Thursday, December 30, 2004
Xenophobic Agression Diffusion
Half Life, out of it's rusty cage again and this time i'm actually getting somewhere, further than i'd ever got on my own before. I've a lot of tension/agression to let loose, and I can't think of anything better than laying waste to alien scum, and a few Soldiers cos they're shooting at me. it's whetted my bloodlust for now, but it has given rise to a new hunger... for Half Life Two. Now admittedly, I've wanted the game since way back when they were first releasing teasers for it, but now... now...Now I stop for a moment and think, cos Bhuddism, through "The Art Of Happiness", tells me that the desire for this game will not be satiated by the ownership of the game, or the use of the game. only through the realisation of why I want so bad, and the further realisation that it will not bring me happiness, can I find an inner calm.
I've felt pretty morose since Bush won, cos it means to me that for another four years international relations will get worse, and this trend towards fundamentalism in the world's greatest democracy will be irreversible, and it's looking like Oil's not going to be as expensive as I'd hope. I'm living in a world I don't like, and I'm using Computer Games to escape this world, having little patience for movies or television right now. Girlfriend's back in three days. i'm not gonna sleep at all... I'm shaking right now.
When Neither the World nor the Self seem satisfactory, there's not a lot to do but wait till it gets better, cos i'm in no condition to improve either right now. Only to escape from the Black Mesa Facility, and the complications in my mind...
posted by Keegan at 4:27 pm ... 0 comments
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Tuesday, December 28, 2004
Who Needs A Disaster Anyway?
The little daydream about the future of my local area is about as likely as the Second Coming of Our Lord and Saviour. because it really depends on a disaster on a government crushing scale, and this recent earthquake has shed some light on this catalyst... a tidal wave in the pacific comes with a warning, enough time to move everyone to a safe height, and even the third world seems to be working towards coping with it's recent disaster. Governments aren't going to topple. My local area will begin to look more and more like a minature Gold Coast only an hour's ferry from the center of the city, and the land I live on will become too expensive in rates to keep long enough to even see a mulberry tree grow strong, let my dad watch his potential grandkids climb it and get all messy eating them. but it doesn't have to be that way, in your mind you can always fight for a world you want, while the real world fights to stay real. live your dreams, cos they'll not exist somewhere else.posted by Keegan at 11:01 am ... 0 comments
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Monday, December 27, 2004
Antidisestablishmentarianism
Whoo... big word you say. The modern shorthand would be, well, Neo-Con. Let's Dissect the word -- Establishment - I think of it as the Order that makes civilisation acceptable to the hunter/gather, the Comforting cotton wool that everyone within society is wrapped in, and what those outside of civil society live without.
- Disestablishmentarian - a person who wants to break down this system, not quite anarchy, because anarchy is without laws. this is more about breaking down society so that the individual can exist, no great overpowering structure to fear and be comforted by, like a paretn, so that the individual becomes an adult.
- Antidisestablishmentarianism - the fight against this hippy nonsense, those who fear life without civilisation, probably too fat to sneak up on a dear and throw a stick at it, and don't know how to start a fire any other way then "Jeeves! I thought I Told You To Light The Bloody Fire!"
and there you have it. courtesy of Mei, for making me do this.
posted by Keegan at 7:21 pm ... 0 comments
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Friday, December 24, 2004
Christmas Cheer
Happy Kwanza! well why not? if we really are a cultural mixing-pot, then why does everything close just for christmas? I want week long festivals for all religions that all may better understand what's out there, what other people believe in...actually wat i'd like to see, after reading about near-death experiences in rolling stone, is for studies to be done in other cultures to see if what is seen is based on what people believe, as I suspect... that's the gist i get from Pratchett and Kim Stanley Robinson anyways. If you deep down sub-consciously believe you'll go to hell, then well, that's what your sub-conscious will tell you what happened, and that's what you'll experience when you get pulled back. there's always doubt though. I'd rant about the rampant commercialism, but I like getting stuff. what I don't like is the use of credit to buy too much stuff. Ever increasing sales and levels of consumer debt. i'm too poor to afford credit, so not much cheer being spread around. merry christmas, y'all. oh, and Big-Ups to Jesus for getting Born. owe ya one, champ. what is Kwanza anyway? meh, i'll google it. catchyas soon.
