Thank the universe.

This was something that all Australian authors were worried about—the proposed changes to copyright laws. Under the proposal, copyright for authors, which was in line with the international standard of existing with the author or their heirs/assigns for 70 years after their death, would be changed. The change would make it so the copyright would expire 15-25 years after the first publication date of the work.

The author of this proposal is the Productivity Commission, who are tasked with finding new and interesting ways for people to be productive and the government to make money. Its basic role is to help the government to make better policies in the long term interest of the Australian community.

The next proposal by the commission is one that hasn’t been rebuffed by the government or agreed to—in short, the government has given a non-answer on the question of whether or not they’ll go with this recommendation. This is to remove PIR—Parallel Importation Rules—where "an author owns territorial rights to their work, which means that they can sell their book to one publisher in Australia, one in America and another in the UK, and those publishers have an exclusive right to sell that book within their market only. Booksellers can therefore only buy bulk copies of a title from the publisher who has rights in their own territory, so Australian booksellers purchase from Australian publishers." [1]

As it stands at the moment, a consumer can buy a book from anywhere in the world. The system in place is fair and balanced, in that people can buy books in Australia published by Australian publishing houses or imports from overseas publishers, or they can buy books from overseas retailers such as Amazon, Book Depository or secondhand merchants such as Better World Books. Basically, the way it is, everyone gets paid, everyone's happy. This is the system in place in the US and UK as well as here, but it might not be here for much longer. Who knows.

Lastly, there is the debate of what constitutes fair use and that’s a murky thing at the best of times. Who knows what will happen there.

There's a petition to support Australian authors which is still up and running, so if you want to sign and support, that would be wonderful.
https://www.change.org/p/scott-morrison-save-australian-literature-stop-parallel-importation-of-books


[1] https://www.asauthors.org/copyright-under-threat#TOC

Strine. What is it? I quote: "As a legacy, the contemporary Australian dialect, or Strine, is littered with idioms, similes and invented words that make it one of the world's most advanced English dialects. Speakers of Strine can understand everyone, or confuse everyone if they so desire." (Convinct Creations Com). And, "An Australian's 'greatest talent is for idiomatic invention. It is a manifestation of our vitality and restless imagination'". (Baker S 1983, A Dictionary of Australian Slang, 3rd Edition , Currey O'Neil, Melbourne (1st published 1959)).

Strine is an integral part of Australian English. Basically, it's rhyming slang, and it's used a lot. Many's the time I've used a strine phrase and had non-Aussies ask "...what does that even mean?"

There are loads of books on strine and our slang, too! (Though we don't call prawns shrimp. They're prawns. So "Throw another shrimp on the barbie" is wrong, as it would really be "Throw another prawn on the barbie." Barbie=barbeque. Not that you should throw seafood on plastic dolls.)

Personally, I love strine and our Aussie English, so here are thirteen of my favourite phrases/terms, with their meanings. Enjoy!

1. Flat out like a lizard drinking.
Meaning: I am extremely busy. OR I am extremely tired.

2. Fair suck of the sav!
Meaning: Seriously? OR Really? OR Hey, come on! ALSO an expression of wonder, awe or disbelief. Sav is also short for saveloy, a type of sausage.

3. Dry as a dead dingo's donger.
Meaning: I am extremely thirsty and require a drink immediately.

4. Like being flogged with a warm lettuce leaf.
Meaning: This is very ineffectual. The above phrase most famously used by Paul Keanting, former Prime Minister, to describe the opposition leader, John Hewson.

5. She'll be apples.
Meaning: Everything will be fine.

6. Full as a goog.
Meaning: I am extremely full and could not eat another thing. The 'oo' in goog should be pronouned like the 'oo' in cook. Goog is another word for egg.

7. Beyond the Black Stump.
Meaning: Somewhere that is far away and in the middle of nowhere.

8. Dead horse.
Meaning: Tomato sauce. This is similar to ketchup in the US.

9. Crack a fat.
Meaning: To get an errection.

10. Figjam.
Meaning: F-fuck I-I'm G-good, J-just A-ask M-me.

11. As cross as a frog in a sock. variation: Going/Went off like a frog in a sock.
Meaning: An extremely angry individual. Variation meaning: It was an amazing party/event.

12. Sandgroper.
Meaning: A resident of the state of Western Australia.

13. Chuck a yewy.
Meaning: Make a u-turn here/there/at the next set of traffic lights. [nb: doing it at traffic lights is illegal and dangerous.]

Yesterday, minnie13 and I went to Melbourne to see the Tutankhamun exhibition at the Melbourne Museum. We were only in Melbourne for twelve hours and all in all it was a great day, even if my entire body is still complaining in pain.

