Bastard Sheep

I hate Instagram.  Actually, I’m that statement isn’t entirely true.  To be completely honest and truthful, I F%$KING loathe Instagram.  It is the chain-mail of the photography world (Send this email to all your friends list!).  It is so similar to a computer worm (virus) it’s not funny.  It seems to serves no purpose other than get other people to spread it, install it, get itself everywhere and propagate some more.

Every time someone uses it, I die a little inside.  Every time someone uses it, I feel a deep sense of foreboding rage building inside of me.  Every time someone uses it, a hipster gains his/her skintight jeans and thick glasses with no lenses.

What exactly is wrong with it?  Well, just about everything.  Read more…

I was reading an article in The Age which states that Melinda Tankard Reist has threatened a libel lawsuit against a blogger, and one section of the article jumped out at me as being quite odd and, quite frankly, wrong.  Seeing as my comment was a bit more than I could fit on twitter (thought I can fit it on facebook), I’ve decided to write this very short blog article to put up my thoughts.

“While Tankard Reist has not gone so far as to issue court proceedings yet, she complains social media has intensified the level of vituperation against outspoken figures such as herself.

”Things have gone too far, people think they can just trash you,” she said yesterday. ”Why does being a blogger exempt you from the laws of defamation?”” Read more…

World’s Greatest Shave has opened up for applicants for another year.  In 2012 it is taking place from the 15th to 17th of March, and I’ll be taking part.

The last time I participated was back in 2003 and I raised over $800 by removing this.

Although I no longer have the lovely long locks, I’ve decided to try some other strategies to help make the earnings worthwhile. Read more…

A few people I’m friends with have been talking the last few days about #OccupySydney, some are even going to participate this weekend (on Saturday the 15th at Martin Place from 2pm onwards, for anyone wondering).

I’ve been looking through some of the Facebook pages, blogs, websites set up around this as well as to news articles talking about the problems, and I’m still at a bit of a loss as to why? Read more…

Last Wednesday (5 days ago, 3 business days) I was suspended from Google+ for violating the part of their names policy that states one must use the name they most commonly go by in real life, by using the name I most commonly go by in real life.  As I stated in that post when I blogged about it, I selected the button to edit my name, left it untouched, and this then submit my case for review.  They state that this review process takes an average of 4 days, and we will continue to be able to use our accounts as per normal while this takes place.

Today I went to +1 someone’s post, and got an error stating “There was a problem performing this action, please try again”.  Odd, but not the first time Google+ has acted up on me.  Closing the page and re-opening usually fixes it, or restarting my browser.  Not this time though, so I thought I’d run a test by posting something to my wall.  This time I got a different error.

“Your profile is currently suspended. View profile”.

As you can see from my profile, I last succesfully posted something to my stream yesterday.  I have still been getting people adding me to circles on G+ all throughout the day as well.  I have not received any emails or notifications to state any changes to my account either through Google+ or through email (spam folders checked as well).  My profile cannot be viewed by other accounts either.

Google have just decided out of the blue to change things so that those whose names are under review can no longer use the site as per normal.  At least I hope that’s the case as the only other option that comes to mind is that they decided to decline my review and not tell me or provide me with any feedback or options.

My Google Profile has just been flagged for not complying with the names policy.  I was just refreshing my Google+ page and the message shown to the left came up.  As you can see, it clearly states that the Google+ names policy is to “use the name that you are commonly referred to in real life”.  This name, is “Bastard Sheep”. Read more…

Those who follow me on Twitter, MyFace and Google+ will know that I have been linking a fair bit recently to news articles and blog posts about Google disabling peoples G+ profiles for doing nothing more than using a pseudonym.  There has been a large amount of discussion about it in the media too which I find surprising.  I wouldn’t have expected the media to care less about this story.  I’m also surprised so many people seem up in arms about it mostly because it’s been MyFace’s policy to only allow real names from the very start.  Nobody seemed to give two hoots back when MyFace started, nor do they give two hoots now.

I thought it was about time I threw my two cents in to the mix, as someone who exclusively uses a pseudonym online and actively uses that same pseudonym in real life.  There are already plenty of arguments about who is harmed by a “real name” policy, so I suggest you read those instead if that’s what you’re after.  Personally, I’ll be tackling some of the main questions and arguments I’ve seen in the last week in support of a “real name” policy, and why these arguments don’t hold water.

Suggested reading before you go on:

Who is harmed by a “Real Name” policy at Geek Feminism (Note: Read the Wiki link they have on this page too)

Infotrope.net – Skud, an ex-google employee’s blog on being kicked off Google+ (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3). Read more…

Last weekend I attended the Sydney #NoPants Subway Ride (also on MyFace).  For those who don’t know what it is, it was started by the group Improv Everywhere who specialise in flashmobs and as they say on their website “causes scenes of chaos and joy in public places”.  You can probably guess what the nopants subway ride is by its name.

Basically, a group of people get together, jump on a subway or train, and remove their pants.  Underwear is left on, obviously.  To not do so would be illegal in just about every country.  Most western nations though, as long as you’re wearing underpants that cover your private areas then it’s no different to people wearing their swimwear and hence it’s perfectly legal. Read more…

I woke up this morning to see numerous people I follow on twitter saddened by the verdict that the twitter joke trial would continue on as originally set.  This may come as a surprise and a sad thing to many people, but it not a surprise in the least to me.  But first, a little background for those who may be unaware of the situation.

Paul Chambers (I am unable to find his twitter name in the three seconds I spent searching for it) was planning on meeting up with a friend, but required a flight to get there.  There were delays however due to the weather and his flight was cancelled.  That night from a hotel while joking with his friend @crazycolours he sent her the tweet “Crap! Robin Hood airport is closed. You’ve got a week and a bit to get your shit together otherwise I’m blowing the airport sky high!!”.  The authorities noticed this tweet, tracked it down to Paul Chambers and pressed charges for making a terrorist threat.

Originally he was given a conviction and a rather minor (considering the charges) £1,000 fine, however he chose to appeal this.  That appeal happened today.  He lost and according to The Guardian has been told his fine has been increased a further £2,000 for the proceedings that have taken place.

From what I’ve gathered so far, his defence relied on convincing the courts that this was a private conversation between himself and @crazycolours.  The statements of his were not made publicly or directly to the airport.  Also, they were purely said in jest, they were a joke with no actual intention of even considering following through with them. Read more…

Sad as it is, there’s still a lot of sexism in our society despite the decades of work to try and overturn it.  From women being objectified, the glass ceiling in business (which many people prefix with “proverbial”, personally I wouldn’t), the list goes on.  It’s quite sad to be honest that this discrimination still takes place.

It’s not always females who are being given the short end of the straw, though.  Men too can suffer from sexism.  I will say before I get any further that women do suffer the massive brunt of it.  The point of this article isn’t to cry persecution, “woe is me” or to trivialise sexism against women in any way shape or form.  It most definitely is a horrible thing that still requires a LOT of work to rectify in our society.  I simply aim to raise awareness that there is also sexism against men. Read more…