Second post I wrote last night:

Did you ever stop to think about whatcha gonna do
With your responsibility?
Or did you,
Just take this job cause it would
Be good for the money
And did you
Ever stop to think
About your duty to mankind
Or did you,
Think ya take this job do favours
For you friends and waste all our time?
So tell me man
Do you realize what you're doing to this good country?
Cause you're selling it all away for your economic
Stability
And you,
Justify everything you do
With the people that you say you're gonna employ
But the unemployment line is getting bigger every year
And you treat us all like toys.
We're just expendable to you
Along now with this land
And there ain't no room left for empathy
And this is something I don't understand
Don't make no sense to me
Justifying everything we do on our economy
And there ain't no room
No more room left for human decency
Justifying everything we do on our economy
And the only time you listen to the people
Is when you think you won't get their vote
Otherwise you really could not give a shit
Don't mind rockin all our boats
And the greatest living friend is a man who goes by
The name of apathy
And we let you get away with everything you like so
You make all your money
But I tell you something right now old man
And this is a fair old warning to you
That the people are waking up
And gonna make you accountable too
Just like the nazi trials in Nuremburg
Hell not so long ago
Gonna make you pay for what you have done
Gonna make you responsible
Cause I don't understand
don't understand
don't understand
what head space you are in
so it must be lies you're speaking
and the land that you love he could not give a damn
about
and the ocean that you love do you think he could give
a fuck about?
And the family that you love do you think he could give
A damn about?
-John Butler, Don't Understand

I think as human beings we have to "pay our fare" for using and abusing the Earth, like you can't just take and not give.

Its stupid to think its all about yourself. Like "i dont care what happens because it doesn't affect me and all i care about is how well off I am and how protected my family is blah blah".

For Extension English I'm reading a book called Utopia by Thomas More (oh by the way I saw next to the "welcome to Mullumbimby" sign-where I live now- the other day a hand made sign saying "Utopians")
anyway it has some very interesting concepts in it.
Like for example Utopia is this land, "perfect land", where everyone gets a basic wage, food, clothes etc, they have to work for 2 yrs on the land, farming so Utopia had enough food, if they're convicted of a crime they have to wear orange clothes, have their head shaved, a nick out of their ear and are forced to endure hard labour at hand of whip and act as slaves that can be "borrowed", until they have change in attitude and have repayed to society what they have done. To me that it the answer to the judicary/penalty system. Repaying what you have done. You could have it as a motto for life actually anyway, what use are criminals locked up rotting away in cells screwing up their life even more?! Its like they are just a social burden. gee what do you want them to become, hardened individuals or refromed ones that can see the errors of their ways and understand the need to repay back what they have done. I.e Arsonists (like the lowest of low) should have to repair bushland, look after injured animals etc etc.
More also talks about the government, in which every household can only have between 10-14 (i think) people in it, no more, no less, and you have to join other households if yours gets too full etc, and there is like a head person in the household, then for every 30 households there is a head person and depending on what level the issue is, these heads meet and make decisions etc. Its quite an interesting system. Kinda like communism.

But it gets you thinking, and im sure this will be an essay question, Is Utopia really Utopia?

I mean living in today's world, would we really want to have that basic life? Like although Utopians only work 6hr days, because everyone works and there's no need to work longer and has to have a trade or can study if it benefits society its very much the enjoyment of basic things: family, peace blah blah, no computers or different clothes (everyone wears the same).

It probably could work in a small isolated community.
It's like the system of "Echoes" that a lady we know borrowed the concept of and introduced in the Blue Mountains. It basically is a form of payment whereby, you want something and in return you give them a service or something. I'll give an example. You want to buy a couch, so you get the couch and your a massuer so you give the person 3 free massages or your a candle maker so you give them 10 free candles. Its called resource interchangeability from what I recall of Community and family studies. Quite a good concept.

Have to keep reading Utopia to find out/remember more.

Hmm, I wouldn't say society and culture is the only stimulating HSC course, a lot would depend on the teacher, which is a whole different matter completely. Relevance is very important in learning, and a lot of subjects are taught with a content objective instead of a focus on actual outcomes in the real world. What is the use of students achievang perfect marks if they don't understand why it is relevant and how they can change things.
There aren't any subjects which do not have any relevance in the shaping of students and the future of our world, and those which aren't immediately obvious usually form the foundation for an understanding of other areas ( maths -> Physics -> The Universe).

It is sad that we're killing ourselves and our planet, El Nino and La Nina WILL probably result in either highly specialised exporting countries, i.e. only one crop or primary product coming out of a country, but GM WILL probably be used. GM is just not natural, and it may be that in some time in the near future people will have to travel for hours on end to find any natural living organisms surviving.

Living inside a World Heritage National park is pretty special, but many people just couldn't give a shit. My school recently cleared 80 metres into the bushland surrounding the building perimetres on the 20 hectare site it's on, having given no notice to any students, parents, staff or local residents. IT ALMOST WIPED OUT AN ENDANGERED PLANT SPECIES endemic to australia, and which is only known to have been found in 2 or 3 places in the country.

