The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is a role playing open word game developed by Bethesda Game which has also
made Oblivion and the Fallout series. It is the fifth game in The Elder Scrolls series.

The game is open world and is about the same size as Oblivion. It has changed the way you develop skills by granting the player perks at each level and they can be used to improve the skills you have by granting additional abilities based on your skill level. This also stops players from getting very powerful at early stages. There is also a major focus on blacksmithing as durability has been removed from the game and instead is used to create and improve weapons.

Enchanting and alchemy have also been changed so now you have to disenchant an item to learn the enchantment destroying the item in the process. Alchemy now has a list of potions that can only be made
and you need to eat the ingredient to learn its properties.

The game also includes dragons that are randomly generated and are normally hostile towards anything including towns and cities.

The game was released for all platforms on November 11 2011 for Australia and the first Skyrim DLC (downloadable content) Dawnguard will be launched in northern summer 2012 for the Xbox and will be released on other platforms a few months later.

Children as young as three are encouraged to share how they view the world by snapping photos around Sydney for an annual contest.

Little Sydney Lives Photography Competition is part of City of Sydney Council’s art festival Art and About,an event that encourages those of all agesto use the city “as a canvas for creation and storytelling”.

City of Sydney events creative director and producer Gill Minervini said the competition was a children’s version of the annual Sydney Lives Photography Exhibition.

“We thought…it would be great to give little kids the opportunity to have a photographic competition of their own,” Ms Minervini said.

“We look for photographs that depict the scene of Little Sydney Lives, so what it’s like to be little in Sydney.”

The two age group categories are 3-7 and 8-11.

There were over 70 entries in last year’s competition.

Originality is the main criteria for a winning entry.

But do toddlers know what to do with a camera? “I guess you have to ask the three-year olds!,” Ms Minervini said.

She said the quality of the photographs was very high.

“We were quite surprised. They were very beautiful and it was very difficult picking a winner.”

Liam Jones was nine when he submitted a picture that made him first-runner up in last year’s competition.

“You can only see arms and hands, and it’s like me and my soccer team putting our hands together for Newcastle United,” he said. “That’s my soccer team.”

“My hand is the one that’s closest to the photo when you’re looking at it.”

“I chose that picture because it’s more me – because I like soccer and that’s my hobby,” he said.

Liam’s mother Mrs Jones, an English teacher, discovered that her son scored high marks in visual area in an IQ test.

Since then she has encouraged him to develop his visual talents.

“I’ve tried to educe the best of his visual abilities, which included entering this competition,”she wrote on her blog.

“Our education system is centred around reading and writing. Visual learning is not as well catered for, so it’s up to parents to try to find places outside school to develop their abilities.”

Submissions close on June 29 at 5pm. The top 20 photos from the competition will be exhibited in Hyde Park from September 23 to October 23.

By Josephine Kwan

Margaret Thatcher, George W Bush and even anti-abortion lobbyists have been linked to modern day feminism, and this year’s Sydney Writers Festival will find out why that is.

To discuss if the term is too easily applied, the festival has called upon a list of influential women.

Writers Kathy Lette, Tara Moss, Catherine Deveny, Emily Maguire and Julia Baird will make up the panel ‘The Feminist Supremacy’ on Saturday at Sydney Town Hall.

Artistic Director for the Sydney Writer’s Festival, Chip Rolley, said: “I am particularly proud of the line-up for this event.

It will be a fun and feisty night and I know a lot of women and men who are looking forward to it.”

“I recall a couple of months ago there was a great debate raging on Twitter and in the blogosphere about whether you could be pro-life and be a feminist. For year’s the women’s movement was plagued by
people who would say, ‘I’m not a feminist, but here we had women fighting for the right to the label,” Mr Rolley said.

“It seemed the perfect time for the festival to ask, if feminism is all the rage, why on earth do women still earn only 87 cents to a man’s dollar?”

The panel is among the controversial topics being discussed at over 300 events.

Running from May 14-20, the Festival will focus on the line between public and private.

Emily Maguire, who’s writings on women’s issues earned her the 2007 Edna Ryan Award, is looking forward to the frank and fearless discussion that will arise on the night.

“I’ll take any opportunity to speak about feminism and women’s rights,” she said.

