Posts by TracyMac
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I wouldn't touch a pill these days without testing it (I always tested them from new source back in the day).
Tests are cheap: http://ez-test.com.au/
A "Marquis" test can be easily made up if you can get hold of sulphuric acid and formaldehyde. It can test for many things beyond MD(M)A.
And testing in clubs, as they did in Holland, would be nice.
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And yeah, sex ed that explained sexuality as a continuum, and one that can be fluid for some people, would have been great.
Sure, sex with boys for me was adequate in terms of getting off, but it would have made the eventual cluehammer about my actual leanings a bit less shocking if I knew it wasn't a binary thing. If sex with boys is "ok", I can't be queer! Hah.
Thank goodness for gender/sexuality educators like my partner used to be. She still has former students coming up to her on the street to thank her for enlightening them about these spectrums.
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I went to what is now a decile 1 school (before the extra funding became available), and having a uniform was great, because it was a level playing field. There were plenty of us who dreaded mufti day, because we didn't have "cool clothes" to wear. Let's just say the selection of somewhat-fashionable clothes for teens in op shops in GI was lacking. Before the days of cheap overseas clothing imports, remember.
But the uniform itself was ridiculous. I think it was over $50 for just the gym slip, and not much less for a jumper. Apparently most teenagers wore Charlie Browns or Nomads for uniform shoes. Forget it, they were too expensive. Also, being pretty damn gender-nonconformist made wearing a dress agonising. Thank goodness for a vaguely-worded clause about senior uniforms, which meant I could wear trousers to school in 6th form. As did many of the Polynesian girls, once I started.
It seems that schools here in Oz have a lot more of the polo and trackies style uniform. I think it's great - particularly for high school, where maintaining a bunch of outfits suitable for school would cost a bomb. (Maybe not so much for senior students, who can presumably earn cash for clothes, but it should always be an option). Paying multi-hundreds for the old-fashioned style is ridiculous.
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True dat. :-/
(Sorry, in reply to Matthew)
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Hard News: Friday Music: They even taxed…, in reply to Russell Brown,
Of course. No choice in the matter whatsoever. :-)
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Obligatory:
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Yes, that is true re the original scope far as NZ's involvement was concerned. I suppose my perception is coloured by the fact that here in Oz, Labor was negotiating away on the expanded version. Although at least trying to put a couple of small brakes on the sovereignty issue.
On another front, the Guardian has an interesting article on who got paid what in the US Senate to vote for the fast-tracking legislation last week. Turns out Repubs are worth twice as much on average as Democrats. http://gu.com/p/498nf
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The other difference in the UK is UKIP grabbing a substantial share of votes from working-class people who were traditional Labour voters. I'm almost grateful for FPP reducing the number of potential UKIP MPs in Parliament.
While I can see Winnie continuing to milk his anti-immigration line, the UKIP level of underlying racism wouldn't fly in NZ.
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The last Labour govt was negotiating quite happily for this. Let's not subscribe to the fallacy this was invented by National. Maybe Labour was negotiating a more limited scope, but who knows?
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The American public doesn't want it either. It's large corporations that don't have any allegiance to any national laws, trying to refashion the world in their own image.
Maybe one day the "one world govt" won't be such a bad thing, but not at the behest of the mega-corporations, thanks.