posted by Keegan at 8:59 pm ... 0 comments
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Thursday, December 23, 2004
Caspian The Friendly Ghost
Central Asia. Fucking Centre of the World, if you count Persia too. The Biggest Source of Texas Tea in the World, a decisive point if there ever was one. Britain successfuly stopped Germany from winning WWI because Germany couldn't get the fuel to run it's mechanized divisions when British forces from Persia delayed Germany's advance on the region in 1918. History Repeats in 1942, when Stalin draws a line in the sand and says no further. Now the US has been setting up military bases all around the region for the inevitable putsch for power from any players - who's got Game? with any luck, Europe'll be running on alternatives, so they won't give a flying two hoots, and Russia'll be too wasted to make an effort. China. US v. PRC. Tonight, on Pay Per View.Taking All Bets Till the End of The Century.
for those with a little less patience, odds on an Iran Invasion during a Bush Administration are running at less than 2:1... don't forget it counts Jeb and The Twins...
posted by Keegan at 1:15 pm ... 0 comments
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Sunday, December 19, 2004
The Grove (2250-2350 A.D.)
While the Settlers from The Grove who left for the Hills and Patonga experienced a slight cultural shift under the influence of those regions few remaining elders, It had little influence on their overall outlook - still greatly Anti-Federation, concerned principally with the arts of permaculture, and the security of the food supply that permaculture produced. To this end, The only way to reach The Grove was by boat, or through the thick bush that the CPT had maintained for a century, to encourage bush life, hunted for meat and skins. The arts of the Rural Fire Service had kept any bushfire from seriously threatening food production, and a surplus had been maintained since the Tasmanian had arrived, and permaculture established.The isolation of the Grove, separated from the world as it was by water and the bush of the Hawksbury Hills, belied the awareness of it's citizens. The young who had travelled the continent to find themselves and become adults had brought back much technology, and this included information tools. The Tidal Wave that had devastated the East Coast of Australia had occured throughout the pacific, drowning half of China's population in one fell swoop, as well as taking out the bastion of liberal thought in the US, namely California. the Original States had secessioned from the wider United States, joining with Quebec as it succeeded in secession away from Canada. Independent City States had risen from the ashes of California, and they had prospered.
The Bible Belt (Briefly the Re-Confederated States of America, 2015-2023) that could have crushed the growth in power from these liberals, only much of the population commited mass cult-like suicide in anticipation of Armageddon. With two centuries passed, there was little doubt that if Armageddon was to come, it hadn't come then, though the survivors still held out for their saviour to save them. with that massive, well, extinction is really the best word to describe it, religion fell out of Fervour as it was in the US. Other events around the world only encouraged the decline in this outmoded belief system - The Catholic Church had condemmed their followers to the agonising death of AIDS, leaving few alive as it spread throughout the Third World, and The Fundamentalist Reversion shortly after the Wave caused a great hemorraging of followers. The State of Israel and the United Islamic States pretty much wiped out the people of both books, in the Nuclear Exchange that wiped out Mecca and Jersusalem, though astonishingly Mohammad's Mosque in the centre of Mecca survived the Blast, The Hajj could only be completed by the elderly, as the fallout was sufficent to condemn any visitors to death by radiation.
The Effects, such as they were, on The Grove, was to leave a world that had little concern with the going ons of the sparsely populated continent of Australasia, and so The Federation had no international backing in taking over the small independent city-states by force, and while many had succumbed to the temptations of capitalism and the crumbling religions, The Groveans remained independent in language and mindset, and life was fairly stable in the region, with passing trade, slow cultural development, and a few dissenters who left for the Federation replaced by traders who decided to stay. However, with the First Man on Mars in 2342, there were to be developments that affected The Grove into the next century...
posted by Keegan at 1:33 pm ... 2 comments
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Saturday, December 18, 2004
True Love (Aww...)
