Great letter in the SMH

Miranda Devine has to be kidding: "You either regard the [Macquarie Fields] violence as the inevitable result of the gap between rich and poor, or you believe individuals who have chosen to break the law should face consequences" ("A Fields day for the do-gooders", Herald, March 3). Well, no. Anyone with a modicum of intelligence can see that both statements are true. I believe that people who attack police with Molotov cocktails should be punished according to the law. But where's the fatal contradiction in my also believing that the root causes of the riots lie in social alienation and a history of police brutality, and that these must also be addressed in the longer term?

I think it is disgusting that the debate over a community's misery should be reduced to woolly-headed do-gooders v zero tolerance realists.

David Mantle Coogee

Why Women Choose Abortion II

I wanted to follow up on that US study with some Australian information. I haven't found an exactly comparable survey, but I did find a couple of resources. The first is:

National Health and Medical Research Council (1996). An Information paper on Termination of Pregnancy in Australia. Canberra: AGPS.

( The report examined a number of studies... )

The second is:

Cannold, Leslie (1998). The Abortion Myth: Feminism, Morality, and the Hard Choices Women Make. Sydney: Allen and Unwin.

( Cannold's argument is that women who choose abortion do so because they believe it's the moral choice... )

Importantly, none of the studies I've read support the claim that abortion is chosen casually, for convenience, by careless, selfish women.

x-posted to repro_rights

Blud

Had a little panic this week when I tested my blood glucose for the first time in way too many months, and it was appallingly high. I kept testing all week and kept getting dreadful results. After one particularly nasty one my boss let me go for a brisk walk to try and bring the reading down, but instead, it went up - which is nonsense. It was at this point that I realised the batteries in my meter had run down *and* the test strips were up to their use-by date. Coincidentally I also had my annual test this week; the results were excellent, with my average blood glucose over the last three months actually in the non-diabetic range. Much ado about nothing.

(no subject)

I was reading some crappy celebrity magazine in the tea room when I suddenly realised it was RPS. Prurient fantasies about the sex lives of celebrities - het, and less detailed, but otherwise identical. I'll bet RPSers defend their naughty habits by comparing themselves to New Idea or whatever.

Stuff I actually like about "Tigers"

The Doctor's dual nature. The way this is reflected in Karl. The Doctor's not being able to fit in anywhere. Sexeh Karl. Actual SF. Cute cat stuff.

Oh, duck

Listened to the llama llama song.

Safe from peepers for a week.

alryssa, you shall suffer for this.

(no subject)

It looks like Jon and I will be doing a flying visit to the UK in March! As part of the promo for "The Prisoner's Dilemma", we've scheduled our first ever UK signings -- Jon'll be signing TPD with Rupert Booth, and we'll also sign anything of ours you want to throw at us.

At the moment our world tour consists of:

Saturday March 12th -- The Prisoner Shop, Hotel Portmeirion, North Wales, 1PM. (The Six Of One Prisoner convention is going on there that weekend, but you don't need to join the con to go to the signing.)

Saturday March 19th -- Who Shop International, East Ham, London, 2PM.

Sunday March 20th -- Tenth Planet, Barking, London, 12PM.

We may be slotting in one more signing outside of London during the intervening week, but nothing's set in stone.

Our schedule in London is pretty packed with businessy stuff, but we'd love to get to see anyone we can at the signings -- and maybe smooth over old net.agro in the process. :-)

Oh, and the shops will continue to have copies of the Prisoner novel available after the signings as well! (The official release is scheduled for the end of March; if you can't make it to any of these shops, you can order right now from http://www.powysmedia.com .)