The ZINE!

So,  you may have heard  a rumour that the active collective is gonna have a ZINE!  Ain't that exciting?  Now, slightly worryingly, Lily has put me in charge of editing the written content.  So, I'm here to recruit you. We need some articles for the first issue, which we want to get out as soon as possible. So, if you have an idea for a blog formulating in your mind, an issue which you think needs to be addressed, why not hand a copy to one of the Zine Team - me, Romana, Sharmila & Emily Reid (our very important children's section editor).  You don't have to be in the active collective elective to contribute to our socially conscious media.

Homophobia much?

So, once again, I have no point to make, except maybe that some people in this world are ignorant, disgusting bigots. Here, I'll save the outrage for you.






Pretty much, a group in Utah called 'America Forever' took out a full page ad in the Salt Lake Tribune saying, well, you can see for yourself. There's a really great article about it, and the reaction here. What's more, is that this comes on the back of the Governor of Utah declaring his support for Civil Unions, and attempts to overturn the ban of them in the State's constitution.


Word to your mother, hate speech is way uncool.

Section 92A

Okay, so, many of you will of heard of Section 92A.  It's the law which is being brought in which means that if your internet providers suspect you of copyright infringement (i.e illegal downloads) they are supposed to cut you off.

Ew.

This law is backwards for many reasons, regardless of your stance on illegal downloads, and is opposed by most of New Zealand's computer industry, including most of the internet service providers themselves. Internet providers are supposed to stop you from accessing the internet based on suspicion and accusations, not evidence.  There is no requirement for them to prove that you are downloading illegal documents.

Now, Article 11 of the UDHR clearly states that everyone charged with a penal offense has the right to be "presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial".  This law effectively removes the human rights of all the thousands, nay, millions of New Zealanders who download material which is not strictly legal.

 Copyright law and illegal downloads is definitely a hot topic at the moment, and if you're interested, check out the Creative Freedom Foundation NZ, a local group which "views the internet as an opportunity for artists, not a threat, and seeks to bring copyright laws into the 21st century". 

A New Year

Hey guys,

It's a bit late but I just wanted to say how amazingly happy I was with the turnout and contributions to the meeting on Wednesday! It was truly mindblowing and I think the AC are destined for great things this year...

If this is your first visit to the AC blog, welcome! There's some great blog posts here, so have a dig around the archives. Next meeting I'll ask for your emails so I can add you all as bloggers.

I'll have the Oxjam leader list up in the common on Monday for the year 13s.

What A Twist!

Oh look,Elsie posted something! Good God!

Okay, as at least a few of you know, M.night Shymalan, Hit and miss minority Director, has been hired to direct a trilogy of Live Action movies based on the american Anime-styled, Asian/Inuit-influenced cartoon, Avatar: The Last Airbender.
As a few of you also know, the cast for the four main characters(all of whom are noticeably Asian or Inuit, even in animated format)was announced early last year.
I'll refresh. Anime Style. Based on and heavily influenced by Asian and Inuit culture. Names, traditions, food, location, landscapes, weaponry, costumes, character design, even the goddamn writing is solely in Chinese characters. So, you may understand my slight confusion and righteous Outrage when it was announced that ALL FOUR MAIN CHARACTERS WOULD BE PLAYED BY WHITE ACTORS.

I have no grudge against the actors in question(except Jesse McCartney), and do not mean to imply that they're poor actors, but seriously, dude, what the Hell?

This guy said it far better than I ever could. In fact, it was him that convinced me to join the Anti-Avatar movement, and not simply dismiss this casting horror as Hollywood being moronic.

http://derekkirkkim.blogspot.com/2009/01/new-day-in-politics-same-old-racist.html

I can't believe we all missed this

Yesterday, the 11th, was everyone's favourite Governor of Alaska, and most awesome failed vice-presidential candidate, Sarah freakin' Palin's 45th birthday.

This post had no more relevancy than that. Feel free to bitch about/defend (psshaw!) the Palinator/the Republican Party/moose hunters in the comments.

Seriously. People need to start leaving more comments here. Or Sarah will swim here via Putin's house and shoot you in the ear.

That is all.

Informative Newsletter

I'll be writing up a short informative newsletter for the new cuties of Active Collective about who we are/what we are(for those who came late and may have missed Lily's intro) and of course, some interesting information relative to what we stand for.

