L.E.D.s - the end to lightbulbs?

taken from Yahoo news:

Accidental Invention Points to End of Light Bulbs
Fri Oct 21, 5:00 PM ET

The main light source of the future will almost surely not be a bulb. It might be a table, a wall, or even a fork.

An accidental discovery announced this week has taken LED lighting to a new level, suggesting it could soon offer a cheaper, longer-lasting alternative to the traditional light bulb. The miniature breakthrough adds to a growing trend that is likely to eventually make Thomas Edison's bright invention obsolete.

Read the rest of the story here.

itunes australia blows

Yep, I said it. It blows. So far at least.

The iTunes Australia store finally opened and my immediate reflection is of it's worthlessness. I guess If you were bedridden, cashed-up and unaware of anything musical outside of popular radio it may seem fine but you'd be wrong.

Due to the uneasy stand-off between the labels (Sony, i'm looking at you there) and iTunes Australia marketing we've got a joke store. Most of the albums I looked at were 'buy songs each only' rather than the whole album. It means that the download version of the new Depeche Mode disc would cost me AU$20 whereas the bought disc last week cost me AU$22 which gave me a disc, booklet and a sense of tangible product. Don't even think about including the whole "well, you saved petrol..." bollocks. Robert Palmer's 'Riptide' cd (I owned the tape as a kid and thought a trip down memory lane would be nice) would cost me AU$15. The actual disc isn't any more at either JBHiFi or WOW for God's sake and I get an actual product they had to manufacture!

Funnily enough I've been buying music online through US and UK stores using either PayPal or credit cards. I've been pretty happy with the buy's as most import stuff costs me around AU$30-35 and to buy and download only cost me about AU$16. Not to mention the fact that it's nigh on impossible to get some of the music I want in the country anway.

That brings me to the main bone of contention. Choice and range. Where the fuck is it? I realise there are massive publishing ramifications from area to area but a large amount of music I'd love to buy isn't available on the Australian store. Two soundtracks-Contantine and Solaris-I want to buy are not available. They are in every other friggin country but not here. I was under the idea that many physical discs don't get sold here as the local labels don't see them as big enough sellers to warrant all the paperwork and manufacturing. Fair enough, but doesn't this 'new' delivery system cost nothing except the cut Apple make? They should be making as much available as humanly possible and then offer more. Instead I'm left with either paying AU$80-100 for two cd's and shipping OR downloading through peer-to-peer. What decision would you go with?

Thanks for nothing boys. I'd imagine it's not the setup Steve Jobs was hoping for either. At least he's directed a company upwards and onwards. What have the Sony and Sony Australia board done lately i wonder...

quote for the day:
"Lucille: I'm giving the company to Buster.
Michael: Buster? You're giving the company to a guy who thought the blue on the map was land?"
- Arrested Development

reconcile

There are quite a few confusing and conflicting elements to the human condition. They seem to raise their head's collectively as well as individually during the course of your life. A few, kind of hang around the whole time, not strictly obvious but always present.

An interesting one I find myself continually bouncing between is the gulf that exists between who you are, who you're meant to be and who you wish you could be. It can get pretty ugly at times. Most often the main cause of effect is part A. Few people are entirely happy with the person they are. This trait at least pushes us to become better than we are, although it also creates anger and a sense of worthlessness in people who don't have the strength to push themselves beyond their own comfort bubble.

I'm no believer in 'destiny' as many people perceive it. I don't believe that everything has all been mapped out for us. To simply be bit-part actors in our own lives. I believe that on a genetic level you have a path to follow. A pre-ordained series of preferences. Why else do we like one style of anything to another? Why do you prefer to follow a certain career path? Or no path? Why are you a particular sexuality or in fact why have any personality at all if we're simply here to propagate a species with no direction short of populating the patch of universe we exist in? I think that you have a set of personal rules and guidelines that when followed lead you closer to your own purpose. I've always felt right and wrong when I knew that I was either doing what I'm meant to do or when I've been to lazy or misdirected to do anything.

