Apparently the World Cup is over...

The Sydney Morning Herald website has gone back to ignoring the World Cup altogether now that Australia is out. I haven't seen any commercial TV lately, but it's a safe guess that there hasn't been a mention of the World Cup since Australia lost, either.

Not that this World Cup has really given us any inspiring matches. The best refereeing I've seen the entire tournament was probably Cantajelo in Australia vs Italy, yet it still ruined a good match.

Whatever instructions the referees were under for this tournament (and given the uniform favouritism displayed to highly ranked teams it's pretty clear they were under instruction from FIFA), they definitely need to be rethought for the 2010 World Cup. Otherwise we may as well just rename the tournament the 'European Championship With Special Invitees Brazil and Argentina'.

Enough bitching about the refereeing now, I probably won't get to see a whole lot more of the World Cup as Gam and I are off to Kempsey tomorrow and my parents aren't football fans, let alone football fans who can understand the need to stay up until 3am in order to watch a football match!


My predictions for the teams to make the semi-final round: Germany vs Italy and Brazil vs Portugal, although I wouldn't be surprised if England have yet another walkover with Portugal in the quarter-finals given that poor old Portugal are missing half their team due to suspensions in the last match. If England do happen to get through, Brazil will wipe the floor with them. Ukraine definitely look to be the weakest team in the quarter-finals.

I think we'll see Germany and Brazil in the final again. Argentina are probably a match for Germany but I think due to home side advantage and potential referee favouritism even the Argentines' diving and drama tactics will fail them and Germany will make it through. That should be an interesting match, at least.

Piss-poor refereeing again marks FIFA World Cup 2006

I'm disgusted with the refereeing in the Ghana-Brazil match. The referee is playing to a predetermined outcome. Brazil scored easily in the 5th minute, and scored again just then in the 44th minute with its players clearly offside. Even the SBS commentator has called it offside, and he usually gives the benefit of the doubt to Brazil. It's not only the referee to blame, though: the linesmen are responsible for calling offside, and it seems in this case they were happy to simply hand Brazil a goal.

Aside from this particularly disgusting decision the referee had given a yellow card to Adriano for diving, and then should have given him a second one for exactly the same thing a while later, but instead gave one to the Ghanaian player that Adriano dived under.

Brazil are the best team in the world. Do they really need such blatant favouritism from the referee? The scoreline will not reflect it by the end of the match, I am sure, but Ghana are actually doing a fantastic job of keeping Brazil on their toes, and have had at least as many scoring opportunities as Brazil.

There should be a red card for bad refereeing.

This is not a World Cup. This is a farce.

Killer 4WDs

Mercedes M-Class: M is for Menace

Confirming the utterly obvious, Researchers at Monash University have revealed results of research that shows that 4WDs are a much greater risk to pedestrians, cyclists and drivers of regular cars.

Used cars were rated in two categories - crash worthiness and aggressivity - based on the performance of 305 models involved in more than 1.7 million crashes in Australia and New Zealand between 1987 and 2004.

Crash worthiness is defined by the amount of protection afforded to the vehicle's driver in a crash, while aggressivity is defined by how badly the vehicle is likely to harm other road users, including cyclists and pedestrians, in a crash.

While large four-wheel drive models generally boasted good crash worthiness, they put "other road users at disproportionately high risk" under the aggressivity criteria, the report said.

Of the 305 vehicle models surveyed overall, 284 also were assessed for their aggressivity, with the average vehicle rating resulting in 3.9 deaths and serious injuries to other road users in every 100 crashes.

By comparison, large four-wheel drives were responsible for 6.1 deaths and serious injuries per 100 crashes.

Project leader Stuart Newstead said small cars were not a safe bet when it came to crash worthiness.

"No light cars had crash worthiness better than average and of 37 light cars, more than half scored in the worst possible rating," Dr Newstead said.

And yet people are allowed to drive these things in the city without some kind of special licensing requirement? This situation is simply a situation of politicians pandering to a particular group of people regardless of the consequences to others, in the same way that politicians refuse to enforce harsher penalties for speeding and other driving offences. They're too afraid of the political consequences of doing the right thing.

Switzerland-Ukraine: Best of the rest

After watching the 'highlights' of Ukraine vs Switzerland I have to say that if the World Cup were really about crowning the best team in the world, Australia and Italy would both be going through to the quarter-finals and Switzerland and Ukraine would both be going home. What a crappy effort from both teams.

Looking forward so much to what will probably be my adopted team Ghana's last match of the World Cup against Brazil tonight. I hope they acquit themselves at least as well as Australia did against Italy. I think I'd die of shock if they won, but I'm barracking for that result nonetheless.

We're out: Italy beat Australia

The referee pretty much gave the game to Italy by granting a particularly dodgy penalty in the very last seconds of the game, just when it looked like we were about to go to extra time.

Australia played so well, so to go down like that at the worst possible time, it seems really unfair.

I'm not sure who refereed- he did a fairly reasonable job throughout the match, but he made a real stinker of a decision right then, and directly cost Australia the match. It's definitely not the worst decision of the cup, but the timing was as bad as it could have been.

Not sure what else to say. They did really well to get so far. It looked like we would go through- this was the best the Socceroos had played for the entire World Cup, so to lose this match in such a manner sucks. I more than half expected Italy to win on their own merits. They didn't. In the end the referee handed it to them on a silver platter.

However, if we can play like this next World Cup and not encounter such dodgy refereeing we should go far. A big pat on the back for the Australians.

Half time

Half time: Australia 0:0 Italy

The match so far: a couple of yellow cards for minor offences on both sides, even-handed refereeing; ref seems to be letting the play flow; Italy looking more dangerous in front of the goal, Luca Toni keeps getting away from our defence at crucial moments. The Italian strikers are bloody quick off the mark when they get a sniff of a goal. Mark Schwarzer has made two good saves that promised certain goals to Italy had he fumbled them. Yay Mark! Luke Wilkshire not looking too bad- passing more accurately this time. I'm hoping to see Josh Kennedy on with more than 10 minutes to spare this time.

I had expected more dirty play from the Italians, but so far this is a good match on both sides.

I hope the second half is as good as the first, but the Italians are looking dangerous- particularly since they seem to have plenty left in the tank, so to speak.

Still incredibly tired. At least the time isn't crawling by for this match, unlike the snorefest with England and Ecuador last night.

Italy have just been handed a red card, which looks pretty unjustified.

Heh, they've more than made up for it with winning free kicks for diving, though. Never mind.

Australia vs Italy: pre-match snore-a-thon

Trying desperately to stay awake for what hopefully won't be Australia's last match at this World Cup. So tired. Even coffee hasn't done the trick (probably because I built up my caffeine tolerance to astronomical levels during exams).

Now even more annoyed that I stayed up for Ecuador-England last night.

