A Witness to Tolerance

Even more about staying safe online from CommonSense Media

2006-05-02T21:14:00.000-07:00

Some of the tips and hints from this site jumped out at me.

If only I had guidance in using the media wisely when I was a teenager!

(I did, really. I hardly watched television until I was 10, and then only the ABC and SBS - hardly any commercial television. And my Dad and Uncle were journalists, so I knew about the dirty/seamy side of the media too).

http://www.commonsensemedia.org/resources/pdfs/Parent_Tips-Viral-Media.pdf

(Shouldn't you ask permission before IMing a stranger?)

My favourite tip is perhaps this one:

"Don’t fill out any “fun” questionnaires that
are forwarded to you, even if they are from
your friends. You are in a world where
everything can get forwarded. All those
personal things about you could land in the
hands of someone who could use them to
hurt you."

Here is an inspiring - and safe - site for those with Learning Disabilities and those who love them:

http://www.commonsensemedia.org/reviews/review.php?id=4628&type=Website

There are a lot of great sites for kids and young teenagers which Common Sense Media shows us.

I think I will really enjoy the game Snoozleberg:

http://www.commonsensemedia.org/reviews/review.php?id=2320&type=Website

Stay Safe and Be Smart Online

2006-04-29T22:02:00.000-07:00

Here are some good links about being safe online, particularly if you're a child or a teenager who visits A Witness to Tolerance.

I would like to thank Rolly Maiquez for pointing us in the right direction.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/19/national/19kids.ready.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5090&en=aea51b3919b2361a&ex=1292648400&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss

http://www.uclan.ac.uk/host/cru/docs/NewCyberStalking.pdf

http://www.unh.edu/ccrc/pdf/jvq/CV90.pdf

http://www.unh.edu/ccrc/pdf/jvq/CV38.pdf

http://www.uclan.ac.uk/host/cru/docs/cru010.pdf

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/internetprivacy/2006-03-08-facebook-myspace_x.htm

http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/13840568.htm

http://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/index.ssf?/base/news-28/1143647265305090.xml&coll=6

http://www.netfamilynews.org/nl050617.html#4

Look after yourselves online, and if you see something you really don't like, tell a parent, teacher or any other adult you trust.

Not All Who Wander are Lost (To the Snow Lake Girls)

2006-04-23T00:53:00.000-07:00

Dear Snow Lake girls of Mr Fisher's class:

Thank you for amusing yourselves with the little quiz I had answered two months ago.

I am sure you had fun getting to know each other and gossiping.

If you are allowed, do remember you can put A Witness to Tolerance on your blogroll.

I found your answers due to the fact your teacher mentioned that you were getting marks for comments.

Thank you for displaying your excellence and imagination, particularly in your recent posts and comments about the problems in our world.

(I thought I had deleted that quiz!)

Andrew Armstrong on the Einstein Factor

2006-03-19T00:00:00.000-08:00

This is good. This is great. This is excellent.

My writing colleague, Andrew Armstrong, was on the Einstein Factor tonight.

His special subject was Aryton Senna, the Formula One racer who died tragically in 1993, and he got 1950 points, coming second to Ami someone. Jeff - the other contestant - smashed dramatically.

How did I know Armstrong? That's easy. I studied with him at Box Hill Institute of TAFE, and he and I took Desktop Publishing together. We were always making Leone Peguero laugh. This was in 2003, my first full year there.

Andrew, if you're blogging around, do say hello to me, please. I would like to know what you're writing now.

You did an excellent job on the Einstein Factor.

For those of you who are reading this blog overseas, The Einstein Factor is a quiz show where everybody has a special subject. Their subject may run the gamut from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (by Douglas Adams) to Australian Prime Ministers. In the first round you get asked 15 questions and another special one which you can answer or give to the Brainstrust. Then there is the second round with all sorts of questions which are multiple choice, and the third round is a mix of general knowledge and specialist subjects.

Just to be different ...

2006-02-18T03:40:00.000-08:00

Took this other meme from Matt. Whether you know me or not, just fill it in, please.

1. Who are you?
2. Are we friends?
3. When and how did we meet?
4. Do you have a crush on me?
5. Would you kiss me?
6. Give me a nickname and explain why you picked it.
7. Describe me in one word.
8. What was your first impression?
9. Do you still think that way about me now?
10. What reminds you of me?
11. If you could give me anything what would it be?
12. How well do you know me?
13. When's the last time you saw me?
14. Ever wanted to tell me something but couldn't?
15. Are you going to put this on your LiveJournal and see what I say about you?
16. What do you imagine me doing in 5 years?

The Millihelen Meme: where Beauty does Launch a Thousand Ships (or just 1)

2006-02-18T01:04:00.000-08:00

Another meme: this time one I made up myself.