If you have anything at all that you'll like to say, please do so!
E-mail me at milkyun@gmail.com or, alternatively, just talk to me sometime.

The AC's future looks quite bright, doesn't it?＼(≧▽≦)丿
Marketing!!

The Homeless

Okay, so, I've been travelling around a few of the world's larger cities recently, and one thing I have noticed is that there are an awful lot of homeless people around, and people begging.  Now, in Wellington, we don't have a lot of that.  We have the blanket man, of course, but he never begs, as far as I know, and he seems a reasonably happy guy.  It's reasonably easy to go about your day without having to worry about somebody sleeping in the gutter.

However, in New York, London and Paris, the plight of the homeless is a lot harder to ignore.  In fact, it's very much in your face.  The subways and underground trains all have homeless people begging or even just sleeping in the corner, and even out on the street its fairly common to come across someone curled up in a doorway.  And when it's the week before christmas, temperatures are below zero and you've just spent the whole day shopping, the sight can really make your heartstrings tug.

But the thing is, if you gave money to everyone you saw who looked like they needed it, even if its just a little, you'd soon be homeless yourself.   And another thing, as a tourist, you are feel very much like a target.  There are many people whose lives aren't quite as terrible as they make out, who are trying to make money off concerned tourists.  So people just walk on by. It's awful to see how many people are so used to the sight of people sleeping on the street that they don't even give them a second glance.

And sure, many homeless people are homeless due to their own actions, addictions etc, and lots of their stories aren't strictly true, and yes, there are shelters and soup kitchens to help them. So, no,  I didn't give much of my money away.  But I felt terrible.  The reasons why some people end up homeless aren't simple, and you just don't know for sure.  Maybe they really do have three starving kids at home.

Good show young man, now get back to work

On January 20th 2009 at 12.00pm, Barack Obama became President of the United States. Let's just get it out of the way: YIPEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The moment was groundbreaking in so many ways, however, being a Pakeha I think it's hard for me to grasp just how groundbreaking it is for black Americans to have a president who reflects their race and heritage, or even to have a president who is not a priveleged white man. So what I'm most excited about is to have an American leader who is vaguely competent.

We all know Obama is not a Messiah who will solve all the world's problems with one wave of his hand, however today I had a quick read of his agenda on whitehouse.gov and I was pleased to see fairly progressive stances on, among others: civil rights (including rights for both POC and LGBTs), energy & the environment and women's rights.

Here are some items on the agenda that immediately popped out at me :

• The repealing of Don't Ask Don't Tell
• Plans to invest in renewable energy resources and cut greenhouse gas emissions
• The closure of Guantanamo Bay
• Continued support for Roe V. Wade and increased funding for family planning and safe sex education (though unfortunately no mention of ending the Global Gag Rule)

These are a few items out of over a hundred, I strongly urge you to go check it out yourselves and report back on anything you think is worth mentioning, positive or negative.

It would be ridiculous to suggest Obama will carry out all these promises, however even if he does a few things like prevent a global depression, end prison torture, end the war on Iraq and tighten up environmental regulations, and improve the health care system even slightly he'll have made a huge, huge improvement on the Bush presidency. And it is a relief to see that he does have a plan, not just a vague notion of "hope".

However, one section in the foreign policy agenda really disappointed me.

"Barack Obama and Joe Biden strongly support the U.S.-Israel relationship, and believe that our first and incontrovertible commitment in the Middle East must be to the security of Israel, America's strongest ally in the region. They support this closeness, and have stated that the United States will never distance itself from Israel.

During the July 2006 Lebanon war, Barack Obama stood up strongly for Israel's right to defend itself from Hezbollah raids and rocket attacks, cosponsoring a Senate resolution against Iran and Syria's involvement in the war, and insisting that Israel should not be pressured into a ceasefire that did not deal with the threat of Hezbollah missiles. He and Joe Biden believe strongly in Israel's right to protect its citizens.

Barack Obama and Joe Biden have consistently supported foreign assistance to Israel. They defend and support the annual foreign aid package that involves both military and economic assistance to Israel and have advocated increased foreign aid budgets to ensure that these funding priorities are met. They have called for continuing U.S. cooperation with Israel in the development of missile defense systems."

