The Engels' Empire

Victorian Fires

2009-02-12T10:06:00.006+10:00

I left Melbourne late January for a conference in QLD, and returned on Saturday around 7pm. It was cool leaving the airport building, almost chilly. Only when I got into the taxi and heard the radio did I realise the hell that Victoria was enduring.

Growing up in country QLD, I was never comfortable living in a land so prone to bushfires with their mercurial nature and eerie ability to destroy life. Still, I stand completely speechless.

Countless articles, photos and stories. Too many, too depressing:

General article by The Economist.

First hand account.

Those who stayed to fight the fire.

Opinion piece by The Australian journalist Gary Huges who was almost caught in the fire.

Story of survival.

The US sending fire experts.

Two articles blaming green policies

Times like this, I'm glad I don't have a TV. I don't think I could handle watching anymore of this. I've read enough articles, seen enough photos.

I tried to donate blood yesterday, but apparently they've been swamped with offers (that in itself, is telling of the situation). However, donations are still needed.

Giving

2008-12-24T11:51:00.008+10:00

There's an old school of thought that says people only help others to make themselves feel good. Pessimistic, yes. For years I've assured myself that I would give more money to charity if I had more. I found myself saying "I just need to make a little more", and sure, as a PhD student, one may argue that I could definitely make more before I donate. But I'm on a pretty good scholarship nowadays. Besides, I just spend the bulk of my income on drinking and wacky t-shirts (though they are cool, and chicks dig them).

So two years ago I decided if somebody was doing something to raise money for charity, I would donate to them - of course, under the condition that it's for a charity I believe in. What sort of charity do I believe in? I've been giving that some thought for a few years now, and I think have a not-so-hazy answer, but that deserves another entry .

I'll admit it. Donating money made me feel good about myself. Some of that wore away when I found out a few months later that the charity had supported causes I didn't believe in, but I'm sure the bulk of my donation went to a good place. Peter Singer, who I wouldn't normally agree with, I wager, argues in this good NY Times piece that more people, particularly the rich, need to give to help this world. Wouldn't that be nice.

There's another school of thought: people don't act rationally, but instead act emotionally, and then to try it support it rationally. I don't agree with this completely. And the bulk of economists, to my limited understanding, believe strongly that people act rationally overall, even when it appears to the contrary. They justify this with game-theoretic arguments such as winning people's trust and benefiting from good deeds later on. Hence, this time of year makes economists feel rather uncomfortable, according to Ross Gittins from Fairfax.

Why give? Isn't it more efficient to spend the money on yourself, and be happy from that? Regularly, yes. But as Gittins points out, this overlooks our original premise: giving makes both the recipient and the giver feel happy. And there's something in that.

Expensive tastes

2008-01-19T10:59:00.000+10:00

Apparently, it's all in the price:

Dr Rangel gave his volunteers sips of what he said were five different wines made from cabernet sauvignon grapes, priced at between $5 and $90 a bottle. He told each of them the price of the wine in question as he did so. Except, of course, that he was fibbing. He actually used only three wines. He served up two of them twice at different prices.

The scanner showed that the activity of the medial orbitofrontal cortices of the volunteers increased in line with the stated price of the wine. For example, when one of the wines was said to cost $10 a bottle it was rated less than half as good as when people were told it cost $90 a bottle, its true retail price. Moreover, when the team carried out a follow-up blind tasting without price information they got different results. The volunteers reported differences between the three “real” wines but not between the same wines when served twice.

Nor was the effect confined to everyday drinkers. When Dr Rangel repeated the experiment on members of the Stanford University wine club he got similar results.

Humans are a strange bunch.

Hollywood science advice

2008-01-04T11:21:00.001+10:00

Apparently, some Hollywood stars aren't that intelligent:

Hollywood star Nicole Kidman and a host of other celebrities have been criticised by scientists for spruiking the benefits of various remedies without having solid evidence to support them.

The Aussie actress along with fellow Oscar winner Gwyneth Paltrow and fashion designer Stella McCartney are among those targeted for making claims about the benefits of everything from certain brain-based workouts to face creams and what to eat.

Wow. I'm in complete disbelief. I would have sworn anybody married to Tom Cruise was a genius. And surely naming your kid "Apple" is a smart move?

Food Shortage

2007-12-11T12:21:00.000+10:00

An interesting, though long, article on global food shortage, and consequently, higher food prices. Why the food shortage? One reason is that countries like India and China are eating more meat, which naturally requires somewhat more grain to produce. Another reason is that crops traditionally grown for food like maize are now being grown for bio-fuels.

In theory, the increase in food prices will benefit places that export more food than they import - this includes many poor countries as well as middle-America. However, this is only in principle, and the lower rungs of such places will still suffer. It would appear that the halcyon days of cheap food are behind us.

We is getting dumber

2007-12-05T11:13:00.000+10:00

The poor spelling I witness in first-year maths tutes makes me cringe (how bad their maths is another story altogether). I'm amazed we're still among the top ten countries in one education ranking:

In reading, Australia ranked equal sixth, while in 2000 it ran second behind only Finland. Australia now falls behind Korea, Finland, Hong Kong, Canada and New Zealand.

Australia now ranks equal in reading to Ireland, Liechtenstein, Poland, Sweden and The Netherlands.

In maths, Australia ranked equal ninth last year compared with equal eighth in 2003 and second in 2000, now falling behind Chinese Taipei, Finland, Hong Kong, Korea, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Canada and Macau.

The science questions changed between 2003 and last year, making it difficult to compare results, but Australia ranked equal fourth last year behind Finland, Hong Kong and Canada.

Well done, Finland, again. And how it pains me to tie with Ireland in reading. You'd be after wanting to read that book there, lad.

Karl anti-coal

2007-11-01T11:18:00.001+10:00

It's not that I'm pro-nuclear power, I'm just anti-coal power for our base power needs. If such a thing as "clean coal" was feasible, I'd be all for it. However, Dr Karl thinks "clean coal" is a furphy:

Scientific commentator and broadcaster Karl Kruszelnicki, who is running for the Senate on the Climate Change Coalition ticket, today said clean coal technology was physically impossible.

Dr Kruszelnicki said the major parties were lying to the Australian people when they claimed carbon dioxide could be removed from the burning of coal and then compressed and stored underground or underwater.

He said this would require one cubic kilometre of compressed carbon dioxide to be stored every day.

"That is the volume of compressed carbon dioxide that we have to get rid of - not every 10 years, not every year, but every single day," Dr Kruszelnicki said.

"It's just not technologically possible.

"It is simply a furphy, it's a porky pie to cover up the fact that there is no such thing as clean coal."

Underground thermal energy accessed in South Australia could provide 100 per cent of Australia's baseload electricity for the next 75 years and then be supplemented by other renewables, he told reporters.

"If we tried really hard we could have all of the electricity in Australia made without carbon by 2020 using a mixture of renewable energies including hot rocks and the wind and the waves and the sun."

There you have it. According to Dr Karl "clean coal" is a fool's dream. But hot rocks? Intriguing, but feasible? All the electricity in Australia originating from one source? That's a lot of energy wasted (as heat radiating from powerlines). Time will tell.

Viva Idiotos

2007-10-16T11:43:00.000+10:00

It's funny how those who have taken so many mind-altering drugs claim, somewhat arrogantly, that they have a better grasp of history. The Che lovers form part of this deluded crow. This is an old and revisited point of consternation for me, but regardless:

Rather than a Christian romantic, Guevara was a ruthless and dogmatic Marxist, who stood not for liberation but for a new tyranny. In the Sierra Maestra, he shot those suspected of treachery; in victory, Mr Castro placed him in charge of the firing squads that executed “counter-revolutionaries”; as minister of industries, Guevara advocated expropriation down to the last farm and shop. His exhortation to guerrilla warfare, irrespective of political circumstance, lured thousands of idealistic Latin Americans to their deaths, helped to create brutal dictatorships and delayed the achievement of democracy.

Sadly, Guevara's example is invoked not just by teenagers but by some Latin American governments. In Venezuela, Hugo Chávez wants to create the guevarista “new man” (see article), just when Cuba is having second thoughts. As Jorge Castañeda, one of Guevara's biographers, notes, Che's lingering influence has retarded the emergence of a modern, democratic left in parts of Latin America. Sadly, most of those who buy the T-shirt neither know nor care.

On deaf ears, indeed.

Left vs Right

2007-10-05T09:51:00.000+10:00

I don't know how accurate this school of thought is, but it seems to be widely published:

LEFT BRAIN FUNCTIONS
uses logic
detail oriented
facts rule
words and language
present and past
math and science
can comprehend
knowing
acknowledges
order/pattern perception
knows object name
reality based
forms strategies
practical
safe

RIGHT BRAIN FUNCTIONS
uses feeling
"big picture" oriented
imagination rules
symbols and images
present and future
philosophy & religion
can "get it" (i.e. meaning)
believes
appreciates
spatial perception
knows object function
fantasy based
presents possibilities
impetuous
risk taking

I'm definitely a left-side brain sort of person. The dancer only turns clockwise for me. I don't know what that means.

Spelling

2007-09-21T15:21:00.000+10:00

I'll be the first to say when it comes to spelling, English language is a bastard of a language (a fine example of my grasp of the language). This is party due to both its motley origins and a lack of standisations (or is it standizations?). And I suppose varying accents don't help much either. For instance, although it pains me greatly when I see it, I can somewhat understand why Australians misspell the word "definite" as "definate". Apparently, the etymological connection between "definite" and its less misspelt cousins "infinite" and "finite" has not been spotted.

Regardless of all the spelling traps found in English, you would think that teachers are able to spell some relatively common words correctly. But apparently, they cannot:

A spelling test of about 40 Victorian teachers, conducted in April this year, provides no grounds for confidence. Not one of the teachers could correctly spell all 11 words, ranging in difficulty from substitute to adolescence.

The test was set at the level expected of 14-year-olds but the average score among the 39 teachers was just seven correctly spelled words.

Five teachers correctly spelled 10 words, putting their level at 13 years and nine months. One teacher was unable to spell any of the words while two teachers got only two of the words correct. Overall, 22 teachers misspelled subterranean, 17 couldn't manage embarrassing or miscellaneous and 16 had trouble with adolescence.

Perhaps this is ignorant and/or arrogant of me, but I fail to see how a university-educated person can misspell "substitute". Surely, this is not an obscure word, particularly for substitute teachers. How else would one spell it? And I'm positive that teachers must have read and used the word "adolescence" a number of times in their education and career.

Seemingly, my spelling is better than average, which, I suppose, is something that stems from my many readings (I recently purchased a mathematical writing handbook). But I still make some terrible blunders - since I don't spellcheck this blog, I'm sure there are plenty of examples to be found right here. However, there's no excuse for teachers getting such words wrong.

Then again, as some will try to convince you, maybe spelling isn't that important and it's things like, um, a creative spirit that really count in life.

Oz History

2007-08-28T13:01:00.000+10:00

I admit that my perspective on what people should know is a bit skewed given my love of general knowledge, but I assume there is some stuff that everyone knnows. Apparently, no. I just asked about 6 or 8 PhD students when was Australia discovered by James Cook. No one knew. Somebody said 1788 (that's the First Fleet).

Everyone else said 1760s to 1770s. The answer is 1770. I'm curious. Do I know this because I like history or is it my QLD education? Or do we know it because of the Town 1770?

Also, a couple people didn't know the first Prime Minister. Good luck on the new citizenship test.

Internet Music Rant

2007-08-15T11:48:00.000+10:00

I recently argued - perhaps somewhat drunkenly - with a mate over a song. I said that Janis Joplin had sung a version of "Son of a Preacher Man". Turned out I was wrong, although I had had the song (from the Pulp Fiction soundtrack) labelled as that on my computer for the last five years. Why can't people label songs correctly? Is it that hard? Just because a song may "sound" like another artist, doesn't mean it's by that bloody artist!

For instance, "Cats in the Cradle" was originally sung by Harry Chapin and NOT Cat Stevens while the cover was done by the one hit wonder Ugly Kid Joe and NOT Axl Rose and the gang. Similar artists seem to be interchangeable. Tom Waits and Nick Cave? There's no difference there, according to the internet.

And heaven forbid when a band member starts their own solo career, while still performing songs from their previous bands. Contrary to popular belief, songs by the two bands Cream and Derek and the Dominos cannot be simply labelled as Eric Clapton songs (and vice versa for that matter).

This is obviously a point of consternation for me. Then again, perhaps this is the internet gods hinting to me to buy my music.

Socialist Response

2007-07-25T13:32:00.000+10:00

Here's a response too large for the comment section of the previous entry. I emphasise that I do not believe in extreme forms of capitalism and think that capitalism is indeed responsible for some terrible things. However, some socialists apparently have a very misguided perspective of history.

Whoever wrote this garbage needs to read up on history. Who wrote this? A failed first-year arts student? Or some weed-smoking clown who reads too much Chomsky? My history ain't that great, but just for comedy:

To have Stalin there is telling alone of this person's seemingly limitedless stupidity. Stalin is a man both directly and indirectly responsible for killing over 20 million of his own people just to bring potato-farming Russia into the industrial age - meanwhile we're complaining about the 7-day work week of Victorian Britain. Incidentally, do we know what Feudalism was? Guess how many hours farmers and labourers worked back before capitalism came to town? The idea of a vacation, which I’m sure everyone here is familiar with, didn't exist a couple of hundred years ago.

The points pertaining to WW2 are mostly a result of Nazism (ie a form of socialism albeit a very evil and racist one) and the combat against this evil.

Hiroshima was the tactical response to an indoctrinated group of people who quite literally thought their ruler was descended from a sun god. It was either that, or a war of attrition.

Racism? Right... And no socialist (bar the Nazis of course) has ever been racist?

The great bulk of these wars and battles (Boer, Nanking, Opium) were a result of imperialism and colonialism, which are not mutually exclusive to socialism. The Russian Empire didn't let go of their annexed states once they became the Sovient Union. Also, China is still fiercely holding onto Tibet (as most whining hippies will know).

McCarthyism was an extreme response to an exaggerated fear by a madman (who, incidentally, didn't slaughter his perceived enemies like our socialist amigos Pol Pot, Mussolini and Stalin).

Exxon Valdez? Both capitalist and socialist countries trade in oil. Just ask the socialist clown Hugo Chavez.

The Mafia? Organised crime? So China doesn't have organised crime? Triads are just a myth? And Italy was never a socialist state?

