After I reported yesterday that EB Games had shatteted the dreams of Warcraft Gamers everywhere, Video Ezy came to the rescue today by breaking the embargo date and selling copies of the new Wrath of the Lich King Expansion Pack early! The official Australian release date isn’t until tomorrow, but to the glee of us Gero gamers, they must have missed that memo!

Since Video Ezy broke the street date, places like Harvey Norman (Once given proof like a receipt) were more than happy to crack open their stocks and selling their copies early. So, from the bottom of my heart, I thank Video Ezy for sticking it to the man and giving us our Wrath at the same time the Americans got it.

I just hope that you’re not rewarded by the massive fine that you potentially face for beaking the release date.

When it was first announced that an EB Games franchise was opening up in Geraldton, gamer geeks everywhere rejoiced. Finally, they would have a store soley dedicated to the love of their life; regardless of whether it was PC, PS3, Xbox or otherwise. They all breathed a collective happy sigh as the time had arrived where the Geraldton market would have some competition when it came to games!

It was about 6 months later that the rumours started about management problems, stock issues, thievery, staff retention (Which, mind you, is an issue everywhere these days) and the biggest rumour of all, that they were going under. But, they held out and gamers continued to check in religiously to see if there was a new precious to add to their collection.

Well, that was all set to change with the appointment of a new manager, who radically changed procedures to try and improve the store. Sadly though, in the midst of the change over, something terrible happened… The World of Warcraft – Wrath of the Lich King Collectors Edition Pre-order list was lost!

If you know gamers, and especially those who love the World of Warcraft universe, you’ll know they’re passionate about it! Two of the people I spoke to even had their names down on the pre-order list as early as a year and a half ago and are naturally outraged. For the non-gamers out there, you may be thinking, ‘So, whats the big deal?’. Well, think Collectors Edition DVD’s or collectable cards. They’re a lot harder to come by, and are worth alot more money.

So, how exactly do gamers exact their revenge you ask? Well, they take their money elsewhere. Many faithful customers are now looking to order their games online, and that’s money that Geraldton businesses miss out on. Personally, I pre-ordered through Harvey Norman and am pleased to know that there is a collector’s edition box sitting in their storeroom with my name on it

Not all hope is lost for the Geraldton Gamer who likes to spend their money locally. Harvey Norman, you’ve saved my life!

EDIT: Another associate of mine has informed me that he received a proper receipt when he pre-ordered his Collectors Edition copy. Lets hope that he’s not denied as well!

I hope that you all remembered to pay your respects at 11am to those who gave their lives so we could could be where we are today.

I was impressed to see that my work place attempted to honour the one minute silence, but so disappointed at how many of my co-workers decided to ignore it. I hope this wasn’t the case around the rest of town.

Lest we forget.

Did your school or workplace attempt to observe the one minute silence?

I am a mother and a long term writer of a leading Christian magazine. As a woman who holds ethics and social cohesion very highly, I would like to express my concern for the new governmental policies regarding a national mandatory internet filter.

I have had many years experience with people involved in Christian missionary activities abroad, and know first hand the problems faced by people with concerns for freedom of religious practice. The internet is a very important tool for putting forward sound, ethical information to the general public. The problem is, in almost all situations, benign and benevolent proposals for media control have ended up in censoring the very freedoms we hold dear. As agencies such as Amnesty International can assert, censorship is often the thin-end-of-the-wedge. Stringent censorship, for whatever purpose, has an ugly way of limiting the very people it is meant to help.

While it is admirable to think that censoring ‘evil’ on the web will do great good, the truth is that evil always finds a way to leak through the cracks. Pornographers and perverted souls have a way of finding the loop-holes and slipping their filth through the slivers of any information system. These people will not be substantially inhibited by this work, because, as every computer scientist knows, protections such as these are not impervious, they just count on those combating it to find it too costly in time or finances to find a way through. (Filters do not impair the flow of information Peer-to-Peer.) On the other hand, this sort of severe restriction proves almost crippling for those of integrity, those who dare to do what is right. These people will not put their mind to perverting justice; rather they will suffer the restrictions imposed. In other words, bad people will continue to prosper, while good people suffer the limitations imposed upon them.

