Crew cut

What is the origin ofthe term? I did a quick net surf this morning in search of an answer. There was no definitive answer, but it was confirmed on some sights that anything is better than a mullet (cut) when it comes to grooming. The crew cut was made popular in post-World War II USA where returning serviceman decided to keep their low maintenance regulation service cuts except not quite as short. The term itself is attributed to rowers in the 1900s, as distinct from earlier rowers in earlier times (think Viking vessels). The rowers would cut their hair short so it would not intefere with their sport; it also distinguished them from footballers. Truly - this is what it said on the sites I found through a Google search on "origin term crew cut" and variations. I also found a site, attributed to a Coast Guard of some 30 years standing, which gave explanatioans for: cut and run; toe the line; and three sheets to the wind.

Sight

The world is an amazing place. And even more amazing when you realise that we see it all through our eyes (if we are sighted) - with pupils no larger than pinkie finger nails - and this is the basis on which we experience and assess the world. Yes, the other senses come into play but it's the eyes that have it.

Easter

Easter is almost upon us - just a few more days. This year my partner and I have decided to go to an Easter Service. But which one. What flavour? Not being regular church-goers, the decision is not easy. But we have learnt a little from the Midnight Mass experience at Christmas - wherever we end up, we won't be sitting in the front row! lt's very hard to follow along if you can't see what the rest of the congregation is doing.
What a difference a moment makes - we have a decision. We have decided to go to the local church where a friend worships. Co-incidentally this is the Christmas one. ... and the first place to accommodate the fledgling Leichhardt Espesso Chorus many years ago. (LEC's next gig seems to involve Randwick Race Course and the AJC. I have no more details but they do have a web site which may provide information.)

9/4/04
Listening to music this evening - Mahler's Second, the Resurrection Symphony. Fantastic piece for Easter. And as I listened I tried to remember it from when I had sung it with the Sydney University Musical Society (SUMS) many years ago. It was my first concert with SUMS. Meredith, who worked at the same office as I, was a SUMS member of long standing. Knowing I had just started singing in a choir, she asked if I would be interested in singing at the Opera House. I would only have to meet the rehearsal requirements - 8 in total. I was hooked.
And I've been a member of SUMS mostly since then. Under the musical direction of the wonderful, talented Ben McPherson AOM (now Meredith's hubby and father of their children, Harry and Anna).
Next concert - last weekend in May at the Great Hall, Sydney University - Carmina Burana, with the SBS Youth Orchestra providing the tamtam (aka gong ... not to be confused with a chocolate-coated biscuit).

Short thoughts

It's been a while between blogs but I'm not that concerned because there's plenty of other stuff to read on the web - unless you've reached the end of the internet in which case you've probably ingested enough digital data for a while.
I made an observation the other day. My partner notices things but I notice when things have changed. This could be because I'm lucky enough to be a Pisces or because I'm hyper-vigilant. But it's an interesting difference, especially as I've always wanted to be observant. (I'm not sure if noticing this difference means I am more observant because nothing has changed.)
How does international publishing work? Jeanette Winteson's "Lighthousekeeping" has been released in paperback in Australia but has not yet been released in England and won't be until May apparently. Who decides what books are released where? And when? And do the same decisions apply to ePublishing?

Daylight Savings

Could someone please just invent a time machine? No, not for jumping back and forwards through time - I have no interest in that - I just want something that will tell me what time it is. I know they've already invented clocks and watches - but they don't do me a jot of good come daylight savings.
I realise this isn't an issue for many people. They have no trouble with the concept of time. Not me. Ask my partner. She hates daylight savings more than I do. And it’s not just because I no longer know what time it is. I suffer lethagy akin to jetlag for the first two weeks and I get grouchy because my sleep patterns are thrown out. I resent the time spent changing the timer on the vcrs, televisions, 4 watches, microwave, stove clock, alarm clocks, camera, computer, PDA, the car, mobile phone etc - and knowing I'm going to have to change them all back again in a minute. I hate having to carry the newspaper with me from room to room to check the little picture of the clock showing which way the hands go.
And I hate that I don’t just "get it"? We go through the same thing every year. I cannot remember appliance to appliance which way time has moved, let alone from year to year. And it's been explained to me again and again, millions of times - and just when I think I have it, it’s gone. And I’m running out of people to ask. (You can only get someone to explain it to you so many times before they look at you oddly.)
And all for what? So we can go swimming after work? So it's still light when I try to go to sleep before 9pm? So I can spend the next month getting up in the dark? So I can send my partner mad by continually asking: if it's 7 o'clock here (when my mobile phone free time starts) what time is it in Queensland? And don’t even get me started on daylight savings in other countries and which goes which way. I’ve scheduled half a day on Monday to rework my time zone spreadsheet so I’ve got a fighting chance of not waking our South African colleagues at some more unthinkable hour!
It's not just daylight savings time that throws me. I never know whether a meeting is sooner or later if it's moved back or forward. Why can't people just say what they mean? It's earlier or it's later. Simple.
I know it's all a matter of interpretation. But that part of my brain is missing or just unable to deal with clocks with hands. I should have paid more attention to the rocket clock on Play School instead of worrying about what was through the window. If you wind back the hands of the clock, that makes it sooner. But if you put back a meeting, you're not doing that. Or are you?
And if I can’t get a time machine, I’ll settle for a digital revolution. Let’s do away with analog clocks. No more big hands and little hands. No more second hands. No more worrying about turning hands back or forwards on Sunday. Then maybe I could change over to daylight savings without being reminded, yet again, that I don’t “get” it and at this rate I never will. And it’s not as though people couldn’t still use their analogs. We’re nearly 40 years into decimal and people still talk inches and feet, pounds and ounces.
Or perhaps we could just abolish daylight savings. Flexitime anyone?