Tuberculosis? Electric-chair? Pure insanity. What's next? AIDs? Cancer? The common cold? Or are they products of lizard-like aliens?

This is just off the top of my head. If I could be bothered doing some research, I would find even more gapping factual and logical holes in this poorly construed "argument". This sort of mentality is frightening, to say the least.

Cuba Rocks

2007-07-24T12:45:00.000+10:00

You can't help but admire the communist Shangri-La that is Cuba:

The authorities allow Maribel Vidal to sell her handicrafts two weeks out of four to tourists visiting Camaguey, 550km east of Havana.

She used to be a teacher on 3000 pesos ($135) a year.

"I now earn 10 to 15 times more," but has to pay 50% tax.

Maribel says many of the other market traders are also university graduates.

She earns enough to "live with dignity" but wishes she could return to teaching.

I wonder why Cubans like Andy Garcia (who directed a film that didn't paint a nice picture of Che and co) and his family fled the country?

Problem Worsens

2007-07-23T12:09:00.000+10:00

I once made a remark half-jokingly due to a lack of people studying maths, there's a surplus of decent-paying maths jobs out there and I should be able make lots of money. The morose bunch didn't see the humour, and thought I was being an arrogant bastard. I probably was. But regardless, every few weeks I read a similarly-themed article about the plight of mathematics:

Australia is losing its mathematical skills as school courses are hijacked by fads and divorced from modern mathematics as practised in industry and business.

At a time when economic growth is underpinned by jobs in maths-related fields, the Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute says the teaching and learning of maths in schools and universities is in serious trouble and suffering from a lack of input from mathematicians.

Not only is the number of students taking maths continually falling, especially at an advanced level, but even students studying related fields such as engineering and science are taking fewer maths courses.

A PhD in arts, who also did her undergrad in maths, was complaining over maths PhD students having all their own offices and computers while arts PhD students rarely had their own office. I felt obliged to inform her that the country is not in a severe shortage of pretentious arts students and their ability to spell and rant about our depressing "post-Fordist" society. But meh.

Slow Friday

2007-07-13T14:07:00.000+10:00

Not much happening in the office today. Slightly seedy. We won trivia at our local pub so we had to spend the bar tab. That reminds me, I'm so happy that Victoria has finally banned smoking in pubs. It's great. The other night I was waiting in line to get into a bar. Turned out it was just bunch of smokers. And to think I used to breathe all the crap in without realising it. Good times.

Lousy Film Tastes

2007-07-03T14:25:00.000+10:00

People around here have lousy film tastes. How do I know this? Simple: nobody wants to see Transformers (well, at least with me). Last month I won two free tickets to our local cinema. Can you see any film there worth viewing over Transformers (or at all for that matter)? Just foreign and arthouse films for the cultural elite that dwell in Carlton. It's a travesty. Well, not all is lost. Surely people will want to watch Die Hard 4 when it comes out. Counting the minutes.

ABS Results

2007-06-27T12:15:00.000+10:00

Every 4 or so years, we go through the task of filling out a census form. Here are some of the slightly more interesting results:

For every 100 women in Australia, there are 97 men.

Marriage is still the norm for couples, although married couples now account for a lower share of the population than they did in 1996 - down from 53.3 per cent to 49.6 per cent.

The number of followers of Hinduism has more than doubled since 1996, now covering 0.7 per cent of the population.

Followers of Buddhism also doubled to more than two per cent of the population.

Islam accounts for 1.7 per cent and Judaism 0.4 per cent.

Christianity remains the dominant religion. It grew slightly, from 12.6 million followers to 12.7 million but fell as a proportion of the population from 71 per cent to 64 per cent.

Almost 19 per cent of Australians said they had no religion.

The number of young people living with their parents grew by eight per cent and the number of students dependent on their parents rose by 14 per cent.

More school students now attend private schools, 35 per cent, compared to 30 per cent in 1996.

Living at home with your parents and going to private school? Yup. That's Melbourne alright. And 19 per cent of Aussies say they have no religion. That's a fair chunk of the populace given that a reasonable share of people would write down a religion even though they don't really follow it, I imagine.

CIA Secrets

2007-06-27T12:10:00.000+10:00

The CIA has decided to release some of its old documents to remove its alleged veil of secrecy:

The CIA worked with three American mobsters in a botched attempt to assassinate Cuban leader Fidel Castro in the early 1960s, according to a 700-page CIA dossier known as the "Family Jewels" released today.

The documents detail some of the agency's worst illegal abuses during about 25 years of overseas assassination attempts, domestic spying and kidnapping.

CIA Director Michael Hayden released the dossier to lift the veil of secrecy on the agency's past, as the Bush administration faces criticism of being too secretive now.

Mr Hayden told agency employees in a statement the trove included "reminders of some things the CIA should not have done" and a glimpse "of a very different era and a very different agency."

Much of the information had been released in various congressional investigations in past years, but the pages provide detailed accounts of CIA activities, much of it against the backdrop of the Cold War.

Some of the CIA's Family Jewels describe the agency's initial efforts to get rid of Castro, whose 1959 revolution ushered in communism to the island. Despite the US campaign against him, Castro remains Cuban leader at age 80, although he handed over temporary power to his brother Raul after surgery last July.

I wonder if the documents detail how they trained the Bolivians to get rid of Che (el Pajero)?

Cheeky Iranians

2007-06-22T09:44:00.000+10:00

The Brits could have learnt something from us:

Quoting a "military source", BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner reports Iranian forces made a concerted attempt to seize a boarding party from the Royal Australian Navy and that the Australians "were having none of it".

"The BBC has been told the Australians re-boarded the vessel they had just searched," Gardner reports, "aimed their machine guns at the approaching Iranians, and warned them to back off, using what was said to be 'highly colourful language'."

Colourful language, eh? Amazing how far it gets you sometimes.

Trams, lattés and mobsters

2007-06-08T10:08:00.000+10:00

Ah, good old Melbourne. The arrest of this Fat Tony character in Greece has made for some interesting reading. I don't have to travel far from my leafy suburb to find some spot where some underworld figure was shot down sometime in the last couple of years. You don't get that in sleepy old Brissie.

Another thing you don't see as much in Brisbane is such blatant unionism. Every construction worker I see has a Eureka flag on his sleeve, and there are plenty of union offices scattered throughout the city. I guess then I shouldn't be that surprised by the following:

The majority of underworld crime figures and major incidents can be traced back to the Painters and Dockers Union that existed on Melbourne's waterfront after the Second World War. The Union had a Mafia-like structure, and most criminal activity was centered around control of the Union, and the cut associated with the drugs (primarily heroin and cocaine) that passed through the port.

Whatever happened to that romantic image of the hard-working union member with a family to feed? A fair day's pay for a fair day's work and all the rest. Our struggling family man was replaced by Tony Soprano, apparently. Still, makes for the odd interesting article in the news.

Hippie Perished

2007-06-05T17:48:00.000+10:00

I sometimes wonder if hippies know why we don't take them seriously when they attempt to lecture us on economical and social issues. Perhaps, it's because they do stuff like this:

A man who died from extreme dehydration after an outback purification ritual was not given immediate medical help because fellow campers believed he was astral travelling, a coronial inquest has heard.

Melbourne man Rowan Douglas Cooke, 37, died on November 3, 2004, a day after being dragged unconscious from a heated tent, called a sweat lodge, as part of a native American ritual.

He was camping with 10 others from Victoria on an isolated property in the Gammon Ranges in South Australia's far north, undergoing an eight-day ritual of fasting, meditation and purification.

The mind boggles. Pity about the man's family. Still, you reckon his efforts are worthy of a Darwin award? I know, I know. I'm going straight to hell.

Aussie Meedja

2007-06-05T17:03:00.000+10:00

The following vicious, though entertaining, extract from the Crikey! newsletter outlines the sad state of affairs that is our media:

Overnight Australian time a young Los Angeles resident was jailed for 23 days after a series of minor driving offences. This is bigger news than China's reluctance to pursue some sort of solution to its contribution to global warming and thus save the planet.

According to Media Monitors, the incarceration of Paris Hilton has received 485 broadcast mentions across all Australian electronic media in
Are we there yet? Have we finally arrived at some point at which the public imagination has at last been saturated by the low-life likes of Lindsay Lohan, Nicole Richie, Britney Spears and Paris Hilton? Who are these people? Why are we obsessed with intellectually malnourished, semi-starved, over-coiffed, hyper-indulged air heads? Why on earth does anything that they could conceivably do matter? They are like a cancer of the collective bowel.

The great pity is that only one of them is behind bars. A zoo if it has to be. Just take them away.

past 48 hours. Chinese emissions policy, by comparison, has been referred to 71 times.

Good to see the media is so obliging to the lowest common denominator. This is partly why I rarely blog nowadays (the other reason is that I'm lazy and have work to do). My American office mate, who would actually read such inane celebrity-related articles, thinks Ms Hilton got a raw deal. I say, who cares?

A Diverse Nation

2007-05-28T15:07:00.001+10:00

My American office mate, who grew up in New Jersey, claims she never met an American who literally believed in the Bible until she visited Michigan in her early 20s. Consequently, it irritates her to no end when people make assumptions about Americans. Here's a couple highlights from an interesting opinion piece by an Australian correspondent in Washington:

Some particularly wise person once said that if you are going to write about America, you should do so after a short stay, maybe a few weeks, before you are overwhelmed by its diversity and the sheer size of the place, with all its contradictions, excesses and complexities.

I fear that I have failed to convey the complexity of America, but if I have failed I am not alone. My view is that most of the reporting of the place by most foreign correspondents — British, European and, yes, Australian — fails the complexity test.

It is not without significance that, unlike Europe's Muslims, America's 2.5-million-strong Muslim community is highly assimilated, an economic success story and, overall, slightly more optimistic about America's future than the general population, according to recent research by the Pew Research Centre. And an overwhelming majority of American Muslims — more than 90 per cent — are opposed to Islamic extremism.

Much of American popular culture is trashy, of course, and much of its commercial media is mindless and fixated on celebrity, but the best of American journalism — print and broadcast — is better than anything I have found elsewhere, British journalism included.

America is a place full of contradictions that it would take a lifetime to unravel. For instance, while the Bush Administration's response to Hurricane Katrina and the drowning of New Orleans was inept and heartless, there was a great outpouring of generosity from Americans, who donated several billion dollars to support the mostly poor, black victims.
And tens of thousands of displaced people from New Orleans and the Mississippi coastal region were welcomed and resettled in cities in Texas that were not renowned for their history of great race relations.

That's not the first time I've read American journalism is ranked higher than that of the British - don't tell the poms though.

An interesting nation indeed. Pity the large number of Christian nutters give it a bad name.

Asexual Shark Birth

2007-05-23T11:26:00.000+10:00

It must be a sign from above. Well, at least that's what some of the good people of Nebraska are thinking, I imagine:

A hammerhead shark has given birth to a pup without having mated. It is the first time that a shark or any other species of fish has been proved to be able to reproduce asexually.

The pup, a bonnethead shark from the hammerhead family of sharks, was born at the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, Nebraska.

The discovery means that of all animal groups, only mammals are unable to reproduce through parthenogenesis.

Researchers from Queen’s University Belfast and the United States were able to show that traces of paternal DNA were absent from the hammerhead pup, Sphyrna tiburo, which was later killed by another fish in the tank.

Asexual reproduction raises conservation concerns, however, because the birth fails to introduce a new genetic mix. Not only did the pup only inherit maternal genes, but the process was thought to be automictic parthenogenesis, in which only some of the mother’s profile is passed on.

Pity they allowed it to be killed. I'm glad mammals can't reproduce asexually. Some people simply shouldn't reproduce at all, let alone by themselves.

Water Propaganda

2007-05-21T11:47:00.000+10:00

Toowoomba decided last year, amidst a severe shortage of water, not to puruse recycled water. If they want to perish, so be it, the daft fools. But why do they have to bother the rest of Queensland:

Scientists say they have been seriously misrepresented in material prepared for a campaign to undermine the Beattie Government's recycled sewage plan.

Brisbane will become the first capital to use recycled sewage for drinking by the end of next year, with recycled water to be pumped to the Wivenhoe Dam through the $1.7 billion western corridor pipeline, the biggest project of its kind in Australia.

Opponents of the plan have vowed to stop it. More than 500,000 copies of a glossy 20-page booklet -- called "Think Before You Agree to Drink" and costing $200,000 -- have been distributed in Brisbane in recent weeks.

The booklet refers to what it describes as scientific studies that support the case against drinking recycled water.

However, four experts quoted in the publication have told The Australian that they in fact support the use of recycled sewage as drinking water.

The publication was funded in part by John Dowson, a semi-retired land developer in the Darling Downs city of Toowoomba, where a referendum last June to introduce recycled water was defeated.

The campaign Mr Dowson funds is organised by Toowoomba councillor Snow Manners, who conceded that some experts quoted in the brochure may have been misrepresented. "They are all direct quotes but some may have been taken out of context," Mr Manners said.

Living in the past. And the irony, the stupid townspeople of Toowoomba will end up drinking Brisbane's recycled water anyway. If it's good enough for Singapore and London, it's good enough for me.

Hippie Pinup Boy

2007-05-18T09:37:00.000+10:00

I nearly choked on my Ice Break yesterday when I saw a hippie flyer advocating the actions of Hugo Chavez. Sure, the Venezuelan president throws a little money here and there to the needed. However, nearly once a week I read about something stupid that Chavez has said or done. From threatening to privatise banks to preaching about the Kingdom of God on Iranian TV, the guy's stupidity has no bounds. And the irony, under a Chavez-like rule hippie dissidents would be first ones to be silenced. Well, I guess he's better than the Killing Machine Che.

Sequels

2007-05-14T21:51:00.000+10:00

The film "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" is coming out this week. I'm excited. And Die Hard 4 is coming out soon as well. Aren't sequels great? But I don't know why anyone would make a sequel to Point Break. Doesn't matter. As long as I can practise my pirate impersonation so I'll be ready for pirate-themed party in a month. Girls dig pirates, right? Right?

Standardised Tests

2007-05-11T12:01:00.000+10:00

Call me old fashion, but I've always figured tests were the best way of assessing what a person knows. Apparently, that's not the case:

National literacy and numeracy tests are invalid measures of student ability because they cannot assess a child's "sense of wonder" and levels of cowardice or arrogance.

In a submission to the Senate inquiry into the academic standards of school education, the Australian Education Union argues against the use of standardised tests to measure student achievement and says "there is no crisis in standards".

