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Showing posts from June, 2017

Bed Time

"Goodnight Nico" "Goodnight brain. I hope you'll let me get a good night's sleep without too much bother." "I will but - Nico. There's just one thing." "This better be quick. What is it, brain?" "Well, do you remember how your younger sister was massively into the band Hanson during the brief but eventful peak of their musical career?" "Yes." "And you know how you can for some reason remember the names of all the siblings in the Hanson family, even though you can barely remember the names of anyone you went to high school with?" "Yes." "Well, you know how the family had another baby in 1997?" "Yes." "And you remember your sister telling you about how Hanson announced at a concert she was named Zoe?" "WHERE IS THIS GOING" "Well, Zoe Hanson would be 20 now" "Yes she would." "You haven't finished your degree yet... Do you think sh

Moving on the homeless

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Overnight Sydney City Council officers removed the 24/7 Street Kitchen Safe Space homeless camp which had been operating for six months in Martin Place, the financial and civic heart of the city. The camp was started last December as a place for rough sleepers to find food, help and solidarity, particularly vital after assaults and sexual assaults of rough sleepers in the previous few months, with homeless women particularly vulnerable. Part of the reasoning the Council gave for removing the camp - alongside the inevitable redevelopment of the site - was that it was interfering with  "reasonable comfort and convenience of other uses of Martin Place". Because if you want to interfere with the comfort and convenience of users of Martin  Place, you have to pay. And once you've shelled out the tens of thousands of dollars for necessary permits, you can interfere to your heart's content, sending squads of English backpackers to hassle people on their lunch breaks into sign