Post a comment on this blog about a beautiful

sight
smell
sound
taste
touch

Then pass it on. To your blog, or someone who appreciates beauty

You have to have enough of this commodity to launch a ship. Maybe even a thousand ships.

Go on! Whatever floats your boat!

(I who shudder at chain letters of all kinds. Starting a meme!)

Also, if you had a sixth sense, post about that.

Kerry Packer and Journey to the Stone Country (apologies to Alex Miller)

2006-02-16T18:50:00.000-08:00

Hello, my mum is watching the Kerry Packer funeral. We were in Torquay when we heard that Kerry Packer was dead. I heard about it first from Huw Porter, who is a remarkable guy with a great story. Well, I think so anyway, even if it isn't in Chicken Soup or anything. I dare say Huw will kill me for this!

Have also posted in response to Clem Bastow's songs about sport. I chose The Holy Grail because it is about football. I also chose a new radio station called Vega partly because it has fewer ads and more mellow music than the one I normally listen to.

This is the second 31 degree day this week and I went to bed early last night. I am glad that I have my period - imagine trying to have a baby in this heat! Speaking of babies in a manner of speaking, I am now the sub-editor of the Box's books, non-fiction and fiction section. I may go and see Rent on the 27th. I really want to. There is a woman named Janine who is the Movies Subeditor. I cannot print Michael Burville's work because my printer on the IBM doesn't work, and transferring them onto the Mac is a bit more than I can take. The News role involves journeys around campus. Nelson I can make because I am seeing a counsellor there for the moment, but Elgar I can't. I suppose I'll have to make a creative way to do my role if I can't go there and collect the news. My dad is doing ashphalting at the moment and I can't imagine how he and Bondy and Malcolm are going out there. Perhaps he will be home soon. I hope so. I also hope he hasn't been drinking too much.

Speaking of Journeys:

I went on a journey from the 8th to the 11th of February. The journey started on the Calder Freeway when we went to Harcourt to see Barb Livingstone, to see how she has been bearing up. I ought to give her an address of this blog or to see the new website. Aunty Lay is really cool, and so are the hens. I was told not to say anything too untoward as her husband John (Doc) the great eccentric has just died. Well, not really, JUST died, but he died on the 12th July 2004. Anyway, we haven't seen her since the funeral. The best thing was collecting Harcout Valley Wine and also Olive Oil, which she has diversified into. She took us all around the vines and the trees/shrubs, and also we met John who is a nice Lebanese guy from South Melbourne newsagent. Then we went to Bendigo and stopped at a restaurant there called Tuscan something, and we ate things. This is where I got an earful for my Valentine's Day antics. I am glad they are resolved now and with good results. I can breathe a little easier now.

We spent the afternoon and night in Kinggower which is near Bendigo and Inglewood. We visited Hallmark Winery, which is owned by Roger and Maxine Burns. I ate salad and tapas and risotto and danced around to music, especially jazz/swing music. For much of the first day while we were in the City I looked around for office space for Wikimedia Australia, whom I had informed of my break. We were delayed a day because Theo Baker (he comes into this story later on) was driving his truck a lot and thus could not see us. So I spent the Tuesday watching a movie called Good Luck and Good Night which is about journalism in the McCarthy era and produced by George Clooney, and then we went to Rowville (I think not too far from Mrs McLeay's home! - don't you live somewhere near Churchill Park? - we ought to have tea and a visit) to CuCucina to eat the best steak in the world. They aren't too mean on seafood too! Nor salad. But their ATM machine isn't something to shout about. I was rejected three times. Too mean! Fortunately the Commonwealth Bank understood, even though we didn't get anything out until Hamilton which is near Horsham and all that.

We spent the next morning (the 9th) in Kinggower and I read the works of Rumer Godden, at least 3 of them. Also I spent some time in the pool room alone. Roger played tricks with the cue balls, and told stories about famous people he has been with. I must warn you: most of them are completely implausible, read: made up. We ate bacon and eggs and other things and also toast. Of all the Rumer Godden books I have read, I like The River the best, because it is about a small girl who wants to be a writer. Her relationship with her elder sister is well-described and Rumer makes you feel for people. I spent the early afternoon in the Melville Caves. I went for a walk and took photos but didn't go into the caves because I got scared. What scared me was a ride in a bumpy tractor. Watch out for the terroir! In case you think Osama bin Laden was in Kinggower, I do mean the lay of the land in a winery or a vineyard. I ate the rest of my chocolate fudge.

We spent the afternoon in St Arnaud and got something to eat, like Grape nerds and chips and dim sims. Dad then fell asleep a lot. I kept on interrupting him and asking him did he have interesting dreams? I am really sorry, Dad. My hand hurt me so I could not write for much of the 9th and so I wrote with my left hand when we got to Murtoa. Murtoa is where my Granddad used to teach and my cousins used to live for a few years, and go to school. Then we went to Horsham and Pimpino.

