Next Election SA

"A NEW new poll shows the State Liberal Party faces virtual annihilation at the next election in the wake of the dodgy documents fiasco."

Dodgy documents or not , the Liberals have nothing to offer. No party has really because we are watching an urban sprawl, we cannot use public transport out of regular hours, our schools need upgrading, our roads are deteriorating, the works around Adelaide are driving us potty, our greenness is going and our heritage is being blatantly wiped out. The Greens ought to be picking up points because they are trying to block the new RAH being built on toxic soil in the railway yards...no helicopter access...and we all know the current RAH is a good hospital in a good place with a good reputation. It needs to be refurbished...but it is an excellent hospital...but I guess the land is worth a fortune. Prime site. Bugger our reputation and needs. So it will be the party which actually values South Australia because we are watching it disintegrate and things like bulldozing original vineyards, buildings and then the wafty educational  approach and the piecemeal transport approach are not sitting well with us. We want to see our state thrive and even go back to the centre of arts it was...yes, who cares about the arts in SA and we were top at that? So the next election will be interesting because we don't have anyone who values this state and thinks it is worth anything other than to be sold in vast tracts for fiscal gain.

Michael Jackson worth more dead than alive

"It is estimated that in money terms, Michael Jackson will be worth much more dead than he was alive."

Pretty harsh thing to say about an extraordinary talent when they have just died, and oh yes, the money machine is cranked up, the economy is working overtime and to Michael Jackson it is worth nothing. He has no life. The benefactors of the money pouring in are on the ball and keeping it moving. It will pay off his 500 dollars debt and more. It is clear, even if you are not a Michael Jackson fan, that there a millions of people out there who actually care about him...they have a vision of who he is and it is not about money. If Michael Jackson is no more than a successful brand name to peddle...we have some interesting values put before us.  His life stopped making money because he was broken. I wonder if anyone will bother to untangle the mess which drove such a talent to such a tragic end...and whether we'll have a cold hard look at our attitudes?

The games people play

Well, at last. There seem to be some games I can play! I have always said I hated computer games and they weren't for me. Farm Town and Pet Pupz on Facebook got me going , as I said before. I then tried Magic Farm. That is still going because I have plenty of bonus things to do and I appreciate that. It gave me an understanding of how games work and was quite fun. For me the unexpected benefit is that these games have had a good impact on my stress levels. I am less stressed and less anxious. I am absorbed in what I do. I would never have thought of games. Magic Farm got a bit repetitive though and I was looking for something else. I bought Sport Pupz and I am so bad at that but the puppy I have is so cute and the graphics are nice. It makes me laugh I am so bad. I am waiting for more time to get going on Zoo Tycoon 2  and I think I'll love that. I like sims type games. I like building and creating but don't want city muck. So I went back to My PlayCity and downloaded Spirit of Wandering. The front page is nothing like the game and very unnecessary and deceiving. it is set in pirate times, ship wrecks and islands. The graphics are good. The art work is so lovely and the under water scenes were nice. There were some nice artistic touches even though the story was a bit daft. I really appreciated the art work and effects. My mouse skills learned in Magic Farm got me lots of gold between the chapters. But it was basically a game of collecting things off the screen. So slow compared with Magic Farm. Slow! In the end I came to like it and it increased my observational skills and I could complete it easily. So now I am playing the Mystery of  Unicorn Castle. The story isn't too bad but there are grammatical errors and an inconsistency in language which is annoying. It has settled down but it loses the plot a bit. I'd love to get hold of the script and tidy it up. The art work is quite good but not of the same calibre as The Spirit of Wandering. I like the fact it has other things to do besides just collecting things. I like the puzzle bits so there is more variety which I appreciate in this and it has got away from the notion you have to bash things to have a game. Different types of games are coming out. Puzzles, word games and things to solve are popular. Sims type things are popular too. There ought to be things for everyone and My PlayCity does a good job of offering a wide range of games to see and try.