"The AEU has long been cautious about the use of basic skills tests and other standardised tests as a means of measuring the wellbeing of Australian schools," it says.

"Much of what is important in schooling is not measured by standardised tests."

Right. Trying running a small business or passing uni with a "sense of wonder". I love the "just because it appears we're doing a bad job, doesn't mean we're actually doing a bad job..." mentality.

Beers and Blogs

2007-05-05T00:29:00.000+10:00

There's something to be said about blogs. Actually, no there isn't. It's all pretty obvious, innit? Blogs are the electronic manifestations of the self-indulged and long-winded amongst us. But I digress.

I sit here on this lovely evening having just consumed a number of beverages of the beer variety. And what an eveninig it has been! Star Wars day leaves us, May the 4th, the only pun known to mankind that can be lethal in large doses. And this in the wake of the premier of Spiderman 3. What a nerd bonanza! I'm going to watch this film soon. And I don't care if it's worse than, say, um, well, to be honest, I've seen way too many bad films in my life to even begin to name them. Forgive me my lord, for I knew not what Streetfigher would wrought on my mortal soul.

Speaking of mortality, at least two characters have passed away in the last month. The first was a drunken Ruskie who, I believe, briefly led a former communist country, and liberalised its economy, probably, too rapidly - no doubt leading to "richer than god" bastards like the owner of Chelsea FC. The other was a satirical and black humour (the best type of humour) writer who witnessed the bombing of Dresden. Pity he lost the plot - no pun intended - towards the end.

Writing this entry seemed like such a "good idea in the beginning" - said the actress to the bishop. Now I lack the verbal capacity to end it all. Speaking of which, I was recently invited by a friend to join a Shakespearan acting society. Can you imagine it? Me trying to act in front of pretentious arts students? I should attend just for the laugh. Or perhaps I'd be better reading the regicidal machinations of Macbeth in my own home - with close access to beer.

Perhaps, semi-drunken rants on blogspot can become a regular thing. What do you say? Same Bat-time, same Bat-channel every week? I can't believe I just made a comic reference. It's not the comic reference that saddens me per se. It's the fact that it was a DC comic reference. I have sinned. That's ten comics of Wolverince that I must read in order to cleanse myself.

New Uni Model

2007-05-02T15:21:00.000+10:00

I am for once trying to do some actual work in my office today. However, moments ago I was distracted by a bunch of smelly students protesting against the new University of Melbourne model. And in The Age today there are more students whinging:

Creative arts students will lodge a formal complaint against Melbourne University, claiming they are being short-changed and not getting the degree they were promised as it shifts to a US-style model.

Creative arts is one of 96 degrees being cut as the university adopts the Melbourne Model, eventually teaching only six undergraduate courses and moving all professional programs to graduate level.

The university will continue to teach existing courses until all students finish, but creative arts students say the prestigious degree they enrolled in has disappeared, subjects have been cut, contact hours have been reduced and staff who left over summer have not been replaced.

Meanwhile our country has nobody doing science. That'll teach them for doing creative arts, I say.

Aussies Abroad

2007-03-28T15:33:00.000+10:00

People enquire occasionally if I found Americans annoying while I was overseas. I tell them that only Aussies truly pissed me off. Cashed up bogans drinking beers and acting like complete wankers (under the misbelief that everyone loves them) will tend do that. I don't often read the blogs on The Age, but this one caught my eye (ignoring the political rant) :

Try the old "g'day" line at a pub in London now, and at best you'll get a roll of the eyes, at worst a "piss off jafa".

So what's happened to the lovable Aussie?

Firstly, we're suffering from a serious case of overexposure. The fact that Australia is so far away from anywhere else used to mean that not many of us made it to foreign shores. Now, not only do we have air travel, but we have extremely cheap air travel, meaning that any wanker who can manage to scrape together a few hundred dollars can go and prop up the tittie bar industry in Phuket for a week or so.

It also means groups of blokes on buck's weekends can wreak havoc on the world in an "I'm sick of getting pissed at Establishment, let's go do it in Bali" kind of way.

Ah well, not all is lost. If you travel to places where Aussie wankers rarely venture to (say, Central America over South America or Vietnam over Thailand) you can still enjoy yourself overseas without the fear of seeing your fellow country men belting out drunken renditions of Khe Sahn.

Operation Warwick

2007-02-23T08:13:00.000+10:00

I've been quite busy lately (yes, actually doing work). I've just handed in my one year PhD report which now allows me make another step towards applying for a better scholarship. Also, I've landed some tutoring this semester, which will be interesting. Uni of Melbourne has been crawling with wanker-like displays put on by the college kids. I swear my college years were nothing like this.

Anyway, nothing exciting has been happening in the news lately. However, with Vice-President Cheney visitting the country, and subsequently causing the usual protestors to emerge, I did notice this: the name of the NSW Police sercurity operation for Cheney is
called Operation Warwick.

Now, I wonder if the name of this operation has anything to do with the Warwick Incident which entailed the WWI PM Billy Hughes having an egg thrown at him by an angry protestor in Warwick, Queensland who was against the idea of a national draft. Interestingly, since the QLD Police refused to apprehend the egg-thrower by claiming it was a federal matter, old Hughes founded the Commonwealth Police who would latter merge with the NT police to form the Australian Federal Police. Who would have thought that an egg would have led to the founding of the Federal Police?

Altruistic Humans

2007-01-22T13:13:00.000+10:00

Some people claim there's no such thing as pure altruism - humans just do selfless acts to make themselves feel good. I think this is bollocks - the evolutionary argument of fellow species preservation suggest altruism is a good thing. Now scientist have shed some more light on altruism:

Scientists say they have found the part of the brain that predicts whether a person will be selfish or an altruist.

Altruism - the tendency to help others without obvious benefit to oneself - appears to be linked to an area called the posterior superior temporal sulcus.

The participants were asked to disclose how often they engaged in different helping behaviours, such as doing charity work, and were also asked to play a computer game designed to measure altruism.

The study authors say their work could have important implications.

They are now exploring ways to study the development of this brain region in early life and believe such information may help determine how altruistic tendencies are established.

Interesting. Humans can be altruistic without the threat of burning in hell for all eternity. Who would have thought?

Today's Violence

2007-01-11T13:45:00.000+10:00

People are often concerned about the level of violence on television. Sure, I wouldn't let young children watch "violent" TV, but I sometimes wonder what it was like back in the day when your kids could go see a public beheading. Thankfully, people are becoming less violent it would seem:

In 16th century Paris, a popular form of entertainment was cat-burning, in which a cat was hoisted on a stage and was slowly lowered into a fire. According to the historian Norman Davies, "the spectators, including kings and queens, shrieked with laughter as the animals, howling with pain, were singed, roasted, and finally carbonized."

As horrific as present-day events are, such sadism would be unthinkable today in most of the world. This is just one example of the most important and under appreciated trend in the history of our species: the decline of violence. Cruelty as popular entertainment, human sacrifice to indulge superstition, slavery as a labor-saving device, genocide for convenience, torture and mutilation as routine forms of punishment, execution for trivial crimes and misdemeanors, assassination as a means of political succession, pogroms as an outlet for frustration, and homicide as the major means of conflict resolution—all were unexceptionable features of life for most of human history. Yet today they are statistically rare in the West, less common elsewhere than they used to be, and widely condemned when they do occur.

Definitely a sign of something good happening in our section of the cosmos.

Nuclear Fear

2007-01-09T14:55:00.000+10:00

After it was revealed that seven anti-tank missile launchers were stolen in Australia and planned to be used for terrorists attacks, the media were very quick to say that the Lucas Heights research nuclear reactor in Sydney could have been a potential terrorist target.

That's right, idiots. With 50 years of a very-well researched nuclear industry behind them, the designers of the newly built OPAL reactor forgot to make it missile proof. Is intelligence a rare trait nowadays, or has its use gone out of fashion? More here.

The old reactor was, if memory serves, the size of a washing machine, produced enough power to boil a kettle of water, and was a good 40 years old. The new one is more efficient, and naturally, far superiour in safety. The research reactor, among other things, is used for neutron diffraction where they analyse and obtain the shape and characteristics of various materials, and even DNA. The byproducts are used to make radioactive medicines for all of Australia and even the proudly "nuclear free" New Zealand.

Ironically, an old professor of mine uses the reactor to study certain hydrogen-storing techniques in order to devise better, more environmentally-friendly fuel storage devices for greener cars.

An Inconveniet Truth

2007-01-08T09:53:00.000+10:00

Last night I watched Al Gore global warminging documentary An Inconveniet Truth. Not bad, I had no idea that the CO2 graphs matched so well with the global temperature graphs over thousands of years - definitely suggests a very strong correlation. My flatmate's brother was sceptical, and made a couple reasonable points such as an increase sighting of polar bears swimming doesn't mean the globe is warming as those statistics haven't been collected for many years- though that was only one of very many examples Gore uses.

The flatmate's brother also claimed that if one weighed in all the data, the global warming argument would come to stalmate (apparently, him working for the oil company Chevron has nothing to do with his scepticism). I completely disagree with his opinion. I think there are some statistics that don't necessarily imply global warming, but when you see polar ice sheets melting and glaciers retreating, you have to start thinking maybe there's some truth behind this global warming thing.

Ironically, I could have sworn there was a scene where Gore drove a large fuel-guzzling American car, then he condemns America for having such low fuel-efficiency limit - lower than even China. He finishes the documentary by giving simple suggestions to limiting C02 emissions. And now if you dwell in the state of Victoria, you can see how effective your state is doing by looking at weekly C02 emission updates. A world first.

Dodgy Doctors

2007-01-05T10:51:00.000+10:00

Every week I read an article highlighting the apparent decline in our education standards. From teaching oh-so-relevant Marxist themes in highschool English to the miserable decline in scientifically-trained teachers, the Australian education system seems to be sustaining politically and financially motivated assaults from all angles. Grimly, now our doctors appear to be suffering:

Almost three in four medical students say they are taught too little anatomy during their medical degree - and more than a third don't even think they have been taught enough about how the body works to be a competent doctor when they graduate.
A survey of more than 600 medical students also found more than half - 53.7 per cent - thought their knowledge of anatomy was inadequately assessed.

And nearly 90 per cent of students agreed that the traditional, guided style of anatomy teaching was "more effective" than the alternatives.

In many medical schools, traditional teaching has been increasingly replaced by a self-directed process where students research topics themselves in groups.

The findings - which have already been sent to the federal Government as part of a submission for its current review of medical school curriculums - are likely to reignite a controversy revealed in The Australian earlier this year, after senior doctors warned the state of anatomy teaching in Australia's medical schools was so bad that public safety was at stake.

I grew up under the belief that doctors were incredibly intelligent and all-knowing. That all changed a couple of years ago when a doctor claimed there was nothing wrong with my back (probably getting kickbacks from my employer). My employer, much to their chagrin, later found out I was telling the truth when they X-rayed my back.

And to think the government recently cut funding to science education. All this gives me a headache.

Binge Drinking

2007-01-04T12:37:00.000+10:00

Believe it or not, I can only recall being drunk about 4 or 5 times in highschool. The main reason being I couldn't afford to drink even though I was 18 mid year 12. Then came uni, and it was all over. However, Aussie teenagers get an early and, perhaps, detrimental start:

Parents who allow their children small amounts of alcohol in an attempt to instil safe drinking habits may be setting them on the path to becoming binge drinkers.
The first international comparison of underage alcohol use, conducted by Australian and US researchers and involving 6000 children, has found rates of binge drinking are up to three times higher among Australian Year 9 students compared with equivalent American teenagers.

Australian parents often introduce their children to small amounts of alcohol early, in the hope this "harm minimisation" strategy helps them learn to control their behaviour in later life. By contrast, US attitudes tend to emphasise a zero-tolerance approach, and the legal drinking age is also higher - 21 compared with 18 in Australia.

The study's authors said the findings of higher binge drinking rates in Australia will be "counter to the expectations of harm- minimisation advocates", and showed the Australian approach was not working.

I must say, I don't approve of teenagers getting completely blind every weekend. Perhaps this is the pot calling the kettle black, but highschool years are tough enough without being a legless 14 year old wandering around town. I think year 11 or 12 is reasonable, not year 9. You'll have plenty of time to get plastered when you start uni or spend that year pissing it up, I mean, enjoying culture overseas.

Finally, I was surprised to see that girls binge drink slightly more than boys.

Palm Island Fiasco

2006-12-28T09:20:00.000+10:00

Something is rotten in the state of Queensland. Now I'm no medical expert, but I'm pretty sure one usually doesn't fall over and sustain four broken ribs and splits their liver in two. However, apparently this is possible in certain police stations in QLD. Sure, maybe you cannot charge the police officer with murder but surely there's something called "police brutality"? Or was that concept scrapped when old Joh was in power?

I realise Queensland has somewhat of a dark history when it comes to police corruption, but this is purely ridiculous. From allowing the accused police officer's mates to perform the investigation to calling in a former judge who had ties with the DPP to head an inquiry, this Palm Island fiasco is just an endless saga of stupidty and corruption. And Beattie doesn't see how nominating the former judge is a conflict of interest. Simply breath-taking.

Beattie also said that come Christmas, we'll all sit down and have some "wine", and forget about this event. Not likely, Beattie, not bloody likely.

Handouts for Car Companies

2006-12-20T15:36:00.000+10:00

Rising oil prices and all the rest has led to "our" struggling car manufacturers asking for a handout:

Car-makers who have sought financial help from the federal Government are unlikely to have their pleas granted, Treasurer Peter Costello said today

The manufacturers have asked the Howard Government to freeze tariffs at 10 per cent and pump a further $1 billion into the industry as it struggles to remain viable while consumers are switching to smaller, imported vehicles.

The demands by the four domestic manufacturers - GM Holden, Ford, Toyota and Mitsubishi - show the industry is concerned about its future as it deals with a strong Australian dollar and high petrol prices.

Am I just overly cynical* when I snidely say "boo bloody hoo" to the car companies? For years Ford and Holden have made fuel guzzling cars. Who born in the last century didn't that realise oil prices would eventually go up?

My parents have bought Japanese cars for many years because they are often cheaper, well-made, and with smaller fuel-efficient engines. Australia has a motoring culture (which Japanese car companies have catered for), and with it comes superfluously large engines. Check out the average engine size in Europe. I can understand larger engines for long road trips, and towing trailers and caravans, but in the city?

I've been told that Holden is basically the only section of General Motors that makes a profit. Something has to give, lads. I say go the Corolla (hat tip to Martini).

*Personally, I prefer the term "realistic".

