July 31st 2009

Tyler Cassidy's Funeral

Is this the Tyler Cassidy legacy?
SCATHING criticism of Victoria Police’s weapons training could delay the planned issue of semi-automatic guns to every officer.

Office of Police Integrity [OPI] director Michael Strong accused the force of woefully neglecting training to stop officers relying too heavily on guns and other weapons.

Mr Strong said Victoria Police urgently needed to improve training to ensure it became a priority to try to resolve incidents without resorting to weapons.

WHAT THE OPI REPORT FOUND

THERE could be up to 70 per cent more incidents of police using force than the just below 5000 a year figure Victoria Police admits to.

IT is not possible to say how often police use force because the official recording system is antiquated and under-resourced.

TRAINING is geared to teach officers how to use weapons rather than teaching communication skills to reduce the use of force.

THERE has been no police training to handle people with mental disorders since 2006, despite this being a factor in 11 police shootings from 2005-08.

A RECENT review of shootings found officers had a communication style that tended to inflame situations rather than defuse them.

The West Australian Police Union has vehemently defended the use of stun guns after an Aboriginal man caught fire after being tasered in the state’s far east.

Police Internal Affairs is investigating a recent incident involving 36-year-old Ronald Mitchell in the Goldfields town of Warburton.

It is alleged Mr Mitchell was threatening officers with a container of fuel and a cigarette lighter when he was tasered.

Mr Mitchell burst into flames and suffered third degree burns to his face, arms and chest. He remains in a critical condition in Royal Perth Hospital’s burns unit.

Now that really is smart policing; tasering someone whilst they allegedly threaten you with highly flammable fluid….!!!

The question is, ‘will police in this country heed the warning signs or simply ignore them?’

We already know young offenders whether guilty or not are unable to get bail conditions and are locked away for 18 hours a day in detention centres. Poorly managed and sadly lacking staff.

Kids are trapped in a downward spiral with no hope of help. The result. A life of crime.

This is especially true in NSW where the state government can hardly afford to pay for its cafe latte’s in MacQuarie Street. Check out ‘kids doing time’ Are politicians more concerned with votes than rights?

The cretins at 2Day FM

How dumb are they?

A storm has erupted, and quite rightly so, at the idotic antics of an overweight, overpaid cretin and his dumb blonde sidekick [seen pictured]. After forcing a 14 yr old girl to take some stupid on air lie detector game; she revealed she had been raped two years earlier. Click here for audio.

Interviewing children and seeking a lie detector test to discover publicly whether or not they have experienced sex is in itself close to insanity on behalf of the perpetrators. How it got broadcast is beyond understanding.

A press release was issued recently to all media by 2DayFM’s General Manager stating that The Kyle and Jackie O Show is in recess. [Recess!!!! what the hell is that, some schoolground terminology!!!]

The press release reads as follows:

Kyle Sandilands’ management has advised Austereo that he is unable to perform his duties on-air at this time. Further, following a great deal of consideration and having consulted Jackie O and all stakeholders, Austereo has formed the view that it is in the interest of all parties, for the Kyle & Jackie O Show to go into recess until we have completed an across-the-networks review of the principles and protocols of our interaction with our audience.
Jenny Parkes
Austereo Sydney General Manager

This review commenced last Wednesday 29 July 2009.

Austereo will not make any further comment until the review is completed.

Well that says nothing really does it. This guy, Sandilands, is not very well liked in Australia and how he keeps his position as a shock jock is beyond me. As for the blonde sidekick, Jackie O [for oaf] at least sounded sympathetic to the girls revelation. The mother of the girl is equally stupid and pity the girl for having her as a mother. No doubt, as kids do, probably loves her mother. It might be doubtful though she will forgive her for such an ordeal.

Its not the first time this fool Sandilands has been scorned. Check out media watch for some truth on the cretin. At least TCN 9 has pissed him off from Idol….