Public Transport

Okay...do get me started on public transport. We still have the problem of buses leavng early or late and missing necessary connections. That can create a real problem because our buses might not come for another half hour or hour. Then we have the small matter of when the trains and buses start. If you drive around early on a Saturday morning a lot of houses are already awake at 5.30 and 6am and I don't think it's partying and insomnia. A lot of Adelaide is in retail and fresh food. They start early. If they have a 5am or 6 am start they cannot get there if they don't have a car. You are not allowed to work in Adelaide unless you have a car and the harassment you get from not having a car has to be heard to be believed. The whole state revolves around cars...so there is no sense of independence if you don't have one. No car, no income is how it goes because you cannot make those early starts and you cannot do late shifts . You can't ride a bike around. the distances are too far and it's hilly. So much for saving carbon. Then we have the situation like I had last Saturday. Had I not made the train at 3 I would have had to catch the bus...a much longer and more circuitous , inconvenient trip. I'd parked my car at the station. I don't take a car into town. We don't need the traffic in there. It stinks. It pollutes the air and it wastes money. Besides the expressway changes direction and it is cut through the Tjilbrucke Trail. More daft planning and desecration. We need a people moving city that can move people when they need to be moved and anyone should be able to work. A car doesn't improve your capacity to be a good employee.

Desalination Plant

 

It was a very dark, rainy day last Saturday, but you can see the desal plant is coming along. A big blot on beautiful coastline but that is where they chose to put it and it is employing a lot of people and will hopefully save us from these awful summers of no water. We are all questioning why they are putting up more and more houses in Adelaide, why they are changing our semi rural feel, why they are cutting down trees and even the pine plantation on Black Top Road. That is such vandalism. Those trees have been there forever. We cannot cope with all these new houses . We don't have the water. Then our whole heritage has been destroyed. Even the oldest vineyard in SA has been sold and will be destroyed. It had a heritage listing but that was secretly removed. How dare they. We have no respect for history and no sense about our lack of water. The planning is about money...who cares about heritage and water supply....and don't get me started on public transport.

Michael Jackson

I have never been a fan, but I do understand why he had such an impact at the top of his career. He was unique...but it was that uniqueness and money pulling power which became the driving force for the tragic life he has led. I just feel sorry. He never got the chance to make peace with himself and his life. He never got the chance to come to terms with all the things which were clearly troubling him. He was forced behind one image or another and the real Michael Jackson got broken...whoever he was. He was disturbed and haunted and I never saw any attempt to really help him. He was too much of a sensation. Too much of a money spinner. I hope he is acknowledged for his artistic merit and I hope he has a chance to be at peace. I'd like to think that what he couldn't sort out on earth he can resolve from where he is now. It's a sad, sad tale of a most dazzling butterfly.

ABC KO'd

 

Okay, I confess they didn't say which day. It's 8.55 am on the day I was bold enough to assume the site would be up. I guess they are out for coffee and croissants on this rather brisk morning.

Rat Free Zone

"After dropping poison onto the island from helicopter-hoisted buckets for a week and a half last autumn, there are no signs of living rats and some birds have returned, according to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service."

It would be nice to think there is a rat free zone, but they are insidious creatures...just wait till someone turns over the compost heap...and the poison? What will happen to that?

Give a game a go

Would never have thought I'd be playing a game on a computer. I have hated them with a passion. So Farm Town on Facebook got me going, Magic Farm showed me I could...and today....TADAAAAAA.....I braved the cold, went around the gaming shops...oh my, how not like me they are....and bought Pupz Sportz and Zoo Tycoon 2. Those are the games for me! I loaded the Pupz one in French and how cool is that to be practising your language skills with cute little puppies. I know they are starting to use virtual games to teach languages. I can see how successful and easy that would be. If this game talked it would be even better. The puppies are cute. It has made me laugh! But I am not good at games at all so I need what works for me. The games market is too narrow. Zoo Tycoon 2 has come with all the extension packs so I am now set for life! I am happy with what I have seen and really appreciated the tutorial. If I could set ti to French I'd be stoked and if it talked I 'd be happy. The graphics are really nice and I am excited I can pan and take photos! See? Game makers need to know we are all different and some of us need gentler but stimulating games all the same. Sometimes you need something simple Like Pupz Sports because it is just a stress buster, pure and simple. I can also get a chance to appreciate the amount of work which has gone into these games and how useful they would be for teaching people different things. I was thinking yesterday it would be hilarious to have a time management game based on paying utilities and resolving utility problems. Adults would get the jokes and kids would learn you just have to pay your bills on time!