Judging by the Democratic Party's general stance on the Israeli government (They just love it! In fact, it's the main subject they wholeheartedly agree on with the GOP), I hadn't had high hopes that Obama would come out to condemn the attacks in Gaza. Still, it's a major disappointment.

I just can't see supporting (and sending billions of dollars in military aid to) a government that has just killed over 1000 Palestinians in an extremely disproportional response to attacks from a government that was democratically elected by a people who were slowly being pushed out of their own country and suppressed by the Israeli government in question. This is despite evidence that the majority of Democrats (the people who elected you Obama, duh) did not support the offensive on Gaza. Not to mention, uh, most other countries in the world (apart from New Zealand. Nice one, McCully).

I'm sure it was a big relief to Obama that a ceasefire arrived in Gaza before his inaugaration, so he can pursue the much more apolitical issue of the global economic crisis. But he'll have to address Israeli-Palestinian relations sometime in the near future, let's just hope he comes to his senses before then.

On a lighter note, did anyone get up to watch the inaugaration ceremony? It was pretty awesome. I watched it on CNN of course, so I could get my required daily dose of Anderson Cooper. Any thoughts on the occasion?

I'll see you all at school very soon!

Bush Leaves, World Breathes a Sigh of Relief

Ahhh. At last. Watching the CNN coverage of President (!) Obama's inaugaration ceremony today, the sweetest sight was seeing Dubya climb into the helicopter, hopefully never to be seen again. I'll be posting a bit more on the 'Bama's presidency soon, but for now let's just bask in the glory of that final wave goodbye.

By the way, were you (after possibly hiding under a rock for the last eight years) wondering why everyone hates Bush so goshdarned much? I think this video pretty much sums it up, I take no responsibility for any cussing involved.

Days of International Observance.

Something horrible happened to me today. I found out that the day after my birthday was International Waffle Appreciation Day. Then something worse happened; I found out that my actual birthday is International Tuberculosis Day. (And my birth was bloody induced! Stupid birthday!)

Here are some more days for you to remember...

Okay, so it's kinda late (like, 9.30 in the evening), but today the 11th) was International Day for Peace in Kenya. I'm not really aware of what happened/is happening in Kenya, so, as I write this, I'm gonna find out.


Wikipedia says : "Recent events in the country left Kenyans in fear of their future. The stalemate between the political leaders has created opportunity for destructive forces, and organized militia, which have risen to kill innocent people (more than 450 killed, thousands injured and over 250,000 displaced - initiated by (Kenya Welfare Foundation & Kenya Development Network and Consortium)"

Shit.

That was last year. Would anyone happen to know what the situation in Kenya is right now?
Here's a link to the wikipedia page if you're interested


That kind of depressed me.



Today was also World Religion Day. I hope you guys all appreciated religion of every kind today! Me, personally, am still mourning the end of Santa's Dreidel Week.

Coming up we have International Holocaust Remembrance Day, on the 27th, and the day after that is Data protection day. Cheerful month, January.

On a lighter note, tomorrow is 'Organize your home day!' So get shelving!


(Sorry for spamming the blog. On the bright side, you have plenty to read (and think about) now!)

Israel + Palestine from John Green

I know I've already posted a vlogbrothers video, and this is kind of lazy, but this is pretty much the only thing that helped me understand Israel + Palestine. Enjoy.

It's coz we aint black

There's something I've been hearing a lot of lately, and that thing is racism. A recent study by York University in Canada found that many people (who, I assume, would never think of themselves as racist people) failed to call an actor out on a variety of racial slurs, including the term 'clumsy nigger', and were in fact more inclined to pick that person as a partner when asked to choose (about 63% of the participants picked the racist actor). I am ashamed to admit that, as an active collectivite, I failed to call people out on blatant racism in the past week. I was thinking about it last night, and this morning, and I realised that we (well, at least me) encounter so much racism on a daily basis, and fail to act, purely because it's not directed at us, because it's easier to let a sleeping dog lie.

Why are people in New Zealand (a supposedly inclusive society) and all over the world, racist? I feel like, because we as a country, didn't support things like slavery (although it did happen), we feel free to point at countries like the States and say that they're the country to be looked at if you want to see racism. Sure, we have done better than some countries (like Australia, where much of the Aboriginal population lives out in shanty towns, marginalised still by the rest of the population), at trying to repair the havoc colonization wreaked. But I still hear racist stereotypes all the time - PI's favourite restaurant is KFC, all Maori people are on the DPB etc.