Problems arise from living in the dream and not getting on with life. Sure i'd love to be an amazing athlete with a perfect physique (hell, i'd settle for average physique). I'd also love to be able to solve advanced quantum physics in my sleep (again, i'd settle for basic fractions). I'm not either of those guys and I don't think I'm going to suddenly become them either. The key is to try and reconcile who you really are and what the best 'you' could be. You need to aim at the dream you but realise what's a real outcome and what's not.

You are what you are due to the choices you've made up till this point in time. Your physical and mental form will always mirror the lifestyle choices you make. If you enjoy your lifestyle then you have to realise that it's going to effect how you look and come to terms with that. If you sit at a computer all day and have in-door hobbies with little to no sport or exercise based ones then you're going to look the part. If you worry only about how you look and never read anything except maybe the comics then you'll reflect that also.

I strongly believe everyone has their little part to play as the person they're meant to be. Whatever that is you have to find for yourself. Or don't. One tip my old man gave me years ago-when I was looking to change jobs-was that when decision time rears it's head you have to go for it. If a decision is an easy one to make then more often than not it wasn't really a decision worth making.

Reconciling the 'who you are' versus the 'who you wish you were' can be a tough one and something I have to do everyday while cleaning my assault rifle...

quote for the day:
"Every man (or woman - editor note) has his own destiny:
the only imperative is to follow it, to accept it,
no matter where it leads him."
- Henry Miller (1891 - 1980)

and the band marched on...

Well i finally went to the last wedding I had to be present at for the year. In the last year i've been to about seven of them. Count it, seven. You can stow the 'well it's free alcohol and food' argument. Yep, it's food and drink that costs you about the same as the wedding present, the dry-cleaning of the clothes and the transport. If I could work out the cost of hangovers and sheer mind-numbing boredom I'd add that as well.

I used to enjoy the weddings. The day where all you had to do was watch a couple of people say a few lines, look happier than you thought possible and then wander over to a table of food and drink. The simple pleasure has been beaten to a pulp for me. If you know the people it's still good but when you're barely a hanger-on or table-filler it's a giant time-waster. It takes an entire weekend away from you (almost).

Luckily for me i've been at tables of pretty interesting people but man you also get the freeks. The social climbers, the alcoholics, the 'funny guy' who is in fact just reiterating material he must have heard on some kids show with the benefit of natural bad comic timing. The best is the cliche 'drunk uncle', he makes the party for sure.

The main issue I have is that it all feels like we're all c-grade actors playing roles in a telemovie. A bad one. Eveyone stands about watching the couple say their vows, most wondering why they don't really feel emotional about it when every movie you've seen shows even the 'hard-man New York detective' look a little teary-eyed.

We then truck on over to the reception, which is a strange mix of socially correct speeches 'from the heart' making you feel like everyone got passing grades in 'wedding 101 - speech cliches for beginners'. It's almost always the same speech everytime. The same platitudes wheeled out in their iron-lung and presented with a less than exuberant manner. Every now and then the talking dead take a rest and then the audience half-heartedly clap as if they can't quite get the action right so soon after the labotomy. Occasionally someone will throw a joke into the mix which more often than not tugs just a little more of your will to live out the door. You know those gags, the "well it's an emotional night all right, even the cake is in tiers..." chestnuts. Kill me. The only funny thing out of that is watching some nimrod having the joke explained to them with nothing short of an etcher-sketch for 15 minutes after the speech.

Occasionally you get some real emotion. The bride's dad teary or the actual married couple who've luckily drunk enough to numb them to the cost of the night. That's always nice to see but the forced 'gee it's an emotional day 'cause it's meant to be right?' kind of thing is just to contrived.

