Posts by Robyn Gallagher
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All the discussions around autism in Public Address have helped me understand it more. I know a couple of people who are at the milder end of the austim spectrum, and it's just helped me understand why they do the things they do - why one girl can barely hold a conversation, but has a deliciously poetic LiveJournal filled with fan fiction and other delights.
Also, OMG - iMac desire! I'm a little wary of the keyboard - it seems like it might not be kind to fingers, but I'd like to give it a go. It makes me wish I had a lovely home office set up so I could justify getting one.
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On the subject of child abuse, is anyone planning on doing the "three minutes of silence" thing at 12.12 today (as suggested by Family First NZ, For the Sake of Our Children Trust, and the Sensible Sentencing Trust)?
The general consensus amongst Herald readers seems to be that it won't really achieve much, and, um, shouldn't we we speaking out rather than shutting up?
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Today's Guardian magazine has a good piece on the autistic rights movement, including Autscape, a conference for autistic people being held this week in England.
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Exhibit A: Stuff website, 2000. Exhibit B: Stuff website, 2007. The hard news portion of the website has gone from 80% of page width to 40%.
I opened the 2000 and 2007 Stuffs and compared them side by side.
In 2000, my browser size showed links to four stories, but in the 2007 version, there were links to 13 stories. I think the 80% going to 40% was done partly by getting rid of a lot of white space.
The old Stuff design kinda sucked, but it's interesting to consider what was brought in with the new design.
In Motoring, you have a Lexus ad.
Last year I was looking at [a popular news website], when I came across an ad for a car next to an article about a horrific car crash. The ad was sexing up the experience of driving fast (but safely, of course), which seemed even worse.
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I hope you raise obscene amounts of moola.
Speaking of which, is there a way that those of us who care but can't be there can donate?
I missed out at Hustle For Russell time cos I was in a maxed-out/starving artist phase, but now I'd like to give a little something.
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Even if it's only one child murder a year, it's unacceptable. The point I hoped to make (but obviously failed) was that nothing is going to change until we all want it to change.
It's that genuine motivation to change that seems to be lacking.
David Cohen was on Breakfast this morning talking about autism, and he said that whenever a family tragedy like this happens, everyone starts wailing and offering opinions and saying things must change, "and then, suddenly, nothing happens."
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Cutting the benefit of someone who's likely to abuse and forcing them to get a job isn't going to suddenly turn them into a non-abusive person.
I know that getting a cool job after a period of long unemployment feels really good, but turning someone from a dole bludger into, say, a cleaner isn't going to suddenly remove the thing that makes them the sort of person who'd harm a child.
It seems that many of the solutions offered to this problems are based around monitoring. Helen Clark was on Breakfast this morning saying that Nia Glassie had "fallen through absolutely every crack".
But why is it that children are getting into positions where they need to be monitored by support agencies in the first place? A child who hasn't been abused is better off than a child who has been abused and rescued, so why aren't we aiming for that?
It's hard to not feel helpless.
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Well, quite. But Freema will be back midway through the series, so that's alright.
And she's due to make an appearance in a few episode of series two of Torchwood, which I'm really looking forward to.
I think having Catherine Tate was the Doctor's assistant may take some of the comedic burden away from the Doctor and let him get down to business.
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So my nuts will be there.
Oh, how I wish I was in Wellington!
I'm sure it'll be a great evening. I'm really excited about the launch of the Humans website, and looking forward to reading David's book.
I insist that all my posse in the capital get along and support this super event and have a great time.
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Yep, it's the 2006 Christmas special. If you currently want to see the Kylie Christmas special, you'll need a Tardis.
But how about this - Catherine Tate, who plays the runaway bride, is coming back as the Doctor's companion for series four. (Not a plot spoiler, by the way.)
This has caused murmurings of displeasure amongst Doctor Who nerds on the intertubes, who find Ms Tate a little caustic and not quite the same calibre of hottie as Billie Piper and Freema Agyeman.