I am currently working on the website for my new business, as well as some client sites while working on a plan to make sure I'm able to support myself without working for someone else. What I'm trying to say is, I'm having trouble right now finding time to write in T4AC, but I could do the site fixes done and ready to go in a hurry if there were someone else to write. If you interested, please drop me a line (magazine ==ATMARK== t4ac PERIOD com).
I have fixed the menu on the left, and added some of the issues I made when this magazine was just starting up embarrassing as that is. There are two broken links on the left, but that is all there should be. Let me know if you find anything else. I plan to have one review up soon, and left the link to the reviews section there in anticipation of it. The other link is just dead because I felt sad with only two links in the current issue section. I have a few ideas bouncing around my head for contents and I'll fill that space soon.
READ THIS FIRST!!! The links in the side menu for the most part do not work. I have put this site up in the same form as it was when it was up as a prototype. These links and things will be fixed over the next several days, but until then clicking on the links in the side menu you will give you more frustration than content. Thank you for you patience.
Hello Everyone, I have decided to bring up this damn magazine ready or not! For those of you who don't know, Think For a Change Magazine is primarily about social and political issues in the world, and how we can do something to make them better. It is intended to be a forum for a number of different voices from different walks of life to make their viewpoints known, and above all I hope that it will make you think. I will explain this more depply, as soon as I have the chance to make an about section. I deeply apologize to anyone who has been checking back here again and again waiting in vain for this site to go live, and I appreciate you indulging my wishful thinking right there. I have decided to do the 'zine in a different format than I originally envisioned. I will do it more like an online journal than on an issue by issue basis. I will put up issues as I print them on paper (very rare lately), but will try to update the main section and reviews section much more frequently. To do this, I will set up a content management system backend for the site. I am also in the middle of a very busy lime in my life: I have just started a freelence web design/development and interpretation/translation/localization business and in addidtion I'm trying to migrate two of my other websites over two my own server while keeping up on the paid projects that I have. Bringing T4AC up as an active site will take some time, but it will eventually happen. If anyone can offer any help whatsoever with writing, graphic design, technical expertise, enouragement, suggestions, or topic ideas please let me know (e-mail address removed). I appreciate your patience so far, and beg your good favor in the future.
Recently I wrote a column for a punk rock 'zine complaining about how almost every time I go to a punk show I have to listen to some punk rock teenager preach to me about anarchy. I talked about how these people had not thought their ideas through well enough to be able to argue them intelligently. I still feel that way, but have since put more thought into the actual concept of anarchy. In my article I said that these kids complain about corrupt greedy politicians, and in the same breath tell me that anarchy is the answer. I said that anyone who is not the mental equivalent of SPAM should be able to see that a system of anarchy would not work because of the greed and corruption infecting some of the human race. I said that for anarchy to work well, everyone would have to be selfless enough to be committed to not taking advantage of others, if not putting the good of society before their own good. Recently though, I realized that the goal doesn't have to be the elusive perfect system, just a better system. I have been listening to a CD containing the spoken word of Utah Phillips. On the the CD he quotes an anarchist who's name I cannot recall speaking to a judge about a law he broke - "Judge, your laws ... the good people don't need 'em, and the bad people don't follow 'em so what good are they?" That quote really stuck with me. I think it makes a lot of sense. Don't get me wrong, I'm not endorsing anarchy as a viable political(?) system. I think that in an anarchist system someone would gather a lot of power and make it a dictatorship, but it's interesting to consider whether or not anarchy, if it did remain an anarchy, would work better than our current, jumbled, corrupt, and bureaucratic system. Anyway, I hope the idea makes you think.
Also known as the Fly River turtle, the Pig-nosed turtle (Carettochelys insculpta) is undoubtedly one of the strangest turtles in the world. Unlike any other freshwater turtle, it possesses flippers resembling those of marine turtles. This turtle gets its descriptive name, "pig-nosed," because its nose actually resembles that of a pig. Its nostrils are located directly in front of the fleshy, protruding snout.
The carapace and limb color of the Pig-nosed turtle may be gray to olive. Plastral color is very light, either white, cream or yellowish. Males can be distinguished from females by their much larger tails which have the vent located near the tip. This turtle grows to be very large, attaining a maximum weight of 49.5 lbs (22.5 kg) and a maximum length of 22 inches (56.3 cm) [Georges and Rose, 1993].
The distribution of the Pig-nosed turtle is limited to northern Australia, southern Irian Jaya and southern New Guinea. Typical habitat includes rivers, estuaries, lagoons, lakes, swamps and pools. Most Pig-nosed turtles have been found in waterways having sand and gravel bottoms covered with silt, and averaging a depth of six feet. The banks of these waterways are typically heavily forested. Two areas in which this turtle has been studied are the Fly River area in southern New Guinea and the Daly River in northern Australia.
As with many turtles in remote locations, the Pig-nosed turtle was once believed to be extremely rare. Although exact population numbers are not currently available, it is known to be very common in its range. But, there have been recent reports of population declines in some areas in which the species was once abundant. Because of this, Australia has protected this turtle from exploitation. However, New Guinea has not implemented any conservation measures. Because of its protection in Australia, the Pig-nosed turtle has rarely been available on dealer lists in the United States. However, I am aware of dealers in Japan and other countries which frequently offer Pig-nosed turtles for sale.