We got to Melbourne around 11am and I tweeted, but alas, Vodafail being epic fail, did not deign to share my tweets with the world, so, they aren't there. Lovely. Anyway, it was grey and overcast for most of the day and in the evening it got really cold, so it was good to get home and rug up and pass out. We had dinner at Lord of the Fries, which I loved, it was delicious. There's photos galore, so enough rambling, time for piccies.

( Exhibition )

Tut's actual mask and sarcophagus was not part of the exhibit and the exhibit was less about him than it was him and his family. The sarcophabus was that of his half-sister, and the golden mask with the linen that's blackened on it was also hers. The diadems and statues were in his tomb, as were the shabti and canopic jars, and the beautiful ornamental dagger.

Although we'd pre-bought our tickets, the wait to get into the exhibit was half an hour. They basically coralled people in groups of 30-50 and sent them in in ten minute intervals. The result was small spaces with too many people and so you couldn't really get a good look at some of the artefacts. Plus, there was a school group being noisy and one 'clever clogs' thought he could get away with taking photos but he was ousted by security who confiscated his camera and kicked him out. The shop at the end of the exhibit was hideously overpriced, so I didn't buy anything, although minnie13 bought a mini-mummy and some Scarab beetles. And then we went outside away from the huuuuuuuge crowds and sat down to rest our very weary legs and feet.

And now for non-exhibition photos, these ones I did take.

( Pics )

And that concludes our day in Melbourne!

Also, Yoo Seung Jun crooning in my ears blasting on my iPod makes for awesome falling asleep on the plane music.

It's Thursday, the day the country has been dreading. The news isn't great and there's more to come in the following days with a cyclone predicted for Cairns and moving east. I'm going to break this up into state with links to relevant news reports.

South Australia:
Minor flooding in the Riverland, although the residents worried as drains aren't working due to this being the second round of flash flooding in ten days.
Crop damage isn't as bad as first feared.

Victoria:
Heavy rains fall, prompting an anxious wait.
Victoria braces for flash flooding as the town of Natimuk is flooded.

New South Wales:
Evacuations as deluge continues and 4500 people are cut off.
Aboriginal elders taken to help convince indigenous residents to leave during the crisis.

Tasmania:
Tasmania east coast is preparing for more rain and more flooding.

Queensland:
The suburb of New Farm is dealing with looters.
Police sent in as the death toll rises to fifteen.
Video of flooded Brisbane from the air.
People warned to stay off the Brisbane River due to large amounts of debris in the water.
Cyclone is brewing off the Coral Sea.
Uncomfirmed shark sightings in the streets of Goodna. Goodna residents are navigating their flooded streets in fear after unconfirmed sightings of bull sharks in the area.
Anger rising over lootings. And with good reason.
Skipper of a tug boat saved Brisbane's Gateway Bridges.
The cleanup of Brisbane could take months.
Schoolboy begs rescuer to save his younger brother first drowns before being rescued.
Gold Coaster donates $37K worth of underwear.
Two heroes who deserve a fanfare via @DHughesy. (Australian comic.)

Fundraising/Charities/Etc:

waltzmatildah has a Fic fundraiser going.
owemebreakfast has an art/graphics fundraiser here.
Fandoms Fight the Floods on Facebook.
Official Flood Victim donations site.
Etsy Flood Relief Fundraiser.
Donate to help animal victims of the floods.
Storage King offer for those who live in Brisbane affected by floods for free storage-trucks & trailers to help evacuate. Phone: 1800storage.
Queensland Flood Pet Options needs donations.
Animals Australia and The Wildlife Protection Association of Australia has established an emergency wildlife flood appeal.

This is a post to help boost the signal about the floods in Queensland. As of 6:41pm ACDST, 75% of the state of Queensland is declared a disaster zone. The news is reporting this as the greatest disaster ever and the worst is yet to come. I'll update this post as information comes to hand.

To give some idea to non-Aussies what this means: pick a US coastal capital city. Let's say Boston, for this hypothesis. Now, imagine that waters travelling at 7000 cubic square meters per second are heading towards Boston and can't be stopped. The soil is so sodden that it can't absorb any more water. The run off is nearly 5 foot deep in some places. And it's heading towards Boston and Boston has no precise idea of where that water is going to hit first but the people living there know at least some 6500 homes are in the path of the water. 15000 other buildings are in the path of the water. They have to evacuate.