Farm Magic

I have been playing Farm Magic. I am even at the bonus levels. It's that thing I have blogged about before from the classic Seinfeld episode of George doing the opposite! I was enjoying Farm Town on Facebook so I was looking for a good farm game. I don't play games so this was all new ot me. I tried Alice and it was very good for a kid on steroids...you repeated things at a fast rate and it made you think about marketing. I tried Virtual Farm  from an online gaming network and got fed up with the ads, the graphics and forever mowing the lawn. I rejected the one hour of play offers from some networks because I am simply not competent enough to be able to judge in an hour whether a game is for me or not. Not at this stage. So then I found Magic Farm on MyPlayCity and was able to start it and continue. What I didn't like and don't like is the fifty million mouse clicks to splat things and water and collect produce. I managed it though and got better and better. It is just not what I want. I want more of a sims type game where I build and develop and the one I downloaded wouldn't operate form the DOS box with Vista. I'd be happy to buy a good game when I find one. I wanted to try them first....and have time to go to the shops. I am not buying online. So I persisted with Magic Farm and I zapped away and have gone to the end to get the bonus sections and am so proud of myself. What I have found is I forget work straight away. I get over the stress and focus hard on zapping and collecting. From that point of view I am well pleased because my stress levels are always high...and other things haven't worked. So now I have opened up new horizons! What a bonus, heh?

Farm Town

Farm Town on Facebook looks like it's pretty successful and is living proof a range of age groups can enjoy a game. Some people go on it and give it away after a couple of days. Some go hard and give up after about level 20 something. Most people jog along and have bursts of growth. It is popular because you build a farm, set it up how you want, plant, harvest, go to the markets. There is a certain amount of repetition but it is not mind numbing unless you set it up that way. It's a time management game and all age groups and both dexes get a feeling of success from it. It is proof that people are looking for something a little less obvious in games. Some of the appeal is the graphics. The trees and plants look good and the animals are cute. It is certainly a stress buster!

Digital daftness

"Television viewers have been bombarded with a series of advertisements over recent weeks warning them that the analogue signal will be switched off today and urging them to buy set-top converter boxes if they do not want to lose reception."

Yes, we have the same thing here. Mad scramble to stay connected to the TV signal, though in the process, most of us have worked out that television is somewhat passé and we don't use it a lot. Too negative and too format thinking. Here most people have HD TVs because they have bought plasmas and LCDs already. I still have my old big box that weighs a ton and works well. It is not a top priority to replace it. The SD set top box was working well and then the picture was breaking up, so I got a new HD set top box and now have a smaller square picture or smaller rectangular picture. I love our new, improved technology. No, I do not need a HDTV yet...they cost a lot. I'd rather have my new laptop thank you. What I do appreciate is there is a good price range on set top boxes so most people will be able to get one. It is important for people to have TV even if it isn't much cop at the moment. It can be a diversion if you don't have a computer and find yourself by yourself.

Freezing in Adelaide

If you haven't heard from us in Adelaide ,we are trying to keep warm. We have jackets, coats, scarves, jumpers...all things we hate putting on. Gloves, yes, we have even broken out the gloves. It is bitterly cold and we don't like it! We are like daisies...we need the sun and warmth to hold our heads up smiling. We get home and have been huddling in bed with laptops, net phones, books, water bottles, blankets....we are feeling very sorry for ourselves. We hated the heat and drought and we feel guilty to be so miserable, but the fact is...we hate this bitter cold!

