This is a great article on heroin, history and Melbourne.
Posts Tagged ‘melbourne’
Chris Middendorp on Melbourne and Heroin
June 22nd, 2009About Me
February 21st, 2009I’m a late twenty early mid-thirty something guy who lives in Portland, Oregon. I’m originally from Melbourne, Australia via Sydney and a few other places.
I work in computing – specifically as Director of Operations for Puppet Labs – and I write technical books of which I have four published and another on the way.
My interests include cooking, wine, political theory, photojournalism, philosophy, poetry. I enjoy good conversation, laughter, reading, music, and my cats. Things that piss me off are jingoism, bad grammar, violence and cucumber.
P.S. I also have a sister who has complained about not being mentioned here – she lives in Melbourne, makes things with metal, curates and shops. Usually for shoes.
Mini-confs – linux.conf.au – MEL8OURNE 2008
May 21st, 2007I forgot to mention here that the Linux.conf.au mini-conf’s proposals are now open.
Below is the press release:
LINUX CONFERENCE AUSTRALIA – MELBOURNE 2008
REQUEST FOR MINI-CONFERENCE PROPOSALS OPENS
The MEL8OURNE team is pleased to announce that the call for proposals for Mini-conferences at linux.conf.au 2008 is now open. linux.conf.au is Australia’s annual Linux conference. Fun, informal and seriously technical, linux.conf.au is a calendar highlight for Free and Open Source Software developers from across the world. It will be held from January 28th to February 2nd, 2008 at the University of Melbourne.
Mini-confs are self-contained ‘conferences-within-a-conference’ that provide a forum for attendees with special interests to communicate and collaborate. Mini-confs draw together hobbyists, educators and academics, technologists, corporate representatives, and members of the broader community to further knowledge and discussion in their specialist areas. Each mini-conference is organised by a member of its specialist community and run within the auspices of the wider conference. Past topics have covered Education, Gaming, Debian, MySQL, the Linux kernel, Security, Clustering and Virtualisation. At 2007′s LCA, twelve different mini-confs were held in conjunction with the main programme.
Speakers present on their areas of expertise within each topic, and community members share ideas, experiences and knowledge. Lightning talks, short informative presentations on specific topics, and poster presentations are also popular at mini-conferences. LCA 2007′s Education mini-conference included presentations from educators and technologists interested in and utilising Linux and Open Source technologies in Education. Topics included technology trends in education, copyright law, collaborative learning and case studies on using Open Source technology in schools, technical colleges and universities. The popular Linuxchix mini-conference, run by women in the Open Source community, discussed topics as diverse as techniques for social networking, bug fixing for non-programmers, and the role of women in Information Technology and Open Source.
Mini-conferences can cover a variety of topics, both new and old, ranging from the long-running Debian mini-conference to the newer Virtualisation mini-conference. For LCA 2008, the organisers invite proposals from previous mini-conference organisers and welcome proposals on new and innovative topics.
You can register your proposal at http://lca2008.linux.org.au/mini-confs
We recommend, even if you are an established mini-conference, that you lodge a proposal to ensure we can plan adequately for your requirements.
For LCA 2008 the call for mini-conference proposals is happening prior to the call for papers. The call for papers will open on the 1st of June, and close 20 July 2007.
Singing True Blue with a Polish taxi driver – interlude with cabbage roll
September 20th, 2006I was sick this morning so I called a cab to go across to my place to pick up some things (minding the old’s house for a few weeks *sigh*).
The cab arrived and the driver waves at me from across the street. I walk across and open the door. Instantly the strong smell of cabbage wafts out at me.
“Hello! I am Vlad – good morning to you!”
The driver, a huge bearded fellow, with a thick Eastern European accent extends his hand to me. I shake it as I am clamber into the taxi.
“Where do you go this morning?” he booms at me.
“Um … Smith St, Collingwood,” I reply, a little subdued at his vigour this early in the morning.
“Excellent – we go!” he booms again.
I notice on the dash between us is a plastic bag with a large tupperware container in it. The container seems to hold long cigar-like objects, only coloured a greeny-white. Vlad notices me looking.