We went to Theola, which is a combination of Theo and Lola. We watched a DVD of Chantelle Clark's little girl who is about four months old or something along those lines. I asked about all the children. It is some five years since I have been in the region last and there have been lots of children. Something in the water makes Baker children good looking. I think it is the clean country air. I read a book by Robin Bowles about Jaidyn Leskie and had a pain in my stomach. Lola had a new window fixed by her oldest son Max, and the son of Max came home from school. Later on we ate geese (a lovely traditional meal) and we had crayfish for supper. Not before Theo, Dad and I went to Trevor's house, and then to Nathan's house. Beth and Emily get up to a lot and they are very good friends. The teenagers get along too. Shannon is a giant now. He is going to have to pay $50,000 equity for his house. The house as a whole costs $120,000. I would not hold with whinging about why he couldn't have a piece of land like the previous generation (only the boys though - the girls all left, except for Debbie who is coming back as a nurse in Dimboola). While I talk of land, Trevor is having a holiday house in Adelaide near the sea, which is beautiful. Johnathan is a bit of a dreamboat especially when he does dishes.

I have learnt a lot about making stock cars from Nathan (Jock) and Simon who is Shari's husband. I am sorry I did not give you a family tree of Bakers and descendant before I jumped into this story. Max is the oldest, then there is Trevor, and so on down to Nathan and Shari. Shari will be 26 today. Happy Birthday Shari! It is all very sound and light and noise and smell at the moment so I was grateful to be with two exuberant toddlers/preschoolers, but I was not too happy to get home in the dark. The Western Highway is one of the busiest roads out there, and I am scared. I am also scared of dogs. I have done lots of work in the last 2 years to get rid of this fear but I am still shy with unfamiliar ones. Especially BIG ones.

Then I went to bed in the bunk bed and began Barbara Taylor Bradford's A Woman of Substance. So far it is a great book, and I skipped to the end so I know what happens. Also in the morning I read something about past lives by Jenny Cockburn. I thought it was so cool how she was able to authenticate it and everything. I love Lola's house it is full of antiques and china, but it is a bit messy in places. I have to give her credit: it is not so messy now the nine children have moved out. But the outside is as messy as I remember it. Also there are lots of cats and one dog named Joker. I sort of like Joker, and Joker knows how to treat me - that is go away from me as far as possible.

We found a esky to carry the crayfish in, and we ate it on Sunday, but that is jumping ahead a little. We spent most of the 10th travelling, and didn't get anywhere until Colac, though we saw so much before that, including some extinct volcanoes. I didn't get the photos of them I would have liked, though. Sometimes the travelling was a little wearing on my patience and tolerance - I admit that. Some roads in the Grampians are tiring but they are full of scenery and animals. We stopped in Hamilton to eat as I said earlier, and I wrote a letter to the hotel proprietor to the effect it was necessary for me to have a spa. In Colac there is a shortage of spas and for that matter swimming pools. One would think I had learnt my lesson from Horsham in 1994, but I have not.

We went to Sing Bo to eat because there was a touring coach eating in the hotel restaurant. We watched the Simpsons shortly before, and learnt how the TV worked. Then we ate prawns and rented Twenty First Dates ... I mean FIFTY first dates with Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore. I really enjoyed it even though I could not pay attention at first.

Early in the morning of the 11th we watched the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics and ate maple syrup-slathered pancakes for breakfast. This is room service. It all cost $150 all up. Then we went to the Otway Fly. I am so proud to say that I completed it, even though 45 metres up should not be too hard for me, THE STAIRS WERE. They were frightening, especially down. The rock wasn't. Anyway I got a CD and walked way ahead of my family. I threatened to my Mum she would have to take the Shuffle Bus. We did the fly in an hour and a half. You are supposed to do it in 45 minutes, so I don't think we did too badly. We did stop to read the interpretive signage though as well as for other reasons like to tie my shoelaces. I am going to give away some of my clothes to St Vincent de Paul or the Salvation Army, as a dress I was going to wear for Valentines' Day proved to be in fact too small. After the Otway Fly we took the Great Ocean Road and stopped at Airey's Inlet and flew through Apollo Bay ... when there was a weekend market, which is too much of an injustice. And we have seen how disruptive and commercialised Lorne has become. I would recommend you don't go there for your schoolies if you want the true beach experience.

We got home about 5:30 and I read about a Korean restaurant in South Yarra in the Herald-Sun. It is on 360 Toorak Road or therabouts, and I hope to go there in the future. I also hope to go to Writers on Como but that is a separate issue, and it is looking that I may not be able to. I can purchase a membership for the Victorian Writers' Centre for that same price, so I shall tomorrow. When I have been procrastinating about it for three years (since I came to Box Hill Institute, in fact) it is about time. I also ate McDonalds including two hamburgers. The Animal Planet Happy Meals are good, but my favourite is the McOz family/value meal. We do not supersize in Australia.

