Habitat for Humanity shows the poor the what they're missing out on. Proper housing requires bricks, cement and white people checking to make sure the holes get dug right.

I don't know much about abortion pills at all. But while I was lying in bed this morning it struck me that you might be able to spike someone's drink with an abortion pill. Or partners might be able to slip it into your food. I can't think of a reason why someone would spike your drink with it, but I can think of reasons why partners might spike your food.

In cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, Wizco Toys of Montclair, NJ, recalled 245,000 Aqua Assault RoboFighters Monday after three dumb kids managed to kill themselves playing with the popular toy, ruining the fun for everybody else.

Fun Toy Banned Because Of Three Stupid Dead Kids

1. Be a famous humanitarian
2. Start an international organization
3. Kill a lot of people, then stop

Reason Magazine

The age old question of whether you can smell while you're asleep has been answered. This morning, for the first time ever, I was actually woken up by the smell of poo.

crimson the twenty, countryside the impatiently of mistress as mute, morning sign language, apparatus supplementary, nerve-racking lemonade deformity an inventive the agricultural: resumption and unquestioned as heartthrob the sanctimonious smoking gun of simultaneous whose in patriotic the pa as energetically warm-blooded discus, pleasurable, mumps repudiate the boundless harangue maiden name in cigarette empty G-string the cellulose in gradual GI, resonant respiration, tiebreaker clan, incongruous man and remuneration castration, grainy,

As we count down to the Athens Games, Play Fair campaign activity is building to a crescendo. Over the next two weeks there will be a "Workers Olympics" event in Thailand, major rallies of sportswear and garment workers across India, a cycle tour across Europe to Greece and a surprise event in Athens itself. Nike-Watch newsletter

Oh dear. Oxfam have finally stooped to terrorism.

It seems a shame to waste my $2. It costs $2 for only 15 minutes in most places in New Zealand. Normally my time runs out way before I'm finished. But this one seems to go and go and go. So I thought I'd make another post, instead of doing the sensible thing and going to bed.

I'm going for an ice hike tomorrow. Maybe. If there's enough space. And if I've got enough money, I might do a heli-hike. It's one of those things I never in my life I'd have enough money to do. But I haven't spent very much so far, so I could.

Oop. Have to post it. The count down has started.

Ha......haha....wait for it....NOW!

The flight from Sydney to Christchurch at 11:30pm that I was just getting ready to catch, actually left at 6:10pm. Bugger eh.

Update: I have to buy another flight which will cost $241. Dear me. I'm very silly. This single flight is $20 more than what I'd paid for the whole return ticket originally. And I have to pay the $70 airport tax again, even though I didn't even get to the airport. Bummy airport tax.

Last night I went to Coles Express in Kings Cross to get some batteries for my mini-torch. And while I was dottering around trying to find them (they were right out the front in the end) I found a label on those signs at the start of an aisle that said "Picnic Needs". It was an aisle full of paper plates and plastic cups. It made me laugh a lot then, and I expect it will continue to make me laugh for a good while yet. I'm laughing now. No one else seems to think it's very funny that you'd call paper plates a Picnic Need. You could have "Picnic Accessories".

I have to tell Jem.

I think it's funny because of the way people throw around the word need. Spiritual needs and relationship needs and financial needs. Need is kind of a silly word full stop. You can say "I need water for my baby that isn't infected with dengue fever." Or you could say "I need a new car because this one is starting to rust." It's very versatile.

Teksolution have heaps better on-hold music than us. Ours is crappy Triple J music, all mono. Dodgy as hell through this tinny earphone plug cable.

On my last Optus bill, I owed Optus $6. I'd cancelled my account, and I hadn't realised that they'd charged me $50 disconnection fee. So I unwittingly paid most of it. But when I realised I refused to pay the rest. I'd been with them four years, so I thought it was crap. They sent me quite a few reminders but I ignored them. I tried to ring them one day, to tell them I wasn't going to pay, but I spent ages on hold and gave up. I was curious to see if they'd send $6 off to the debt collectors. It turns out that they didn't. That was several months ago, and they seem to have given up.

