I said "I've read your policies on your website and have some questions based on that", but it was a response. I did send an email back saying I'd already read the website and wanted to know more, but didn't hear anything back after that. A similar response was received from the Palmer United Party. The Non Custodial Parents Party sent back a brief note with a chunk of text copied from their site, and then when I followed up got told that they were too busy due to the election to be able to answer my questions and that I should have contacted them before the election was announced. The Australians First Nations Party also felt they were too busy to respond as they were focusing on their campaign in the Northern Territory, but did offer to respond after the election. The only party that did respond to my questions was the One Nation Party.
On twitter people were more responsive. When I asked a Senator Online candidate how they planned to engage the elderly and other groups not as active online they said that old people can get online at their local library. I'm not sure this eases my concern that the smart-phone using, politically active demographic they're targeting won't be representative of Australia as a whole. The LDP invited me to join their forums to learn more about their policies, which was a trip down the rabbit hole. The DLP candidate said they weren't a catholic party, and failed to explain how a bank that offers returns less than the rate for government bonds is going to raise funds to lend out. The Future Party QLD candidate was able to pick I was a culture fan from the blog title, and said they were for giving rights to artificial intelligences.
Two parties replied to my posts on the blog, the Australian Secular Party, and Senator Online.
On election day I didn't quiz any of the people handing out flyers like I did at the last state election, but was kind of annoyed at the number of people who tried handing me a flyer while I was getting about on crutches. Particularly bad was an LNP volunteer who after watching me slowly make my way down some stairs and commenting that they don't make it easy to get around then asked if I wanted a flyer. After voting I had the traditional sausage sizzle, and on the way out met up with a friend who was volunteering to help out the Greens candidate.
I've now culled back my twitter feed, and stopped it sending notifications for every tweet from a political party, so my phone is now no longer buzzing hyperactively, and the battery is lasting more than half a day (and that was only becuase I had to turn it off during work).
The first to get back to me was the Katter Australia Party, who thanked me for my interest and said if I wanted to know more I should have a look at their website. They apparently missed the part where I said "I've read your policies on your website and have some questions based on that", but it was a response. I did send an email back saying I'd already read the website and wanted to know more, but didn't hear anything back after that. A similar response was received from the Palmer United Party. The Non Custodial Parents Party sent back a brief note with a chunk of text copied from their site, and then when I followed up got told that they were too busy due to the election to be able to answer my questions and that I should have contacted them before the election was announced. The Australians First Nations Party also felt they were too busy to respond as they were focusing on their campaign in the Northern Territory, but did offer to respond after the election. The only party that did respond to my questions was the One Nation Party.
On twitter people were more responsive. When I asked a Senator Online candidate how they planned to engage the elderly and other groups not as active online they said that old people can get online at their local library. I'm not sure this eases my concern that the smart-phone using, politically active demographic they're targeting won't be representative of Australia as a whole. The LDP invited me to join their forums to learn more about their policies, which was a trip down the rabbit hole. The DLP candidate said they weren't a catholic party, and failed to explain how a bank that offers returns less than the rate for government bonds is going to raise funds to lend out. The Future Party QLD candidate was able to pick I was a culture fan from the blog title, and said they were for giving rights to artificial intelligences.
Two parties replied to my posts on the blog, the Australian Secular Party, and Senator Online.
On election day I didn't quiz any of the people handing out flyers like I did at the last state election, but was kind of annoyed at the number of people who tried handing me a flyer while I was getting about on crutches. Particularly bad was an LNP volunteer who after watching me slowly make my way down some stairs and commenting that they don't make it easy to get around then asked if I wanted a flyer. After voting I had the traditional sausage sizzle, and on the way out met up with a friend who was volunteering to help out the Greens candidate.
I've now culled back my twitter feed, and stopped it sending notifications for every tweet from a political party, so my phone is now no longer buzzing hyperactively, and the battery is lasting more than half a day (and that was only becuase I had to turn it off during work).
Sunday, September 08, 2013
Party Games Aftermath 1: The Result
The Coalition won. It wasn't what I was hoping for, but it was the one I was expecting. It wasn't as huge a victory as had been feared, so there is that.
