I am just about to become the coolest loser on the block.

Start crying now. I will soon (2-3 days) be the proud owner of the coolest audio system in the known universe.

For those too lazy to click the link and read/watch that marketing crap, imagine you are walking around the house with a device that appears quite similar to a regular colour iPod, just slightly larger and with a few more buttons than you might be used to (aswell as being waterproof and both motion and light sensitive). With it, you can start music playing in the family room, or the study, or the TV room, or your bedroom, or the garden, or ALL OF THEM – all wirelessly, all seamlessly, all perfectly.

THAT’S what Sonos is all about. Pretty cool eh? Now go click that link, bitch!

Pete

Daylight savings is one of those funny things that can be so incredibly awesome, yet soul destroyingly bad at the same time. While it signals the end of winter and the approaching hot weather (how about 30°C for Cup day eh?), it meant that when I went to bed at 2 this morning to get up at 10, I didn’t get the mathematically sound 8 hours of sleep, but a rather unsatisfactory 7.

I suppose that’s the price of summer – an hour’s less sleep once a year. That said, I suppose it’s more of a deposit for summer, considering it’s given back in March, when the clocks go back again.

Anyway enough mindless pondering for one day, back to chem.

Pete

I know this sentiment is shared by millions, if not billions of people around the globe, but I don’t understand the government sometimes.

Van Tuong Nguyen, a 25 year-old Melbournian, has been given the death sentence this month in a Singaporean court and is due to hang within weeks, after he was caught with 396 grams of heroin strapped to his body and in his hand luggage at Changi airport in 2002. Just on a side note, has anyone else noticed that Australians are beginning to attract a bit of a label as drug mules recently? Corby, the Bali 9, and Michelle Leslie in the last year, as well as this bloke and a dozen or so other Australians in various other locations around the world on drug charges…. hmm

Anyway, Nguyen will become the first Australian in 13 years to be put to death as a result of wrongdoing in another country. The public outcry about the evils of capital punishment is understandably widespread and easy to find – just type his name into google – but is this the voice of the same public that was supporting the death penalty only two short years ago, at the trial of the Bali bombers?

Australia ridded itself of capital punishment between 1955 and 1984, with the last execution taking place in Melbourne in 1967. However, the topic has been widely dissected by the media and public opinion for a few years now, as terrorism and the war on drugs has hit home in a big way. This is where my concern arises. The general feeling in 2003, when Amrozi and his co-accused were given the death sentence in Indonesia was that of relief, and that the Indonesian legal system had handed down a fitting punishment. So Australians, people who are fortunate enough to live with a legal system that banished capital punishment decades ago are quite happy to see human beings executed as a result of crimes committed overseas. Now though, with the shoe on the other foot, the public opinion is quite different, to the point that the Prime Minister, who 2 years ago followed public opinion and did not question the Indonesian authorities has rallied the big guns to appeal to Singapore this month. This is a quote from Neil Mitchell’s 3AW morning spot from the 8th of August, 2003:

MITCHELL:
Australia has been involved with Indonesia in helping in the investigation and the rest of it since this happened. Presumably because of that we do have the right to have an opinion and express a view on the death sentence.

PRIME MINISTER:
Yes. Yes we have a right, and I have chosen as the elected leader of this country to say that I will not be raising any objection to the normal processes of Indonesian law being carried forward. I mean it would be open to me, if I chose, to do otherwise, but I have thought about this.

MITCHELL:
So you think execution is appropriate?

PRIME MINISTER:
What I think is appropriate is that the law of Indonesia be applied.

When these comments are compared to his actions this last week, one would have to question whether Mr Howard, who I personally believe had been doing an admirable job for the last 9 years is suffering from hypocrisy – a common and highly contagious disease of the morals. The PM, along with the foreign affairs minister Alexander Downer, and the Attorney General Malcolm Fraser have all rallied the Singaporean Government for clemency in the hopes that Nguyen be spared from the gallows, however unlikely that is. Although I understand the political reasons behind these actions, I don’t agree with them. A precedent was set with the Bali case in 2003 (although I personally disagree with it), as well as to a lesser degree with the incarceration of Schapelle Corby this year where the Prime Minister held the view that the laws of another country must be respected and not questioned.

Hypocrisy, especially at this higher level, and even more so when human lives are at stake cannot be accepted. It is my view that however heinous the crime, death should never be an option. I only wish the rest of Australia felt that, unconditionally, regardless of how attractive or Australian the subject is.

Pete

I’m a little preoccupied this week, which explains why it took me until late this afternoon, as I was listening to Chris and Craig on Triple J to realise that the Apple iTunes music store went live today, with the price decided at $1.69 per track. If you are Australian (the rest of you mongrels will all have had the bloody thing for years) and have access to a credit card, sign up now. There’s already a very good selection of music which is constantly updated – even though Sony BMG, one of the biggest record companies in the country/world is not yet selling its music on iTunes. But you don’t need to spend a cent if you don’t want to, and if you register, you become eligible to download the ‘free download of the week’ which this week is ‘Shadowland’ by Youth Group, a homegrown indie group from Sydney.