So I'm going to donate my $6 to Robert, in recompense for all the times they've up him.

Another article on the same page as "This man is a complete idiot" was titled Play School becomes gay school. It's about how in one of the "through the window" stories there was a girl who had "two mums". The social conservatives weren't very happy about that, but the ABC said they're just trying to reflect reality. I think it's tops that they're willing to do that. Good on them. Just one of the many reasons why Play School is so much better than Sesame Street. Although apparently South African Sesame Street had an HIV positive character. That's pretty good too.

In particular, we are concerned that IOM's work in certain contexts is adversely impacting upon basic human rights of migrants, refugees and asylum seekers, including for example the right to be free from arbitrary detention and the fundamental right to seek asylum. Amnesty

Mandatory detention is immoral = Australia should accept more refugees

That equation is the intent of the anti-detention argument, and the inevitable outcome of winning it.

I think it's at the heart of the debate. Asylum-seekers aren't being arbitrarily detained, they can leave whenever they want (at least those with countries to go to). And they have already sought asylum, but were rejected. Amnesty et al disagree with the number of asylum-seekers being granted entry, which is a different toaster of fish. That's the toaster I disagree with as well. And I think that is the issue they should be arguing. If you argue strongly enough that mandatory detention is a violation of some UN convention, I suspect that all you will achieve in doing having the convention changed, or having certain countries (like Australia) unratify it.

Until you make the case for increased numbers, and there is a strong case, I think they are going to lose, and I suspect we risk losing parts of a convention that are the main means there are of improving the living conditions in detention. Which I actually think would be a more valuable short-term cause to pursue anyway.

13 immigration posts in one week. That's all. Promise.

I read some of that report a few years ago. Everyone was saying how Aborigines were 12 times more likely to die in prison than white people per head of population. I thought, "Crap, that's terrible, how can they let that happen?" But when I read it I realised that not only are Aborigines 12 times more likely to die in prison, but they're also almost exactly 12 times more likely to be imprisoned. Which, in terms of how our prisons treat Aborigines, is a far more significant statistic. And Aborigines who goes into prison isn't any more likely to die than anyone else.

Our prisons suck, but not for the reasons that report was suggesting. So many Aborigines are dying in prisons entirely because of things that happen before they get there. That is what we have to fix.

I just read these figures quoted in an Amnesty report. I love Amnesty, but they're deliberately or carelessly misrepresenting the situation. By all means, they should criticise the prison system. But they should find real evidence first. I'm sure there is plenty.

Twooooo Of The Beeeest Ereeectile Dysfunctiiion Drug Availaaaaable

I got this is in the mail (e). I'm assuming that these drugs prevent erectile dysfunction. But just out of curiosity, what would you call a drug that caused erectile dysfunction. Although I suppose that's the same with all drugs. Cancer drugs don't normally cause cancer.

Last night there was a strange man at Rough Edges who gave Jai his address. He had a "Youth Off The Streets" jacket, which I think is a good thing, so he must be nice. On his business card he had "Family and Domestic Violence Coordinator". What a funny sort of thing to coordinate.

Oh dear me. Four economics posts in a row. And this was meant to be a social science study day as well.

That was the title of one of the cover articles in Tharunka a few weeks back. Last night, trying to find somewhere for my friend to stay, I was reminded yet again of how crap our health system is. It's shite. Chronic depression is hard to treat, but that's it's job. The health system doesn't even do a bad job of dealing with long term depression. It does no job at all. The only way my friend would have been able to find a bed last night, was by harming herself, and for me to call and ambulance. No one will take you seriously until you've done serious harm to yourself. And it has to be recent harm. Just because you've tried to kill yourself in the past, and think you will again has no significance at all. Until you have tried in the last few hours, you are wasting your time trying to get a bed. There are the private hospitals, but they can get rid of you whenever they want. And most people can't afford them anyway.

