Community
Story of Me
AFA Forums - Sat, 2012-02-04 16:33
I've been thoroughly enjoying reading everyone else's stories, so here's mine thus far..
Was raised a muslim in the middle east..not great for women.
My earliest memory is being told by my teachers not to play with the christian kids...and to spit on the ground because that's where the devil lives.
Was also made to change my writing hand from left to right because the devil does everything with his left hand.. very, very confusing.
Finally escaped to Australia. Found out that I made a pretty bad muslim.
Never understood why my honour, that of my family, and my worth, were all tied up in my hymen and its state of repair/disrepair.
Continued participating in the religion for the sake of my family - also because I was not ready to be shunned by my communit - even though I drank, did drugs and had both girlfriends and boyfriends.
After asking allah repeatedly to show himself to me by helping my mother overcome her depression and severe bipolar, he did jack shit. Which meant either one of two things: 1/ allah can see what's happening to my family and does not care enough to intervene/ is too cruel to do so, or 2/ that he was powerless to stop it. Either option made him redundant to me. A powerless god is useless to me, as is one who is cruel beyond belief.
Had the guts to "come out" to my parents when I was 19. They were amazing, and my mother has since accepted her own atheism. I must say that it was she who taught me to be the worst muslim in the world! Shukran Mama!!
Devoured any literature I could get my hands on...
Dated a monk (fresh out of the monestary...reminded me of Samantha on SATC doing "friar fuck"), realised that even buddhists can get it so wrong.
Now live with my beautiful hard-core-atheist partner in a country full of crazy xtians! Trying to spread our own good word to anyone who would listen..
And that's my story...
Categories: Community
Creepy Creepy Creeps
AFA Forums - Sat, 2012-02-04 16:00
My friend lives in a set of units which shares its fence with a church. The other night she was sitting outside and looking up at what she had always assumed was an unused and bricked-off bell tower. Except, then she noticed that the bricks at the top of the tower were moving with the wind, very much like a sheet being rippled. When she checked in the morning, she realised that on all four sides of the square tower appx.3mx2m area of bricks were cleared and replaced with one-way brick-painted mesh.
We find it creepy..very creepy. We are now on a mission to find a spud gun so we can shoot through the mesh and find out what really is up there.
Oh, and if anyone lives close to Ashburton in Melbourne, you'll be able to see it for yourselves..
Categories: Community
Parents lobby against religious instruction in Victoria
AFA Forums - Sat, 2012-02-04 13:38
It's about time.
Quote:
PARENTS are stepping up pressure on the Education Department to end religious education in state schools amid claims it is making children isolated and fearful.
A massive billboard has been erected in Bulleen claiming state schools "are not church playgrounds".
It says: "Special religious instruction divides our children".
The billboard was erected by parent-run lobby group FIRIS (Fairness in Religion in Schools), which is calling on education authorities to change the law so that "special religious instruction" is no longer offered in state schools.
Victorian state school children have to attend 30 minutes of special religious instruction unless their parents decline on their behalf.
Those who do not attend have to be supervised by another teacher outside the classroom where the religious lesson is taking place.
It comes ahead of a VCAT case challenging the validity of religious classes in state schools.
Kathy Walker, a leading educational consultant from Early Life Foundations, said dividing children on the basis of their parents' religious beliefs was a form of discrimination.
"For some children the impact will be minimal, but others might feel isolated, anxious or fearful, and being separated would be a blow to their self-esteem," she said.
Parents are also being told the scheme is not workable in its current form.
Julia Brotherton, of Canterbury, said her daughter's school principal told her it was difficult to find staff to supervise children who did not attend religious classes.
This meant her daughter remained in the religious classroom even though she was legally required to be supervised elsewhere.
A spokeswoman for the Education Department said it received several hundred letters and emails on the issue.
A spokeswoman for Access Ministries, the main provider of volunteer religious teachers, had no comment.
Categories: Community
Living Atlas
AFA Forums - Sat, 2012-02-04 12:58
Quote:
The Atlas of Living Australia is a joint initiative to build a national database of our flora and fauna. The project brings together a huge array of information on Australias biodiversity, accessible through a single website. Partners in this collaborative project include CSIRO, museums, herbaria, other biological collections, the Australian Government and the community.
The ALA website and newly developed software are already being used in a range of research projects and biodiversity surveys, monitoring, educational activities and natural resource management and reporting. Software is also being developed for mobile devices that will assist both amateurs and professional scientists with capturing observations in the field.