Geographically Ignorant

2006-12-19T15:30:00.000+10:00

People are often quick to point out America's ignorance of the world - though I say it's partly understandable due to their terrible news coverage and the sheer size of their country. Nevertheless, the Americans are challenging the Brits in the geography stakes. And, the Brits are winning, but only slightly.

I reckon we should have one here. Some Australians can be remarkably ignorant about the world. America's excuse is their size and TV, what's ours? However, I cannot remember clearly learning the locations of countries at school. It's something people assume you'll pick it up on the way. I personally learnt the countries, and their capitals, of Europe by playing a simple computer game in highschool. And who said computer games weren't educational?

Update: The Americans have taken the lead by a whisker.

Update: I found the section for all countries. Australia isn't doing too well. I scored a perfect 100%, but I guessed the location of the Dominican Republic. Very lucky.

Another Bank Rant

2006-12-19T14:12:00.000+10:00

I loathe the fact that Australian banks charge the consumer fees like there's no tomorrow. Banks should be paying me for using my money to reap huge rewards on investments. My UK flatmate uses ATMS here, and receives no fees (other than the exchange rate) via his British bank. The Brits laugh at the banking situation in Australia.

ANZ wanted to charge me $6 a month to have a VISA debit card. Alternatively, I can have one for free from the bank of Suncorp (VISA debit cards is something else that has taken Australian too long to obtain). And because Suncorp has very few ATMs outside of QLD, you can use any ATM in Melbourne without fees.

Australian banks make stupidly high profits. Doesn't take a genius to see why foreign banks, such as ING, have released their better offers to the Australian market - mind you, now 49% of ING Direct is ANZ owned.

ANZ's profits in the last couple of years have been amazing. ANZ is a Melbourne based bank, and they give lectures here once a year encouraging PhD graduates to join their ranks and devise better money-making techniques. Well, if you can't beat 'em...

Charity of the Rich

2006-12-19T12:02:00.000+10:00

The US has a long history of rich entrepreneurs giving away their billions for admirable causes such charity and education (and, unfortunately, to creationism exhibitions). Even in Australia a number of libraries were donated by the American steel magnate Andrew Carnegie. Unfortunately, the Australian rich seem not to share the same generous tradition of their American counterparts. However, a change may be in the wind:

Amid the billions rotating around the tailfin of the Flying Kangaroo yesterday, the most astonishing amount was the smallest: A sum, perhaps $30 million, perhaps $60 million, that Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon has decided not to take.

Dixon is staying with Qantas, and leads the few dozen executives who are being dealt a total of 1 per cent of issued capital as part of the deal. But in a statement yesterday he said he and his family had decided that a key component in his remuneration package, a long-term investment scheme, would be gifted to a charitable trust "for the benefit of the community" — medical research and indigenous health in particular.

Interesting. Dixon tells the unions to piss off one minute, the next he's pledging millions towards charity. The late thuggish Kerry Packer apparently gave away some of his money secretly to charities (he also, allegedly, gambled away over 20 million in one night at a London casino). If Packer can receive a state (sponsored) funeral, I wonder what Dixon deserves?

Australian Banknotes

2006-12-12T15:05:00.000+10:00

In the spirit of delving into Australia’s past, I thought I’d go over the men and women who appear on our plastic banknotes.

$5 - Regular

The Queen: our head of State.

$5 - Federation

Sir Henry Parkes: a politician known as "Father of Federation". The English-born Parkes travelled the country rallying the colonies to become one. The rest is history.

Catherine Helen Spence: a journalist, social and political reformer, novelist and feminist. She was part of the "first wave" feminism movement, which partly explains why Australia was one of the first places to allow women to vote (I believe South Australia beat New Zealand who was the first nation).

$10

Banjo Paterson: an avid poet, ballad writer, journalist and horseman. Probably the most famous man on our money, Paterson was aslo a Sydney lawyer, which just goes to show that one of the main architects of the “Aussie battler” icon was a city-dweller.

Dame Mary Gilmore: an author, journalist, poet, patriot and tireless campaigner against injustice and deprivation, as well as an aspiring socialist who contributed to the New Australia movement.

$20

Reverend John Flynn: a pioneer of the world's first aerial medical service, now known as the Royal Flying Doctor Service.

Mary Reibey: a early business woman who did much charity work and made significant contributions in education. Reibey was also a former convict (or emancipist) who was convicted for horse theft at the early age of 13.

$50

David Unaipon: writer, public speaker and inventor. Unaipon made significant contributions to science and literature, and to improvements in the conditions of Aboriginal people.

Edith Cowan: a social worker, politician and feminist, and founder of many charity organisations. Cowan was the first woman member of an Australian parliament.

$100

Dame Nellie Melba: world reknowned soprano. Mellie gained international success in the world of opera and was considered a household name. She also had a dessert named after her.

Genearl Sir John Monash: military commander, engineer and admistrator. This man was an impressive wartime general as well as an intellectual champion hence why a prestigious scholarship bares his name. Monash was also responsible for steel reinforced concrete.

I think my favourite person is Monash, though I admire the fact that Reibey was actually a former convict who made something of herself. Admittedly, I know little about these people. So much to read, so little time.

Politics Everywhere

2006-12-12T09:32:00.000+10:00

Despite the recent Victorian elections I kept my electoral enrolment in Queensland as I knew the Division of Brisbane was a swinging seat - opposed to Melbourne which has been a Labor stronghold for many years. I wonder if this is some type of gerrymandering in reverse? The voters move to change the elecotorate? Obviously, not very practical or feasible. Regardless, the show down of the political nerds, Howard and Rudd, shall be interesting. Howard is already attempting to canvass votes with his emerging environmental policies.

In other news, the right-wing Chilean tyrant Augusto Pinochet has finally died to join the ranks of other fallen dictators like Pol Pot and Stalin. The former dictator may have, as The Australian editorial suggests, saved Chile from an economical disaster, but thousands suffered in the process. Interestingly, the current president of Chile Michelle Bachelet was exhiled to Australia for seven years before migrating to Germany - hence why she can speak about six languages. Maybe Australia should adopt more polictical prisoners in the hope that they will become leaders and look after Oz.

Grampians Conference

2006-12-05T22:40:00.000+10:00

I am in the Grampians from Wednesday to Friday for a casual conference or workshop, as they call it. Unfortunately, I have to wake up tomorrow at 7, and catch three buses to arrive there just around lunch. They better have plenty of free beer. And the net.

Mayne Vs Milne

2006-12-05T11:25:00.000+10:00

Apparently, the thuggish Sydney Toiletgraph reporter got his facts wrong:

A furious Crikey founder Stephen Mayne today condemned political journalist Glenn Milne for getting his facts wrong.

Milne accused Mayne of putting up a link from a story on Crikey earlier this year to a blog that accused Milne of being a sexual predator.

However, Mayne told smh.com.au today he had nothing to do with the link and added: "In my view Crikey have done the wrong thing linking to that blog.

"I'm at war with that blog and I'm the biggest victim of that blog [and now to be accused of] something that I know nothing about for supposedly endorsing a bloke who I'm at war with, who's stalking me. It's just a bizarre turn of events."

Today Crikey national affairs editor Christian Kerr wrote on the Crikey site: "Change the migraine medication Glenn before you get more befuddled ... because you attacked the wrong person at the Walkleys."

So much for unsubstantiated rumours. Somebody should have told Milne that Mayne sold his ezine last year. Milne apologises to Mayne then accuses him of getting his facts wrong in his column. The gall.

The lads at News LTD are giving Mayne a hard time. Maybe it's because Mayne has a habbit of rocking up to AGMs and asking old Murdoch hard-hitting questions.

Earlier in the evening Milne also abused his former Channel 7 boss for sacking him. Angry little man.

New Labor Chief

2006-12-04T11:05:00.000+10:00

As most of Australians would already know, Kevin Rudd has beaten Kim Beazley to become the new Federeal Opposition Leader. I know little about Rudd except for what wiki has to offer.

Rudd is a critic of the libertarian economist Friedrich Hayek and his free-market capitalism approach, which the Liberals follow. A "rising tide" doesn't lift all boats?

He's also an open Anglican and believes in the laudable Chrisian belief of helping the poor. To be expected as most Australians are some Christian faith. Howard is also an Anglican. I wonder if Rudd believes in financing school chaplains as well?

Finally, the man hails from Queensland. I was wondering if there's ever been a QLD PM. I know Victoria produced a few in the 60's and 70s. The last three came from NSW, and WA respectively. Then I recalled the Labor PM Andrew Fisher used to live in my old town - no doubt as a coal miner. Fisher also lived in Gympie for some time. A PM from QLD. Who would have thought?

Poms

2006-12-04T08:42:00.000+10:00

You hear plenty of inccorect stories behind the origins of the term "pom" - often from English themselves. It's a term of affection, honestly mate:

The term "Pom", Australians' description of English people, is part of the Australian tradition of rhyming slang and should not be construed as offensive, the man who oversees the Australian Oxford Dictionary has said.

Dr Bruce Moore, who heads the Australian National Dictionary Centre at the Australian National University, says the history of the word shows it is largely inoffensive, even affectionate.

Some British expatriates living in Australia, calling themselves British People Against Racial Discrimination, have launched legal action to be rid of the word "Pom" in advertising on the basis that it is a derogatory term.

Dr Moore said such complaints are not new.

"At the Australian National Dictionary Centre we are often pressured by external groups to alter our labelling of the words Pom and Pommy," he said in a statement.

"Of course it's possible that the words might be used offensively or in a derogatory way, but they can also be used in a good-humoured and even affectionate way."

Dr Moore said popular belief had it that Pom was an acronym for Prisoner of Mother (England).

"But this is as barmy as the army," he said. "From 1860 `jimmygrant', rhyming slang for immigrant, was used contemptuously of new chums from Britain, from the red of the pomegranate, perhaps referring to the ruddy complexion of new arrivals.

Typical. Whinging poms. I mean that in an affectionate way, of course.

Drunken Journalist

2006-12-01T14:11:00.000+10:00

As some of you may already know, Crikey founder, Jeff Kennett hater and shareholding activist Stephen Mayne has been pushed off stage by a drunken Sunday Telegraph political columnist during the Walkley Awards (for journalism) ceremony.

Check out the footage here. Classic. I love Mayne's words after the altercation:

"I have an announcement to make on behalf of Rupert Murdoch. That is the former Sunday Telegraph political correspondent, Glenn Milne."

Bloody thuggish journalists.

Modern Warfare

2006-11-30T15:34:00.000+10:00

Once upon time, when your neighbouring tribe, village or country was misbehaving and giving you a hard time, you could go over and give them a good butt-kicking. Warfare has come a long way since. In today's world of "moral responsibility" when a country misbehaves, we put trade restrictions on them. North Korea, after cheekily detonating a nuclear weapon, will be soon facing these restrictions:

In a novel effort targeting the lifestyle of North Korea's eccentric president, the Bush administration wants to make it tougher for him to buy iPods, plasma televisions, Segway electric scooters and more.

A ban on Segway electric scooters? The poor iPod-less North Koreans won't be able to scoot around any more? A true tragedy. I have an image of US politicians and military personnel hovering over the list with one general assuring the rest, "We'll ban iPods and those blasted electric scooters. That'll fuck 'em. Those commie bastards will be begging for mercy in no time. Mark my words."

End of AWB

2006-11-30T11:53:00.000+10:00

Finally, the Cole Inquiry is finished. Millions of taxpayer dollars have been spent to shed light on the dirty underhanded dealings carried out by the Australian Wheat Board. It truly amazes me that a former government establisment, which was privatised in 1999, had to pay kickbacks to a corrupt dictator to gain more profits even though they have had a sixty year monopoly (or "single desk" if you prefer the sugar-coated version) in Australia.

Why wasn't the AWB discovered sooner? The Oz editorial reads:

It may also be true that public servants were keen to believe assurances from AWB on the basis it was regarded as an honourable company working for the benefit of Australian farmers.

Honourable because they benefit farmers? With that line of reasoning, one could argue that drug companies would never need checking as they work for the benefit of ill people. Clearly all companies need to be kept in line by various government bodies. The idea that a company without checks would behave ethically is simply laughable.

What arises from this fiasco is anyone's guess. The AWB boss has resigned, and there are plans to split AWB. No doubt the shareholder legal actions will come, followed then by those from the North American wheat-farming bodies. Dismal days for the AWB and Australia's wheat exporting. The single desk approach is apparently the most efficient method for Australian farmers. They won't be happy.

Religions in Oz

2006-11-28T15:18:00.000+10:00

Young Australians are attracted to "spiritual aerobics", according to a new survey:

A survey shows that new and emerging churches are popular with young Australians and that 'nature religions' and Scientology are growing strongly.

Professor Bouma said Australia's youth was flocking to new and emerging 'mega-churches', such as those of Christian Pentacostals, engaging in energetic forms of worship that he calls 'spiritual aerobics'.

This was despite the fact that Australians were not as religious as Americans and could be sceptical of US-style evangelism.

Among the religions on the rise are Buddhism, up 79 per cent since 1996, Islam, up 40 per cent, Hinduism up 42 per cent, and Penatacostalism, up 11 per cent.

Nature religions, including Wicca and witchcraft had grown by 130 per cent and Scientology had 37 per cent more followers.

Naturally, the youth of today want more flexible religions. I don't want a god who'll send me to a fiery hell for drinking and having sex before marriage.

Glad Australians are still, justifiably I might add, sceptical of American evangelism. But this growing interest in the Cult of Scientology scares me. Haven't they read Operation Clambake?

Governor General

2006-11-27T13:18:00.000+10:00

Who is our Governor General and what does he do? He represents Australia's head of state Queen Elizabeth II. But don't worry if you don't know who he is. Apart from resolving the odd double-dissolution and attending funerals, we haven't seen very much of him:

Only one in seven Australians can correctly name the Governor-General, Michael Jeffery, and most people have no idea who he is. The man dubbed "Mr Nobody" for his subterranean profile after he took on the vice-regal post in June 2003 is frustrated that his conscientious, yet cautious, style has failed to punch through the haze of public ignorance.

Fourteen per cent of the 1200 people interviewed by Newspoll last weekend could at least provide his surname, a modest improvement on the 7 per cent recorded three years ago.

Major-General Jeffery - a former Special Air Service commander awarded the Military Cross in Vietnam who became deputy chief of the army general staff - blames the media for hindering his efforts to penetrate the national consciousness.

