Anticipation
Six days. Six days of anticipation -- at once both exhilarating and filled with anxious energy -- waiting, waiting for my MacBook to arrive.
Ordered on July 21st; it finally arrived on Friday, at work, wrapped in it's shiny box.
This thing is simple as to use; within 15 minutes of opening it up, and turning it on, I already had it syncing with my cell phone, pulling over all my contacts and appointments in my calendar. Also, everything is about as slick as possible, characterised especially by the way the Mac smoothly slides away the desktop to bring Front Row in whenever you click the 'menu' button on the remote.
Within about a half hour of having it, I had run out of things to tinker with; with damn near everything already configured to my liking, I was bored*. The solution? Start creating. While pulling my photos off of my phone, I found a rather nice one looking out across Sydney Harbour at the bridge. Still wanting for something to keep me occupied, I then began a rather lame essay in Pages about the history of Sydney's "Coathanger", with the centrepiece being my lovely photo. This essay shall never see the light of day, thank God (for you, trust me).
All in all, incredibly happy with my purchase, even if I have some debt to repay now.
* At this point, I still had no Internet, owing both to the rather dubious proposition of hooking it up to work's wired network; and that all the wireless points nearby were locked (oh, and of course, the minor fact that I had work to do).
Nothing like shooting yourself in the foot to prove a point
Old news maybe, but it's an interesting video.
Suicide sparks stabilisation debate
A young Sydney man was found dead overnight in what appears to be an Australian first; an environmentally motivated suicide.
Alex Greenwood, 23, a self-proclaimed 'hippy' and neo-Malthusian was found dead late last night at his home in Campbelltown.
"He was very passionate; willing to go that extra mile for causes that he believed in" says Amanda Hurst, his girlfriend of three years. "While I'll miss him terribly, I understand. I'll keep on fighting for you, Alex."
Excerpts from his suicide note, released today by his family read "I simply can't take the shame of my carbon footprints [sic]. I am only 23 years old, and yet by my estimate, I have already produced 2.8 tonnes of CO2 [...] What better way to reduce my carbon impact than to not exist?"
Neo-Malthusian theory, a rather extremist evolution of Thomas Malthus' Principle of Population, blames over-population for a number of humankind's problems. Proponents of population stabilisation claim that population growth is the source of many ills, ranging from poverty and famine, to terrorism, and even global warming.
Population Action Australia (PAA) is one such organisation lobbying for population stabilisation laws in Australia. "I feel for his family," says John Ashton, spokesperson and co-founder of PAA. "it is never nice to lose someone you love, but Alex believed strongly in our cause. We admire his restraint and devotion."
"We all know that global warming is the biggest threat facing Australians today, and that population growth is the leading cause. We believe that the best way to tackle this issue is to introduce legislation limiting the sizes of families, to achieve zero, or even a negative, population growth. Look at Russia for example, their population is in decline; yet the country has never been better!"
When pressed on the issue during question time in Parliament today, Mikhail Fosta, NSW State Treasurer and staunch denier of global warming said, "Everyone knows that global warming is just bullshit. I feel for this kid's family, I truly do, but I can't help thinking that maybe our state is better off without someone so damn gullible."
As for whether population control efforts should be considered, he continued, "Well, I don't really have an opinion on whether those laws should be instituted or not, but you can bet your ass I won't be opening the State coffers. Funding for enforcement will have to come from somewhere else."
Greenwood's body is due to be buried this Sunday, in line with his last request from his suicide note, "Don't cremate me, I've probably caused enough pollution already."