Of course voting with your feet is the best way to treat 2Day FM, tune in to another dumb commercial station. Talk back radio is so yesterday, yet still continues its popularity amongst the plebs in our society. Laws [almost deceased] and Jones regularly entertain the rednecks and racists and openly incite reaction to their on air rants. Cmon ACMA [Australian Communication and Media Authority] sharpen your teeth, if you have any.

Both Qantas and Optus should consider spending their advertising dollar somewhere else.

Well not quite quantum but the tiny world that surrounds us is not always invisible to the naked eye. It just takes a little visual patience and more importantly, opening our eyes!

I did not take these images, although I do have some examples of macro shots in my portfolio. These shown here are much better than the ones I have attempted, no doubt this photographer had a better macro lens. The colours are vibrant and the story is with the viewer. I looked at some and saw the beauty of water portrayed as diamonds, glittering brightly in the early morning sun.

Often we see images of the bigger picture, you know, galaxies, nebula etc etc. But if we took time to look inward there are many amazing shots to have. These are but a few examples.

Have you ever tried macro photography? If not why not?  Have you ever considered getting in real close? Has it never occured to you to step in rather than step back? If you have not got in close next time you wander out and about with camera in hand take a few close ups. It matters little if you screw up, ’cause next time you will be smarter than the first time. There is a whole new world out there just waiting for your lens to point at it. Get out there and try.

I did not support Earth Day. I did not support turning out the lights. I have never believed all the hype surrounding the state of the planet according to liberal right wing scientists.In my view man made climate change is a myth. Carbon trading will just make the wealthy…wealthier, and your electricity more expensive. Al Gore is conning people.

This bloke, George Carlin, expressess the state of the planet so well, but beware, he is as bad a Billy Connely with expletives.

Mad Hatter Tea Party

This shot intrigues me. It was taken at an Easter mad hatters party and the image was manipulated in photoshop.

First it was desaturated after which the contrast was adjusted and border added. The original image is in colour and is a real nice shot of these two kids enjoying the party.

Kids usually have great complextions and you can get in real close without fear of all those skin nasties that sometimes occur when we grow up!

It was an overcast day and I avoided using flash. The exposure came out at 1/125 @ F13 with a long focus lens. The camera used is an Olympus E300 DSLR.

From his collection titled “ After Dark My Sweet’ comes photographer Joshua Hoffine’s  interesting clutter of the macarbe. If you have a reasonably strong demeanour go take a peak.

Its interesting that he uses a young girl to make images more emotive, which inevitably leads the viewer to make their own conclusions. Ultimately horror has been the realm of the silver screen but looking at these images, all staged for a photographic journey into the unknown, takes on a new dimension.

So often we are used to looking at lovely views of natural landscapes or portraits of ‘beautiful’ people that I for one find it interesting a photographer can creatively shock the viewer into believing this is really happening.

The shots here are but two samples of a collection. Be warned they may shock some of you. I believe in all forms of artistic expression provided it harms no-one, in the physical sense. Harming in a psychological sense is bit deeper and more difficult to detect.

We have all experienced a nightmare at some time. Some experience lucid dreams where waking appears as dreaming and dreams as a sort of reality.  These images and those found on his website bring the nightmare to a confrontation of some sort of reality. The little girls situation screams out to the viewer. The clever use of shadow and light makes the image even more powerful. Even scary. You can feel part of the image. It tells a story, although not a pleasant one.

Not all things in life are pleasant.

What do you think, are these images raising the hair on the nape of your neck?

http://www.joshuahoffine.com/ check it out if you dare……..

Quite amazing that a Labor Government would be using these words!

Now banned hyperlinks could cost you $11,000 a day, even if you never knew they had been ‘blacklisted’. You see this blacklist is not published, and will not be.

The Australian communications regulator says it will fine people who hyperlink to sites on its blacklist, which has been further expanded to include several pages on the anonymous whistleblower site Wikileaks.

Wikileaks was added to the blacklist for publishing a leaked document containing Denmark’s list of banned websites.

The move by the Australian Communications and Media Authority comes after it threatened the host of online broadband discussion forum Whirlpool last week with a $11,000-a-day fine over a link published in its forum to another page blacklisted by ACMA – an anti-abortion website.