The ezine Crikey's Chrisitan Kerr accuses our current PM of stealing some of the GG's ceremonial roles such as attending sporting events. Crikey now reveals a republican's spin on the matter:

“Ironic isn’t it?” Greg Barns, former head of the Australian republican movement and author of the recently published An Australian Republic told Crikey. “Howard is the bloke who indicated in 1999 that if we were to change the constitution it would affect the stability of the country. Yet he is now usurping that role.Howard is essentially behaving like an elected president. He’s morphing his role into the office of an elected president, but he was so adamant in 1999 that we maintain those offices.”

Regardless, you now know Australia's current Governor General, and our first PM Edmund Barton who as a referee resolved the first international cricket brawl. Edmund Barton was apparently a pretty average PM and perhaps that's why people don't remember him. However, his nickname "Toby Tosspot" will always be in my memory.

Who was Australia's second PM? A hint: there's a regional Victorian university named after him.

US Dollar

2006-11-24T13:34:00.000+10:00

Here's an example of how a little thing, like having one dollar coins instead of notes, can save a government big bucks:

The US Mint is planning to reintroduce dollar coins in another attempt to get Americans to give up the dollar note

The changeover to coins could save the Treasury an estimated $500m (£260m) a year because they last up to 40 years, compared with just 18 months for notes.

But officials say there are no plans to completely eliminate paper dollars.

How do they use vending machines in America?

I've heard Americans complain how heavy their wallets get when they visit Canada, who affectionately refer to their one dollar coin as a "loonie" - true story. The canucks with their truly heavier wallets will have the last laugh.

Creationism Sideshow

2006-11-23T15:31:00.000+10:00

Instead of spending money on homeless or combating AIDs in developing countries with condoms, and not abstinence, those die-hard religious types are spending their millions elsewhere:

The Creation Museum - motto: "Prepare to Believe!" - will be the first institution in the world whose contents, with the exception of a few turtles swimming in an artificial pond, are entirely fake. It is dedicated to the proposition that the account of the creation of the world in the Book of Genesis is completely correct, and its mission is to convince visitors through a mixture of animatronic models, tableaux and a strangely Disneyfied version of the Bible story.

As you stand in the museum's lobby - the only part of the building approaching completion - you are surrounded by life-size dinosaur models, some moving and occasionally grunting as they chew the cud.Beside the turtle pool, two animatronic, brown-complexioned children, demurely dressed in Hiawatha-like buckskin, gravely flutter with movement. Behind them lurk two small Tyrannosaurus Rexes. This scene is meant to date from before the Fall of Man and, apparently, dinosaurs.

Theological scholars may have noticed that there are, in fact, no dinosaurs mentioned in the Bible - and here lies the Creationists' first problem. Since there are undoubtedly dinosaur bones and since, according to the Creationists, the world is only 6,000 years old - a calculation devised by the 17th-century Bishop Ussher, counting back through the Bible to the Creation, a formula more or less accepted by the museum - dinosaurs must be shoehorned in somewhere, along with the Babylonians, Egyptians and the other ancient civilisations.

The museum is costing $25m (£13m) and all but $3m has already been raised from private donations. It is strategically placed, too - not in the middle of nowhere, but within six hours' drive of two-thirds of the entire population of the US. And, as we know, up to 50 million of them do believe that the Bible's account of Creation is literally true.

I know what you're asking. When do us Aussies get our share of creationism? Well, according to our old mate Ken Ham (a QUT and UQ graduate), we simply won't:

Now, we are taken to meet Ken Ham, the museum's director and its inspiration. Ham is an Australian, a former science teacher - though not, he is at pains to say, a scientist - and he has been working on the project for much of the past 20 years since moving to the US. "You'd never find something like this in Australia," he says. "If you want to get the message out, it has to be here.

Blast. And I had my fingers crossed. Seems we'll burn in hell for all eternity. It's all good. Only boring people go to heaven.

Anti-intellectualism

2006-11-22T10:20:00.000+10:00

Is Australia anti-intellectualism? Labour member Lindsey Tanner believes so:

In a provocative speech to the Sydney Institute tonight (AEDT), Lindsay Tanner will argue parents are partly to blame for a culture of anti-intellectualism in Australia.

"There's a lot of evidence that we're still disdaining of learning, we're still regarding learning activity as something that `real Aussies' don't get into too much," Mr Tanner said on ABC Radio today.

"It's not an accident that our levels of education and our level of commitment to education and learning is significantly lower than comparable countries."

A British university's presentation of an honorary degree to Australian cricketer Shane Warne, who once famously boasted that he had never read a book, illustrated that many Australians regarded learning as "a bit of a laugh", he said.

Tanner adds:

He said it was "nonsense roughly equivalent to inducting John Howard into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame for his infamous bowling performance in Kashmir".

He confessed to being passionate about cricket but "when sporting celebrities proudly announce they've never read a book, they're telling Australians that learning is for nerds".

I wish Shane Warne would just piss off and die. And who cares about Ian Thorpe and his retirement? But I digress. I recall being sledged at rural public schools for being a know-it-all in late primary and early high school (funny enough, my marks weren't even that good in early highschool). In retrospect, I think the poor country clowns were just bitter. It is a shame that learning is frowned upon in many circles.

Doesn't matter. In the end, hopefully, the kids who chose to study will end up better off both intellectually and financially although these so called "cashed-up bogans" or CUBs are a tad depressing.

FBI Asia Map

2006-11-21T14:16:00.000+10:00

Anti-Americanism annoys me. Not all Americans are ignorant and most of them I have found are very friendly. However, the lads at the FBI need to get their geography right:

Must be cold in New Zealand, and what's happened to the Torres Strait? And they wonder how the 9/11 boys got pass the FBI.

Cheating at Unis

2006-11-20T11:25:00.000+10:00

Apparently, students have been cheating at unis:

Universities in NSW are facing an explosion in the number of students caught plagiarising assignments and cheating in exams, with law students the worst offenders at one big institution.

Figures obtained by the Herald under freedom of information laws show some of the state's most highly regarded universities have recorded the most incidents of student misconduct

Shock horror. Law students always struck me as trustworthy characters. How foolish of me.

In other news, I'm buying a laptop this week so it'll be rice, water and goon for the next couple of weeks/months at Casa de Engels. I can buy the laptop without windows (ie save money), and have it pre-installed with Ubuntu Linux. How very tech elite (read: nerdy).

G20

2006-11-18T12:16:00.000+10:00

Melbourne has been hosting the G20 - an international gathering of financial ministers and central bankders from the EU and 19 other large economic players including the emerging economies of Brazil and India. To my limited understanding the countries involved talk, among other things, about trade agreements, climate change, and preventing financial disasters such as the Asian Crisis of 1997. And when there are international gatherings of leaders, there are the poor middle class socialists fighting against the machine:

Protesters have breached barricades outside the G20 summit venue, overturning up to 200 water-filled plastic barriers in the first direct test of police security measures.

Scuffles broke out as police prevented protesters entering a McDonald's restaurant and mounted police have formed a line between marchers and a Nike store at the corner of Bourke and Swanston streets.

Up to 200 masked protesters in white protective suits attacked barricades in Collins St, outside the Grand Hyatt, venue of the global economic summit. While a small group occupied the intersection, the larger group ran west along Collins St and north into Russell, overturning and dismantling barriers.

Mounted police in riot gear, their horses fitted with perspex face masks and shin protectors, formed a line to block Collins St west of Russell St as police battled to reerect the barriers.

And uniformed police have formed a "human wall" in front of the Nike store at the corner of Bourke and Swanston streets.

And now, of course, with these displays of protest and violence, the finacial ministers will look outside their windows and say, "Hey, did you know there are problems in the world? Shit. Let's try to fix them. Oh wait, why are we here again..." Do they really think the representative of, say, India would neglect to mention there are millions of his people starving.

What would destroy more lives? A multi-national corporation running a factory in a third world country or that country's economy collapsing? Is a financial minister going to listen to a bunch of angry anti-establishment protestors?

Finally, note how Peter Costello's brother Tim has distanced his admirable "Make Poverty History" campaign away from the protestors. No doubt head-cracking will ensue.

Update:

Paul Holman, operations manager for the Metropolitan Ambulance Service, said today the protests were by far the worst he had seen in 30 years.

"It was abhorrent. Just disgusting. It is not behaviour our society is used to," Mr Holman said.

"I have no problems with people demonstrating. I have problems with people taking over the streets," he said.

Mr Holman, who has worked at numerous major rallies in Melbourne, including the World Economic Forum protests of 2000, said yesterday's protesters were highly organised and the most violent.

I thought these people were all peace and love. Wonder why no one take them seriously .

Killing Car Companies

2006-11-15T09:12:00.000+10:00

For some time now American car companies have been facing possible death by their non-unionised Japanese rivals:

Mr Bush met bosses from DaimlerChrysler Ford and GM, all struggling against Asian rivals, to discuss concerns over growing imports and health costs.

The companies, which spend more on health costs than on steel, want action to combat the weak Japanese yen.

Foreign manufacturers have been quicker to react to growing consumer demand for more energy efficient vehicles.

In contrast, GM and Ford have been over-reliant on gas guzzling sports utility vehicles (SUVs)

US car firms have been hit by the high cost of paying for the health care costs of their retired workforce, under agreements with the trade unions negotiated many years before.

Unions and high fuel costs are a killer. GM just needs Michael Moore now to make another anti-GM film, and that will be the final nail in the coffin. Car companies have had years to know that American fuel prices weren't going remain low for ever. Americans must be amazed at the small engines of European cars.

Cunning Drop Bears

2006-11-13T09:03:00.000+10:00

My flatmate and his fellow English mate discovered yesterday, after 4 months of living in Oz, that the elusive and cunning Drop Bear may not be entirely factual. The poms, after hearing much about the celebrated critter, decided to google "drop bears" in hope of filling this particular void of their Australian animal knowledge.

It's a pity they found the truth. They had had plans to tell their English friends about them at home. Silly, silly poms. I suggested that they should tell their friends anyway, and keep the joke running. Never let the truth get in the way of a good story.

Education Rant

2006-11-08T10:26:00.000+10:00

In Melbourne, it's all about the private schools. But education shouldn't be about cost. I still reel over the fact that highschool school final exams in Victoria require students to use scientific calculators. If your family can't afford a scientific calculator, or they rather spend their money else where, unlucky for the student. I pointed this out to a couple of students here. The idea had never occurred to them. "My parents would spend anything for my education," one replied. No kidding, Sherlock. So would most if they could. Turns out encouraging more schooling is a good thing:

Despite compelling evidence among OECD countries that for every one-year increase in the average level of education, a nation's GDP will increase by 3 to 6 per cent, Australia sits just 18th out of 30 developed nations when it comes to the proportion of that GDP that is spent on education: 5.8 per cent. A generation ago, Australia ranked 8th.

And without significant private-sector funding, that ranking is considerably worse, warned Barry McGaw, director of the University of Melbourne Education Research Institute.

Professor McGaw told the Making the Boom Pay conference yesterday that one step to improve participation rates could be more collaboration between public and private schools, a model already in use in South Australia, which could make more students employable at the end of their education.

"Australia has lower participation rates in upper secondary and tertiary education than the countries with which it competes," he said.

"For both individuals and the country, education pays. Those with higher levels of education enjoy higher employment rates and higher average earnings

While we're on the topic of education, I'm sick of hearing about these soft trendy highschool subjects, like the ones they have in Britain. A nation of uneducated:

Chatham High School at Taree, on the far NSW north coast, produced the nation's most senior economist in Ken Henry, but it's unlikely the Treasury Secretary's alma mater will produce the next generation of economists.

Despite having a qualified economics teacher on staff, Chatham High has no students sitting the economics examination in the HSC this year.

And it's a similar story at Taree High School, where the economics teacher has had no students for the subject for the past 10 years, and has been teaching computing after being retrained.

Dr Henry lamented on Thursday that economics was no longer taught at his old school, and said students favoured the "soft options" instead of academic studies such as economics, maths and physics.

In Queensland highschools they wisely inform you to do harder subjects as it increases your unverisity chances, and that's how it should be. However, fewer and fewer students study Mathematics C. Amazingly, many students wishing to study science, engineering, radiation therapy, economics, and other quantitative areas don't study Maths C. My first year of university was much easier because of it. Perhaps it's because most school guidance officers (the non-religious kind, that is) have arts degrees over maths degrees.

Melbourne Cup

2006-11-07T08:58:00.000+10:00

Today I've decided not to pay the $50 bucks entry fee, and the subsequent bucket full of cash for drinks, in order to enjoy a cloudy day at Australia's premier horse-racing event. I think the ever acerbic Skeletor from The Spin Starts Here sums up my views on the event well enough.

I read recently that horse-racing is Australia's third most popular spectator sport. To tell the truth, I want to go to a race some day. However, it's not to view the races but rather the fillies so to speak (sorry, I couldn't resist the pun. I blame my time in horse-obsessed Ireland).

Australia's has one of the highest gambling rates in the world per capita (pub raffles and lotteries count as gambling). The tax-the-stupid side of me thinks gambling is a great revenue raiser and can go towards funding good causes such as public health and education. The other side of me thinks people should sidestep the tax office and spend their money, which they obviosuly have too much of, on some random charity.

Update: Melbourne Cup is great. The department gave me beers - Crownies!

Move 'em North

2006-11-07T08:48:00.000+10:00

Those crafty farmers definitely have their thinking hats on:

The Australian Democrats say a wholesale effort to move farmers to the country's north would undo the country's record on meeting Kyoto targets for carbon emissions.

The Democrats deputy leader Andrew Bartlett says the idea is gaining ground in the Coalition as a response to global warming and the drought in southern states.

Senator Bartlett says the Federal Government is making much of Australia meeting its Kyoto target of 108 per cent of 1990's net carbon emissions.

But he says any large scale farming in the tropics would require massive land clearing and tree felling.

"The only reason Australia has even come close to its Kyoto targets for emissions has been because of the significant drop in land clearing in Queensland," he said.

Right. That won't cost a bloody fortune. And what happens when a cyclone comes along? The banal "poor Aussie battler" image lives on despite our economic prosperity. And speaking of global warming, Rupert Murdoch says we need an emissions treaty which, unlike the Kyoto Protocol, includes vast emitters such as India and China:

Conservative media mogul Rupert Murdoch said today he has had a change of heart on climate change and now believes global action is needed - although not in the form of the US-opposed Kyoto Protocol.

"I have to admit that, until recently, I was somewhat wary of the warming debate. I believe it is now our responsibility to take the lead on this issue," Murdoch told a conference in Tokyo.