The house of representatives will be dominated by the Coalition. There are a few wild cards in the mix. Katter looks to have held onto his seat, as has Greens candidate Adam Bandt in Melbourne. Clive Palmer is still in the running for Fairfax, and in Indi the independent Cathy McGowan is only slightly behind Liberal Sophie Mirabella.
The senate, while not yet fully decided, looks like it will be a bit more interesting. The greens remain a strong presence, the Palmer United Party may get 2 seats, and there may be a few other parties in the mix, although it will be a while yet before the final results are known. At any rate, it won't be the easiest senate for Abbott to deal with, but does lean more to the right than the left. I suspect some new senators may look to Brian Harradine's example and try to make deals for their votes, and one wonders if Abbott will stand by his promise to make no deals with minor parties, or if pragmatism will lead him to the negotiating table.
I'll do two more posts in the coming week, one reflecting back on the process of blogging all the parties, and one going into the interactions I had with some of the parties during the process.
The house of representatives will be dominated by the Coalition. There are a few wild cards in the mix. Katter looks to have held onto his seat, as has Greens candidate Adam Bandt in Melbourne. Clive Palmer is still in the running for Fairfax, and in Indi the independent Cathy McGowan is only slightly behind Liberal Sophie Mirabella.
The senate, while not yet fully decided, looks like it will be a bit more interesting. The greens remain a strong presence, the Palmer United Party may get 2 seats, and there may be a few other parties in the mix, although it will be a while yet before the final results are known. At any rate, it won't be the easiest senate for Abbott to deal with, but does lean more to the right than the left. I suspect some new senators may look to Brian Harradine's example and try to make deals for their votes, and one wonders if Abbott will stand by his promise to make no deals with minor parties, or if pragmatism will lead him to the negotiating table.
I'll do two more posts in the coming week, one reflecting back on the process of blogging all the parties, and one going into the interactions I had with some of the parties during the process.
By The Numbers 36/52
A bit of a meh week all around.
Wealth:
Net Cash: -$566.11
Bike repairs, several taxis due to not being able to use the bike and just not having time to wait around for public transport, and too much buying lunch at work. This does pretty much balance out with my tax return from a few weeks ago.
Jobs Applied for: 3
I got motivated this evening.
Health
Net Calories: 689 Calories
Not enough exercise and eating too much. This may also be a low figure as I'm sure I missed some items during the week.
Fitocracy points: 0
Weight: 92 kg
The adventure of the sore knee continues. After getting the MRI, the report said there may be an undisplaced fracture in my tibia (a bit above where I broke it a few years ago). Since my health insurance won't chip in for a specialist, I was referred to the logan hospital, and they were surprisingly quick in giving me an appointment, and work was really good in giving me the time off to go to the appointment. The specialists there weren't too sure, but want to be careful so gave me some crutches and said not to put my full weight on the leg for two weeks, when I'm to go back and they'll see what has progressed. When I said it may be awkward to carry the crutches while riding to work on the bike, they said I shouldn't do that either. So the 2 hour commute each way continues. I'm hoping in two weeks they'll just say it was a bit of an over reaction and all is fine, but in the mean time I'm finding that the only thing harder than using crutches when you can't use your leg is using crutches when you can use your leg but shouldn't, as it is oh so tempting just to cheat (which I am doing at home, but too make up for it I am being even lazier and sitting down even more (which takes some work)).
Life
Bike riding: 12 km
I cheated and rode the bike home from the repair shop. Now it won't get another run until Tuesday week (hopefully I'll be allowed to walk normally and ride again after then).
Books read: 0
Would be more if I could count policy documents as books.
Games Played: 1. Ticket To Ride: Team Asia (and a record high score of 230, and the margin was 88 points). I missed out an a Magic: The Gathering event due to work. Apparently they were giving away copies of a card I'd really like for my collection as a bonus for attending.
Political Parties reviewed: 14
Finished the Party Games project just in time
Votes cast: 2
Senate and House of Representatives.
Times despaired at the collective decision of Australia: too many to count
Miniatures received: 200+
I got my Reaper Bones kickstarter set this week. Now to get some paint and start making them look good.
Wealth:
Net Cash: -$566.11
Bike repairs, several taxis due to not being able to use the bike and just not having time to wait around for public transport, and too much buying lunch at work. This does pretty much balance out with my tax return from a few weeks ago.
Jobs Applied for: 3
I got motivated this evening.