Rain

"MORE rain is expected to fall by the end of the long weekend in southern parts of South Australia."

We are not complaining about the rain. It is so brilliant to watch things growing. So great to be rid of the dustbowls and dust. So fantastic to see GREEN. We don't like the cold. Hate the cold. We are not really worried but we do not like wearing piles of clothes because we feel so cold. So it has turned us to nice meals...home cooking, pub meals next a nice warm fire. We have been making soups, getting out the slow cookers and baking cakes and biscuits. We have made nice savouries and plunked ourselves in front of the tele to watch the football or a good film. It's cosy but it is oh so cold. The sad thing is places like Seacliff Park, Marion and Brighton are flooding because they have been built out and the drains are not coping with the run off. Concrete and bricks do not absorb water. It is better where people have stuck to gardens built on dirt and water. Those areas are having little run off. I couldn't believe how much I had to slosh my car through rivers running down or across roads as I drove to Marion. The closer I got , the worse it got...and it was raining more. So those councils needs to get onto some better water management practices.

Fare evaders

"Transport Department figures show that of the top 20 suburbs that were home to fare evaders, more than half had median individual incomes higher than the Melbourne average."

There are the privileged and the non privileged. I am sure they have wonderful reasons for not paying their fares.

Betty Amsden

"I've made a few pennies and given a few away in the last 20 years. But I can't take it with me and I want it to be a role model for others," she said. "This will be ongoing for the future and I'm not."

Betty Amsden is a self made millionaire. She is generous, adventurous, obviously has a sense of humour and believes in giving. Believes in allowing others to enjoy what she has enjoyed. This article is a tribute to her and really makes you notice we have someone who is 82 and who is shining a light for all of us to see. So who would you rather have in your world and in your neck of the woods? Someone who creates pain, unpleasantness and nastiness for us all or someone like Betty Amsden who is kind, astute, helpful and considers nothing beneath her and nothing above her. She just is.

Young and dead.

"Every serious injury affects so many people – not just themselves but also all the people around them and their families."

I was surprised and pleased to see the Advertiser this morning carry the headline...Young, dumb and dead. I was surprised because we don't normally talk that straight. Pleased because I think we need to. We have to cut all the crap and get to the bottom of this constant death of young men in cars. Covering up, pretending, avoiding, couching it in nice terms is not going to help us beat it. These young guys may not be dumb, but they are certainly young and most definitely dead and yes, just one death affects so many, so it is getting to the stage, because we are a small state, where we are all touched by this. We all know someone, the family, the brothers and sisters, the cousins. We are all touched by this loss now. So what is it about? I don't think it's just about hooning, bad driving skills and stupidity. I think there is more to this. There have always been young men who have street raced around Adelaide. Used to be out in the back blocks but we have no back blocks now. Some died...but not this many. Young men are often very good on their reaction times so why aren't they now? Young guys have always been speed demons so why is it so disastrous now? I feel profoundly sorry, as I have blogged before, for the police, paramedics, fire brigade personnel who are the first on the scene and whose daily lives are now constant trauma. I feel sorry for those who find the dead and dying as the cars race to destruction. The unsuspecting who just happen to be there and whose lives are shot to pieces with the pain and tragedy of it all and then the plain cold harsh realities. Then I feel so profoundly sad for the families and friends of those who lose these young men. Some might be able to say ...oh well, yes, he was a bit of a mad driver. He took too many risks. It won't replace that young life. So what makes these young men sacrifice themselves like this? What is it?

The no sale sale

"Within minutes a few more shoppers had trickled in - but there was no sales madness in sight."

