Siri-ously

I thought it would save me some time (and lead to more regular blogging) if I could use Siri (on the iPhone) for dictation/recording - but based on the following, this may not be the best solution:
* Driving along the Gold Coast hwy today it just isn't getting any better the line Stromley 600 astilbe and Princess to pick people way from the light rail works are also
* Teasley TUBSLEY Park in Southport is that Mandor Tuesday and public
* The weather is school monkey one thing here this today on the way last stop.

Accidental ?

The full details are a little sketchy now (I really should have blogged this as soon as I made a note to ... when it happened) but two Australian men holidaying in Phuket have been arrested for accidentally shooting two German tourists. Hmmm ... how does that happen? Apparently, and I'm not sure if this is the police or the two men who were saying this, they had meant to shoot a Danish tourist (aka Danny) but missed and hit the Germans instead. Hmmmm, I guess that would make it an accident of sorts, but what I don't understand is how two Australian "tourists" end up with a gun in Thailand. The men reportedly had links with a motorcycle club here in Australia, but I can't fathom what kind of accident it must have been for them to have a gun fall into their laps while they were there ... and then for them to run into someone that they wanted to shoot. Ah well, this may be one story we will never know in full ... and just another reason to be careful while you're on holiday! You never know who's out there gunning for someone - and whether they're a decent shot or not!

Preppers

For far too long I have been trying to get to my backlog of articles - clipped but never read - and finally I did - and was amazed to see that something I had seen on National Geographic in the last few days rated a mention. i had seen a man cut a pig's carcass in half - and here was information about him and what he used - his invention the Crovel. Tim Ralston is a Prepper - someone who fears The End Of The World As We Know It and who is doing something about it ... geting ready, being prepared, being a Prepper! And he's helping other people get reading with products like the Crovel - which started life as a Prepper accessory and which now more than doubles as a weapon - and made him more than a million dollars in the process!

It's hard to know what the Preppers will prepare for now that the Mayan Apocalypse prophecy appears to not have been fulfilled ... we're keeping more than an open mind because if it does herald a new Age of Enlightenment, it would be unfortunate starting it off as a Naysayer!

Cleaning up

"Blog re washing powder counterfeiting" ... this is definitely a reason not to procrastinate - or should have been because now I have no idea where I "filed" this report - and I can't remember the details of the story ... but it did sound intriguing, especially as there was so much - tonnes and tonnes - of the "stuff" involved - 40 to be exact. It turned out to be fake OMO "made in China", packaged in buckets for sale at convenience stores and market stalls throughout south-west Sydney. It was definitely not the real stuff, Unilever (owner of the OMO brand) assured consumers as real OMO doesn't come in buckets here in Australia. Who would ever have suspected that folk would try to clean up with fake laundry detergent? Obviously desperate times call for desperate measures!

What price entertainment?

Illusionist Derren Brown likes to push the envelope - and he certainly seems to be doing it again if you can believe reports just out. In his latest series, the first two episodes are given over to the story of a young man who Brown induces to believe the ''world as we know it" has ended and he wakes into a Post-apocalyptic world where he may be the only survivor. I'm not sure if this is on it's way to Australia yet - but I hope it is because the concept is fascinating: that you can (cleverly) turn a person's life into a horror movie-and then say it's for his own good! The whole undertaking was very complex and complicated and it will be interesting to see how it was executed.

Changing laws

It is the law of diminishing returns or the law of marginal utility that determines whether your second cup of coffee is as good as the first? Of course, it's economics but sometimes it's just all about taste - and what you feel like at the time. And what was the name of our Economics teacher at Meadowbank Tech who taught us everything we needed to know (but not necessarily remember) about Economics using examples based on tomatoes and hi-fis (it was a little while ago)!!

Felix's freefall

Congratulations Felix Baumgartner- and well done for your fantastic freefall from the edge of space. As you stepped off the platform of the gondola over 35km above Earth, for just a moment I thought you might do a Buzz LightYear ... spreading wings and instead of falling you would soar upwards ... "to infinity and beyond". But you didn't ... but you did achieve the speed of sound on your fall to earth, making yours the fastest freefall on record. But not necessarily the longest - something to do with the fogging-up of your helmet visor and an early deployment of your parachute? But it was wonderful to see that the man who held (still holds) that record was on your support crew - Joe Kittinger (now 84) who back in 1960 did the freefall from a balloon 31km high. This is truly the stuff of legends - that leap of faith when you (and he) stepped out into space (well, almost space!) and fell to earth!

Will power

It hardly seems fair - if it's true. According to research published a while ago, but currently being challenged, your level of will power is affected by the amount of glucose the frontal lobe of your brain ... meaning the more sugar you have on board the more will power you have ... and if your sugar levels drop - as they do when you are dieting - so does your will power. Anyone else see the problem here?

Solid as a ...

Words are funny things. I was reading this morning that it was the anniversary of Prince Charles and Lady Diana's divorce only a few days ago - and was thinking that there was a marriage that was rocky ... and then wondered how "rock" and "rocky" could have such divergent meanings - if something is "rock solid" then it is a world and a half away from being "rocky".

In the moment

It's amazing that we can so easily miss things. Driving in to work this morning (or, more precisely, the coffee shop I go to before I go to work) I noticed the sky was starting to get a pink glow - what does that mean? I know there's that old rhyme - red sky at night = shepherd's delight; red sky at morning = shepherds take warning. But why? Is it rain? Cold? Heat? Alien abduction? Something else? The red sky did come - and as I took out the iPhone to take a photograph, I had to wait for the "updating database" which was taking so long I changed to the native camera application - more time gone - and then so was the colour in the sky. Missed it - the photograph anyway - but at least I noticed it was there. And wondered how much of the colour was because of volcanic ash drifting across from New Zealand following the eruption on the North Island.

Settle ...

I don't know about anyone else but I feel a little sorry for Australia's Olympic Contenders. There has been some talk recently about the young lass who didn't manage Gold and was distraught about placing second. They even called off a press conference because she was too upset. So, since when has coming second been such a crushing defeat? Well, as we all know, no-one who goes to the Olympics wants to come second ... but, of course, there can only be one winner and it depends on their performance on the day. And while it's disappointing not to win, it seems that the media could help by not fuelling discontent over placing rather than winning by saying things like: he had to settle for second! Settle? Settle? What are they thinking?

Z is for Zombies

Z is for Zombie - not really but that’s a bit the way I feel at the end of the A-Z blogging challenge. It has been a fantastic exercise and experience and wonderful to visit other bloggers also doing the challenge and to marvel at how similar yet different we are. My head is filled with the possibilities of how to continue the blogging challenge because it has taken me to places and subjects that surprised me and certainly did much to stimulate my ... brains ... brains. There is much in this world that we don't pay enough (any?) attention to because we are so/too busy just going about our business like automatons or, dare I say it, Zombies! Here's to a period of zest and zeal in my personal zeitgeist - thanks to the A-Z!

(Thanks to the organizers and all who participated ... See you next year!)

Y is for Yellow

I have always thought of yellow as the colour of intelligence - but, it seems that it is so much more. According to the Australian Oxford Dictionary, it is the colour of buttercups, lemons and gold, of ripe wheat and jaundiced complexions, and of envy and suspicion. I didn't realise though that it could also refer to the press - where it means to be unscupulously sensational. We know that it can be used for describing fauna and flora, and has a use in sports where players can be given the yellow card when they're being cautioned; and there's the yellow flag - which indicates there's a crash ahead, although the yello flag can also be a flower or the flag displayed on a quarantined ship. To have the yellow jack is to be sick with yellow fever, and the yellow peril refers to "the political or military threat regarded as emanating from Asian peoples, especially the Chinese", and since we're in Asia, there's yellow rain which was reportedly a chemical warfare agent but which now appears to have been bee droppings (although it would have made more sense if it had been yellow and black). If you ran from that rain, people might have suggested you had a yellow streak - a trait of cowardice. But yellow is the colour of victory in cycling where the yellow jerseyshows you are a winner - but not necessarily the winner. Of course, some of us just like the colour because it's ... yellow.