Health
Net Calories: 689 Calories
Not enough exercise and eating too much. This may also be a low figure as I'm sure I missed some items during the week.
Fitocracy points: 0
Weight: 92 kg
The adventure of the sore knee continues. After getting the MRI, the report said there may be an undisplaced fracture in my tibia (a bit above where I broke it a few years ago). Since my health insurance won't chip in for a specialist, I was referred to the logan hospital, and they were surprisingly quick in giving me an appointment, and work was really good in giving me the time off to go to the appointment. The specialists there weren't too sure, but want to be careful so gave me some crutches and said not to put my full weight on the leg for two weeks, when I'm to go back and they'll see what has progressed. When I said it may be awkward to carry the crutches while riding to work on the bike, they said I shouldn't do that either. So the 2 hour commute each way continues. I'm hoping in two weeks they'll just say it was a bit of an over reaction and all is fine, but in the mean time I'm finding that the only thing harder than using crutches when you can't use your leg is using crutches when you can use your leg but shouldn't, as it is oh so tempting just to cheat (which I am doing at home, but too make up for it I am being even lazier and sitting down even more (which takes some work)).
Life
Bike riding: 12 km
I cheated and rode the bike home from the repair shop. Now it won't get another run until Tuesday week (hopefully I'll be allowed to walk normally and ride again after then).
Books read: 0
Would be more if I could count policy documents as books.
Games Played: 1. Ticket To Ride: Team Asia (and a record high score of 230, and the margin was 88 points). I missed out an a Magic: The Gathering event due to work. Apparently they were giving away copies of a card I'd really like for my collection as a bonus for attending.
Political Parties reviewed: 14
Finished the Party Games project just in time
Votes cast: 2
Senate and House of Representatives.
Times despaired at the collective decision of Australia: too many to count
Miniatures received: 200+
I got my Reaper Bones kickstarter set this week. Now to get some paint and start making them look good.
Saturday, September 07, 2013
Party Games 53&54/54 The Coalition: The Liberal Party of Australia, The National Party & The Liberal National Party
And now I reach the end of the line. Since it's late election eve I'm going to do a combination post, partly to save time and partly because the Nationals haven't made enough of an impact that I've noticed them as a separate entity (the fact that I live in Queensland where they aren't a separate entity may be contributing to that impression).
Led by Tony Abbott, the Coalition have spent last 3 years opposing pretty much everything the government has done, even things that in the past have been their policies (emissions trading scheme anyone?). One cannot deny that they have been successful in their negativity.
But it takes more to govern than just being against what the other side are doing. You need to actually do yourself, and here the Coalition have not covered themselves with glory. Holding back on releasing costings and policy details until less than two days out is not the move of a well prepared party. That the costings just list numbers with no explanation of how they will be achieved or having been checked by the Parliamentary Budget Office that was set up specifically for that purpose again shows a lack of seriousness about the matter.
On policy matters I'm not impressed. Repealing the carbon tax while keeping in place all the compensation measures is not going to save money, and it's not going to help the environment. The alternative direct action plan they've said will have a fixed budget and if it fails to achieve the required impact on emissions (as seems likely) they won't spend the more that is required. They have a planned parental leave scheme that is more generous, but gives more to the rich than the poor, that will be paid for by a "Great Big Tax" of the sort they've opposed, and that the Productivity Commission has said will not be significantly more effective than Labor's plan while costing several billion dollars more. And the whole Buy the Boats plan just puts lie to the idea that these guys understand economics. That and the fact that their "We must cut spending at all costs" budget saves a grand total of $6 billion dollars over 4 years, an amount that on a national budget scale is SFA. Cutting funding from rail and public transport projects to pay for more roads. And I've just realized I haven't got around to their woeful attempt at an NBN using technology that is already out of date and won't provide the level of service in a decade that other countries have now.
I made myself read through the entire 52 pages of their policy book looking for some ideas I could get behind. I do like the Colombo Plan of giving students in Asia scholarships to study in Australia and Australian students scholarships to study abroad. $10 million for surf life saving clubs is also pretty good. That's two small items.
The Coalition is saying we need to embrace austerity to improve our economy, but austerity has led to slow and anemic recovery in the US, the UK, Europe (Greece, Spain, and Ireland especially). Our debt to GDP ratio is the envy of other nations, as is our avoiding a recession during the GFC and AAA credit rating.