Actual top-5 highlights for weddings i've been to (no particular order):

1. The Bride and Groom (plus entire bridal party in full gear) dancing in a niteclub on it's 80's night. Gold. Filled the entire tiny dancefloor. The night also included the drunk groomsman tipping the doorman (who was actually the bemused bouncer).

2. The ever present 'drunk uncle' getting bitten by the bride's mother's dog at the engagement party whilst breathing rocket-fuel fumes over the poor woman.

3. A friend's boyfriend getting kicked out of the reception for being too drunk. Always a classic.

4. A dipshit get sidestepped the entire night like he was covered in radioactive materials. When anyone got cornered by him he got the politically correct treatment as everyone thought he must be a friend with someone there. Turned out he didn't know anyone, he was there to match his girlfriend's shoes. The following week was a mass of 'was he one of your friends?' comments followed by 'fuck no, i thought he was yours!'.

5. The bride almost picking a fight with the DJ for playing all the wrong stuff.

Ahh the memories. Maybe i'm just a cynic.

quote for the day:
"Relationships don't work the way they do on television and in the movies: Will they, won't they, and then they finally do and they're happy forever -- gimme a break. Nine out of ten of them end because they weren't right for each other to begin with, and half the ones that get married get divorced, anyway. And I'm telling you right now, through all this stuff, I have not become a cynic, I haven't. Yes, I do happen to believe that love is mainly about pushing chocolate-covered candies and, you know, in some cultures, a chicken. You can call me a sucker, I don't care, 'cause I do...believe in it. Bottom line...is the couples that are truly right for each other wade through the same crap as everybody else, but, the big difference is, they don't let it take 'em down."
- Dr Cox, Scrubs

where for art thou inspiration?

What is it and where does it come from? In a job like mine where inspiration is often needed in a hurry I quite often find myself at a loss. Sometimes music will do it while other times a movie or magazine. The more I've thought about it over the years the more it becomes obvious that experience outside your own lazy bubble is required. Even a trip to the beach can do it rather than just sitting inside your house staring at the idiot-box.

One downfall I'm certain of is the forced search for that illusive intangible. It's a-more often than not-pointless task. A little like trying to bail-out a sinking ship with a sieve. Often at times of short deadlines and great pressure i've all but failed due to not being inspired enough. I've rushed out and bought magazines, cds and DVDs hoping to find a spark. Sometimes it worked but often it simply took up more of the precious time I was running low on.

While reading a few authors handy tips to writing I found an almost constant tip. I figure an author will say it better than I will so here's Craig Clevenger's take on it (his website can be found to the right):

Don't wait until you're inspired to write.
Write to become inspired.

Find your own method. If your read enough of books and articles about writing, they start to conflict. One says to work in the morning while your brain is fresh, another says to work in the evening. They're all wrong. Every writer's method is as unique as his or her own work, and you have to find your own-the time of day, longhand vs. typewriter vs. word processor, the sequence of rewrites, etc. Half of writing is finding what method works for you.

I think it's great advice that can be applied to any creative field. Actually sitting down and pushing through the mire can create solutions better than wondering how best to tackle them. Like all great truths it's obviously easier said than done.

quote for the day:
"They didn't want it good, they wanted it Wednesday."
- Robert A. Heinlein (1907 - 1988)

"be wary of absolutes"

After thinking about that Hayden Christensen film Shattered Glass i remembered a freelance journo over at Wired News whom i wrote to once about the Nigerian internet fraud situation (and got a nice reply back from) and the trouble she got in regarding unvarifiable sources. I found this article What We Can Learn From Michelle Delio at Gelf Magazine really interesting.

My favourite bit is a quote from Wired News at the end of the article:

"We haven't made any official proclamation on using Delio in the future. We don't plan on assigning her anything, but we may revisit that at some point. I think you should always be wary of absolutes, and 'never' is a big word."