The value of our social freedoms is imperative. During this horrible war on terror, again and again we have seen civil freedoms pared back. When will this stop. When will our government choose to relinquish its paternalistic hold upon our intellects, and allow us, as citizens, to demonstrate our maturity and diversity? The internet is an amazing vehicle for creativity, intellectual development and community building. There are valid concerns that a national firewall will undo much of the great good that is being made available by this media, both because the restrictions imposed and the limitations and impositions of the programs that will be used to institute these restrictions. Such limitations include a drastically reduced bandwidth (interfering with multi-media transfers) and huge error rates, which will see many innocent sites banned by accident. Who can know what these sites will be? Who can be sure that he or she will be safe from censorship, despite his/her innocence?

And there is real reason to be concerned that censorship will be excessive. The NSW Government Department of Education web-filter is noted for its severity. Students are unable to access peer reviewed articles, educational material and their own personal mail servers, as these sources are seen as being dangerous for the development of our young minds. Rather, we are to expect the substandard sources offered to our students will promote the creation of a population capable of solving the extremely difficult problems of the future: not just scientific and environmental problems, but problems of social justice and equity.

Thus, I point you to the thoughts of Thomas Hobbs, who wrote that the freedoms that we relinquish in order to have a civil society ought to be the minimum freedoms required in order to maintain a reasonable peace and tranquillity. Just as we would stand against Plato, and say that the benevolent philosopher tyrant is not the option we would choose as the best form of governance, we must say that vesting our intellectual freedoms in the hands of a short lived leadership, or any leadership, is a dangerous thing to do. As citizens, we need to be careful about the liberties we relinquish. These liberties were once won at great cost, and to regain them will cost even more.

There is a difference between protection and constriction. I believe that the measures currently suggested are poorly conceived, and will result in the constraining of our intellectual, ethical, cultural and religious freedoms. These freedoms are necessary in building and maintaining a first world nation. Thus, I adjure you to vote against any such reforms, as there is a fine line between good policing and a police state: protection of thought and the Thought Police.

Very thoughtful and well written. Being the terrible dirty pedo I am [Sarcasm!], I’ve gone and downloaded Tor in preparation of our new internet overlords, so I can continue to browse whatever I want free from Government intervention.

So, I was right about the Guardian stealing my story on the Facebook Group trying to save the merry-go-round. I feel so special! There is more good news too, the Geraldton Guardian reports that the iconic Merry-go-Round will no longer be relocated. However, the Merry-go-round looks doomed to never be used again, which is still a great loss.

Wayne Hosking writes on the groups wall:

Re: Article in today’s Guardian. A classic “Yes, Minister” solution. Need to rename it the “Park Bench by the Sea”. The newspaper failed to home in on the fairly obvious key issue. If kids can’t ride it, what is the point! Obviously, they had never intended to make it functional after moving it. If there was a will, there would be a way to make a suitable surface under the ride. What is their legal safety advice, given that theya re prepared to allow it to be used again for a brief period? If they intend to allow it to be used in the interim before the new ride is complete, surelyit can be used indefinitely. But I doubt they aren’t really intending to get the whole thing working just for a few weeks. They are still not being 100% up-front. Watch this space, and for the Sir Humphrey Applebeys of the world, you might have to rename this group “Keep the Merry-Go-Round functioning where it is”

This whole situation is very intriguing and I’ll keep you posted.

Direct from their gig guide, I present to you whats happening this weekend in the City of Geraldton!