Not surprised really. It was icy cold in Adelaide this morning and staying under the doona, having a nice, warm breakfast would have been more attractive than bargain hunting before work. We have started to get our priorities straight and we are not reacting to marketing and commercialism. We have realised being with people and looking after ourselves is important. We are learning being run ragged on top of extraordinarily demanding work place conditions  is not what we want. We don't think of being away from work as down time. It is our time. We are reclaiming our lives, our priorities and our agendas. Sales are good, there is no doubt about it...but not compared with a snuggly bed on a cold work day.

Digital Bombardment

"Scientists fear that a digital flood of 24-hour rolling news and infotainment is putting our primitive grey matter under such stress that we can no longer think wisely or empathise with others."

 

This is not only a well written article, it is well worth the read. I have been wondering who has been thinking about the impact of all this information and media bombardment on our lives. and what monitoring is being done Trauma comes in on a daily basis. Other people's trauma fills our day. So we are not in the moment if we are hooked up to digital technology. Our living space is usurped by others. Our part of the planet is over run by things which are not in our space. So yes, there is a real possibility we shall be too overloaded, too infused with the non relevant and too overcome by it all. Then there is the physical capacity to be able to process it and how we manage that. Great article.

Umbilical Mobile

"Parents have become significantly more willing to allow their children to own a mobile phone in the past year, a poll for The Times has found."

It's an umbilical cord. I am sure Freud would have lots to say about our always connected mentality. One jerk on the cord and there you go...done and dusted.

Windows 7

"PC makers and resellers will offer free upgrades to Windows 7 for people who buy a new computer running the Home Premium, Business or Ultimate version of Windows Vista shortly before Windows 7 arrives."

Well, that's nice. What about the loyal customers who have it already?! I won't be able to upgrade Vista on this computer because it has 512 MB of ram ( plus ready boost) and I cannot load a Premium upgrade because it needs 1 GB. So my two laptops will be okay...so then I think about Ubuntu and how I have just loaded and used it on my other laptop. It just goes and it is not costing me anything to keep it going. Basically , now I am stuck with Vista Home Basic on this which is what it came with and it's okay. The media centre on Premium is pretty nifty...I don't like the way Microsoft keeps updating and changing and it just keeps costing. In the end it will kill them because people cannot keep changing and then now realise it is a money black hole and that is sad because a lot of Microsoft software has allowed us to revamp the computing world and allowed more people to participate in technology. I think a bit of rethinking wouldn't go astray before the October launch.

On wonderfully designed thingos

Last night and tonight the Net is parading a vast array of wonderfully designed thingos before my eyes. Mostly they are tasteless, formless, shapeless and rather off putting. Mostly they are about upsetting any pleasant  and calm enjoyment. Weird eyes, weird coffin shaped thingos, weird photos of bums and bits and bums with bits...someone is not feeling very well.

Face code

"When his face was squashed or stretched, or viewed from an angle, or cast in shadow he was still recognisable, and the barcode representation remained relatively unchanged."

Poor Marlon Brando! I wonder how much of our recognition is related to how well we know the face or the cultural origin of the face. Do face codes work as well on unfamiliar ground? It is true you see blue prints and types and that is how you regognise others. I don't think we are that good when we go across cultures. Maybe technology will be more successful in that....and if we are going to squash and stretch people's faces to see if it works...I want that job!

Big Kev's Fixometer

AdelaideNow's new polling machine - Big Kev's Fix-O-Meter - allows you to vote for the issue that angers and frustrates you the most.

Great little fixometer to play and get a message home. You always hope the voting isn't rigged. Polls can be a real bugbear like that and therefore ruin what might be a useful straw vote.  It is time to lighten up and have a bit of a laugh as we try and pull our state together. What kind of a state do we want because it's in a bit of a state. Do we keep Adelaide...and what does that mean...or do we become yet another big city clone? The pressure is on and there are things which are driving us crazy. We really need to get things fixed so we can make a real decision as to what we want. I want Adelaide to be Adelaide. I like the city/rural/ beach feel without the inconvenience of overpopulation and over building. Already people re looking elsewhere because if we wanted to live in Melbourne...we'd be there! So have a vote on the fixometer and encourage the fun!!