“You like cabbage? My wife make best cabbage roll in Australia!” He laughs like this is an excellent joke – we Australians are obviously not noted for our cabbage rolls. I suspect he is right.
“You have one!” he gestures at the container.
“Umm… Okay. As long as you don’t mind. I am not stealing your breakfast am I?” I ask.
“No! No! Take one – take two. Wife will be pleased if I tell her passenger like her cabbage rolls,” he half-shouts at me, a huge smile on his face. He yanks open the container whilst performing a deft one-handed U-turn and nearly clipping my father’s car. I wince. I also suspect I better like the rolls.
I carefully pull a roll from the box and take a bite. It’s good. Rice, beef and little pieces of onion.
“Wait, wait,” he says me to, “I have sauce. Tomato. Like for BBQ but better!” He pushes the plastic bag further open and hauls out a smaller, rounder container filled with a reddish liquid. At no time do his eyes actually drift toward the road and I pray we don’t collect something or worse someone. I open the container as it is passed to me and dip the un-bitten end of the roll into it. It tastes even better with the sauce. And it is considerably nicer than the tomato sauce we slather on sausages and steak at BBQs.
“You like?”
“Yeah, it’s great,” I reply munching quickly.
I ask the inevitable question, “So, where are you from?”
He grins at me, “Poland.”
I speak without thinking, “I didn’t think Vlad was a Polish name … more Russian?” Shit, shit, shit. I don’t know how the Poles feel about the Russians but I am assuming like much of the former Iron Curtain states it won’t be good.
He seems unfazed. “Yes – Russian name with V – Polish name with W. I am Wlodzislaw. But no one except Polish people can say, so I am Vlad to everyone.”
I try the full name out a couple of times. He corrects me once.
“Yes, you have right – perfect.”
We drive on, him talking non-stop about Australia and Poland.
“Many Polish people here, too bloody cold in Poland. My wife much prefer weather here.” The ‘bloody’ comes out sharply emphasized in that way much Australian slang does when used by people who speak English as a second language.
Both our eyes follow the walk of an attractive woman in a skirt with the side split crossing Spencer St. “I prefer weather here too,” he looks and me and laughs when he sees we have being admiring the same woman.
“You like music?” he asks.
“Yes.” That seems a safe answer.
“Well I love Australian music. I listen to all the time. You mind?”
“No, not at all.”
He leans over and pushes a CD into the player. After a few seconds out blares, John Williamson’s “True Blue”. I wince.
Hey True Blue, don’t say you’re gone.
Say you’ve knocked off for a smoko
and you’ll be back later on.
Hey True Blue Hey True Blue.
“You like?”
“Um, yes I guess. I don’t like much country music.”
“They play this at Steve Irwin’s funeral so I put in car this morning. I play for all passengers this morning.” And then he started singing along. After a couple of lines he looked at me, “Come on, you sing too!”
So I did and we rolled up Victoria Parade loudly singing True Blue – his booming voice and my scratchy throated rasp.
He dropped me outside my house. I paid him and thanked him for the cabbage roll.
“No worries mate!” he boomed back and drove away.
Only in Melbourne.
Publishing and Melbourne 2008
August 5th, 2006The Melbourne 2008 bid for Linux.conf.au was successful. I was very vaguely involved in it – volunteered some ideas and may have volunteered some time on the organising side of things. Probably something to do with the conference papers. So that’s excellent news for the bid. The competition was pretty stiff – Hobart put in a damn fine bid – but we prevailed.
Still trying to work out what is happening with options for a new book/re-write of older book. Very frustrating but I need to schedule my time for the rest of the year. I did take on a couple of new projects – maintaining Gotmail and writing BlockSSHd (though I confess there aren’t a lot of new features I intend to add). These projects do take some time but I still have some spare time and a desire to keep writing. I have some ideas for a book – more monitoring topics, a book on logging interests me, and obviously some security concepts – I’d love to do a book on security metrics. But we’ll have to see.
Back for a while…
April 3rd, 2006Okay. Back for a while. Not sure how long. Will play it by ear. Lots of changes.
