This topic suggestion, Find the nearest window…, is from The Daily Post as part of the Post-a-day writing challenge.
I must say, I probably have quite a boring window to be doing this from. My computer is in the spare room, which has a window that over looks our washing line, and beyond that is our neighbours house. However, there is something interesting about looking out this morning.
You see, today in Perth, it was very cold. Well, cold for Perth. We don’t get temperatures this cold very often, so we don’t know what to do when it gets this cold. The official minimum temperature was 1.4° Celcius. At Perth Airport, it got to 0.2° Celcius, and at Jandakot Airport (about a half hour south of Perth city) it was a freezing -0.4° Celcius. So when I look out my window, I see all the effects of a very cold morning on the grass. The dew on the grass makes it glisten and seem almost white. It is very clear, and seems like I could almost see for an eternity (if I didn’t have such a restricted view from my window.)
What can you see from your window? Do you have a better view than mine?
A government is responsible for infrastructure. Not only the building of new infrastructure, but the maintenance and regular upgrading of old infrastructure to suit the needs of the population. A national broadband network, such as the one the government is currently building, is essential to cater for the needs of the population now and into the future. A fiber network has already been proven to be significantly upgradeable with minimal change to the existing infrastructure once the fiber is in place. This is why if I was prime minister, I would continue this process.
Refugees
Refugees is a hot topic at the moment. It is one that requires clear thought, and compassion on both sides of the debate. Personally, I believe that off-shore detention centres are a violation of human rights, as we are detaining these people when they have not committed any breeches of the law.
However, I can also see the need for there to be some kind of fact checking process to ensure that those we let into society are indeed refugees. This process needs to be completed as quickly as possible.
If we are to detain asylum seekers, we need to have a deadline by which time a decision must be made. The main thing that has caused so much mental health issues within detained asylum seekers is often not the detention itself, but the uncertainty in how long they will be detained for a crime that doesn’t exist. We need to ensure that all claims are processed quickly – say, within six months – and if that is not possible, then we recruit more staff to ensure that it is possible.
Also, I would promote as Prime Minister a scheme where once an initial assessment is made, every asylum seeker is sent into community detention. Community detention is not only far better for the asylum seeker, as it also helps them settle into the community, but it is also far cheaper for the Australian government than off-shore detention.
Investing in renewable energy
Renewable energy sources such as wind, water, solar and others are not at the stage where they could replace coal completely. However, we would be foolish to assume that coal and gas will remain a viable source of power into the future. Eventually, we will mine all of the coal, oil and gas, and need to find another source.
It is therefore a smart idea to develop existing and potential renewable energy technologies to not only prolong the amount of time we have until coal runs out, but also to eventually replace coal when it does run out.
Is there a lot of work to do to get it to this stage? Absolutely. However it would be foolish not to act on this now.
So that’s three things I would focus on if I was Prime Minister. What would your three things be?
What’s worth waiting in a long line for? There are some things that are worth that wait.
When we were down in Margaret River, we decided to get to the Michael Bublé concert before the gates opened. A couple of hours early in fact. We sat down and read our magazines, and waited. It was certainly worth that wait. When gates eventually opened, we were inside within 5 minutes, and able to get a prime seating position to see one of the best concerts I’ve ever seen.
I must admit that I haven’t been much of a line waiter. But something that I do remember waiting in line for was Midnight Screenings of Lord of the Rings. Yes… I’m a geek, and Proud of it. And I’m certain that my wife will shake her head at me, but when The Hobbit gets released, I’ll probably line up for that as well.
What else is worth lining up for? What’s worth the wait? What have you lined up for?
I have had this website since 2006. I have posts on this website since 2007. That’s a fair time to be blogging. Now, admittedly, I haven’t been a regular poster. I have around 250 posts published (at the time this post was published), which is an average of under a post a week. So I’m not exactly a blogging professional, and I’m probably not the sort of guy you should be looking to advice. But you are, so I’ll tell you what I know. Continue reading “Keepin’ it fresh”→
This topic suggestion, What war is worth fighting?, is from The Daily Post as part of the Post-a-day writing challenge.
It may surprise you to know that I’m a bit of a pacifist. No-where near as strong a pacifist as my mum, but a pacifist none the less. I have participated in an Anti-war riot in Perth, against the War in Iraq, back in 2003. It seems so long ago now. I truly believe that there is no reason why we should be involved in any militaristic, war-like involvement in any country. I may be a bit idealistic in that belief, thinking that countries could truly benefit by exploring the issues through diplomacy.
However, there is one war worth fighting. A song that we sometimes sing in the salvos sums it up – I’ll stand for Christ
For we go not to fight ‘gainst the sinner, but sin,
the lost and the outcast to love;
And to offer the grace that transforms from within,
As we urge them His mercy to prove.