Bits and pieces (two weeks of ...)

A mystery punter made front page news (The Daily Telegraph 5/3/04) today by betting $1 million on a horse race. I can't imagine betting that much - I'm too cautious about losing my money - could just be that I don't have a spare million to use like that. I don't think I could even brrow that much but it would be fun telling the bank that you needed the loan to pony up for a race. As a friend of ours says "no bank will give you that" but she was referring to the return on investment if your horse comes in - which would definitely beat the approx 5% we're currently getting!
Update - Lonhro won. The punter, based in Hong Kong, collected $1,550,000 when the biggest bet on an Australian horse race in years paid off (The Daily Telegraph, 9/3/04, pg 1).

What's a billion
It appears that a billion is different, depending on which side of the Atlantic Ocean you are on. In the US it's a 1 followed by 9 zeros; in the UK it's a 1 followed by 12 zeros. I'm not sure what it is in Australia. And if I'm thinking of it in terms of my own assets, it's going to be a couple of millenia before I actually have to worry about it.

Star gazing
And Zedna has been discovered ... the coldest most distant body to have been found orbiting the Sun ... a planetoid because it's not big enough to be a planet. And who knew that Pluto is a "questionable planet" - based on its size. But it was still big enough to be in the way of the astronomical society being able to see Zedna.

Soylent Green
Dubbo is today suffering from a plague of locusts - similar to several other communities along the Australian East Coast (according to the news report I have just finished watching). It's been a while since we had a locust plague - although I remember that we've had plagues of mice, and also of bogong moths. But, as some people would say, at least you can eat bogong moths. They are something of a delicacy. I'm not sure that I could bring myself to eat one - for pleasure. If it was a matter of life and death - maybe ... probably. And what would you eat if it was a matter of life and death? Would you eat people? (Soylent Green is people.) Could you eat people? And how would you quell the demons within (assuming some ethical dilemmas might surface after the event - or perhaps that would just be me)?

Daze of confusion

I feel very happy for those people born on 29 February who got a "real" birthday again this year. We have two friends who finally turned 13 on Sunday - it's been a long time coming. But in rejoicing with them and on their behalf, I hadn't realised that the leap year would confusion.
We have a friend with a birthday on 3 March. I had done an SMS to send to her today but then, in a moment of self-doubt, I checked the calendar on Palm. The next mention of her birthday was 2005. Oh no! I had missed it! I checked the date on my watch - sure enough - it was the 4th of March. I checked the newspaper I had downloaded that morning (via the Avantgo website) ... it said 3rd March. But I was sure it was "new" news when I looked at it this morning. My partner, sitting on the bus next to me, assured me it was the 3rd. But how? Then it struck me ... leap year was not recognised by my digitial watch. When it should have moved to the 29th of February, it moved to 1 March. The only thing I can't work out now is why it took me four days to notice.

At the Hard Rock (oops, car wash) cafe

We have friends arriving from interstate today and I have decided to employ outside contractors to wash the car. I am sitting at Citiwash Hand Carwash waiting for my station wagon to have their SuperWash treatment. From the sign, it appears the only thing they don't do in the SuperWash is polish fingernails. And if I'd been here between 6am and 8am, they would have thrown in a free coffee and raisan toast (which, coincidentally, is exactly what I had for breakfast at my favourite cafe!).
The car wash is situated on a major arterial road and it is also under the flight path so there is loads to look at. There is also another Hand Car Wash over the road. It is billed as "Sydney's Best" but I don't know if that's their name or claim. In any case, they don't seem to be as busy as this establishment.
I wonder if I should have told them about the huge spider that slipped into the car last night as we waited at the McDonald's drive-thru. I would like to say that it wasn't me who screamed but, alas, it was. My partner thought something dreadful had happened. Of course, she hadn't seen the spider scurry within cms of my hand and go behind the dash. Each time I get into the car now I expect it to be sitting on the steering wheel, daring me to get in. Hopefully the car wash (they're doing inside too) will encourage it to move on. Probably my greatest fear is not that it will be on the steering well, but that it will remain somewhere warm and cosy in the interior of the car, and that "it" will be a she, and will lay and hatch thousands of offspring in REY the wondercar. Then all of them will be sitting on the steering wheel, and the driver's seat, and all the passenger seats ...

