Hunters & Collectors
Hunters & Collectors were an Australian rock music band formed in Melbourne in 1981, fronted by singer-songwriter and guitarist Mark Seymour, they developed a blend of pub rock and art-funk. Other mainstays were John Archer on bass guitar, Doug Falconer on drums and percussion, Jack Howard on trumpet and keyboards, Jeremy Smith on French horn, guitars and keyboards, and Michael Waters on trombone and keyboards. Also acknowledged as a mainstay member was engineer and art designer Robert Miles. Joining in 1988, Barry Palmer, on lead guitar, remained until they disbanded in 1998. Their hit singles were “Throw Your Arms Around Me”, “Talking to a Stranger”, “Imaginary Girl”, “Holy Grail”, “True Tears of Joy” and “Say Goodbye”, and they became one of the best live acts in Australia.
– wikipedia

Time for some music …

Hunters & Collectors – Do You See What I See (1988)

Hunters & Collectors – When The River Runs Dry (1989)

Throw your arms around me – Hunters & Collectors

Festivus (Dec-23rd)
Festivus is a secular holiday celebrated on December 23rd. It was created by writer Dan O’Keefe and introduced into popular culture by his son Daniel, a screenwriter for the TV show Seinfeld as part of a comical storyline on the show. The holiday’s celebration, as shown on Seinfeld, includes an aluminum “Festivus pole”, practices such as the “Airing of Grievances” and the “Feats of Strength”, and the labeling of easily explainable events as “Festivus miracles”.
Celebrants of the holiday sometimes refer to it as “Festivus for the rest of us”, a saying taken from the O’Keefe family traditions and popularized in the Seinfeld episode to describe Festivus as “another way” to celebrate the season without participating in its pressures and commercialism.
– wikipedia

Tweet from Telstra?
Telstra users can now Tweet to 0198089488 after setting up their device through Twitter’s mobile devices page

#100dates
Sarah Stokely’s (@Stokely) 100 dates write up in the Age this weekend;
Whispering tweet nothings on 100 first dates (2009-Dec-20) [The Age]

The Guild uploaded 7 new videos for the holiday season

fire danger day 504s

Firefox v.3.5.6 was released December 15th, 2009 fixing several security and stability issues

Fixed in Firefox 3.5.6 [3]
MFSA 2009-71 GeckoActiveXObject exception messages can be used to enumerate installed COM objects
MFSA 2009-70 Privilege escalation via chrome window.opener
MFSA 2009-69 Location bar spoofing vulnerabilities
MFSA 2009-68 NTLM reflection vulnerability
MFSA 2009-67 Integer overflow, crash in libtheora video library
MFSA 2009-66 Memory safety fixes in liboggplay media library
MFSA 2009-65 Crashes with evidence of memory corruption (rv:1.9.1.6/ 1.9.0.16)

Vulnerability ratings: 3 Critical, 1 High, 2 moderate, 1 Low
Affects: Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X
Evaluation: Update now

CRP09-76

Hi,

Did you know the Government is proposing an internet censorship scheme that goes further than any other democracy in the world?

I’ve just signed a petition to prevent the scheme that will make the internet up to 87% slower, more expensive, accidentally block up to one in 12 legitimate sites, will miss the vast majority of inappropriate content and is very easily sidestepped. The government of the day may add any ‘unwanted’ site to a secret blacklist under the scheme.

Our Government should be doing all in its power to take Australia into the 21st century economy, and to protect our children. This proposed internet censorship does neither. Can you join me and take action on the net today to save the net?

http://www.getup.org.au/campaign/SaveTheNet/442

Thanks!

Boom Crash Opera
Boom Crash Opera are a pop-rock band formed in Melbourne, Australia in 1985. Initially based around the songwriting partnership of Richard Pleasance (guitar/bass/vocals 1985 – 1992) and Peter Farnan (guitar/bass/keys/vocals) Boom Crash Opera also includes Dale Ryder (lead vocals), Peter ‘Maz’ Maslen (drums/vocals), Greg O’Connor (keyboards/guitar) and Ian Tilley (bass/vocals 1992 – present).
They released seven albums and an EP in the thirteen years of their recording career, and continue to play occasional shows.
- wikipedia.org

A very under rated act from the late 80’s. These guys played at the “A Day Of Healing” benefit concert (Sunday 5 April 2009) in Alistair Knox Park, Eltham and they’ve still got it!

Time for some music …

Boom Crash Opera – Onion Skin (1989)

Boom Crash Opera – Great Wall (1989)


Boom Crash Opera – Dancing in the Storm (1989)

I Gotta Feelin’ – Black Eyed Peas (Opera’s Season Kickoff Party in Chicago)
I was only just told about this one, just like a giant flash mob – only crunchy

Gothic Charm School
via Girl-Genius [FB] I absolutely love Gothic Charm School! The advice, while directed to the Goth subculture, actually covers a lot of the issues that plague anybody wearing “funny clothes” outside of their chosen fandom. And it’s always a fun read. The book is great! – http://gothic-charm-school.com/

An R18+ Classification for Computer Games
The Federal Government wants to hear from the public on whether an R18+ classification for video games is needed; An R18+ Classification for Computer Games – Public Consultation

Due to the cooperative nature of the Scheme, any major changes to classification policy, such as the introduction of an R 18+ classification for computer games, must be unanimously agreed by Commonwealth, State and Territory Censorship Ministers.
– http://www.ag.gov.au/gamesclassification

Discussion Paper SHOULD THE AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL CLASSIFICATION SCHEME INCLUDE AN R18+ CLASSIFICATION CATEGORY FOR COMPUTER GAMES? [PDF]

Introduction
In Australia, the availability of films, computer games and some publications is regulated by the National Classification Scheme (NCS). The NCS is a cooperative arrangement between the Commonwealth, States and Territories.
The existence of the NCS allows Australian consumers to make informed decisions. For example, when a person visits a store to purchase or rent a DVD, they are guided by the classification or ‘rating’ of the product. The rating lets the person make a decision on the suitability of that product for themselves or other viewers in their household.
The Australian Government has produced this discussion paper to ask people in the broader community whether the categories of the NCS should apply to computer games in the same manner as it does for films. Although the NCS allows for the sale of R18+ DVDs, it does not allow the sale of R18+ computer games anywhere in Australia.
Some people think that preventing the sale of R18+ computer games is a good policy because it prevents the lawful sale of what they consider to be offensive material. Others say it prevents adults enjoying the ability to purchase games that are available in other markets overseas.
This is your opportunity to tell the Australian and the State and Territory Governments your views before they consider whether the current situation should be changed.

Proving yet again that our Australian Politicians are daft when it comes to technology

I think the articles should more correctly state ‘a small number of zealous Attorney-Generals are interfering with a rational classifications system that is used successfully in the rest of the developed world’.

A survey of 1614 Australian adults commissioned by the IGEA found 91 per cent were in favour of an R18+ rating.
“The debate keeps raging around children but we need to look at this debate also in terms of adults being able to access content that’s age-appropriate for them,” Curry said in a phone interview.
“The majority of politicians, particularly of Atkinson’s age, are just disconnected from this form of media. [4]