X is for X marks the spot

X marks the spot. Why do they say that? Is it because on the old treasure maps they would put an X to show where the treasure was buried rather than writing "here there be treasure". It was obviously something they didn't trust to memory or shipmates. Were there back-up treasure maps? Or furphies which put the X somewhere which wasn't the spot where the treasure was? And why was it an X and not a Y or even a number? Maybe it had to do with map references, the intersect of longitude and latitude lines. They wouldn't have had triangulation then - or maybe they did and knew how to use it - although it seems a little more difficult than specific map coordinates. Of course, it's hard to know if pirates really did bury their treasure - it probably wasn't something that was publicised. It definitely was the stuff of fiction though with the pirates of Treasure Island having buried treasure aplenty but research suggests it's usually the stuff of legends rather than real life.

But even if X didn't find a place on treasure maps, it did prove useful - and still does - how could you say 10 in Roman Numerals if X didn't mark the spot?

W is for Wish

Does wishy-washy just mean you can't decide what it is you (want to) wish for? If you were referring to a person's inability to make a decision or lack of strength, wouldn't you just use "washy" rather than ”wishy-washy”? But I'm more interested in the wishes. What would we wish for if someone offered us, say, three wishes. Would it be something for yourself, something for your nearest and dearest, or something to benefit the world in general? Would the difficulty in deciding depend on the wish-giver's sphere of influence? There's a world of difference between world peace and a pie for lunch. And what if you knew there would be not-incredibly-wonderful consequences from the wishes a la The Monkey's Paw. And if you were the one with the power to grant wishes - as long as you weren't constrained by having to grant the wishes to the person who released you from the magic lamp (and why were you in there in the first place, and if you have the power to grant wishes why can't you grant your own?) - how would you decide who to give them? Would you want to give them to someone pure of heart? With a social conscience? Sound business acumen? And what would you base the decision on? How can you tell what a person really thinks and feels just by watching/talking with them - and wouldn't it change if they knew you had the power to grant their (every) wish?

If you had one minute to decide what your three wishes will be - what would they be? Start now ... and no being wishy-washy ...

V is for Victory

We were sitting listening to the radio this morning as we had our breakfast and the subject matter was A.N.Z.A.C. Day. One segment was about soldiers writing letters home saying that they had killed Germans, and their loved ones would write back saying don't tell me about that - so they would write about the landscape instead. That then led to the story of a friend of S's Dad who had served in World War I and who, at one point, came face to face with a German soldier - he looked just like me and I couldn't do it was the general gist of his remarks afterwards - and apparently neither could the German, because the friend was still around to talk about it. But it brought up the notion that perhaps there was a better way to fight wars - like scissors paper rock - and whoever lost went home! Then, because we all know that the same ideas are always floating out there in the universe, I saw this photo. V is for Victory, but it would be nice if it could be a Virtual Victory instead without loss of life.

U is for Undecided

We received the rates bill today and with it a survey asking if we would be prepared to support a new library (yes) by agreeing to a special rates increase over several years to fund it (undecided). But how could we say no ... because it would be good to have a new building to house the collection and there could be some purpose-built areas as well. To say yes would mean a certain rate increase but we would be investing in the infrastructure of the local area ... except that it's not our local area anymore but one day we may want to sell and the more infrastructure (read: libraries) in the area, the more inclined someone might be to want to buy. To support the library or not? Still undecided but leaning more towards yes. I think.

T is for Too Late?

I had forgotten that S is for Sun - and now the A-Z Challenge has moved on to T. So Too Late? Ray Bradbury wrote a story about a young girl who is waiting for the rain to stop and for the sun to come out - she knows it will, but no-one else at her school has ever see sunshine. They lock her in a room and while she is there the rain does stop and the sun does come out - and while everyone else is entranced by this, all she sees of it (and the world stretching itself in the sunlight) is a ray of light across the floor of that room.

Most of us take the sun for granted - even though some of us do take every opportunity to let it seep into our very being. But what would happen if the sun went out? Not exploded as a supernova but just quietly went out. What would you do when, at 10am in the morning, the sunlight just stopped and the world plunged into darkness? How dark is pitch black? And while the lights would come on as though it was night, there wouldn't even be the reflected light of the moon to brighten the night sky! Would mankind be able to adapt? Would the resultant world be a place we would want to live in? And would we ever stop waiting for it to come back on?

T is for Turn of Phrase

English is an amazing language and we are often given to the odd turn of phrase - albeit, sometimes unintentionally. This evening when I was making my way through a large public place (read: Casino), following some friends through to a different area of the gaming floor, I found myself delayed "waiting for some old people to pass". As I was telling them this, I realised how inappropriate it sounded - waiting for old people to pass. Well - sort of. And isn't "sort of" good too, as a friend posted on FaceBook earlier this week - as attributed to Demetri Martin: 'Sort of' is such a harmless thing to say. Sort of. It's just a filler. Sort of - it doesn't really mean anything. But after certain things, sort of means everything. Like after 'I love you' or 'You're going to live.'

S is for Sasquatch

We are not alone. Or are we? There is a field of study - Cryptozoology - which is said to be about mythical animals or, the way I like to think of it, of animals whose existence has not yet been proven - your Sasquatch aka Bigfoot, Yeti or Yowie (why did that just autocorrect to "townie"?). I don't know why but I have long wondered if we were the only sentient species here on Planet Earth - and from my teen years I have read magazines, books and now the Internet on whether they exist. Very early on I read of a park ranger here in Queensland who had had come face-to-face with a large foul-smelling red-eyed, standing on two legs and towering above him, hairy creature. It was definitely not a bear (they aren't native to here) or anything he recognised - and he never wanted to see one again. Another crackpot? I was inclined to think not when I saw the name and confirmed that it was a friend's father and yes, she knew the story, and the encounter had terrified him, and this was definitely something they didn't often talk about. Similarly, the sighting of a large man-like creature on the back roads of New South Wales some years ago also terrified my partner's brother. It shambled across the highway in front of him and went off int the bush. He didn't follow it. These sightings were both some years ago now ... and I often wonder if these creatures, and those like them, are still out there? And if so, how do they evade detection especially as man encroaches further and further into bush territory.

R is for Research

There's no doubt that research has it's place, but you have to feel for the rats. I was listening to a How Stuff Works podcast today on how much sleep is enough sleep. The general consensus is that it's 6 to 8 hours a night for the average person (surprisingly they didn't mention how much a gifted person needs) - and they know this from ... research. It seems that a fair bit of the research involves rats, especially when it has to do with sleep deprivation - and we're not talking about the way it's used as a method of torture here. The University of Chicago has done research with people - 10 healthy men in their 20's - and after only 6 days of sleeping for only 4 hours a night the men developed signs of pre-diabetes. The report didn't say which of these studies was conducted first, but the other one they mentioned was with rats, where severe sleep deprivation effectively cut their life span from three years to three weeks! How incredible is that? Are lab rats especially bred for research purposes? And if they are, does this make it better? I can't help but imagine what the uproar would be if they did this with people.

Q is for Quiet

Why is it that when you're trying to be quiet, you can't? And it doesn't matter how hard you try - you'll knock something over, or crash against something - and once you've made the noise - it just gets worse - probably because you're trying even harder to be quiet! Is this a non-self-fulfilling prophecy?