Reality shows ... unreal!

"The Resort" is on the television at the moment. Peter "needs to be liked". Bec is currently with Aaron. Aaron is a former AFL footballer. Prachi is a doctor turned ... something - I didn't read the super fast enough. Bec says she can be "too trusting". Usually you don't have to read so much on reality television - it's more about voyeurism - and wondering if anyone will ever actually use the paintbrushes they are holding. Too much talking …
There have only been two reality shows that I've allowed myself to get sucked in to. "Big Brother" was one; the other was "Survivor", as won by Richard, the man who seemed to be forever stripping. Richard has made another appearance in "Survivor AllStars" with the familiar blur over his "misters" (apologies Friends)
I'm not quite sure what "The Resort" is about but it's dollars to doughnuts there's a cash prize there somewhere.
Who comes up with the ideas for these shows? What sells a reality show? … and this is about 12 people locked in a house, and we film them 24 hours a day, and it's cheap/inexpensive programming. Can they call it reality television, though, given it doesn't bear much resemblence to real life? We know that the raw footage must be edited to within an inch of itself as the producers try to "tell a story" with only people's real faults, foibles, traits and talents … and twenty-four hours of footage a day to choose from.
And what of documentaries? Are they the original reality shows? And if they are, why can I watch hours of reality television - and go to sleep the second a documentary comes on?
More "The Resort": Erik chaperones promo girls (whatever that means). Amanda walks away from arguments. Another one "cries when working with idiots". Don't we all.
And this would be me walking toward the television to turn it off - or to at least to change the channel. I want to experience a different reality.
I want to think about being a super hero. There used to be an animated cartoon show - I think it was Milton the Monster - and Milton would dress up and be "Super Ghoul" (ain't he cool, looking nice and neat in his polka dot vest, his purple cape and his ballet shoes and his yellow SG on his chest .... ooh, ooh, ooh, Super Ghoul ... etc.) If you could be a super hero, who would you be? What special talents would you bring to the world? Would you use your powers for good - or for evil (knowing you would have to give up the super "hero" title if you went the latter route). I think I would be ... Reality Television Person (ta da). My mission would be to boldly go where no ... Prachi knows she's irritating and arrogant.

Six degrees of separation

Studies are done from time to time to ascertain how far removed we are from each other. In recent years, this has been done through email. But you don't need to wait to be included in a separation study. You can do one now. How many steps are you from the American President? The Australian Prime Minister? The Australian Opposition Leader? I can have a go at the last one (... Kate, Suzie, Vivian, Mark Latham) because I can do 4 degrees of separation - with the others I suspect it would be considerably more!

Kitchen cupboards

Claudine at work asked me today if I had done anything exciting over the weekend. For once I could say yes without any hesitation. After almost a year in the planning, I re-organised the kitchen cupboards. Don't scoff. This is a major achievement. And it's a good job. All the benchtops are clear and all the appliances are away but absolutely accessible. What can I say - it's a masterpiece ... bringing together much of the organisational knowledge I have gleaned over the years. I'd post pictures but I haven't finished the drying up after dinner.

Picture this ...

And just when you thought you had seen it all - here's Angle Grinder Man - who uses his power tool to un-wheel lock cars in the UK. Well, that's what he was doing last year - I've not seen any recent reports on him.
But the key thing about AGM is that I have worked out how to post pics on this site! (The blogger help page works!)

Common knowledge

Are there things that we assume everyone knows? Knowledge that all of us have picked up somewhere along the way. I have realised in the last little while that there are two pieces of this knowledge that had escaped me.
The first is about canaries. When discussing a colleague who had been gassed and robbed while staying at a hotel, the conversation turned to methods of gas detection. Specifically, we talked about canaries and how they had been taken down into mines. The miners knew dangerous gas was about when the canary fell off the perch. We all know that. But what I didn't know was that the canary died. It didn't regain consciousness. There was no happy flapping of wings; no jumping back up on the perch; no chance to save mankind again ... just miners looking for a replacement canary.
The second tidbit of universal knowledge to escape me was about whales. On The Simpsons last night, Grandpa Simpson drove his car into an aquarium and as the water escaped, it left a whale crumpled and gasping on the car bonnet. But why would the whale be gasping (forget for a moment that we're discussing an animated sit-com) ... because whales breathe air. So I mentioned this to a friend at lunch today and she gave me the "everyone knows that" look. And then when she realised I didn't (know), she gave me a short lesson in physics - out of the water, whales are unable to withstand the pressure, and gravity has its way. I guess that's the same as saying their weight crushes their chest (?) and they suffocate even though they have air to breathe. That's why there's such a rush to get them back into the water.
I'm hoping there are also known answers to some of my other questions:
• Why do Crime Scene Investigators do everything by torchlight?
• Why do sandwiches taste differently depending on how they are cut?
• Do you continue to tan after you're dead?

