Just apologise.

Kevin Andrews' so-called 'evidence' against Dr Mohamed Haneef continues in the vein of the government's "He had a one-way ticket, he's a Muslim, therefore it's suspicious" line that it's been flogging since the beginning of the affair.

Andrews proclaimed

I will not, however, release the full ... protected material as I've been advised by the commissioner of the Australian Federal Police that this would have the effect of prejudicing or jeopardising further investigations.

More likely it will further jeopardise the government's position.

Mr Andrews said Dr Haneef had not applied for leave from the hospital until after he had received two phone calls, including one from India, in which he was told there was an issue with his SIM card.

"The whole circumstances surrounding Haneef's attempted hasty departure from Australia, including chat room conversations, when viewed against his clear prior association with the Ahmed brothers, led me to form a reasonable suspicion as required by the migration legislation," Mr Andrews said.

The fact Haneef applied for leave suggests that he had every intention of coming back. Why is that worth suspicion? Oh, wait, he's a muslim, he's automatically an object of suspicion. No wonder the government is so bewildered at the public reaction over this- the public usually get into a real lather every time the anti-muslim dog whistle is blown.

Haneef is adamant that he wants his visa returned so he can return to work in Australia. The government are adamant they're not going to return it, despite the politically motivated charge of 'recklessly' supporting terrorism not holding up. I suppose if Haneef had said he was never coming back (which would be entirely reasonable, given his treatment here) the government would be calling that suspicious too.

The government's actions have, predictably, resulted in a travesty of justice. Let's hope that their actions in further smearing the character of an innocent man will backfire as badly as the rest of their attempts over the last month or so.

Meanwhile, the international image of Australia becomes more and more tarnished, thanks to the Howard government's actions.

Where the bloody hell are you?

Jailed on a flimsy charge in a fucking Aussie prison cell under their draconian anti-terror laws, ya mug!

101 Uses for a John Howard

Magic Bellybutton linked to the site 101 Uses for a John Howard in a recent post of hers, but honestly, it's so good I had to link to it here.

I particularly like the pre-emptive piggy bank and inflatable love doll posts.

Prostitution Would've Been More Dignified

Barbara Bennett, makes more than you do and probably has a very nice AWA.

BUFFED and coiffed, with the tightly wired friendliness of an actress on Desperate Housewives, Barbara Bennett is the soft-focus spruiker of the Federal Government's industrial relations hard sell.

The director of the Workplace Authority, Ms Bennett is now appearing in lounge rooms across Australia, turning the idea of public service independence on its ear by taking part in the prime-time multimillion-dollar television, print and radio advertising blitz aimed at countering the ACTU's apparently successful "your rights at work" campaign.

Her participation has annoyed public servants and incensed Labor figures so much that she would be unlikely to survive in the event of a Labor victory in the election.

Ms Bennett has worked in Canberra's corridors of power since she joined the workforce 25 years ago, and lives a stone's throw from Parliament House in a home in Forrest, Canberra's most expensive suburb, with her husband, Stephen Anderson, a political lobbyist, and their two teenage daughters. The couple are renovating their home, and Canberra wags have suggested she needed the pay rise to pay the builders.

Well I don't know about you but this woman's life experience TOTALLY SPEAKS TO ME!!! I too have worked in corridors and live in a house, well unit, but still! I'm sure she'll tell us more about how she manages her work and family thanks to her shiny, lemon scented AWA in a glossy magazine article that's no doubt rushing to print!

"WORKChoices is something I believe in very much or else I wouldn't have accepted the job," she said. "Young people are very much the target of the campaign, and we know they watch television, and so this is a way of reaching them."

SMH

Them newfangled moving pichurs is all the rage with the youngfolk nowday. Look at that, she believes in WORKchoices so much she even signed up to do it for free! (for given values of free and believe). I wonder how much she's being paid to be the govt.'s bukkake buddy? Must be a lot!

Meanwhile, in real life:

THE Federal Government has intensified pressure on universities to use Australian Workplace Agreements, with a new threat to withhold funding if they do not further embrace the employment contracts.

The Education Department has sent a memo to the University of New England advising it to adjust its policies so it has the power to offer jobs solely via AWAs, instead of giving employees the choice of a collective agreement. The university has until August 31 to comply.

Universities were required to offer AWAs to all staff last year when the Federal Government tied $400 million in funding to their compliance with certain workplace provisions, known as the Higher Education Workplace Relations Requirements.

