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What. The. Hell. "The American customs post has been heavily armed for years," said Thompson, who is familiar with the Akwesasne territory where the Canadian border post is located. He said the American guards "all wear sidearms. What's more, you go into the office, and there's a rack of automatic rifles sitting there behind the front counter." Why don't militants at Akwesasne threaten confrontations with the Americans? "Because the Americans will shoot back," said Thompson. Instead of being cowed by threats, Canadian officials should properly arm its border agents on the reserve, and not only with pistols. "The government should say, 'We're not just giving you guys Glocks, but here are your C7 rifles and here are your light machine-guns."
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Since this letter is going out to many, many thousands of people, and is an official communication, etc, I feel minimal qualms about posting the text online. My university is responding to a perceived racially-oriented problem.
Dear Student Re: Your safety and security Many of you will be aware of recent media reports of attacks against international students in Australia. While most of these incidents have been in states other than Western Australia, there have also been some assaults in Perth, at or near university campuses, as well as in other suburban areas.
I am writing to all staff and students at The University of Western Australia to condemn such deplorable acts of aggression. Whether motivated by mindless hooliganism or by racism, the University abhors such violence. With several of my senior colleagues, I have this morning met with representatives of some of the international student communities on campus to listen to their concerns, and to discuss the University’s commitment to the safety and wellbeing of students. As well as existing safety initiatives, some suggestions made by student representatives will be taken up by the University in coming weeks.
All staff and students at the University have a right to feel safe and secure as they undertake their study and work. We will continue to work with you to ensure your safety while on campus, and will work in cooperation with government and key agencies at Federal, State and local level to better ensure your safety in the wider West Australian community.
The University strongly supports policies of internationalisation and diversity which encourage cross-cultural exchanges in an environment which is free from ignorance, intolerance, bigotry and prejudice.
The University website and campus newsletters will carry information about the importance of cultural awareness, and more specifically, information on support for international students. Staff will work closely with the UWA Student Guild to ensure good communication with students concerning security, and I will meet with international student representatives again in a month, to update them on progress.
I strongly encourage you to speak up about acts of violence or harassment which you witness or experience – by so doing we can combat more effectively any such deplorable behaviour. More positively, I also urge you to contribute to those activities and initiatives throughout the University which increase our understanding of diversity, and which celebrate cultural interaction.
In the meantime, I would draw to your attention two areas of important information for all staff and students:
Security on Campus
Regular security patrols, integrated alarm monitoring, intruder detection, access control and closed circuit television have helped us achieve a reputation for a safe and secure environment. Nevertheless I have also undertaken to address students' expressed need for improved lighting and additional alarm points to create more clearly identified safe walkways on campus. In the meantime, while on campus I encourage you to take the reasonable steps described on the enclosed page to ensure your continued personal safety. And if you are studying after hours, the University’s Security Service provides an escort service to car parks, colleges and accommodation immediately adjacent to the University. To use the service contact Security on (+61 8) 6488 3020 half an hour prior and a uniformed officer will respond.
Report-It Website
The University will not tolerate any forms of violence or other behaviour that makes people feel unsafe or unwelcome, including harassment or bullying.
You can help us work against this kind of behaviour by reporting it. When harassment is reported, the information can help state and local authorities prevent other people from behaving this way, and so help to make others safer. You can make your report anonymously. Your report will still be valuable.
If you have been the victim of an attack please report the details: http://www.security.uwa.edu.au/forms/report-experienced-harassment
If you have witnessed an attack on a fellow student you can also report it: http://www.security.uwa.edu.au/forms/happened-to-someone-else/
Remember, your report can be anonymous, but if you leave your contact details you will be contacted by a member of the UWA Student Services team which can offer support.
The University of Western Australia does not tolerate racism. I appreciate the commitment of our staff and students to actively counteract discrimination and harassment.
Yours sincerely Alan Robson Vice-Chancellor
I can, by the way, confirm that UWA does actually take this stuff seriously. For example, one time, acquaintances hatched a plan to dress up as Crusaders and run around at a Harmony event aimed at promoting a better relationship with the Islamic students and community. This was when the War on Terror anti-muslim demonisation was at its height, you understand, so the University was trying to have a sort of interfaith-except-also-for-atheists-and-others program going to keep from propagating racism and Islamophobia.
I pissed them off by, when argument failed to stop them doing this, reporting their plans to the Guild, thereby producing an instant shitstorm wherein the Guild, backed by the University, intervened with a general attitude of Oh Hell No. However, because this was preventive rather than damage control, the issue was resolved quite quickly. (And without the media being involved, which... would not have been a helpful contribution.)