“Although feminism has been enormously successful, overturning millennia of oppression and injustice was always going to be a huge job and so there’s still heaps more to do.”

She believes there has been a resurgence in feminist activity in the few years.

“A common criticism of second and third wave feminism is that they’re movements mostly concerned with white, middle class, highly educated, straight women,” she said.

“Many of those working in the movement today have taken those criticisms to heart and make a real effort to ensure the voices of all kinds of people are heard. As a result, the feminist movement has become more inclusive and diverse than it has ever been before, making it far stronger and more representative.

Ms Maguire’s 2008 novel, ‘Princesses and Pornstars: Sex, Power, Identity’, shows how the treatment of young women as fragile can be just as damaging as their exposure to pornography and raunch culture.

“Feminism is constantly building on its successes, correcting its mistakes and adjusting to new contexts,” she said.

The Sydney Film Festival gains a new director, program and hangout venue for all this year.

Imported talent, Nashen Moodley emigrated from Durban, South Africa in January.

Apart from jetting around to various film events, he has lived on his couch and watched film after film to compile the international selection of cinema which will flash on screen from June 6 to 17.

Mr Moodley has never been to the SFF but managed the Durban International Film Festival (DIFF) since 2001.

“Typically I watch around 800 films a year.”

For him, festivals provide more than entertainment value.

His theory on festival programming involves pushing past thresholds of comfort and familiarity.

“Watch a film from a country that you’ve never seen before. Watch something that you don’t like the sound of.”

He said it would take time to learn about Sydney’s audience but has gleaned an impression from previous year’s statistics of attendances and film screenings.

“At the same time, you need to be there, you need to feel the audience’s reaction.”

“If you watched 25 films at the festival and you came to me at the end and said I loved every single film, then I’d think I haven’t done a very good job because then I’d think it was too safe.”

His experience on the world film circuit has exposed him to more than art.

“Watching films around the world has really broadened my understanding of the world and really opened me up to different cultures.”

Mr Moodley is friends with previous SFF director Clare Stewart, who is now the Head of Exhibition at the British Film Institute.

“Sydney seems to me to be the centre of the Australian cinema industry,” he said.

“Australian cinema is very popular internationally on the festival circuits – people really look out for Australian films.”

This year there are 18 world premieres of Australian films at the SFF.

He has been following the careers of Australian film makers Cate Shortland, Tony Krawitz and Ivan Sen, among others.

“I was waiting a long time for [Cate] to come up with a second feature well before any of this happened and my moving to Sydney.”

Ms Shortland’s Lore will be a world premiere this year and was preceded by her 2004 feature Somersault.

The Hub, a new meeting space at lower Town Hall will also debut this season.

“The Hub is dramatically different … [it] will really improve the atmosphere of the festival because I think one of the things the festival has needed is a central place for people to hang out and talk about cinema.”

By Deborah Erwin

A historic flour mill in Pyrmont will be transformed into a luxury apartment block.

Private developer Ceerose has submitted a development application to the City of Sydney to convert the former Edwin Davey & Sons Flour Mills into 136 contemporary units.

The Development Manager of Ceerose, Daniel McNamara, said the company’s director Edward Doueihi purchased the site in late 2010.

“We spoke to Council and a number of other authorities – RailCorp, the local landcare groups [and] community action groups before we purchased the site.”

Ceerose held an architectural competition for the site and shortlisted three designs.

The development application was submitted in late 2011.

The company expects to receive a response by June.

Mr McNamara said Ceerose has invited community groups to be involved with the design competition of the site, and has consulted them on the planning of the site development.

“We’ve done everything possible to keep as much of the community involved as part of the project,” he said.

“We’ve met with numerous members, such as the Pyrmont Action Group, Pyrmont Ultimo Landcare group.”

“We’ve been in constant contact with those local community groups, right down to responding to some local blogs,” Mr McNarama said, referring to the Penultimo blog.

Mary Mortimer from the Pyrmont Ultimo Landcare group said the group is happy with the extent of consultation so far.

“They are consulting with the community. Whenever we have a question for the planner, he has been available to answer our questions,” she said.

“We were involved in the consultation about the design of the building.”

