Poor Platypus

Here, in a state whose economy and mindset are bound up in an endless war against nature, private citizens have beheld the paralysis of government agencies and began taking conservation into their own hands.

If all this sounds a little bleak and dramatic, remember that Australia has the worst record of mammal extinction in the world. Since European settlement twenty seven species have disapeared entirely and 1500 birds, reptiles, plants, amphibians and mammals are currently vulnerable or endangered. marsupials, the creatures unique to the continent, are in perilous decline and many of the smaller species are gone for good.

Tim Winton
Silent Country: Travels through a Recovering Landscape

Fireflies

I'd like to make myself believe
That planet Earth turns slowly.
It's hard to say that I'd rather stay
Awake when I'm asleep
Cos everything is never as it seems.

Leave my door open just a crack
Cos i feel like such an insomniac
Why do i tire of counting sheep
When im far too tired to fall asleep

I'd like to make myself believe
That planet Earth turns slowly.
It's hard to say that I'd rather stay
Awake when I'm asleep
Because my dreams are bursting at the seams


-Owl City, Fireflies

Page {110}

All is dark but for the greenish glow
Of the bedside clock radio
It's 3a.m. - here they come again
Just like they've done before
First there's one and then a couple more
Like little birds perching on a wire
And soon there's a gathering
A crooning, restless choir
Of thoughts in the middle of the night

...

Paul Kelly

Diversity

May I paraphrase the wisdom of famous political prisoner and convict John Mitchel, born to the son of a Unitarian Presbyterian minister on the Ulster border, transported to Tasmania, escaped to the U.S.
"Australia has two kinds of people and they are not Christians and Muslim. They are those who profiit by Australia's diversions and those who suffer for them"
Flattened By A Falafel
Tom Keneally

I am Philothei (7)

My mother had been making recel, and I was a little sick from eating so much of it. She used more grapes than most people, and extra sugar, and I’d put a lot of it on to bread, because that day there was new baking, and that’s why I was queasy.

I went outside to breathe away the sickness and it was getting dark, and it was just about to rain so that everyone else had gone indoors and was wondering whether or not it was dark enough to warrant lighting the lamps, and the nightingales were starting to sing, and there were only cats in the street, when suddenly Ibrahim arrived at my side, and I was very surprised, and he said , ‘Quick let me kiss your hand,’ and I said, ‘Its got jam on it,’ and so he looked swiftly to all sides, and the he took my hand and licked the jam from my fingers with his tongue, and afterwards I was trembling and I wasn’t normal for hours, and I couldn’t wash my hands because I couldn’t bear to wash away the traces of his tongue.

chapter 35
Louis de Bernieres
Birds Without Wings

Tonio Treschi's Past

Guido was alone looking at the objects which Tonio had left open for anyone to see.
And Guido examining those things carefully, was filled with such a sense of desolation that he could not speak.

The trunk contained many things.
There was music, mostly the work of Vivaldi, in old volumes bearing Marianna Treschi’s name in a girlish script. And there were books, French fairy tales, and stories of the Greek gods and heroes of the sort one might read to a child.
But those objects which most surely chilled Guido and caused him to feel the keenest misery were the clothing and effects of a small boy.
Here was a white christening gown, most likely Tonio’s, and half a dozen little suits of clothing, all lovingly kept. There were tiny shoes, there were even little gloves.
And finally there were the portraits, enamelled miniatures and one very lifelike painting of the exquisite dark-eyed little boy that Tonio had once been.

As Guido looked at these things, he realized they were all relics of one’s life that are treasured by others, but rarely kept by one’s self.
And they had been cleared out, packaged up, and sent away to Rome in perfect evidence that no one now remained in the house of Treshi who loved this young man who had once lived there. It was as if Tonio and all those who had once shared his life were dead.

Part 6, chapter 4
Anne Rice
Cry To Heaven

A Circassian Mistress

Rustem Bey told no one why he was going. This was not the kind of world where men unveiled their hearts to anyone, and in any case the aga had no one in whom he could confide, but the truth was that Rustem bey was looking for a woman. His brief time with Tamara had provided him with inklings of what might be between a man and a woman, and his heart, his stomach, his loins and his throat yearned for something that he could not articulate even to himself. He needed someone to meld with. He knew himself to be something like a garden where the only flowers were those of potatoes, ragweed and neglected onions, butwhere a true gardener would have been able to drape the trellises with vines, and coax up tulips from the earth. It would be too simple to say that Rustem Bey was looking for romantic love, because in reality he was looking for the missing part of himself, and these are not often the same quest, even though we sometimes think that they are. Rustem bey had conceived the idea that if only he could find himself a Circassian mistress, amusing in demeanour, accomplished in music, red-lipped and fair of skin, excellent and enthusiastic in the techniques of physical love, then his life would be transformed.

chapter 25
Tales from the Journey to Smyrna
Louis de Bernieres
Birds Without Wings

A Feel Good Song

Take all of your wasted honor
Every little past frustration
Take all of your so-called problems,
Better put ‘em in quotations
Say what you need to say

Walking like a one man army
Fighting with the shadows in your head
Living out the same old moment
Knowing you’d be better off instead,
If you could only . . .
Say what you need to say

Have no fear for giving in
Have no fear for giving over
You’d better know that in the end
Its better to say too much
Then never say what you need to say again

Even if your hands are shaking
And your faith is broken
Even as the eyes are closing
Do it with a heart wide open
Say what you need to say

Say - By John Mayer

Real and Hyperreal

"The very definition of the real has become: that of which it is possible to give an equivalent reproduction...The real is not only what can be reproduced, but that which is always already reproduced: that is, the hyperreal...which is entirely in simulation."

Simulations
Jean Baudrillard

Cruelty thro Live Export

To The Hon Kevin Andrews,

I am writing to you about the live export of millions of Australian sheep for slaughter to the Middle East.
In 2008 alone, over 35,000 sheep died on sea voyages from Australia to the Middle East.