A brief summary of the last 6 months:
1. Seperated
2. In Melbourne
3. New book almost out
4. New job
So yes lot’s of ups and downs including several big downs. But feeling happier and healthier than I have for a while – well excepting this goddamn cold that won’t go away – rather hoping its not lung cancer. *note to self – must GIVE UP smoking – again*. Though on the medical side to my amazement (and after R’s reminding me like two hundred times to) I actually made an appointment to go to the Doctor about the many and varied moles on my back. So going tomorrow. That’ll give me an exciting topic to blog on – whether I have skin cancer. Yah!
Anyways, more later.
High Fidelity Meme
May 10th, 2005I was suckered into doing this by my dear friend Ruth. Hmmph. Damn tagging.
Top Five Lyrics that Move Your Heart
Firstly I want readers to be aware – this is songs that move your heart. So a couple of them are going to be soppy. And romantic. And that has nothing to do with the fact that I am a hopeless romantic.
1. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – The Ship Song
Being a totally hopeless romantic (*cough*) I must say this song has a lot of memories associated with it. Chris & Amanda waltzing in an empty night club to this song. Anna and I at Nick Cave at the Collingwood Town Hall. This song could be a total cliche but it somehow manages not to be.
Come sail your ships around me
And burn your bridges down
We make a little history, baby
Every time you come around
Come loose your dogs upon me
And let your hair hang down
You are a little mystery to me
Every time you come around
We talk about it all night long
We define our moral ground
But when I crawl into your arms
Everything comes tumbling down
Come sail your ships around me
And burn your bridges down
We make a little history, baby
Every time you come around
Your face has fallen sad now
For you know the time is nigh
When I must remove your wings
And you, you must try to fly
Come sail your ships around me
And burn your bridges down
We make a little history, baby
Every time you come around
Come loose your dogs upon me
And let your hair hang down
You are a little mystery to me
Every time you come around
2. The Smiths – Please please please let me get what I want
I’ve always loved this song. As far as I am concerned this is the ultimate song about unrequited love.
Good times for a change
See, the luck I’ve had
Can make a good man
Turn bad
So please please please
Let me, let me, let me
Let me get what I want
This time
Haven’t had a dream in a long time
See, the life I’ve had
Can make a good man bad
So for once in my life
Let me get what I want
Lord knows, it would be the first time
Lord knows, it would be the first time
3. The Lemonheads – Allison’s starting to happen to me
Some people reading are going to hate this choice and this song. But I fell in love to this song. Unfortunately not with a girl named Allison which might have explained how it all turned out.
She’d shake it up, was hard to make out.
Now it’s plain to see
I couldn’t cook to save myself,
Found my life a recipe.
I never looked at her this way before,
But now she’s all I see…
Alison’s starting to happen,
Alison’s starting to happen,
Alison’s starting to happen to me
It’s so mesmerizing,
Can’t describe it,
All that inside, hey.
No one’s heard her last name, I ain’t asked,
So, who am I to blame?
An earthquakes started forming underneath my feet today…
Alison’s starting to happen,
Alison’s starting to happen,
Alison’s starting to happen to me
Oh, this world is topsy-turvy,
And it is mine to eat.
She’s the pebble in my mouth and underneath my feet.
She’s the puzzle piece behind the couch, made the sky complete.
Alison’s starting to happen.
Alison’s starting to happen.
Alison’s starting to happen.
Alison’s starting to happen.
Alison’s getting her tit pierced.
Alison’s growing a mohawk.
Alison’s starting to happen to me.
4. Sinead O’Connor – Nothing compares 2 U
Whilst I otherwise find Sinead immensely painful and annoying this song has got to be one of the saddest, heart tugging songs. Not a song to listen to when drunk and lonely. Really. Trust me on this.