(I didn't regret pissing them off, by the way; I was quite convinced that I was right, and remain so, and in any case, none of them were actually friends of mine.)
To a fairly significant extent, UWA is part of who I am. It's the uni I always wanted to go to, it's the uni I've attended, on and off, since 2000; it's where I met just about all of my local friends. UWA is the place where, at various times, I've developed tendencies to refer to specific spots on campus as "home" when I slip up.
It's nice to see them still trying.
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I just then realised both the fact and the why of something.
Sometimes, I don't want to do the research.
I was just then thinking about a question, and thinking about posting about it... and then I realised it was something to which the answer was no doubt available online, if I chose to look, and I know how. But I didn't want to.
I wouldn't call it laziness - looking it up is quicker and easier than writing a post about it.
The thing is, a lot of the time, the reason I post about things is in the hope that people will respond, and we can talk about it. I love to have conversations, but lately even when people I like have been around to talk to on googletalk, I have trouble maintaining a gtalk conversation - which, I've only recently realised, is because the chime when a new message comes in bothers me, so I need to turn that off.
Also, I have trouble starting conversations with people about things I'm pretty sure they're not that interested in.
Normally I don't have this problem because I talk to Chas about whatever's on my mind. Chas and I have a lot in common in terms of the way we like to talk about stuff. But Chas is away.
So, here's what I was thinking about: music. Specifically country music, and country & western. What's the distinction?
My automatic thought: Country is the stuff you like, and country and western is the stuff you mock. Although some people don't like either. And I have, over time, learned what's behind even the hilarious song titles, like I've Got Tears In My Ears From Lying On My Back Crying Over You. These can be good songs (obviously there's plenty of crappy country music, but there's crap in every genre), but I've started to think that the mockery it gets is pure classism and snobbery. Country music is rural, country music in a lot of cases is by and for the poor and the uneducated.
Mostly, it's rural. Urban and suburban people love to think of country people as stupid and uncultured, hicks and yokels who can't tell Morrissey from Fall Out Boy.
It's part and parcel of the kinds of attitudes that lead to someone telling me, in apparent sincerity, that it's silly of me to get worked up about the plight of farmers - after all, I live in the city.
Deep, calming breaths, Sami...
The thing is?
A lot of country music is also really damn good. Catchy, or just kind of moving. A song about heartbreak is still about sincere emotion, even if it's written on a steel-string acoustic guitar. And Dolly Parton was singing about the strength of women long before the Spice Girls brought out "girl power", and my first lessons about the evils of colonialism came from Johnny Cash and Bitter Tears. (You want music of bitterness and rage and betrayal? Bitter Tears is right there for you, ready to leave a sour taste in your mouth even as you sing along.)
I've never been one to follow trends that much, but over the last ten twenty god I'm old years I've definitely let go of trendiness in music. When I was nine or ten I followed the pop charts and read music magazines and knew what was in the top ten. But I got bored of that (ah, ADHD) and went back to listening to what I felt like... which, for a while, was mostly sixties stuff and Cliff Richard, because I listened to what my parents played.
Then came Triple J, and I learned to love alternative and indie rock and electronica and trance, but by the time I hit my twenties I'd happily reconciled loving those things with loving Queen, and classic rock... as well as music I know is cheesy but it makes me happy, dammit, like Vengaboys and Aqua and Right Said Fred.
And country.
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Me, from the kitchen: "I'm going to try something that may be an offence against God and Man. We'll see." Housemate.Dave: "Does it involve kiwi fruit chocolate custard?" Me: "No, just plain chocolate... but I have some whipping cream to make tasty treats for tomorrow, but I won't need all of it, so I'm going to try adding some cream and making whipped chocolate custard cream."
slightly late
result: DELICIOUS
So what I did was, I started out making thickish vanilla custard, using gluten-free custard powder. Then I added a smallish chunk of milk chocolate, stirred it through, and took it off heat. Left the saucepan a couple of minutes, then added a little more cold milk, stirred that through (custard was now lumpy, but that's fine because of later stages), transferred it to a mixing bowl, added some whipping cream, and whipped it but good. (Which makes it fluffy AND smooths out the lumps.)
The lukewarm result is delicious. I've put most of it into two cups and put those in the fridge to chill overnight. Tomorrow I shall offer Nic Whipped Chocolate Custard Cream Mousse.
SO TASTY. I AM A COOKING GENIUS.
Also, another Conversation with Dave:
Me: What are you playing? That guy is familiar. Dave: Devil May Cry 4. Me: Who is he? Dave: Dante. Me: ... I think I've seen him cosplayed. Dave: Probably.Current Music: Queen - '39 Current Mood:  accomplished
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