They'll spend weeks at sea in a crowded and poorly lit pens, vulnerable to injury, heat stress and disease. For sheep that have enjoyed space and have had little human contact, the long and gruelling road and sea journey can be terrifying. Tens of thousands of sheep die during the journey every year because they fail to recognise the unfamiliar pellets as food.

Live exports is jeopardising Australia’s international reputation as a country with high standards of animal welfare. Our animals deserve better. Australia is a nation with generally high animal welfare standards but the only way to truly protect the welfare of Australian animals is to end live exports.

Humanely killing sheep as close to the farm as possible will benefit both the animals and Australia. The cruelty of live export is unnecessary, with Australia already having a significant and growing export trade in chilled and frozen meat from animals that have been humanely transported and slaughtered in Australia. More emphasis on chilled meat export will increase trade growth in this area and create more Australian jobs.

I am calling on the Australian Government to end live exports, and I urge you to do everything in your power to bring an end to this cruel and unnecessary trade, for our economy, our jobs and for the safety and wellbeing of our animals.

Attach your name and send in a similar letter now, by clicking on this banner.

It will only take a few minutes and all u need to do is choose the sentence order and enter your area code.

Ive lived in the Middle East, and i use to choose Australian lamb while over there, there is a viable alternative, which shouldnt raise any concerns from their side regarding the slaughtering, there do exist slaughter houses which function according to the islamic way in Australia, why not get that part of the job done here? Even Islam is against the torture of these animals, so its a win win win situation on behalf of Australia, the Sheep, and the Middle East.

As I see homosexuality

I do have non muslim friends, (who I do not take up secret deals with against other muslims- just trying to prevent a criticism before its formation) so yes these friends, have their own private lives, when we are together, we sit, talk, eat, discuss, if she goes out gets drunk on her own time, that’s not my issue. I do not join her at a bar, our friendship does not force me to adopt her lifestyle. When we are together, whatever we do, it does not involve drinking.
Likewise if a have a lesbian friend, as long as her sexual preferences do not interfere with my lifestyle or forces me to accept that practice, again I do not interfere with what she does in her private life. As long as she does not force me into accepting it, we accept to have different opinions on it, and I do not identify her or treat her according to her sexual preference, to me she is a normal person, I don’t call her “my friend that’s a lesbian” likewise I don’t say “my friend that get drunk every Friday night.” Point is it is not my business what she does in her own time. And since she is not muslim, I cannot force my ideas onto her, we may sit and discuss my beliefs as well as her beliefs but she is responsible to act according to what she believes in.

For this reason I am not against same sex marriages. But I am against teaching little kids in kindergarden about same sex marriages. I think that’s too young to teach them about husband’s and wives, let alone sexual orientation. There are a million other topics that need to be drilled into their little heads that take priority. For now lets stick to “don’t talk to strangers” and “Look both ways before you cross the road”

Capitalist Nuclear Family

"The gender roles associated with the capitalist family – strong, aggressive male and nurturing, passive female - pervade all of society through the education system, the mass media, entertainment and so on. No individual can escape them, even if they do not live in the so called nuclear family, whether they marry and have children or not. It is the inequality between men and women, the contradiction between the ideal life of happiness and bliss the family seems to hold out and the reality of long hours of work, the struggle to make ends meet, the constraints on social life because the lack of decent child care facilities and son on which make the family a site of frustration and oppression. The use of women’s bodies as sex objects reinforce old ideas of women’s responsibility to satisfy men’s needs. And it is not just men who view women this way. All studies of attitudes show how women internalize this view of their role, causing feelings of guilt and inadequacy if they do not come up to their husband’s demands."

Rape, Sexual Violence and capitalism
by Sandra Bloomworth
(intro)

Triggered a thought in my head;

The family unit in islam, is not a precise point cornered brick room either, by that i mean not defined by the mum, dad and kid(s). The concept of a family has more fluidity and flexibility than that, ie a family could consist of a mum, n dad, kids, grandparent(s), or in the case of divorcee or a widower, a single parent, kid(s), aunty, aunty’s husband and grandparents. It would still be considered a family unit. This is in place as a social support structure so that there is always family to rely on, in case of old age, financial difficulties, baby sitting etc..That why even in marriage, whole families get adopted into this social support network, and this becomes a basis of the community. Its not a pre-requisite of religion, but it seems to exist where this religion is.

And as i was told recently, the nuclear family is a relatively new concept that arose after WWII thanks to capitalism...ill need to research that further tho.

The Meaning of Art

According to Trotsky, "art, it is said, is not a mirror, but a hammer: it does not reflect, it shapes. But at present even the handling of a hammer is taught with the help of a mirror, a sensitive film which records all the movement... The deeper literature is, and the more it is imbued with the desire to shape life, the more significantly and dynamically will it be able to 'picture life..."

This Life Of Mine lyrics

Don't you ever wonder what might be if you lived life free?
Don't you ever wonder what it's like to fly off the high dive?
Don't you think the dreams in you are meant to ever come true?
Don't you know that hopes are slaves 'till you free them and see them thru?

Can you find a little life in you and make your days and nights worth living?
I swear there's more for us to do; there's more for the taking and the giving
Want to build a kingdom of Heaven, so it's time to lay the foundation
Want to know my neighbors in the world and finally lay down idle speculation

This life of mine, this life of mine ain't the life I had in mind
But if I'm bold enough, wise enough, then I can make this life worthwhile
I can make this life worth a smile

Kareem Salama.
This Life of Mine

A word about the Jury

Whispered by the public prosecutor to Pappilon in court before the hearing.

"Prisoner at the bar, just you keep quiet, and above all don't you attempt to defend yourself. I'll send you down the drain, all right. And i trust you've no faith in the jury? Don't kid yourself. Those twelve men know nothing whatsoever about life. Look at them, lined up there opposite you. Twelve bastards brought up to Paris from some perishing village in the country: can you see them clearly? Small shopkeepers, pensioners, tradesmen. It's not worth describing them to you in detail. Surely you don't expect them to understand the life you lead in Montmartre or what it's like to be twenty-five? As far as they're concerned Pigalle and the Place Blanche are exactly the same as hell and all night-birds are natural enemies of society. They are all unspeakably proud of being jurymen at the Seine Assizes.