That is all I have to tell. For the rest you'll have to read behind the lines. Also I got my Librivox recordings transferred but they are of relatively poor quality. At least Betsy is working on Pan Tadeusz and that's sweet. I received a copy of Pan Tadeusz for my graduation in 2001 and I haven't picked it up to read since January 2002. Though I did see the film on SBS and I liked it very much. Pan Tadeusz, because it is an epic poem, has sort of a journey motif. Anyway I think there is hunting in it. I have read a lot of my e-mails though not kept up with many especially from a high-level mailing list. I do mean high-volume.

I hope to go to the Hut in Ferntree Gully tomorrow. Just to listen and not to read. I like Alex a lot; he is a good poet and a sterling man. I have also read about Kosciuszko and Paul Strzelecki, which reminds me I did promise to send my wine project to Barb Livingstone. I hope she appreciates it. We got to see the new vintage and the progress and all their awards. This is in their cellar. Easter Sunday there will be a winery festival for the whole Bendigo region. On the way we stopped into Malmsbury, only to go to the toilet. I want to see the Botanic Gardens next time, especially the bowling and the geese. The geese were well-behaved. This does tie in to Fly Away Home, especially when they walked into the big truck. The geese at Malmsbury are used to trucks. I would like to see more of Castlemaine and Maldon, as I had done in 2004.

The World of Music - helping a Cambodian boy

2006-01-18T22:42:00.000-08:00

I know the title of this post is a little cliched, but my Dad's boss is looking for questions for a trivia night which involve today's music. I was a little hard-pressed because I don't always keep up with modern music (which is to say, anything released in this decade). Still, I found Delta Goodrem (local singer), Missy Higgins (local singer), Avril Lavigne and Alanis Morisette. I think kids of today would know of and relate to Alanis Morisette .

Do you know anyone who's been in the top 10 recently? (Yes, Brenda, setting a bad example!) Especially in the areas of rap and hip-hop and other genres that my ears rarely listen to? Especially songs with lyrics! I could always go to Wikipedia and look up the top 10 and 20 in various musical territories. Thank you very much! It would be greatly appreciated.

"Non scholae sed vitae discimus" - Seneca

2006-01-17T17:45:00.000-08:00

In English: (take note this is a liberal translation; apart from osmosis, I have little real knowledge of Latin or for that matter classical tongues which takes in Greek, Hebrew and Sanskrit. I do wish I did, as this is part of a liberal/classical education) We learn not in school but for life. So true!

Seneca is a lovely philosopher. He says some wise things about managing anxiety. I think there is a lot of anxiety going on among teachers and adminstrators when their students put up things about themselves to the world. Perhaps there are weaknesses exposed. Another philosopher, Socrates, told us not to be afraid of our weaknesses, because they would help us in the end. At least if we know that we do not know, we can work on it next time and perhaps gain the knowledge which would help us. I first met Seneca in Alain de Botton's The Consolations of Philosophy. I found Status Anxiety to be a most demanding philosophical project, and I do not know yet the terrain of his latest book. Perhaps I should read more serious philosophical works other than popularises, and actually get into the meat and bones of such men as Seneca. Unfortunately I am not taking a Summer School course at the Melbourne School of Continental Philosophy as I did last year with Nietzsche. Though I want to learn heaps more about post-modernism like Deleuze and also Merleau-Ponty and what they did for the Continental project. Also I would like to improve my knowledge of analytical philosophy too, so that I do not become one-sided. I am well aware I could learn these things on the web. Indeed, I did some reading of Lacan last week, on Butterflies and Wheels. I adore the man and the way he plays with language. (Perhaps that is a slight exaggeration.)

So here we are then:
http://www.butterfliesandwheels.com/
Here is the article about Lacan if you would like to read it:
http://www.butterfliesandwheels.com/articleprint.php?num=159

There is not much writing in there yet, in the site where I took the saying from. But students should definitely learn to create blogs and wikis in their curriculum. It will teach them to be good witnesses and colloborators. I cannot think of anything more sensible and thought-out to say just now, as I am aching all over. I would like to very much. There is an interesting book about Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre on the market just now.

I did go to LibriVox but I will not be recording anything just yet. Not until the 31st if I am lucky and if Harvey Norman is reliable. I suppose until then I can get a set of blank tapes and record from there. Put my name down for several Blake poems (several? I nearly claimed the lot. And what sort of date is February the 31st? But it would be good if that month were three days longer) and one Black Beauty chapter. I liked the sound of "Thou rose art sick" ... by Chip.