Just heard from the SBS pre-match commentary that Guus Hiddink is playing Luke Wilkshire tonight. I don't want to second-guess Hiddink because the man is a miracle worker, but Luke Wilkshire hasn't really played any attractive football that I've seen so far. Not my favourite player. Is this an indication that Hiddink is expecting a dirty match from the Italians?

Fingers crossed that the Socceroos can pull this off and that I can stay awake. They're playing our crappy national anthem now.

If we're down by 2 goals or more by the end of the first half I'm going to bed...

All the best to our boys, whether they win or lose. They've done really well.

Dear oh dear- they've lost the live feed just as the match started! Hopefully not an omen. Come on, Australia! Phew, it's back. No goals scored in the first 90 seconds. I'm off to watch!

Neemuch: leading the way in eye donations

I thought this was a nice story from the BBC: Neemuch is a town in India that has been overcoming social taboos against the donation of corneas, and now has the highest per capita donation rate in all India.

Neemuch's reputation as the town of eye donors began some three decades back when a venerable local politician Shyammukh Garg pledged his eyes before passing away at the age of 55.

Mr Garg had pledged his eyes for a simple reason: his grandson had lost his vision after his birth, and he was keen that the little boy should try regaining his sight with his grandfather's corneas.

His wish was fulfilled, and his grandson, now a married professional engineer with three children, received his grandfather's eyes and got his vision back.

I strongly believe that a dead body has a lot more potential than being simple worm fodder, and I think that the story of that man's grandson is a lovely illustration of that. I hope over time more people overcome the cultural squeamishness that a lot of us have and choose to donate their organs when they die. Personally I plan on living to 100, but if that doesn't pan out then hopefully my organs will be in good enough condition to give someone else a better life.

Portugal-Netherlands: ripper match

Luis Figo

Just watched the replay on SBS: now that match had some great football, but it also seemed to have elements of kickboxing and soap opera in the mix. As usual there was some dreadful refereeing. Khalid Boulahrouz should have been sent off for his thuggish studs-out tackle on Christiano Ronaldo in the first few minutes of the game, but ref Valentin Ivanov let him off lightly with a yellow, which I think was the first mistake. As it was Boulahrouz was sent off much later in the game for an elbow in the face of Luis Figo (who is an absolute dead-ringer for Boneywasawarriorwayayix from the Asterix and Obelix comics).

Boneywasawarriorwayayix

There were so many brawls and near-brawls I think I'd leave way too much out if I tried to cover them all. I lost track of it all just watching them. Someone would foul someone, then off-camera someone would push, punch, kick or headbutt someone else... Luis Figo was said to have headbutted one of the Dutch players, but from the footage I saw it didn't look like much like a headbutt; Van Bommel, the 'target', saw the referee come over and did a great impression of a well-bred lady fainting. I suspect if it was more than it looked then Figo will be suspended for the match against England.

Usually I like the Dutch, but this time their style of play was, to use the usual euphemism coined by commentators, rather uncharacteristically 'physical'. Then again, the entire match was 'physical'. The ref really let it get out of hand, but it really was the players' fault for getting out of hand.

At one point the Dutch refused to turn over the ball after play had been stopped with Portugal in possession. In case Mikey is reading (and I hope I get this right) I'll explain: when a player is injured and the ball is still in play, the side in possession of the ball kick it out. Naturally, the other side gains possession of the ball after it is put out, but in the name of sportsmanship they are supposed to give possession back to the side that put it out. When it happened this time, the Portuguese put the ball out, and the Dutch side basically just ignored convention and took off with it, which is really filthy. Portuguese player Deco then committed a blatant foul on the player who refused to turn the ball over, and was subsequently sent off; something Deco will no doubt be patted on the back for by his team mates. Deco's first yellow card was also a bad decision by the referee- it should have been the Dutch player Cocu who was carded in that instance. Regardless, Deco deserves a bit of bad luck because he got away with a very nasty tackle that should have been given a red card in one of Portugal's first round games. Consider it Karma.

Boy it was watchable, though. There was some good football played in between all the dramas, producing some great goal attempts and great saves from both sides. If only that had screened at 1am this morning instead of the limp-wristed non-event between England and Ecuador. No matter who won the match it will have been favourable to England, as both sides lost so many players. Portugal will be lucky to field half a team. Regardless, I hope they win against England. No team has had such an incredibly easy run as England so far.

Warren Buffett to devote fortune to charity.

First Bill Gates and now Warren Buffett:

The two men who have over the years been there to remind me that not all people who 'make it' in life are ruthless scumbags have both decided to devote themselves to charity.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has two key priorities, health and education, and does a lot of great work both in the US and overseas. Warren Buffett will be giving 80% of his fortune to the foundation, and the rest to four others.

I think they'll do a lot of good, and it will be nice to watch it happen in my lifetime.

You have to be in it to watch it.

The latest from the World Cup.

Two things this morning which I think are very telling about Australia's attitude to the World Cup:

First was an item on ABC Newsradio that was introduced by way of asking (I'll have to paraphrase):

"Why would anyone in another country whose country is not in the World Cup want to watch it?"

- and went to Baghdad to talk to some quaint little people there who want to watch the football even though they can't win.

The second was a visit to the SMH homepage where, in place of the usual pictures from the latest match, was a huge picture of Nicole Frickin' Kidman's wedding!

Unsurprisingly, it seems Australia has no interest in football if we aren't in it, more specifically if we aren't winning it.

As soon as Australia is out of the World Cup, I expect media coverage to pretty much die off altogether.

Just like the TV coverage of the Olympics here, where the shooting or equestrian will be screened in favour of a gymnastics or athletics final for the pure and simple reason that there is an Australian who might win a shooting or equestrian gold, regardless of the fact they aren't real sports.

We don't actually like sport, we just like winning.

Ecuador-England: should have gone to bed

David Beckham and Ashley Cole: nothing to do with tabloid 'gay romp' story.

Stayed up for what turned out to be a pointless non-event for England-Ecuador. I think I'd be wrong if I said Ecuador wanted to lose this time, but they pretty much played like it. England were only very slightly better, and that tiny edge was given by David Beckham's penalty kick, which the Ecuador goalie should have been able to get, but positioned himself badly. Usually England manages to pull off a nice goal from Gerrard, or Lampard, but neither of them really got anywhere near the box. The keeper had to make a save or two, but it didn't really look like he was stretched. Just as well, because Ecuador didn't really look up to a stretching. They came close to a goal in the 11th minute, which Ashley Cole saved by basically hurling himself between the ball and the net, and then seemed to decide they'd tried hard enough.

Once England got their goal in the 60th minute they seemed to set about wasting time in order to get the match over and done with, so the ref duly handed out a couple of yellow cards for time wasting.

What a bloody yawn.

The Portugal-Holland match sounds like it was much more exciting; I'm sorry it wasn't on first.

The nicest thing I can say for England and Ecuador is at least I got to give the fridge a thorough cleaning while the match was on, so it wasn't entirely pointless staying up.

Meanwhile...