But they can't evacuate north, because there's just water. Everywhere. And it's still raining. They can't evacuate south, because the water's moving south too. East? Well, that's the ocean. Which leaves west. Which is fine... except the water is heading that way, too. Well, we'll evacute to a mountain, you say. A mountain will be above the flood waters.

They said that in Toowoomba, too. It's had flash flooding. Cars, shipping containers, all pulled into the water in other parts of the state. Houses torn off their foundations in some parts of QLD. Some of the video footage taken by residents is horrifying.

Nine are dead so far. More than sixty are missing. The toll's going to rise. Find higher ground, the authorities are saying, because the Brisbane River has *just* this hour broken its banks.

New South Wales is under flood watch. So is Victoria. So is South Australia. Darwin isn't, but... it's raining in Darwin. Western Australia, so far, is dry. I hope that's not famous last words. This flooding has effected everything: mining, farming, residents. The water leaves behind mud and destruction and the rain keeps coming. Snakes are trying to escape the water by trying to get into people's houses.

The news has just reported that parts of the city center of Brisbane and the town of Ipswitch (where I have relatives) is evacuating right now. The Brisbane River has broken its banks. In northern New South Wales, towns and roads are cut off.

I'm just going to give one link. It's the ABC site tag of floods. I think it's enough. It's got everything on it. The ABC is about as intensive coverage as you can get, so this is your best bet. There's video reports if anyone's interested here, at the Channel 10 website and here, at the SBS website.

Please, please, if you can, donate. Other ways of helping are here.

Please feel free to share the links far and wide. Thanks.

ETA 1: This is the nineteenth day that Queensland has been coping with this. 8 dead, 72 missing, including children. The army is being flown in. Video from ABC News 24. The ABC web site have made the videos open viewing, so anyone around the world can watch them.

There's a crisis line to find out about family members. In Australia: 1300 993 191.

ETA 2: Ten now dead, 80 missing. There are grave fears for the safety of 18. Victoria is preparing for flash flooding with heavy rain forecast. Northern NSW towns are cut off as the floods there worsen. Brisbane River is now a trending topic on Twitter.

A bushfire in Western Australia which was deliberately lit, has left a trail of destruction. The fire's been contained, but strong winds are hampering attempts to keep it under control.

ETA 3: The latest from Brisbane.
The town of Harrisville, an hour south of Brisbane, is cut off.
Cairns is on storm alert.
More flash flooding expected for Toowoomba.

ETA 4: News report saying that the Bremer River is due to peak at 22meters, 1.5 meters higher than the 1974 flood. One third of Brisbane city is expected to be under water. Pontoons and unmanned boats are being swept downstream in Brisbane. As of 7am tomorrow, power will be turned off as a major power station is close to the flood waters. 230K megaliters of water is being released from the city dam which, in a sad irony, was built to ensure that a flood like the 1974 one didn't happen again. The water is being released bc the dam is at capacity - 200%. Some roads are so sodden, the tar is like spongey goo.

The PM is sending the Defence Force to help and making ready financial aid. China, Indonesia and the US has pledged help. So far, NZ is the only one to be taken up on the offer - the PM is asking other nations to wait for the moment as the help will be needed after the floods peak.

Footage from Toowoomba taken by a resident. This is footage of Chalk Drive / Chalk Lane Creek rising and washing away lots of cars during Flash Flood in Toowoomba on Monday 10 January 2011. One of my besties posts about her feelings and family up in Queensland right now.

And the experts are saying that we could easily have five states in flood by the end of the week.


Edited for clarification - I'm tired and words aren't my friends right now. Sorry for the mis-representation/lack of clarity.

ETA 5 (7am, 12th January 2011): It's Wednesday morning here and this is some of the latest:
* Brisbane a ghost town as it braces for the worst (with video).
* Victoria bracing as a fresh deluge heads towards it. Cars have been spotted floating in North Melbourne.
* Regional South Australia braces for serious storms.
* Facebook group - the latest update reads "Wivenhoe at 2,049,705 ML at 9am today. Total capacity is 2,600,00 ML."
* Natural enemies cooperate to get to safety - a frog hitches a ride on the back of a snake to flee the waters.
* Northern Tasmania on flood alert.

ETA 6: Brisbane and Ipswitch are "treading water". There are many ways to help flood victims. There is a Facebook group for fandom to fight the floods to raise money.

ETA 7: Animal welfare groups are organising to help. They need donations too. Animals Australia and The Wildlife Protection Association of Australia has established an emergency wildlife flood appeal, supported by Animals Australia. Queensland Flood Pet Options need donations and helpers and the QLD RSPCA has a donation site set up.

ETA 8: New day, new post.