TWLOHA – To Write Love on Her Arms – Sept 25th #Australia #love #geekgirl

http://www.twloha.com.au

On the 25th of September, 2010 there will be an Australia-wide To Write Love On Her Arms Day.

What is To Write Love On Her Arms? (TWLOHA for short)

TWLOHA is a movement dedicated to helping the fight against depression, addiction, self-harm and suicide. A non-profit, non-commercial and non-religious. TWLOHA is people helping people, nothing more and nothing less.

What do I have to do?
Quite simply; write the word LOVE on your arm. That is all we ask of you. If you’d like to take a photo of it and post it to our group, we’d love that. We’d love you to tell your friends and family why you’ve written it there, and we’d love you to help them write love on their arms as well.

If you’re in Melbourne, Sydney, Hobart or Launceston and wish to get more involved, then please seek out the TWLOHA representatives in your area.

Can I get more information?
Yes you can! Check out our website at http://www.twloha.com.au/, post a comment on the wall of this event or the TWLOHA Australia group, or email support@twloha.com.au

Wanna get involved, help us out, offer your services, or be in one of the groups on the ground? Let us know and we’ll help you out.

–

The vision is the possibility that your best days are ahead.

The vision is the possibility that we’re more loved than we’ll ever know.

The vision is hope, and hope is real.

You are not alone, and this is not the end of your story.

Remember; Love is the Movement.

Help save orang-utans and help save ourselves #donate #geekgirl

orangutans

Please give generously to help these awesome orang-utans.

DONATE GREENPEACE US

Stay in touch and informed and  how you can help locally; via Australian Zoos. And contribute to the Zoos Victoria Foundation Orang-utan Conservation Fund.

Editor’s note: Animals in all shapes and sizes humble us. Even the little mouse that has inhabited our home makes me smile. Not because she poos everywhere and eats our cheese and chocolate. It’s because she is small, vulnerable and like us all, scurries around just trying to survive. Each time you help an animal cause you help humanity understand the great chain of connections we have to each other, and the richness we all share while alive. Loving animals is a sign of loving ourselves. *HUGS* GG

Gays on boats are my worst nightmare #ausvotes #wrongchoice

Scott Pilgrim vs the World was lame…

.. the end.

Cherchez la Femme III: Feminism and Sport #melbourne #feminism #geekgirl

Description
Gear up for the third instalment of Cherchez la Femme: Feminism and Sport. Is the Australian obsession with sport an intractable problem for the feminist project? Is it just institutionalised aggression, bloodlust and body fascism? Or can it be a space in which women take power, channel their own aggression, and feel part of a community? The panel will be made up of athletes, fanatical consumers of sporting coverage, critics of the elite codes, sporting enthusiasts, game-goers and all manner of other feminists for a full and frank appraisal of how women fit in to a discussion about sport and our society.

Speakers: Lisa Gye, boxer Mischa Merz, roller girl Genevieve ‘danger’ Berrick and Seb Prowse

Tuesday, July 6, 2010
7:00pm – 9:00pm
The Fox Hotel
351 Wellington St (cnr Alexandra Pde)
Collingwood, Melbourne, Australia
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Some mugs will believe anything – #geekgirl sets the record straight.

It must have been a slow news day when this piece
http://www.zdnet.com.au/claws-out-over-geekgirl-trademark-339303290.htm was published.

It was either that or a PR bull-terrier behind an item adorably titled,  ”Claws out over geekgirl trademark.”

Lads’ Mag slug aside, it was the content that really ticked me off.  While the piece has been edited many times since it appeared last Friday, it did initially paint me as a copyright thug.

In the hope of beating down this beat up, I elected to do the “no comment” thing.  I’m a feminist, for goddess’ sake.  The last thing I want to  do is add fuel to the flame of a “catfight” story.

But, I’ve had enough of staying quiet. I won’t repeat the threats and insults pelted at the geekgirl door. Let it suffice to say that they have  been loud enough to tempt me out of silence.

Since the piece first appeared, the editors have amended their words.  As the edits took place, I changed from a freedom-eating monster into an unwilling partner in a dispute I didn’t start.

I’m glad the reporters actually got their reporting freak on and bothered to change this PR spin.  In the meantime, though, I’ve become the target of some pretty outsize abuse.

In recent days, I’ve been drenched in the sort of bile you only find on the internet.  For a day there, I became a trending topic. For a week now, I’ve been the object of scorn from a number of prominent online commentators.

Enough. Let me set you straight.

In 1995, IP Australia awarded me trademarks for ‘geekgirl’; this was in large part due to my recognised contributions to cyber-feminism and in mentoring women in IT.

In April 2010, IP Australia rejected the January application by Sydney-based IT consultant Kate Carruthers for the same name.