Although it is a newsworthy launch (the international store has sold over 600,000,000 tracks in just over 2 years) I don’t particularly like the fact that with the arrival of iTunes, as well as the Bigpond and nineMSN music stores the consumer ends up with low quality (128 kbps) music that still costs what I consider far too much per track. CD’s have far, far better quality for only a fraction more money, which come on a tangible format and won’t be lost if your computer dies. Computer-based music has come a long way since the mp3 compression system was invented in 1991, but legal issues and quality concerns still mean that the format has a long way to go before the world embraces it as the primary source of music.

Pete

Yes folks it’s that time again – the semi-annual exam time! My (and the university’s) first exam is in approximately 10 hours and 5 minutes. That would be psychology, followed by stats on Wednesday, biology on Friday and chem next Thursday. A little too spaced out if you ask me, but better than two on a single day like last semester. Ugh.

Anyway expect to probably hear more from me as I procrastinate more and more during the next fortnight. Unless I decide to actually take this whole thing seriously, in which case expect to hardly hear from me at all. We’ll see which way it pans out.

Pete

Perhaps one aimed more towards male readers this week is Zipperfish’s ‘Boobs, Butt or Shoulder?’ – a quiz game that tests your knowledge of the female figure, as well as three other random questions. Actually, come to think of it, the girls will love this too. I got 19/20 (although one I got right that I shouldn’t have). Click just here to launch in a new window.

Pete

As readers of this blog are no doubt aware, I am not what you would call a particularly religious person. It aggravates me to no end when institutions flatly refuse to accept alternative explanations to this or that – such as the century old creationism debacle – and I take some joy when the Church (let’s face it, the western Christian Church is the main culprit) embarrasses itself.

So imagine my glee when I read this NewScientist article. Everybody knows that Antarctic penguins have to be pretty tough to survive the fairly poor conditions of the southern continent, and there is decent evidence to suggest penguins band together and rely on each other heavily to withstand these environmental stresses.

A new, French made, movie length documentary called ‘March of the Penguins‘ attempts to document (funny, that) the plight of some of these little buggers over the course of a year. Innocent little nature film, eh? Read this then:

Penguins are not people – Matt Walker

THIS is getting out of hand. Or should I say, out of a flipper-like wing? Penguins are being lifted off their little waddling feet and held aloft as shining examples of how people should lead a decent life.

Penguins may be models of upright social behaviour – in a biomechanical sense. But some members of the Christian right in the US are going much further. To them, penguins are not only upright but also the epitome of righteousness: loving, caring parents who form lifelong monogamous relationships. They see the bird’s arduous annual migration across the shifting ice floes of the Antarctic as an allegory for the Christian spiritual journey and suggest that the birds should be held up as role models for human behaviour.

These are misguided musings at best. At worst they are dangerously misleading, for there is more to penguin society than is obvious at first sight.

The latest wave of such anthropomorphic navel-gazing (an inappropriate metaphor perhaps, considering penguin anatomy) has been triggered by the movie March of the Penguins. This masterly natural-history documentary follows the lives and struggles of the emperor penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri). Soothingly narrated by actor Morgan Freeman, it has been a surprise box office success in the US, and may well become a Christmas hit in the UK.

It has struck a chord most spectacularly with evangelical Christians. Churches have block-booked cinemas for their members, and an organisation called the 153 House Churches Network, based in Sidney, Ohio, has set up a March of the Penguins Leadership Workshop, where viewers can discuss the impact the film has had on them. In its literature it says that they might find “many spiritual symbolisms relating to the Body of Christ, eldership/leadership, fatherhood and motherhood, and the Christian experience in general”. Many of those attending the workshops say they have been deeply affected. One of them writes on the organisation’s website (www.lionsofgod.com): “The penguins, even though they were faced with many obstacles, stuck together and – no matter what the obstacles were – didn’t let any outside forces [destroy their unity] or change the path they [were travelling]. [In the same way], the Christian family is supposed to help each other and stick by one another.”

Of course, believers are free to seek religious symbolism wherever they choose. But looking for it in a colony of penguins is just an invitation to be pecked at. Penguins, you see, are not quite the straight-living creatures you might suppose. For a start, a lot of penguins singularly fail to uphold traditional human family values. Around 15 per cent of adult emperors change partners every year. And some penguins engage in homosexual activities.

They are a testament to the diversity of behaviours found in animals. But you can see the perils of marking out animals, even penguins, as paragons of morally spotless conduct – and, even worse, of supposing that animal behaviours can somehow inform our own morality.