Museum Victoria, Queensland Museum, Birds Australia, Earthwatch, the Great Eastern Ranges Initiative, Canberra Ornithologists Group urban bird survey and the Atlas of Life in the Coastal Wilderness are some of the organisations using ALAs online tools to record, map and manage biodiversity information.
ALA is providing support to demonstrate the effectiveness of community participation. Trials are underway to tackle the enormous task of digitising the large number of specimens held by museums and herbaria that have no database record. Two museums are using volunteers to help photograph and digitise museum collections. People at home will be able to assist the digitising work by transcribing label and record information over the web.
ALA is giving strong support to helping complete the national species names lists. Online services will provide reliable and authoritative names needed by people working with plants and animals.
The ALA has established national databases for identification keys (IdentifyLife), images (Morphbank) and biodiversity literature (Biodiversity Heritage Library).
During 2011- 2012, the ALA will continue to improve and expand its data platform, tools and website.
http://www.ala.org.au/
I haven't had time to look right through the site, but it looks like fun.
Mods, if this is already here somewhere, feel free to bin it.
(Hope I've done this right:D)
Categories: Community
The Shit One Finds On The Net
AFA Forums - Sat, 2012-02-04 07:09
From BoingBoing:
Quote:
For many years, most of the Internet ran on ASCII, a character set that had a limited number of accents and diacriticals, and which didn't support non-Roman script at all. Unicode, a massive, sprawling replacement, has room for all sorts of characters and alphabets, and can be extended with "private use areas" that include support for Klingon.
But for all that, I never dreamt that Unicode was so vast as to contain a special character for a "pile of poo." Name: PILE OF POO
Block: Miscellaneous Symbols And Pictographs
Category: Symbol, Other [So]
Index entries: POO, PILE OF
Comments: dog dirt
Version: Unicode 6.0.0 (October 2010)
HTML Entity: 💩
Here is "Pile of Poo" in whatever font your browser renders this page in: 💩
Unicode Character 'PILE OF POO' (U+1F4A9)
Categories: Community
Free software to create a bootable clone of HD?
AFA Forums - Fri, 2012-02-03 19:36
Howdy all, just wondering if anyone knows of free software (windows) that will allow me to create a bootable clone of my laptops hard drive. I think all the issues i've been having have been hard drive related, and she may not be much longer for this world! I have an external drive with space, but all my googling has only showed up software that must be bought. Anyone know of a tight-arse way around this? :rolleyes::)
EDIT: I have found a couple of freebies, but am a little nervous so if anyone has experience with one in particular would feel a bit more comfortable.
Categories: Community
France: The Church of Scientology guilty of fraud
AFA Forums - Fri, 2012-02-03 19:06
One small step for man. One giant leap for mankind!
http://translate.google.com/translat...4.html&act=url
French Publication via Google Translate
Quote:
The appeal court in Paris sentenced, Thursday, Feb. 2, two French entities of Scientology to 600,000 euro fine for "organized fraud" in a case unprecedented in American group. "The combination of spiritual Church of Scientology Celebrity Centre considers that the decision is totally flawed and unfair because it is the result of a sort of ghost trial, where numerous irregularities and violations of human rights of Scientologists have succeeded, "she said in a statement. "She announces that she immediately appealed in cassation against the judgment of the Court of Appeal," she added.
The main French official, Alain Rosenberg , was sentenced to two years suspended sentence and 30,000 euro fine, prison sentences were suspended, and fines were issued against three other officials.
The trial was cut short in November due to the departure of the defendants and their lawyers, speaking of "court of inquisition." This judgment confirms the judgment of first instance which had seen such legal persons of the Church of Scientology hit of 600,000 euro fine in October 2009.
The prosecution accused the two main structures of the French Scientology - the spiritual association of the Church of Scientology Celebrity Centre and its bookshop SEL - and five Scientologists to have taken advantage of the vulnerability of their former followers to elicit strong money. She asked that the fines are "not inferior" to a million and 500,000 euros against the Celebrity Centre and the SEL, but no prohibition of exercise .
Categories: Community
Psychic juror discharged over 'vision'
AFA Forums - Fri, 2012-02-03 17:49
Quote:
A JUROR was discharged from sitting on an arson trial after fears she could be influenced by a vision she had about the fire rather than the evidence.
