sw’as

Despite professing that I’m some kind of liberal, I tend to find myself in regular disagreement with articles posted over at the Thoughts on Freedom, the Australian Libertarian Society Blog. This week there have been a few articles posted there which I thought were worth pointing out.

I’ve posted before on guns and how I think they’re generally a Bad Thing. Temujin posted a really good roundup of the research into the relationship between guns and crime. His conclusion comes in two parts: (a) there’s not really enough evidence to conclude strongly in either direction, and (b) given the lack of evidence the only way to conclude is that gun laws should be less restrictive.

At the risk of putting a dent in my libertarian cred^[1], I’m going to say I agree with (a) but not with (b). Preferring greater availability of something which provides deadly force, simply because you can’t conclude given the available evidence whether it creates a positive or negative externality (the effect on the crime rate is an externality), in my opinion, is the wrong conclusion. Deadly Force is bad, mmmmk.

Another good article over there points out some ALP silliness which I hope stops very soon.

1. Like I had any to begin with. [↩]

Unlike cowbell, you can have too much Coonan. Why won’t they learn?

New Liberal Party leader Malcolm Turnbull … promotes Julie Bishop and Helen Coonan to two of the highest profile jobs in politics…NSW Senator Helen Coonan was the surprise choice as foreign affairs spokeswoman…

What a freakin’ disaster. Hopefully Helen Coonan won’t be able to do as much damage to Australia’s international reputation in opposition as she did as the country’s startlingly ignorant communications minister while in government.

I’m not really sure I’ve got room in my life for another music based website, but lately last.fm radio has been leaving me uninspired. Today I discovered the The Hype Machine and after a week or so of mostly listening to the office radio station of choice^[1], an afternoon of The Hype Machine’s latest tracks has been a welcome relief.

On another music front, I’m off to Gotye live at Scala tonight! Get warmed up (or see what you’re missing) by playing Gotye at The Hype Machine. And best of all, once you’ve signed up they’ll even Scrobble your tracks! How awesome is that?

1. Don’t get me wrong, I actually quite like XFM, but like every other UK radio station they seem to have a very small pool of artists/tracks to pull from on any given day. [↩]

Assuming this acutally gets posted today (it will, I’m sure it will) I’ve actually managed to string together a run of two GHD Reviews. And not only that, I’ve put them online on the day they’re supposed to go online.

Looking at my goals from the 8/8(/8) review it seems I haven’t really achieved any of them (surprise, surprise). But, I do think I’m getting better - maybe. Probably better in some areas and worse in others.

1. Showering in the evenings - I almost managed to establish showering in the evenings as a habit, but I’m constantly thwarted by frequent travel mixing things up. Mostly the travel gives my mind a green light to make up some feeble excuse and wiggle out of it.
2. Shave everyday - I actually did string together quite a few days in a row after the last review day, but in the end this goal has met with massive failure. Just now thinking about it, I can’t actually remember the last time I shaved. Probably at least 2 weeks ago.
3. Eat when I’m hungry - I’m going to count this as a minor, tentative win. I’ve gone out to Sainsburys and bought myself a large stash of muesli bars to keep in a draw at work, and I’m even remembering to eat them.
4. Drink water frequently - I’m definitely getting better at this, but there’s still a bit to go. I’ve improved out of sight at work and fill my glass frequently. But now I’m finding that weekends are leaving me feeling noticeably parched. Another minor win with some further work to do.
5. Utilise my diary - This has been far from a win. I’m not even sure I’ve picked it up once since the last review.

In the last review I also noted that I suffered from chronic inaction. The diary goal above was formulated to try and change that a bit (at least make me feel like I was on top of things), but I’ve realised I also had an unstated goal of getting myself partly back on the GTD band wagon and by Inbox Zero. Although I have been very bad with email this month - my inbox went over 100 items several times and the oldest item was (and still is) from way back in June - I’m very pleased to have got to Inbox Zero Status: 4 just this afternoon.

In conclusion, I’ve had a couple of minor wins, but mostly failures. I’m going to keep the same stated goals as last month and keep trying to establish them as habits.