I did not get up until 10am Australian time and I didn't have my shower until 2pm. Then I ate at a well-known fast-food restaurant. I read lots about Roald Dahl because of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Yesterday when I went to a well-known video/DVD store where I live I saw lots of Willy Wonka food behind the counter. I am an old-fashioned lover of Nerds. I also did some reading about Joseph and his Dreamcoat. Among the DVDs I have borrowed are the Third Man and Dr Zhivago. I did want Shakespeare in Love and Breakfast at Tiffany's. I borrowed the Dreamcoat and two others I cannot remember.

Am listening to Joan Baez a lot. I got her because of her similarity to Bob Dylan. I love the way she sings songs like "Suzanne" and "Please Come to Boston" and "The Night they Drove old Dixie Down" and the one with the lyric about "my poetry was lousy you said". Two days ago the deadline for the Josephine Ulrick passed. Josephine Ulrick is a poetry competition named after a lady who was very kind to writers and lived in the Queensland area. The competition is sponsored by Griffith University. Sent in a poem to them a month ago, before Christmas, anyway!
http://www.griffith.edu.au/text/school/art/2004ulrick/JosephineUlrick.html
Another Joan Baez lyric I like is "the wine was Germany's best". Of course I can't really speak of a Joan Baez lyric because so many of her songs are folk standards. That would show my ignorance, wouldn't it?

I did listen to Wicked Wikipedia and I must admit I found the other daily/weekly segments far more interesting than I found that one. Because I could not hear clearly - that was the main reason.

The Australian Open is getting interesting. A fellow Wikipedian is watching it, and I have told her my username. She is going to see Hingis and maybe Juan Carlos Ferrera. This is exciting. Mum and I watched Pratt vs Pierce. Pratt was a good fighter. Dellaqua - what a shame she let her nerves overtake her. Same goes really for Jelena Dokic.

Those people who are inspired to check out Wikipedia: thank you. On the 15th it was the fifth anniversary of when Wikipedia came into the world.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Day

Who is the new Doctor? We saw an episode - the end of one - from 1987. I am almost sure that is Sylvester McCoy, and that he has been in the episodes for some time.

Hello Graham - Catch you in a New York sunrise

2006-01-13T04:26:00.000-08:00

Hello everybody!

Graham Wegner of Adelaide has just written to me, after I wrote about blogging awards in response to his blog. That is so good. I do like this a lot. It is a big privilege.

Also, I have just written to Gordon Brune because he put up an interesting prompt about Martin Luther King and his legacy. It turns out that the high school there has a Multicultural Club which did dances and songs about Martin Luther King, and one by Stevie Wonder. "We have time for racism ... for every kind of -ism".

It has just turned out that I wrote my post four minutes after a New York sunrise. Mr Brune was obviously up very early. He was up before sunrise. I am sure his students will be pleased.

I have a new book which cost less than 10 dollars from Angus and Robertson by Paget (not the lady, the man) and on January the 31st I will have an MP3 machine to do lots of recordings. I will have to learn how to convert MP3/WMA to OGG which is the standard free sound format for Wikipedia spoken recordings. I will do some short articles. And I will put in quotes from my favourite poets. The book starts with Spring is icumen in and ends with Seamus Heaney who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1995. I like his working class poetry, especially about potatoes and work. Also there is Ted Hughes, but he isn't my favourite.

We have been thinking a great deal about getting an office for Wikimedia Australia. Nathan asked a question about why we need an office and servers at this point. As it was me who suggested it, I might have been obliged to answer it. But AmishThrasher did it so much better and more articulately than I could have, for which I am glad. We have still to decide whether it's the smaller option or not. If you like Wikipedia and believe in what we're doing, and you're Australian, then you can join the steering committee if you like. I certainly hope you do.

Have written lots to the JHH kids. They have made me critically analyse and evaluate my own writing process and especially what I have learnt in the last year. I have made a New Years' Resolution different for each one. They write in their blogs every Thursday, and there is a new girl named Jadea. May she do well and enjoy blogging as well as the older students do. Also have tried a new typing programme - I have written almost NOTHING on paper for 2006 so far, and I am ashamed! But this was for Ellie(y?) in Grade 7. I pointed out that maths and typing are the same - as you always have to show your working. Everyone has different working. I try to get a map of the keyboard, but the rest is muscle memory. I began to type in 1991. And I find the tests a little impatience-inducing as opposed to the three lessons. I shall never get to the next level I am sure. It is a demo version so I had to clean out my temp folder. That may have included spoken files and PDFs. And there was a really terrific video of Wikimania - a key speech which was 125 megabytes. It had to go.

Wikipedia and me

2006-01-11T19:18:00.000-08:00

Personal data

1. When did you discover Wikipedia?

I discovered it in December 2003.

2. ... and how?

I read about in the Age computer section.

3. When did you make your first edit?

I think it was about Robyn Davidson, the camel lady. It had been a very hot day.