And what's more, I can tell you that they loathe their status - they loathe belonging to the pinched, dreary lower middle class. And now you make your appearance here, all young and handsome. Do you really suppose for a moment that I'm not going to make them see you as a night- prowling Montmatre Don Juan? That will put them dead against you right away. You're too well dressed: you ought to have come in something modest indeed. That was a huge tactical error of yours. Cant you see how jealous of your suit they are? They all buy their clothes off the peg - they've never even dreamt of having a suit made to measure by a tailor."

First Exercise Book, Down the Drain
The Assizes
Papillon by Henri Charriere



On a lighter note, i thought i'd share this as well, click it to see the whole pic:)

Papillon

I really enjoy reading fiction, i had assumed that non fiction was too close too reality and therefore boring, not able to hold my interest for long, focussing too much on inter-human relationships and menial day to day things...if i was going to invest time from my day to put into reading a book, i had always wanted it to exciting and daring; the opposite of how i see my own life, that way i could use it as a welcome escape to long boring weekends, between tedious chores.
Then some guy came along and requested that i read this specific book, an autobiography...damn i wasnt welcoming the task, and put it off for a few days before deciding to give it a chance...now im on page 45 out of 560, so thats almost 1/11 th...and so far im hooked, and i was impressed with the Translator's Introduction, a piece of which i will quote here;

"The new world in question is of course the underworld, seen from within and described with extraordinary natural talent by one who knows it through and through and who accepts it's values, which include among others courage, loyalty and fortitude. But this is the real underworld, as different from the underworld of fiction as the act of love is different from adolescent imaginings, a world the french have scarcely seen except here and there in the works of Jean Genet and Albertine Sarrazin, or the English before Defoe; and it's startling fierce uncompromising reality, savagely contemptuous of the Establishment, has shocked and distressed many a worthy bourgeois. Indeed we have a minister's word for it (a minister, no less) that the present hopeless moral decline of france is due to the wearing of miniskirts and to the reading of Papillon.

Nevertheless all properly equipped young women are still wearing miniskirts, in spite of the cold, and even greater numbers of Frenchmen with properly equipped minds are still reading Papillon, in spite of the uncomfortable feelings it must arouse form time to time. And this is one of the most striking things about the phenomenone Papillon: the book makes an immense appeal to the whole range of men of good will, from the Academie francaise to the cheerful young mason who is working on my house. "

Page 11, Translator's Introduction
Papillon by Henri Charriere
translated from French by Patrick O'Brian

After Sorry

I just recently read an article by Jon van Tiggelen and i am speechless about the information portrayed in it. basically how the "white" just totally wrecked an aboriginal community to a degree beyond reproach. The children do not fear being sent away and the parents are drunks who gamble away any income or government support money. Here's a few exerpts;

'Incidently, among the kids are also several of the six boys who, along with three young men, were let off with a warning after pleading guilty to the statuatory rapes of a ten year old girl. In words that were to resound around the world, the persecuter had submitted that the act was 'a form of childish experimentaion' and 'consensual in the non legal sense.' Arukun kids are 'very naughty' he'd said to the judge, as if with a wink. 'she probably agreed to have sex with all of [them],' Judge Sarah bradley acknowledged, before releasing them back into the community.'

'One or two males face the circuit cort for rape every month, but mostly it goes on drunk, stoned and ignored. A non-indigenous Wik Mungkan speaker told me how a few years ago she was flown into a Cairns court to interpret for a girl who'd been dragged around the community and raped multiple times. In court the girl clammed up, the case was dismissed, and the girl and her assailant flew home to Aurukun on the same plane. 'So much goes unreported because of the threats, the price you pay if you tell. There is real fear.'

The parents might receive First-world welfare handouts, but the kids get Third-world parenting.

After Sorry
by John van Tiggelen

how do you define israel?

These are snipets of an article written by Israeli/American peace activist Jeff Halper for the Australian Jewish News but the paper refused to run the piece...

Why should discussing such important issues for Israel be the cause of such distress for you? Because, I venture to say, you have a stake in preserving Israel’s idealized image that trumps dealing with the real country. In my view, Israel is being used as the lynchpin of your ethnic identity in Australia; mobilizing around a beleaguered Israel is essential for keeping your kids Jewish. I would go so far as to accuse you of needing an Israel in conflict, which is why you seem so threatened by an Israel at peace, why you deny that peace is even possible, why a peaceful Israel that is neither threatened nor “Jewish” cannot fulfill the role you have cast for it, and thus why you characterize my message as “vile lies.”

full article here

Wet Sponge

" Every vessel, every container, will only pour out what is contained in it, and that’ s very obvious. And so, your tongue, is your ability to express what lies in your spirit. Television, movies, the friends you hang out with, the music you listen too, everything around you is environmental forces that shape how your being is and how your heart is, and when you open your mouth to speak, it’s like like your heart is a sponge that absorbs all of this material from around you.


Essentially, what you’re doing is squeezing what is in you, and what comes out is going to be what has been compiled in your mind and in your memory. Obviously you can only express what in your heart what has been placed in it. And so in order for the outcome and the output from the tongue to be positive, the input in that needs to be positive; in spirit, in silence, in talking, and throughout our lives "

Thoughts from an Elderly Person

There comes a point in life where each one of us who survives begins to feel like a ghost that has forgotten to die at the right time, and certainly most of us were more amusing when we were young. It seems that age folds the heart in on itself. Some of us walk detached, dreaming on the past, and some of us realize that we have lost the trick of standing in the sun. For many of us the thought of the future is a cause for irritaion rather than optimism, as if we have had enough of new things, and wish only for the long sleep that rounds the edges of our lives.

Louis de Bernieres
Birds without wings

The Alchemist

It's what you have always wanted to accomplish. Everyone, when they are young, knows what their personal legend is.
At that point in their lives, everything is clear, and everything is possible. They are not afraid to dream, and to yearn for everything they would like to see happen to them in their lives.
But, as time passes, a mysterious force begins to convince them that it will be impossible for them to realize their personal Legend.
...
There was no need to imprison them: the arabs simply confiscated their horses. So, once again, the world had demonstrated its many languages: the desert only moments ago had been endless and free, and now it was an impenetratable wall.

