Category: General Musings

Rock group Pearl Jam has promised to donate $US100,000 ($133,000) to several groups that focus on climate change, renewable energy and other environmental causes as part of an effort to offset carbon emissions the band churns out on tour.

“Our carbon portfolio strategy is the newest component of our ongoing efforts to advance clean renewable energy and carbon mitigation,” the Seattle-based band said in a statement posted on its website yesterday.

As the kids say; Yeah…whatever.

I have discovered a new link via the Australian that has over 10,000 scholarly biographies of significant Australians who died before 1980. I have quickly read the Menzies biograqphy and discern no scholarly bias so it initially stands as a good reference site. I have included it on the LH sidebar and here for you to have a quick browse for linking for later reference

THE death of a girl from a crocodile attack has inflamed debate over managing the predator in the Northern Territory, with experts claiming their warnings about rising crocodile numbers were ignored. Crocodile expert Grahame Webb said locals wanted to manage the estimated 70,000 crocodiles in the Territory.

“They have just lost a child and the crocodiles in that area generate nothing for the local people, so they get no tradeoff at all,” Mr Webb said. “People in Maningrida are saying to me they’re fed up to the teeth with people making decisions about the crocodiles that they have to live with.

Good point. I’m with the locals on that issue. I can promise you if I had crocodiles in my back yard there would be no live ones. Last year we nearly got a management/culling plan together but it was stymied at the last moment by Steve Irwin. The thought of Steve having any say in anything we do in Australia left me a little flat. TV docs of Steve leaping into the water and capturing crocs contrasts vividly with the experiences of us lesser mortals. The food chain heirachal system dictates that we need to take control over their locations and numbers. Locals being eaten is good for tourism but iffy for local morale.

REALITY TV show Big Brother should be left alone by meddling politicians, Australian Democrats senator Andrew Bartlett said today.

“It is politicians trying to be Big Brother that we really need to be concerned about,” Senator Bartlett said.

No, I disagree Senator. It’s Senators standing up for trash TV and possible sexual assault that we need to be concerned about.

The program has been heavily criticised by politicians and family groups after two contestants were removed from the program after allegedly sexually assaulting a female contestant.

PM Howard says axe the programme.

“The business community is always saying to me ‘let us self-regulate’.

“Well here’s a great opportunity for Channel 10 to do a bit of self-regulation and get this stupid program off the air.”

Channel Ten, of course, will base all decisions re Big Brother on their accountants advise…..it’s a winner…people like trash TV and “this alleged sexual assault should be seen as nothing more than free advertising”.

Self regulation…won’t happen but I’m with the PM on this.

I don’t know what the rate of pay or conditions of service are for Israeli soldiers but morale must be pretty high with the government’s attitude to the kidnapping of one Corporal Gilad Shalit. Mobilize! Palestinian militant sources claimed last night that they were close to reaching an agreement in negotiations over the release of an Israeli soldier. I detect a bit of a spin in that statement; I imagine the Palestinians are thinking; Uh uh!. What’ll we do now? I know, lets release the Corporal while we still have the ability to make decisions. Yesterday the three groups holding Shalit said they would free him if Israel released 1,000 Palestinian women, children and humanitarian cases from prison but today they are just going to release him on a future trading/release sort of deal. I wonder if this had any impact on their thought process.

The news came as an Israeli helicopter gunship fired a missile at the Gaza City office of Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh.

I realize the situation is about more than just Corporal Shalit’s freedom but the outcome will include his repatriation and that’s heady stuff for a corporal. I’m slightly peeved to consider that when I was a corporal I couldn’t begin to imagine any circumstances that would arise wherebye the majority of the ADF would have deployed to save my single solitary arse should I have been taken prisoner. More like “We taught him not to get separated….divide up his Playboy magazines…pack his other gear in a kitbag and Oh, Lcpl Smith, your now a corporal”.

Reminiscent of a scene from the movie Blazing Saddles a Kiwi holds police at bay with a knife to his own throat.

Stun grenades and shotguns were used to subdue a man holding a knife to his own throat in a tense armed stand-off in Auckland yesterday. More than 20 armed police stormed a two-storey home in the beachside suburb of Kohimarama after a three-hour seige, which ended when the man surrendered.

If the guy was hit by a stun grenade then ‘surrender’ isn’t the word I’d use….maybe ‘just sat there in a daze and allowed himself to be arrested’ could be closer. A 26-year-old man has been arrested and charged with breaching a protection order and will appear in Auckland District Court tomorrow.

A cold windy day in Brisbane and the dogs know what to do…. snuggle up below the deck level to keep out of the wind. The black lab is a year old now and has settled into a routine of chewing my sandals, track shoes and deck shoes while the old golden retriever sleeps away the day. At least they are ornamental features for the pool area and the black lab does takes her role as watchdog seriously.

No, it wasn’t a case of not paying bills – it was a spam overload on one of the gravet.org websites that was starting to effect the server in the US.  Gary at gravett. org has been busy fixing the problem and I’m sure he will ask for another “Site temporarily closed” notice that doesn’t make us look like we’re a bunch of slow payers.

A line from the Good Mail in Queensland’s Sunday Mail that the journalist finds amusing as it feeds her prejudices.

COLLEAGUE and a friend planning a trip to Indonesia picked up a copy of Lonely Planet’s Indonesian phrase book. Both were tickled by the appearance of a translation for “I am Australian but I didn’t vote for John Howard”.

Michelle Collins, the journalist who compiles the Good Mail knows full well that Tony and Maureen Wheeler, the owners of The Lonley Planet, are anti-US/Bush/Howard activists so she has obviously included the line simply to fit in an undergrad anti John Howard giggle. The Lonely Planet series are of good value for travellers but whenever they touch on politics readers need to be aware of their slanted views. Travelling the hippy trail does that for you. Check Tony Wheelder’s blog and rejoice at his enlightend approach to politics.