Kate’s initial reasons for her January application are still unclear to me. What is clear, though, is she has been building a PR narrative in which I star as the Copyright Monster with Fangs.

In recent days, she has claimed in media and podcast interviews that all she really wanted to do was “liberate” the phrase “geek girl” for use in everyday speech.

I might be able to understand Kate’s public and private actions if I was, say Time Warner, or Oprah Winfrey instead of a cyber-feminist nerd running a small business. And, you might be able to understand them if there was clear evidence of me running around issuing cease-and-desists to everyone and their dog.  Which I wasn’t.  Which I wouldn’t.  Try me. Say “Geek Girl” in conversation now.  Anything happen? No.  Marvel as I do not beat down your door and demand an immediate retraction.

Of course, you could be forgiven for thinking that’s how I’ve behaved. Kate did, after all, do an A-Grade PR Number.  If you ever need some good spin, use her people.

What catalysed the hate-storm was Kate’s assertion, expressed in direct quotes to ZDNet, that I had told her directly not to use the Twitter hashtag #geekgirl.

WTF?  She has since retracted this statement and admitted it is not true.

I just don’t “get” this absurd situation. I don’t get why Kate felt it necessary to protect something I was never contesting.  I don’t get why she’s nominated me as this month’s bete-noire. I don’t get why she never thought to pick up a phone or a mouse to talk this through. Most of all, I don’t get the hate expressed by a handful of hatey haters.

Things can move at such high-speed.  It would be great if we could slow down just a bit and wait  for the truth to arrive before hitting ‘send’, ‘post’ or ‘tweet’. It might also be nice to remember that behind those avatars you’re tearing apart to make your important point about IP, mindshare, liberty or whatever, there are people.

To be clear: yes, I want a fair and reasonable control of IP that is demonstrably and legally mine.  While I acknowledge and understand the many arguments against ownership of any kind: seriously. It’s not like Leo Tolstoy has called me to task, here. No. It’s a person who lists Business Process Reengineering, e-Commerce and Strategic Planning among her professional specialties.

I suspect that Kate, with her impressive business résumé, understands trademark law. I suspect that Kate, with her impressive business résumé, has a fairly cosy relationship to capitalism. So, I also suspect that she’s being disingenuous when she says she wants to “liberate” and “share”.  It feels to me that what she may want to do is “take” rather than “share”; all the while building up the “online reputation” successful business people talk about in Digital Marketing workshops.

I am proud of the little virtual place I have built. I am proud to bursting of the women I have mentored.  I am proud of never having gone  to business school or writing the words “Business Process Reengineering” on my résumé.

I am also proud to launch the new line of my merchandise, starting with:  ”Some mugs will believe anything” Buy now

*hugs* geekgirl

hashtag-geekgirl-mug

Whips are so last season, let Australian jockeys know how you feel.

Good timing for the RSPCA to launch their campaign Less is More, Whips are so Last Season – a girl’s guide to the races. It’s a really nice campaign that allows people to show their support by recording a personal message to Australian jockeys. Hopefully there will be lots of participation leading up to the Melbourne cup.

Show Australian jockeys that you think less is more when it comes to whips.

Email a photo of you (perhaps in your raceday best) holding a Less is more sign to post@rspcalessismore.posterous.com, along with your name and email address somewhere in the message body.

We want to show the Australian Racing Board and the Australian Jockeys Association these photos as an indication of public support for this issue, so make sure your friends get involved too!

All submissions will be held briefly for moderation to ensure contributions are tasteful.

For more information, see http://www.rspca.org.au/lessismore

FULL TILT at the Arts Centre presents CANDY BOWERS in Who’s That Chik?

Kurt Vonnegut Explains Drama

I always knew Kurt Vonnegut produced incredibly awesome fiction: turns out he’s also a truly pragmatic behaviouralist/visionary [+ yup the two *can* go together]. Take, for instance, his reasoning on how the average joe [+ jane] may just form a slightly whackjob set of perceptions centred around interactions with others + associated notions of “drama”:

“People have been hearing fantastic stories since time began. The problem is, they think life is supposed to be like the stories…because we grew up surrounded by big dramatic story arcs in books and movies, we think are lives are supposed to be filled with huge ups and downs! So people pretend there is drama where there is none.”

Read more [with spiffo graphs] @ Derek Sivers’ blog.

The Story of Gusty and Ford

[The following is a type of latent design morality tale concerning observation: train yourself to look + you never know what might eventuate;) Oh + it should be viewed with the following warning in mind - there's a few mild "adult concepts" involved, so view at your own risk.]

“This film is about the way you see more when you walk – in this case, the way you look at road signs. I didn’t drive anywhere to shoot any of these road signs. Most of them I walked to and one of them was in Norway and turned out to be quite a long walk especially carrying a camera.”