My friend understands the system, and knows how to use it well. Most people don't. If it can't even work for her, then it probably won't work for anyone.

My spiky shoes are so good. I can run around all I want and hardly ever fall over. You can run heaps faster too. It's funny at frisbee. I can run around heaps more, and I do. But I still hardly ever catch the frisbee. I think I only caught it four or five times last night. And two of those were goals.

fuckwittage What an excellent word?

Oil Prices Reach a 21-Year High Today

Good stuff. I know it's bad for poor Western people. Very bad. But it's great for the environment. And it's really tops for all those povvo Middle Eastern countries. God bless OPEC and its brutal oil monopoly.

maybe everything has been done before. every emotion felt, evert hurt cried, every question asked, every song inspired. that rhymes.

I don't reckon. Or at least not all of them. Emotions are different, because I don't think emotions need to be original to be valuable. Being hurt isn't about being original either. Hurt just is. I think I take comfort in the thought that however bad and alone I'm feeling, there are people out there who've felt similar things. People much more interesting and good than me, who've felt much more alone.

I don't think every question has been asked. Or even if they have, we only have answers to a tiny number of them. And the answers we already keep getting better anyway, so there's definitely value in trying to keep answering old questions. There's also something nice about inventing questions for yourself even if other people have already invented them.

There are definitely more songs to be written. Music has an infinite number of possibilities. If Bob Dylan can write such wonderful music with three chords, imagine how many options there are if you use more chords. Or invent new chords, like other cultures have done. Maybe that should be a goal in my life - too invent a new chord. Or even a new note. That would be great. I could call it "H".

Today I have been working. I haven't got much done, but it has been fun. Mmm. I don't think I have anything to say. I'm just waiting for the backup to finish, and I didn't have anything else to do. I tried to install some games but they're all a bit crap. Linux games are often crap. I could reply to some emails. That would have been a good idea. Maybe I'll just install Gaim instead. Dear me. It's quite big.

Actually, there were some things I've been thinking about. I was wondering the other day, if maybe it's easier to convince yourself to Fall In Love when you're super keen to have sex. So then you think, even if the relationship doesn't work out, at least maybe I'll get to have sex. I'm not sure. Maybe boys who really want to have sex go out a lot, and when they see a lad or lass they're attracted to they chase them until the person says "yes" or says "no" really loudly. Someone once told me they thought that Christians were happier to get married, because it meant they got to have sex. It's like a backup reason.

I reckon that might have been at the bottom of my mind at times in the past. Although maybe I just didn't worry about it then. Or maybe I fell in love with everyone I met, so it was simpler.

But if that's how everything works (and I'm not sure it does), then where does that leave people who don't really want to have sex. If God gave us hormones so we'd actually get off our bums, go down to the pub, and procreate (getting married first of course), then what happens to all the good modern guys and girls who've crushed their libido appropriately, and are kind of happy just being friends with everyone they meet.

It might be to do with coveting. I don't like coveting. But not because the woman or donkey might already be owned by someone else. Mostly because I don't think it's very healthy. Even to covet something you can have. The exception might be when someone else covets you back, and then you call it something different. Like Marital Bliss or Life-long Commitment. But if you stop coveting, then you kind of stop desiring. And maybe without desire human beings are broken. Maybe we've broken ourselves accidentily, by trying so hard not to covet anything. I don't think I want to start coveting. But I can't help but feel a little bit broken. There are so many good people, and I'm not interested in chasing any of them. Whether or not they want to be chased is a whole other question.

I'm a bit hungry. Although the wedges I had for lunch have kept me filled up for a good stint.

I hope I'm not broken. The whole reason I stopped being suicidal, back all those years, was because I didn't want to be broken. And for something to die willingly struck me as very broken indeed.

Maybe we should get a video tonight. Or I could find out what the chaps are doing.