Between them the Coalition has candidates for each seat in the house of representatives (in a few cases more than one) and senate candidates for all states and territories.
website: http://www.liberal.org.au/
twitter: @LiberalAus
website: http://www.nationals.org.au/
twitter: @The_Nationals
website: http://campaign.lnp.org.au/
twitter: @LNPQLD
Led by Tony Abbott, the Coalition have spent last 3 years opposing pretty much everything the government has done, even things that in the past have been their policies (emissions trading scheme anyone?). One cannot deny that they have been successful in their negativity.
But it takes more to govern than just being against what the other side are doing. You need to actually do yourself, and here the Coalition have not covered themselves with glory. Holding back on releasing costings and policy details until less than two days out is not the move of a well prepared party. That the costings just list numbers with no explanation of how they will be achieved or having been checked by the Parliamentary Budget Office that was set up specifically for that purpose again shows a lack of seriousness about the matter.
On policy matters I'm not impressed. Repealing the carbon tax while keeping in place all the compensation measures is not going to save money, and it's not going to help the environment. The alternative direct action plan they've said will have a fixed budget and if it fails to achieve the required impact on emissions (as seems likely) they won't spend the more that is required. They have a planned parental leave scheme that is more generous, but gives more to the rich than the poor, that will be paid for by a "Great Big Tax" of the sort they've opposed, and that the Productivity Commission has said will not be significantly more effective than Labor's plan while costing several billion dollars more. And the whole Buy the Boats plan just puts lie to the idea that these guys understand economics. That and the fact that their "We must cut spending at all costs" budget saves a grand total of $6 billion dollars over 4 years, an amount that on a national budget scale is SFA. Cutting funding from rail and public transport projects to pay for more roads. And I've just realized I haven't got around to their woeful attempt at an NBN using technology that is already out of date and won't provide the level of service in a decade that other countries have now.
I made myself read through the entire 52 pages of their policy book looking for some ideas I could get behind. I do like the Colombo Plan of giving students in Asia scholarships to study in Australia and Australian students scholarships to study abroad. $10 million for surf life saving clubs is also pretty good. That's two small items.
The Coalition is saying we need to embrace austerity to improve our economy, but austerity has led to slow and anemic recovery in the US, the UK, Europe (Greece, Spain, and Ireland especially). Our debt to GDP ratio is the envy of other nations, as is our avoiding a recession during the GFC and AAA credit rating.
Between them the Coalition has candidates for each seat in the house of representatives (in a few cases more than one) and senate candidates for all states and territories.
website: http://www.liberal.org.au/
twitter: @LiberalAus
website: http://www.nationals.org.au/
twitter: @The_Nationals
website: http://campaign.lnp.org.au/
twitter: @LNPQLD
Friday, September 06, 2013
Party Games 52/54 Australian Labor Party
Ok. We're up to the big leagues here. One of the two contenders to form government following the election. Labour have been in power since they took power outright in 2007, and leading a minority government since the 2010 election. Currently led by Kevin Rudd who has returned to the leadership earlier this year after having been replaced by Julia Gillard. Now for all the problems of internal strife since Kevin was ousted and running a minority government that the opposition has characterised as chaos (and to which they contributed by ignoring certain conventions such as pairing), the last parliament has run for a full term and put through a number of significant pieces of legislation including the carbon tax, the National Disability Insurance Scheme, getting a seat on the UN Security Council, and the Gonski education reforms. Yes there has been infighting, yes there has been bluster, but there has also been governance, which is what we expect of parliament.
Looking forward, what is Labor offering. Mostly, the contiuation of what they have already started. The continued roll out of the NBN as a fibre to the premises network. Keeping the carbon tax. A parental leave scheme that gives less per person but gives more to those less well off. This also includes robbing the Peter of tertiary education to pay the Paul of the Gonski reforms, subsidizing car manufacturers, and their continued competition with the Coalition as to who can be tougher on refugees arriving by boat and who can make the dodgiest deals with neighboring nations to take them off our hands (this seems to be a contest Labor is set to lose).
Newer policies include finally getting on board with marriage equality, moving a navy base to Queensland somewhere, encouraging the study of Korean as a second language, and building high speed rail by 2035 (the Bullet Train Party wouldn't be impressed).