Q is for Queues

Queues aren't what they used to be. This makes me a little mad (read: infuritates me) because lots of people seem to have forgotten how to wait their turn. I know sometimes people have a valid reason for being in a rush and wanting to push in, but it isn't a good look and it makes the rest of us a bit irritated. Only this afternoon, there was a woman intent on overtaking me on the motorway - or is that undertaking, because she wasn't on the road - she was driving on the shoulder, tailgating me because there wasn't enough room for her to go by safely unless I moved over. I couldn't see why I needed to - if the traffic was queued but still moving, why should she not have to wait her turn like the rest of us? By the time we reached the exit (the same one I was using) she was travelling beside my otherside back fender; and it was at that moment that I wondered if not moving over was such a good idea - was I in a "road rage in the making" situation? Would she be difficult about it and not let me use the exit? I needn't have worried because she did, but it does raise the question of this and other queues ... are we all in line on the subject?

P is for Play

We don't do enough play these days ... I think some people have completely forgotten how. When we're little folk, our work is play - that's how we learn. We splash around in troughs of water and learn about displacement and that the wetter you get, the more fun it is. We paint all manner of things which aren't necessarily recognizable by anyone but us and we learn that yellow and blue make green and that rainbows have seven main colours - all of them beautiful. We learn to love cardboard boxes and as we get a little older we come to like the toys in those boxes, and we learn to share and we learn how to use our hands and hone our fine motor skills and our eye-hand coordination. And it's all fun. Until one day we forget about having fun and laughing and playing. Someone said recently that they don't call work "work" for nothing, and it's true. It's about productivity and profit (another P word ... oh wait, they both are) and politics (another one!). But why can't it be more about fun and play? Or are we just not playing the right games?

O is for Onion

Whenever I see an onion my thoughts turn to the Toowoomba Range and the truck driver who chose to veer off the road rather than drive over cars to get to the safety ramp. Who knows if he thought he would be able to slow his onion-laden truck before it went over the side of the Range, with him somehow surviving the crash, or if he acted on instinct, and knowing he could not live with the knowledge that he had caused the death of others. Whatever the case, and we can never know, the decision cost him his life. We drove down the Range a couple of days afterwards and there were still onions strewn around the scene. It was a very real reminder.

No doubt lots of people who have heard the story about the "onion man" have forgotten what it means all these years later, and the sacrifice he made. This is why it's good to keep the memory of this act alive, showing how one man can truly make a difference. Onion anyone?

N is for News

You have to wonder what the world is coming to when there is a news* article saying Australia will be one of the safer places to be if we ever find ourselves in the midst of a Zombie Apocalypse! Or was that "when"? Of course, it's always good to have the opportunity to be prepared - so we can start stockpiling provisions, working out how to turn our homes into zombie-proof fortresses and studying up on how to stop the zombies, despatching them before they make a meal out of our brains. Are there other ways to kill a zombie than with a chainsaw? Will even they work - and, if so, are there ones out there with longer handles?

I'm not sure that that's a world I would want to live in - just like I wouldn't want to live in Midsomer or Cabot Cove where murders are always in the news - and just as well or police and mystery writers would have little to do - except maybe watch televison where a nice juicy murder now suffices as entertainment. Is that it - do we live in a world where, to a certain extent, newsworthy events and entertainment have become somewhat interchangeable? Or is that old news?

* News: information about recent and important events.

M is for Missive

Have you noticed that you seldom get missives through the mail anymore? Have those long letters you could languish over, absorbing your correspondent's news, gone the way of the dinosaur? Have they been replaced by an SMS, s Tweet, Facebook post or perhaps a group email? Do you miss them? I raised this issue a couple (few?) years ago on this blog and soon after was surprised by an actual letter in the mail - and even though it was from a friend who I saw regularly to catch up with over a coffee, the letters took on a life of their own. I have moved away since then and even though neither of us is as frequent a correspondent as either we or the other would like, for me it is still a thrill to get or send the letter. When I mention missives to other people, they say they miss them too and one friend has even asked me to write her one of those long letters like I used to (many years ago now ... before life became busier) - and you know what, I'm going to ... and, while I'm at it, I’m going to pen a missive to Deb as well! Anyone else?

L is for Love

L is for Love, or perhaps it's for Loss, because that is what invariably results from Love. What is it "they" say? "It is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all". I tend not to agree with them. Or perhaps I do. I am of two (at least) minds about this one - partly, I think, because my visual memory is not good - and certainly my powers of description (what did/do they look like?) are worse. When it comes time to recalling a loved one - even if we are parted only for a day - I can get the sense of them and vaguely try to describe them to myself - but it's definitely wanting. Photographs help but not enough. And when there are images - they are often ones I would rather not have. Although, writing that, I realise that the image I have of my father, after his death, at the viewing where he is in one of his favourite Thai shirts, and with the Superman tee placed in the coffin with him - even though it is a hard image, it is one I do hold on to because this is when I knew that he was finally "free" from the brain tumour that had stolen his life slowly over the more than two years between diagnosis and last breath. Of course, I can think of other instances of him if I look at photographs, or try to imagine him in a remembered setting, but I cannot recall the rich vibrance of the man he was. Hopefully other people are able to conjure up their loved ones better. But does that make it easier? Or harder? I truly am at a loss to know.

K is for Karen

Karen: the language (spoken in the Thailand and Burmese Borderlands); the people (making up 7% of the total Burmese population); the first name (and surname) - as entered in a Google ”vanity search”! The only thing wrong with egosurfing (as looking for yourself on the web is also known) is that you do run the risk of finding out that your namesakes have more interesting lives than you do! But that doesn't stop people opening up a search engine and typing in their name - in fact, nearly half US adult internet users have done it - and at least one Australian (that would be me!). My favourite other me is an egg-blowing, shooting, wheelchair-bound person of mixed origin (Hawaiian/Japanese/Cherokee). I’m definitely intrigued by the me who is into artificial intelligence; and now not totally sure about the GP who seems wonderful (according to the reviews) but has a billing department which isn't. Alas, you do need some patience to find me - I’m so far down in the Google search results that I found my attention wandering off and I’m now thinking of doing that myself ...

J is for Justice ... or just Just?

Is there a natural justice in the world? A sense of fairness that pervades the universe as we know it? One where we can be assured things will work out in the end? I’d like to believe that as the alternative (one of them anyway) is a random kind of universe where anything can happen - and we chalk the results up to fate or, if preferred, destiny. It's interesting that the autocorrect on my computer replaced "fate” with ”care”. Are they the same thing? Do we shape our own fate based on what and who we are and what care we put into our lives - and how much we care about others ... and how fair we are in our dealings with them? Would it then be enough if we were just just? As in ... ”just” as in ”absolutely”, ”exactly as this moment”, ”free from favouritism or self-interest or bias or deception”, or, from its origin - ”righteous in the eyes of God, upright and impartial”. Could that be it then? Could natural justice be the effects of a person's actions that determine his/her destiny in this lifetime - rather than in their next incarnation because that would then be Karma ... and therefore a topic for another day!

I is for I Want ...

I was saddened today to read of a young Chinese man who had reportedly sold his kidney so he could buy an iPad and an iPhone. This makes a change to the stories (are they true?) of Chinese workers in Apple factories in that country being so unhappy that they choose to end their lives by throwing themselves off the factory at such a rate that nets have been erected around the buildings to try to save their lives. How could electronic devices turn into such masters of destiny? Don't get me wrong, I am an Apple-and-all-things-"i" fan but I want to see another model of capitalism which could see people in the land of manufacture able to afford what they're making without having to sell off body parts; see the company of manufacture still turn a healthy profit, and the rest of us able to use an iDevice without having to question its or our own morality. I don't think that's too much to want ...

