All good things must come to an end, or do they? All things that are good, continue, change and improve. So it is with this blog,  i.Mephisto: i.Muse & i.Amuse! I am planning to discontinue this blog and several, in favour of  one blog, Radio666fm.com: Pictures, Songs, & Stories From The Great Beyond. I won't be changing my style, heaven forbid. I just want to integrate all my interests into one blog, and write as Tony under the guide of various characters, of which Mephisto reigns supreme. In time, I will be migrating the posts in this blog over to Radio666fm.com: Pictures, Songs, & Stories From The Great Beyond, in the interests of continuity. But for now, I will be leaving this blog up. However, I will still be maintaining the blogs Visual Instincts, Professional Deaf Australians, and Gone Fishing, and a slew of others. See you over at Radio666fm.com

Coming so soon after some great Australian philosophers  farted romantically about the cockleer implant, a former opposition leader for the Australian Liberal Party [Federal] has decided to hold a symposium, about deafness. The focus being, guess what. Yes, this symposium is very complimentary of his great intellectual prowess, and liberal thinking, that politicians are renowned for.  The great intellectual tradition of farting, for which he hopes to mine with great intellectual rigour, thoughts, perspectives, and views of great Australian philosophers, mechanics and laboratory assistants, who know nothing about deafness, other than what can be cleaned from horror stories handed down by people who themselves don't know anything about deafness. Reed the press release, included below, and then write, if you are so moved, and express your tears of gratitude to the Australian MP, who wasn't even popular as the opposition Leader [Ha, Ha, Ha], here. But then again, he is a doctor isn't he! Still, there is light on the horizon, for Nelson that it is. There are some cyborgs out the ready to rain him with Hosannas from up high! But do write to him, here --------------------------------------------------------------------- Media Release 19 August 2009 Nelson silences deaf people Dr Brendan Nelson MP will tomorrow exclude the ...

While I’m on a roll, I’m gonna blog about something I never thought I would. The cochlear implant. Yes, that damn thing. I could describe it as an infestation, of biblical proportions, but I will try to be impartial and abstain from making any sarcastic comments, but irony, there will be aplenty. I’m Australian. How can you be Australian and not do irony? For along time, I’ve harboured some serious ambivalence towards the implant, I still do, BUT I’ve always understood the choices that people were making, and WHY they were making those choices. I am a lot more savvy of the Deaf, deaf, hearing issues, surrounding the implant, than most bloggers profess to do. Sure, sometimes it’s not always apparent from what I write, but then again, many of the criticisms I have received, ignore many of the issues I raise. Perhaps, the menace of probing questions threatens the borders of their comfort zones? Or is it simply easier to accuse Deaf people of bias, critical and non accepting of diversity? Meanwhile, the implant infestation continues unabated. It has invaded my family home. Yes. SHOCK! HORROR! Another B-Grade Science Fiction movie, "Let’s Do The Time Warp Again!" Cue: Dr Frank’n’Furter, "How ...