THURSDAY
Vibe Nightclub
Doors open from 10pm with DJ Shaggi and Q Ball
The Freemasons Hotel
Acoustic Mike Night
Breakers Bar and Cafe
Miss Dirt Drags

FRIDAY
Bootenal Family Tavern
Juke Box Night starts from 8.30pm (Tickets $10). Fundraiser for Indigenous Women’s Cancer Council
Wintersun Hotel and Motel
Emmett the one man band
The Freemasons Hotel
House Band [Is this their name, or are they like a House Wine?]
Geraldton Hotel
Beer Garden Entertainment til late
Queens Park Theatre
School Arts Showcase from 6.30pm
Camel Bar
Ben Merito
Dongara Hotel Motel
iPod Party with DJ LP [lol, wut?]
Priory Hotel Dongara
Parker Avenue
Nitey
Free Pizza before 12.30am. DJ Tandy
Vibe Nightclub
Doors open from 10pm with DJ Shaggi and Q Ball
Breakers Bar and Cafe
Toy Box

SATURDAY
Camel Bar
Fanticide
Priory Hotel Dongara
Dance Night
Dongara Hotel Motel
Dance Party with DJ LP [So, you're not just putting your iPod on shuffle?]
Nitey
Free Pizza before 12.30am. Oktoberfest.
The Freemasons Hotel
Mad Dog
Vibe Nightclub
Doors open from 10pm with DJ Shaggi and Q Ball
Breakers Bar and Cafe
Toy Box

SUNDAY
Camel Bar
Kane
Dongara Hotel Motel
Sunday Session from 2pm to 6pm with entertainment from Gavin Carvill

Ok, so typing that out sucked. Hopefully someone uses it! On the plus side, now I’ll just have to cut and paste it and change two things from week to week. Have a great weekend, kids!

So, I know this isn’t really directly related to Geraldton or the Midwest Region, but it does affect us seeing as we’re, you know, a part of Australia. Telecommunications Minister Stephen Conroy has decided in his infinite wisdom that it would be great to introduce a “Clean Feed” which is basically one giant internet filter that will ban sites that the government feels are inappropriate (Hello, China!).

This article from ABC came out in in December 2007

Senator Conroy says it will be mandatory for all internet service providers to provide clean feeds, or ISP filtering, to houses and schools that are free of pornography and inappropriate material.

Online civil libertarians have warned the freedom of the internet is at stake, but Senator Conroy says that is nonsense.

He says the scheme will better protect children from pornography and violent websites.

“Labor makes no apologies to those that argue that any regulation of the internet is like going down the Chinese road,” he said.

Since then, many sites have sprung up such as No Clean Feed and Somebody Think Of The Children which have been following the filters progress very intensely. Rightfully so too. While the idea is noble in theory, so too is Communism. Don’t get me wrong, I in no way advocate Child Pornography, but there is potential for a whole lot of other sites to be added to this list. I understand that this is meant to be about protecting our kids, but I’m a firm believer that as a parent its my responsibility and not the governments to make sure that my kids are safe while on the internet

Oh, and did I mention that a filter of this magnitude will slow down your internet? We’re already handicapped since the max speed we can here get in Geraldton is 8mb, so I really don’t want to be shaped even more because some parents use the internet as a babysitter. I’m just saying!

While sifting through the tonnes of requests that I get spammed with over at Facebook (Seriously guys, I don’t want to be a pirate ninja kidnap victim!), I noticed something that I can’t believe I had missed until now. The City of Geraldton-Greenough is moving the iconic merry-go-round from its current, familiar home underneath that fig tree to the much brighter, vibrant atmosphere down on the redeveloped foreshore.