Personally, I believe that a large part of the blame is on separatism. Not that I begrudge anyone of maintaining their own, separate cultural identity, but surely the government allocating more money to schools with Maori and Pacific students, on the assumption that they're poorer or dumber than their white or yellow counterparts. Labelling people as this and that - black, white, red, yellow, brown; Maori, European (effing European! you were born in New Zealand for chrissakes! You're Australasian! Jeez), African, Scandinavian etc. It encourages stereotypes, and a stereotype, being an impression of a group based on a small cross-section, is the underlying root of racism.

The definition of racism, according to wikipedia (that great and holy bastion of knowledge) "is the belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race." Essentially, that we are different from each other because of our race. This idea is bullshit, and yet perpetuated by our government and media. When scientific studies of health and education are published in New Zealand, they always separate NZers into categories (seriously. Check for this next time), saying things like, Maori and Pacific Islanders are more sensitive to diabetes, that people of Asian descent are smarter. Yes, there are differences, but they are primarily cultural, and no more significant than the differences in educational achievement between the kids that study for two hours every night, and the kids who go to Macca's instead (mmmm...mcdonalds....). And this racism is flying under the radar, subconsciously reassuring (primarily) white New Zealanders that it's okay to discriminate.

(Just as a side-note, I also feel that the anti-PC movement is to blame. Just because it's not politically correct be racist, doesn't mean that you should discriminate against someone to support the identity you're attempting to create for yourself, as someone who takes no bullshit. News flash, racism is bullshit.)

What can you do about it? Short of writing to the government and research bodies of New Zealand, and asking them to stop differentiating, and thus discriminating (, start by calling people out on their racism (and homophobia. And their anti-Muslim, anti-Jewish and anti-American feelings). When your father or auntie or cousin curses 'those bloody Asian drivers', tell them off. Tell them that they're racist (something that they probably haven't considered, and would be horrified to think of), and that you're not cool with it, and that they're hurting people every time they make a prejudiced remark. Stop stereotyping, even if it's just a 'dumb blonde', and maybe get people to consider that what they perceive as racial differences may actually be cultural ones, and thus not apply to everyone. Race is just a skin colour. Nothing more.

Just a Question...

Well I was surfing Bebo the other day I happened across Romanas page and saw that she had that application called 'Collect Rice' now as far as I know all the prices of food and such are rising because there is a shortage of these staple foods such as rice so therefore my question is:

If the rice shortage is as bad as it seems then things like http://www.freerice.com/ (which is a brilliant site!) and the 'Collect Rice' are we making it worse or will these sites be outta busniess soon as rice gets too expense?

Sorry if the answer is painfully obvious and I'm just not up with the play....

lovelovelove

Kermit_2.0


http://www.stuff.co.nz/4500195a6026.html

Israeli air strikes and whatnots...

...i laze for a few days and suddenly Israel is attacking Palestine.
Even though i'm not there, even if i have nothing there, it really disturbs me. like war should.
It would be greatly appreaciated if someone told me how it became this way, i'm still in a daze...
thank you

p.s. happy new year's eve AC members!

The AC partay the only way they know how

#1 lesson learned 2008: Don't send out invitations to a party a mere 48 hours before you plan to hold it.

This is lesson was learned in a painful manner as the (diminished) AC crew consisting of me, Romana, Elsie, Helena and Jo walked in to Taste of Korea and asked for the 7.30 karaoke reservation.

"I thought you said 20 people were coming," glowered the waitress, obviously expecting a huge party of adults buying hundreds of dollars worth of alcoholic beverages, instead of the five measly underage patrons she saw before her.

"They're coming!" we insisted, slightly desperately.

And they did, sort of. Julia, Ellen and Eloise showed up later on, and eventually out of desperation for more people (I was paranoid that the waitress thought I was a deluded, unpopular loser who thought I had more friends than I really did), I forced my boyfriend to join us. Which brought our tally up to 9, which wasn't really enough for the ginormous room we were given:

The neon decorations were totally worth the exorbitant cost. And despite our small numbers, by jove, we rocked the house.