More good news from Israel and Palestine in the past couple of days, pity about those little 'oopsies' Israel keeps having. Maybe Larry Bonewend's advice for all Palestinians to carry little four leaf clovers in their pockets wouldn't go amiss.

Gam also sent me an interesting link at Lawrence of Cyberia that's well worth a read.

What Howard gets up to under the World Cup blanket

He would have preferred the glove...

It's not all lying around and stroking his new crystal dish while fantasising about the Queen, apparently.

Remember that unpopular piece of legislation proposed that raises the amount that people, organisations and companies can donate to political parties before their identities must be revealed to the public?

It's been passed.

Remember the same piece of legislation also makes it harder for people to vote, and for young people to enrol?

It's been passed.

Have you seen it on the news?

I haven't.

In the Senate, all parties except for the Coalition voted against this particular piece of legislation, because it's a downright scummy one. It's also been passed with typically downright scummy timing.

"Not a Model"- Ronaldinho

I always thought that Ronaldinho's long ponytail coupled with his prominent front teeth made him look incredibly horsey. Ronaldinho's comeback? Essentially a big fat 'who cares?':

"There are times when rivals try to offend me due to my teeth but it doesn't bother me at all," said Ronaldinho.

"I know that for some people these things are important but I am more than my teeth.

"Why should it be a problem? I am footballer not a model."

The 26-year-old has revealed his bucked teeth are in fact, one of his favourite characteristics.

"I have big, strong, clean teeth because I go regularly to the dentist," he said. "No-one has nicer teeth than me, why would anyone have to laugh at my beautiful teeth? There are some who even love them.

And hey, good on him. David Beckham spends an incredible amount of money on his appearance and comes across as an absolute twat. I'd rather have a beer with Ronaldinho and his teeth any day.

Bye, Mexico :(

I'm sorry I missed seeing the Argentina-Mexico match last night, it sounds like a heck of a thriller. I was going for Mexico, and it sounds like they clung on like limpets but finally lost in the half hour of extra time.

The match reports never mention the Argentine hysterics and diving, so I won't know how much of that went on until the match replay, but I have a feeling Mexico might have come as close to beating them as any team will in this tournament, except perhaps for the final.

Didn't much care about the outcome of the Germany-Sweden match. To make things easier for the Germans, the ref sent Swedish defender Teddy Lucic off after two yellow cards before half-time. Germany always looked like winning it, and I'm sure they did so with machine-like precision. Yawn.

Rubbing salt into Swedish wounds, according to The Times of India, the German fans began chanting the taunt "You are only furniture suppliers" (referring to Ikea).

In another report from the same paper comes the shock news that English fans have been violent dickheads again, with around 100 of them detained by German police. Way to go to give your country and its decent supporters a bad name, morons. BBC report is perhaps more comprehensive.

Update: After watching the match highlights of Argentina-Mexico I have to agree with Gulay: I think Argentina should have been down to 10 men. That challenge by Heinze should have been a straight red. Bloody referees. If it weren't for the dodgy refereeing I think that match would have to rate as possibly the best football at the World Cup so far.

Hero or Dickhead?

I'm pretty sick of hearing about that blind guy, Erik Weihenmayer, who climbed Mount Everest. He's on SBS news again right now. Honestly, anyone with a spare hundred thousand dollars can get their arse dragged up there by a team of Sherpas. Surely a nicer thing to do with that hundred thousand dollars would have been to donate it to the Fred Hollows foundation to help people who are going blind from preventable causes, or maybe to the Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children, who provide educational services to blind and deaf children so they aren't so disadvantaged by their disability. Or even Christian Blind Mission International, who point out on their website that 80% of all blindness worldwide is preventable. Also from the CBMI website:

What can you do to help?

• For 60 cents you can save a child from the blindness of vitamin A deficiency. Five dollars will give a child the annual vitamin A dosage he or she needs throughout the crucial years of one to six.
• For $5 you can provide enough tetracycline eye ointment to treat a family suffering from trachoma. Your $25 will give a man or woman, suffering the advanced stages of trachoma, a sight saving eyelid operation.
• For 50 cents you can provide a man, woman or child in danger of river blindness with an annual dose of Mectizan. For $50 you can treat 100 people in a village where river blindness is endemic.
• For $50 you can finance the training of a national health worker. This is not only an investment in health and sight now; it is an investment in health and sight for years and generations to come.

Or you could take your spare hundred thousand dollars and get famous by 'climbing' Mount Everest. I'm sure all the kids living in abject poverty who suffer blindness as a result of vitamin A deficiency will be just so inspired by you, Erik.

Edumacation for anti-choicers

In a post by PZ Myers at Pharyngula on radical 'pro-lifers' who think that a human being exists from the moment a zygote is created:

"Diploidy is not the scientific term for ensoulment"

4WD owners more likely to break the law

"How am I supposed to get to coffee with the other housewives if I can't use my phone?"

The Guardian reports on a study by researchers from Imperial College, London, that shows people driving four-wheel drives are four times more likely to use a mobile phone while driving, and one third more likely to not wear a seat belt than people driving ordinary cars. According to the BBC's report, one in six drivers overall did not wear a seatbelt, while one in forty used their mobile while driving.

From what I see in Brisbane, the statistics would be the reverse of those figures; it's extremely common to see people holding a mobile to their ear while driving, but not so common to see someone not wearing a seatbelt. I'm not sure which is more stupid, but I guess in terms of risk to people outside the car it's more risky for the driver to use a mobile than not wear a seatbelt. If you don't wear a seatbelt it's only your own life that you're prepared to throw away.

Politicians get a pay rise

"I'm just worth more than you are!"- John Howard

Those scumbags, as is their typical modus operandi, have taken the opportunity of saturation media coverage for Australia making it into the second round of the World Cup to grant themselves a pay rise. Er, I mean the 'independent' Federal Remuneration Tribunal granted them a pay rise, a proposal they undoubtedly considered on its innumerable merits and couldn't help but pass.

From The Australian:

Pollies get their crackers

June 24, 2006

AUSTRALIA'S politicians have hit the jackpot, winning pay rises of at least $7800 a year.

The generous 6.9 per cent salary boost was quietly announced yesterday as the nation celebrated its World Cup success.

The rise is more than twice the inflation rate, which is running about 3 per cent.

A federal backbencher's salary will jump to $118,950, but senior politicians do much better.

Prime Minister John Howard scored a $20,280 pay rise, bringing his annual salary to $309,270.

The wages win follows an effective wage freeze for 1.6 million minimum-wage earners, whose annual rise will be delayed for four months.

The Federal Remuneration Tribunal posted the latest salary adjustment on its website yesterday.

Made up of a 4.4 per cent annual rise and a special 2.5 per cent rise, the adjustment will kick in on July 1 and flow to all state and federal MPs.

Premier Steve Bracks's salary will rise by $15,600 to $235,016, while state backbenchers get the basic $7800 rise, taking their pay to $109,708.