The Court of Appeal in Brisbane last year upheld an appeal by a man who was jailed for allegedly burning down his house and making a fraudulent claim on his insurance.
However, the Court of Appeal did not release its reasons for upholding the appeal until today.
But get this bit down the bottom.
Quote:
The judge had discharged the juror because of the risk that she may be influenced by what she apprehended as another power instead of solely by the evidence before the court.
Does that mean no religious person can serve on a jury? :D
Categories: Community
Hagfish predatory behaviour and slime defence mechanism.
AFA Forums - Fri, 2012-02-03 17:25
NB: FREE + TWO MOVIES!
Zintzen, V., C. D. Roberts, et al. (2011). "Hagfish predatory behaviour and slime defence mechanism." Sci. Rep. 1.
Quote:
Hagfishes (Myxinidae), a family of jawless marine pre-vertebrates, hold a unique evolutionary position, sharing a joint ancestor with the entire vertebrate lineage. They are thought to fulfil primarily the ecological niche of scavengers in the deep ocean. However, we present new footage from baited video cameras that captured images of hagfishes actively preying on other fish. Video images also revealed that hagfishes are able to choke their would-be predators with gill-clogging slime. This is the first time that predatory behaviour has been witnessed in this family, and also demonstrates the instantaneous effectiveness of hagfish slime to deter fish predators. These observations suggest that the functional adaptations and ecological role of hagfishes, past and present, might be far more diverse than previously assumed. We propose that the enduring success of this oldest extant family of fishes over 300 million years could largely be due to their unique combination of functional traits.
http://www.nature.com/srep/2011/1110...p00131.html#f3
http://www.nature.com/srep/2011/1110...ep00131-s1.mov
http://www.nature.com/srep/2011/1110...ep00131-s2.mov
Categories: Community
Incipient speciation in Drosophila melanogaster involves chemical signals
AFA Forums - Fri, 2012-02-03 16:57
FREE:-
Grillet, M., C. Everaerts, et al. (2012). "Incipient speciation in Drosophila melanogaster involves chemical signals." Sci. Rep. 2.
Quote:
The sensory and genetic bases of incipient speciation between strains of Drosophila melanogaster from Zimbabwe and those from elsewhere are unknown. We studied mating behaviour between eight strains six from Zimbabwe, together with two cosmopolitan strains. The Zimbabwe strains showed significant sexual isolation when paired with cosmopolitan males, due to Zimbabwe females discriminating against these males. Our results show that flies' cuticular hydrocarbons (CHs) were involved in this sexual isolation, but that visual and acoustic signals were not. The mating frequency of Zimbabwe females was highly significantly negatively correlated with the male's relative amount of 7-tricosene (%7-T), while the mating of cosmopolitan females was positively correlated with %7-T. Variation in transcription levels of two hydrocarbon-determining genes, desat1 and desat2, did not correlate with the observed mating patterns. Our study represents a step forward in our understanding of the sensory processes involved in this classic case of incipient speciation.
http://www.nature.com/srep/2012/1201...srep00224.html
Categories: Community
"Suicide Is Painless", No, its FITNESS [MA.S.H.]
AFA Forums - Fri, 2012-02-03 16:45
FULL PAPER AVAILABLE:-
Fukuyo, M., A. Sasaki, et al. (2012). "Success of a suicidal defense strategy against infection in a structured habitat." Sci. Rep. 2.
Quote:
Pathogen infection often leads to the expression of virulence and host death when the host-pathogen symbiosis seems more beneficial for the pathogen. Previously proposed explanations have focused on the pathogen's side. In this work, we tested a hypothesis focused on the host strategy. If a member of a host population dies immediately upon infection aborting pathogen reproduction, it can protect the host population from secondary infections. We tested this "Suicidal Defense Against Infection" (SDAI) hypothesis by developing an experimental infection system that involves a huge number of bacteria as hosts and their virus as pathogen, which is linked to modeling and simulation. Our experiments and simulations demonstrate that a population with SDAI strategy is successful in the presence of spatial structure but fails in its absence. The infection results in emergence of pathogen mutants not inducing the host suicide in addition to host mutants resistant to the pathogen.
http://www.nature.com/srep/2012/1201...p00238.html#f5
Categories: Community
Brady, S. P. (2012). "Road to evolution? [FREE]
AFA Forums - Fri, 2012-02-03 16:27
Brady, S. P. (2012). "Road to evolution? Local adaptation to road adjacency in an amphibian (Ambystoma maculatum)." Sci. Rep. 2.