A spokesperson for the City of Sydney did not confirm when the application would be approved.

“The City cannot comment on development applications while they are under consideration,” he said.

The flour mill ceased production in 1996 and the building was demolished in 2000, leaving only the facade of the mill.

A Melbourne developer purchased and obtained approval for a commercial building on the site but ultimately did not proceed with the development.

The $95 million project will provide high-end apartments on the 3,100 sq m site.

Construction is slated to commence in September.

The flour mill is located near the Western entrance of the Anzac Bridge.

By Jeff Li

The NSW government has closed a gaping loophole which allowed 29 MPs to receive double salaries and allowances for being mayors/councillors whilst MPs. With constituents’ issues often identical, Janus-faced MPs were paid twice for this “synergy”. This was not democracy. It was kleptocracy: stealing our inchoate right to decide how our democracy works best for us.
NSW is now aligned with other major states and the UK and USA.

Only one independent MP objected, lower house MP Clover Moore, claiming this non-partisan approach was personal. A case of “Mirror, mirror” perhaps? Liberal MP and Randwick Councillor Bruce Notley-Smith raised no objection. Both houses confidently passed laws in the public interest expunging future abuses.

How many MPs raised concerns in parliament about their council’s affairs? None. Voters rightly realised MPs were putting their own political and financial interests first.

In 2003, Moore told the ICAC: “I strongly believe that being a Member of Parliament is a full-time job. The demands of the job require the full commitment of the Member’s time, energy, effort and intellect … the citizens of NSW expect Members to be full-time”.

While she played the victim better than any Broadway starlet in this imbroglio, voters were the real victims.

Claims of hard Parliamentary work proved hollow. Apparently, she spoke 53 times last year and made one statement per week, whereas the Premier made none. She wrote more questions than all 69 Coalition MPs combined, introducing three Bills (one became law).

But coalition MPs ask their questions in cabinet or of their colleagues direct, not in Parliament. The real question is whether Clover Moore has asked more questions than other Independents? Answer: no. And from 2007 to 2010 she missed 28 per cent of all sitting days.

Recently she was entirely tacit on the crucial issue of legal changes which allow councillors to hold pecuniary interests whilst voting on planning changes. So who is she really representing?

Claims that O’Farrell’s laws are based on a “sham enquiry”, with Australia so over-governed we now need an expensive state-wide referendum, lack substance. Why not eliminate local government altogether then? This enquiry was open to all. With government elected just last March we don’t need a referendum about democracy.

Many lawyers say dual-role positions are illegal. “Office of profit under the Crown” laws prohibit mayors receiving money via government who also hold another state office eg. MP.

Clover’s allegation O’Farrell “manipulated our democracy” might be true. But isn’t making democracy more accountable a good thing? And wasn’t Clover hypocritical by manipulating the system herself?

She forgets democracy is about one thing: choice. We now choose who can and who can’t be mayor and we exclude MPs, judges and criminals. We choose who we want as our mayor or MP, separately. And Clover can now choose which position she wants, MP or Mayor, but not both.

It’s a win for our future democracy and for those demanding clearer and more accountable separation of political powers.

Andrew Woodhouse
President
Potts Point & Kings Cross Heritage Conservation Society

President of the NSW Council for Civil Liberties, Cameron Murphy strives to take on the Lord Mayor seat and restore faith in the Labor party.

In an interview with City News, Mr Murphy said there are a lot of things wrong with the party at the moment, but he believes there is a place in politics for Labor values.

His campaign aims to restore fairness and protecting the equality of individuals.

Born in Sydney, Mr Murphy moved to Canberra when he was very young.

When he was 13, his father fell very ill and passed away, leaving his mother to raise him as a single parent.

The challenge saw him enter boarding school for a few years, in Canberra then Scots College in Sydney.

His mother, a refugee of German and Polish decent, emigrated to Australia after the second world war, not speaking a word of English.

“She was teased at school, kids called her a Nazi. It was incredibly tough.”

Growing up, he was taught about the struggles that people go through.

A serial academic, Mr Murphy has dabbled in a number of university degrees first studying Commerce Law, later completing Ancient History and an LLB.

It was through his upbringing that he was drawn towards the path of helping others, ensuring everyone in the world has an equal opportunity.