A good example of this is the media’s mild obsession over the past few years with two male chinstrap penguins (Pygoscelis antarctica) called Roy and Silo living in New York’s Central Park Zoo. Roy and Silo were a gay couple who successfully reared a chick from an egg donated by their keepers. To some, the birds were a great advert for gay marriage and parenting. To others, their behaviour was “unnatural”. Last week, it was reported that Silo had left Roy for a young female called Scrappy, leading to a round of self-congratulatory back-patting from anti-gay lobbyists and supporters of traditional family values.
“A lot of penguins singularly fail to uphold traditional human family values”

There’s a thing or two about penguins that it would be wise to bear in mind before embarking on moralising of this kind. For instance, while it is true that emperor penguins often adopt each other’s chicks, they do not always do so in a way the moralisers would approve of. One study found that 53 per cent of “adopted” chicks were in fact victims of kidnapping. And a study published this month in Animal Behaviour (vol 70, p 527) on the emperor’s close relative, the king penguin (Aptenodytes patagonicus), revealed that chicks in poor condition are routinely attacked by other birds and pushed to the periphery of the group, where they are exposed to hurricane-force winds and temperatures of -30 °C. Penguins are not models of tolerance either: rare albino penguins are often pecked at and ostracised by their peers. And female Adélie penguins (Pygoscelis adeliae) are known to prostitute themselves, exchanging sex for nest material (Animal Behaviour, vol 69, p 529).

All in all, adopting penguins as role models for human behaviour is a questionable practice to say the least. It highlights the broader point that justifying human actions with reference to animal behaviour – “it’s natural so it must be right” – is not only misguided, it is also illogical. Different animals have evolved different kinds of behaviours. Our own moral compass is a uniquely human construct. When it comes to finding reference points on that compass, only people will do.

So………. homosexuality, prostitution, kidnapping, spouse swapping and bullying those weaker than you is the ‘right’ way?

I’ve always held the believe that applying your own qualities or standards onto anyone or anything is a dangerous path to take. Just this weekend, my cat killed an adult blackbird, which had a dependant family that will almost certainly all die as a result. Although it’s a sad occurrence, and I would have preferred it not to have happened, how can I get upset at the cat? It’s in the cat’s nature to hunt, and to expect it not to would be unnatural and unfair. The blame for the killing should rest with me, the owner, if anyone.

Anyway, I digress. These particular individuals, after so publicly exclaiming the morality of the penguins must be a little embarrassed after discovering this ‘other’ side to penguin behaviour. We can only hope that the lesson will serve as a reminder for all that anthropomorphism is a dangerous act. We as human beings are a unique species, physically, emotionally and socially. Morality, as much as you can argue otherwise, falls under this third banner, and for this reason, we can only look to ourselves for role models.

Pete

The European Union commissioners have announced that agreement has been reached to adopt English as the preferred language for European communications, rather than German, which was the other possibility.

As part of the negotiations, Her Majesty’s Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a five-year phased plan for what will be known as EuroEnglish (Euro for short).

In the first year, ‘s’ will be used instead of the soft ‘c’. Sertainly, sivil servants will resieve this news with joy. Also, the hard ‘c’ will be replaced with ‘k.’ Not only will this klear up konfusion, but typewriters kan have one less letter.

There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year, when the troublesome ‘ph’ will be replaced by ‘f’. This will make words like ‘fotograf’ 20 per sent shorter.

In the third year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible. Governments will enkourage the removal of double letters, which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling. Also, al wil agre that the horible mes of silent ‘e’s in the languag is disgrasful, and they would go.

By the fourth year, peopl wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing ‘th’ by ‘z’ and ‘w’ by ‘v’. During ze fifz year, ze unesesary ‘o’ kan be dropd from vords kontaining ‘ou’, and similar changes vud of kors; be aplid to ozer kombinations of leters.

After zis fifz yer, ve vil hav a reli sensibl riten styl. Zer vil b no mor trubls or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi tu understand ech ozer.

Ze drem vil finali kum tru!

Pete

Apple just keep the suprises coming – just a month ago they released the replacement to the iPod mini, the nano, and yesterday Jobs’ crew announced the re-invention of their flagship device – the iPod proper. Now thinner, more action packed and with a much better battery than ever before, the bloody thing even plays movies now, and comes in black!

So, anyone care to send me $500 so i can go out and buy one of these babies? I’ll give you an old dinosaur iPod in exchange?

Oh, still waiting on the Australian iTunes store….. still…. waiting.

Pete

A couple of days ago at uni, Rosey invited me to a student production that one of her friends was starring in at the Australian Catholic University in Brunswick Street. I jumped on the opportunity without really thinking of the consequences, and so, last night wandered off into the city a little worried about what I could have gotten myself into. For some reason, I had pictured a dreary Shakespearean play performed under the watchful eye of the church, and probably devoid of any of the shenanigans Shakespeare somehow got away with writing 500 years ago.

Anyway, perhaps that is slight exaggeration, but suffice to say, I wasn’t expecting much, yet had my expectations completely blown away – something that unfortunately happens all too rarely with theatre. There was not a hint of religion to be seen or heard throughout, and there were constant mentions of homocide, suicide and rape – all the ingredients of good drama.

Joking aside, the student production was based around how we as people respond to, and live with fear. It was dark, quite thought provoking at times and at the end of the 90 minutes of short devised performances, I left having enjoyed myself, but scared shitless as well. It was quite an experience, and I can recommend it quite highly (not least becuase of the $8 admission price), as long as you can handle dark subject material and poor technical direction (most of the lighting was a collection of reading lamps!).

‘Five Rooms of Fear’ is playing at ACU Central Hall, corner Brunswick Street and Victoria Parade, Melbourne, 7:30pm nightly until Friday.

Pete