For those of you genuinely interested in Centrelink corruption, this and how billions of dollars are being wasted by bungled and intentional bureaucratic/government wastage, there's a book you may be lucky enough to get your hands on, it's called "One Man Banned" the best of Peter Sawyer, whistle blower  edited by Brian Wilshire.

It delves into the persecution of one public servant who dared to tell the truth, this and how he was screwed over by both sides of our government, our media, CIA, ASIO, and how our government at the time changed an Act to have him charged with "making a false and misleading statement with the intent of making a false and misleading statement" with the cooperation of the opposition, only to have reversed the act after his charges were dropped, under the 'forced' condition he pleaded guilty to the charge. He had been working with our federal police, told by our government he would be rewarded generously(career wise) for assisting them with a parliamentary and federal enquiry and "White Paper" of which was later disposed of.
It also talks about how on September 25th, 1991, Governor General, Bill Hayden, using the excuse of the external affairs powers, gave Royal Assent to the International Government on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), and how this is effectively Australia's new Bill Of Rights. It became operative on Christmas day, 1991.

* The right to private property ..GONE
*The right to freedom of assembly...GONE
*The right to freedom of speech..GONE
*Freedom from unwarranted search...GONE
*The right to trial by jury....GONE
*Freedom from unjust imprisonment...GONE



.... refer to chapter 1: The Freedom Fighter.
_______________________________________________

When injustice becomes law,
resistance becomes a duty!

Anon.

From a mural in Garema Place Canberra.

I am currently reading "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson. Some chapters are a bit hard going, but I am finding Bryson's humour and the stories of our world, its place in the universe, its science, scientists and history quite fascinating. Can recommend it.

Love a good book. Great to take your mind off everyday worries!

I'm not reading this at the moment, though have it on order.

http://www.quadrant.org.au/magazine/issue/2010/9/australian-freedom-haters

Looks like an interesting read.

It's not normally my genre, and at first glance it sounds a bit out-there, however....

I'm reading
Gum by Ashley Hay: History of Eucalypts and their existence today.

Helliconia Trilogy by Brian Aldiss (Re-read) - just need to clarify a few things that he came up with. Very imaginative.

For the Term of His Natural Life by Marcus Clarke - more Historical reference than for idle read.

Weekend Farming by Robyn Hogan - a bit of education and hopefully a bit of farming activity.

Survive the Savage Sea by Dougal Robertson - regarding real life 'lost at sea' drama for a family after their yacht sinks.

Someone Else's Daughter by Julia Sheppard - curiousity as I lived with someone who belted those animals the night before they got stuck into her. He regrets not 'finishing them off'.

Land Use and Water Resources by H.C.Pereira - resource and education.

Tolkien: Illustrated Encyclopedia - always enjoyable from someone who did know all about reading, writing, knowledge and imagination.

...I tend to read many books at the same time. A different book in a different place. Though I can pump through a book in one go.

>>>I find listening to ambient music is great for reading books.

I have already read this book, but have any of you guys read...

http://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/76xmn2ry9780252027062.html

Not a bad read.



From Yahweh to Yahoo!

The Religious Roots of the Secular Press
Author: Doug Underwood

The BIG question is to all you Book Lovers.

With E-Book Sales outstripping conventional Book (paper) Sales
are you guys/gals gonna change your ways and 'convert',
like from Record to Disc to Ipod and VHS to DVD, etc ???

It_is_the_Darkness wrote on Oct 26^th, 2010 at 9:58am:


No I don't think I will Jasign.....

It's kind of hard to read an E-Book while lying in bed, or sitting in a recliner in the loungeroom....or lying in a hammock in the backyard....

Besides, I like to be able to 'hold' the item......and see it on the book shelf..

darkhall67 wrote on Oct 26^th, 2010 at 10:15am:


Looks interesting Darkhall.

mellie wrote on Oct 26^th, 2010 at 1:07pm:


Wow! I just read one book at a time. I need to devote myself to the experience which you cannot do if you have more than one book on the go.