“My father drummed into me about being open minded. Every human being is important, and everybody is entitled to be treated as an individual with dignity.”

“I felt like I wanted to contribute something to society. I’ve tried to take paid work where I can that’s actually going to have a positive impact on other people’s lives.”

His broad career includes being an Energy Union Organiser with the Construction Forestry and working with young people aspiring to be activists.

Then a researcher at an Electoral Officer for Senator George Campbell.

Leaning on his legal training he moved into Legal Aid policy work for “the most vulnerable people of society”.

He was Consumer Trader and Tenancy Tribunal member to the Anti Discrimination Board of NSW, focusing on issues surrounding transgender people.

He has made his mark through his ongoing voluntary role as President of the NSW Council for Civil Liberties.

Though he cites his work around September 11 as a career highlight.

Now Mr Murphy works for insurance company Coverforce, providing income protection for blue collar workers.

He lives in Kings Cross where he resides with his partner Agatha.

The opportunity to run for Mayor within the Labor party comes at a time when many people are disappointed with the dreadful state the party is in.

“I had to think about it a few weeks ago and figure out whether I was going to put my hand up and engage.”

“There has been a narrowing of the type of people who are public representatives of the Labor party. They seem to be people who are out of touch.”

He feels confident that he is a strong contender based on his record of standing up for issues for principal.

“You can have no doubt of the type of approach that I’m going to take to any issue that’s out there.”

Mr Murphy wants to introduce Wards where Councillors are directly responsible for a particular area.

This aim is born from a reaction to residents saying there hasn’t been true consultation.

“People complain they don’t know who actually represents them other than the public face Clover Moore.”

“Councillors live north of Cleveland St so people in the Southern areas feel they’ve living in forgotten suburbs.”

Green living is also hot on the agenda, where he feels Carbon Tax is a good thing.

“We have an opportunity to be at the forefront of the world.”

He highlights that any green solution for the City needs to be financially viable.

Bike paths are great, the problem is it has been badly managed where it has become a distraction. It is an issue of implementation, he said.

For Mr Murphy this is an opportunity to rebuild some faith in the Labor party.

He admits it’s going to be a tough election against Clover Moore.

But he said: “I love a tough fight.”

An attempt by NSW police to ban a march supporting the end of Israeli occupation in Palestine was overruled in the Supreme Court on Monday.

The activists were summoned to the Supreme Court in an attempt to stop the march from taking place at Town Hall and in the CBD.

The march on Tuesday, commemorated as Al-Nakba (the catastrophe) by pro Palestinian groups, traditionally marks the 1948 settlement of Israel.

The group’s advertising for the event advocated an end to Israeli occupation and called on the Australian Government to cut all ties with Israel.

A representative for the group, Patrick Langosch, criticised NSW police.

“[T]he NSW Police are showing their true colours by trying to silence free speech and political protest in support of the Palestinians.”

“Their idea of negotiations was to give us an ultimatum.”

“That was the main thing that we objected as starting at Town Hall. You can’t just move the demonstration, somehow democracy is being undermined.

Assistant Police Commissioner of the Central Metropolitan Region Command, Mark Murdoch wrote to Mr Langosch indicating he would seek an injunction against the march if the group did not confer with police over the protest.

He also said the expected number of participants in the public assembly had not been specified in his application.

Prior to the ruling, Mr Langosch said the peaceful march would proceed no matter what the court decided.

“Irrespective of what ends up happening we’ll be protesting at town hall at 6pm tomorrow.”

The group has been backed by organisations such as Free Gaza Australia, Jews Against the Occupation, Palestine Action Group.

Vivienne Prozsolt of Jews Against the occupation has criticised the O’Farell Government as undemocratic.

“In threatening to ban a peaceful march by those who wish to remind Australians of this crime, the O’Farrell government is denying our civil rights to peaceful protest.”

Greens MLC Sylvia Hale also questioned the actions of the police as undemocratic.

“The freedom to protest free from police interference is an essential right in any country that calls itself democratic,” she said.

Hundreds of Palestinians have been jailed without charge or trial for protesting Israel’s illegal occupation of their land.