The war against sin, the war to save souls. As much as my mum hates the language (and I can understand this), it sums up so brilliantly the war that I believe is worth fighting.
Bit of a light-hearted post today. I enjoy reading web comics, and some are better than others. Some I can really enjoy and want to read every day, others I can come back to and just read whenever. Here are my five favourite web comics.
5. Max vs Max
Max vs Max was a great story line written by Wes Molebash. It started in November 2009 and ran until December 2010, and follows Max as he deals with life after a divorce. Great artwork, with a wonderful story, with a few spiritual issues thrown in as well. If you’ve got the time, it’s a great read.
This is an incredibly good comic, that I could very much read every day for the rest of my life. Although this is a bad comparison, it is similar to Friends – you’ve got a group of friends who all congregate around a coffee shop, and you get involved in various aspects of their lives. You get to know and love the characters, and can’t wait to see what happens next. The comic has been going since 2003, and they’re currently approaching their 2000th comic, so there’s plenty to read and catch up on. Do it. It’s worth it.
I have the proud honour of owning the first PC Weenies book in Australia. I bought it because I love this comic series. Krishna has created an awesome character in Bob, who’s a tech guy working at “the mysterious Footle, the world’s largest search engine” and is obsessed with gadgets. I love the way that he so often captures the “I can’t believe you just said that” moment. He’s just about to publish his second book, so start getting familiar with characters now, just in time to buy the book!
PvP focusses on the team at a gaming magazine, specifically Brent, the sunglasses wearing, Mac adoring graphic designer. Having been around since 1998, there’s plenty to read here. It’s a great comic, lots of fun to read, and always interesting. The story tends to run from strip to strip, so might be worth going back a few comics to get yourself acquainted.
XKCD would have to be my favourite webcomic. It’s very much geek humour, but there’s a lot there for everyone. The artwork isn’t “great” – it’s just stick figures – but that’s part of its appeal. The best part about XKCD is that the Tool-tip text is sometimes funnier than the comic itself. Make sure you read it – just hover your mouse over the comic.
One of the iconic landmarks of Albany - Dog Rock (Image via Wikipedia)
I was offered a job yesterday. It was, a couple of years ago, my dream job. It was teaching violin, 4 days a week, at schools in Albany. A couple of years ago – even possibly as late as last year – I might have jumped at the opportunity. This time, however, I turned it down.
Why? Well, I’m heading to college (hopefully – should find out on Wednesday) next year, and if we’re accepted to that, then I’m moving house. Working 4 days a week in Albany (which for those playing overseas is about a 4.5 hour drive, or around $200 each way for flights) would put a serious strain on my relationship with my wife, especially in the lead up to college, where we would be thrown into a boiler room of pressure, living in the college, studying every day with everyone else around us.
So I turned the job down. I know it’s the right thing to do, but it’s also incredibly hard for me to pass something up that I had wanted for so long. A full-time teaching job – doing for a living what I was trained to do, instead of my current situation – working three hours on a Friday morning teaching, and doing non-musical work the rest of the week. But it’s ok, as I know that God has called me to ministry in the Salvation Army, and in a couple of years, I will not only be doing what I was trained to do, but also what I was called to do.
I think that makes it all better.
Have you ever had to give something up that you really wanted, because the situation wasn’t quite right?
I though that with the new layout, new posting regime and such, I would post a bit about how I plan to use my blog over the next six months – and possibly into the future.
Essentially, there will be three types of posts: daily posts, feature posts, and other.
Daily Posts
The post a day 2011 challenge promotes writing on your blog every day. As help, they provide daily prompts. Often, they are very simple questions, and wide-ranging so unlikely to fit to any blogs particular niche. But they often make you think about questions you may not have thought about before, and can sometimes provoke debate on some issues, so I shall endeavour to post one of these daily.
Feature posts
As this theme has the capability for feature posts, I plan to utilise these to their fullest. I don’t want a blog that is only posts about me, so these feature posts will be a bit longer, and look at particular issues in more depth. I might look at things to do with social networking, websites, or post some religious thoughts. Either way, I look forward to shaping.g these posts out over the course of a week, as opposed to the churn them out daily posts.
Other posts
This theme also makes use of other post types – aside, links, quotes, photos – so I’m going to try post some of these as well – bible passages I like, quotes from books or blogs, photos that I might take, and more.
So I hope I don’t annoy you with extra content, but I hope that it will provide a few gems for you.
I’m compiling a list of Churches that are using twitter. Eventually, I shall do a feature post that looks at how the Churches are using (or not using) twitter effectively. In the mean time, if I’ve missed any Churches that you think should be on the list, please let me know.
Ben Clapton 