4. What kind of edit was it? (correct typos, add data etc.)

It was a new article.

5. How long time after your first edit was your first contribution of a new article?

A few hours. My first really new article (as opposed to the ones I made for Wikiproject Melbourne) was about Reactive Attachment Disorder.

6. How many edit did you do until now? (You can include edits from another accounts or edits as an anonymous user)

I think about 700-800.

7. Do you use multiple accounts on the Wikipedias where you are most?

No, I don't. That's called trolling.
* How many accounts do you have on a given Wikipedia?

8. What is your user name on Wikipedia?

EuropracBHIT. So called because I chose it to be my practical placement when I studieed at Box Hill Institute of TAFE in 2004.

9. When did you first log onto Wikipedia?

April 17 2004.

10. What made you register a username?

The impending return to school.

11. What is merit of being a register user?

That you get taken more seriously and that people can be on the talk page. That you build up a reputation/track record. You can move and delete articles and maybe be an adminstrator one day.

12. What is demerit of being a register user?

That you are accountable for your actions. That you have to remember to log in whcih I don't always.

13. Have you used features only for registered users (except Watchlist)?

I don't know. I MOVE articles, yes

14. Do you have your own blog or your website?

Yes, this is what you're reading right now.

* Do you write Wikipedia related topics there frequently?

Yes. This is my first time that I've discussed Wikipedia here. I'm very excited because I'm one of the people who may form a Wikimedia Australia one day.

[edit]

Edit

1. How many edits do you make in a month?

About half a dozen.

2. How many new articles do you create in a month?

Depends.

3. How many images do you upload in a month?

None. Last time I did this was in June 2004, about the railway lines of Melbourne.

4. Between which hours do you do most editing (including all day)

In the afternoon and early evening.

5. Do you do Wikipedia maintenance frequently?

No. I clean up vandalism on articles I see.

6. Do you use talk pages frequently?

I try to when there's an important issue.

7. Have you created a watchlist?

Yes. It is a short one. I don't use it that often.

8. Do you make interlang links and/or interwiki links? And how?

No, because I don't have the skill to.

9. Do you categorize articles？

I try to.

10. Do you add stub tags, if you find a stub?

No.

11. What do you do if you encounter a substub?

I don't really come across them. I suppose, expand them?

12. Have you translated articles from other language Wikipedias?

* Which languages?
No, I haven't translated articles from other languages. I did a psychology textbook from French in Wikibooks, though.

Your field

1. Tell us your best article work among your contributions.

I don't know that I have a 'best article work'.

2. Is there any featured article(s) in your contributions?

No, not yet. I don't think I could create a featured article all by myself.

3. Is there any featured image(s) in your uploaded images (including on Commons)?

No.

4. In which fields are you active?

Literature, psychology, Melbourne, sometimes sport.

5. Are there any active contributors in that field?

Yes. Lots.

6. To what degree do you know that field?

Very well. I could always learn more though!

7. What makes you have an special interest in that field?

Because I like my city and it needs more coverage in Wikipedia.

8. Have articles in that field a good quality?

They're getting better.

9. Is there a portal for that field?

It might be a good idea.

10. What improvement would you like to do in that field?

I can't really specify. Make the suburb articles bigger and better and put more pictures in.

11. Do you think it is good for Wikipedia to have articles on your field?

Yes.

12. Have you searched how frequently your articles were quoted?

Yes. Bayswater and Boronia are quoted quite often.

13. Do you think your edits improve Wikipedia?

I try to improve Wikipedia all the time. I don't know that they disimprove Wikipedia.
[edit]

Wikipedia from a view of a reader

1. Do you read Wikipedia without editing?

* For which purpose? (Examples: For information, for curiosity, for killing time etc.)
For information and for curiosity. For example, I wanted to know about the caste system in India.

2. Which article has been most impressive among articles you have read?

I think the articles about Autism and Asperger Syndrome.

3. Have you believed an error that you read on Wikipedia?

No. I try to correct them when that comes. I don't usually have enough knowledge in the field to know, especially in the more scientific ones.

4. On which Wikipedia project do you have the biggest interest now?

Wikipedia.

5. Does Wikipedia help you?

Yes.

Administration and maintenance

1. Do you know about administrators?

I do.

2. Would you like to be an admin on your Wikipedia? Or you are already an admin?

I don't know about being an admin. I'm not active enough every day.

3. Is there any sysop preveledges you would like to use?

* If yes, what is it? Or for admins, which feature do you use most frequently?
Not particularly.

4. Have you been recommend to be an admin candidate?

* If you were rejected, why?
No.

5. Would you like to be a bureaucrat? Or you are already so?

No.

6. Do you think administration is a heavy burden?

* Why?
Not particularly.

7. What kind of administrative works or maintenance do you engage?

No.

8. Would you like to be a developer?

No.