Quote:
The network of roads on the landscape is vast, and contributes a suite of negative ecological effects on adjacent habitats, ranging from fragmentation to contamination by runoff. In addition to the immediate consequences faced by biota living in roaded landscapes, road effects may further function as novel agents of selection, setting the stage for contemporary evolutionary changes in local populations. Though the ecological consequences of roads are well described, evolutionary outcomes remain largely unevaluated. To address these potential responses in tandem, I conducted a reciprocal transplant experiment on early life history stages of a pool-breeding salamander. My data show that despite a strong, negative effect of roadside pools on salamander performance, populations adjacent to roads are locally adapted. This suggests that the response of species to human-altered environments varies across local populations, and that adaptive processes may mediate this response.
FULL PAPER AVAILABLE:-
http://www.nature.com/srep/2012/1201...srep00235.html
Categories: Community
Young Australian of the Year
AFA Forums - Fri, 2012-02-03 16:18
Quote:
A fellow Victorian, student Marita Cheng, 22, was named Young Australian of the Year for encouraging high school girls to pursue engineering careers.
In 2008, she founded Robogals Global to teach girls at secondary schools about science and technology in fun ways.
Julia Gillard and Marita Cheng. Picture: Gary Ramage
In just two years, the organisation had ran workshops for more than 3000 girls in Australia and now has 17 branches across Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.
Ms Cheng said she supported the Labor Government's plans for further education reforms and said she was excited to read Ms Gillard's outline of them earlier this week.
"I'll be happy to talk to the prime minister about my thoughts on education and how I think we should shape it so kids get interested in maths and science from a really young age," she said.
"I think we just need to encourage kids just to stay in there and work over those hurdles and they'll be all the better for it."
I only saw this story today and it made me happy.
So much better than worshipping people for chasing a fricken ball around.
Categories: Community
do what you want'
AFA Forums - Fri, 2012-02-03 15:33
I thought I would make a super random thread about what im dealing with in terms of coaching and business.
Towards the end of last year it was looking pretty bleak for the club I coach and and help run. Memberships were dangerously low, the landlord for where the gym was doing some wheeli g and dealing which meant tnr building was being less and less like the gym both athletes and administrators wanted to be apart of. Im being a bit vague on purpose.
My philosophy has always been 'do what you want'' in the sense of building the gym you want to run, being the father you want to be, treating people how you think you should. I could go more. I really pushed the idea of running a gym I both wanted to lead, manage and coach in as well as train in. After doing a good bit of market research and planning we ended up taking a big chance and move into our own location. Sure we became pretty vaulruable...I felt that if we were to build it, they would come.
Its paid off. The club is in now a much better position than it was 18 months ago due to several key aliences.
Categories: Community
Founder Effects Persist Despite Adaptive Differentiation
AFA Forums - Fri, 2012-02-03 15:29
Hmmm, an interesting result. Perhaps it takes longer than once thought for Founder effects to dissapear in the face of selection:-
Kolbe, J. J., M. Leal, et al. (2012). "Founder Effects Persist Despite Adaptive Differentiation: A Field Experiment with Lizards." Science.
Quote:
The extent to which random processes such as founder events contribute to evolutionary divergence is a long-standing controversy in evolutionary biology. To determine the respective contribution of founder effects and natural selection, we conducted an experiment in which brown anole (Anolis sagrei) lizard populations were established on seven small islands from male-female pairs randomly drawn from the same large-island source. These founding events generated significant among-island genetic and morphological differences that persisted throughout the course of the experiment despite all populations adapting in the predicted directionshorter hindlimbsin response to the narrower vegetation on the small islands. Thus, using a replicated experiment in nature, we showed that both founder effects and natural selection jointly determine trait values in these populations.
Abstract only:-
http://www.sciencemag.org/citmgr?gca...ence.1209566v1
Categories: Community
Immigration Disapproves Of Sweary Evangelist
AFA Forums - Fri, 2012-02-03 14:23
http://www.freshfire.ca/events/view/520-Australian-Tour-On-Hold - he say:
Quote:
The Australian Tour is currently on hold until further Notice. Australian Immigration has denied Todd entry into the country at this time. We are however doing everything we can to get an answer for the denied entry. We have sent all the required documents and are awaiting approval from Australian Immigration to be allowed to come to Australia and Minister.