The night of karaoke (which means "empty orchestra" in Japanese, isn't that hauntingly beautiful?) began with the immortal Anastasia classic, "Once Upon a December", then by possibly the worst rendition of "Born in the USA" ever, sung my Romana and myself. Bruce Springsteen would be literally be rolling in his grave if he heard it (and were dead). Nevertheless, the Viet Cong references pleased the history nerds no end.

Next, the talented team of Elsie and Julia sang "Californication", with backing vocals from Helena and Eloise:

What a gorgeous bunch of ladies! (I'm serious. And I'm sorry for the photo. But I had to share.)

Meanwhile, the shyer people lurked in the background:

And Jo (dressed as her blogging alter-ego HeadSurgeon) basked in the glorious ambience of our surroundings:

After that, the whole group joined in what must be the most powerful rendition of "My Heart Will Go On" since 1997:

They joined in too. Romana's just being SILLY.

Then came my long awaited (by me) performance of Prince's immortal epic, "Purple Rain". I don't have a photo, but it went a little like this:

It seems that 5-minute guitary solos don't really translate well to karaoke.

Then a variety of fun and engaging group singalongs occured.

"All the Small Things" by blink182:

"Going Under" by Evanescence:

Other performances included "Holiday", "Our Time is Running Out", "Thriller" and a (reportedly) epic rap of "Gangsters Paradise" that I sadly missed out on by going to the toilet.

We finished the evening off with a totally rocking performance of "Anarchy in the UK". Some epic headbanging action ensued:

Then our precious two hours of karaoke time ran out. To end the evening, I announced some awards for contribution to the AC:

Julia, for her work organising food and drink and fundraising for the Oxjam while busy with debating and exams, as well as organising our banner-holdings.

Jo, for her amazing illustrations on the first edition of our zine (coming out soon!) and for the amazing amount of smart, thought-provoking posts she has written for her blog.

Ellen and Helena, for being the AC's most enthusiastic members.

Romana, for best excuse for not turning up to a meeting: "I have to cook waffles at lunchtime."

Elsie, for looking the most annoyed that she hadn't got an award yet.

Harry, for being the AC's only male member (sort of).

Eloise, for being cool.

Of course, I would have had many, many more awards to give out to the AC, because each member has contributed to the group in their own way. But I only had five chocolate bars.

Thanks to everyone who showed up, I had a fantastic time and I hope you did too!

Thanks to everyone who RSVP'd, even if they couldn't make it.

Thanks to everyone who didn't RSVP too, because if I invited you it means that you're in the AC and I love you anyway!

That's all for the year, have a safe and relaxing holiday, a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

Ka kite!

Happy sexagesimal birthday UDHR!

Okay, so, apparently, in NZ, it is 4:04 am on the 10th of December.  Wake up my pretties! Today is the sixtieth anniversary of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

On the 10th december, 1948, the UDHR was adopted and proclaimed by the UN general assembly.  Since then, it has set the Guiness World Record for the most translated document, having been translated into over 300 languages worldwide.

On this tremendous occasion, I thought you might like to familiarize yourself with the contents of the UDHR.    To read it in English, click here.  

(please do, or the UN might get me)(also, knowledge is power, and knowing your rights is very powerful)

But here are some of the awesomest articles:

Article 1:  All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Article 4:  No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.

Article 18:  Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

Article 19:  Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

Article 24:   Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.

Article 26 i:  Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.

Happy reading, and hugs and kisses from New York.

Hi!
I'm the HeadSurgeon, today I'm taking a break from cutting up people and is here to help you understand le financial crisis and effects with this simple-as-a-pimple guide. edit: whoops actually...its not understandable gabble...
To answer Ellen; yes! they are linked of course- you'll see why hopefully at the end of this, and i just have to add, we can all be a bit relieved as New Zealand seems to be comming out of the recession.

