Swandives

OK, here’s a curly one. About two years ago I caught this fish off a jetty at the mouth of the Hinchenbrook Channel in Queensland, Australia. For two years, we’ve been trying to identify it. I have given up - for the life of me, I don’t know what it is. It’s not a hair tail, because it has a forked tail. When I caught it, I thought it might have been a barracuda, but it’s clearly not; the markings don’t seem right, it lacks that elongated nose and, in any case, look at that low-slung jaw. It did have sharp teeth though. It’s long and ribbon-like, which further adds to the confusion. The bloke at the fish shop didn’t have any idea and I’ve been unable to find a similar looking fish in any texts or internet images.

I am at a complete loss. So, if anybody can shed some light on the one, I’d be forever grateful!

For the record, it was caught using live herring (I think they were herring, but not 100%…some nice fishermen pulled in at the jetty at one point and gave us their leftover livies). And it went back in the water.

Easter Show trout, originally uploaded by Swandives.

So what does the Sydney Royal Easter Show have to do with fishing? Well, generally not a lot. This year, however, there were more than a few links. Firstly, I was able to buy a Rapala lure and a new fishing jacket, an oilskin with loads of pockets.

But my favourite part was the Central District produce display (which was awarded second prize in the competition - nice one). The area takes in, among other places, Barrington Tops, where I’ve caught some lovely little trout. The streams there aren’t very wide, but don’t let that fool you. Another tip if you’re fishing up in those parts: watch out for the leeches! Take a salt shaker with you because they’re relentless little bloodsuckers and you know about it if they get in your waders…hehe.

The beloved and I regularly talk to each other on IM - it’s like a creative lifeline/brains trust that lets you communicate all those random thoughts that occur to you during the day, but which you inevitably forget at the end of the all when the ‘Hi honey, how was you day’ conversation occurs. And every now and again, amidst the generalities of everyday existence, I’m given a nugget that reminds me why I married the man. Here’s today’s:

i am listening to joy division … and once again realise that possibly no other band will ever come close to their greatest moments … and they make me want to write .. because they make me realise art can be transcendent and stories - pain, beauty, joy, love and all those other emotions - somehow need to be fitted to pages … so people can breathe …

Hear ye, hear ye! Transmissions (aka inane ramblings) are about to cease as Swandives undergoes an extreme makeover and is becomes a full-time fishing blog. That’s the plan, anyway. I haven’t been updating much lately because, well, I’ve been fishing. And I think it makes sense to focus on one particular topic.

Plus, it’s a good excuse to change my theme again…hehehe.

Human rights. It’s a pretty big deal. It’s one of the reasons journalists are always harping on about The Great Firewall of China, which censors internet content.

And if the Federal Government has its way, Australia will soon have a great firewall of its own.

At the moment ACMA is trialling an ISP-level filtering system which, ostensibly, is aimed at helping parents protect kids from the more unsavoury aspects of the web. I can understand the challenges parents face in this regard - it’s a bit of a minefield if you’re not technically savvy, and kids generally have it all over mum and dad/gran and pop when it comes to Net nous. The worry, however, is the ‘ISP-level filtering’ aspect.

The problem with the plan currently on trial is what starts out as a mild-mannered idea to save the children ends up as internet policing. It’s not so big a jump to go from this level of filtering to filtering for copyright breaches, for example. It’s known in industry parlance as scope creep. Innocuous enough under normal standards. Far from it when we’re talking about our right to access the internet as an essential service. Call me cynical, but I don’t believe it will stop at saving da kiddies.

Filtering would be mandatory in homes and schools and would be based on a blacklist of prohibited content. The arguments can get quite technical but it boils down to expense, slowing everything down and the potential for sites to be incorrectly filtered.

Electronic Frontiers Australia has set up a campaign webpage at http://nocleanfeed.com. I must admit, I’ve signed the petition. And you can follow all the commentary on Twitter if you’re registered - just search for #nocleanfeed.

Found on YouTube: Footage from the Leeds festival of Adam Hills‘ (from Spicks & Specks on the ABC) standup where he sends his prosthetic leg off crowd surfing while he sits on stage and sings Footloose. Very amusing! A mild warning: the language is understandably colourful, but only if you’re very easily offended.

We’ve moved house and don’t have any internet. I am typing this on my mobile. So this is short and sweet. Am loving the new place. Almost unpacked everything. But I miss my internet. Mobile blogging is no fun.

Randy Pausch, whom I didn’t know but admired greatly as a truly inspiring man, has died from complications from pancreatic cancer.

http://www.cmu.edu/homepage/beyond/2008/summer/an-enduring-legacy.shtml

UPDATE: The Google homepage is displaying a very classy tribute - a text link to his awesome Last Lecture.

Swandives began as a way to understand the lure of the blog, since at the time I didn’t understand the seeming need to ‘dear diary’ to the masses. I began on LiveJournal, then moved to Blogspot (now Blogger) and graduated to the wonderful Wordpress, which is not only a glorious piece of software, but completely blasts every other content mangament system (proprietary, open source, sophisticated or otherwise) out of the water. Under its glorious influence, I came to understand the power of the blog and indeed enjoy blogging - as somebody who used to write regularly for a living in a very structured, traditional environment, I found it extremely cathartic to write for myself rather than somebody else. This blog is, after all, the ultimate exercise in narcissism.

Perhaps I have come full circle, but I think I’d like to retire from the opinionated rhetoric that is the blogosphere. To be honest, I have come to loathe the officious, holier-than-thou banter that in many cases fails to recognise that it’s not OK to personally attack somebody because they have a different opinion and I recognise the hypocrisy in being part of it. In the end, it’s so bloody pointless. With apologies to the late, great Anthony Newley: stop the web, I want to get off.

I seem to be in a bit of a black hole from which I cannot escape. And I’d like to say, ‘move along please, there’s nothing to see here’ and have it go off on its not-so-merry way. I’m being a drama queen, I know. Don’t worry; I’ll get over it and normal operations will continue, I’m sure.

Some days are better than others. Today wasn’t one of the good ones. I found out that my father has cancer in his lung. I don’t know what kind of cancer it is - he goes into hospital for tests on the 23rd. And to be honest, I don’t really know how I feel. In part because I don’t have all the details. Mum wasn’t going to tell me until they knew for sure, except my sister (quite rightly) said she’d want to know if she was me. I spoke to Dad too, but he was a bit short on details.

I have a headache.

UPDATE 17/12/08: I feel I should add a postscript to this post as it’s pretty dire and in the end it wasn’t cancer! It’s quite a drawn-out story but that’s the good news. The process did uncover other issues that have since overshadowed this post somewhat. It will no doubt become a much bigger issue with time and when it does I’m sure various details will appear here. What is it they say about life not being meant to be easy?