Who Wants To Be A Millionaire

More television. Would it be harder to be a contestant or the significant other of a contestant waiting as they try to decide which of four sometimes equally plausible options is correct. And how nerve-wracking would it be trying to get the fastest finger question right and in the fastest time? Would you be overtaken by nerves? How sweaty would your palms be? And how disappointed would you be if you got it wrong? Or right? Do some people feel like bailing out when they are chosen? How difficult would it be to remember your own name under the glare of the lights and the focus of the cameras let alone trying to dredge up an obscure fact to answer the question.

Thoughts on Television

Some of the familiar television series will be finishing this year - Sex and the City; Friends; and probably some local Australian shows as well! Do Australian shows survive as long as off-shore imports? How many in recent history have lasted as many seasons as Survivor or Buffy or the aforementioned shows - leaving out current affairs or non-drama content. Gone are the halcyon days of Prisoner, although Neighbours and Home & Away are still gracing our small screens. But are daily soaps in the same league as weekly sit-coms or dramas? Will they continue on regardless, not dependent on a stable stable of characters. Are the writing and/or production values inferior?

Mondo Thingo

A new program started last night on the ABC (one of our free-to-air national broadcasters) - Mondo Thingo. It seems to be a grab-bag of various items of varying degrees of interest - for example nicotini (tobacco flavoured vodka) and a "cheat lesson" on everything you wanted to know about Sofia Coppola (Director of "Lost in Translation" - her second feature film).
One of the more intriguing reports was about doggie dancing aka freestyle canine obedience. Owners dance with their dogs (more line dancing than up close and personal cheek to cheek). If you're interested in trying it with your dog, be prepared to put in some time and effort. It apparently takes 42 days - which incidentally is about twice as long as it takes humans to learn new tricks! And just in case you think you can blame your canine colleague for not remembering the steps, as they said on the segment: the dog never does anything wrong - it's always you. Wonder if it would work as a form of exercise for Em, our diabetic cat. Mondo Thingo has a website.

Gas leak

A suspected gas leak in Sydney's underground rail network caused commuter chaos last week. The City Circle rail stations were closed early that afternoon as emergency services personnel sought to pinpoint the source of the leak.
The network was opened just after evening peak hour but the cause of the leak remains unknown.
I was impressed with the patience of the public and the professionalism of the public transport staff.

What's in a name?

I had a thought before, perhaps a good one, but I lost it. I find that fairly frustrating. Sometimes they come back, more often, they don't. I did remember this one though. It was about ordering a coffee and when they ask for your name - what name do you give? Do you say a name that you're fairly sure none of the other 17 people in the queue have? When asked today I wanted to say Nemo, or Elmo, or perhaps Fabio (okay so I recently saw "Finding Nemo").

And if you’ve ever been to Just Cuts and had to wait and come back 30 minutes after putting your name down and you know your name is still way down on the list … have you ever thought of claiming the next name they call? Yes, I’m Ivan or Christine or Jackie. Especially if you’re the only one there and it’s a shame to let Ivan or Christine or Jackie’s appointment go to waste.

Time flies

Funny how it takes next to no time to get very busy. And is it really a week since my last post here? Once upon a time I thought time seemed to be speeding up as I grew older. There is no "seems to'' about it. It's almost February already; in a blink of an eye, a whole month has all but disappeared! But that's because it has been busy.

Chinese New Year

We missed this year's festivities for Chinese New Year. We did seen a lion dance last weekend but that was from a distance and I don't think it really counted. It's the Year of the Monkey. I'm not sure of its significance in Chinese astrology but I'm hoping it means we're in for a bit more "fun" than in recent previous years.
We've been lucky enough to celebrate Chinese New Year in Hong Kong twice. Now there's a city which knows how to decorate! Skyscrapers and other buildings are literally festooned with neon for the New Year. It is a triumph in exterior illumination! A word of caution if you ever find yourself there for Chinese New Year. It is traditionally time for visiting and if you are venturing back into the territory through a Customs check point, take a couple of books to read because you'll have a long wait. It will be one of the longest, most patient and orderly queues you would ever have been in!