ACMA’s blacklist does not have a significant impact on web browsing by Australians today but sites contained on it will be blocked for everyone if the Federal Government implements its mandatory internet filtering censorship scheme.

But even without the mandatory censorship scheme, as is evident in the Whirlpool case, ACMA can force sites hosted in Australia to remove “prohibited” pages and even links to prohibited pages.

Online civil liberties campaigners have seized on the move by ACMA as evidence of how casually the regulator adds to its list of blacklisted sites. It also confirmed fears that the scope of the Government’s censorship plan could easily be expanded to encompass sites that are not illegal.

“The first rule of censorship is that you cannot talk about censorship,” Wikileaks said on its website in response to the ACMA ban.

The site has also published Thailand’s internet censorship list and noted that, in both the Thai and Danish cases, the scope of the blacklist had been rapidly expanded from child porn to other material including political discussions.

Already, a significant portion of the 1370-site Australian blacklist – 506 sites – would be classified R18+ and X18+, which are legal to view but would be blocked for everyone under the proposal. The Government has said it was considering expanding the blacklist to 10,000 sites and beyond.

Electronic Frontiers Australia said the leak of the Danish blacklist and ACMA’s subsequent attempts to block people from viewing it showed how easy it would be for ACMA’s own blacklist – which is secret – to be leaked onto the web once it is handed to ISPs for filtering.

“We note that, not only do these incidents show that the ACMA censors are more than willing to interpret their broad guidelines to include a discussion forum and document repository, it is demonstrably inevitable that the Government’s own list is bound to be exposed itself at some point in the future,” EFA said.

“The Government would serve the country well by sparing themselves, and us, this embarrassment.”

Last week, Reporters Without Borders, in its regular report on enemies of internet freedom, placed Australia on its “watch list” of countries imposing anti-democratic internet restrictions that could open the way for abuses of power and control of information.

The main issue raised was the Government’s proposed internet censorship regime.

“This report demolished the Communications Minister’s contention that Australia is just following other comparable democracies,” Greens communications spokesman Senator Scott Ludlam said.

“We are not. The Government is embarking on a deeply unpopular and troubling experiment to fine-tune its ability to censor the internet.

“I agree with Reporters Without Borders. If you consider this kind of net censorship in the context of Australia’s anti-terror laws, it paints a disturbing picture indeed.”

EFA said the Government’s “spin is starting to wear thin” and it could no longer be denied that the ACMA blacklist targets a huge range of material that is legal and even uncontroversial.

The Communications Minister, Stephen Conroy, has repeatedly claimed his proposed mandatory filters would target only “illegal” content – predominantly child pornography.

“As time goes on, pressure will only mount on the Government to expand the list, while money and effort are poured into an enormous black box that will neither help kids nor stem the flow of illegal material,” EFA said.

“If the minister truly believes that children are seeking out, or being bombarded with, child pornography, then there’s a dearth of both common sense and proper research in the ministerial suites.”

Already, the head of the Australian Christian Lobby, Jim Wallace, has said he hopes the sex industry will go broke as a result of the censorship scheme.

Independent Senator Nick Xenophon previous expressed his desire to have online gambling sites added to the blacklist but has since withdrawn his support for the scheme, saying it was dangerous and could be “counter-productive”.

The Greens and Opposition also oppose the scheme, meaning any legislation to implement it will be blocked.

The Opposition has obtained legal advice that “legislation of some sort will almost certainly be required”, but others have said it may be possible to implement the scheme without legislation.

Speaking at a telecommunications conference last week, Senator Conroy urged Australians to have faith in MPs to pass the right legislation.

Despite previously saying his scheme would be expanded to block “refused classification” content that includes sites depicting drug use, sex, crime, cruelty and violence, he said opponents of his plan were spreading “conspiracy theories”.

The Government’s internet censorship trials are due to begin shortly but critics have said they may not provide much useful data on the real-world implications because none of the major ISPs were chosen to take part.