Labor have a vision for the future that appeals to me, but they need to show a bit more conviction rather than going for the politically expedient.
The ALP has candidates for all electorates for the house of representatives and all states and territories for the senate.
website: http://www.alp.org.au/
twitter: @AustralianLabor
Party Games 51/54 Australian Greens
The Australian Greens aim to be the conscience of parliament. There policies and presentation for this election portray them as acting as the safeguard against both Labor and the Coalition, very much taking up the mantle that the Australian Democrats have let slip from their grasp. They speak of what they have achieved with the balance of power in the senate for the last parliament, and what they plan to do with it going forward.
And it is a pretty good list of policies. Decent treatment of refugees, equal rights and pro gay marriage, a housing policy that includes renters and not just home buyers (as a renter I find it hard to get enthused with policies that simply help home buyers), a passionate protection of the environment (that doesn't mean locking everything up and stopping people from enjoying nature despite what the Outdoor Recreation Party says), more funding for education, research and development, and the arts, more generous welfare payments, better funded health care including bringing dentistry into medicare, better public transport (unlike the Coalitions spending 100% on road based infrastructure plan, the Greens propose 40% on roads, 30% public transport, and 30% rail freight).
Unlike some other parties that have put forward wish lists such as this without working out how to pay for it, the Greens have identified sources of revenue to cover this extra spending. These include a beefed up mining tax, a 50% tax rate on personal income over $1,000,000 per annum, a bank levy to make the banks that received an effective guarantee from the state on deposits actually pay for what is essentially an insurance policy for them, as well as doing things like taking away subsidies from fossil fuel production and using the money to subsidize renewable energy sources.
I do have some quibbles with the Greens. I don't like their blanket ban on nuclear power, and I'm not sure about lowering the voting age to 16 (age restrictions on these sorts of things are rather arbitrary, so I think legal adulthood is probably the most sensible way to set a cut off). They are also against foreign investment and the Coles-Woolworths duopoly.
There's also an odd stylistic choice throughout their policy documents. When warning of what the major parties may do, they refer to them as Labor and Tony Abbott. This may have been a hedge when preparing the document as Labor's internal politics has been an ongoing issue, while Tony Abbott has the Coalition under a tight rule.
The Australian Greens have candidates for the senate in all states and territories and for all 150 seats in the house of representatives.
website: http://greens.org.au
twitter: @Greens
And it is a pretty good list of policies. Decent treatment of refugees, equal rights and pro gay marriage, a housing policy that includes renters and not just home buyers (as a renter I find it hard to get enthused with policies that simply help home buyers), a passionate protection of the environment (that doesn't mean locking everything up and stopping people from enjoying nature despite what the Outdoor Recreation Party says), more funding for education, research and development, and the arts, more generous welfare payments, better funded health care including bringing dentistry into medicare, better public transport (unlike the Coalitions spending 100% on road based infrastructure plan, the Greens propose 40% on roads, 30% public transport, and 30% rail freight).
Unlike some other parties that have put forward wish lists such as this without working out how to pay for it, the Greens have identified sources of revenue to cover this extra spending. These include a beefed up mining tax, a 50% tax rate on personal income over $1,000,000 per annum, a bank levy to make the banks that received an effective guarantee from the state on deposits actually pay for what is essentially an insurance policy for them, as well as doing things like taking away subsidies from fossil fuel production and using the money to subsidize renewable energy sources.
I do have some quibbles with the Greens. I don't like their blanket ban on nuclear power, and I'm not sure about lowering the voting age to 16 (age restrictions on these sorts of things are rather arbitrary, so I think legal adulthood is probably the most sensible way to set a cut off). They are also against foreign investment and the Coles-Woolworths duopoly.
There's also an odd stylistic choice throughout their policy documents. When warning of what the major parties may do, they refer to them as Labor and Tony Abbott. This may have been a hedge when preparing the document as Labor's internal politics has been an ongoing issue, while Tony Abbott has the Coalition under a tight rule.
The Australian Greens have candidates for the senate in all states and territories and for all 150 seats in the house of representatives.
website: http://greens.org.au
twitter: @Greens
Thursday, September 05, 2013
Party Games 50/54 Socialist Equality Party
The Socialist Equality Party is the Australian branch of the International Committee of the Fourth International, which has its origins with Trotsky (of whom most I know is that the Snowball from Animal Farm is based on him), so they at least can claim to be part of something big and long running, even if their patch of it has only been running since 1998. They are very big on mobilizing the working class for the struggles ahead at home and abroad.