But only 3 per cent of staff have taken up the offer, and the Federal Government's rhetoric about providing employees with "choice" appears to have backfired, with the Minister for Education, Julie Bishop, asking universities to reconsider the clause in their enterprise bargaining agreements that says staff can choose between collective agreements and AWAs.

SMH

Hang on workers! Ms Bennett's just getting the semen out of her armour and trying to remember where she left the horse.

Pervert Priest

First of all here's the vid.



The SMH got this wrong in their report, talking only to the priest, even though they supposedly watched the video. They said the kids had called him a paedophile.

The video starts out with Reverend Monsignor Geoff Baron, Dean of Melbourne's St Patrick's Cathedral, telling one of the boys that he's "Stained with the sperm of all these boys that fuck you." An odd response from an adult being called a paedophile by a bunch of teenagers. Cute little obsession with talking graphically about homosexual sex with kids. Totally not a rock spider.

The SMH also left out the part where he physically assaulted one of the kids. He also goes on to racially abuse them, for having funny eyes and 'dark hair'. He also told the SMH the language he used came from the depth of his heart, which is comforting, maybe that's where Jebus used to live? Could have also tried to find some of the kids involved for, y'know, their side of the story?

Of course he's sorry, that he got caught. "The only thing I did see was me being surrounded by these kids and I looked like a kind of a hunted animal being yapped at by jackals and hyenas," and didn't apologise to the kids, because he's an adult and well, adults don't do things like that. The good news is he's the dean of the cathedral in the background so bring your kids for mass and handy hints on how to get multiple sperm stains out of your clothes.

The behaviour of the children is irrelevant as far as I'm concerned. Adults are expected to set an example, especially those who volunteer for careers in being professional moral examples and arbiters of the same. He could have asked them to move along and gone back in to call the police if they didn't. Instead he chose to hit them and give them an impromptu sex ed lesson.

Thanks to this blog [slackbastard] for linking to the YouTube vid instead of the SMH's crappy, Linux unfriendly media section.

'Diary' entry- first impressions

I did my first stint 'at work' on Thursday. Went in to Woolworths just before 10am and spent the next 6 hours standing in the biscuit aisle, painstakingly copying down the barcodes, nutrition information, allergen declarations, ingredients and country of manufacture for various sweet biscuits. I was wearing 3 layers up top and knee-high socks under my jeans, but it was still bone-chillingly cold. My fingernails turned blue and my hands were painful and stiff.

When I went for training last Tuesday, my supervisor told me that most data collectors manage to fill in about 9 templates per hour. By the time I thought it would be appropriate to take a break, after about 3-3.5 hours work, I'd managed only 14. I decided not to take the break. I'm not sure if that's because a lot of the biscuits had far more ingredients than, say yoghurt or pasta, or if it's because the people who managed to complete 9 templates per hour were the same guys she referred to as having illegible handwriting and lots of errors in their work, but I worked my arse off for 6 hours straight and only managed 38 templates. By the time Gam came to pick me up, he was pretty annoyed that I'd been gone so long and hadn't taken a break for lunch or even a drink.



Gam had the bright idea of taking our camera in to photograph the nutrition panels etc. and then fill out the templates at home. That's what I did today. I managed just over 20 products in half an hour, with 3 photos necessary per product; unfortunately our 256MB memory card isn't enough to hold any more photos than that, or I would have done a few more and saved myself from going in tomorrow. Filling out the templates won't be nearly as tedious when I can do them at a table in a warm room instead of standing in a cold supermarket!

Lesson learned from work so far? Don't buy el cheapo biscuits. Buy expensive ones half as often or make them yourself. In general, the cheaper the biscuits were, the more numerous and undesirable the ingredients (prefer 'vegetable and/or beef fat' in the ingredients list for your choc-chip biscuits, or plain, honest 'butter'?). Cheap biscuits tended to have ingredients lists twice as long as their premium counterparts, with many of the ingredients scarcely recognisable as food. Gross.

===============================

Also had my first classes on Wednesday and Friday. The Torres Strait Islander Studies class was interesting- it mostly consisted of an introduction to the lecturers/course coordinators, but I did learn one thing (which in hindsight seems obvious, but serves to remind me how little I know about the Torres Strait Islands and their people): apart from the creole there are two different indigenous languages spoken on the islands. Our lecturer, a Torres Strait Islander, said that English was her third language. I only learned that the creole is the everyday language there when I was in highschool and became friends with a kid who, with his family, stopped off in the Kempsey area to visit our parish priest who had worked on Thursday Island before coming to Kempsey. He was one of a bunch of Torres Strait Islanders who had performed at the 2000 Sydney Olympics opening ceremony. At that point I'd had 12 years of school, during which I'd learned (time and time again) all about how Captain Cook discovered Australia (he didn't), and yet I knew nothing about this group of people who'd been living here for thousands of years before he arrived. I still effectively know nothing about the place or the people.

