This anti-cyber bullying campaign has a Hunger Game feel

I have never given reality TV the time of day - it allows the mainstream media to endorse bad behaviour for entertainment and ratings.

The "Mockingjay's" campaign against "Twitter trolls" has a real Hunger Games feel about it.

Suddenly, it's not ok to brush bullying, selfish, competitive behaviour aside as a joke?

Everyone knows that bullying was around long before Twitter.

Just ask the kids from the Sydney high school who had their faces plastered all over the front page of the Mockingjay for being dunces of the nation.

No one asks to be bullied.

And the best thing to hope for now is that ALL media outlets and public figures come to understand the effects of bullying and promote awareness of the nature of bullying.

As the Entertainment, TV & Arts writer for the Courier-Mail in the 1990s, I saw the transition of entertainment culture to reality TV. Decay does not happen overnight.

I have come to terms with the creeping uneasiness I felt over "cultural" developments of Australia in the early 2000s.

For many Australians, the "children overboard" was among the bully-boy tactics that sparked personal crisis of national identity.

The bad behaviour that is played out today on city streets, in suburban malls, and in social media is not a product of Twitter or Facebook.

Rather it is evidence of 18-wheelers moving in convoy. "Time is up for Twitter."

So now everyone on Twitter are trolls? 

This is jolly evidence of the Australian culture in play. It's not just business models and media platforms in flux.

As the former host of the ABC's Media Watch program, Richard Ackland, observes in the Sydney Morning Herald there has been a dumbing down.

Our politicians once knew how to cleverly parry with words. 

The problem of substance and style goes beyond politicians.

Go bushwalking in the Toohey Forest and you might, if you are listening, hear the tweeting of a little blue finch.

It's almost drowned out by the rumble of major arterial highways. The problem is bigger than Twitter.

At the heart of this problem is a lack of respect.

Exoplanet Hubble photo inspired print project for iPod covers

This time of year, every year, it is my tradition to make a lino cut. I have printed t-shirts, made t-shirts, printed pillow slips and made covered photo albums over the years.

This year I found a pattern for iPod covers. So I'm giving it a go.

I'm planning to make two patterns this year. I found this image of an exoplanet taken by the Hubble Telescope. It reminded me of this image called The Explosion:

Loved Roy Lichtenstein since high school art class - long time.

Of course, a lino cut doesn't print out anything like this. And I wanted a pixelated effect.

Next year I will need to invest in a new set of colours. Might give it another go.

Will post the final iPod cover when I get done.

Wish I was in Washington for the Lichtenstein retrospective.

 

Loops through a PHP manual to command WordPress

WordPress is not a magic lamp

Have you set up your organic server (your brain) to parse English? Then this post may pass mustard - I mean muster ;)

I am going to assign a few values by creating a series of expressions - by jingo in English!

Control structures and syntax of the English language are many and useful also.

It seems like the WP Codex (manual) is full of parallel lines that branch off and it's not clear when they merge to form a complete picture! You say syntax and I say grammar.

No curly syntax here.  // *N.B. Curly Syntax involves curly brackets { }* //

"Me Golem. You Mister."

OMG! Shared meaning.  

Pause. Deep breathe. Ok. 

The only "loop" that a lost, weary traveler finds in a desperate search for points of reference in WP Codex is a continuous retracing of steps over and over and over the same pages to spot the double entendre - the meaning hidden in code on the page.

A simple and direct introductory statement would be nice. There's a few missing statements, a few values that aren't properly assigned.

Ima gonna give ya some examples:

Number 1. You call it "The Loop" and you talk about "The Index" but I can't find where you say that this super power called "The Loop" is in "The Index". Ah, my precious!

Number 2. Nothing works unless to tell it what to do in the "Functions" file. So this was made clear at a Brisbane WordPress Meet-Up this week. Ho-ho-ho! Merry Christmas!

I'm in the Codex creche.

So finally I gave up on copying and pasting code and getting by on a little of the lingo.

How hard can PHP be?

Well, after repeating the manual chapters out loud several times pieces fall into place.

I just want to know the difference between single and double quotes and why on this planet do the tags work sometimes but not always.

Patience my pretty.

Put on your galoshes. Head through the forest, down into the wolf's lair, push the rock aside at the back of the dark tunnel and ... wait for a response from your forum question. Another day passes.

Hitler does live on - as a server. I've been shot down so many times that I feel like Sebastian. 

You know that meaning doesn't exist unless it's assigned a value - so much for objectivity.

Have you still got your first pair of heels?

I was so proud of my first pair of high heels. Today they are called "court shoes". 

The lovlies I bought at 17 look quite sensible by "stripper heel" standards.  Stripper heel ladies of today walk tall - if you call it walking. Am I jealous? Sometimes.

Mum bought me a pair of shoes last week. Cuties. Comfortable. Like a second skin. And they reminded me of another old pair of shoes...

This pair was a bargain circa probably 2007-2008 - under $100.

Wedges still around. Boutique gone.

Good runners cradle your foot and rock in perfect balance to propel you forwards - warning: no brakes.

Easily packed in a corner. Very handy for attending premieres and network press launches in their day.

Toe crushers crippling at weddings.

Genuine, made in Brisbane, 1950s, all leather and bought from an actual "emporium" in a little hinterland town. Pristine, vintage, boxed for $20.

On a whim. $20. Thought it might come in handy for 1960s fancy dress. 

Thick and thin and then a new puppy fancies them.

So the puppy claimed two pairs of shoes and a pair of boots - worn three times. 

Boots (ankle, lace-ups, hiking, long),  a tonne of runners, a fortune in dance shoes, many sandles but, alas, no stripper heels. Walk tall.

When I was kid my father put up a scroll in the kitchen that read: I had no shoes and I complained until I met a man who had no feet.

I always thought it meant appreciate what you have. But now I see a different meaning. Before you judge, walk a mile in their shoes. I don't believe I can walk a mile in stripper heels.

Do you still have your first pair of heels?