"Some of the presumptions about extreme weather, whether it be hurricanes or drought, may seem far-fetched. What is certain is that temperatures have been rising and that we are not entirely sure of the consequences," he said.

Murdoch said he now believed a treaty was needed but not necessarily the Kyoto Protocol, negotiated in 1997 in Japan's ancient capital for which it is named.

"The Kyoto Protocol was found to be faulted in many ways and certainly impossible to accept in some countries and unlikely to be followed in some of the largest emerging countries. But we certainly have to have rules," he said.

Murdoch joins the environmentally-minded ranks of Tony Blair, Bill Clinton and Richard Branson. Sure the hippies will still hate him for his loyal support of Howard and Bush.

Return of the Quoll

2006-11-06T10:34:00.000+10:00

The mighty quoll is returning slowly, apparently:

Quolls are mainland Australia's top marsupial predator. When cane toads spread after being introduced to north Queensland cane farms in the 1930s, the domestic cat-sized tiger quoll and its smaller relative the northern quoll disappeared in their wake, dying within minutes of swallowing the toxic amphibians. Now it seems the quoll is making a remarkable comeback because it has finally learned not to tangle with the toads or with wild dog baits laced with 1080 poison. Viewed as an endangered species, the quoll is turning up around Brisbane and in areas where it was thought to have died out long ago.

The quoll's turn of fate shows how a threatened species can evolve over a relatively short time to beat the odds. From the surviving populations of quolls, the marsupials are now returning to their former haunts after learning to live with the toads, either by shunning them as food or becoming resistant to their venom. Now wildlife researchers say dozens of tiger quoll sightings have been reported around Queensland, while northern quolls are reappearing in places such as the suburbs of Cairns.

Separate research in Queensland and northern NSW has also found that quolls now ignore 1080 baits laid for wild dogs. If they do eat them, it seems the quolls disgorge them soon after. As Roberts reported, a study of quolls in the Boonoo Boonoo area near Tenterfield and across the Queensland border at Cherribah has found the marsupials are just as common in bushland on baited properties as they are in bait-free national parks.

Way to go, the quoll. This is a good example of animals adapting to new environments, but I doubt it allays all the ecological fears that The Oz would sugggest. And does this mean quolls are smarter than wild dogs? And what's this talk of them evolving?

Good Move, ABC

2006-11-01T12:02:00.000+10:00

My office mate and I were happy today to read the following:

The ABC has told the stars of it's (sic) high-rating show The Glass House that this will be their last season.

Finally. It's about time (note the correct use of the apostrophe - does anyone proof-read The Age website?).

Oh, but how will I be entertained without the presence of this sterling show and Wil Anderson's woeful puns? I don't know. Surely I'll think of something equally as entertaining like cutting my toe-nails or looking for drop-bears in the inner suburbs of Melbourne.

School Chaplains

2006-10-30T13:13:00.000+10:00

Believe it or not, I am not against religion, per se. If people have a religion, good for them. I even think children learning about the main religions (not just Christianity) is a good idea. I just don't like it when their beliefs affect me. Hence, I find it strange that our Anglican PM needs to fund chaplains in schools:

Mr Howard yesterday announced $90 million would be made available for individual schools to appoint religious counsellors to help students deal with traumatic events and provide guidance.

The plan provides up to $20,000 a year for schools to employ the chaplains. The Federal Government has urged state governments to match the funding.

Mr Howard has told Macquarie Radio that the Government would ensure the chaplains are not extremists, but he denies that the plan blurs the line between church and state.

For traumatic events? Why? Personally, I'd rather have a trained counsellor looking after my children. But that aside, I was under the impression you could seek religious counsel for free at your nearby church. Not that easy for professional help. My sentiments are echoed:

The Parents and Citizens Federation (PCF) says the Government's plan is misguided.

PCF New South Wales spokeswoman Sharon Canty says schools have a greater need for trained counsellors.

"The chaplains, we believe, are being installed to acknowledge grief and communities in trauma and we'd like to see school counsellors, as they are recognising trauma on a daily basis," she said.

"At the moment there are one to 1,000 ratio in our schools - we see this as a high priority need area."

But not everyone agrees that spending money on trained counsellors is a good idea:

But Queensland Council of Parents and Citizens Association (QCPCA) president Brett Devenish does not agree the $90 million package for chaplains could be better spent on school counsellors who are trained psychologists.

"The local chaplaincy committees tend to appreciate the simplicity of the processes so they can support the youth of their community through a chaplaincy program that isn't bogged down by processes of procedure and things like that," he said

Ah, Queensland - the beloved Deep North. Damn those pesky procedures. Getting in the way of some good old fashion "The Big G will look after you, my child" advice.

Idiotic Sheik

2006-10-27T09:47:00.000+10:00

Nice to see this isn't the first time the moronic Sheik Hilali has opened his stupid mouth:

Two decades ago Chris Hurford, immigration minister under Bob Hawke, rejected the cleric's application for permanent residency and attempted to deport him because of his divisiveness. In 1988, he infamously told Muslim students at Sydney University that Jews used "sex and abominable acts of buggery, espionage, treason and economic hoarding to control the world". Despite this, in 1990 Sheik Hilali was granted permanent residency by the Hawke government, thanks to heavy lobbying by senior ALP figures including Paul Keating eager to secure votes in western Sydney and burnish their multicultural credentials.

In 2004, he visited Lebanon and described the September 11 terrorist attacks as "God's work against oppressors" and said that "good lies in evil".Sheik Hilali would later defend himself to the ABC's Geraldine Doogue, saying that the controversy stemmed from errors in translation from his florid, High Arabic style. The Mufti has since showed no desire to abandon these ancient themes of virulent anti-Semitism. In the midst of a sermon last November criticising anti-terrorism laws, the sheik complained that the Holocaust was a "Zionist lie" and asked, "What's that six million all about? Is there six million?". This past winter he described Israel as a "cancer" in the heart of the Muslim world.

The notion that he was lost in translation again is beyond the mortal realms of belief. You can not justify what he said in any way, in any language (see SBS translation). Also, I thought it was common knowledge that rape is predominatly due to men seeking power, not sexual desire. Meanwhile, this academic has landed himself in trouble:

Sheik Hilali did win some support from the chairman of the Prime Minister's Muslim advisory council, Ameer Ali, who compared his contentious remarks to the Pope's comments on Islam.

"He's our spiritual leader and nobody is more knowledgeable about Islam," said Dr Ali, an economics lecturer at Murdoch University in Perth.

"A few months ago, the Pope said some things about Islam, and he was criticised, and now we have a few things being said here, and it's been taken out of context. But all this talk about having the mufti deported, I mean, come on, they cannot be serious."

Can you imagine how many students will be egging his office? Strangely enough, The Age hardly covers the story. Pity. I was waiting for my Leunig cartoon - Leunig being the same clown who asked everyone to give Christmas prayers to Bin Laden a couple of years back. Then again both Leunig and the sheik believe women should stay at home.

Update: Directly addressing calls for him to be stripped of his title as the nation's Muslim leader, Sheik Hilali declared: "My name is Taj, my job is a sheik, my tools are my turban, and I am a servant serving the religion of God. I pray to God ... and I will die attesting to the religion of God. I don't belong to any establishment or to any government. And whoever wants to terminate my wages, let them terminate it"

And yet he had to come to Australia - a country slightly more prosperous than his homeland Egypt. I don't support the revoking of his Australia citizenship but I wish he had never got it in the first place.

Sign in Stone

2006-10-26T13:21:00.000+10:00

Mother Nature definitely moves in strange ways. Now if this was a religious figure of some sort we'd have millions of devout followers declaring it a sign. Remember this next time some loon spills tomato sauce on their shirt and tries to claim it's an image of their beloved prophet.

Also, as a mate pointed out it's funny how it's an image of a man with an iPod and not some generic set of headphones because, you know, headphones didn't exist before iPod. Steve Jobs of Apple must be laughing all the way to the bank. Perhaps he had something to do with this geological curiousity?

Strange Condition

2006-10-26T13:12:00.000+10:00

This condition could get you into a lot of hot water:

Researchers are struggling to understand a rare medical condition where sufferers unknowingly demand, or actually have, sex while asleep, New Scientist magazine reports.

Research into sexsomnia - making sexual advances towards another person while asleep - has been hampered as sufferers are so embarrassed by the problem they tend not to own up to it, while doctors do not ask about it.

As yet there is no cure for the condition, which often leads to difficulties in relationships.

"It really bothers me that I can't control it," Lisa Mahoney told the magazine.

"It scares me because I don't think it has anything to do with the partner. I don't want this foolish condition to hurt us in the long run."

Most researchers view sexsomnia as a variant of sleepwalking, where sufferers are stuck between sleep and wakefulness, though sexsomniacs tend to stay in bed rather than get up and walk about.

I suppose the doctors usual "stay in bed" advice doesn't apply here. Boom. Tish. I wonder where the research trials are held?

Stone-age Ignorance

2006-10-26T12:59:00.000+10:00

Despite what you may hear from various sources, Australia isn't a multicutural country per se, and not all cultures are equal. I'll elaborate. Australia is multi-racial but it is not simply multicultural. I'm multiculural in the sense that I'll eat Thai food, appreciate aboriginal paintings, and watch Turkish belly dancers. However, I have no time for the following ludicrous and misogynistic filth:

The nation's most senior Muslim cleric has blamed immodestly dressed women who don't wear Islamic headdress for being preyed on by men and likened them to abandoned "meat" that attracts voracious animals.

In a Ramadan sermon that has outraged Muslim women leaders, Sydney-based Sheik Taj Din al-Hilali also alluded to the infamous Sydney gang rapes, suggesting the attackers were not entirely to blame.

While not specifically referring to the rapes, brutal attacks on four women for which a group of young Lebanese men received long jail sentences, Sheik Hilali said there were women who "sway suggestively" and wore make-up and immodest dress ... "and then you get a judge without mercy (rahma) and gives you 65 years".

Words. Fail. Me. In what century is this clown living? And this is from an "enlightened" spiritual leader? Why don't we just burn all women who can read as well? Clearly they are witches. As this editorial suggests, it is as though some - I emphasise not all - Muslim immigrants travel forward in time when they arrive in modern Western societies.

I'm not saying we don't have sexist and ignorant fools in Western society. We have plenty. And the abuse and persection of people due to their sex, religion or race were very much widespread in Europe. However, Western society has gone through a number of progressive steps (such as the Reformation and the Enlightenment), and continues to do so. Thusly, I reckon one can say a culture is superiour to another in certain apsects. For instance, I think the Japanese male treatment of women is wrong. Similarly, some Swedish women think Australian men joke in a sexist and offensive manner (which they mask as larrikinism). There is no reason whatsoever why a culture cannot evolve (if you believe in that crazy notion of evolution of course).

What amazes me even more is the fuss that PM John Howard caused a couple months back when he said that certain people in the Muslim society - he stressed it was a minority - do not follow beliefs that pertain to ours in Australia such as the equal treatment of women. Now, you certainly won't find me sending any Christmas cards to the not-so-honest John Howard, but you have to admit he has a point.

Multiculturalism is all good and well, but it doesn't apply to all apsects of a culture. Those of the latte-sipping persuassion who say otherwise should try living in the ethnic slums which litter Europe.

Futile Farming

2006-10-25T12:00:00.000+10:00

I spent my first few years in outback NSW in a cotton-growing town where summer days would often reach 40 C. Even with large irrigation canals (a high potential for evaporation) serving the ever-thirsty cotton plants, you'll still be amazed to discover it takes 20 tons of water to produce enough cotton for a shirt and pair of jeans. Still, our farmers receive government funding, much to the chagrin of some:

Dr Hamilton has told the ABC's AM that Australian governments have a long history of bailing out farmers who do not adequately manage their land, thus perpetuating the effects of drought.

"Good farm management means managing for drought," Dr Hamilton said.

"Droughts happen regularly in this country and there is a marked difference between how farmers prepare for drought ... some do it well, some do it badly and if the soil blows away that is a sign of bad farm management."

"It's time we just faced up to the reality that much of the land currently farmed, shouldn't be farmed and by repeatedly bailing out farmers through drought relief, which is erroneously called exceptional circumstances relief, we're only making the problem worse."

The great Australian bush myth, Dr Hamilton says, is behind the community and bipartisan political support for farming subsidies.

"I think the only way to explain why the governments, that otherwise claim to be economically rational bail out families constantly is because they are such an important part of the Australian mythology," he said.

I'm not saying we should abandon all farming or even a significant proportion, but growing cotton, rice and coffee in the world's driest continent when other countries can do it more effectively? After tyres were invented would you have expected the goverment to support the wagon-wheel manufacturing industry? Surely not. The Federal Goverment is pouring money into a dust pit. Like all industries farming has to adapt or perish.

Since my grade four people have been complaining about one drought or the other. The combination of El Niño and climate change (which appears real enough) implies that farming water-intensive crops is simply not feasible. In short, Australia isn't an emerald continent. Something has to give.

OR at the AWB

2006-10-19T14:08:00.000+10:00

Operations research is effectively a branch of mathematics that uses various techniques in order to optimise systems (ie reduce cost, increase efficiency) in various areas including business and logistics. I just received this e-mail from an OR lecturer:

Dear Maths & Stats Students,

Announcing an exciting event: an industry guest lecture to be held in the final class of Applied Operations Research for the semester!

This is an invitation to any students in the Department who are interested: you are welcome to come along, although having some Operations Research background would be helpful.

Find out how the techniques of Operations Research are helping AWB get the best possible result for Australian farmers!

Helping AWB, eh? I can just imagine the lecture now:

We at the AWB decided to develop a new mathematical model to maximise our profits. Effectively, we chose to model the current world wheat trade with a well-established gravity model. Ensuring this, we then promptly paid off a corrupt Middle-Eastern dictator via a Jordian trucking company. Ergo, a handsome profit indeed. Isn't OR fun, boys and girls?

If I was the AWB, I'd be seeking help from the law school for when the Canadian and American wheat farmers decide to sue them.

Seriously. This must be satire. Well, at least they're hiring maths grads.

Homeless Aussies

2006-10-19T11:44:00.000+10:00

Last Saturday some vagrant came up to me in the supermarket and asked me for money because he was hungry. I said no, and later I saw him at the checkout with a couple of mates and cask of wine. I can assure you I wasn't impressed.

