My mum has been working hard over the last three years to organise a community garden in her local community. The official opening was today and Natalie and I went down to check it out. Natalie has even put together a video of our trip (and also a review of some new pens she recently bought). You can check out her other videos on YouTube as well.
It’s a space to allow people who don’t have the space, or who enjoy community company, to get together and grow their own veggies. There are around 40 plots of 3 meters x 3 meters which is plenty of space to grow enough veggies for yourself and to have some left to spare. There are even raised beds for the physically disabled to allow them to enjoy the fun in the sun.
I’m very proud of my mum and what she has achieved. She even had the audacity to ask for more money for more beds (as seen in the video). My mum is awesome. They estimated that over 300 people attended this afternoon’s opening. That’s amazing to be honest. Maybe it was due to her becoming a media tart in the last few days.
Lets hope we can get some stuff like this in our local area soon. I’d love a garden bed to get into a grow some veggies of our own!
There has been a fair bit of talk this week within the Twitterverse about the concept of having sponsorship for #btub events. For those who don’t follow Twitter, #btub is the Brisbane Twitter Underground Brigade. It’s not particularly underground at this stage but really it is a chance for Brisbane Twitter users to get together, have a few drinks and network. Anyone can organise and hold a #btub event. All you need do is tweet an event with the hashtag #btub and see if people are interested. So talk this week of sponsorship for #btub events worries me.
Some people might think that sponsorship is unlikely to get off the ground. Without thinking too hard, here are some ideas that companies may be willing to consider for a large organised gathering of people.
Free gifts/Knickknacks/Branded Items- a company might throw in some free shirts or coasters or movie passes. Small gifts.
Food or Drinks – perhaps a venue will supply nibbles and soft drink. It might even be a bar tab or a free beer on arrival.
Product Giveaways – distinct from gifts, a company may want to give away a prize or some of their product to people. Telstra might give away a 3G internet package. A computer company some free wireless routers.
Money – never put it past a company to offer money for sponsorship, which really just ends up being advertising. This could be $50 for a quick plug during a speech, a logo on name tags or a whole lot more for naming rights, “the Helstra #btub spectacular”. (Ok, I am pushing the boundaries – but surely you’ve heard of scope creep, right?)
So there is definitely scope for sponsorship, whether in dollars, product or services.
For those who don’t know much about how to organise a #btub event, it is really simple. Anyone can do it. Lets say @definatalie and I are headed to the State Library and tweet “Meet us at the State Library at 2pm. Lets catch up for a chat. Maybe coffee/drinks afterwards? #btub” Now that’s enough to start a #btub event. No sponsorship involved and a very nice day out. Note to self: organise this some day.
Another person might organise a movie night at one of the major movie chains. They’ve arranged to have a 20% discount and a free popcorn for those who come along. Perhaps they’ve agreed to tweet this message, complete with company name until the movie night. Maybe part of the deal was to tweet from the event and hope other people will tweet the company name.
Sponsors always expect something for their money. Even if it is free food and drink, they still spend real cash dollars to provide it. They are in business and they spend money to make money. It doesn’t make sense to sponsor something if they don’t make something out of it in return. Is it ethical to organise a social gathering in the name of profit making for a sponsor?
Now since #btubs can be organised by anyone, imagine for a second if you received an offer too good to refuse. Company A will pay sponsor a #btub event. Food, drink or product – it doesn’t matter. Then they offer you $500 to get their word around. You can’t tell anyone you are getting paid to spruik their wares, and since you are bringing the sponsorship gifts you certainly expect a large amount of goodwill to come from attendees. So you figure, “Hey, I’ve spent ages organising this. Why shouldn’t I get something out of it?”
This is where it all falls apart. People will find out because they always do. Something doesn’t feel right and then all of a sudden it’s out in the open. All of that wonderful feeling and community spirit of #btub is ripped out from under everyone and it dies.
I don’t doubt that the current #btub community are in it for the right reasons. I’m totally sure that no one in their right mind would attempt something like this. But the number of people attending is huge now and each time the number grows and grows. Who knows who are going to be the organisers in the next six months.
(Sidebar: Don’t tell me there are no organisers. There are a few driven and committed people who make this stuff happen each month. We’d be lost without them.)
#btub has grown because it is organic. It grows through word of mouth and people meeting up with people and then bringing more people with them. It’s a social event that also involves networking, having a few drinks and a laugh and enjoying one another.
Let’s not let money get in the way of a good thing.
At work the other day, we were discussing a colleague’s new man. He has told her he is an atheist, and so my interest piques. Another one pipes up, declaring that you have to believe there is something out there, even if you don’t call it God. I reply that I’m quite happy believing that there is nothing else but science involved. Again I’m rebuffed, and reminded that our moral conscious is derived from the Ten Commandments.