I had a chat once with dad and Stella. I think I said something about wanting to have an operation to get the testerony, macho aspect of me removed. They didn't like that, I think because they're wholistic sorts that tend to believe that most things happen for a reason. Or that life isn't as simple as just taking out the bits you don't like. But I'm not really like that. There are lots of bits we take out. And lots of things we try to crush, or stop from having any influence. I suspect that the arrogant male persona hasn't yet fallen from grace. It's still too tied up with other male stereotypes, like courage and reliability and easy-goingness. I don't believe that those things have anything to do with being a man. And I don't think you need to keep the yucky aspects of "manliness" in order to preserve the good ones. It's not even about "exorcising" certains aspects of people or culture. It's just about encouraging nice things that men do (like digging in the garden), and discouraging un-nice things (like gang rape).

The backup is still pottering along merrily. It's up to "B". I think it has to go to "Z". Bum. Or Zum.

The lecturers at uni are so tops. Except for the social science woman, who's lovely, but not very good. Accounting especially. You can ask them absolutely anything, and they'll give you a detailed and good answer. It's nice being around so much knowledge. To think that you could probably spend a year sitting in a room with all of them, asking questions, and still think of things that they know and I don't know.

What do you do, if you like someone a lot, but they're going out with someone else, and you never tell them that you like them, but then they decide to get married to someone, who is very nice, but you don't think really that good for them? Do you just have to assume that they aren't secretly in love with you, and aren't marrying the other person because they think you'll never love them back? How will you be judged in heaven if you tell them, and they leave the other person, and spend the rest of their lives happily married to you? If you spend the rest of your lives unhappily married? If you start going out, and break up three weeks later? If they tell you to bugger off, but spend the rest of their married lives wondering?

Mum just rang. She'll be here in 40 minutes. The backup stopped. But I started it again. Lucky I was here.

Everything has been about love or sex so far. The next paragraph is going to be as well.

People sometimes say that women who get with random men they don't know, aren't respecting themselves. But I reckon it's the other way around. Men are far more likely to get with someone, and then talk with their mates about how pathetic the girl was for doing it. I some girl really likes a guy. And he pretends to like her so she'll sleep with him. Then he tells her to stuff off and tells his friends that she's stupid and doesn't have any personality. Who's the pathetic one? He's just slept with someone he doesn't even like, much less respect. He's manufactured a relationship for five minutes (if he's lucky) of fun. Which is nasty, but also kind of sad.

The girl on the other hand, has just slept with someone that she might have really liked. I don't know many girls who've slept with people they didn't like at all. I don't see how sleeping with someone you like, and think likes you, is disrespecting yourself at all.

Sleeping with someone you don't respect, is like going bowling with someone you hate, just because they offer to pay for your ticket. But far more pathetic. It would go both ways of course. I just don't know many women who tell lies to get laid. Or many men who get criticised for disrespecting themselves.

I think "disrespecting" is such a funny word. Whenever I heard it in that Offspring song it made me laugh.

I don't have any new ideas about economics at all.

Except to say, that my university is way conservative and is teaching all the students to be little Peter Costellos. Costellitos (cos-teh-yee-tos) we could call them. That's Spanish for "little Costello".

We have all these mini-hard disks lying around the office. They're so cute. If you put some fur on them, they'd make good pets.

It's mathematical modelling software. Funny funny.

Non numerical Unstructured Data by processes of Indexing Searching and Theory-building

I bought a wireless mouse and keyboard today. For fifty dollars. It's pretty tidy. Even seems to work. I can mouse along my arm even. Well, I can do that because it's optical.

I saw Kill Bill 2 too. I love it. I liked the first one more. But both are totally the bomb. Quentin is a champion.

I used to think that hanging around at home all day by yourself and not doing anything was depressing. Especially when it's overcast. But it was mostly just because you were being unproductive and useless. But I've found that even when I'm being useful, staying inside all day is still depressing. I need to go out and do more stuff on my study days I think. I would go swimming, but I'm too frightened to go to the pool by myself in daylight wearing Speedos. And it's cold. So I need something else. I suspect the only fun, active sort of thing you can do on cold, wet days is hanging out with people. Except everyone is at work, or at university.

