k i r s t y k i r s t y :: b l o g

“ice cream is gonna save the day
ice cream is gonna save the day, again

i don’t need a number
i just wanna dance with my shirt off”

It’s so nice to find my life motto in song *grins* [check it out]

If you’re looking to find a more obscure CD or just want to buy a CD online, use Missing Link. Not only will they order things in, they seem to make a real effort to find whatever it is you’re looking for.

Also, I like receiving a hand-written note with the first CD of the bundle I ordered explaining the situation with the others I’ve ordered. It said one of the CDs, when it was last seen in Missing Link, was in the “sale” bin, because “I guess sadly no one knew of its great value”. Hilarious. Just one of the reasons that computers should not replace people in customer service.

Another TV related topic: does any one else find dancing to the theme song of Boston Legal makes them feel sexy?

Bastard Boys: 4 hours of brilliant story-telling, about such an interesting tale. The acting and script were just right, very believable; the pace was fast.

An alleged conspiracy is always intriguing, this one more so because it was true, and also that because some of the people involved (say, Howard and his government) are still around and in power.

It’s about the waterfront dispute about 10 years ago. If you don’t know the story, or even if you do, I’d totally recommend watching the mini-series.
It’s coming out on DVD, I think we’ll probably buy it. You can watch the trailer here.

There’s been some criticism of the ABC funding such as show, with one Liberal senator stating, “smacks of another example of wasteful spending by the ABC, being used to drive an anti-government, pro-left agenda, conveniently timed to appear during an election year” [link].

I think this is a case where you should decide for yourself. However, I’ve always found it odd that the Liberal party is always accusing the ABC of bias against the government, while in many other countries they argue that TV stations controlled by the state merely pour out proganda for the government.

Anyways, no matter your political views, it’s a good story and it’s told well. I’m glad the ABC spent my tax dollars on it, there should be more shows like it!

(Also, for those that like to, it’s also a great show for “hey, isn’t that the guy from…”)

today i was given my first ever rose by a man. i don’t care that he was 60 and giving them out to mothers… he gave it to me because i’m beautful! :D

lol, after shunning tracksuit pants for 15 years I’ve decided that they’re actually pretty wonderful for exam studying. perhaps i don’t need to look hot when sitting by myself in my room at home :P

ok, another foray into Web 2.0: me on facebook. it’s like myspace but easier to find people, sign up if you feel like procrastinating :)

No, I’m not about to tell you all about my “itty bitty waist and round thing in your face”, (quite frankly i think you’ve all deal with that enough for this week :P).

Instead I will tell you a modern age horror story: I tried to open a file today with all my notes for the whole semester of work, and it was corrupted!!! Word did a better job at trying to restore it than it used to, but it was all crazy, looked like i’d been attacked by vicious “3″s everywhere, no formatting and lots of bits missing.

I had made a back-up a couple of days prior, BUUUUUUUT, that copy was also pooched. Or so I thought? I restarted the computer* – made a copy of the back-up copy, Word said there was an error but tried to open it anyway. IT WORKED! phew!

Now I was very lucky, as the previous backup was more than a month old. Kirsty, you may ask, you’re such a tech savvy girl (grins, you’re so nice to me), why would you not have automatic back-ups and the like? The answer is…. I dunno…. *shrugs sheepishly*

BUUUT, today I overheard a girl say that she’d set her automatic backup to copy her external hard drive to her internal one, which meant all her files were lost. That made me cringe.

This has been my community announcement. Remember what Joni Mitchell sang about data loss: “you don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone”

(After my intellectual posting of a few days ago, I thought I should move onto some less important ramble.)

* As a computer science geek, I say the golden rule of fixing PCs is turn it off and turn it on again. I don’t care that doing so SHOULDN’T fix the problem, it tends to. People believe that spray-tan makes them tanned even though no-one knows why it does, why can’t people just be happy with “the computer likes to have a rest for a few moments and then he’ll feel up to doing work again”?!

Again the Australian government has allowed one of its citizens be punished by the United States for a “crime” which did not occur in the US. As the article in The Age explains, Mr Griffiths was involved in copyright infringement:

“From his home base on the central coast of NSW, he served as the leader of a group named Drink Or Die, which “cracked” copy-protected software and media products and distributed them free of cost … Griffiths did not make money from his activities …”

Griffiths appealed the decision allowing for the extradition, but special leave to the High Court was refused. [For those so inclined, here's the Full Federal Court's decision]

“His fate lay in the hands of Senator Ellison, who had the power to refuse Griffiths’ extradition. But in December, Senator Ellison issued a warrant for extradition — a decision welcomed by the US Government. Griffiths’ extradition in February is believed to be the first out of Australia for a breach of intellectual property law.”

There are a few questions that must be asked:

1. Why should he be subject to US law and face trial there, when the Australia has its own copyright law? [Copyright Act 1968 in 2003] Surely Australian authorities could investigate and prosecute under Australian law. Why are we allowing the US step in and prosecute in their courts using their laws?
2. Why is he even facing criminal charges? The owners of the copyright could sue for their losses, is this not a more appropriate response to his action? I still believe that the general public does not view copyright infringement as being “criminal” in nature. As The Age points out:

“On top of a possible 10-year jail term, Griffiths could be fined $US500,000. (By way of comparison, the average sentence for rape in Victoria is six years and 10 months.”

As we’ve seen with David Hicks, it is only through public pressure that the Australian government reluctantly looks after the welfare of its citizens. Britain did not allow its citizens be held in Guantanamo Bay, and it seems that the US took note of this:

“Griffiths appears to have been singled out by US authorities. British-based members of Drink or Die were reportedly tried in Britain.”

So not only does Griffiths face jail, he faces it in the US, away from his family. So too would anyone who has made a pirated version of, say, Photoshop for their friend:

“Any Australian who has pirated software worth more than $US1000 could be subject to the same extradition process as Griffiths was.”

Scary.

[Note: all quotes above are from The Age article mentioned above]