H is for Hard

There are some blogs which are harder to write than others - not because the subject matter is hard but because it is hard to decide on the subject matter. I hunted through the dictionary looking for an H word to be the focus for today's blog, took heart from asking other people what they thought a good H word would be (Hiatus Hernia anyone?) and finally picked something - and then realised that that topic wasn't working for me. Then someone suggested Hard. And it is - I had thought about writing about heart, and home, and heroes, and Homer (who was our wonderful cat who we named after Homer . . . Simpson the first time we saw him eat! ) and hope and happiness and Harold Holt and Houdoni and habits and hackers and Hell and hagiography and hair and halitosis and hallucinations and Harry Potter and horcruxes and horror and hotels (as in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel) and ... the list goes on. In retrospect, I realize that by settling on one, I had just settled - and I need to do more than than when deciding what to blog about - otherwise it ceases to be something I really want to do and, instead, just becomes ... hard!

G is for Good

”Good.” How many times a day do we say ”good” without really having given much (or any) thought to what other word might be better. I often replace "good" with "excellent" but only if it's warranted. Come to think of it, it may not be that we don't consider other words, but that we don't consider the answers enough - possibly because we don't think that folk who ask questions where our best response is ”good” are interested in a "real" answer, as in: How are you today? Good. As opposed to - ”Don't ask, I have a horrible night, my partner just left me, I’m having trouble with the bank, and if I have to listen to one more session about being a team player I am going to lose it”. How was dinner? Mmmmm ... good - not to be confused with sublime, excellent, amazing, or, at the other end of the spectrum, words fail me. Which is where ”good” probably is (good), in light of Mr Rabbit’s advice to Thumper: if you can't say anything nice, don't say nothing at all. Good.

F is for Friday

Friday - the last day of the working week. Never was it is as welcome as the very first week I worked and even though it is a few years back now, I can remember the absolute elation I felt walking home from the train station through Tempe Park knowing there would be no work tomorrow! It was like being let out for the school holidays - and even though it was only two days stretching before me this time, rather than weeks, it was glorious! I've only had that feeling once since and it wasn't at a particularly onerous job, at the end of a long week, or for any special reason - except that it was Friday and not in that TGIF way - although goodness knows there have been enough of those over the years! I'm not sure if it would be a good thing or a bad thing if it happened at the end of every week - there's certainly nothing wrong with looking forward to weekends but you'd have to hate being it a job where that was the only highlight ie not being there!

E is for Extenuating Circumstances

Extenuate: (often as extenuating adj.) lessen the seeming seriousness of (guilt or an offence) by reference to some mitigating factor.

It's a bit like that story about the man who kills his mother and his father and then pleads for clemency because he is now an orphan! The sentencing hearing of Sydney man Neal Richardson (convicted of murdering his lover before using a power saw to dismember her body) has heard that he suffers from traumatic recollections.

''He's off drugs now. He's sitting in jail with his life ahead of him,'' his barrister told the court, adding there was evidence Richardson felt ''contrition'' and ''remorse''.

After her death (which Richardson claimed happened when Ms Grant hit her head on a coffee table when they fell during an argument) at the house they shared in Malabar (a Sydney suburb), and believing that the police would think he had killed her (as she had been slated to give evidence against him on an assault charge) he disposed of her body on a NSW rural property.

Justice Lucy McCallum adjourned the matter for sentencing on May 11.

E is for Evidence

While I never saw Jerry Maguire (the movie) I can't help but think his "Show me the money!" was another way of saying "I'll believe you if you show me the evidence" ... but I have no proof of that - and there’s no-one immediately available that I can ask. Evidence makes up a huge part of our modern world - it's at the forefront in the cop show television genre - possibly too much so because people now have an unrealistic belief in forensic science and how well and quickly it can bring results! Or that evidence is best looked for by torch (a la CSI Miami) rather than turning on overhead lights. Evidence is there too in psychological research - although it's a little thin when studies are based on small, non-representative samples. This may be why they say hypotheses can never be proved - only supported. And what of religion - where people seek "evidence", proof, of the existence of their particular deity/God to bolster their faith. Would Jesus have been believed if he hadn't performed miracles such as bringing Lazarus back from the dead, curing the sick, feeding the hungry? Is there any way anyone would/could accept the existence of a being from another realm if they had no knowledge of it? Can folk believe in something for which we have no evidence? I guess the answer to that last one is Yes - especially since the property recovery of the 1990's seems to have resulted from people simply saying it was so!

D is for Demons

We saw a program the other evening which featured a segment on three teenage exorcists. They specialised in casting out demons and while the whole notion of these young things doing this was far-fetched, the segment did raise an interesting point. One of the young women exorcised during the segment said that she felt her demons had been cast out - and then went on to talk about her teen pregnancy, her abusive parents and other things which had troubled her and were now "gone". Hmmmm - that made some sense - thinking about demons not as supernatural beings that had invaded someone's body but as negative talk, experiences and criticism that had invaded a soul, built a nest there and started to fester and eat it away from the inside. And this isn't a new thought - although people in the past may not have viewed it exactly in those terms - because it isn't that long ago that people with a mental illness were thought to be "possessed". So what demons are each of us harbouring? What skeletons are in our closets, what secrets do we keep, things of which we are ashamed, things we prefer we hadn't said or done that we can't let go of, forgive ourselves, forget and move on?

[The devil is in the detail: isn't it amazing that we have a language in which a demon can be either a "cruel wicked and inhuman person", "an evil supernatural being" or "someone extremely diligent or skillful"? Me, I'm going with the Ancient Greek origin - δαίμων (god, goddess, divine power).] (Thanks WordNet.)

C is also for Conversation

Most of us take conversation and social interaction for granted. We fall into an easy interchange with others - passing the time of day, talking about the weather, avoiding taboo subjects like politics - and don't give it a second thought. For others it's a much more difficult proposition. They lack the basic skills of and for social interaction and find it difficult to acquire them - and it isn't easy - and harder still to find places and opportunities to practice. Lean forward and smile - try to connect with people - show them you care - these are the stepping stones to acquiring social skills: not really like ... but not totally unlike ... fake it till you make it. Now that's something to talk about.

C is for Change

To be honest, change isn't one of my favourite things ... unless it's coins, in which case it's welcome in bucket-loads. Real Change though, well, that's an entirely different matter. I am resistant to change. I realise this is perverse, given the only thing constant is change because change doesn't. But what's the alternative? A world without change? A world where we didn't need to adapt to new circumstances and conditions? A world where we can rely on everything being the same from day to day? Day in ... day out? That already sounds like a less interesting place especially if the lack of change extended to subjects, gears, tunes, clothes, lanes, jobs. Hmmm, could be time for a change ... of heart!

B is also for Bring Back the Ballad

They don't do ballads like they used to - not just the poems, but the songs as well. Music today is not about the words - let's face it, it's pretty hard to work out what they are - it's about the beat, and lots of it! Once upon a time, it used to be about harmony and melody. It used to be that you could put together a mix tape to share with your special someone to let them know how you felt - and the songs, filled with lots of E-flats and even more of the love tone, would spread the warm fuzzy feelings which symbolised how deep was your love. Now it's more likely to be head-banging rhythms and high-volume which is perfectly acceptable for dancing, especially as a precursor to mating, but it's not necessarily something which when next you hear it will brighten your smile and make your heart sing. Ah, Ballads ... (with apologies to Elizabeth Barrett Browning) how do I love thee? Let me count the ways ...