I'm currently finishing off Arrowsmith by Sinclair Lewis. Excellent book. No wonder it won the Pulitzer Prize. My next read will be Nocturnes by Kazuo Ishiguro.

Quote:


Why use a laptop when there are excellent e-readers available such as The Kindle. No glare you see. Reads just like a book. The only problem with all this is that not all books, particularly literary books are available for e-readers. So, whilst I look forward to buying a Kindle, I shall wait until there are more quality books available.

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From a writers/ authors point of view, I think we need to embrace the decision of our publisher who will decide if the latest offering is to go to print, e-published or both. Of course, if you do not want the copyright limitations entailed in publishing houses, you could always publish yourself via itunes etc... 

What do you write Mellie?

It_is_the_Darkness wrote on Oct 26^th, 2010 at 8:23pm:


A lot of Australian Writers need to come to terms with the fact that there writing is not that good in comparison to others in their genre and that this is why they do not get quality publishers. It's a highly competitive market out there, with a glut of mediocre writers seeking to become authors.

Selling out... which I assume means turning to formulaic pulp fiction for the masses, is often the only way for ordinary writers to go. 

Sounds all good Mellie,

I'm a bit more like that myself (maybe we are related ), though I've never gone into the recent popularity of Dan Brown and Co, as I worked 'that stuff' and 'everything else' out years ago ...thanks mostly to Joseph Campbell and Co.
<in the end, its all quite silly really>

I'm almost about to start pouring out my own writing, just a bit more reading (research) and Foruming to get in the moooooooooooood, and then then I'm underway.
But.
I still wonder if 'Writing alone' is the way to go, considering the World's best Innovation Company (IDEO) state in their book that "nothing is really achieved by a solitary person". So I wonder if I should somehow become part of a Writing Pond (Literary version of a Music Band) with 3-5 other people ...for both Fun, Arguements, Motivation, Support and everything else that such can offer. There are books that have been written in this way, although they come under one person's name mostly (Like Einstein, Edison, etc ) - though I'm sure a Writing Pond can come up with a 'shared' group name to go with.
Look at the Book Show on ABC, it has Andrew Dentons partner (? Byrne) and 4 other guests to get things interesting.
If I was to write alone, it would be for me alone and something 'I' would find great. But it won't sell, etc ...but I think with others it would come through the KISS philosophy well and SELL, SELL, SELL !!!

Anyway, anyone wishing to join a Writing Pond and bring their unique individual quality and effort into the creation of a Book (which is harder to succeed these days more so) towards an eventual 'marketable' endeavour with other people who have something 'different' to offer.
Let me know

And re- Dan Brown, ....  I'm not into it's fictional qualities,(grail etc)  It's just I have a profound interest in cyphers, cryptics and symbology, and have so well before Dan Brown made his mark.

...Before I had even heard of Dan Brown.

My love affair with cryptics started when I was a child, I would write secret cyphers for my friends and pass notes to peers in class.

I think most kids do/did... it's just I never grew out of it....

I love codes.

It_is_the_Darkness wrote on Oct 29^th, 2010 at 9:00am:


I may have confused you with another who posted here a few months back, when they jokingly said they thought they may have been actually related to me...as I posted my surname.  I think they were just mucking about though lol...puling my leg, ...and yes, right you are, I think I would have loved doing a sign-craft course....and whilst I don't delve much into the superstitious/para-normal side of symbolism, I do have an affinity with ancient symbolism and cryptics, cyphers, codes, and how they relate to modern times.

Take the Zodiac Killer for example, I think i know who he was, but I suspect there are thousand's who think they have cracked his final code, (the one which reveals his identity) ..which authorities argue has never been solved.

Edgar Allen Poe and Shakespeare, Da Vinci, Carl Lewis, were all code enthusiasts.

I know about the 'spook' factor, with respects to how some things are just too uncanny, though to keep it in perspective, it helps to understand that many of these secular-related  incidents, (ie 9/11) align with ancient astronomy, specific dates and ancient code/symbolism, we all share, there's one parallel for starters, (we humans are a symbolic creature)...so it's only natural that sometimes certain code will align, as though they were planets, this and  begin falling into place...in almost a 'spooky' manner.