Concerned local Lara Dalton has started up the Facebook Group Keep the Geraldon Merry-go-round where it is and so far the group has 579 users who completely agree with her. I admire what Lara has done, because unlike so many Facebook groups out there, she is being proactive and keeping the members informed. The following is a letter she sent to the City of Geraldton-Greenough:

Dear Sir
Re: relocation of merry-go-round
It is with disappointment we note the Council’s decision to relocate the merry-go-round to the new foreshore.
As long-time users of this facility, my children and I have always enjoyed the particular location under the Moreton Bay fig tree. To be able to play and enjoy a facility like this under the full shade of a magnificent tree, year-round, is a rare opportunity in our region. Even if shade sails were to be erected at its new site, full shade and the ambience created under the fig could not be matched.
Historically, it appears most appropriate for it to remain in its current location, with links to Stow’s novel and situated in the more ‘historic’ site on Marine Terrace. I attended the unveiling of the plaque dedicated to Randolph Stow many years ago as a teenage girl and remember feeling very nostalgic at the time due to the aptness of the location.
During the hot summer months we have found refuge under the shade of the Moreton Bay fig tree and have enjoyed watching a variety of children from different cultural backgrounds coming together to get the swing moving, I have never experienced any issue and trust once the old railway building adjacent is renovated and the area cleaned up as part of the wider foreshore development it will attract many more local children.
Given the merry-go-round is a particular community icon and holds a special place in its current location I believe the decision to relocate needs wider community consultation and hope that you will consider mine and others’ opinion on this issue.

Yours sincerely

Lara Dalton

Lara, I think its great that you cared enough to send a letter, and what surprises me more is that the City actually bothered to respond:

The abridged version – I have left out some paragraphs but thought this may be of interest:

- The sand and surface under the Merry go round is inadequate and it would be very difficult to install a soft fall base in tis current location with out adversely affecting the iconic large fig tree…

- The fig tree, while providing shade during the day does hinder security for users at night. In the more open and high profile location on the Foreshore, the Merry-go -round will be lit at night, providing much improved security.

- Unfortunately the M-G-R is showing signs of aging with the main pole cracking. Structural integrity will be addressed during the relocation.

- It is also worth noting that historical records and oral evidence confirms that the MGR has been relocated several times ….. the current structure is a replica erected in 1988.

- The city is confident that the relocation of the MGR will be address these safety concerns while bringing the MGR into a more prominent location… It will be a celebrated and iconic structure on the redeveloped Foreshore…..

Thankyou again for bringing your concerns to our attention

(but basically bad luck)

Sadly, the response probably wasn’t what Lara and her supporters were hoping for and it looks like the move is inevitable. At least we can be thankful that they’re not just bulldozing it entirely.

this massive burger is like nothing I’ve ever seen – this thing is a skyscraper of meat (it has over 4500 Kj (1,000 calories), 70g of fat and a LOT of sodium).

Uh huh, thats right. This bad puppy has four meat patties, four slices of cheese, two rashers of bacon, and there isn’t a vegetable in sight. Its a meat lovers dream! Its also not exactly the best thing for you, as my boyfriend reminded me as I dragged him to the HJ’s counter. It would seem that Health Organisations feel the same way.

“Given that Australia is currently battling with a rising tide of overweight people and obesity, it is irresponsible and disturbing for Hungry Jacks to promote such an unhealthy burger”, a Cancer Council spokesperson told ninemsn.

Ultimately my common sense outweighed my gluttony and I walked out with a Triple Stacker Value Meal instead of that glorious tribute to Carnivores. Yeah, uh, I know that a Triple Stacker Value Meal isn’t exactly Subway, but I was hungry! It was delicious, but its certainly not something you would want to have regularly. I can feel my arse growing as we speak.

If you’re more dedicated than me and plan to get one of these, you might want to do yourself (and your heart!) a favour and choose to walk in rather than going drive thru. The drive thru at Northgate is terrible anyhow.

Have you tried the Quad Stacker from HJ’s?

“After talking to Mark and Chris today it is clear that the club is moving in a different direction and I have decided after a 14-year career to retire from the AFL.”

Farmer leaves with an impressive 483 goals to his name; the most goals ever scored by an Indigenous player in the AFL.

So, Freo is moving in a different direction eh? Does that mean that next season they’ll head into all of their matches like its a Derby?