Opposition Leader Kim Beazley will pocket an extra $14,430, taking his pay to $220,057, while federal ministers take home an extra $13,455, boosting their wage to $205,188.

MPs will also benefit from income tax cuts, which offer big savings to high-income earners.

Low-paid workers got a $17 increase in June 2005, lifting their pay to $484.40.

This year, their pay will be determined by the Government's new Fair Pay Commission, which is not expected to rule until November.

ACTU secretary Greg Combet said the MPs' rises were scandalous.

"We don't know when the so-called Fair Pay Commission will give low-paid workers anything," he said. "But I bet you they won't be getting 6.9 per cent."

The Remuneration Tribunal reviews MPs' pay every year.

Last year, after securing a 4.1 per cent rise, Mr Howard said MPs deserved their high pay packets. "I do not believe the average member of Parliament - and I speak of people on both sides of this place - I do not believe members of Parliament are overpaid," Mr Howard said.

A spokesman for Mr Beazley said yesterday the pay adjustment was made at arm's length from the Parliament.

Oh yes they didn't actually get to vote themselves a pay rise this time because it's 'independent'. Not that Kim Beazley ever spoke out against a pay rise before anyway, it's just that this time he feels he has a real excuse not to. As usual, Bob Brown will probably be the only politician who thinks that they don't need a pay rise.

Funny how they never grant themselves a raise in the lead up to an election, isn't it?

If only we could treat the government like they treat ordinary workers, they'd be counting themselves lucky to still have their jobs, not receiving a fat pay rise. Look at the way people absolutely essential to the community such as nurses and teachers have to fight for a raise. It's not even as if politicians have to pay for their own expenses like ordinary people do; they receive hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in perks on top of their salaries. I've already proposed a better system for determining pay rises for politicians, and I think it's something that the majority of the Australian public would find favour with.

Politicians disgust me. I wish we could fire them all, not just exchange one lot of scumbags for another.

Go back to the cricket, ya tosser.

Just saw footage of John Howard posing for the cameras while pretending to watch the Australia-Croatia match. Dressed in a green and yellow tracksuit. Still wiping away the traces of vomit from the corners of my mouth. I bet if Australia had lost that match the footage would never have seen the light of day.

The only really bad thing about Australia making the cup is that we have to put up with seeing shit like that on the nightly news.

Update: Oh wouldn't you know it, it's in The Age as well.

A Jihad on Graham Poll

Don't look at their fit, tanned, muscular thighs: Osama makes an appearance on a well known Jihadist website.

They did it!!! Ghana and Australia BOTH through

Not rooted after all: Croatian fans with their 'Aussie' blow-up doll

Man I'm tired. I pity anyone who was brave enough to stay up the entire night. My plan was to set an alarm for 4:30am and get up for Australia vs Croatia, but then I discovered Ghana's match against the USA was on at 2am so, knowing I couldn't stay up all night I set my alarm to go off at multiple times during the night so I could run out to the TV and see the scores.

After I let Gam know that the scores in the Ghana-USA game were 2:1 at 55 minutes, he got up and watched the rest of the match while I went back to sleep, but woke me up with his whooping after Ghana got through. It's their first ever World Cup and they're through to the second round!

Now the poor bastards have to play Brazil in their first game of the round of sixteen. I'll be praying for miracles, but you can't expect a miracle against Brazil.

Then, awoken by what must have been a fellow Aussie's shouts of joy at Harry Kewell's goal, we got up in a hurry to watch what was remaining of Australia's match against Croatia. Talk about tense. We certainly didn't have any room for last minute disasters, but right after Croatia had a man sent off for a second bookable offence, Brett Emerton was sent off for his second yellow as well! Then there was some confusion as to whether Croatian player Josip Simunic had received a second yellow and stayed on the field. I'm still not sure what went on there because I didn't watch the first part of the match. Simunic received another yellow right after the whistle blew followed by a red. I'm hearing right now in the post-match commentary that it was indeed Simunic's third yellow card! Apparently there was a blatant hand ball by Croatia that was never given. Sounds like Graham Poll isn't the hottest of referees. Gam was terribly disappointed to hear he'd be refereeing Australia's match, and I guess that's why. Hardly any of the referees at this World Cup have been any good. Bring back that great bald guy with no eyebrows! Pierluigi Collina: brilliant referee. Why not bring him back? The ones this time around almost all suck.

In the second round we play Italy for our first game and hopefully not our last. Come on Aussies!!!!!!

Oasis of Peace

I was reading an SMH article on Pink Floyd founder Roger Waters' graffitiing of the segregation wall ('security barrier') in the West Bank when the mention of Neve Shalom caught my eye. I decided to Wikipedia it:

Neve Shalom/Wāĥat as-Salām is a small village founded by a brother of the Dominican order where Israeli Jews and Arabs live together (presumably without the sort of discrimination against Israeli Arabs found in the other parts of Israel where they coexist).

Of course it's the antithesis of the ideals of people whose goal for Israel is the creation of a pure Jewish state; people including the current Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

If only more of Israel were like that, it would be a better place for everyone who lives there.

So... how about that wheat contract?

"Why oh why did it have to be the Trade Minister?"- Mark Vaile


It must be hard to tell who the bad guys are in Iraq when the entire country is a cesspit of guns and violence, but I bet the Aussies are wishing they shot dead some random civilian they could pretend was an insurgent instead of one of the Iraqi trade minister's bodyguards. Oopsy.

Gam's take on the issue here.

Lewis the Hitman Sentenced to Home Detention

Do these mitts look like they're made for playin' around to you?

I actually found this kind of hilarious. It doesn't sound like Lewis actually did anyone any really serious harm, but of course being America a 'victim' sued.

Lewis, whose case has received national attention, attacked six people. One victim was Donna Greenstein, an Avon saleswoman who was dropping off a brochure for a customer near Ms Cisero's home in January 2004 when Lewis approached her. The cat was purring, she said.

"It appeared friendly," she said. "Then it leaped on my leg."

Ms Greenstein said the cat bit and clawed her, leaving four holes in her leg. She ended up suing Ms Cisero, settling the case for an undisclosed sum.

Lewis does look like a tough, if pampered, cat. There's a cat named 'Chloe' who lives in one of the units in our block, and occasionally she'll wander down into the visitor's carpark below our unit and just sit there and meow really loudly in an effort to get some attention. She's usually very friendly, but sometimes she displays exactly the same sort of behaviour: 'purrr....purrr... purrr... rreow! *chomp*' before sprinting away to avoid retailiation. Sure I've wound up with some scratches and bite marks before, but I sure as hell didn't think about suing anyone. I've always put it down to her having a weird personality. I reckon Lewis is probably somewhat similar, although it does seem like a good idea to keep him safely inside!