Their policies include reducing unemployment by embarking on massive infrastructure projects, a higher minimum wage, universal free health care, free education, nationalization of banks and large corporations, and better treatment of refugees. Like the Socialist Alliance, I feel these are mainly laudable goals, but nationalizing everything is not the way to get there.
The Socialist Equality Party has senate candidates in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, and West Australia.
website: http://www.sep.org.au/website/
Their policies include reducing unemployment by embarking on massive infrastructure projects, a higher minimum wage, universal free health care, free education, nationalization of banks and large corporations, and better treatment of refugees. Like the Socialist Alliance, I feel these are mainly laudable goals, but nationalizing everything is not the way to get there.
The Socialist Equality Party has senate candidates in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, and West Australia.
website: http://www.sep.org.au/website/
Party Games 49/54 Socialist Alliance
The Socialist Alliance was formed in 2001 as a merger of a number of socialist groups. As the name suggests they advocate socialist policies for Australia.
On social issues I find them to be quite strong. Equal rights for all including gay marriage, better treatment of refugees, more funding for public transport and making it free to use, a strong commitment to the environment, stronger unions and greater worker's rights.
Part of their plan for achieving a lot of this though is to nationalize a lot of industries. Mining, steel production, farming, and more. I'm generally supportive of state run enterprises, but in situations where market failures make it appropriate, such instances of natural monopolies (such as electricity distribution) or where free rider effects and information mismatches prevent an informed market forming (such as healthcare). For the production of pretty generic and standard items such as food and steel, there is no such need. And saying we should nationalize them to reduce carbon emissions, I think having the government set up some ground rules via a carbon tax is a better way to go.
Overall, I like want they want to achieve, but not the methods. This is a step up from most parties where I don't like what they want to achieve or how they want to do it.
Socialist Alliance has senate candidates in New South Wales and seven candidates around Australia for the house of representatives.
website: http://www.socialist-alliance.org/
facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SocialistAlliance
On social issues I find them to be quite strong. Equal rights for all including gay marriage, better treatment of refugees, more funding for public transport and making it free to use, a strong commitment to the environment, stronger unions and greater worker's rights.
Part of their plan for achieving a lot of this though is to nationalize a lot of industries. Mining, steel production, farming, and more. I'm generally supportive of state run enterprises, but in situations where market failures make it appropriate, such instances of natural monopolies (such as electricity distribution) or where free rider effects and information mismatches prevent an informed market forming (such as healthcare). For the production of pretty generic and standard items such as food and steel, there is no such need. And saying we should nationalize them to reduce carbon emissions, I think having the government set up some ground rules via a carbon tax is a better way to go.
Overall, I like want they want to achieve, but not the methods. This is a step up from most parties where I don't like what they want to achieve or how they want to do it.
Socialist Alliance has senate candidates in New South Wales and seven candidates around Australia for the house of representatives.
website: http://www.socialist-alliance.org/
facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SocialistAlliance
Party Games 48/54 Shooters & Fishers Party
The Shooters and Fishers Party are an outdoors activity party, but compared to the Outdoor Recreation Party's focus on activities involving vehicles, they are more focused on guns and rods. The similarities with the Outdoor Recreation Party are numerous. Support for greater access to national parks for all recreational uses, less protection of marine areas, and less restrictions on gun ownership are all there.
They do stand out on their own in a few ways. With their support of the Convention on Biological Diversity they are the first right wing party I've seen that don't view the UN as some sort of boogey man taking away our sovereignty. They do call for a ban on animal liberation based hate campaigning and terrorism (we already have laws against terrorism, making specific laws for the motivation doesn't sit well with me).
On economics matters they are for scrapping the carbon tax and mining tax, they oppose subsidizing renewable energy while cheap fossil fuels exist, and want to see mining keep on expanding.
The Shooters and Fishers Party has senate candidates in all six states and the Northern Territory
website: http://www.shootersandfishers.org.au/
twitter: @sfpAustralia
facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SFPAustralia
They do stand out on their own in a few ways. With their support of the Convention on Biological Diversity they are the first right wing party I've seen that don't view the UN as some sort of boogey man taking away our sovereignty. They do call for a ban on animal liberation based hate campaigning and terrorism (we already have laws against terrorism, making specific laws for the motivation doesn't sit well with me).