first we need to know some key words! Then its all KOOL from thereon, hopefully.
subprime mortgages: basically, during the years 2006-2007 or so, houses in the U.S were "subprime"- this means that the buyer only needed a small amount or none downpayment to buy a house. Thus, those who did not have the money for a house or income to actually pay the house back- were allowed a house!
Mortgage backed security: to first get into this, we have to get into asset backed security. Asset backed security is a way of debt security (which is BANK NOTES, therefore cash!) that is based on a set of assets(the assets which in this case are houses!). So, guessing you are confused- think a cashflow, and asset backed security enables more new cash to enter this flow [the flow and the stuff in the flow is debt security stuff then].
so were does mortgage backed security fit in?well- it is the asset! It is where they source the money to get into the flow! Because mortgage back securities gets the cash cause, ya know, people have to pay their mortgages, and the people earn money from interest ect, so it contributes to the cashflow, and therefore the cashflow is dependent on the mortgage payments for the cash! So, companies can invest in these mortgages to get cash from interest/from the people who brought the house but can't actually afford it for their own cashflow. In short, it is a financial product to produce money. phew. hope i didn't confuse anyone.

err, i think thats about what ya need to know, now, here's how it fits with the Financial crisis as i understand it...

so in the past few years, with the majority of houses being brought were issued with mortgages that were "subprime". People who had bad credit history/unstable income/not enough money annually to actually afford a house/you get what i mean- were encouraged to take on hefty mortgages because of the seemingly continuing rise in price houses so- "before it gets real expensive- we'll get it at the ok-expensive price right now!!" and also because...no needed or little down payment!...but then.... interest rate (i'm sure you all know what this is) increased...and the price of houses decreased. So "Oh no!" for the people who already had low credit already, and had taken on these mortgages were in trouble- since they have to pay more now with increase in interest rate, which is rather unhelpful and unthoughtful as they are already tight on cash. Also..."oh no" for those who invested- okay lets go a lil off tangent and talk about the investors.

okay...so...le financial products- the mortgage backed securities allowed many people and companies to invest in the american housemarket. Say, there is a company called "Tomworks Inc.", the company had initially borrowed money from a finance company to expand their business. When the company saw other companies investing in subprime mortgages and all the wonderful possibilities of money, the company decides to take a nice dig too to make more money by investing in some assets/subprime mortgages[property]. So, all is good and stuff, they thought they could get away...but then interest rates go up...and the house prices went down! ..and it wasn't changing...Oh noes! The price of the Companie's assets are now worth less, and on top of that...the people who brought their assets can't pay them back so they have to take the houses away/they go in foreclosure! So the company have all these houses, that are worth considerably less(and empty) and doing nothing. Not earning them money anymore. This became a big problem in the US because many companies and major banks invested in them greatly...

Also, addressing Ellen- most sub-prime mortgages are widely owned by financial companies! ;) thats why alot have closed down, their prime business is money and subprime mortgages looked like easy money- it spread like a "nasty rumour"! and remember cashflow guys! (so finance companies lending out money it loans from the bank/subprime mortgages, and the company paying the bank back with subprime mortgage money and the lenders interest from the money they borrow). Mortgage delinquincy increased (which is home-owners being delinquints and not paying their mortgage installments on time!)- and thus this ended up in foreclosure- the houses were seized :(...a-lot of houses actually, a million or so.

Right, so with this happening- as i said before many companies and major banks invested in them, they were bound to be financially in trouble. So...since this is a decline in capital (Wealth in the form of money or property owned by a person or business in this context) this put a strain on credit, especially as these companies and banks- as well as, lets not forget, the people who owned a house with a subprime mortgage-own banks(other banks for the banks...@_@, like the Central banks) money as well. This places a strain because the banks are therefore getting peanuts back (so yeh, finance companies around the world and ALOT of small businesses are closing down because banks are weary of lending money to help out these business refinance themselves back into production/ people who wish to start businesses or wish to appply for a finance will find it a hard time to since the banks are weary, and they would have set the "standards" a bit higher- those who have less money would most definately have a hard problem borrowing. And the people, who would've lost trust in the companies who have fallen (this also include people who have invested in stocks- how people buy a certain percentage of a company [to support it, as well as reap the rewards if the company begins succesful]. remember Forrest Gump investing stocks on "Apple" and he got stinkin' rich? Well vice versa that if a company actually went under. So- this also made a big hoo-ha on wall street as we know, people not wanting to buy stocks/invest (therefore companies finding it harder to support themselves as well as young companies taking off) ritey, back on track...uhm..right trust. Yeh. And then there was recession...but i'm sure you guys can see where recession fits in ;) and the government bailout plan for the big finance companies!