B is for Blog

It would be interesting to know how many blogs are alive and well out there on the internet and how many have slipped into disrepair through neglect or folk simply not having enough time to keep them current. Everyone (or is this a generalisation?) starts a blog with good intentions although no doubt for vastly different reasons. I'm not sure if blogging is about vanity or about people trying to find their voice - and then trying to have it heard ... although for some it may be enough that they have made the effort at all. These are probably not the folk who sign up to track their blog's statistics. Or is that something we all do - looking to see the number of hits on our sites, where they've come from and how folk have visited our blog instead of one of the other millions of blogs out there. Chance? Fate? Blog-hopping?

A is for Artist

It could also be for Ageing Artist. Last weekend we went to see Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons in concert at Jupiters Casino here on the Gold Coast. It was absolutely amazing - great staging, band, backing singers/dancers (that would be The Four Seasons) and, of course, Frankie Vallie himself - now in his late seventies. How amazing that someone would still be performing then - will we see Lady Gaga, Madonna and others of the current crop of artists performing when they're nearly 80? But back at the concert, within minutes - moments? - of the concert starting, the person I was with and I both had the same question - was Frankie Valli really singing or was he lip-syncing? Did it matter? As it turned out, we weren't the only ones who were wondering and during the course of the concert we came to believe that it was a mixture of both - for some he was actually performing with voice, and the rest of the time he was just performing - because unless you knew, except for a couple of small spots - you would never have picked it. Certainly, our being in the 5th row made it possible for us to watch his lips, and the screen, and to (we think, but were we wrong?) pick the difference. But it was a truly amazing performance - even if he wasn't actually singing, he was still "going through the motions" - and very well. Some singers use manual cues when they're trying to reach a certain note - it can be as subtle as a small movement of a finger - and he was doing all of that. But more than that he was taking us back to those "good old days" and it didn't really matter how he and The Four Seasons and the band were doing that ... as someone asked afterwards "Who said they haven't invented a time machine?". You just have to admire the dedication of someone who would be performing the same songs all these years later - because we know no-one really wants Frankie Valli to sing modern songs - he's there for the ballads - and even though he's sung them over and over again, he's still doing it and helping people tap into their memories! Bravo!

Role models

There was an interesting article by Andrew Jacobs in today's Sydney Morning Herald about the Chinese push to re-instill comrades with a sense of selflessness and industry by urging people to "Learn from Lei Feng" - a young man who was killed when a colleague reversed a vehicle into a telephone pole, sending it crashing down on him. Lei Feng was promoted to the status of National Hero by the Communist Party propaganda machine: Lei Feng, industrious, generous and irresistibly impish, China's most endearing soldier, the sort of fellow who would darn his comrades' socks and skip a meal so others might eat.

As Jabos writes: "In urging people to 'Learn from Lei Feng' a year after his death, then-leader Mao Zedong sought to imbue China's youth with a passion for self-sacrifice and patriotism — and perhaps distract them from the hunger pangs of famine that followed his disastrous effort to rapidly industrialize in the Great Leap Forward."

While these propaganda methods may have worked well "back then", today the Internet allows a forum for people to question the push - which they are doing although some of the comments are being deleted by censors.

Jacobs reports - and this was the interesting part which added to the suggestion that "government-sponsored role models strained credulity": previous party icons include Shi Chuanxiang, a happy-go-lucky "night soil" collector; Wang Yiqing, an electronics worker who assembled 5 million radio parts without a single mistake, and - wait for it - Iron Man Wang, who dog-paddled in a vat of cement when there was no machine to mix it!

Carrie ... the Musical

Just when you thought you had seen everything - here's something else to whet your appetite for theatre. Remember Carrie, Stephen King's story of a young, increasingly troubled teenager who is teased until she turns nasty, well, you can now see the Musical of the same name - until 22 April since it has extended its season. The following is an excerpt from The StephenKing.com Newsletter:

The newly reworked and fully re-imagined production of Carrie, produced by award-winning off-Broadway theater company MCC Theater at the Lucille Lortel Theatre, recently announced an extended run through April 22. The musical's original creators, composer Michael Gore, lyricist Dean Pitchford, and book writer Lawrence D. Cohen (who wrote the screenplay for the 1976 DePalma film version) have completely revised the their 1988 musical under the direction of Stafford Arima. Stars Broadway stalwart and Tony Award nominee Marin Mazzie as Margaret White, and a young actress named Molly Ranson who, by all accounts, is giving a star-making performance.

Not very clear - again or still?

Going through my wallet this afternoon (you do have to do it sometimes!), I came across a discount fuel voucher from one of the supermarkets. I checked the date and found it had expired - although it was fairly hard to read because the ink was fading fast on the thermal paper. Is this an additional service they offer that maybe didn't work as well as it might have? Self-fading fuel dockets ... they fade totally when they are out of date.

Not very clear

It depends on what you see as a positive - the headline on to day's Gold Coast Bulletin was: Vampire Killer Living on Coast. If you were afraid of these undead creatures of the night (unless you subscribe to the Twilight model) you might be pleased this was the case and you would see a "good news story". The intention though was not this. It is to let folk know that a woman who stabbed a man to death and then drank his blood has been released from prison and is now living amongst us. Is this a case of clarity sacrificed for brevity?  

Use it or lose it?

One thing I love about being on holidays is that there is more time for puzzle-play but it has been just a bit disappointing.  I obviously haven't been doing enough of it because one I love and am usually quite good at is now proving quite difficult and I have had to resort to using pen and paper to try to figure out the 9-letter word you can make from the jumble of letters.  Or to self: do more of them and regain lost sense of mastery (aka use it or lose it!)

Two new habits

According to a report I was reading this morning in Zite, two habits that people who are interested in self-improvement could take up this year are journalling (for recognizing, learning and remembering life's lessons) and reading books (because successful people do).  

Why is it so?

Have you ever wondered about how we adopt sayings and never actually question their origins or what they really mean? It struck me this morning that we use the term "Russian Roulette" but it seems to have very little to do with Russia - although Wikipedia suggests this is where the "game" originated - or Roulette - except perhaps (again as suggested by Wikipedia) the spinning action and the element of chance/risk involved. And who knew there were (at least) two variations - one where the two players take turns spinning the revolver's cylinder before firing. Chances are this would provide onlookers with better betting options by hopefully increasing the number of turns before one of the players did shoot themselves in the head! The other variation, where the cartridge is only spun once - means on a standard six-shooter, the game (and the players) would have a limited life. And if you were the second player and your opponent had survived three goes - would you pull the trigger? And if the punters had bet on which player would die - and they had bet on you/against you - would you be or feel compelled to pull the trigger. I would have said "who in their right mind would do it?" but then realised that, in my universe anyway, people in their right mind do not put loaded guns to their head and pull the trigger!

Contextual memory

I had forgotten I knew the word ... but as soon as I saw the white pencil under the chair at Zarraffas I thought "someone's dropped their chinagraph"- it's been a while since I even saw one - years ... decades - when I was doing my media degree and we used them for marking radio tape (goodness - that really is a very long time ago!) it is amazing how memory works though, isn't it - we can totally forget we know something until something like that happens. I wonder how much else is rattling around in my brain without me knowing about it?

Pioneer One

I have found a science fiction series on the web which is available free of charge but donations are welcome because it is funded from viewer contributions. It's called h and tells the story of a downed Russian spacecraft which has supposedly returned from Mars carrying a passenger - a young man born on Mars (the first Martian to set foot on earth? - although he hasn't actually yet because he's been confined to a hospital bed after being carried from the crash site) and sent back to Earth as the Martian colony runs out of resources. That's the gist of it anyway. It's billed to run three seasons - only one of which is currently available - and while it has been an interesting look into the creative team's vision it has proved a little difficult for those of us without a good memory for faces. Over the course of the production at least two (I think) of the main actors have changed - either totally - or dramatically (heh heh) changed their appearance. I know, I know ... go with the flow - and I am, and looking forward to the next episodes when they are posted.