3 Palestinian Children Killed: Israeli Missile Hits Crowded Street

If the Israeli army was 'accidentally' bombing Israeli civilians and killing little children week after week while in pursuit of enemies, they'd be forced to change their tactics. Killing Palestinian children week after week seems perfectly acceptable to them, however. I really wonder about the state of mind of the people responsible for such killings. I guess the ones who don't wind up wracked with guilt and PTSD wind up governing the country.

Oh and please, no comments from anyone who believes that it's ok to kill Palestinian children and that Palestinians have less worth as human beings than Israelis. I wouldn't put up with comments from KKK members and neo-nazis just for the sake of argument, so I'm not sure what I was thinking wasting my time arguing with anyone who is just as bigoted and bloodthirsty, no matter how socially acceptable such views may be in the present day. Don't even bother.

Schonell Theatre: Goodbye and a hearty 'Fuck You!' to Brendan Nelson

The Schonell Theatre at UQ is going to close at the end of this week, one of the first visible victims of the Howard government's VSU at the University of Queensland. They had a big campaign back in January-February to save it, but I guess numbers weren't enough to make it viable without Union support. It's a shame. The Southbank Cinemas, though I am always effusive in my praise for them, only show mainstream movies unless they're holding a film festival, so the Schonell was the place to go for smaller movies and foreign movies. If you wanted to see them on a student budget, I mean.

I am sure the Schonell won't be the last victim of VSU. The UQ student union has up until now provided a whole host of services that most people might not ever have to use, including legal services, childcare, small student loans, advice on dealing with Centrelink (I've come close to needing that) but the fact they were there was comforting.

Then again, as the Young Liberals' pro-VSU propaganda posted at various sites around the uni proclaimed:

'VSU= 149 beers'

I guess they know the typical Liberal voter inside out, and over 60% of young Australian males did vote Liberal at the last federal election. That's the kind of 'values' they stand for.

Fuck you, Brendan Nelson.

Winter Holidays

If only my family lived here.... *sniff*

Happy Winter Solstice, everyone! Except for my bugs, that is. I've been counting down the days to Winter Solstice so I can look forward to the days getting longer and longer (and warmer!) instead of getting shorter and colder.

Of course given that today also happens to be the day I finished my exams for the semester I have two reasons to be happy.

Thursday next week Gam and I will be flying to Newcastle and subsequently will be ferried to Kempsey in my brother's car. We used to take the train, but getting up at 5am to line up at the train station with 100 or so bogans in tracksuits furiously sucking down enough nicotine to last them the trip, coupled with a sore neck from the damn awful seats on the train and the fact that at times you feel you'd be going faster if you got out and ran, well... no contest. My parents bought us some cheap seats on Virgin Blue. Thanks mum and dad! Not that they know I have a blog, but if they ever stumble across it I want them to know I'm grateful...

In the course of approximately one week we'll have three birthdays: my brother's 21st, Gam's 25th and my Grandma's 90th, we'll see my cousins for the first time in almost 3 years, hopefully take plenty of photos and having a half-decent time, all the while studiously biting my lip trying to avoid political and religious conversations (arguments) with my dad and then we'll be home!

One thing I am really looking forward to is being able to go for walks as a family. It sounds kind of trite, especially since I'm the first to acknowledge the fact that I get on much better with my family when they're on the other end of a phone line, but this will be the first time in my life that I'll have ever seen my dad able to walk more than a short distance. He had a motorbike accident when he was in his early 20s that destroyed his knee, and he only just had it replaced one year ago; he's been dependent on walking sticks my whole life, and despite his best efforts our activities as a family were sometimes constrained by his disability.
Not that he ever admitted he was disabled; it was only a short time before his knee replacement operation, when he could barely walk, that he finally gave in and got a disabled sticker for parking, despite years of haranguing by the rest of us.

Anyway, that will be nice for me. It can get a bit crowded, seeing as we'll have at least 11 people staying at the house at one time; coupled with the fact they're all religious to some degree and we don't always see eye to eye I think we'll just have to turn a deaf ear to conversations that Gam and I would normally leap boots-first into if we want to avoid stress.

We'll be taking plenty of walks on our own, too, I suspect. I love my family immensely, but usually in small doses.

Biological Disaster Mark II

The tiny specks on the inside surface of the bowl are all mites.

As if gassing my poor surinam cockroaches wasn't enough, over the past 3-4 days I have witnessed a population explosion of some kind of parasitic mite inside their bowl. When I say witnessed, I mean that millions of them have been climbing the walls of the bowl, congregating on the clingwrap over the top, and dropping off onto the table. There are so many of them that despite the fact they are practically microscopic they are visible on everything inside the bowl. They have already killed and stripped the corpses of some of the cockroaches, and the ones that are left alive, both young and mature, are covered with tiny, dust-speck-sized mites that appear to cause them great distress, and there's nothing I can do :(

Mites clustered on water drops on the clingwrap.

Pesticides called acaricides are supposed to selectively kill mites without harming insects; I was just kind of worried about using such things inside the unit because they are toxic to fish, and the last thing I want to do is accidentally poison Big Red and Armando, our two Fighting Fish. I seem to be the kiss of death for insects, I don't want to extend that capability to fish as well.

Millions of the little bastards...

The little mites must have come from the garden too, but somehow I've created conditions that are favourable to them, curse the little bastards. The fact that there are so many mites means I can't let the remaining cockroaches back into the garden in case the mites somehow manage to also wipe out the ones living there.

The photos don't do justice to the scale of destruction that the mites have wrought, but they do give you some idea of the numbers.

Ecuador wanted to lose

Ecuador's Goalkeeper for the match.

When I heard Andrew Orsatti mention last night the fact that the winner of the Ecuador-Germany match would likely avoid having to play Group B winner England in the second round, my first thought was that it was going to be a fight to the bottom. I think I was right.

Turns out Ecuador 'won' it too easily, because as a 'small' World Cup nation they already have their pride: they qualified, and you can't ask for much more than that. So Ecuador left all their best strikers in bed for a sleep in, or perhaps a German pay-per-view. Germany couldn't resist the lure of the goal, however, and failed to fight hard for second place, their 3-0 win over Ecuador placing them at the top of Group A. So now Ecuador face England, who had a walkover qualification; Let's face it, you couldn't have bought an easier group than Group B. Go Ecuador!

Germany will be up against Sweden in the second round; not really a match worth staying up for unless it's one of the 'early' (11pm) matches. Surely I can't be the only person who feels like snoozing off when Germany are playing? Nothing against Germany, just the football team. Sure, whatever they're doing works; they are winning, it just makes for pretty boring football. Last World Cup the final was one of the more boring matches of the whole competition thanks to Germany's staid brand of football and Brazil's ubiquitousness.