On economics matters they are for scrapping the carbon tax and mining tax, they oppose subsidizing renewable energy while cheap fossil fuels exist, and want to see mining keep on expanding.
The Shooters and Fishers Party has senate candidates in all six states and the Northern Territory
website: http://www.shootersandfishers.org.au/
twitter: @sfpAustralia
facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SFPAustralia
Tuesday, September 03, 2013
Party Games 47/54 Rise Up Australia Party
Rise Up Australia is another right wing party checking most of the right wing boxes. Anti-muslim immigration, fear about sharia law, getting rid of unfair taxes on homes and farms, restrictions on foreign ownership, opposition to multiculturalism (while rejoicing that Australia is multi-ethnic, and that people who come here
are free to celebrate their own
diverse backgrounds (I don't quite get that one)), tariffs to protect local industry, protection of religious freedoms including the freedom to discriminate based on religious beliefs, opposition to gay marriage, opposition to abortion, opposition to the carbon tax and denial of climate change, love of sports, and the setting up of an Australian oil market that will be completely decoupled from the world market in which oil producers will sell oil for below the world market price rather selling on the world market and making more money.
I've seen it all before, and it again fails to inspire.
Rise Up Australia is running senate candidates in all six states and both territories.
website: http://riseupaustraliaparty.com/
twitter: @RiseUpAus
I've seen it all before, and it again fails to inspire.
Rise Up Australia is running senate candidates in all six states and both territories.
website: http://riseupaustraliaparty.com/
twitter: @RiseUpAus
Party Games 46/54 The Secular Party of Australia
The Secular Party of Australia are for a strong separation of church and state. The main areas they see this not happening at the moment are education, healthcare, equal rights issues, and taxation.
In education, they propose removing all religious teaching from public schools, replacing it with comparative religious studies and ethics classes. They are also for reduced funding to religious schools where funding from other sources for the school (fees, endowments, etc) are greater than the standard level of funding per student, with the reduction in government funding be spent on public schooling instead.
On healthcare they want restrictions on complementary and alternative medicines, greater reproductive health access for women including abortion, are pro-euthanasia, and no religious based restrictions on medical research.
They are strong on civil liberties wanting a bill of rights, strong anti-discrimination laws, are pro gay marriage, oppose internet censorship. I feel they fall a bit short on their proposed copyright reform where they simply want to bring copyright back to until death + 50 years from the current until death + 70 years.
Other issues include replacing parliamentary prayer with a non-religious oath followed by a minute silence, are for a republic, while opposing blanket bans on clothing items such as a burqa support requiring the removal of face covering clothing where there are specific safety or identification requirements (similar to how many places require you to remove a motorcycle helmet before entry), and support the carbon tax and investment in renewable energy.
The Secular Party of Australia have senate candidates in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, and West Australia.
website: http://www.secular.org.au/
twitter: @secularparty
facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SecularPartyAustralia
In education, they propose removing all religious teaching from public schools, replacing it with comparative religious studies and ethics classes. They are also for reduced funding to religious schools where funding from other sources for the school (fees, endowments, etc) are greater than the standard level of funding per student, with the reduction in government funding be spent on public schooling instead.
On healthcare they want restrictions on complementary and alternative medicines, greater reproductive health access for women including abortion, are pro-euthanasia, and no religious based restrictions on medical research.
They are strong on civil liberties wanting a bill of rights, strong anti-discrimination laws, are pro gay marriage, oppose internet censorship. I feel they fall a bit short on their proposed copyright reform where they simply want to bring copyright back to until death + 50 years from the current until death + 70 years.
Other issues include replacing parliamentary prayer with a non-religious oath followed by a minute silence, are for a republic, while opposing blanket bans on clothing items such as a burqa support requiring the removal of face covering clothing where there are specific safety or identification requirements (similar to how many places require you to remove a motorcycle helmet before entry), and support the carbon tax and investment in renewable energy.
The Secular Party of Australia have senate candidates in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, and West Australia.
website: http://www.secular.org.au/
twitter: @secularparty
facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SecularPartyAustralia
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