Having said that, last year I spoke to a 20-something lass on a train (after having had beers at Martini's) who told me she had been homeless as a teenager. She said it can easily happen when you have an abustic household, and it's difficult to prove your identity because your father isn't really your father etc. Hence, as per usual I have mixed thoughts on homeless people. Apparently, us Aussies aren't to concerned:

A new survey says 79 per cent of Australians believe homeless people have only themselves to blame for their predicament.

The Hanover Group, a service provider to the homeless, conducted the survey.

The group's chief executive, Tony Kennan, says the survey results are sad and indicate that Australians are becoming hardened to the plight of the needy.

"I think there has been a rise in individualism, in that ... the thinking nowadays is people fend for themselves," he said.

Mr Kennan says there are now more than 100,000 homeless people across Australia and there are more women and children than ever before.

"There certainly has been a big reduction in public housing and that's one of the problems we face" he said.

"There's been some huge social changes over the last 20 years and that's obviously contributed to the situation.

"The reality is 36 per cent of homeless people are under the age of 24 and almost 50 per cent of those young people are women," he said.

"Ten per cent of the homeless population are under 12.

It amazes me that this can be an issue in our country. OK, we apparently don't have as many unskilled jobs as we once had. But surely there are other options?

I keep telling myself I'll start donating money. Just have to find the right charity.Should I give my money to the guy who might spend it on booze or to the charity that cares for kids in Cambodia?

Help the Fatties

2006-10-18T16:59:00.000+10:00

Boo hoo. We're a bunch of fatties:

The Federal Health Minister has told Parliament obesity is one of the most important public health issues Australia faces but he says individuals have to play a role in addressing the problem.

A report by Access Economics estimates the annual financial cost of obesity is close to $4 billion.

The federal Opposition has accused the Government of making a token effort to address obesity.

Tony Abbott has hit back, saying Labor is committed to a nanny state.

"Just as Government has a role, individuals also have a role, and in the end no government can or should try to regulate what individuals eat or the amount of exercise that individuals take," he said.

Please help me. I didn't know eating tons of greasy crap and sitting on my arse all day was bad for me. I was never taught at school which food was healthy? What's an apple?

In other news, I played a gruelling hour of squash today which means I've earnt myself a beer. Or two.

Facial Expressions of the Blind

2006-10-18T13:31:00.000+10:00

The nature vs nurture argument is complex to say the least. DNA, it would appear, doesn't have that the room for things like "music taste" or "religious persuassion". On the otherhand, if your parents were talented in a certain area, odds are you will be too, while something like general intelligence is considered largely to be a product of both nature and nuture.

Our general physical behaviour like speech and posture are usually contributed to our environment. It was gernally believed that facial expressions came from those we grew up with. Well, apparently this is not entirely the case according to a recent study:

A blind young man shares his mother's habit of compressing his lips together when puzzled, despite never having seen her face. This is just one of the examples cited as part of a study published online today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA showing that relatives who have never seen one another nonetheless share similar facial expressions--proof that even a grimace may be hereditary.

Even relatives separated at birth shared expressions: The blind young man mentioned above was abandoned by his mother two days after birth and not reunited with her until he was 18 years old, yet they shared at least three facial expressions, which reinforces what Darwin suspected more than 100 years ago. As he wrote in The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals: "The inheritance of most of our expressive actions explains the fact that those born blind bear them, as I hear from the Rev. R. H. Blair, equally well with those gifted with eyesight."

That Darwin chap was certainly a clever one.

Prosperity in Welfare States

2006-10-18T11:52:00.000+10:00

The American economist Jeffrey Sacks who wants to erase all world poverty (invertiew in the Big Issue last year) claims that a country can have both good social safety nets while be economically prosperous:

One of the great challenges of sustainable development is to combine society's desires for economic prosperity and social security. For decades economists and politicians have debated how to reconcile the undoubted power of markets with the reassuring protections of social insurance.

Not coincidentally, the low-tax, high-income countries are mostly English-speaking ones that share a direct historical lineage with 19th-century Britain and its theories of economic laissez-faire. These countries include Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the U.K. and the U.S. The high-tax, high-income states are the Nordic social democracies, notably Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, which have been governed by left-of-center social democratic parties for much or all of the post–World War II era. They combine a healthy respect for market forces with a strong commitment to antipoverty programs.

On average, the Nordic countries outperform the Anglo-Saxon ones on most measures of economic performance. Poverty rates are much lower there, and national income per working-age population is on average higher. Unemployment rates are roughly the same in both groups, just slightly higher in the Nordic countries. The budget situation is stronger in the Nordic group, with larger surpluses as a share of GDP.

Apparently, a welfare state can be well-off. This flies against the fact that the socialists in Sweden were recently voted out after 12 years in power because their economy wasn't doing so well. Despite this, Swedish economist Andreas Bergh points out:

...these nations make up for any deleterious effects of social programs on growth by taking advantage of globalization and by embracing the market economy in other areas.

And I thought globalization was evil. Finally, this article discusses how the cultures in Anglo-nations are against dole-bludgers. Reminds me of my days at Woolies when I was criticised for not working hard enough.

ABC Troubles

2006-10-16T09:53:00.000+10:00

Some prat tried to tell me a couple of months back that the ABC wasn't biased. If that's the case, why is their union having a cry:

One of the unions representing staff at the ABC says it is concerned about a new 'bias test' to be formally announced later today.

The ABC has come under sustained pressure over allegations of left-wing media bias by some sectors of the Federal Government.

One suggestion to fix the ABC is to privatise it:

The ABC today comprises businesses that include television, radio, 38 retail outlets, book publishing (over 120 titles each year), magazines, videos and DVDs, contemporary music including Renee Geyer and Kate Ceberano and logo licensing. These are all crowded commercial markets, yet Australian taxpayers are subsidising ABC businesses to the tune of nearly $800 million each year. In broadcasting, Australia has 627 operating radio stations and 138 TV stations, plus pay TV. The internet is a further ubiquitous source of information and entertainment. Why is a government broadcaster competing in this mix?

Government broadcasting is favoured by totalitarian states and Islamic theocracies. New Zealand has no government broadcaster and the CBC in Canada gets 60 per cent of its revenue from commercials.

It started out with roughly 50 per cent market share of Australian media in 1932; today its total media market share must be 5 per cent or less. The Government has a clear role to regulate media, but there is no compelling reason why it should own and operate an entertainment business.

Personally, I rarely watch the ABC (even when we had a TV The Bill didn't float my boat) and I never listen to Radio National. I tune into JJJ occasionally Sunday nights. Still, the ABC costs $800 million in tax-payer money (sheepishly, I am currently not a taxpayer - I like to think of myself as an investment).

I don't want to lose a radio station that plays some half-way decent music. Then again, if privatisation of the ABC gets rid of that screeching arse-clown Wil Anderson, I'm all for it. The man is as funny as cancer. Failing all else, axe The Glasshouse.

UN Resolution

2006-10-15T13:01:00.000+10:00

Quite a coincidence that South Korean Ban Ki-moon is elected UN Secretary-General the same week as his crazy communist cousins in the North decide to a test a nuke. As a slap on the wrists for their bomb testing the UN security council has passed a resolution, which, among other requirements, prevents the shipment of all things nasty and death-causing into North Korea. Part of the resolution, courtesy of the US, is the following provision:

UN members are banned from exporting luxury goods to North Korea.

A nice little symbolic up-yours to the North Korean ruling elite by the yanks. Funny though. The North Korean rulers must have skipped the chapter where it says everyone is treated equal in a communist state.

Update: ban all trade in luxury goods, including the lobster and fine French wine cherished by supreme leader Kim Jong-il.

Maths Teacher Shortage

2006-10-12T12:15:00.000+10:00

Another article outlining Australia's shortage in qualified maths teachers:

A national study, to be released today, reveals one in five maths teachers did not study maths beyond first year at university and one in 12 did no tertiary maths at all.

Half are teaching subjects other than maths at school and more than a third are aged over 50, raising the problem of an ageing workforce.

Mind you, I ain't going to help but I do wonder if I could be hired part time during my PhD as a "consultant". Additionally, the article points out:

The research highlights the fact almost every Australian student will do maths at some stage during their schooling.

And many fields - such as engineering, agriculture, economics, medicine and business - require a sophisticated understanding of maths and statistics.

My friend studying radiation therapy in Brisbane found that his fellow class mates found a couple of subjects easier since they had done Mathematics C in highschool. However, in QLD some schools teach you Group Theory - a subject that is only used in pure maths majors or higher-level applied maths or physics courses at uni. Victorians were quite surprised when I inform them of this. Then again, Queensland is the Smart State afterall.

Platform shoes and nukes

2006-10-12T10:31:00.000+10:00

While the mad North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il spends his country's money on platform shoes and nuclear weapons, his starving people receive foreign aid from countries such as Australia (strange, I thought the West was evil). Interestingly, one of the countries that gives aid to North Korea is its democratic rival South Korea. Anyone who's watched an episode or two of MASH knows full well that these two countries fought it out in the aptly named Korean War (a war which a family member of mine served in for Australia). These countries are technically still at war with each other as only a cease-fire agreement was signed in 1953. A warring nation giving aid to its enemy. Remarkable.

What's even more remarkable is that Kim Jong-il has reportedly large personality cults. No wonder Hitler was able to convince the masses his ideas were so good. The masses, evidently, are stupid.

Call Centre Shenanigans

2006-10-09T09:35:00.000+10:00

For one painful week back in 2000 I worked in a call centre trying in vain to sell holiday packages. I can assure you, much to my chagrin, it was nothing like the ones in India, allegedly:

Why does it take so long to get through to an Indian call centre? According to the Catholic Church, it's because everyone is too busy chatting up their colleagues — and maybe worse.

The church is so concerned by evidence that call centres are becoming dens of iniquity that it is offering week-long retreats in the hope of turning staff away from a life of sin.

Most centre workers are young, single and on starting salaries much higher than those of doctors or lawyers, so consequently the booming industry has brought about a social revolution.

"Women come to work with condoms in their handbags," said one call centre worker, Alkesh Dua. "Everyone is doing it. You're together all night in this cool, hip atmosphere, and you end up getting intimate."

This is why it took so long to have my internet connected? The temerity. Well, I suppose it is the land that brought us the classic text Kama Sutra.

Gone are the days when Mother Teresa and her discipels cared for orphans and lepers on the streets of Calcutta. Now, apparently, the Catholic Church has more pressing issues at hand.

Toorak Tractors

2006-10-06T15:20:00.000+10:00

The other day I was travelling through a well-to-do middle-class suburb of Melbourne (incidentally, the federal electorate seat for Peter Costello). I found it amusing to see a Range Rover dealership in these parts. Somebody pointed out to me that in Melbourne they call 4WDs "Toorak Tractors" - named after the neighbouring affluent (or perhaps effluent) suburb Toorak. According to The Age, the soccer mums best beware when driving these suburban tanks:

Drivers of four-wheel-drives are more than three times more likely to die in a rollover crash than those in ordinary passenger cars, new research reveals.

A study by Victoria's peak motoring group, the RACV, shows four-wheel-drives are over-represented in high-speed rollover crashes and deaths, with young drivers aged under 30 most at risk.

The RACV wants Electronic Stability Program (ESP) technology to be standard in four-wheel-drives to curb the death toll.

The report, 4WD Drive Vehicle Crash Involvement Patterns, examined more than 660,000 recent crashes.

Now they just need a electronic device to save the pedestrians and people in normal size cars when they are struck by these Toorak Tractors.

Unis and Jobs

2006-10-06T14:52:00.000+10:00

Originally, universities were mainly aimed for the idealist pursuit of higher knowledge. You attended these grand old institutions to study such fields as theology, natural science, and the classics (Greek and Latin). In recent decades this has changed as people have begun attending unis in order heighten their chances of obtaining a viable career. Today, with the current mineral boom in Australia and shortage of skilled labourers, the tides have turned. It would appear you're better off doing an apprenticeships if you want to land a decent paying job:

Perth home builder Dale Alcock said his group of companies had taken on 200 apprentices in the past two years and estimated that more than half of them had not completed Year 12.

He said they wore company T-shirts with the slogan "I'd rather be cashing cheques than paying HECS".

Indeed. My HECS fee is currently around the 25k mark. Luckily, maths graduates are in high demand (so I keep telling myself anyway). The Economist, however, offers some promising news, for my area at least:

In a speech at Harvard University in 1943 Winston Churchill observed that “the empires of the future will be empires of the mind.” He might have added that the battles of the future will be battles for talent. To be sure, the old battles for natural resources are still with us. But they are being supplemented by new ones for talent—not just among companies but also among countries (which fret about the “balance of brains” as well as the “balance of power”).

The arrival of an aggressive new superpower—Google—has made it bloodier still. The company has assembled a formidable hiring machine to help it find the people it needs. It has also experimented with clever new recruiting tools, such as billboards featuring complicated mathematical problems. Other tech giants have responded by supercharging their own talent machines and suing people who suddenly leave.

But a large and growing number of businesses outside the tech industry — from consulting to hedge funds — also run on brainpower.

My old man laments about the fact that his qualifications (a diesel engineer via apprenticeship) were never recognised in Australia, consquently he had to do mainly labour work (though he did design stunt cars for a while). Nowadays, I'm not sure which work path would be the right one. Perhaps beer taster?

Google Shirts

2006-10-04T16:50:00.000+10:00

Today I saw a guy wearing a Google.com shirt (naturally, he's mates with one of the maths PhDers). On the back the shirt read "I'm Feeling Lucky". I naturally sledged the shirt and its owner behind his back. However, couple of the female maths girls said I was just jealous because deep down I longed for one. Not true. But if I did want one, it would say something cooler. Something like:

"You want my number? Google me, baby",

"Feeling lucky? Just google me." ,

or

"I'm all about the PageRank(TM)."

OK. Maybe that last one is a bit too nerdy. I need to get out of my office. Pronto.

Nuclear Debate

2006-10-04T11:12:00.000+10:00

Last night I attended a debate hosted at Monash University entitled "Should Australia Embrace Nuclear Power". I am biased in this debate since I am for the affirmative. However, I do think that nuclear power is only part of the solution. I truly wish that every Australian house had a solar panel but at their high prices and relatively short lifetimes this probably won't happen for many years to come. Incidentally, I don't see any self-righteous hippies forking out vast sums to buy for solar panels. Oh, that's right. Hippies don't own their own houses.