It’s been seven hours and fifteen days
Since u took your love away
I go out every night and sleep all day
Since u took your love away
Since u been gone I can do whatever I want
I can see whomever I choose
I can eat my dinner in a fancy restaurant
But nothing
I said nothing can take away these blues
`Cause nothing compares
Nothing compares 2 u
It’s been so lonely without u here
Like a bird without a song
Nothing can stop these lonely tears from falling
Tell me baby where did I go wrong
I could put my arms around every boy I see
But they’d only remind me of you
I went to the doctor n’guess what he told me
Guess what he told me
He said girl u better have fun
No matter what u do
But he’s a fool
`Cause nothing compares
Nothing compares 2 u
All the flowers that u planted, mama
In the back yard
All died when u went away
I know that living with u baby was sometimes hard
But I’m willing to give it another try
Nothing compares
Nothing compares 2 u
Nothing compares
Nothing compares 2 u
Nothing compares
Nothing compares 2 u
5. The Waterboys – This is the Sea
I’ve always loved The Waterboys (shut up Ruth 
– at least I didn’t choose Ultravox – Vienna as number 5 – I did think about it…) and this song is also on the soundtrack of one my favourite films – also named [u”>This is the Sea[/u”>. Great film with a great romantic story (including the wonderful Samantha Morton, the late Richard Harris and the always brilliant Gabriel Bryne.
These things you keep
You’d better throw them away
You wanna turn your back
On your soulless days
Once you were tethered
And now you are free
Once you were tethered
Well now you are free
That was the river
This is the sea!
Now if you’re feelin’ weary
If you’ve been alone too long
Maybe you’ve been suffering from
A few too many
Plans that have gone wrong
And you’re trying to remember
How fine your life used to be
Running around banging your drum
Like it’s 1973
Well that was the river
This is the sea!
Wooo!
Now you say you’ve got trouble
You say you’ve got pain
You say’ve got nothing left to believe in
Nothing to hold on to
Nothing to trust
Nothing but chains
You’re scouring your conscience
Raking through your memories
Scouring your conscience
Raking through your memories
But that was the river
This is the sea yeah!
Now i can see you wavering
As you try to decide
You’ve got a war in your head
And it’s tearing you up inside
You’re trying to make sense
Of something that you just can’t see
Trying to make sense now
And you know you once held the key
But that was the river
And this is the sea!
Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah!
Now i hear there’s a train
It’s coming on down the line
It’s yours if you hurry
You’ve got still enough time
And you don’t need no ticket
And you don’t pay no fee
No you don’t need no ticket
You don’t pay no fee
Because that was the river
And this is the sea!
Behold the sea!
Top 5 Instrumentals
Hmmm instrumentals? Well I must admit most of my tastes in this area would be classical. Not a big fan of the instrumental rock ‘masterpiece’. And also I am going to cheat slightly.
1. Frank Zappa – The Gumbo Variations
2. Chopin – Nocturnes: No. 21 In C Minor
3. Mozart’s Requiem
4. Handel’s Messiah
5. Atom Heart Mother – Pink Floyd
Top 5 Live Musical Experiences
1. Jeff Buckley at the Prince Pat.
Amazing gig – everyone squeezed into the Prince Pat – into this tiny space with this awesome man with his incredible voice. When he sung the whole room was dead quiet. Of course that could have been because everyone was squeezed in so tightly that they couldn’t actually breath or speak.
2. Billy Bragg at the Metro in Sydney
Billy Bragg on speed this night. He played a series of classic Bragg tracks all re-worked and re-invented. Totally revitalised his back catalogue that resulted in a really good night.
3. Stone Roses at the Metro in Melbourne
Packed into the Metro (an otherwise shit venue) and standing on a table with Anna and dancing along to Fool’s Gold. One of my favourite gigs.
4. Henry Rollins playing the music of Black Flag at the Metro in Sydney
Rollins Band I always thought were okay but the masterwork of Rollin’s music career was always his Black Flag material. In this gig, in support of the West Memphis Three, was oen of the most high-powered, throbbing, thumping gig I’ve been too. For a man of his age Rollins also rocked for hours. I had a headache for a week afterward. Well worth it.
5. Paul Kelly at the Prince of Wales
I am a big (early) Paul Kelly fan and this gig was one of the most relaxed and enjoyable I have been at. Kelly had even stolen my Paul Kelly costume (the same one I wear to every costume party we get invited to) – Hawaiian shirt, black jeans and boots.
Top Five Artists You Think More People Should Listen To
Not sure what to put here – more people I know should listen to? Or more people in general? Hmmm.