Still on football, I was wondering why Markus Merk didn't give Harry Kewell a red or yellow card for his 'outburst'. The SBS World Game website contains a report today that suggests that Merk's aim was to have Kewell out of the World Cup altogether, as by not carding Kewell, Merk created the possibility of a suspension lasting from two to four matches:

There are unconfirmed reports that Merk, who had hammered the Socceroos 25-9 in the foul count during the match, told Kewell after his outburst that his World Cup was over.
...
It also emerged that Merk's failure to give Kewell a yellow card or red card at the time of his outburst - which surprised most onlookers - left the Socceroo open to a possible ban of between two and four matches had FIFA decided to suspend him.

"That was really terrifying for us and we thought 'why didn't you deal with it on the paddock?'," O'Neill said.

"One match suspension, you cop it sweet. Then we saw the breadth of sanctions under Article 54 and it worried us extremely."

Heh. So are FIFA admitting, albeit tacitly, that Merk was in the wrong as well?

Harry did a bad bad thing...

Harry Kewell tears Markus Merk a new one.

Yup, Harry Kewell, the fool, may have got himself banned from Australia's next game at the World Cup for ripping into the referee after our game against Brazil.

I'm not saying Hazza didn't have a reason or two to be pissed off. In my view every 'underdog' team at this World Cup has gotten the rough end of the pineapple when it comes to refereeing decisions. It's not just one or two referees, it's just about all of them, which suggests that they're under some kind of instruction from FIFA. Gam's take on the situation is that FIFA may have been under pressure from the Italians and the French after they were unceremoniously booted out of the 2002 World Cup by underdogs South Korea and Senegal, respectively. But you don't do that to the ref. It simply doesn't do any good.

This time around there are simply too many examples of piss-poor refereeing decisions directed against a team for which people have low expectations of victory. The last match I watched was Togo vs. Switzerland, last night, and in the first half there were at least two clear penalty decisions that should have gone Togo's way, the first instance involving a Swiss player grabbing Emmanuel Adebayor around the chest as he headed the ball in the direction of goal, the second time a Swiss player swinging back a leg to trip Adebayor as he was inside the penalty box, looking to make a shot on goal. Adebayor was pissed off, no doubt about it- he went nuts with frustration after the second bad call by the referee, but he didn't go up to the referee after the match and start yelling and gesturing in his face the way Kewell did.

Just while I'm on the subject of Togo I'd like to mention Mohamed Khader: despite Togo's two losses, Khader has shown himself to be a livewire, incredibly fast and shows great agility in getting around opposition defenders, almost always following up with a spot-on shot on goal. He was great to watch. I hope we'll be seeing him again.

Back to bad refereeing: I've already mentioned the godawful decision by Massimo Busacca to issue a red card in the Ukraine vs. Spain match, but really, it happens again and again, match after match. If Gam is right and FIFA were put under pressure by Italy and France to favour the highest ranking teams, FIFA should have told them to fuck off: If Argentina are the kings of bad sportsmanship then Italy are the queens, and don't deserve the time of day from FIFA. Remember last World Cup, when South Korea's Ahn Jung-Hwan scored against Italy and was subsequently dumped by the Italian team he played for, with the club owner saying ""I am not going to pay the salary of a guy who has been the ruin of Italian soccer."? Italian football sucks; bad sportsmanship and corruption is rampant.

Back to Harry Kewell's outburst though: what a silly way to miss a match! Sure, it seemed like every time a Brazilian player hit the ground the referee would think "Oh my GOD it's Ronaldo/Ronaldinho! Free kick!". But that's been happening to every 'underdog' team paired with a much higher ranked team at this World Cup. Australia should have been expecting such treatment.

Something that did go our way, and wrongly, was the referee's failure to notice Vinnie Grella's attack on Ronaldo early in the match. It looked very much like Grella was aiming his foot at Ronaldo's knee instead of at the ball, and this apparent intention was underscored by the jab he made at Ronaldo's chest with his elbow. I find such behaviour disgusting, although I sincerely hope I'm wrong about Grella's intentions. I don't want anyone to be able to say with any justification that Australia play like thugs, and it only takes one of our players behaving like that for such suggestions to start flying. We're capable of good football, so behaviour like Grella's only detracts from it.

Now, let's go and kick Croatia's arse!! They seemed lazy against Japan, seeming to think that their draw didn't matter because we'll be easier to beat. I hope we prove them wrong!

Ghana Wooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In your face people who write off 'African football'!!!!! Ghana played a phenomenal game and beat the world number two team 2-0!!! If Czech goalie Petr Cech hadn't been such a damn phenomenon in front of goal the score would easily have been 4-0. A-mazing. Thanks to his cursed prowess as a goalie I had my heart in my mouth for the entire match, as Ghana didn't get their second goal past him until just after 80 minutes.

Worth staying up until 4am! Totally worth it! Best game of the World Cup so far!!! I still don't know how I'm going to get to sleep, my heart is still beating so fast. Awesome match! Yay Ghana!!!!!!! First World Cup ever and they score a win like that. Bloody awesome!!!!!!!

InSanity: Not worth the effort

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Drama Queens

Or

I really don't like the Argentina side. For a team that is so skillful and obviously able to win on their own merits they really like to make sure of it by cheating like hell. It's the diving: the looks of practised agony etched on their faces as they hurl themselves to the ground clutching various body parts, looking around hopefully for a penalty or a yellow card for the opposing team. Of course as soon as it's successful, up they get as good as new. I hate watching it. Sure individual players on other teams do it, but for the Argentines it's team tactics, part of their winning strategy.

On their side is the fact that the World Cup referees are more likely to rule against a team that is not favoured to win. I guess it's about risk: your decisions are less likely to be questioned if the team you ruled against had less of a chance of winning. A classic example is referee Massimo Busacca's downright wrongful decision to send off Vladislav Vaschuk in the Spain vs Ukraine match yesterday. The red card two minutes into the second half that even the Spanish looked amazed at took away any chance of a fight, and along with it any chance of a good match. Ukraine were roundly flogged 4-0, and referee Busacca's howler of a decision was given a benign half a line in The World Game website's match report.

Argentina are a great side, but as far as I'm concerned they're unwatchable as long as all the bullshit they pull is left unpunished. Once referees start issuing yellow cards for diving the whole Argentine team would probably be sent home in disgrace, but maybe they'd learn their lesson for next time and let us watch football instead of an opera.

F*** Off, Footy Show.

Not Rugby Loigue, so leave it alone.

What's with the chimpanzees that present The Footy Show on Channel 9 jumping on the World Cup bandwagon? I didn't see any green and yellow scarves around thick hairy necks before the Socceroos won something. They even sent Matthew "the Johns brother that was dropped on his head as a baby" Johns off to Germany. Gah. And John Howard, Kim Beazley and countless others all trying to squeeze their own personal drop of good publicity from the Socceroos' victory: Bugger off! I bet they didn't even watch the match.

Health risk from bad food hygiene

I may have mentioned before how shocked I was at our biology-student friend and former flatmate's complete lack of knowledge of basic kitchen hygiene. It seems that such ignorance is frighteningly common, at least in the UK.