Summary:The financial crises came from greedy lil people who seduced buyers who could not afford houses, and then when they had to pay bigger mortgages they could not pay, and this became a problem for the greedy people since housing prices went down and thus their assets worth less. When the greedy peoples assets went into foreclosure it is exactly like "you are screwed" who would give them the money back for the assets? they were worth less and they could not turn these assets into money! So therefore, they could not pay back the banks and stuff money they owned for buying the assets. Banks not getting money back were unhappy, as were the banks who had invested in the subprime mortgages, getting no cash here and left with empty houses. So banks doesn't want to borrow money out, as they have less of it. And ect.

man. I'm really @_@. I hope this was understandable and brain friendly....even i can't bring myself to read it. Maybe i'll continue this with an effects, but i think its a tad obvious really.

In addition...

In addition to Romanas blog etc here is visual something to help you under stand the fanancial crisis. I am still very confused. I understand how it has began (sort of) but what are the effects? In my opinion it is effecting us everywhere from propety delvelopments to small scale bisnesses. Of course fanancial companies have failed. They are all linked yes? Would somebody like to publish a blog on the EFFECTS of the crisis? Because we all know historical event happens through cause and effect. We have the cause down which is furthur enforced by this flow chart.

http://flowingdata.com/2008/11/25/visual-guide-to-the-financial-crisis/

Arrr....Pirating!

I don't think any of us can honestly cross our hearts and hope to die that you have not downloaded music before, ever ever ever, illegally[maybe with the exception of ms Judge...hmmm]. I sure have. Still do. I'll get to that later.

With the economic crisis and "credit crunch" this is generating, the music industry [especially that of CD stores ect.] will be effected greatly, not that it hasn't already because of illegal downloading. Of course, a "cure" to this is the holding of live concerts and of such, which is one of the best ways for bands/artists to generate revenue, and of course, you can now also very handily buy songs seperately or the whole album online to ease ye self of guilt.

Of course, the main thing about buying cd's is that we don't really need to, because we can hop on limewire or browse torrent sites where you can download an ENTIRE bands discography easily (easily, given you have broadband). So with the economic crisis, buying cd's and such is something that is not a necessary commodity when we can get it for "free", and thus, with this thinking, the artists who produce these cd's will be for the poorer times 10 during these times.

I always feel guilty when i download albums, and i know having the actual tangible album in thee hands feels great. When i download albums I have this little room in my mind of this scene:

Abandmember: Let's have noodles again, tonight.
Bbandmember: Yeh.
Cbandmember: I thought i could make a living with music
Abandmember: thats what we all thought. I didn't think i could live of noodles, but hey...
Cbandmember: Actually, i got a part-time job this week- at the convenience store
Bbandmember: Ah, i just went for an job interview at Farmers...and don't you think that writing songs that will "sell" is so stressful?
A,B & C: ....
Dbandmember: Alright lets place our activities on "Hiatus" then.
A,B & C: Alrighty

and we all know Hiatus is a euphemism for "disbanding"!!!*cough*malice mizer*cough*...

So, i try my best to buy albums. I spent Yen350,00 or so, give or take on albums and concert dvds when i was in Japan. Right now...I'm horrible. But i'm planning on buying what i have downloaded, and loved intensely from this particular site that gives free shipping :D as the main reason i don't buy cd's is because the cd's i want to buy can only be brought online and i have to change them to NZ dollars and pay for shipping...but...excuses!

However, upsides of downloading is that is is absolutely universal and no matter where you are given you have have a port or wi-fi near you, music from all the spaces within this world can reach you. Music now has fingertips to extend and touch many, which is undeniably good for an artist. I mean visual kei is crazy popular in Europe. This was only possible through downloads and, strangely, all these spanish blog sites that have entire discography of some bands uploaded onto megaupload and mediashare ect. This made is able for these visual bands to actually have europe tours.

Also, iPod's/mp3's have entirely revolutionised the music industry- as it made it more uneccesary to buy CD's but also a way which makes way for buying songs online...hmmm...

my take: buy what you love. If you listen to a certain artist alot, instead of downloading more of their albums, go and see whats avaliable at the Cd store.

"my take" redux for us poorer students who may not actually afford to pay $35 for 1 cd(!): ??umm...send fanmail to make up for your lack of financial support?

well we just have to make sure we arn't pirates all the time...or...communists!!