The Alchemist

Paulo Coelho

Lyrics: Creepy Crawling

Echo of light fingers, Cold comfort blankets, Steeped in creeping anger, Flatfoot comes poking, Compounding my misery, Grinding pestle and mortar, Adding insult to injury.
If only this, if only that,If only in my guts -Creepy crawling, All the creeps go creepy crawling, Same thing every night. How can stealing candy from a baby Seem alright? Corvino, carrion crow, Skulking with his mobile, Slippery peat-bog eyes, Stick-on smiley smile, Small print like quicksand, Not a wooden leg to stand on, Sinking through my stomach, The ground beneath me gone, Free-fall, call Ophelia, Clutching at straw, Mixed with bloody feathers, From scruff of neck of crow. Johnny go! Johnny gone! Too much to drink in your tum-tum-tum. See this finger, see this thumb -See this fist and watch it come!

-Chumbawamba

Got tagged by Mass

Hmm i dont usually share much personal info on my blog, but i guess im breaking the rules here;
Favorite Colour; Green is calming
Favorite Perfume (guys); DKNY Be Delicious
Favorite Perfume (girls); Femme by Hugo Boss. Intense pleasures by Estee Lauder
Clothing wear brand; The same mainstream, Just Jeans, Supre, Forever 21, sometimes Katies, i like Glassons recently.
Favorite Person in the entire world!; thats living today? My Dad.
Favorite Country; Australia
Favorite car; a horse and buggy..otherwise a light blue jag!
Sport; Gardening...is that counted?
Sports man; Nadal Raphael
Animal; Iguanas and Lizards...oh and frogs!
Movie; A Devil's Own
Singer; Imogen heap, she's very original. Matt Nathenson.
Day in the week; Thursday, its almost the end..but not quite.
Time in the day; When i arrive early at work, in time to have a coffee and a good read.
Holiday season; Easter, its so refressing, not to mention the cadbury creme eggs!
Number: 2 and 6
Food; We recently made rattatoullie- was good!
Cartoon: Family Guy. Does anyone remember Agro's cartoon connection? Ice cream flavor; Coconut and Cherry swirl from Dairy bell..Bubblegum Bill!!
Favorite chocolate; Kinder beuno and Cherry Ripe..
Blogger; the list is on my profile
Favorite hobby; Observing, Listening, Thinking, Analyzing
Fruit: Star Fruit. Granny Smith Apples
Room in the house: The living room, i enjoy company
Book: i cant decide on just one.
Momment: When im just about to indulge in an extravagant, sickly sweet dessert.
whats your favorite dessert: Orange flavoured konafa at LeBlanch and walnut/cinamon/apple pancakes with icecream from Pancake parlour.

aright done, whoever reads this next is tagged lol,

Too Close To Home

Hey people, we need your duas, the red boxed numbers are the people who have been killed so far by the bushfire.

Everyone's on a look out for embers carried over by the wind..
and no im not there for these few weeks but i hope there will still be something there to come home to..

A reason to oppose the WTO.

4- The WTO Would Privatize Essential Services

The WTO is seeking to privatize essential public services such as education, health care, energy and water. Privatization means the selling off of public assets - such as radio airwaves or schools - to private (usually foreign) corporations, to run for profit rather than the public good. The WTO's General Agreement on Trade in Services, or GATS, includes a list of about 160 threatened services including elder and child care, sewage, garbage, park maintenance, telecommunications, construction, banking, insurance, transportation, shipping, postal services, and tourism. In some countries, privatization is already occurring.

Those least able to pay for vital services - working class communities and communities of color - are the ones who suffer the most.

For the Rest of the Top 10 Reasons:
Globalexchange.org

SWOT (not swat) ANALYSIS

STRENGTH WEAKNESS OPPORTUNITY THREATS

SWOT analysis is a tool for auditing an organization and its environment. It is the first stage of planning and helps marketers to focus on key issues.
Marketting Teacher

A scan of the internal and external environment is an important part of the strategic planning process. Environmental factors internal to the firm usually can be classified as strengths, or weaknesses, and those external to the firm can be classified as opportunities or threats.
Quick MBA
Knowledge to Power your business
Strategic Management

A swot case study on starbucks

Benchmarking

Benchmarking comes in two forms: internal and external.

Internal benchmarking is the process of comparing the current state of one's practice against historical performance. Internal benchmarking can also help create progressive goals towards longer term objectives as bottlenecks, unnecessary expenses, etc., are defined.

External benchmarking compares one's practice against the performance of others in the same industry and/or specialty. External benchmarking can offer a window into general competitor performance as a way of seeing how effectively others perform similar tasks. Through external benchmarking, practices can see not only how they stack up, but also where they specifically fall short.

source: Ezinearticle.com

Political Rulers

Justice has hitherto been blocked (so it is said) by the interests of the dominant elites who have always controlled the state. In older versions, this argument juxtaposed rich and poor, bourgeoisie and proletariat, imperialists and subject peoples. More recent theory has focused on the relationship of oppression: whites oppressing blacks, men oppressing women, and so on. And while much of this is melodramatic caricature, it does correspond to one central feature of politics from the days of Solon to the present.



That feature is that politics has been the business of the powerful: citizens, nobles, property owners, patriarchs - all has power and status. It was essential to the idea of the state, in all its forms, that it should be an association of independent disposers of their own resources. The rights of this elite were, over the centuries, generalized to become the modern rights of universal citizenship. but they first became operational as the status enjoyed by the powerful few. It was precisely because the state was composed of masterful characters that it could not turn into a despotism. Having projects of their own, powerful individuals of this kind had no inclination whatever to become the instruments of someone else' project. This is the sense in which despotism and politics are precisely opposed. . .



Kenneth Minogue

Politics

A very Short Introduction

Oxford 1995

Atypical Australia = Melbourne

Breaking the Stereotypes.