Nature or nurture or neither?

Boy pleads guilty to killing with axedeclared the headline and I couldn't help wondering if this was about Ivan Milat's relative who took a teenage friend into the Belangalo State Forest (scene of murders for which Milat is currently serving prison time) and murdered him with an axe. The whole thing does raise the issue of nature or nurture - and that if either or both of these influenced the boy to violence.

Yesterday the teenager pleaded guilty in Campbelltown Children's Court to the murder on the night of November 20 last year. David Auchterlonie's grandmother, Sandra, told the Herald last night she was still trying to find any relief in the fact that ''the evil seed of Ivan Milat had finally pleaded guilty''.

Sydney Morning Herald

By George ...

It may be the first and only time but as I was chatting with someone about making a weekly Skype call to Sydney, I was noting that the start of Daylight Savings Time is just around the corner which meant our call time would need to change. Yes, I said, that means we'll bring it back to 8am our time which will be 9am their time. I could hear S do a silent cheer - 21 years later she may never have to try to explain DST to me again (it usually happens a few times every year)!

Really?

This morning on the way to work, I was following a utility truck (aka ute) for a roofing company and the signage on the tailgate proclaimed "Colourbond and Zincalume specialists". Well, let's hope they're better at installing it than spelling it. Although there could be something to be said for making sure "U" is in a Colorbond moment.

Fandom

The 45th anniversary of Star Trek has led to a few marketing opportunities. You can have your photo added into a Star Trek mosaic. As the FaceBook entry put it:

Star Trek: The Next Generation
Limited Spaces remaining! Don’t miss the chance to add your picture to an officially licensed Star Trek photo mosaic. Each Star Trek Fan Mosaic uses photos submitted by fans as the building blocks that re-create an iconic image. Log on to www.fanmosaics.com/startrek today to upload your photo and purchase your commemorative print.

Blogging App

I have tried various Apps for blogging from the iPhone and iPad and have now found one that I'm happy with. It's called BlogPress - cost only a couple of dollars - and lets you write - with formatting - and edit blog entries so you can quickly fix that apostrophe or spelling error you wish you'd caught before you published the post! You can also upload photos but I've still to play with that functionality (won't be long now). It's so well-thought out and easy to use that it's made me feel like blogging again.

Fighting for their souls

A Gold Coast Pastor is this week attempting to attract more people to his church by holding a charity "fight night". A boxing ring will be set up inside the church and they hope to attract people who have previously thought churches were just for the "old or religious". The C3 Church, in Upper Coomera, was established three years ago and currently hosts about 350 people at its services. The report in today's Gold Coast Bulletin did not suggest how many were expected to go attend the fight night but it did say proceeds would go to local girl McKenzie Tamala who suffers from a rare cerebral palsy disorder. Parents wanting to attend the event may be pleased to learn that childcare will be available for children from five to 10 (their ages or the hours the care us available?). Only time will tell if this will help convince people that church is a hip and happening thing.

Trekking on

Who knew that it had been 45 years since Star Trek first hit television screens. I had no idea until yesterday when I received a message on FaceBook - and was stunned to realise that I had unconsciously chosen that day to start watching Deep Space Nine - as purchased from JB HiFI during their latest sale. I'm looking forward to watching it even though it will probably never match Star Trek: The Next Generation which is my favourite Star Trek.

Pause for thought

Hmmm ... Does it signify changing interests that instead of going to the Tech pages of Zite (personalized magazine available on the ipad) I head straight for the Psychology and Mind section? It pulls together reports from a variety of sources and there are always at least a couple of articles I bookmark (via Instapaper) to read later. Maybe one day I will get to read them - but for now at least I know where to find them. (One amazing thing about Instapaper is that once you have saved something you the option to send it to someone as text rather than as a link! Much better.). Of course I still do mosey over to the Tech pages - but not first.

Stylus

Sometimes you fluke it! Some time ago - when they first introduced the stylus for use with iPhone and iPods - I bought the Pogo Stylus which was fine but not perfect. Then I found the Targus stylus at a booth-type electronics store in a local shopping centre. they were kind enough to let me try it out "instore" and I liked it so much I bought two. I sometimes go back to the Pogo just to make sure I'm still happy - and I am - which is why I was pleased to read a comparison report on different brands of stylus in one of the tech press today - and the Targus was a winner!

Hot topic

If water takes different times to boil depending on the altitude - can you boil water in space?

In a word

One of the things I love about the digital age is that you can get a dictionary that will actually say the word for you - and even though it still hives the phonetic pronunciation, you don't have to rely on it - especially if this is something you've never learnt/been taught. Do they still teach it?

Census 2012

National Census Day was today - where everyone in the land stands up to be counted ... or in our case, sits down at the computer to lodge their eCensus online. S had put her hand up for the task - and while she would have preferred to have done it on the iPad, we weren't sure that the eCensus website had been optimised for this technology - so she used the PC. Which is strange because the Census form and questions weren't ... PC. It's not often I take umbrage but I did tonight. I think I was more disenchanted because I had really been looking forward to it ... I'm not entirely sure why but this year's Census had caught my imagination, possibly because there are some major social issues around at the moment and this offered a chance for a true "snapshot" of what our communities and society are about.

The sticking point was the marital status question. There was no option for "de facto". While this may seem like a small point - especially as some people have pointed out that the "de facto" option was available when Person 2, 3 etc entered their relationship to Person 1 - it can not help but skew the results, especially if one's marital status is used as a key demographic in tabulating other information. It could have been fine if you knew every household in Australia is the traditional familial model - but we know they aren't ... there are many variations and permeations.

It would have been fairer, and more representative, if they had included more categories in the marital status question. The available options were married, divorced, widowed, single - and I'm not sure if there was a "separated". It did not give a definition of "marriage" - as in married in a church vs civil union in anything other than a church. It didn't included an option for "not married because I don't believe in marriage but I've happily been with my partner for more than 20 years" nor an option for "not married because my partner for more than 20 years and I cannot marry because it is not legal in this country for us to do so ... and any civil union we enter into overseas is not recognised here" nor an option for "de facto" for whatever reason eg I cannot get a divorce for religious reasons but my wife and I have been separated for 20 years and I have been re-partnered for more than 15 of them and have 4 children by that union. I wonder if "engaged" was an option?

As I said to S, just before I suggested we have no part of this flawed exercise - it looks as though they were doing a proper count but it turns out they were only including you in the count if you were "purple" - whatever "purple" might be.

And who knew that completing the Census was compulsory under an Act dating back to 1905 with the possibility of a $110/day fine being levied for non-lodgement? Can there be Census Conscientious Objectors and how would one lodge a protest - and where?

Probably not

There's nothing quite like seeing the world through a young person's eyes. This is probably not the advertising approach you'd take to get more people to become organ donors.

Different rules

Of course they are going to have different security requirements and procedures at some grounds - and we've all heard stories of venues who prevent glass bottles being taken into sporting events but this suburban sports field may not be one of them. According to a report in today's Gold Coast Bulletin, back in 2009, Tutaki Olsen walked on to the field of a Melbourne suburban ground after the siren to congratulate a friend whose team had just won - and was hit in the head with a steel headed mallet by a rival fan. He has since forgiven his attacker's "mistake" - although it doesn't say whether that mistake was wielding the mallet - or bringing it along to a sporting event!