Reason for refusal: character grounds perhaps?
Wiki has more
Categories: Community
Time to stand up and be counted
AFA Forums - Fri, 2012-02-03 13:58
Hi All,
I am a married, self employed, 48yo Father of 2 fine boys, 9 & 12, from NW Tasmania.
I was drafting my introduction and it turned into a short story, so I will post that in the coming out thread soon(ish).
I have always been a non-believer, but started referring to myself as an Atheist about 18 months ago, soon after discovering Richard Dawkins for the first time on Q & A. (Subsequent Googling then led me to the Atheist Community, and the light switch).
The Richard Dawkins Foundation mission statement led me to www.criticalthinking.org, which I consider to be the most important thing my brain has been engaged in since learning to read and write. I have begun the lifelong journey to become a fair-minded Critical Thinker.
As a result of a lot of reading (for me) since then, I feel the need to stand up and be counted as an Atheist, and to also reach out and communicate with like minded people, which in turn has resulted in attending the GAC2012 alone and joining this Forum, despite both being a bit out of character.
I look forward to engaging in discussion with a view to learning, and to further understand how I can best contribute (however small) to making a positive difference to humanity.
PS- An assertion I know, but despite the lack of evidence, I DO have a sense of humour. :)
Categories: Community
Urgent help needed please!
AFA Forums - Fri, 2012-02-03 10:27
A file conversion program I've used for ages suddenly wont work today - I'm getting a message saying my computer is missing something called psplog.dll
I don't know what this is! What can I do? It's really urgent as I have to use this program so I can work and I've got an urgent assignment to do.
The latest Windoze update caused one client's server to crash yesterday and the techs said they'd had three other customers with the same problem. I wonder if this has something to do with it?
Anyway - any of you tech heads know what this file is and how I can get it?
Thanks!
Categories: Community
Ratepayers to cop $21,000 blowout for muslim pool privacy curtain.
AFA Forums - Fri, 2012-02-03 10:15
Herald Sun article today (page 37):
'Muslim privacy comes at a cost to ratepayers'
by: John Masanauskas From: Herald Sun February 03, 2012 12:00AM
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/mor...-1226261215523
Quote:
RATEPAYERS will pay for a $21,000 blowout in the cost of special curtains to protect Muslim women's privacy during female-only exercise classes at a suburban pool.
Monash Council has approved the extra cash, bringing the cost of the curtains to more than $66,000.
Last year, it won an exemption from anti-discrimination laws to run the women-only sessions at its Clayton pool, but failed to get a Victorian Multicultural Commission grant to pay for the curtains.
Monash councillor Denise McGill yesterday questioned the amount.
"We could have bought 600 (Islamic) swimsuits for the price we are paying for the curtains," she said.
Cr McGill said she did not oppose the sessions, but believed the money could be better spent.
Islamic Council of Victoria spokesman Nazeem Hussain said: "The purchase of these curtains, and whether they are too expensive, is a decision for the councillors to make, and if the constituents aren't happy ... they are able to object."
Monash Mayor Stefanie Perri said it was wrong to say the sessions were only for Muslims or other minorities.
"This ... will allow women from all backgrounds the opportunity to enjoy a girls' night out in Clayton and will include a series of dry exercise programs, including Zumba and yoga classes," Cr Perri said.
As reported in the Herald Sun last year, the push for the sessions came from a group of mainly African Muslim women. Council accepted a screen was needed for "cultural reasons".
Women will pay a fee for the classes.
The extra money needed for the curtains will be drawn from Monash pool funds.
A line has well and truly been crossed here surely?! There is no way on Earth I would sit quietly having to pay for an exclusive curtain in my municipality for a damn pool.
Why the heck can't they raise their own funds or call on their places of worship to raise the extra funds.
I have been following this story for some time now, but I just didn't think it would come to this.
There are so many issues in that area that the money could be better spent on than providing privacy so a select group of people can bob up and down in the water.!!!
Unbelievable! I will be interested to see if this sets some kind of trend in other public places.
I can't believe they are now trying to shift it away from a Muslim issue to a cultural issue and claim it is for others too. What a croc! (Sorry Croc)
I hope if there is a final decision waiting to be made that it is a clear 'NO!'.
Categories: Community
Happy birthday Sieveboy!
AFA Forums - Fri, 2012-02-03 09:09
The title says it all. :D
Many happy returns, hope you have a great day. :thumbsup:
Categories: Community