Not planning on spilling my guts to the Ether, but instead just a little rambling muse on that which makes a connection special...No, I don't think I want to rant about it, because it's too special, and I want to keep it as such. mine, I tells ya. And the experiment went Awry, which is just as confidential, though one or two succeeded in achieving high-level clearance on the subject, to whit they must remain silent till the information can be presented properly. Tough Call, I know, but it's gotta be made at some point. Commander knows about the subject, and probably suspects further than informed, but appropriate time must be decided upon before confirming suspicions.
Truth is, I found out what love is. For this bloke, at anyrate. 15 days away...
but the real clincher is the large affect on my Politicial motivation. fading slowly away after the re-election of the Bush Administration, with Special Advisor for the State of Australia "Prime Minister" Howard. Little interest in watching the Jackals and Vultures circlin' Latham's Body, and much the same with the current dip in oil prices (wait till Febuary, we'll see US$70bbl yet). everything seems as bright and sunny as the weather that's slowly emptying our dams, no real developments in Quag-Iraq-Mire, besides a training game that runs on X-Box. I kinda want to Know more about the world before I change it...
posted by Keegan at 4:03 pm ... 0 comments
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Tuesday, December 14, 2004
Catholics, Guilt (or lack thereof), and Sebastian
Honestly, why would you institutionalise Guilt? To be sure, when you convince your patrons that you provide the only source of salvation, it's only sensible to assure that those patrons feel the desparate need for salvation at least once a week, But there's gotta be less painful emotional paths to dominance, y'know? Like, if people were convinced the only place where sex wasn't a sin was in church, no matter who you had it with, levels of 'practicing catholics' would be way up on 'lapsed catholics'. only having a spack really cos I hate the feeling, and remain convinced that if it wasn't for catholics, then it wouldn't be so prominent. Through natural selection, while catholicism was the dominant power structure, only the guilty weren't burnt at the stake. Odd as it sounds, but they're buggers for that sort of thing.Anyway, it's not so much the feeling of guilt, rather the feeling that i should be feeling guilt, and the frustration that it's not really there. And frustration that i should think that it's required, for which, yet again, blame the Catholics. Well, there's one sector of the public that won't be voting for me, but fuck it, the real threat for the papists are these evangelical baptists. A raving mad atheist/buddhist with a blog shouldn't really be of any concern while Guy Sebastian continues to convert the teeny-boppers away from boring old mass to Religion! Party Style!
posted by Keegan at 3:02 pm ... 0 comments
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Friday, December 10, 2004
Personal Isn't The Same As Important
But it sure does feel like it sometimes. That's my lame excuse for the week between posts, but fuck it, it'll be just as long seeing as i'm goin away for a week. If I was all alone, then maybe I would feel that telling you about closed-circle capitalism, the provision of services instead of products, and all this other thinking i'm coming across from 'Natural Capitalism', and 'Limits To Growth - 30 Year Update' (links when i can be arsed), but they don't seem nearly as important as the emotional developments in my life, which I won't even write down in my diary, so it's hardly like i'm gonna write it here. Especially when I know people who may read this who could complicate things further.So anyway, things might work out perfectly, or they might not. I don't know yet. No Regrets Though. One day, men are going to be bred out of existence, along with that damn Y chromozone, and I hope I have daughters, so they don't have to be men in what's turning out to be a woman's world. you both won't read this, but I love you both, and you'll both want me to choose, and in choosing, I'll hurt one of you. And I know one of you'll get hurt worse than the other, so I already know the choice I'll make, but I can't be sure till the time is at hand, and in the waiting to make the choice, I'll hurt the other.