I think that's a great commment. Fairly applicable across life in general. The last sentence only of course, fairly limiting otherwise...

quote for the day:
"I think people should be allowed to do anything they want. We haven't tried that for a while. Maybe this time it'll work."
- George Carlin

what's the real risk again?

today from The Australian 'Editorial' section (isn't it all editorial?!):

Terror the real risk
Oct. 18, 2005

Debate, perhaps amend, but certainly adopt terror laws

IF hysteria were covered by Canberra's proposed anti-terror laws, the courts would soon be full of opinionated journalists and ostensible advocates of civil liberties with cases to answer. At the weekend, ACT Chief Minister Jon Stanhope gave the usual Howard-hating suspects ammunition for their argument that the Prime Minister and the Attorney-General, Philip Ruddock, are intent on suppressing civil liberties. Mr Stanhope used his website to publish a draft of the anti-terror legislation, adopted in principle by state, territory and national leaders last month. Including him. This stunt is too cute by half. Certainly, the more, and sooner, we know about the Government's plans, the better. But we cannot afford the terror law debate to be packaged as a civil liberties issue. Mr Stanhope demonstrated why on Sunday, when he proudly announced the ACT would play an important role in a national security exercise. "It is important that we test our responsiveness to a potential terrorism incident," he said. Fair enough, but it is equally important to have laws in place that may reduce the risk of an attack happening in the first place.

Story continues here

i think the editorial makes some good points but seems way to much in the government's pocket. worrying me is this"...But we cannot afford the terror law debate to be packaged as a civil liberties issue...". i firmly believe the exact opposite is true. these so-called terror laws do need to be treated as civil liberties issues. anything that infringes on personal choice and decision making is a civil liberty issue by definition:

Noun
S: (n) civil liberty, political liberty (one's freedom to exercise one's rights as guaranteed under the laws of the country)
S: (n) civil liberty (fundamental individual right protected by law and expressed as immunity from unwarranted governmental interference)

sure you can hold an ideal of a perfectly working government who never make mistakes and don't hold grudges but you'll be sorely disappointed when you finally get to visit this small blue-green planet called earth. too much power corrupts and in a system that already suffered that little virus the ability to do whatever is deemed necessary to citizens, without much, if any evidence, seems a little worrysome. the sheer fact that we're looking at a system where you can get locked away for 14 days (at this stage it's 14 days) with no contact outside without even being charged of any crime is disgraceful. all you need is someone to have a grudge and call in a favour and you're locked away with your name appearing on all sorts of lists you really don't want your name on.

it even sounds like some of the proposed laws will allow the hammering of public speaking and even reporters doing their job by reporting. imagine a world of reporters like ray martin. no making waves, balls deep in the machine all the while pretending to be a real person (pretty poor job. must have rushed the training before the mothership dropped him here). up until now thought-crimes have only been the subject of science-fiction lawmakers. we've read '1984', 'brave new world' and watched 'thx1138' yet it seems we've learn't nothing. a great latest release by george clooney 'Good Night and Good Luck' covers the similar times of the 50's with McCarthy and his commie hunt. closer to now, we laugh about the cross-dressing loon Hoover but only 40 years ago he was ending people's lives on a whim both figuratively and literally. any system that no longer allows the citizens to openly question it is headed for a serious shitfight. back we go along the same roadway that great nation called Rome trucked down a while back.

one problem with these laws is where do they draw the line? when does it end? if they take an inch of freedom now will they take a mile later? you can easily see a future where people ask 'can we stop those laws and restrictions now, i mean there's been no terrorist activity for 10 years?" answered by "hell no, look how good they're working!". the other point is that if the citizens of a nation are scared of living life how they wish due to faceless terrorists or the government what's worse? i'd call it a draw.

crackerjack a-hole

(the photo's not real but i like it.)

what a nimrod george bush jr is. i think anyway. i realise he's simply a puppet (and not much of one let's face it) but really. it's as though he and his writing staff are confused over what the plot of the story's all about.