I clearly recall standing on Collins street. The scent I arrived with and possibly still glistened from, insecticide, in which the flight attendant sprayed the plane before arrival , watching the clanging trams and swirl of humanity, thinking good lord there’s a country here, it is as if I had privately discovered life on another planet or a parallel universe where life was unrecognizably similar but entirely different, i cant tell you how excited I was, in so much as I had accumulated in the expectation of Australia.

I had thought of it as a kind of alternative southern California, A sun burnt country. A place of unlimited sunshine and the simplicity of the beach lifestyle, A sort of Baywatch with cricket as I thought of it, but this was nothing like that, Melbourne had a settled and gracious air that was much more European than north American, and it rained, it rained the whole week which delighted me inordinately because it was so totally not what i had expected, what’s more and here we come to the real strife of thing I liked it, straight off, without quibble or doubt in a way I had never expected to.

Something about it just agreed with me. I supposed it helped that i had spent half my life in America and half in Briton because Australia was such a comfortable fusion of the two.It had a casualness and vivacity that felt distinguishly American but hang on a British framework. and with their optimism and informality Australians could pass at a glance as Americans but they drove on the left, drank tea played cricket, adorned their public places with statues of queen Victoria, dressed their children in the sort of school uniforms that only a Britannic people could wear without conspicuous regret, I felt extremely comfortable with this.

Almost at once I became acutely and in an odd way delightedly aware of how little I knew about the place, I didn’t know names of their newspapers, or beaches, or universities, or suburbs, knew nothing of their history or private achievements, couldn’t tell a policeman from a post man . I loved, still do, Australian voices, and the effortlessly dry direct way of viewing the world.



Bill Bryson
In a sunburned country

Two of the 6,000 Overseas students at Monash:
Mart and Alexander from Denmark

When you come to Melbourne you feel its fairly European in a sense. . .very multicultural, more than i expected it to be. Its really hard to find a sense of what Melbourne really is. . .its everything at the same time. . .
And one of the things that actually surprised me the most is the weather, in Australia, the view that i had was the whole country was hot and warm, and i was just looking forward to coming here for one long summer.

Australia Now - Program One -Postcard From Down Under
ABC radio Australia

Yabanjin Australians

...There was a wave of brutal rapes in the city of Hiroshima, occupied at that time by the BCOF consisting of New Zealand, Australian and Indian soldiers under British command.

In the words of a Japanese prostitute talking about soldiers who had landed at Kure, the port of Hiroshima, in November 1945:

Most of the people in Kure stayed inside their houses, and pretended they knew nothing of the rape by occupational forces. The Australian soldiers were the worst. They dragged young women into their jeeps, took them to the mountain, and then raped them. I heard them screaming for help every night.

For such actions the Australian troops earned the disreputable name 'Yabanjin' or 'barbarians'.

Allan S.Clifton, interpreter and member of the intelligence force serving in Japan, witnessed the reaction of Japanese medical personnel after a Japanese nurse had been raped by twenty Australian soldiers. 'So, we are barbarians, and you are civilized, and this is your way of life that you fought against us to preserve.' he inferred from their looks of reproach. After all throughout the Far East, military tribunals were court martialling Japanese servicemen for similar crimes. The raped nurse was 'not a soldier', Clifton recalled, adding that she 'had no part in the war. Besides the war is over.' He admitted that, at first, he felt able to respond to Japanese critics. 'This is not the act of a typical Australian,' He imagined telling them. 'Brutes' could be 'found among all peoples, in all crimes. It is a question of proportions. There were so many more of them in your army.' But as the rapes mounted up, Clifton became less convinced of his own rationalization.

The mass rapes of these Japanese women only came to the attention of the authorities when they were considered to threaten the image of 'democracy' that the occupation forces were attempting to encourage.

RAPE: A history from 1860 to the Present
Joanna Bourke
Chapter 13: The military
Virago 2007

Another thing that makes me proud to be Australian

While wondering around Melbourne's CBD this summer i did notice a few starbucks coffe shops, and even in sydney we did pop into one to ask for directions, but i still felt a mild stealth loathing build up inside me from seeing so many around. I think my response may be due to having spent so many years in Dubai- where its normal to have up to 3 starbucks within the one shopping center- and always seems to be the number 1 meeting place as well as the first option to spend an evening out for most students- so yes ive spent my fair share of hours there.
But now i was back home...I did not find this as such a welcoming, tho familiar, sight.

A few months ago starbucks closed down about 61 of its 84 coffee shops in Australia; This is the reason why;

The chain has been the victim of an ill-fated push in Australia, a market it only entered in 2000. Starbucks was snubbed by many Australians who have grown up on a diet of quality European-style coffee introduced in the last century to Australia by immigrants, especially from Italy.
The Financial Times

While the company's British and Asia expansion took it to markets without strong coffee traditions, Australia, with its history of European immigration, was always going to be a test. Starbucks has been trying to sell a watered down product in one of the most sophisticated and lively coffee markets in the world. As one of my students (who, incidentally, had worked at a Starbucks) put it, "why would you want to sit around a pretend lounge room drinking a weak and expensive coffee, when you can go around the corner and have the real thing?" Ironically, it seems that the thing that made Starbucks successful in the first place, its ability to adjust the original (European) business model to local (US) conditions, is the thing that let it down the most.
Sydney Morning Herald

The simple truth is that Australia has got a sophisticated coffee culture, a simple thing that people at Starbucks did not fully understand. “I never really felt the need to go to a Starbucks shop,” says Elise from Sydney. The coffee lover never really felt Starbucks had more to offer or more reasonable prices than its competitors. “I have always felt like we had been invaded by Starbucks. The proliferation of the shops has been fast and intrusive in my opinion.”

Since the opening of the first shops back in 2000, Starbucks has never really breached the difficult Australian market. The general feeling is that they tried to sell a coffee culture which already existed.
When selling coffee is not enough
by Maurizio Corda

Wordy Women

Former president of Harvard University Larry Summers got into a lot of trouble in 2005 for suggesting that women were innately inferior to men in the sciences. But what he didn't say - and what might have gone over better with some of the female faculty who ultimately helped oust him - was that women are on the verge of taking over word based professions, like journalism, law, marketing, and communications.