We were told the format will be different from the traditional 'lecturer talks, students listen' format; there is a major assignment in the form of an essay, but there seems to be no exam. The remaining assessments take the form of a diary (something like what I'm writing here, perhaps?) and something called 'triad learning', which is a concept unfamiliar to me, and apparently to the other students in the class. There is a big emphasis on 'respect', particularly with regard to not missing classes, being late or leaving early, which poses a problem for me because of a timetable clash with my weekly 1 hour food microbiology practical follow-up. A lot of the guest speakers/lecturers will be elders from the local Torres Strait Islander community, and I think in this case respect for the elders will have to take precedence over respect for my microbiology lecturer's timetable.

Food microbiology sounds really interesting too- the one I'm taking is mostly focused on pathological microorganisms in food; there is a follow-on subject, but not one I'll be taking, seeing as I graduate this semester. The lecturer is a young guy who seems very enthusiastic about what he's teaching, which always makes for interesting lectures. A $108 textbook is required for this course.

Finally, a good excuse for my mouldy tinned tomato photos...

Nutrition, health and disease, on the other hand, is the subject I thought I'd enjoy most this semester, but after the first lecture I'm pretty sure I was wrong. We have a lecturer from Germany new to the faculty... she received her PhD or whatever in the US, but it didn't make her lecture any more interesting. She just droned out pretty much exactly what was written in the lecture notes, which themselves weren't particularly good. Luckily we have a different person taking the tutorials, an Indian lady who seems much more personable. I'm not suggesting that a lecturer needs to have a great personality to be good at their job- (one of the best lecturers I've ever had pretty much lacked personality altogether, but was still phenomenally good at his job), but an ability to communicate enthusiasm for their area of expertise is crucial, I think. I have a feeling most of my learning for Nutrition, health & disease will come from the textbook this semester.





The textbook is $98.95 and I pre-ordered from the UQ Bookshop when I went in to buy one and found they didn't yet have stock. I should have known better... they told me they wouldn't put in a special order as they were getting a shipment of them shortly. A friend who preordered a couple of days before I did received her book before the first lecture on Friday. I went in on Saturday, only to be told the book was not available yet. QU Books didn't have anything listed for the subject code all of last week, but they do now: $89.95. Too bad I've pre-paid for mine. If they don't email me to let me know it's in on Monday I think I'll go and get my money back: for the $89.95 plus $3-$4 I could get the damn book delivered to my door from QU books.

Howard government ducks responsibility for Haneef case

There's a good post up at Talk It Out on the Mohamed Haneef saga.

Let's take a look at some of the government's outrageous attempts to duck responsibility:

1. "We didn't detain him"

Perhaps the best example is the statement by Howard "The detention of the man was undertaken by the police and not at the request or direction or encouragement of the Government".

How stupid does Howard think we are? Haneef was granted bail and was to be released, until the government (via one of its ministers - Kevin Andrews) intervened and used its immigration powers to detain Haneef. I do not propose to repeat my previously expressed views about Andrews' action, but given that this action was taken, and apparently taken after discussions between Andrews and other members of the government, it is extraordinary that Howard would say that the government was not responsible for Haneef's detention!

More here.

Bush stone curlews

One of the things I love about UQ is that wildlife can pop up in the strangest of places. Near a building I have many of my classes in, there is a carpark. In the tiny strip of native shrubs between the carpark and grassed areas there are a bunch of bush stone curlews. If you get too close, they lean their heads forward and make a kind of wheezing, groaning noise. If they're nesting, one will try and draw you away from the nest, while the other groans at you. At night we can hear their eerie calls from our place- their big, owlish eyes are a function of their nocturnal habits.

Haneef freed, vindicated

Here's something no-one everyone but the Howard government saw coming- Mohamed Haneef is innocent of not only the trumped-up 'recklessly supporting terrorism by giving his cousin a SIM-card' charge, but of all the insinuation and smear that the Howard government have indulged in at his expense over the past 3 weeks.

Even now, they're offering no apologies and refusing to reinstate his work visa, despite clearly being in the wrong since the very beginning.

The minister's power not to reveal why he had ruled someone was of bad character had always been an issue for migration lawyers, said Nicholas Poynder, who has 15 years' experience in migration law. "But it is difficult to get public sympathy for treatment of non-citizens."