This choice won't affect the world one iota. A thousand blokes'd make it every day. Still seems more important to me than anything else I've written about.
posted by Keegan at 2:29 pm ... 0 comments
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Friday, December 03, 2004
The Confederated Peninsular Territories
From the distant shores of Patonga, to the bridge at Koolewong and to the wreckage of the Rip Bridge, the CPT is consituted by the survivors of the tidal wave that swept the Eastern Coast of the Former Nation-State of the Australian Commonwealth. with much of the lowlands wrecked, it took several months to clean up the area, and develop into a working independent community. Due to the absolute lack of government assistance, the community decided to break all links to the outside area, trade only possible by riverboat, or from the ocean. with the main rail-link tunnel destroyed by sabotage, courtesy of the more radical elements (read: bored kids), the region was no longer considered strategically important, and the residents left to take care of themselves. divided between the Grove, The Umina Hills, and the Patongians. food specialities were separated with The Grove providing grain crops and citrus on the land along the former Orange Grove Road, the Hillfolk chiefly offering hunted foods, and the Patagonians holding the shorline with the best fishing, and the micro climate for the more tropical fruits.Language began to shift within a single generation, with the youngest children, when meeting children from the Shire, the Highwaymen, and the Principality of Kincumber, were unable to decipher the slang they had developed independent of any overpowering cultural influence, such as radio or television, or even regular meets.
Because the richest people from the old time lived in the hills, and in Patonga especially, it was only those that had earnt their wealth that were able to work hard enough to retain some standing in the new community. there were relatively few individuals with a terteriary education in a useful occupation, so several were imported from the inland farming regions, who became the elders and educators, and because of the different educations these individuals had, some differences emerged in the outlooks of the different territories. The Grove were landed with a farmer who had indulged in some left-wing sociology, Umina Hills suprisingly devloped into the cultural centre of the region, along with it's only wine industry, under the guiding hand of a Vitriculturalist who delayed her degree for two years to spend some time studying the Arts. Patonga's specialist was a traditional farmer and his younger son, who managed to encourage a peculiar church to develop, which included the books of Thomas and Mary Magdelene with the traditional King James Bible.
The second generation spawned a radical shift in the direction that the communites were travelling, as the coming of age ritual involved a group travel to distant regions, with favourite destinations including, for the boys, Surfers Paradise, enticed by the name and the tales the old ones told of "Schoolies Week", a drunken orgy of sex and drugs between 17-20 year olds. The young girls of the CPT preferred the distant capital of Melbourne, in the hopes of finding new and amazing clothes to outshine all the older young women, and to ensnare a sophisicated husband. the Loners, and the smarter individuals often trekked to the distant shore of the continent, to the capital of Perth, to return with knowledge of the outside world, and some highly developed and useful technologies that could provide a source of income without hard labour.
This generation developed the second layer of cultural ties, those between age groups and the sexes, where the first cultural ties were between the region, background, and education. by the third generation, the culture was effectively cemented, with children essentially stuck in the traditions already developed. The accents of the local dialect were enough to make the difference obvious, while the dialect was enough to bind the region together against outsiders. The community was to grow beyond the basic size that traditional agriculture could provide for, and a Permaculturalist was brought in from the Island of Tasmania, and though the language differences took some getting over, eventually the practices were developed, first in Patonga, and once proven viable, within the Grove and Umina.
When The Australians came from their capital of Canberra almost a century after the Wave came, they found countless such communities all over the East Coast, with many opposed to a return to the nation state. they had found that their way of life was easy-going, and that the fruits of their labour remained in the community, from roads, sustainable food sources, and their developing culture. These pocket communites were able to push back the tide of the Federation, for at least 50 years, but as the Coming of Age Ritual brought the young and impressionable into Federal Zones, many were tempted to stay in the Federation, and Populations began to dwindle, and eventually The Grove became the dominant community in the CPT, because it's left-wing slant kept the fire burning in the youth, and they were not tempted by the mirage of wealth in the Federation that so many of the Christians and the Artisans succumbed to.
The people of The Grove began moving into the empty dwellings left in Patonga and the Hills, further stifling the dormant communities, to the point where almost 200 years after the wave, The CPT was renamed The Grove, with the support of the elders from the Hills and Patonga, to encourage strength against the Federation.
To Be Continued...
posted by Keegan at 7:45 pm ... 0 comments
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