The first speaker of the affirmative was a physicist who outlined the subtle difference between energy and power (the rate at which energy travels), and that energy in some form is all around us. The trick, unfortunately, is harvesting that energy. He discussed the number of solar panels or windmills required to supply Australia (and its ever growing populace) with adequate power, and how these methods are not suitable for supplying a constant (or base) power supply. Essentially, having a solar panel is all good and well, but what happens when it's cloudy for ten days (something not uncommon in Melbourne) or if the aluminium smelter in Gladstone demands vast amounts of power instantly. No amount of worshipping to the sun gods is going to save the day.

The first speaker of the opposition was a university researcher with extensive experience in solar technology. Unfortunately, he didn’t speak for very long and he wasn’t very clear due to his Iranian accent. He made a few unoriginal points about solar power being safe, and that nuclear power is a threat for accidents and terrorist attacks. He also pointed out later in question time that the coal power industry is subsidised by the government.

The second pro-nuclear speaker was a highly experienced nuclear physicist. He pointed out that nuclear waste doesn’t last nearly as long as the opposition claims, and proper reprocessing can allow 95% of the waste to be reused, with the final waste only needing to be stored in the ground for a couple of centuries, which can be done effectively by an Australian inovation called SynRoc. Finally, he claimed that Chernobyl only killed 56 people directly. Even I think that’s a tad ingenuous as the number of indirect deaths (due to cancer) is difficult to count on such a complex disaster. He did point out though that in the Western world such a reactor would have never been built.

The second anti –nuclear speaker was a representative for Greenpeace (not the most trusty worthy organization in my view). In all honesty, he relied upon obnoxiousness, poor humour, and sheer arrogance to get his way through. He wasn’t very technical, and one could tell that he was clearly out of his depth. At one point he claimed that us (the taxpayer) would have to pay for the nuclear power via government subsidiaries. Later on he asked us why should we allow BHP (and other such EVIL companies) make so much money on nuclear power. Which one is it? Either the government is paying for it, or the companies are profiting from it and, hence, are paying for it. I find it very hard to believe that a government would subsidise nuclear power if they didn’t have to. We all know how pro-privatisation the current government is. Unfortunately, this was lost on the people I was attending the debate with. In his defence, he did mention a couple of “near nuclear accidents” that had transpired in the last couple of years. He should have elaborated on them more to make a better point. I think people prefrerred his “debating” (read: sledging) techniques more than his actual argument points.

The final pro-nuclear speaker was a Law/Arts student debating champion who pointed out that the opposition were using scare tactics (seriously, of all the 400 plus nuclear reactors in the world, do you think a terrorist would try to steal uranium from a reactor in Australia – a safe, politically-stable, well-guarded nation – or some corrupt former Soviet Union country?). The final anti-nuclear speaker was some old doctor (his field not mentioned) who spoke about the US government storing uranium in an old salt mine in the sixties. He also read a “potential terrorist attack” section from an old military book written by a former political advisor. Not really up-to-date or relevant for that matter. He dwelled upon the fact that the guy was hired by three presidents. Little tip old-timer: President Ford hasn’t been around for a couple of years.

The debate was good enough and I’m glad I went. Coincidentally, I had listened to a similar debate last week where the opposition made considerably better arguments. It disappointed me strongly that the Greenpeace clown had to rely so heavily upon sarcasm and trendy anti-government sentiments, and that he simply side-stepped or denied certain issues. This person has been protesting since he was twelve. In his mind environmentalism is a religion. Accordingly, I quickly noticed the similarities between his debating approach and arrogant charm to those of American fundamentalist Christians. Ironic, since most of the anti-nuclear audience, I would dare say, would be strongly against their out-of-date beliefs.

Naive Mother

2006-09-29T13:26:00.000+10:00

After the highschool hostage situation in America, which finished with the kidnapper fatally wounding a student prior to shooting himself, a student decided to tell a bit of a porkie to the media:

Another student at the high school, Cassidy Grigg, went on US television channels NBC and ABC to give an account of how the gunman had chosen his hostages and threatened him personally.

However, the boy's mother, Larina Grigg, later announced that her son had lied, Colorado newspaper The Rocky Mountain News reports.

The hell? The gall of this lad. However, his mother defends him:

"Cassidy has never been dishonest in his life but in this matter he wasn't truthful," she said on Thursday afternoon.

"He was not in the room with the kids. He wants to say he's sorry. I know and he knows he made a huge mistake."

Right. Just to clarify, the lad has been honest his whole life but when he does decide to be a tad dishonest (no doubt for an admirable cause such as impressing a girl), he tellls a huge lie not just to his school mates, but to an entire nation via two TV stations. Very impressive for his "first" lie, doncha think?

Suppose I shouldn't be too hard on the little lying bastard. Afterall, I never let the truth get in the way of a good story.

The Game

2006-09-28T13:56:00.000+10:00

Now I don't understand the hype over the game World of Warcraft, but this, this is completely out of this universe - so to speak. Somebody pinch me:

Marvel Universe Online, a massively multiplayer online game has been announced by Microsoft Game Studios for Xbox 360 and Windows Vista. Developed as a joint venture between Microsoft Game Studios, Marvel and Cryptic Studios, creators of the acclaimed City of Heroes, Marvel Universe Online looks set to be an epic online experience.

Speaking at X06, Frank Pape of Microsoft Game Studios declared “The vision behind the alliance of Microsoft Game Studios, Cryptic Studios and Marvel is to expand the MMO genre and create an epic gaming experience exclusively for Xbox 360 and Windows Vista gamers to experience together online.” Yep, he said together. We can therefore rest assured that Marvel Universe Online will be one of the games to make cross platform gaming between Windows Vista and Xbox 360 a reality.

With Super Heroes such as “Spider-Man,” “X-Men” and “The Hulk”, Marvel Universe Online looks set to be a game with mass appeal.

Mass appeal? No kidding.

And by the way, I don't regularly prowl the game news sites - this piece of priceless infomration came to me via Dalai Llama (who's more nerd than hardcore nowadays).

Kimputer

2006-09-27T11:48:00.000+10:00

Kim Peek, the man who was the inspiration for the film Rainman, was nicknamed by his friends the Kimputer:

According to Peek's father, Fran, Peek was able to memorize things from the age of 16-20 months. He read books, memorized them, and then placed them upside down on the shelf to show that he had finished reading them, a practice he still maintains. He reads a page of text in about 10 seconds (about a book per hour) and, apparently, remembers everything he has read, memorizing vast amounts of information in subjects ranging from history and literature, geography, and numbers, to sports, music, and dates. He can recall some 12,000 books from memory. Peek can also do formidable calculations in his head, a skill that serves him well in his day job, where he prepares payroll worksheets.

Despite these remarkable abilities, this lad was born with an incomplete brain, hence:

Peek did not walk until the age of four and still walks in a sidelong manner. He cannot button up his shirt and has difficulty with other ordinary motor skills, presumably due to his damaged cerebellum, which normally coordinates motor activities. In psychological testing, Peek has scored below average on general IQ tests; however he has scored very high in some subtests. The mixed results have led to the conclusion that such tests are not an adequate yardstick to measure Peek's abilities. He has an outgoing personality and is not autistic.

I read an article about this guy last year. After the reporter told him his date of birth, Kim replied instantly with the day of the week the date had fallen on. Freaky.

Maths is fun

2006-09-22T14:08:00.000+10:00

Last week I went into the PhD office across the hall. On the whiteboard was a geometrical proof for the very famous Pythagoras' theorem . After some thinkg, I added another proof for fun. This week I noticed there is now five proofs on the wall (one using complex numbers). And who says maths students don't know how to have fun?

Interestingly, Pythagoras' theorem is the most proven theorem in mathematics (it has over a three hundred proofs using mathematics from all areas - one of these proofs was done by James Garfield who was, very briefly, a US president). Hence, we will have plenty of fun for years to come...now if only I could stop procrastinating and do some actual meaningful work.

Ape-man Child

2006-09-21T12:39:00.000+10:00

Those wacky scientists are at it again:

Scientists have discovered a remarkably complete skeleton of a 3-year-old female from the ape-man species represented by "Lucy."

The discovery should fuel a contentious debate about whether this species, which walked upright, also climbed and moved through trees easily like an ape.

The remains are 3.3 million years old, making them the oldest known skeleton of such a youthful human ancestor.

Don't they know? Didn't they get the memo? The world is ONLY six thousand years old. It say so in the bible. OK. It doesn't actually say so explicity - some clown just added up all the ages of the characters in the book. But still, six thousand years, people.

Crazy scientists. Who do they think they're fooling?

Dutch Immigration Test

2006-09-17T23:47:00.000+10:00

The ever liberal nation of the Netherlands, like other European nations, is currently suffering the problem of Muslim-based ethnic slums. Here's their, let's say, innovative approach to the problem:

The Netherlands' multicultural policy is being rewritten, resulting in new rules such as one requiring would-be migrants from conservative societies to watch a film showing a topless woman and gay men kissing. Authorities hope applicants who find the film offensive will be put off moving to the liberal nation.

Topless women, eh? Sure beats a history test. You'd think immigrants would have an idea that things are slightly different in Western countries. Regardless, I'm keen to see the effects of this new kind of immigration test.

Tests for Potential Aussies

2006-09-15T13:31:00.000+10:00

New arrivals to our fair land will be tested on English and Aushtrayan history, according to our PM:

Under tough new measures proposed by the government, would-be citizens also would have to have a greater knowledge of Australian customs and values, Mr Howard said.

Details of the plan are expected to be unveiled on Sunday, but today Mr Howard confirmed there would be a strong language component and a history test that some Australian-born citizens might struggle to pass.

Personally - coming from a son of an immigrant - I think new citizens should be tested on their English skills to a degree (despite what the editor of the Big Issue, the Irish clown, thinks). What I find amusing is testing potential citizens on Australian history considering how little "true-blue" Aussies know about their own history. I dare say my history is slightly higher than most, and it's severely lacking.

People have misconceptions about Australia (like we are descended mostly from convicts), know little of past prominent Australians (unless they played sports or wrestled crocodiles), and have a small knowledge of the roles our country has played throughout history. Can you name two Australian Nobel prize winners in any field? Or three Governors? Did you know that the colony of New Australia was founded in South America by Australian socialists?

The excuse "we have no history" is pathetic. Wouldn't that suggest our history would be quick and easy to learn? Oh well, perhaps immigrants knowing more Australian history will encourage the rest of us to learn some .

Ban on Stick Creatures

2006-09-13T12:36:00.000+10:00

Not that I care much about the fashion industry, but this is amusing:

The world's first ban on overly thin models at a top-level fashion show in Madrid has caused outrage among modelling agencies and raised the prospect of restrictions at other venues.

Madrid's fashion week has turned away underweight models after protests that girls and young women were trying to copy their rail-thin looks and developing eating disorders.

Organisers say they want to project an image of beauty and health, rather than a waif-like, or heroin chic look.

Personally, I prefer a girl who excercises and lives a healthy lifestyle simply because I try to live a healthy lifestyle (drinking beer is healthy, isn't?). But I have no time for stick creatures. Not sure if Australia suffers this problem though since we have one of the world's highest obesity rates. Strange.

Climate Change Article

2006-09-13T10:24:00.000+10:00

An interesting article (with an interesting footnote) on climate change by the Economist:

The world's climate has barely changed since the industrial revolution. The temperature was stable in the 19th century, rose very slightly during the first half of the 20th, fell back in the 1950s-70s, then started rising again. Over the past 100 years, it has gone up by about 0.6°C (1.1°F).So what's the fuss about? Not so much the rise in temperature as the reason for it. Previous changes in the world's climate have been set off by variations either in the angle of the Earth's rotation or in its distance from the sun. This time there is another factor involved: man-made “greenhouse gases”

Back in the 70s scientists were betting on the wrong horse:

If interest in climate change was lukewarm in the first half of the 20th century, it went distinctly chilly in the second half, for the good reason that the world was getting cooler. In 1975 Newsweek magazine ran a cover story entitled “The Cooling World” that gave warning of a “drastic decline in food production—with serious political implications for just about every nation on Earth”—a prediction repeated with understandable glee by those who suspect the current worry is just another such scare.

Definitely a complex debate:

At a macro level, modelling what is one of the world's most complex mechanisms and projecting 100 years ahead is tricky. At a micro level, individual pieces of data contradict each other. One shrinking glacier can be countered by another that is growing; one area of diminishing precipitation can be answered by another where it is rising.

As I've said in the past, I'm moving to Canada. Or Tasmania. Not New Zealand.

Bloody Terrorism

2006-09-09T09:30:00.000+10:00

I still can't believe there are 9/11 conspiracy theorists out there. America had had a number of terrorist attacks before 9/11. Why now? For what purpose? How? Regardless, The Australian laments in an editorial focused on terrorism:

It is disturbing that so many people are still prepared to believe conspiracy theories that the US or Israel were somehow behind the September 11 attacks, despite bin Laden having claimed responsibility. To commemorate the fifth anniversary of the attack, the Arabic al-Jazeera television network this week aired a video showing bin Laden reportedly meeting some of the September 11 masterminds. Two of the 9/11 attackers, Wael al-Shihri and Hamza al-Ghamdi, were shown presenting their taped "wills". If any were needed, the video provides further proof that the 2001 attacks were part of a calculated and long-term campaign against the West.

As the cheap tourist shirts say: fuck terrorism.

Brisbane Visit

2006-09-06T08:46:00.000+10:00

I fly into the sunny city of Brisbane this evening, and return next Tuesday night - with an empty wallet, and a sore head and liver. I might even vote in the QLD election this Saturday. 'Til next week.

Political Populism over Irwin

2006-09-05T16:24:00.000+10:00

Way to go, the pollies. First QLD Premier Peter Beatie honours the late croc-hunter:

Mr Beattie, in the final week of his election campaign, said the state government was in talks with Mr Irwin's family about possible ways to honour him.

"We want to make certain that ... there's a fitting long-term tribute to Steve Irwin and it may well be we can do all sorts of things like name a national park, we could have particular awards, all sorts of things."

Nice quick grab for the votes there by Beattie. Of course not to be out-done, our beloved PM John Howard pulls out the litte "Aussie" card:

Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin died in "quintessentially Australian circumstances," Prime Minister John Howard has told parliament.

Well, it's worked before hasn't it, Johnny. Probably why you invited old Irwin to your shin-dig for Bush.

This blatant vote-grabbing irritates me. All this over a croc-hunter. Now if Malcom Douglas had died, that would be another story.

One interesting thing I did discovered in the last couple of days is that old Steve Irwin had a fear of parrots due to a childhood incident. I wonder if he installed windmills around his zoo to keep them at bay?