1. Michael Franti
2. Parliament/Funkadelic
3. My Bloody Valentine
4. The Pixies
5. Patsy Cline
Top Five Albums You Must Hear From Start to Finish
1. David Bowie – The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
The epic rock experience. I love this album.
2. Bob Dylan – Bob Dylan
Released in 1962 this was Dylan’s first album. Notable for the inclusion of Man of Constant Sorrow – later made re-famous the Coen Brother’s [u”>Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?[/u”>
3. Kinky Friedman – Sold American
Contains the classics Ride ‘Em Jewboy and the Ballad of Charles Whitman. One of the most biting, caustic musical satires ever made.
4. The Clash – London Calling
An album everyone should both own and listen to from end-to-end. It is one of the finest anti-establishment albums. Made as unempoyment in Britain sky-rocketed, union protests rocked the country and it marked the beginning of the Thatcher-era and the incredible changes that wrought on Britain.
5. Johnny Cash – At Folsom Prison
One of the greatest come-back albums of all time. Contains the masterpieces Cocaine Blues, Folsom Prison Blues and the incredible anti-death penalty tune 25 Minutes to Go.
Top Five Musical Heroes
This is really, really difficult to do. But I’ve tried. The list could go on a couple of pages if I really worked at it.
1. The Pixies
2. Neil Young
3. John Coltrane
4. The Ramones
5. Curtis Mayfield
And it starts again…
April 22nd, 2005Well. The publisher and I. We have come to an agreement. I am going to write another book – this one on Nagios. Just started today. First 500 odd words pounded out on the plane down to Melbourne. I think I am going to be a little less stressed about this one.
P.S. Also another good review for the Das Book Mark I got sent to me today. Still can’t get my head around the fact people think it’s good. 
He Died With a Falafel in His Hand
December 18th, 2004Watched He Died with a Falafel in his Hand again last night. Great movie. Two best quotes from it:
Sam: Don’t you find me attractive?
Danny: Of course I find you attractive.
Sam: Well then?
Danny: Well we’re mates. You can’t sleep with your mates, it’s one of the unwritten rules of the moral code of mateship.
Sam: I didn’t know there were any unwritten rules of the moral code of mateship.
Danny: Oh yeah, they’re the biggies. No sleeping with a mate, no sleeping with a mate’s girlfriend, no urinating on a mate’s car. It’s column of salt sort of stuff, Sodom and Ghomorra and all that.
and:
Melbourne Detective: I’ll tell you how this game works Daniel. We’re the cops, we get to ask the questions. You’re the suspect, you get to complain about your civil liberties, perhaps get shot, maybe even killed. And it has to stay like that Daniel, otherwise everything falls out of balance. When things fall out of balance, you know what happens then don’t you Daniel. Your spiritual values start to decline. You get your disintegration of your social structure, don’t you? The system collapses. Petulance, flood, famine. It happened to the Romans, it happened to the Greeks, it happened to the Ancient Mesopatamians. And we don’t want it happening to us do we Daniel?
I loved the book. The first time I read it I picked it up straight after I had finished it and read it through again. So much of it was frighteningly familiar. All those share houses I lived or camped in over the years – Queensberry St, Burchett St, the scary flat in Elwood, of course the chain-smoking Hawke St period. Then the regression back to the start of my shared house experiences with the St Peters and Brown St houses – where we reverted back to sitting in darkened rooms, smoking too many cigarettes and drinking too much. Far too many of those stories rang true.
Lucinda Smurf
October 22nd, 2004Currently Lu is painted blue from the waist up. Chest, arms, back, head, ears. Blue. Why you ask? Someone stupidly invited her to a Smurf party. I am also attending. I am not, however, blue. I am going as who I always go to fancy dress parties as – Paul Kelly. Or rather Paul Kelly Smurf. I am even wearing my only item of coloured clothing – my red Lee Scratch Perry t-shirt. Go figure.
Also going to Melbourne for the weekend tomorrow. Going to Nat’s 30th. Yah. Also will catch up with M&M, B&L, Ruth, Simon (and maybe not so midgety Thomas), and the normal hectic crazy cast of thousands. Oh and family too. Madness as per normal.