PDSD

Having trouble sleeping? You may be just one in a long line of sufferers of PDSD- Post-Dramatic Stress Disorder. Simply put, what you have watched or read in the last hour before putting your head down to sleep may have stressed you out of that I'm tired and want to go to sleep state. i'm still reading up on it but it seems that when you are in an Alpha state - as you are when you watch television (or drive) - you are 200 times more suggestible than when you are not in an Alpha state! Seems if advertisers could learn how to tap into this, they would have a way of prying open people's wallets and making more sales!

What say you?

There was an interesting article this morning on what approach you take to life and the people around you. Are you a naysayer or a yaysayer? Despite the obvious first observation - this is the first time I can remember having seen 3 y's in a word - it does give pause for thought. Do you encourage people by telling them they can do something or they can't do something - and what motivates each of us to our best action? Which reminds me, another article from this morning's reading looked at when we put in our "best" performances. According to research, we work best when we are under some pressure to perform - not too much pressure, not too little pressure. How much is too much, too little or just right (why do I feel like some porridge about now?) depends entirely on the individual. Wouldn't that make an interesting HR course in business - how to gauge how much pressure is the right amount for each individual employee to help them produce their best work ... they could call it (apologies to MasterChef) ... the pressure test.

Terms of engagement?

I have been watching the machinations within the new NSW Government, especially as it relates to public servants and their pay and conditions (since I was one in a former life). This statement, as noted in The Sydney Morning Herald, intrigued me:

Mr O'Farrell said the cabinet had decided to shorten the period for retaining excess public servants from 12 months to just three months and reduce severance payments for employees who reject an initial offer of voluntary redundancy.

Isn't this almost the same as a forced redundancy then if people are penalised for not accepting voluntary redundancy?

Dangerous precedent?

A Malawian man has been found guilty of circulating false documents after distributing Leaflet predicting The Rapture - the event which didn't take place on 21 May. Saduki Mwambene, a 39-year-old bicycle repairman, was given a six-month suspended sentence because he pleaded guilty to the charge. (Meanwhile, US televangelist Harold Camping who predicted The Rapture suffered a mild stroke over the weekend.). So how long will it be before local authorities start going after other religious organisations/believers and their publications - because, surely, they too must be based on faith.

If you go down to the woods ...

Police in the south of England last week were called in after a tiger was sighted in a field off the M27 Motorway. Photos were provided by some tourists who were able to capture the images using telephoto lens. A nearby stadium was evacuated and a helicopter was sent in to assess the situation. It was only when thermal imaging was used that authorities realised not was all as it appeared - there was no heat signature - and then the tiger "blew over" from the winds generated by the helicopter. A large stuffed toy Tiger is now being cared for by police who have called it a "most unusual item of lost property".

Without warning

John Birmingham's novel Without Warning tells of a mysterious energy wave that sweeps over - actually lingers on - America causing the disappearance of those it comes in contact with except for their clothes and some "residue". People seeing pictures on the web this week could be forgiven for thinking they were related, but the prank photos (they are prank not real) of people's empty clothes strewn on subways, on motorbikes, and just about anywhere as if their owners just vanished has more to do with The Rapture which was originally due to happen on May 21 but has now been "deferred" (according to those who "know") until October. what will they (the pranksters) think of next?

Flying high

The recent eruption of another Icelandic volcano (not the one with the unspeakable name which erupted last year) means air traffic throughout Europe has again been disrupted - but not as badly as last time. So, if the eruption and ensuing ash cloud is much larger, why is there less disruption? Well, according to some reports it's simply that the policy regarding air travel has changed - allowing flights in denser ash conditions. Hmmm. Makes you wonder what led to the policy being developed in the first place - and how much is "too much" ash - and does it very for different aircraft, different engines, etc?

That's good ...

Why is it that things in life are never always all good or all bad? I was just marvelling at the "Personalized Mazagine", Zite which is a free application on the iPad. It allows you to "tell" the magazine what content you like or dislike so it can tailor your reading to your preferences. It does a very good job of it - too good in some respects and I would happily read just about everything it serves up if there was more time. Which is where Instapaper comes in - which allows you to save web content for later reading. Which is why I constantly feel behind with my reading and blogging - I'm so busy marking articles for looking at later that I seem to be getting to less of them.

How do you say it?

If Louis Armstrong was known as Satchmo or Louis - pronounced Loo-ee - why was it that in Hello Dolly, Barbra Streisand's (and why is it that I am more sure of how to spell the diva's surname than first name?) character called him "Lou-is"? And why has it taken a thousand repetitions of the soundtrack (it does feel like that many some times) to realise that?

Taxing times

Why does this not come as a surprise? Apparently income tax was first introduced in Canada in 1917 to finance the First World War - and it was levied at different rates - based on a man's marital status with single men taxed more - 4% of all income. It became the welfare state's greatest revenue source - which no doubt explains why some country's have a personal tax rate of well in excess of 40% for high income earners. Of course tax has been around for much longer - in 10 CE in China, professionals and business were taxed 10% of profits; the UK introduced it in 1798 to fund the Napelonic wars, and the US adopted an income tax in 1861 to help out with costs of the American Civil War!

Samagrams

Finally I have started posting Samagrams puzzles again. A new puzzle is posted each day Monday to Friday! Give them a go - but don't forget to read the instructions on how to play before you begin,

The colours of ...

Why is it that when you have coloured shower gel or shampoo it always lathers white rather than its original colour? The same with toothpaste - especially the striped variety - why does it always come out as white? Where does all the colour go?

Never Thought About It

America's Only Humor Site Since 1958, Cracked.com, recently carried on item titled "7 Hotly Debated Movie Questions That Totally Have Answers". It was interesting partly because I didn't know whether or not to believe it but also because I hadn't actually given the "questions" any thought until then and still haven't really except for the one about ''Groundhog Day". Why did Bill Murray's character have to relive that day? It had never occurred to me to ask that, I've always just accepted it as a plot device to get him to become a "better" person. Does it matter why? Well, according to Cracked.com, in one of the early drafts, his ex-girlfriend of four dates is responsible for casting the spell that keeps him trapped (for 10,000 years?) until he is awoken by the kiss of the (right) fair maiden. Other plots have been made from less but you would have thought she would have had some return for her investment! Two other movie questions addressed in the item: what was in the Pulp Fiction suitcase and did Tony Soprano die?

Just browsing

What does a person's browser history tell you about them - working on the assumption that they haven't used one of these browsers that allows "private" browsing - ie deleting your browsing history lest it be discriminating in any way. When I started writing this blog item some time ago, I was planning to list what was on my browser history but having looked up a few sites over the last week, that may be wise ... for example I looked up Adolph Hitler on Wikipedia to confirm a friend's birthday (she was born on the same day ... really). Some could see this as less than innocent ... especially if it was linked to another URL or two. It's amazing that after any kind of killing spree happens and the media (and investigators) look to make sense of it, they dredge up their history: who they were friends with, what they read, what movies they watched, what sites they surfed, what they posted on their Facebook page or on other social media, how old were that when they killed their first puppy, what the neighbours thought of them. It's unclear if this approach is helpful - does it offer any insight or possible warning signs to help someone to prevent it happening again? Hopefully some good comes of it.

Crisis - choke or panic?

I read a very interesting article today by Malcolm Gladwell about failure - specifically about people choking or panicing in times of crisis - and he used, among others, a couple of sports stories to illustrate his point. One was of particular interest and told of the time a few years ago when golfer Greg Norman lost the 1996 Masters tournament to Nick Faldo. This is often used, in other circles, to illustrate "snatching defeat from the jaws of victory". Even though Norman had started the day well ahead, he had "choked" - which means, in general terms, that he was overthinking his shots and playing like a beginner rather than being able to rely on the internalisation of the learning of golf that had stood him so well over the proceeding years - enough to have earned him the nickname of "The Shark". (The other side of the crisis coin is "panic" where you "don't" think.)
What was really interesting was what happened after Faldo had won the game, which, according to Gladwell's account was this: When it was all over, Faldo wrapped his arms around Norman. “I don’t know what to say—I just want to give you a hug,” he whispered, and then he said the only thing you can say to a choker: “I feel horrible about what happened. I’m so sorry.” With that, the two men began to cry.