In public relations - the art of helping people express themselves in just the right way - women make up something like 70 percent of the field, up from 30 percent in the 1970's. USA today recently observed that PR may well be the first traditionally male white-collar profession to be redefined by women.



Work Life: Wordy Women
Microtrends, the small forces behind tomorrow's big changes
By Mark J.Penn with E.Kinney Zalesne
Twelve 2007

Upholding Female Dignity

The one thing that really stood out about this man, the one characteristic that made him so unique, the one thing that he had that made him so different from the people of that time, amongst all the other things that he did, that it was said that this man Zaid ibn Amr ibn Nufair
when the people of that time, when the men of that time, when they sought to bury their daughters alive, when they said that we would rather have sons as opposed to daughters, we would rather have men who would carry on our lineage, this man Zaid ibn Amr ibn Nufair he would go to these people and he would say that if you do not to have them in your possession if you do not want to care for them ,give them to me, i will look after them.

And the prophet alayhi sallam is being questioned about what will be the status be of this man? And he says that on this day when everyone comes, on that day when everyone is taken into account, on that day of reckoning, when everyone has risen, when everyone stands behind those they claim to be followers of, then my ummah will stand behind me, the people of Musa alayhe sallam will stand behind him, the people of Nuh alayhe sallam will stand behind him. On that day when all the nations will stand together, Your father will stand as a nation unto himself.

Such as the sanctity, such as the dignity given to this man who would speak out against these injustices, such is the dignity, such is the elevation given to this man, who when everyone else seeked to abuse the women of that time, who when they would think that these would not give us any benefit, that they have no use to us, that we could just put them in the dirt without any hesitation, this man sought to give them refuge, this man sought to give them sanctuary, he is going to be standing unto a nation unto himself, when he is standing in front of Allah azawajal on that day and we have to ask ourselves, what is the condition, what is the status of the matter which we treat our women in these days? perhaps we are not engaging in the practice of infanticide, perhaps we are not putting our women into the dirt, not burying them alive, but still we are doing thing s in which we are not giving them the dignity, not giving them the respect that they deserve as women of our time, that on a daily basis we abuse these women on such a great capacity of such an extent now that we have so many stories, so many accounts of just in the recent months of how people are treating their women when they come to their home, not only in verbal abuse but also in physical abuse.

Upholding Female Dignity

The Dusty Foot Philosopher

I have alot of respect for this artist, K'naan, he doesnt try so hard to conform to the mainstream, you can see his originality in the lyrics of most of his songs like 'In the begining' and 'Soobax'

K'naan & Nelly Furtado - Going Away

Locally Grown

Buying Australian made and Australian owned is not so distant from being a locavore. The benefits explained by Mark Bittman, in Whats wrong with what we eat?

The “locavore” movement encourages consumers to buy from farmers’ markets or even to grow or pick their own food, arguing that fresh, local products are more nutritious and taste better. Locavores also shun supermarket offerings as an environmentally friendly measure, since shipping food over long distances often requires more fuel for transportation.

Oxford Word of The Year

Whats Next

Hope, to believe in something, that is worth striving for, to have an aim, an inner force that gives motivation to continue. To aspire to be like a distant impression. To achieve inspiration from the mere thought of that notion. And to believe that it is achievable, within reach. That you are deserving of it.

By the crashing waves tumbling over me, I cant breathe nor see, I cant feel anything but the wet coldness, beneath me, rising around me, overtaking me. The formerly calm waters now a horrid rush of madness. Of confusion that will not give way to the once serene waters, to the recollection of the once tranquil mind of intellect.

To be amazed at finding the essential, that makes you comprehensive, the yearning no longer present, its desertion appreciated, quenched, the craving fulfilled. The satisfaction that was aspired, that felt so beyond my reach, now within grasp. But the ultimate plunge is required, am I willing or would I rather to exist eternally on the brink of this happiness, I fear I am accustomed to the suspense, with the desire of staying at this edge, uncertain to go beyond the threshold, dread that what was so sugar coated may turn out hollow, unfulfilling, that I may fall into a dark depression. Emptiness may be what awaits. The false notion of contentment deceivingly leading into a void.

Trust, to believe in another. To allow them to fulfill your expectations. To rid yourself of the responsibility, to justify your actions, or lack of. Reliance is easier than independence, liberated from worrisome decisions, to free your mind from being swamped down. To feel the ecstasy of not your actions, not your decisions.

8/9/2006

Luck is where Preparation meets Opportunity

'When you're screwing up and nobody says anything to you anymore, that means they've given up on you.' That lesson has stuck with me my whole life. When you see yourself doing something badly and nobody's bothering to tell you anymore, that's a bad place to be. You may not want to hear it, but your critics are often the ones telling you they still love you and care about you, and want to make you better
Ch. 7 I Never Made It to the NFL

One day Andy took me for a walk. He put his arm around my shoulders and said "randy, its such a shame that people perceive you as being so arrogant, because its going to limit what you're going to be able to accomplish in life." Looking back, his wording was so perfect. He was actually saying, 'Randy, you're being a jerk.' But he said it in a way that made me open to his criticisms.
Ch. 14 The Dutch Uncle

My favorite non complainer of all time may be Jackie Robinson, the first African American to play Major League Baseball. He endured racism that many young people today couldn't even fathom . He knew he had to play better than the white guys , and he knew he had to work harder. So that's what he did. He vowed not to complain, even if his fans spit on him....
The message in the(ir) story is this: Complaining does not work as a strategy. We all have finite time and energy. Any time we spend whining is unlikely to help us achieve our goals. And it wont make us happier
Ch. 34 Don't Complain, Just work harder.

The Last Lecture
By Randy Pausch
Hodder & Stroughton LtD
2008

Intensely Sadistic Brutality has become the norm

After reading this entry on another blog about Heath Ledger's role in Batman- The Dark Night, and how the joker was likened to the devil, my thoughts continued a step further...Batman does not believe in killing the bad guys...and the joker also doesn't want to kill Batman, but rather corrupt him. Maybe this was a subtle new non-violence undertone that Hollywood has suddenly and silently decided to try out. Apparently not..I thought to research the issue further and surprise! This movie has a "sustained level of intensely sadistic brutality throughout the film." I had to read on before i realized what they were talking about. Seems that I have become so accustomed to these scenes that they hadn't even made an impression to last in my mind.