I had always thought that things like washing your hands with soap after cutting up raw chicken and not mopping up raw chicken juice from the bench with a sponge and then leaving it unwashed in a soaking heap on the bench were common sense. Certainly basic food hygiene principles were instilled in me by my parents from a young age. I also remember the local Woolworths handing out free kitchen health and safety pamphlets on one occasion.

The survey, carried out for National Food Safety Week, found that 12% of people only change or disinfect their kitchen sponge once a month and 6% change it even less often.

...

Nearly half did not know they needed to keep their fridge at 0C to 5C to store food safely.

...

Around one in six admit to not always using separate chopping boards or only rinsing them in between chopping up raw meat and vegetables.

Our flatmate didn't seem to know all those things, though. I thought everyone knew the notorious reputation of takeaway food, too. Gam and I had no idea when our flatmate and her boyfriend bought some takeaway chinese, left the leftovers in their containers on the kitchen bench overnight and then decided to have them for lunch the next day. We would have warned them against it, had we known: our flatmate got terrible food poisoning and, always pale of skin, literally turned grey and had to go to hospital. She said she thought she was going to die, and she certainly looked like she might. Luckily she didn't, and her illness didn't last long.

Maybe they ought to teach that kind of stuff in schools. Certainly it's a life skill, and it's probably going to benefit most people more than algebra will.

Mobile Spam 'Missed Call' Scam

Scam legal until 2007: Helen Coonan

A few weeks ago I noticed a 'missed call' from what appeared to be a Sydney number. Seeing as I don't know anyone in Sydney, I decided not to call back, figuring it was a wrong number and no-one left a message. The same thing happened a couple of days later.

The Sydney Morning Herald has a possible explanation:

The mobile phone spam scam, which has been running since November last year, involves "pranking" your mobile phone - in other words, hanging up before you have time to answer the phone.

A missed-call, with a mysterious Sydney- or Melbourne-based number, is then registered on your phone.

You can either ignore the missed call, or, if curiosity gets the better of you, call the number back.

If you do this, you get put through to "Simon" who, in a chirpy, pre-recorded message, says: "Did I just call you? Then it is your lucky day today as you're a winner and you're about to collect your personal mobile content gift with the value of at least $40. And that's not all. You might also win up to $10,000. Congratulations."

To collect your "gift", which includes a range of mobile phone ringtones - you have to ring a premium 190 number charged at a minimum $2.97 a minute.

The cost of the 190 call is disclosed by DC Marketing, as required by law, but it takes almost five minutes - or about $15 worth of call time - to get the special codes required to claim the free gift.

Australian authorities say DC Marketing runs its competitions legitimately and pays out all the prizes on offer.

They also say that, at present, there is nothing they can do about missed-call marketing techniques until a new Do Not Call Register comes into effect in early 2007.

I can't be entirely sure that's what happened to me, because I have a 'second hand' number; when I first got the phone I kept getting voice messages almost every day from people at Westpac demanding that someone named 'Kevin' contact them immediately- I had to ring them twice to get my number taken off their list. So maybe 'Kevin' knew someone in Sydney. Then again if they'd wanted to speak to him that badly they probably would have left a message.

I don't give my mobile number to anyone I don't know. Not to any website, or business or even by entering a competition, because I would expect to get spammed eventually. It sucks to get spam because 'Kevin' couldn't keep his mobile number to himself!

The company running the spam, DC Marketing, threatened legal action against the excellent Whirlpool Forum for a posting on the sc/pam, so a bunch of people who call themselves the 'Four Wise Monkeys' have taken up the challenge of exposing DCM. They're supporting England in the World Cup, the bastards, but they can't be all bad.

Bring on the 'Do not call' list!

Another Stupid Ringtone: If you're lucky you won't hear it.

I heard about this on ABC Newsradio and thought it a very neat idea, despite the fact that I hate it when people live practically glued to their mobile phones. The idea? Having a high pitched noise that is out of the range of hearing of 'old' people and selling it as a ring tone to teenyboppers: a 17kHz buzz. The SMH article on the ringtone actually provides a link for those who want to test out the noise, warning those 'over 20' that unless they have very good hearing they won't be able to hear it. I'm over 20 and I could hear it; our TV makes a higher-pitched noise than that, which is why I can't stand to have it switched on with the volume right down. The high pitched noise it makes just drives me nuts.

I really hope people at uni don't start using it as a ringtone... in my favour is the likelihood that they've all destroyed their hearing by listening to their iPods too often to be able to hear the stupid thing.

Hear it here.

Or maybe not.

AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE: World Cup- Won One!!!

'Sonic Hair' Naohiro Takahara: helped Japan steal a goal

Australia vs Japan, 3-1. That's not the whole story. Australia were flat right from the moment Japan scored in the 26th minute, after a promising start. Guus Hiddink made a pretty piss-poor choice in having Harry Kewell on for the entire match, as Kewell looked exhausted from the start and failed to make any interesting play. Luke Wilkshire was utterly useless, a liability, but Hiddink didn't sub him off until well into the second half. Josh Kennedy put his heart into it right after replacing Craig Moore on the field, but it wasn't until John Aloisi came on with less than 10 minutes to go that things really turned around for us. I'm not sure what Hiddink was thinking; it was incredibly frustrating to see quality players like Kennedy and Aloisi left on the bench until the last minute.

Tim Cahill scored the first goal in the 84th minute, Australian fans having lost heart long beforehand. It was a bit of a limp effort, but it counted and seemed to give the Socceroos some heart, and the second goal from Cahill followed soon after; a real goal this time. Then, in the 92nd minute John Aloisi drove one home past the unfortunate Japanese keeper Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi, my favourite player on the Japanese team. The score really belies his talent, because he made some very solid saves throughout the match, despite Australia's overall scrappy form.

We may have played like crap, but Japan didn't deserve their goal. Nakamura put the ball forward while another (the SMH reports Naohiro Takahara, the guy with Sonic-the-Hedgehog hair) bowled his body into Mark Schwarzer's as he stretched to make what looked like a sure save. Mark looked absolutely steamed at the Egyptian referee's decision to allow the goal. It was a shit decision, no doubt about it. Another point chalked up for my argument that video refereeing should be allowed in football. Decisions like that really drag the game down.

Speaking of dragging the game down, Australia still aren't entirely clean. There was some very deliberate pushing going on, albeit on both sides, which I never like to see.

I'll finish with a shoutout to Guus:

WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING PUTTING LUKE WILKSHIRE AND HARRY KEWELL ON AHEAD OF CAHILL, SKOKO, ALOISI, KENNEDY OR STERJOVSKI????

Oh, and Mark Viduka was pretty crap too. We almost lost. We were lucky. I didn't expect a better outcome to this match, but I did expect to see more consistent play throughout and better decisions from Hiddink. You can never ever expect to rely on getting three goals in the last 8 minutes of match time.