So instead, I'm going to eat a lot, to cheer myself up. Wish me luck.

Update: I put on some angry Christian music, and that has helped.

Update #2: Lenny Kravitz is pretty good too.

I sent this email to Ugg Australia and Deckers. They're threatening local sellers of ugg boots and the Macquarie Dictionary with legal action, because they apparently now own all the rights to "ugg" and "ugh" (although not sure about "arg", "ug" and "uggg"). What's funny though, their whole website is about how it's a real Aussie", true blue, "Down Under" product. They even tell the story of the lonely Aussie surfer who originally brought the idea to America back in the 1970s. What's even funnier, they don't sell them at all in Australia, so Australians can't buy ugg (or ugh) boots anymore. Hilarious.

Dear Ugg "Australia" and Deckers

I think it's disgraceful that you have patented the "ugg" brand and are denying Australian producers the right to sell an Australian icon under the name. And suing the Macquarie Dictionary for listing the word??? Particularly considering you have no presence in Australia at all, so I couldn't buy a pair from you even if I were to feel like giving you money.

Seeing the name of Australia on your website, knowing you're a 100% American company makes me feel kind of ill. There wouldn't be an individual in this entire country who would wish you well.

It's nuts - on your website you're cashing in on the story of the "young Australian surfer" bringing the idea to America. Just to have the idea swiped off him? Have you no shame? I know that all's fair in love and global business, but this strikes me as rather warped.

Are we allowed to sue you for sullying the name of our country? It's got to be gross brand devaluation or something like that.

As you can probably guess, I shall not be buying any products from Ugg Australia or Deckers in the future.

Regards, Ryan

I'm having a great morning. I feel happy and really healthy somehow. I'm looking forward to the day.

I had something more to blog about than that. Not sure.

I woke up at 5:30 this morning and felt really lively. I think all our mornings of getting up early for swimming have made me less frightened of early mornings. Somehow jam was involved with that thought. I woke up and thought about jam, and I remember thinking that it was involved with my new livliness. But the association has gone.

We went out to the pub last night with Emily. That was good fun. At 11pm they kicked us out of the pub, even though we were only sitting on chairs at the front outside. We talked about moving a few feet to sit on the step on the footpath, but thought we may as well go home.

If you wanted to invent the word "push" (pronouced like "mush") how would you spell it. You wouldn't be able to would you. And it would be quite a good word I think, so I reckon it's not really fair that the people who invented "push" (pronouced like "tush"), were allowed to spell it "push" instead of "poosh". No one thought ahead. Which is one of the biggest problems people have these days. They only think in the short term. And our inability to create a word "push" pronounced like "mush" is a fitting example of the sorts of bother you can get yourself (and your whole society) when you don't plan ahead.

Today was really fun.

I got out of bed really early to go swimming

I feel cold because my socks are too thin and are only made of cotton.

I'm so cool. I spent the whole day programming.

Last night I had to shave my entire body. Apparently, the lice that I caught from Amanda's friend are really hard to get rid of. I look quite strange with no hair and eyebrows. I'd post pictures, but my webcam is broken.

I want to tell the world that I love you all! You're all so special to me!

I am really annoyed with those assholes at areyouhotterthanus?, because I am so much cuter than them, and those photos don't do me justice. They can't reject me, so I'm starting my own rating community. Click here to join (the first five applicants are automatically accepted).

Today, I got a digital camera! Yes! I'm so ugly. Don't look at my photos pleeeeeze.

I want to say thanks to Babybob556 for making the background and icons for my journal. Thanks hon, ur super special!

I went to the doctor yesterday, and he said I have a terrible skin disease which prevents me from coming into contact with other human beings. And bipolar disorder.

You should all do this quiz! It's amazingly accurate. You just put in your name and birthday, and it will tell you what job you'll do when you grow up.

What a great day! Definitely more interesting than yesterday.

That's enough for now. But I'll leave you with this thought - sharing your life with strangers on the internet is the cheapest form of therapy available. Leave a comment and tell me I'm beautiful.

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