My First real post I wrote last night:

Stickies are cool (all you mac people will know what I'm talking about) the only complaint i have is that they are set default to yellow.

I really like Society and Culture, its like the only portal to actual thinking in the entire superficial education system.

I was thinking the last time we had a big storm, that, as big and cool and now scarey as they are, they really make me ummm uncomfortable in a "metaphorical sense" (ohh fancy) because they kinda make you think about the earth (trying my hardest to make this not corny, i might have to use John Butler for inspiration) and like the whole global warming thing. The Earth is FALLING APART BIG TIME. Our sub Bio teacher was saying how in the scheme of things, humans have been on the Earth for a minute %, so the amount of Carbon Dioxide released over that time through fossil fuels has been heaps over a rapid period and the Earth cannot cope. I mean think about it we have El Nino and La Nino (is that one right?) i mean its drought in Australia and flooding in South America, how UNBALANCED is that? Heatwaves, flooding, severe storms in Australia, record, record, record, earthquakes in Bham, the Great Barrier Reef DYING from increased water temperatures and increased CO2 levels i mean this is a WORLD HERITAGE SITE people WHAT ARE WE DOING ABOUT IT? AND WHY DID WE LET IT HAPPEN IN THE FIRST PLACE?, record snow falls in South Korea, severe cyclones and storms in the Pacific, tidal waves, bushfires everywhere, what have i missed, and that's only the world's natural disasters-you can't deny the obvious- SOMETHING IS WRONG IN THIS PICTURE. People in Vietnam won't be able to rely on their sole income-a huge basis of their economy and survival- making rivce because the rain needed will fall over the ocean!! what do you do? use genetic modification to make rice that doesn't need as much water? You can't just find a way of dealing with the problem, you have to address the root cause of the problem. I cannot stop thinking about it and it does hurt, like the feeling you get when you realise that shit, the Earth is dying! like even when i see a tree being cut down i cringe and i was thinking the other day that, well the tree supposedly cannot feel anything but i just can't accept that, like the spearhead lyrics "At school they tried to tell me that a rock is not alive

hey cool, i just went to check the lyrics and found even more relevant stuff (i was just going to use the rock one)

But he remembered memories of walkin'
through the puddles
sayin' "Gee dad, am I the one who's wanted by
the federal Government doesn't want me
to go to school
I ask too many questions
and I don't play by their rules.
In school they tried to tall me
that a rock is not alive
but I have seen a volcano growin' up and die
In school they tried to tell me
that a tree it couldn't feel
but I have felt a tree and it was bleeding for real
In school they tried to tell
me animals couldn't talk
but they can understand it when a dog starts to bark
in school they tried to tell me
man doesn't have a soul
"whet happened to his" I say "cause mine is
still whole!" -Of Course You Can, Spearhead

yeah anyway thats it.

I love this:
What goes up
They say is coming down
I got my head in the sky
And my roots in the ground
I'm not patriotic man
For what it's worth
I pledge allegiance to this land
And my Mother Earth

What I am
I said is what I be
I be damned if you cut down all those trees
Clearfelling all this good land.
I do see
We'll all be damned if you cut down all those trees
What I am
I said is what I am
I be damned if I stone cold killa man
In the name of a flag
A patriotic game
You got blood on your hands it ain't me to blame
-John Butler, Eathbound Child

Hmmm what to do, what to do?
Global warming 'biggest threat'

Climate change is a far greater threat to the world than international terrorism, the UK Government's chief scientific adviser has said.
........
And without immediate action flooding, drought, hunger and debilitating diseases such as malaria would hit millions of people around the world.
......
US President George Bush says more research is needed before he introduces punitive carbon taxes on industry.
........
In Britain, the number of people at high risk of flooding was expected to more than double to nearly 3.5 million by 2080, Sir David said.
.........
Levels of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere have risen steeply since the industrial revolution.

Concentrations have increased mainly because of the use of fossil fuels, deforestation and other human activities, spurred on by economic and population growth.

Greenhouse gases stop energy escaping from the Earth's surface and atmosphere.

If levels rise too high, excessive warming can distort natural patterns of climate, researchers say.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3381425.stm

How can you ignore that?
Wow that last part was exactely what i said and i didn't even read that till then. Evidence to common sense or what?!

Yes Benita, Benji* sorry. My Power Trip has just begun.

No .... Really, you're welcome to blog anything, any time, anywhere (not that it's easy to catch any kind of transport out of Mullumbimby, :-p) and I'll try to give you as many privileges as I can.
Update: I just granted you full Administrator-dom.
Anyway,
Yeah, Hi everyone and welcome to our blog.

Hmm, this is like some kind of joke. James handing me out posting preferences. Are you on a nice power trip yet?

Hello World,
Welcome to our blog.

It has just finished raining here.
It's funny actually, I'd disconnected the whiny little fan inside my computer so i could listen to the rain and the birds, and it got to hot so I lost my first post.