9. Do you join Bugzilla?

I probably should/would like to!

10. And Wikipedia-l or similar mailinglist for Wikipedia administration?

No.

11. And Wikitech-l, too?

No.

12. What do you think the most important thing to sysops?

That they respect we're here to create an encyclopaedia and don't get into edit wars.
[edit]

Confessions

1. Can you bear a stub?

* What is a stub in your definition?
Something that is less than 250 words and has incomplete information and no references.

2. How many bytes do you set your stub limit for?

I don't know.

3. Can you bear a substub?

* What is a substub in your definition?

4. Do you consider yourself as a stub creator?

YES!

5. You create an article and put no stub tab. Another editor put it (like {{stub}}. Can you bear his edit?

Not very well. I try to. Which is why I say "This is the start of an article about [topic].

6. Have your article listed on Wikipedia:Clean-up or similar pages?

Yes! For footnotes. How embarrassing!

7. Have your contribution been deleted as a speedy deletion candidate?

No. I've put things up for speedy deletion though, like Religiousness and Intelligence.

8. Can you bear an unwikified article?

Yes.

9. Can you bear an article whose lemma isn't emphasized?

What's a lemma? Is it Japanese for title? In that case, no I can't.

10. Can you bear an article without interlang links?

Depends on the subject.

11. And if there is nothing without interlang links?

12. Can you forgive me, an editor those miserable question on the above?

Yes. They are important to the spirit of the Wikipedia.
[edit]

Thou shalt love Wikipedia.

1. Do you love Wikipedia?

Of course I do.

2. What kind of vision do you have on Wikipedia? Optimistic or Pesimistic?

In the main optimistic.

3. Have you annoyed on slowness of Wikipedia?

When I had not been very long on Wikipedia, I was VERY annoyed. I used IRC to stave the boredom. This was in the new year 2004.

4. When Wikipedia is slow, what do you do?

I do other things.

5. What do you think your possible contribution to improve the slowness of Wikipedia?

I load up too many articles with graphics and I bring up too many search queries.

6. Have your contribution been deleted because of deletion?

Yes, about half a dozen of them.

7. Have your contribution been disappeared because of browser plobrem?

Yes! Lots of times! I hate that! Fortunately, Firefox is mostly-well behaved.

8. Have you donate to Wikimedia Foundation?

No. I wanted to during our lasst fund drive but I wasn't allowed.

9. Have you bought any materials (books, magazine, movie etc.) for contribution to Wikipedia?

Yes. I bought the Melways and the Encyclopaedia of Melbourne.

10. Which is bigger, your reading articles and your editing ones?

My reading ones, thus far.

11. Are you Wikiholic in fact?

In a certain sense, yes.

Other communities

1. Do you join other Wikimedia project than Wikipedia? Like Wiktionary?

Yes, Wikibooks and Wikisource.

2. Do you join any online community related to Wikipedia, like IRC or bulletine board?

I probably should.

3. What are your most frequently visiting online community?

I don't know. I refuse to answer that on the grounds it may incriminate me.

4. Have you ever attended Wiki-meetups?

5. Will you attend Wikimania 2006? (Was previously 2005, changed)

I want to.

6. Do you expect Wikimania will be held in your country?

I hope so. Let's book the Events Warehouse for food. And the Melbourne Convention Centre

7. Do you join multiple Wikipedia, not only your mother tongue one?

No, the English one so far.

Mischancellous

1. Do you think you understand GFDL perfectly?

Yes. I've known it and believed in it since I was a little girl - and boy has it changed since then!

2. Are you using css?

No. I don't really know how. I presume Blogger has it though.

3. Please give your words to other Wikipedians.

Other Wikipedians are usually good people and very nice. I greatly appreciate the contributions of everyone.

4. Please give your comments to Wikipedia.

I think Wikipedia is a great resource and I truly have learnt a lot.

5. Which question would you like to add to this list?

I can't think of anything right now.

Dear School District

2006-01-11T16:13:00.000-08:00

I have deleted my Blogthings meme which I placed on my blog earlier.

I realise the site has things which are not suitable for children and students, and I was exceedingly remiss in placing it there where your students could see it.

Thank you for letting Mr Brune know. He is a professional man and I am sure he would not want his students exposed to anything untoward in their blogging adventures.

We have had a good commenting relationship since December 22 2005, and I do not wish to spoil it through carelessness or worse. He has had to bend some rules to allow me to comment, and I greatly appreciate his flexibility.

I hope this blog is once more school-safe for the children of New York and their parents, and I will continue to make every effort to do so

Thank you,

Bronwyn G.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Johnathan Safran Foer

2005-12-26T16:08:00.000-08:00

I like the sound of a book that starts with a living teakettle. Or rather, gives you the impression that it's living. That opening sentence or two just grabbed me -it's either a child or a philosophical/whimsical adult. The point of view is interesting here. I am on the first page of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. The first page of words, anywya. The pictures - of birds and a tenement (?)/apartment building set the tone for the book. The birds are also interesting and disturbing in another way. Isn't this book happening when there's terrorism in New York? Aren't I taking a risk reading it during the first anniversary of the Indian Ocean tsuamni?