The "face" of evil

While they seemed to be fairly primitive in appearance from the start - was that really a bathroom plunger for their ray gun? - the Daleks from the TV series ''Dr Who" have struck fear in the heart of we mere mortals. Why is it so? Why should some robots who go around saying "exterminate", especially when they are totally incapable of negotiating stairs (wheels for feet, remember?), be cause for such terror? Thankfully someone has taken time to consider this and believes we fear Daleks because they are "evil". Dr Robin Bunce believes they represent what we ourselves might become if we let science and technology triumph over our humanity. They are, he suggests, more evil because we recognise they were once "good". And recognise them we do: a Study by the UK's National Trust in 2008 reported that while only 53% of children could identify an oak leaf, 9 out of 10 could recognise a Dalek - although this should not be taken as proof that people really do know danger when they see it!

On the spot (almost)

Ever had trouble telling your zebras apart? Well, that may be a thing of the past now that Stripespotter has been developed by a team of US computer scientists and biologists. It works a little like a barcode scanner (you can see how that would work with zebras) to allow the recording and tracking of a variety of different animals - not just the obvious.

Too much to do!

Over the last few weeks I have noted about 30 articles which have seemed blog-worthy but as yet I haven't found or made the time to write them up - which is a shame given the topics range from gut flora and how it affects the way we think - through to how prejudice evolves! There's also been some interesting work-place related items. Ah well, Easter is almost upon us - so there's a chance for a catch-up. Watch this space!

On the case

I admit it - given a choice I would prefer plain packaging for cigarette packets - plain brown that is - leaving off all the "scare" images. I don't think pictures of mouth cancer or eyes or anything else is going to deter a person who really wants to smoke. Maybe it just fosters an "it won't happen to me" attitude. If the Government does legislate here and brings in plain or scare packaging, I wonder how long it will be before someone brings out a line of cigarette cases - or the cigarette manufacturers start giving cases away.

High price of (some) food

When shopping this morning I was stunned to pay $3.69 for four apples but flabbergasted to pay $2.98 for one not-very-large banana. I think I knew bananas were going to be expensive but this seems to be exceeding the cost we were paying after Cyclone Larry decimated the banana crops a few years back. Hmmm ... may have to save half for tomorrow.

Oh the pane ...

Just when you thought there was some great information available via the web on your smartphone comes this: We're sorry, this story relies on some features that aren't currently available on your mobile device. I may now never know "How to Build A 'Magic' Window".

Cutting remarks

Who ever said "the fastest way to a man's heart is through his stomach" may not have meant that absolutely literally- but now that I have that mental image - it isn't going away.

The definition of disappointment

I was very excited for a few moments there. In looking up a puzzle answer, I came across the suggested word "epigaeous" - wow! What a fantastic word for a game of Scrabble - there's at least one of every vowel and it sounds great (or would if I knew how to produce it ... but, alas, if there is mo definition for it - and there appears not to be - it doesn't count! Oops, always good to get a second - or third opinion - it apparently means "Growing on, or close to, the ground.". (If we play Scrabble together ... you never saw this!)

Giving it up for Lent?

According to a recent study church-goers are more likely to put on weight than their non-church-going associates. While this did not appear to be limited to any one denomination - and there was no clear "winner", it appears that a likely reason for people gaining pounds for piety is that they are more likely to have a bigger social network and eat more often. But this may not be as big a problem as it would seem because other research suggests organized religion will soon be extinct in nine countries.

Getting it right?

What responsibility do bloggers have to make sure that what they post is right? I read a blog today which highlighted the tussle between Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott in today's election. Well, no gold stars here because it is not a Federal election but a NSW State election which has little to do with the ongoing leadership of Australia. So what do bloggers do, if anything, to ensure their personal opinion/comment is based on some sort of fact?

New experiences

It's a challenge sometimes to want to try new and/or exciting things (because, let's be truthful here, some new things are NOT exciting) but it's often worth the effort. Must try harder!

Really?

Heard on the radio this morning: "Carmel will come back to haunt him.". It's not what they said (karma!!!!) but it is what I heard.

Where there's a will ...

I'm not sure I heard it correctly but I thought it said that a man had been stabbed 27 times and then bundled into the boot of a car - and then he escaped at Uki (a small town in northern NSW) and has survived. Another man has been charged with attempted murder. But wow - what a will to live the man who was stabbed must have. And what presence of mind to know/remember that you can open a boot from inside it.

Look out - he's got a ...

... towel! It makes a change from the towel animals Lisa saw on her Alaskan cruise but it's a shame when people use towels not for good but for evil. A man - described in the press as "a speed-fueled bank robber" - used a towel disguised as a gun to "threaten a teller" and carry out "an armed robbery" in Broadbeach QLD last year. After William Edward Hamilton, 33, pleaded guilty, he was sentenced to six years' jail time. I can't help but wonder whether he will be permitted to have terry-towelling in there with him - you'd have to be concerned that given his obviously well-honed towel skills he would be able to fashion some sort of escape equipment ... like a shovel or perhaps even a helicopter!

But what can be done about it?

A parliamentary committee in Queensland is reportedly examining whether death poses a pollution hazard. Hmmm - it can certainly pose a personal hazard. Their concern is that both burial and cremation release "carcinogens with significant impacts on the environment". Will they need to come up with alternatives? I've always thought embalming a loved one and having them encased in a transparent coffee table may be a (good?) talking point but it isn't for me; or perhaps sending them heaven-ward ... and out of Earth's atmosphere. The report I read didn't give the committee's terms of reference nor a timeframe for completion of the study but I suspect there will be lots of people dying for their findings.

Health check

Queensland Health is confident that it's new payroll system - introduced a year ago and plagued with problems - is now "under control". When the system first went "live" - without the benefit of running in tandem with the old system for even one pay run - thousands of nurses and hospital workers were underpaid, overpaid or just not paid at all. The good news is, now that the system's "under control" only 31 staff members reported they had not been paid in the last pay cycle. Hmmm ... this could mean to some that the system still doesn't have its clean bill of health! And could it really be true that the problems with the system have pushed the price of implementing it from $60 million to $210 million?

Get the picture

Photos are amazing things and I'm sure that many a treatise has been based on then. But have they been based on the original - as in unedited - version or on the effect after the pic has been through some photo editing software? I used to be a puritan about not editing pics but somewhere over the last while I seem to have lost that - as I noticed this evening as I cropped and adjusted the contrast/brightness of a plc taken with the iPhone and really in need of some help. The only problem was working out which software to use - even though I had been determined not to use one, I had kept downloading programs - just in case!

Goose

I feel like a goose. I have just looked myself out of my voicemail box for my mobile phone. Yet another reason for recording passwords and access codes somewhere!

Sign of the times

You know you've been playing too many computer-based games when you finish a word puzzle in the newspaper and can't work out why it's not telling you you're got it right (or wrong) ... and you miss the applause!

One phone call?

Once upon a time it used to be (well, if you believed the television shows) that people who were arrested and taken off to jail would be allowed one phone call. Today, I was listening to the radio and the report came in of a teenager who was tweeting on her way to the police station - and this tweet had been picked up by the news media. Does this mean the one-call limit no longer applies - if it ever did - especially if you have a smart phone or another way of connecting to the Internet?