Jun 24 10
Directly Elected…
So Australia has a new Prime Minister today in Julia Gillard. Much
like the NSW State Government, the process went something like this: Bad poll > panic > factional warlords organise spill > new leader. Just like in NSW, this situation is closely followed by cries of “We
didn’t elect this Prime Minister”. Julia Gillard even referenced this
herself in her press conference after her caucus installation. This was then followed by the more politically educated talking about
the Westminster system, and how we vote for our local member / party
representative, and that the majority party chooses their leader, and
thus the PM, in their own fashion. The problem with this argument is that it’s only technically true.
This is how the system is designed and how, on occasions like this, it
works. But it is NOT how election campaigns are fought, and it’s not
how the general public perceives the political system. It is a
lamentable lack of civic education, but like it or not, until the
political parties behave otherwise, or the general political education
level of voters is increased, it is how the system will be interpreted
in the mainstream. Aiming to expand knowledge is an honourable cause. Informing people of
how the system is designed and (on paper) works, is a noble fight. But
throwing ones hands up in exasperation at all “we didn’t elect Julia”,
or berating Gillard for her up-front disarming of the issue, only
serves to vent and does little to change perceptions. So next time someone complains about not having “elected our PM”,
inform them of the actual system, but don’t berate them for simply
learning by the example of the major parties.
like the NSW State Government, the process went something like this: Bad poll > panic > factional warlords organise spill > new leader. Just like in NSW, this situation is closely followed by cries of “We
didn’t elect this Prime Minister”. Julia Gillard even referenced this
herself in her press conference after her caucus installation. This was then followed by the more politically educated talking about
the Westminster system, and how we vote for our local member / party
representative, and that the majority party chooses their leader, and
thus the PM, in their own fashion. The problem with this argument is that it’s only technically true.
This is how the system is designed and how, on occasions like this, it
works. But it is NOT how election campaigns are fought, and it’s not
how the general public perceives the political system. It is a
lamentable lack of civic education, but like it or not, until the
political parties behave otherwise, or the general political education
level of voters is increased, it is how the system will be interpreted
in the mainstream. Aiming to expand knowledge is an honourable cause. Informing people of
how the system is designed and (on paper) works, is a noble fight. But
throwing ones hands up in exasperation at all “we didn’t elect Julia”,
or berating Gillard for her up-front disarming of the issue, only
serves to vent and does little to change perceptions. So next time someone complains about not having “elected our PM”,
inform them of the actual system, but don’t berate them for simply
learning by the example of the major parties.
Jun 22 10
“Fixing” iOS4 Auto-Correct
Just a couple of quick things for (finally) getting the iPhone to recognise some of the more colourful words in the English language:
- Settings > Keyboards > International Keyboards > Add New keyboard… > English (UK). Doesn't appear to change the layout at all, but stops the autocorrect from trying to put a 'z' in where an 's' should be.
- Settings > Keyboards > International Keyboards > Add New keyboard… > Chinese – Simplified (Pinyin). Once you've put this, or certain other keyboards (appears to be ones that use different characters), you will then see a new option under Settings > Keyboards called … wait for it … Edit User Dictionary…
Finally, my iPhone can realise the glory of a correctly spelled fuck.
Props to user modular747 on the Apple Support forums for the (crazy) steps required for Edit User Dictionary.
Jun 20 10
Blast from the past …
I really should be throwing out old rubbish, but I find myself occasionally picking something up and looking at it.
Like this excerpt from a diary entry dated 5th of July, 2000:
My new computer is giving me the shits. Well, no, that’s not entirely true. The fact that the printer port isn’t working shits me because I can’t get my Zip drive to work, which means I can’t get stuff off zip disks onto my new computer. This would be find if I could get the null modem connection between my new and old computers to work, but that isn’t working either, so at present the only thing that I can do to transfer documents is HyperTerminal, which is incredibly slow and dodge.
Zip disks? Null modem? HyperTerminal? Holy shit!