I love the flight of ideas that the narrator has, about the singing teakettle for example, he could have it reading in his dad's voice so he could fall asleep, or a set of kettles which sings Yellow Submarine. He is obviously precocious - entemology is one of his passions, though I do think he may be using the word in the wrong context. It's charming. He doesn't know everything yet. Terrorists always seem so certain about what they're going to do, no matter what. They seem to have a power of unity/strength - at least the veneer of such. I think there will be at least triumph and adversity in this book, and that the narrator will lose someone he loves. perhaps his Dad, or his friend or the garbage man. I think of the images and stories of the real September 11, and how badly we all wanted to get on with life and not let people win. How, in my case, I wanted to go forth for tolerance and understanding. Unfortunately, that wasn't on the breakfast menu where i lived, and God help Thursday night dinner.

At the finish line of the New York City Marathon it would sound like war. The hearts as microphones paragraph is a masterly written paragraph, and yet it's in the authentic voice of a little boy - like women and their menustral periods, which I knew about, but I don't want to know about. I also like his comments about farts and the Hall of Mirrors in Versailles. The opening, in fact, reminds me of an intellectual version of The Day My Bum went Psycho. Sorry, Andy Griffiths
. I might learn to expect some more poo/fart/bum jokes as the narrative unfolds, but this is a bit of whimsy on Safran Foer's part. He seems to have a great deal of freedom - or imagination - When you skateboarded down the street at night you could hear everyone's heartbeat, and they could hear yours, sort of like sonar. I think Safran Foer chosen an evocative metaphor, and that I do love what literary theorists call 'close reading'.

On page 2 there is a lot more action. The narrator is in his ju-jitsu class, and the Sensei Mark asks him to kick his privates. Or more precisely, to "destroy" them. We also learn the narrator plays the tambourine. I noticed that Safran Foer doesn't put dialogue on a new line like you're supposed to as a writer. I have indicated that he is somewhat experimental. We learn the narrator is a pacifist from some very funny dialogue. It would be embarrassing if you were one of the other kids who didn't know what a pacifist is. So he rebels in small ways from his environment. I especially like the line. ""No," I told him even though I don't have dreams of running the family jewellry business any more.

Oh my God. On page 3, we get into the meat of the themes and concerns. Especially when Oscar describes his grandmother and his ninth birthday. I know I'm not really processing this in the unity that Safran Foer meant us to. Suffice to say there's an interesting family heirloom (I, too, should have a funeral for overused words. If children continue to use them, it is because we professional writers are also in the habit, particularly in their first books, which is why the good people of Blake Education ask for tales with unusual vocabulary ... but at the same time weasel words and PC-ness is corrupting our language and narrowing the range of things we can say. I would not exclude commercial culture [!] in this either)in the form of the grandfather's camera, which Oscar's grandmother says he would wish Oscar to have it. Oscar says, with his intimiable logic, But I was only negative thirty. There is also a wonderful paragraph on skyscrapers, which focuses the mind wonderfully, and caliberates the heart. I want to write it out in full, when I haven't such a shocking headache.

So what about skyscrapers for dead people that were built down? They could be underneath the skyscrapers for living people that are built up. Tou could bury people one hundred floors down, and a whole dead world could be under the living one. Sometimes I think it would be weird [another word Safran's narrator uses a lot] if there were a skyscraper that moved up and down while its elevator stayed in place. So if you wanted to go to the ninety-fifth floor, you'd just press the 95 button and the ninety-fifth floor would come to you. Also, that could be useful, because if you're on the ninety-fifth floor, and a plane hits below you, the building would take you to the ground, and everyone could be safe, even if you left your birdseed sheet at home that day.
Safran Foer, page 3.

Page 4 is really funny. I know I really shouldn't be laughing with regard to Stephen Hawking's voice, but the rest of the limousine scene - the first time Oskar went on the limousine with his grandmother - is so richly (and sickly funny). I think it's mainly Oskar's spirit of fun in talking to unknown adults. The cab/limousine driver responds by giving Oskar his card. Which, I feel, is gracious. The driver's name is Gerald Thompson, and he serves the five boroughs. The rest ... I gradually gather that Oskar and his grandmother are burying his father. He talked so warmly about his Dad earlier, especially at the start of the book.

Hello

2005-12-25T02:44:00.000-08:00

Hello
Whinging is a waste of energy.
Or something.
The Queen's Christmas message was great.
Hope you had a happy Christmas Eve and Christmas Day for those of you who celebrate.