Telegraph.co.uk
Our attitude to violence is beyond a joke as new Batman film, The Dark Knight, shows.
Jenny McCartney

Historically Inaccurate!

Brought to my attention by another blog, i'm relieved that someone has finally seen through the so-called freedom of expression facade, especially when it allows so many false claims to be accepted as truths by those who have no background on any given topic.

There is a long history of anti-Islamic polemic that uses sex and violence to attack the Prophet and his faith. This novel follows in that oft-trodden path, one first pioneered in medieval Christian writings. The novel provides no new reading of Aisha's life, but actually expands upon provocative themes regarding Muhammad's wives first found in an earlier novel by Salman Rushdie, "The Satanic Verses," which I teach.

The combination of sex and violence sells novels. When combined with falsification of the Islamic past, it exploits Americans who know nothing about Aisha or her seventh-century world and counts on stirring up controversy to increase sales. If Ms. Nomani and readers of the Journal wish to allow literature to "move civilization forward," then they should read a novel that gets history right.

According to the writer;
This saga upsets me as a Muslim -- and as a writer who believes that fiction can bring Islamic history to life in a uniquely captivating and humanizing way. "I'm devastated," Ms. Jones told me after the book got spiked, adding, "I wanted to honor Aisha and all the wives of Muhammad by giving voice to them, remarkable women whose crucial roles in the shaping of Islam have so often been ignored -- silenced -- by historians

Opinion; You Still Can't Write About Muhammad

By Asra . Nomani

Denise A. Spellberg; "I don't have a problem with historical fiction. I do have a problem with the deliberate misinterpretation of history. You can't play with a sacred history and turn it into soft core pornography."

The Wall Street Journal:
I didnt Kill 'The Jewel of Medina'
Denise A. Spellberg
Assoc. Professor of History and Middle Eastern Studies University of Texas at Austin

Robin Hood Taxed the Poor

It is this idea of Robin Hood, or taking from the rich to give to the poor, that has caused the most pain for the poor and the middle class. The reason the middle class is so heavily taxed is because of the robin hood ideal. The real reality is that the rich are not taxed. Its the middle class who pay for the poor, especially the educated upper income middle class.

The writer then goes on to explain how the rich are able to avoid being taxed or at least to minimize it to almost insignificant amounts, they 'saw an opportunity, they do not play by the same set of rules.'

Yet when you study the history of taxes, an interesting perspective emerges. As i said, the passage of taxes was only possible because the masses believed in the Robin Hood theory of economics, which was to take form the rich and give to everyone else. The problem was that the government's appetite for money was so great that taxes soon needed to be levied on the middle class, and from there it kept 'trickling down.'


The History of Taxes and the Power of Corporations
(Chapter 5)
Rich Dad Poor Dad
by Robert T. Kiyosaki
Warner Books 1998

Placing A Negative Paradigm

Regarding Huntington's claim about the clash of civilizations, I think that rather than being realistic evaluations regarding the future, these types of claims seem to me to be determining new goals in an attempt to influence public opinion within the framework of these goals. Until the disintegration of the Soviet Block, there was the idea of a clash between the East and West, or between NATO and the Warsaw Pact countries. This time, by creating new enemy fronts, a clash between civilizations based on religious and cultural differences is being prepared and a new foundation is being laid for the continuation of the rule of the power blocks.

Regarding the Information Age and the Clash of Civilizations
by Fethullah Gülen
Friday, 19 November 2004

Confessions About Microevolution

...genetic science has discovered that variations, which Darwin thought could account for 'the origin of species,' actually do no such thing . For this reason evolutionary biologists were forced to distinguish between variation within species and the formation of new ones, and to propose two different concepts for these different phenomena. Diversity within a species - that is, variation - they called 'microevolution,' and the hypothesis of the development of the new species was termed 'macroevolution.'

These two concepts have appeared in biology books for quite some time. But there is actually a deception going on here, because the examples of variation that evolutionary biologists have called 'microevolution,' actually have nothing to do with the theory of evolution. The theory of evolution proposes that living things can develop and take on new genetic data by the mechanism of mutation and natural selection. However .. variations can never create new genetic information, and are thus unable to bring about 'evolution.' Giving variations the name of 'microevolution' is actually an ideological preference on the part of evolutionary biologists.

Taken from
Darwinsim Refuted
How the Theory of Evolution Breaks Down in the Light of Modern Science.
Harun Yahya
Goodword Publishing 2004

This capter places a sharp distinguishing line between microevolution (a.k.a variation) and macroevolution - which is based on the variation within genetic boundaries.

"Smile in your Liver"

I keep remembering one of my Guru's teachings about happiness. She says that people universally tend to think that happiness is a stroke of luck, something that will maybe descend upon you like fine weather if your fortunate enough.
But thats not how happiness works.

Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it. You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestation of your own blessings. And once you have achieved a state of happiness, you must never become lax about maintaining it, you must make a mighty effort to keep swimming upward into that happiness forever, to stay afloat on top of it.

If you don't, you will leak away your innate contentment. Its easy enough to pray when your in distress but continuing to pray even when your crisis has passed is like a sealing process, helping your soul hold tight to its good attainments.

Taken from
eat pray love (chapter 87)
by Elizabeth Gilbert
Bloomsbury Publishing 2006

Prayers can become stale

Prayer is a relationship; half the job is mine. If i want transformation, but cant even be bothered to articulate what, exactly, I'm aiming for, how will it ever occur? Half the benefit of prayer is in the asking itself, in the offering of a clearly posed and well considered intention. If you don't have this, all your pleas and desires are boneless, floppy, inert; they swirl at your feet in a cold fog and never lift.

