Misc

Sydney #NoPants Subway Ride #NPSR

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. Continue reading →

My take on #TwitterJokeTrial.

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. Continue reading →

Sexism works both ways.

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. Continue reading →

Autism Hour.

I’m quite annoyed with myself right now.  I’ve been a bit distracted these last two weeks due to personal reasons and forgot all about today.  This means I’m only posting this blog well after the time of the event I wanted to pimp.

In a follow-up to this post, today is the final day of Autism Month and it hosts Autism Hour.  One hour, from 9am, to help raise awareness for Autism and send a message of support to people and their families that are dealing with it.

Please, take a moment to go to the autism hour homepage and show them your support, even if you’re late it will still be collected and appreciated.

Some people just want to be offended.

It’s amazing how people react to some things.  How they get so worked up over something that is nothing, or purely in jest.  Whether they lack a sense of humour, or refuse to look away from something that makes them uncomfortable, maybe even searching it out just so they can react.  It’s strange, it is as though some people purposefully want to be offended.

Before reading further, please read my previous post and the replies it gathered, then come back and read on. Continue reading →

A cause worth getting behind.

People from all over the place are claiming there has been a distinct increase in natural disasters in the last ten years.  It has set many people off looking for reasons in every nook and cranny.  Some of the reasons to blame to this point are global warming, atheism, homosexuality, secularism, just plain old natural disasters with there being nothing special about them, the lowering of standards for what is and isn’t sexually explicit, etc etc.

Can you spot the odd one out there?  The second last, nothing special about them.  In this day and age we have instant global communication as never seen before, someone sitting on the bog can be communicating on his phone to thousands of other people in every nook and cranny around the world, and this ability is open to just about anyone.

Previously if a crackpot managed to get the attention of their local media, that’s about where it would stop as it would take a few days at the very least for this to be replicated around the world, rather than minutes as it is now.

Jennifer McCreight has come up with a brilliant idea of a scientific experiment that could help save millions of lives from natural disasters, and it’s something I would like to see each and every person reading this blog get behind.  It’s an amazing idea that needs everyone’s support, but before I explain what it is, please watch the following video to at least the 1:50 (one minute fifty seconds) mark. Continue reading →

BS Exclusive: Dr Rachael Dunlop is engaged!!!

Congratulations to Dr Rachael Dunlop (pictured left, holding her brain in due to a nearby homeopath doing their best to melt it), whom it was announced on Twitter by @Dianne_ was proposed to tonight and she (allegedly) accepted!

We do not know who this mysterious person is yet, all that is known is that he’s from WA in the USA, though I wasn’t even aware the USA had a state or province called Western Australia?

More details will be given as they to come to hand.

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(Note: It seems some people thought I was serious and hence are congratulating Dr Rachie in earnest. For those lacking in a sense of humour, this particular blog entry is all in jest).

I am not SeanDBlogonaut.

I am not SeanDBlogonaut.  I do not protesteth too much.  I do not even protest too much.  I have only attended three protests in my entire life, surely that is not too much, is it?  I do not know where these silly rumours started, though some say they were born in an egg on a mountain top.  That would just make the rumour Monkey though, and unlike this rumour, Monkey is irrepressible. Continue reading →

Shorty Awards.

If you’re on Twitter at all (and if you’re reading this, chances you are) it would be hard to not know that the Shorty Awards are currently taking place.  These are awards for twitter users across pretty much any category possible.  There’s some good news and some bad news, though.

Currently in the #health category we have more quacks and snakeoil salespeople than anything else.  Fortunately we’ve managed to get @DrRachie in to first spot, but it’s a tight race between legitimate votes for her and bot votes for the second place quack @HealthRanger who runs the misinformation, antivax and anti-science-based-medicine site naturalnews.com.  So jump on over now and vote for @DrRachie asap to help keep her in the clear (and legitimate) lead!

Keep in mind that only one vote (the most recent) per category counts, and you must put a reason in for your vote to make it.

Secondly, I’m putting out a personal request for self pimpage. I am not ashamed. I am also not wearing pants. Vote for me in the #nopants category, now. Please!  At this point in time I only need 24 votes to get the number one spot.

Get Naontiotami on the SGU Podcast.

It all started off, as the best things in life do, as a little joke.  This is not how it is going to end however. We will succeed.  We must.  For the good of mankind, and also as a little warmup and pimpage for TAM Australia (Coming late November 2010).

I have started a petition to get Naontiotami interviewed on the SGU podcast. Please go there and sign it. Your mother will thank you.