Suicide Detainee 'Was to be freed'

Mani Shaman Turki al-Habardi al-Utaybi was one of 141 prisoners that the US had planned for release. He had not been told of his impending freedom because the US had not decided which country he would be sent to.

Having committed an 'act of war' and 'a good PR move' by killing himself in despair just shows that Mani al-Utaybi was a dangerous man who didn't deserve to be freed anyway, I guess.

The Day I made a Biological Gas Chamber

Returning to normal, 15 minutes after clingwrap removal.

I've posted once before about the small cockroaches that inhabit our back garden. In summer they overran the entire garden- they would demolish a whole banana overnight, and you could literally scoop up handfuls of the little creatures. I even took to placing the corpses of the icky regular house cockroaches in the garden and watching the garden roaches demolish them, leaving only the wings.

As soon as the nightly temperatures started dropping below 15-16ºC, however, they started dying en masse, so the population has dropped dramatically. About the time that they started dying off we began getting visits from a fledgling butcherbird (I think it's a butcherbird) who enjoys being thrown cockroaches to eat (and then hoiking up balls of bug skeleton afterwards).

Worried that we might eventually run out of bugs as the nights continue to get colder, I filled a large fish bowl with some dirt and a small amount of favourite bug food (a few cat biscuits, some vegetable peelings) and proceeded to stock it with the cockroaches before sitting it on our living room table. For a while I left the bowl uncovered, but as I've been sitting at the table and studying for days on end, I began to find the 'dirt' smell somewhat of a distraction. So I put in a few sprouted grasses grown from birdseed and covered the bowl with clingwrap. Before long there was a pleasing amount of condensation forming, and the temperature inside was a couple of degrees warmer than even the temperature inside our unit.

Then early yesterday I noticed that some very small, thin white worms had crawled up the side of the glass. A few hours later I noticed a cockroach had emerged to run around on the surface of the dirt. I decided that it must be because the cockroach was enjoying the warm climate I'd created inside the bowl. Another cockroach emerged, then another one. A black and white millipede emerged from hibernation to run around the bowl. I almost felt like a god, creating a little bug paradise.

I went to watch the football matches being replayed on SBS.

Afterwards, maybe two hours later, I returned to the table for some more study, and I noticed that numerous cockroaches were sitting on the surface of the dirt, apparently dead. An earthworm was climbing the side of the bowl, obviously trying to escape. More earthworms lay on the surface of the dirt, also not moving. They were young and translucent so I could see their insides pulsating and knew they were still alive, just. Some of the little white worms on the side of the bowl appeared to have also stopped moving. The centipede was lying still.

Oops.

Numerous unhappy worms.

I removed the clingwrap from the top of the bowl and picked up one of the cockroaches; it was still alive and appeared to perk up a bit after a few seconds. Most of the cockroaches started to wave their antennae around a little bit once the clingwrap had been taken off, and after a few minutes the earthworm that had been halfway up the wall of the glass bowl was nowhere to be seen, having burrowed back into the dirt. One of the cockroaches was dead. The rest were kind of sluggish.

Oops.

This morning I watered the grass inside the bowl and one of the previously almost-dead cockroaches emerged and started running around agitatedly, 100% improved on last night. All but the deceased one had gone back under the dirt.

Three unhappy cockroaches.

The only thing I could guess was that there must be an enormous number of bacteria breaking down the food I put in for the cockroaches, and their respiration used up all the oxygen in the bowl. It's a big bowl, so it wasn't a possibility I'd considered. Now the clingwrap is only covering three quarters of the bowl, and there haven't been any escape attempts so I figure everything is back to normal.

For any bug-nerds who are interested, I think the cockroaches are the exotic Surinam cockroach; the females are able to reproduce through parthenogenesis. They are not considered a pest in Australia, but they did become a pest in our small garden over summer because they began to eat the roots off my parsley plants when their numbers became too great.

FIFA World Cup 2006: Pathetic First Match for Poms

The World Cup comes at a most inconvenient time for Gam and I, seeing as end-of-semester exams started yesterday for Gam, and my first will be on Tuesday. We'll still be watching as much as we can, but with matches starting at 10:30pm, 1:30am, and 4:30am, I don't hold out much hope of being able to see as many as we'd like until after we're both finished in 10-11 days' time. Bloody time zones.

We watched England vs Paraguay last night, and both teams were as limp as hot lettuce. The Paraguayans played as if they'd only just put the team together the night before and had yet to find a coach. They scored an own goal before 5 minutes were up, and scrambled all over the pitch until first half was up. It's a miracle England didn't score again (and again) in the first half, Paraguay were simply so bad. I wanted to barrack for Paraguay, because I always like to cheer for the underdog, but it was a hopeless cause. There was no pluck. I fell asleep in front of the TV before the match ended, but I didn't miss anything.

I did miss the two more exciting matches of the night: Trinidad & Tobago held Sweden to a nil-all draw, and of the two teams came closest to scoring. That's a fine result for the first timers T&T, who are the smallest nation ever to qualify. Ivory Coast managed to score a goal against Argentina, finishing 2-1 down, which is nonetheless a good result from them. I only wish that one of those two matches had been played at 10:30pm instead of bloody England vs. Paraguay. That was not World-Cup football.

Update: Watched the Argentina-Ivory Coast replay on SBS a short while ago. Argentina are dirty players and they deserved to lose. By contrast, Ivory Coast were exemplary in their lack of diving, shirt-pulling and dirty tactics. Even in the best teams there is usually some of that going on, but Ivory Coast played by the book. What a contrast. I hope Argentina are flogged in their next match. Bastards. Dirty play really lowers the quality of the game.

I found myself wishing that the Aussies had been lucky enough to be drawn against a walk-over team like Paraguay. As it is, drawn against Japan, Brazil and Croatia, we seem to be the weakest link. Then again, Guus Hiddink has worked miracles to get them there, so it would be wrong to write them off.

Besides, Australia being the underdogs gives me one more reason to cheer for them.

World Cup match timetable-wallchart.

Triple Suicide 'Act of War'

Upon hearing the news of three prisoners of the US at Guantanamo bay had hanged themselves, my first thoughts were "the bastards- they just did it to make the US look bad". Guantanamo Bay prison camp commander, Rear Admiral Harry Harris agrees with me. Many people are under the misapprehension that factors such as despair, and having no hope for the future can lead a person to suicide. Rear Adm. Harris sets the record straight:

They are smart. They are creative. They are committed... They have no regard for life, either ours or their own. I believe this was not an act of desperation, but an act of asymmetrical warfare waged against us.

Indeed. What you don't see are the deep wounds suffered by the US as a result of these suicides, er, acts of warfare. That's how clever these men were. They must have known that the regard for human life held by the US is so high that three suicides would cause them crippling anguish.

So these suicides do not in any way detract from the 'report' on Guantanamo Bay by US Senator Bob Bennett who declared that the biggest problem facing the prisoners there is getting fat from all the fantastic food they're served. Besides, who would want to kill themselves when they've got Harry Potter?