Category: General Musings

AUSTRALIANS would continue to support troops in Afghanistan despite the death of a soldier and serious wounding of another in an attack, says the chief of the Australian Defence Force.

What led ADF chief Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston to make that statement. Had someone suggested that Australian’s wouldn’t support the troops?

Short answer – yes, At a media conference at 6:00 am today the question of Australians support for the war was raised by a journalist and the ADF Chief’s answer became the byline.

So the journalsts spin on the death of an Australian soldier has been all about politics – thanks bastard!

After having made his political point that he/she believes the war in Afghanistan to be unpopular and intimating the death is pointless we are finally given some detail.

He (The ADF Cheif) said the pair were part of a team protecting engineers undertaking reconstruction work in the province and the wounded soldier’s injuries were not life-threatening.

“He is likely to make a full recovery and return to work in the near future,” he said.

An improvised explosive device (IED) detonated next to the soldiers’ military vehicle in Afghanistan’s Oruzgan province yesterday, six kilometres from their base at Tarin Kowt. The deceased soldier had been driving the vehicle.

I phoned Defence Media Liason to see if they knew the soldiers unit as 7RAR has some troops in the theatre but that fact hadn’t been announced yet.

Over the last year or two I’ve been checking out nav systems for the 4WD trips I undertake, waiting patiently for a system that would aid navigation in, say, the Simpson Desert and also take me to an address in the city.

Tom Tom, Garmin, Navman, Uniden and the like do the city thing well but not both, thus the surge of in-car nav systems is no good to me once I’ve left the bitumen…”Turn right after 750 kilometers”, no matter how sexy the voice, doesn’t cut it.

I’ve had Oziexplorer loaded on my Laptop for years which allows me to navigate in the bush but whenever my wife comes along she is less than impressed with the invasion of her space. “Well, don’t come then!” wasn’t an option and besides the companionship, there are kitchen duty considerations. Laptop holders are still too intrusive on space so I needed something smaller.

I reasoned the best answer was to find a tablet computer; load it with Oziexplorer and a city navigation software package and secure it on the dash.

On to eBay. I found a FUJITSU Stylistic TABLET PC LT C-500 that seemed to fit the bill but at $999 was a bit pricey for this little pensioner so I Googled and found them in the US for US$275 ($AUD309) plus $70 Airfreight at J&K Sales Inc

Ordered straight away and waited with baited breath for the system to work. I opted for a US Post email tracking system that dutifully told me where my package was at specific times during it’s travels;

Enroute JAMAICA NY 11499 09/21/07 1:24pm

Enroute LOUISVILLE KY 40231 09/20/07 7:02pm

Enroute CAMPTON KY 41301 09/20/07 5:39pm

Electronic Shipping CAMPTON KY 41301 09/19/07 11:25am
Info Received

I wonder if the Aust PO offers such service? Doubt it!

The package arrived on the 23rd within the five days promised and is as advertised!

With inbuilt wireless I had the tablet on the web in minutes on my home network. This will allow me to post with regularity when I’m on the road. Being a computer and not just a specific-to-purpose navigation toy I have a full range of options. Email, music, pics and movies. The touch screen eliminates having to carry a mouse and the tablet comes with a wireless keyboard.

All I need now is a good city navigation software package…..any tips?

Otherwise, I’m on a roll and ready for my next trip bush

Angela Shanahan in todays Australian nails the Lesbian couple who are unhappy about the birth of a healthy baby.

THE yuck factor looms large in the case of the Melbourne lesbians suing Canberra obstetrician Robert Armellin for the conception of IVF twins, rather than a single child.

My wife and I are parents of twins. They arrived unheralded when I was a young Lieutenant on little salary and already with three kids under 6 in the house. The double birth was unknown until a trainee midwife noticed a double heartbeat moments before the doctor was about to induce ‘the’ baby. My wife and I could’ve sued but when you held them for the first time how could you have any feelings but those of love and protection.

These women are on $200,000.00 a year, have commercialized the wonder of birth and life and, in my opinion, are not entitled to the love of children. The kids are doomed to a confusing life. “I am the one they didn’t want” thinks Twin 2 while Twin 1 will remember her ‘parents’ didn’t want his/her soulmate. Not to mention…Mummy, why do all the other kids have a Daddy and we don’t?

Lesbians and other single women who have deliberately chosen a lifestyle that reduces the role of the father to carefully chosen but anonymous sperm donor have effectively decided to deny one half of the child’s genetic make-up, one half of who that child is. This tells us something about the basic ethical problem here, and it gives the lie to the politically correct argument that anyone should be able to form a family.

I don’t like it.

Dozens of agendas merge as the proposed Gunn Pulp Mill debate rages. The Greens who fight against any development, bad for the environment or not, have found a green Barrister to say a decision siting the mill in the Bell Bay industrial area would be invalid – whatever that means. The Greens will be against the mill no matter where it is sited.

The wine industry doesn’t want it in their back yard for obvious reasons and more pragmatic folk say it is an industrial area so what’s the problem?

Such as Susan from Launceston

HOW dare Senator Bill Heffernan and businessman Geoffrey Cousins suggest moving Gunns Ltd’s proposed pulp mill from Bell Bay, an area set aside for heavy industry for 60 years, to a rural part of northwest Tasmania. It’s ridiculous to suggest rezoning agricultural land around Hampshire and alienating it for use for heavy industry, especially so close to the iconic wilderness areas of Tasmania.

The pulp mill debate is fast turning into a farce with the intervention of these Johnny-come-lately experts who have no idea what they’re talking about. Let’s keep Tasmania’s heavy industry where it belongs _ in heavy-industry areas such as Bell Bay.

Sounds reasonable to me but then I don’t hate development.

While some see it as a environment issue others see it as a means of defeating the government

Mr Cousins, one of the most successful advertising men of the 1980s, has personally scripted a full-page advertisement to be published this week in the Wentworth Courier in Mr Turnbull’s inner-Sydney electorate.

It is signed by more than 100 people, including actors Bryan Brown, Rachel Ward and Rebecca Gibney, playwright David Williamson, director Phillip Noyce, performer Mark Lizotte (also known as entertainer Johnny Diesel), arts identity Leo Schofield and chef Kylie Kwong.

No surprises there.

Arguably the drought has broken – I know because I was intimately involved. As I lay sleeping in my tent at Carnarvon Gorge I heard an express train come up the valley. After gaining full consciousness the train became a gale that heralded a wet arse. With 20 plus Grade 10 boys high up a peak we were somewhat concerned and started plans to pull out before road conditions locked us in for a week or two.

We packed and left about 2.00 pm, drove through the day and got home midnight yesterday. 800 km of drought breaking rain No boys lost, hopefully no influenza cases and all home with their mothers fussing over them.

Having bad memories of striking camp with several hundred reserve soldiers under canvas it was always a Cadre officers nightmare that the event was preceded by rain. This necessitated pulling all stores back to barracks and then re-erecting all the tents and waiting for the weather to clear and dry them before we could hand them back.

deje vu again.

Today, the cleanup…maybe not, it’s still raining and little point in it…..could be dry in the bar though.

Received this email from Defence Media

Never mind…the media has at least raised public awareness of the ship and her sad demise.

Great headline, boring story about an adult shop and cinema in Melbourne burning down with patrons having to evacuate “prematurely”.