Don't think too much on it, or else it will do your head in, I just appreciate it for what it is, I get bored with cracking cryptic crosswords, (which I mostly use for boosting my vocabulary)...so decided to move onto cracking an alternative.



One thing about symbolism.  ...no matter what part of the world you come from, race, faith etc, your history will be steeped in symbolism, as though it were a universal code, right of civilised passage in it's own right.

See, not so long ago, the alphabet itself was deemed evil, (our alphabet is merely symbols) ... so people used code, within art to communicate with one another....(under the noses of authority).

...   In fact, the technique for making paper was first delivered to the lay in images, symbolism...due to a majority of society being illiterate.

It's the historical/evolutionary aspect of it I find fascinating.... the fundamentals of how we as human beings began communicating with one another via means other than clubbing one another to death with sticks.

When we began to abstract reason...refer to higher -order thought process.

.... The human brain is a lovely, marvellous thing, is a codex in it's own right...one which has barely been tapped.

I'll pop back in later, have some things to.

I enjoyed our chat,

Cheers.

mellie wrote on Oct 29^th, 2010 at 8:01am:


I guess, if I add in all my reading, I do the same. I may be reading Arrowsmith the novel, but I also read quadrant, policy etc...

Quote:


OK... that's the kind of reading I do when researching... but at the same time, I tend to stop all casual reading and become very directed towards that research. In such cases I can be pouring over many source materials, at the same time in order to build up the picture I am wanting to present.

Quote:


It's wise to be shy. Tell me, what do you find the hardest part of the writing process? For me, it is the first draft. I also stop all reading when I am drafting... I stop everything actually and become a hermit dedicated to my mind for how ever long it takes to get that draft out. I find it difficult, because that is where you must join the research with the outline into a cogent stream of thought.

I will just add, I'm currently in the thick of my course, (lots of assessments,exam's, pracs) so, my 'creative' writing has been placed on the back-burner for a while, is a work-in-progress, hence I haven't been posting here much lately.

And as we all know, anything worth reading/writing, (novel wise) isn't written overnight, particularly the first book of an intended series.

JK Rowling took over 10 years to write her first Harry Potter novel...then once the characters/dialogue had been mapped in the first book, it's just a matter of giving them new scripts and adding new characters, dialogues, themes to subsequent books.

I think everyone has difficulty grinding out that first manuscript, because the pressures on to make it stand-out. It has to, it's a very competitive industry, (particularly for Australian authors who need to work twice as hard to stand-out, many publishes wont even pick up a manuscript if your post/zip code has less than 5 digits) and the world doesn't want just another author in a sea of b-rate other wanna-be authors, they want JK Rowlings, Dan Browns, John  J R R Tolkiens...and established writers sequels because they sell themselves.


Some people are pressure cookers, write some of their best work under pressure, when faced with a deadline, (when I write articles, and essays, yes, this applies to me), though for novels, I think you really need to take your time, at least with the first, if you plan to write a series anyway.

Near enough isn't good enough, the first needs to hit the spot.


There are no prizes for second best.

I decided to illustrate in photo. Here are all the books I have read in the past year and a half.

It_is_the_Darkness wrote on Nov 9^th, 2010 at 12:06am:


I don't know what you're trying to say.

Quote:


I am assuming that you are too over-qualified for this world. My only explanation for it is that you are a superintelligence so vast and powerful that everything you write can only possibly make sense to yourself because everybody else who reads your posts operates on a cognitive plane scales of magnitude below your own.

Quote:


What am I afraid of?

Quote:


I have a closet. It has some shoes, clothes and some cd-roms in it.

Yes, it's extremely good. It has some amazing statistics and facts and figures such as comparing civilizations in their most bellicose periods with tribal cultures (the tribal cultures usually outdo the most violent civilizations in terms of proportion of population killed during war, etc.) It also details the gruesome things in pretty lurid detail that primitive people used to do to each other.

I don't think you understand biology very well.