ACTA

You might not have heard of ACTA. You’ve probably heard of SOPA though – you know those bills that threatened our freedom, but that we all managed to get overthrown before they could be passed?

ACTA’s a bit different. By which I mean, it’s already been passed in the US, Australia, Canada, Japan, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore and South Korea.

ACTA’s more restrictive, less transparent and more global. Essentially, it’s SOPA to the power of 10. Welcome to our Orwellian Future.

You can read all about it here:

• Forbes
• BBC News
• Stop ACTA
• GeekoSystem

Or the full text here:

• Full text

And help stop it here:

• Avaaz
• Access
• Stop ACTA

Sherlock

Sherlock (the BBC miniseries) and Sherlock Holmes (the Guy Ritchie film) have been on my mind a lot of late (as my tumblr and anyone who knows me will testify to).

I could talk about either of them for forever, but rather than post separately reviewing them, I thought I’d talk more about how wonderful it is that the text is rich and versatile enough to support multiple interpretations running at the same time.

Having not read the canon (I know, I know! It’s on my list) I can’t talk extensively about the integrity of these depictions to the original text (my only opinions are reflections of other people’s).

Hospital Emergency Rooms

On the 27th of December I spent 4 hours sitting in a hospital waiting room. Why? Because I’d hit my toenail on a door and it had completely split apart from the nailbed. Fun times aside, there was absolutely no need for me to spend longer than 2 minutes there. All that happened, after 4 hours, was that the Doctor poorly bandaged my foot and sent me home.

So why the wait?

Post Offices Need Vending Machines

Post Offices Need Vending Machines. Either that or self-serve checkouts.

This seems like a simple concept to me; drinks, chocolate bars, heck even pregnancy tests in Switzerland deserve Vending Machines, so why not stamps or envelopes? Why should we have to queue for half an hour to buy a stamp, just because the person in front of us didn’t fill out the form correctly or can’t locate their package?

Vending Machines allow self-service, which is usually a faster, more efficient option, as well as providing an alternative to the lines, an out-of-hours option and an easy way to supply the most-demanded materials without providing a full Post Office.

It frees up staff to deal with more complicated issues, but also allows the option of talking to someone over the counter if that’s more comfortable for you.

Sure, this is a first world problem, but that doesn’t make it any less valid; simple problem with a simple solution which just hasn’t been implemented yet. It works in train stations and supermarkets, it should work for Australia Post.

Occupy Melbourne (Part 5)

Today being our last day we should, in theory, have tried to cram as much into it as possible.

Instead we went for a leisurely tram ride up to the Carlton Gardens and took photos of some water fountains before heading into see the Boy King himself.

Tutankhamun was a masterfully laid out exhibition, with 10 small connected galleries leading to a constant flow of people and preventing milling about. The fact sheets were bite-sized, and the articles interesting. The jewellery at the end was a tad pricey though ($10,000 sound good to you?)

Hosier Lane was our next stop, using the last of the camera’s battery on the graffiti-covered walls. From colourful patterns to left-wing questions, not a speck was left blank.

Lunch consisted of sitting in Batman Park eating fries and glorious cupcakes (which unfortunately did not survive the airport’s security checking – apparently horizontal and vertical mean the same thing to attendants these days) in Red Velvet, Carrot Cake, Peppermint Cream, Molten Chocolate, Rocky Road and Peanut Butter Smash flavours.

And then our final stop; Southern Cross Station for a Skybus back to the airport, and then check-in followed by home. Home which happened to be 37 degrees and and me asking when I could go back.