Recently dug up this photo from the past. Taken in 1998 some of these players are still enjoying their game. Click image to enlarge.

The wonder gals of 1998

As for me well, I found another old image going back to 1983 as coach of an under 11’s boys team I coached for Bannockburn Rovers. Those lads are now in their 30’s. Wonder if any of them are still kicking a ball.

Have I been doing this coaching stuff for too long?

Strange how some things simply flow through ones veins and the only time we sit back and let it go is either when we die or can no longer physically do it.

For those that dont know thats me on the left as you look at it. Super Coach!!!!!! Check out ‘Ferret’ she looks so young and innocent… Donna looks no different…. Alana’s back and has hardly changed…And our Gabby so full of life then, is still full of it [4 kids later]…. Takes me way back does this pikki.

Portrait photography still holds a mysticism for me. Getting the right lighting conditions, making sure the subject is relaxed and comfortable, knowing what is expected from the final result etc etc.

This brings me to my most recent shoot. A female singer wanted to produce an image for the cover and content of a cd she is recording. Her style of music is mostly singing covers of songs from the 70’s to the 90’s singing with a band called ‘The housework can Wait’. Check them out.. Using acoustic, folk and pop music as the core genre all with a melt in the mouth rythm. The shoot started at around 3:30pm and we finished at about 6ish with some 120 images in the bag. For those not familiar with Somersby Falls walking up from the base of the falls requires some stamina! Even more so when you have a shitful of clothes and props with you.

Somersby Falls was chosen for its tranquility, gentle water fall, bushland setting and most importantly lighting qualities. Late afternoon was the preferred time, mainly as I cannot get up with the sun! Lighting in Australia can be extrememly harsh. Soft light is difficult most of the time. Summer especially is not kind to photography unless you get up early or get out in the late afternoon or early evening.

Kerrie was a keen participant in the shoot. She brought along with her two guitars, a coloured spotlight and an amp. These props were useful in the shoot, although a bit unneccessary as most of the images were going to be up close and personal. Having a change of clothes also proved challenging, doing a photo shoot somewhere public usually attracts a curious audience. Public places are a bit like that! Trying to keep unwanted people out of the frame can get sort of frustrating. You feel like yelling out, ‘piss off your in the shot’.

Anyway I have posted three images here for you to look at. I would be happy for you to comment. Some tweaking did occur in photoshop but by and large they are basically, as shot.

Impossible task

In Queensland they were praying for the rain to stop and the water to subside. Around 2000 kilometres south in Victoria they were praying for a deluge of rain. The aftermath of such death and destruction simply leaves behind puddles and ashes that belie that which preceded it.

Nature recovers, but do humans?

Reports have suggested the bushfires in Victoria equalled 600 or so times the strength of one atomic bomb. Using calculations that seem only to be trivial when seeing such carnage. What happened in Victoria cannot be measured by what happened in Hiroshima considering what Japan went through.

The speed of rising water levels during thunderous rainstorms caught everyone in Queensland off guard. The same in Victoria.

The speed of the spreading fire was assesed at travelling at 100 klh. How can you fight that?

Just a few years earlier Canberra went up in flames. The conditions almost identical. Soaring temperatures and gusting north westerly winds. We learnt nothing. Reports came in that volunteer firefighters were going to lose their jobs if they never reported for work. Later retracted when the press got hold of it.

Hard to imagine what this is like if you have not lived it. Here in Gosford we have experienced bushfire danger on a large scale, but nothing comes close to those in Victoria.

The images here tell the story. In a bushfire emergency we are told to ’stay and defend’ or ‘evacuate’. Trouble is no-one estimated the ferocity of these recent fires which ended up as ‘firestorms’. Imagine being the firefighter facing the wall of fire. What on earth would you be thinking if you were him? Even harder we see an image of two fire trucks racing toward a fire front like the ‘charge of the light brigade’. An impossible task. The courage and heroics of these guys is unquestionable, and for no pay! Unbelievable.

Arson is the culprit and vigilante groups rising. Should we start psyche tests on volunteer firefighters?