Ms Hale said it was critical to support them and the thousands of other political prisoners in Israeli jails.

By Christopher Harris

While Clover Moore’s council may be one of the most popular in Sydney, not everyone is happy.

East Sydney-siders feel their locality has been ignored since Ms Moore came into office in 2004.

Jane Anderson has been a resident of East Sydney for more than 20 years and is a committee member of East Sydney Neighbourhood Association (ESNA).

“I think the feeling amongst East Sydney residents is a feeling of deep disappointment of the performance of this council,” she said.

“When they were elected there was great hope, great optimism and belief that it was a council who would really listen to residents and help us improve our amenity … but that has not been the case.”

Current residential concerns include the illegal use of a home as a drop-in centre for sex workers, excessive liquor outlets and traffic congestion.

“We have a park that was earmarked for improvement in 2004 and the only thing that has changed is a big tree has been taken out,” shesaid.

“It seems to be a lot of plans, plans, plans, but no action in East Sydney.”

Another member of ESNA, Coral Hoggett, addedto the inventory of overlooked problems in the locality: “excessive proliferation of late night venues, street prostitution, street dumping of garbage.”

“We think Council needs to be proactive again and prosecute offenders.”

In recent correspondence between East Sydney residents and council one resident wrote; “I must admit to a sardonic smile when Council asked for planning input from residents for ‘2030 In Your Village’.

“I feel we should send them a copy of our 2002 Strategic Plan for East Sydney and ask them to highlight any aspect of it that they have bothered to adopt and implement.

“So I ask myself, why bother? They will do what they want to do anyway.”

Residents argue other inner-city neighbourhoods have benefitted from more Council attention.Surry Hills, for example, has a new multi million-dollar community centre, library and several upgraded parks.

However, East Sydney residents do not resent their neighbours.

“Its fantastic to see those initiatives and I certainly support all the new parks in Surry Hills “ Ms Anderson said.

“The Council has achieved a lot in the macro view; the sustainability initiatives and having a unit that is there to support homeless people.

“So it’s not universally bad news. It’s more about East Sydney not
receiving any attention or improvements at all.”

By Kate Horowitz

New Products

Tablet Computer Covers

In the last week I took a look at the various types of tablet covers available in the shops and tried them on for size. They can be categorised into three types:- Protectors, Cases/Folios and Cases/Folios with Keyboards.

1. Protectors

These are designed to protect either the back of the tablet or the screen. They either snap on or use magnetic hinges in the case of the Apple screen cover. These range in price from around $20 to $79 for leather covers.

1. Cases/Folios

These come in various materials and colours. The common features among them is that they encase the tablet like a traditional folio holds files. Also, when the folio is fully open it folds back to act as a stand for the tablet to rest on. Prices range from $30 to $100.

1. Cases/Folios with Keyboards

A few manufacturers offer a wireless keyboard using bluetooth with their folio tablet covers, which turn the tablet into a traditional laptop as far as the keyboard and screen are physically separate. Recently I took a six hour flight and was impressed to see the person next to me using an iPad with a bluetooth keyboard supported in a folio to make changes to a spreadsheet for most of the flight. It demonstrated the utility of the folio with a keyboard set up in a confined space.

When trying out covers that fold back to create a stand make sure the stand actually works. I tried one in the shop with a pull out tab for a stand, but it didn’t actually support the device.

Prices range from $60 to $130.

Problem of the week

Laptop beeps on startup and screen is blank

This problem can be caused either by a dead battery or by a faulty hard drive.

To diagnose the problem, unplug the power cord from the laptop and remove the battery. Plug the power cord back into the laptop and turn it on. If the computer starts up as normal, the problem is solved. A new battery is required if you want to use the computer away from power points (Price $40).

If the beeping continues after the battery has been removed, this indicates that the hard drive has failed. Don’t panic. The data on the hard drive is still recoverable. The drive can be removed from the laptop and installed into a USB hard drive case (price $40). This external drive can then be connected to any computer for recovery of the data.

Your issues

Each week I will answer readers questions about technology or gadgets and the best questions will be published here for the benefit of all. If you need any help with your technology needs, just email me at peterbitecomputing@gmail.com

Peter Bite

Tech and Gadgets Column

Alternative Media Group

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