For those playing along at home, the Ten Commandments are (from Wikipedia, accessed 22-02-2009):
a list of religious and moral imperatives that, according to Judeo-Christian tradition, were authored by God and given to Moses on the mountain referred to as “Mount Sinai” (Exodus 19:23) or “Horeb” (Deuteronomy 5:2) in the form of two stone tablets. They feature prominently in Judaism and Christianity.
Obviously I’m wrong! How could there possibility be no God since Moses came down from a mountain and brought two stone tablets bearing His inscription? So I countered with the argument that perhaps the Ten Commandments were written with the current moral code of the time with additional items for religious reasons. They wondered about this and thought it might be so. But there was still definitely something there!
So to this end I left the conversation as they started to talk about the first person’s man and his beliefs. I think she is probably agnostic anyway so it should work out if he doesn’t mind. At least he might have a chance to give her the facts as he seems them.
I also find it strange that just because I don’t believe in there being a creator and a omnipotent God, people don’t understand that I can enjoy reading of the pomp and ceremony that is found in religions. Religions are very fascinating to me and provide an insight into the human mind unlike any other.
I don’t begrudge someone having their belief system. You may choose to be a Christian, Jew, Muslim, Buddist, Hindu, Hare Krishna, Jehovah’s Witness or whatever it is you wish to believe in. I guess I’d even say that if you want to be a Scientologist, I can’t stop you – although I would recommend it. Just don’t try to paint me with the same brush.
I believe in science and I have belief in human beings. I know that in each of us is a moral fibre, handed down from generation to generation. We can’t leave it up to another being or higher power (or even politicians and priests) to tell us what is right and wrong. It is up to all of us, the entire community, to teach kids the right way to live. You can differ on the finer points but still know what is wrong and what is right. That is where morals come from, not religion or stone tablets.
January 26 is Australia Day for me, not Invasion Day. I don’t agree with the word ‘invasion’ and think it is divisive.
Over the Australia Day long weekend, Australia has been pulled kicking and screaming into community discussion on the day that we celebrate our country. For those not from this nation, January 26 celebrates the arrival of the First Fleet at Botany Bay and the British colonisation of Australia.
Now there were other inhabitants of this continent before they arrived. Throughout our short history it is fair to say that these Indigenous Australians have received a raw deal. Aboriginals were slain for no reason, denied natural justice, cheated of their lands in unfair deals and have, until recently, been an issue always left in the too hard basket.
There is currently debate surrounding the date of Australia Day, with some suggesting it should be moved as it represents Invasion Day for some Indigenous Australians . Invasion Day mourns the invasion of this country by the British on 26 January 1788. Same event, same day, whole different perspective.
I think it is now time to come together as one nation and move past this talk of invasion. I certainly don’t think we should be changing the date of Australia Day. Talk of invasion is divisive and does not help to bring together all sides.
We need to work together to bring the living standards of the indigenous up to the same level as other Australians. We need to recognise the unique cultures of all people living in Australia. Whether that be indigenous culture or the unique national identity formed during the last 221 years.
What doesn’t help is talking of an invasion. It’s a powerful and emotive word but I don’t believe it is the right one.
Some sections of the media are reporting that a majority of Australians support mandatory Internet filtering. This is misleading, quoting a biased survey from a biased source.
DAVID WEBER: Professor Clive Hamilton of Charles Sturt University commissioned a study into the issue when he was with The Australia Institute.
He says there’s wide support in the community for a mandatory filtering system.
CLIVE HAMILTON: We found an extraordinarily high percentage of parents, 93 per cent, said that they would support that proposal for mandatory filtering.
Since information without a source isn’t valuable, I looked into this a bit further. My research has found some rather concerning information on both Professor Hamilton and The Australia Institute’s role in promoting mandatory Internet filtering.
A 2003 media release from the Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFA) discusses this exact survey quoted by Professor Hamilton. So did 93% of Australians support mandatory Internet filtering in 2003? Only if adults could opt-out.
The question put to survey respondents was “Would you support a system which automatically filtered out Internet pornography going into homes unless adult users asked otherwise?” Quite clearly this is different to the proposal being presented by Senator Conroy and the Australian Government.
Now in the transcript for the AM story it notes that the survey was commissioned while Professor Hamilton was the Executive Director of the Australia Institute. However this was not mentioned on the ABC News in Brisbane. Until I researched this I thought that this was perhaps an independant survey.
It is misleading to suggest that 93% of Australians support the mandatory Internet filter. It is even more misleading to report this fact without any background information on the survey or even mentioning that the survey is five years old. Poor work, ABC.