iraq have finally gone to the polling booths in a first-step towards establishing democracy. luckily for them they've got the 'ol US of A over there in massive numbers to tell them all about the 'perfect democracy'. i guess that means they can only have a two-party system and slowly create a police-state while telling their constituents that they are 'looking after them'. where's aldoux huxley and george orwell when we need them.

anyways, i'm watching the news when suddenly that cracker-arsehole george bush jnr gets on the camera with this golden quote: "The vote today in Iraq is in stark contrast to the attitude, the philosophy and strategy of al qaeda, their terrorist friends and killers..." (report from cbs news here).

great little newsbite. it's just kinda grating me a little that he's STILL missing the small factoid that there's absolutely no link between iraq and al qaeda. none. we've been down this trail so many times since september 11 that if there were any tangible links they would have been advertising it during the superbowl. yet still the link gets wheeled out, although it gets delivered in a slightly furtive manner. sneaky like. looking at the quote you could say, we'll he's just making a sweeping positive comment against terror and dictatorship and all that we label 'evil'. but you'd be wrong. the general populace are as thick as we give them credit for and will hear 'al qaeda' and 'iraq' together in one throwaway phrase and, without thinking about it, link the two. it's just natural to do so. churchill said it best with his rules on propaganda. say it often enough and people will believe it. add a long timeline on that point and people will in-fact know no different. let's not forget that it was the emotions created by september 11 that helped march our boys to their deaths in iraq. the search for wmd's that weren't there, in a country that was said to be in bed with al qaeda that eventually turned out to have no 'official' link at all with the terrorists. yes there were terrorists there but there were more in america so the terrorist-per-capita link is obviously not so important.

reminds me of visiting the war-museum in hawaii with my dad. it was in an old big solid concrete bunker munitions battery from ww2. you walked through a 'history of america at war' timeline with photos, stories and real items (ammo, guns, uniforms - the usual suspects). i thought it was interesting and ok done until we get to the end with vietnam (this was in about 1989/90). anyways, there's a big plaque with some back-slapping bravado which ended with a phrase like 'and that's how we won the vietnam war'. wow. deluded much? i'm fairly sure nobody won that little conflict but if the points were tallied up the allies (including for the most part the USA) got their tails kicked black and blue. the problem is that a high percentage of the population over there don't study history (thanks to the massive budget cuts in education) and are so wrapped up in blind-patriotism that it becomes a believable fact. if everyone simply believes it then it becomes true. so in the same manner, if the iraq - al qaeda misnomer are constantly bandied about it becomes, in-effect, a truth. if anytime in recent history called for the masses to wake up and smell the coffee it's now yet here we are leaning on the snooze button for the 15th time.

what worries me is the misrepresentation of facts from bush jnr. this subtle lie isn't a mistake. it's planned. it's thought about. it's orchestrated by a large group of people who are more keen on keeping power and status quo as-is. the machine behind this bullshit doesn't even need a decent sock-puppet anymore either. they are so sure of their footing they have a christian-zealot, c-student with learning disabilities as a figurehead. this isn't a conspiracy. every person who's aware of the bullshit but does nothing about it is an accomplace. everyone who want's the tax-breaks at the expense of other nations is an accomplace. if you're not against something your with it by default. oh joy to this world.

quote for the day:
"I think I've got to do better in making clear what the message is, and I think I can do better. But I think there's so much noise out there that I've got to figure out how to make it clearer that we are for the things that I have advocated that would help."
- President George Bush Snr (2/18/91)

the top 27

my mate geoff put me onto these 27 things you wish you could say at work. i'm fairly sure i've covered quite a few of them at a few of my work-life employment facilities.