So now i take the time every morning to search myself for specificity about what i am truly asking for. I kneel there in the temple with my face on that cold marble for as long as it takes me to formulate an authentic prayer. If i don't feel sincere, then i will stay there on the floor until i do. What worked yesterday doesn't always work today. Prayers can become stale and drone into the boring and familiar if you let your attention stagnate.

I'm making an effort to stay alert, I am assuming custodial responsibility for the maintenance of my own soul.

Taken from
eat pray love (chapter 58)
by Elizabeth Gilbert
Bloomsbury Publishing 2006

Jews are as much English as...

Which was the stronger loyalty - to country or to faith? There was nothing to choose. As Rosalind's father said when reorganizing the New West End Synagogue after the Second World War, 'The whole idea is that Judaism is a religion not a race...the English Jews are as much English as other English.'

Taken from
Rosalind Franklin; The Dark Lady of DNA
by Brenda Maddox
HarperCollins Publishers 2002

First Australian Terrorist Act

When I was writing The Great Shame, I became aware that the first act of terrorism on Australian soil was an attack on the duke of Clarence, youngest son of Queen Victoria, at a picnic held in his honour at the Sydney suburb of Clontarf on March 12, 1868. As the prince passed the enthusiastic crowd, Henry O'Farrell, a self-proclaimed Fenian, drew two pistols and shot him in the back. "I'm a Fenian, God save Ireland!" yelled O'Farrell, who had earlier been treated for mental instability and was not a member of the Fenian movement, the Irish Republican Brotherhood. The prince survived; O'Farrell was hanged at Darlinghurst jail.

The governor of NSW, Lord Belmore, an Ulster landowner, was near the prince and saw the shooting. The state government, which included Parkes, yielded to the temptations of demagoguery and stirred up in the community the belief that all Irish were involved in a plot of deepest Papist dye, to shed the blood of the royal family.

A Tampa-level hysteria was let loose. A ridiculous Treason-Felony Act was passed, which made the public utterance of republican sentiment punishable by up to 20 years in jail. The Irish, and even some evangelicals who thought the prince had been punished by God for his hedonism, were tailed, questioned, detained, sacked from their jobs. In a riot in Melbourne, an Irishman was killed.

Flattened by a Falafel,
Tom Keneally
The Australian Literary Review
February 2007

Obesity and World Hunger

It is the new face of hunger. A perfect storm of food scarcity, global warming, rocketing oil prices and the world population explosion is plunging humanity into the biggest crisis of the 21st century by pushing up food prices and spreading hunger and poverty from rural areas into cities.

And for the first time in history, say experts, the impact is spreading from the developing to the developed world.

The increasing scarcity of food is the biggest crisis looming for the world, according to WFP officials.

2008: The year of global food crisis
By Kate Smith and Rob Edwards
Sunday Herald 19 July 08

Recently a study was done by a research institute in melbourne headed by Simon Stewart that gave the findings that Australians are now the world's most overweight nation, ahead of the notoriously super-sized Americans, who have a 25 per cent obesity rate.

Simon Stewart: Well we actually found that currently there are nine million obese and overweight Australians, and that's adult Australians. Of those, four million are technically obese.

We certainly have a phenomenon that I would term "fat fatigue", and we would certainly have a phenomenon where I think we have recalibrated our eyes to accept that we're larger and thinking that's normal.

This is taken from a transcript
from The World Today on abc radio
Friday, 20 June , 2008
Reporter: Sabra Lane

Redback Spider

There was a red-back on the toilet seat
When I was there last night, I didn't see him in the dark,
But boy! I felt his bite!
I jumped high up into the air, And when I hit the ground,
That crafty red-back spider Wasn't nowhere to be found.

Rushed in to the missus, Told her just where I'd been bit,
She grabbed the cut throat razor blade, And I nearly took a fit.
I said, "Just forget what's on your mind, And call a doctor please,
'Cause I've got a feeling that your cure Is worse than the disease."


I didn't see him in the dark, But boy! I felt his bite!
And now I'm here in hospital, A sad and sorry plight,
And I curse that red-back spider on the toilet seat last night.

I can't lay down, I can't sit up, And I don't know what to do,
And all the nurses think it's funny, But that's not my point of view.

I tell you it's embarrassing, (And that's to say the least)
That I'm to sick to eat a bite, While that spider had a feast!
And when I get back home again, I tell you what I'll do,
I'll make that red-back suffer For the pain I'm going through.
I've had so many needles That I'm looking like a sieve,
And I promise you that spider Hasn't got long to live!

From Slim Newton’s song
‘Red-back on the Toilet Seat’

Zamilooni, By Native Deen

He stepped inside his home, and he overwhelmed with fear
An angel came with words from God, things were still unclear
Saying read - read, but he couldn’t read, then amazing words he heard

A trembling deep inside his heart, confused by what had occurred
There was only one who could comfort him,
And help him see the light
To ease his fears, to reassure, It was khadijah, his wife…

He said Zamilooni, Zamilooni, Dathirooni, Dathirooni,
A mighty task has come before me,
I need you here with me...By my side.


We look for stories of love, in places dark and cold
When we have a guiding light, for the whole world to behold
But we're so selfish in our ways, and to the ones we hold so close
Our own pleasure and happiness is what we value most

But she sacrificed all her wealth and everything she had
And he honored her, and gave her faith,
when the times were bad...

Now years have passed, times had changed,
since khadijah breathed her last.
Message of the one true God, was spreading far and vast
But then he came across a neaklace, that khajidah once had worn
His eyes began to swell with tears, his heart again began to mourn.

Lyrics From Zamilooni
By Native Deen

Design for the Other 90%

...an exhibition whose title underscores the fact that most designers focus their work on the desires and needs of the world’s richest 10 percent. Ninety percent of the 6.5 billion people living today don’t have access to the products and services that many of us take for granted.

Saving lives and fighting poverty in the developing world with design
By John Barrat

I also watched Cynthe E. Smith explain the leapfrog concept on tv.
In essence, its about helping these third world countries jump from the nineteenth century into the twenyfirst, without laying down the infrastructure that was required by the rest of the developed countries. How do we do that? By assisting them to adopt and implement modern (ie. mobile phones instead of land lines) and newly emerging technologies (i.e solar power).