1. I can see your point, but I still think you're full of shit
2. I have plenty of talent and vision. I just don't give a fuck.
3. How about "never"? Is "never" good for you?
4. It sounds like English, but I can't understand a word you're saying.
5. I see you've set aside this special time to humiliate
yourself in public.
6. Ahhh, I see the fuck-up fairy has visited us again.
7. You are validating my inherent mistrust of strangers.
8. I'm already visualizing the duct tape over your mouth.
9. The fact that no one understands you doesn't mean you're an artist.
10. Someday, we'll look back on this, laugh nervously
and change the subject.
11. I will always cherish the initial misconceptions I had about you.
12. I don't know what your problem is, but I'll bet it's
hard to pronounce.
13. Any connection between your reality and mine is
purely coincidental.
14. I like you. You remind me of when I was young and stupid.
15. What am I? Flypaper for freaks!?
16. I'm not being rude. You're just insignificant.
17. Thank you. We're all refreshed and challenged by your
unique point of view.
18. It's a thankless job, but I've got a lot of Karma to burn off.
19. Yes, I am an agent of Satan, but my duties are
largely ceremonial.
20. No, my powers can only be used for good.
21. I'm really easy to get along with once people learn
to worship me.
22. You sound reasonable......time to up my medication.
23. I'll try being nicer if you'll try being smarter.
24. I'm out of my mind, but feel free to leave a message.
25. I don't work here. I'm a consultant.
26. Who me? I just wander from room to room.
27. My toys! My toys! I can't do this job without my toys!

watership going-down

well sometime's you just can't make it up. reality beats fiction yet again with this beautiful story of the forbidden love between man and beast (or rabbit in this case) from The Australian, titled:
Financier's 'attacks on rabbits grew worse'
- David King, October 14, 2005.

weblogs of the insane & impotent

i realise slinging shite at other bloggers is the pot calling the kettle an off-white but like a small winged insect of dubious intellect drawn to a stick of whale fat moulded around a piece of string, i can't stop myself. some blogs i've stumbled into offer (unlike mine) actual content. from interesting people. many offer great insight. many have pretty interesting lives. unfortunately many offer a reason for thinking the extinction of mankind is in fact, a must.

i'm not going to actually list any blogs here (and back my feeble comments up) but instead leave it to anyone who reads this (apart from me, nobody) to find 'em. the key is to either keep clicking the 'next blog' link top-right or type a random crazy few words into the blog-search box. it's great.

i guess this is the strength (i'd say 'and weakness' here but i'm allergic to cliches. damn i just did say it didn't i) of the bloggery universe. giving a voice to the voiceless and in many cases the brainless. i mean i'm speaking crap for my own pleasure so why not anyone else? on the points i'd agree, it's just that after reading some of the ramblings i'm beginning to understand why russia didn't let the general public say anything to anyone outside their own sphere of influence for so long. i'm not saying a crazy dictatorship with me in charge would work but hell, i'm willing to give it a shot. who's with me? you know what they say, the journey of a dictator starts with a single bullet...

quote for the day:
"Which came first the intestine or the tapeworm?"
- William S. Burroughs (1914 - 1997)

hush

I can't say what I want to,
even if I'm not serious.
Things like....
"Fuck yourself,
kill yourself,
you piece of shit."

People tell me what to say,
what to think ,
and what to play.

I say...
"Go fuck yourself,
you piece of shit.
Why don't you go kill yourself?"

Just kidding.

- Tool 'Opiate'

post apocalyptic steroid use

image nabbed from Gamespy's review of Gears of War.

ok so i'm a geek. no surprises there. so with that obvious factoid out of the way, onward.

i love computer games. not just playing them-i've toned the hours spent playing them down-but the entire concept many of them base their virtual-escape around. one angle more often used than others in sci-fi games is the post-apocalptic war-torn future of our planet - or a planet awfully close to ours with humanoid's much like us. i grew up reading sci-fi so the illusion is no great leap for me. in fact the cynic in me thinks it's a fairly reasonable step for this virus in shoes called mankind. what is a great leap for me are the human's muscle mass in many of these 'futures' portrayed. it's hilarious.

looking at the image above you see two battle hardened, brick-shithouses with guns. first impression is yeah, so? of course they're big. they're the 'army'. ever actually seen our armies? caught a few hours of CNN lately? sure there's a few big bastards but the general soldier is more fit and strong than massive. massive can't run a mile with full ammo and rations too often. now you could just say, well they're special forces or genetically modified to be huge. i'll buy into that. i'd buy into any weak-ass explanation. the only thing i want a detailed report on is how are you feeding 'em everything they need to be both healthy and massive? the entire premise is a 'post-apocalyptic future', famous mainly for being fucked up. no civilisation of great note, no major crop harvesting (unless radiated dirt is somehow edible) and no great amount of walking food (cows, beavers, budgies or platypuses). also, no supermarket's to buy 12 full chooks and no protein powder. i mean it's been shown through the history of war that if you cut an armies supplies you'll have 'em on the ropes in no time. they waste away and in one of this species funny twists, muscle burns away before fat. so somehow in a ballsed up environment of meagre supplies and an uncertain future these guys both eat enough to gain bulk but also have a gym nearby. wow. i feel like more of an underachiever every second i think about this.

these games are designed by nerds just like myself. the same subspecies that designed Lara Croft's enormous, gravity defying breasts. i think it's safe to say the designs come from an ideal rather than any fact or reality. it's all part of the allusary universe of 'what we'd rather be'. still, i think the first developer to create a game that actually shows us in a true light within the set situation will be making a giant step forward for us game geeks. that and i won't feel so weak and fat. it's all about me after all. captain insecurity out.

quote for the day:
"Nothing exists until or unless it is observed. An artist is making something exist by observing it. And his hope for other people is that they will also make it exist by observing it. I call it "creative observation." Creative viewing."
- William S. Burroughs (1914 - 1997)

the bali nine

"terrorists are holding a 747 full of lawyers captive. They are threatening to release one lawyer a day until their demands are met".

well the bali nine are having their day in court. didn't take that long really. i just heard one of their lawyers on the radio talk about 'finding the truth' in court. yeah, the truth can get confused as you unstrap bags of heroin from nine people. the death penalty is harsh but it 'aint like it's a surprise to anyone for that area. it's a shame for any family to go through but if all the media attention to exactly the same place in the world and it's drug policies from the corby trial weren't enough of a warning then bad luck. cleaning the shallow end of the gene-pool can get ugly from time to time.

the strange thing is that the australian federal government were the ones onto the plan 3 months prior. they tracked the group and then sold them down the river to the bali police, who we all know kill drug traffickers. i thought they may have done so to get some bargaining power for corby but she's still there. at least she's alive. why didn't they just nab them at sydney airport and chuck them in jail? nope, the australian federal police made sure the nine would be caught in bali and in doing so signed a death warrent for them. these are fairly obvious facts yet the australian government are now allegedly saying that they won't help the bali government anymore (with evidence. what more evidence could they give 'em?!?) unless the death penalty is taken off the table. it's just bullshit lip-service to the general australian public mules who can't think past yesterday's news bites to make the government look like it's doing something for it's own citizens. fucking us in the arse while reading us a bedtime story. nice.

funnily enough the timeline of the nine landing in bali through to getting nabbed was pretty thorough. thorough except for two slightly confused periods. only small events. the actual purchase of the suitcase of heroin and then the swap of the suitcase (apparently the original product just wasn't up to scratch) for another suitcase (that means there would have been two suitcases of heroin at one stage). just tiny events really. kinda reading between the giant lines it could be said that someone got paid the right amount of 'look-the-other-way-you-soul-for-sale-biatch' money. for all the bali government's hard-lined rhetoric towards drug trafficking it's obviously as corrupt a system as anywhere else. the stupid front-line troops get killed for trafficking and the actual dealers and 'mr/mrs bigs' of the area get away no probs.

quote for the day:
"The supreme irony of life is that hardly anyone gets out of it alive."
- Robert A. Heinlein (1907 - 1988)