The case of the Gold Coast doctor has brought ministerial decision-making to the fore. "Haneef's case is the perfect storm. In all probability, it appears this guy is innocent, so we see the migration powers misused - not to make a proper decision as to whether he's of good character, but to hide behind a weak case," Mr Poynder said. "There is always a risk broad discretions with no accountability will get misused."

The Minister for Immigration, Kevin Andrews, has consistently said his decision to cancel Dr Haneef's visa on character grounds was "an entirely separate matter" to criminal charges under the anti-terrorism laws, which were dropped yesterday.

[...]

Mr Poynder said he had had experience with protected documents affecting cases. "I have had several, and know of several more, where under freedom of information or through error, the documents [used in the case and] protected under s503 A (2c) have come to light. When you see [them, they are] nothing. All the minister has been doing is protecting a weak case from disclosure."

[...]

The discretionary powers under the Migration Act were introduced in 1998 by the then minister, Philip Ruddock, with assurances they would be used sparingly. "What's happened is they have been used regularly … to overcome a decision the minister doesn't like, such as Haneef's bail case," Mr Poynder said.

"This power has … been misused for a long time … It's only the toxic cocktail of anti-terror laws and extraordinary migration powers which has shone a light on these provisions now."

Also note that now charges have been dropped, the SMH has switched from using their 'terrorist Haneef' icon, to a little crop of 'tourist Haneef'.

lolhoward

JOHN HOWARD has issued an unusual warning saying that Work Choices laws would disappear forever if he was voted out at this year's federal election.

In a speech to a Perth business audience yesterday, the Prime Minister said "the choice is a very stark one".

"If we are defeated at the end of the year, if the Labor Party wins, then the industrial relations laws will be reversed, those reforms will be buried with all the damage involved," he said. "Those reforms will be buried and they will be buried lock, stock and barrel."

SMH

But John, that's the whole idea! Glad to see you're catching on.

Emo Kitty

When I was searching for a second Hello Kitty wedding picture to accompany the first, I came across this emo/goth Hello Kitty. I thought s/he needed a little addition to be a proper emo, but apart from the razorblade it's all the work of someone else.

The wedding beast

My Mum and Dad phoned me earlier. The reason? The wedding! I swear, they are so much more into this wedding planning stuff than I am, particularly Mum. Except that even when I'm settled on an idea, she keeps coming up with new ones.

This time it was clear she'd been conspiring with Auntie Anne. She asked me if there was a chaplain at uni who could do the ceremony. I said something along the lines of "Mum, I told you I didn't want a religious ceremony!". She replied that Auntie Anne suggested it as a way of placating Grandma, which perhaps is true, but it's no doubt Auntie Anne's way of sneaking a bit of religion into the ceremony to satisfy her own religious leanings. Once I'd given Mum the impression that I don't particularly care that not having a religious ceremony will upset Grandma (it's a matter of degrees as to how upset she gets anyway, so it won't make a difference). Seeing that her entreaties were having no effect, Mum tried a different tack: "Well, I'd like a few religious words in the ceremony too...". I don't even know how I managed to change the subject, but the only way I'd consider having any vaguely religious ceremony is if my priest friend Dale happened to be in the country at the time and available to marry us- and that would probably upset everyone because he's gay. Actually, that's not true- Mum loved Dale, but even she has expressed the old offensive "being gay is a choice" line when the topic has come up.

Then somehow we got onto the subject of having the wedding in Kempsey/South West Rocks- a notion I thought I'd firmly dispelled months ago. For some reason the fact I'd like Gam's parents to visit the area meant that we should have the wedding there. Huh?

Thankfully Dad has his head screwed on right, reminding Mum that it's our wedding... I have to say though, I feel like a real bridezilla saying "No, I want things the way I decide"... which is actually 'we' decide, but Gam doesn't have to deal with Mum so much! On the other hand, Gam and I live here, there's better facilities in Brisbane, and most members of my family can better afford to travel to Brisbane than our friends can afford to travel to Kempsey.

Mum and Dad are way, way ahead of me on the small details. I figured I'd sort things like flowers, cakes and invitations out after I'd booked a celebrant, a reception venue, and started having a dress made. Apparently that's not the way things are done- I was asked if I'd decided on what kind of paper the invitations were going to be printed on! I thought I was well ahead of things by getting my cousin Rach to work on a design for the invites- I hadn't considered what kind of paper to use!



They also asked me where we were going to get the cake made and what kind of cake we were getting, and what kind of flowers! My god... Mum did give me tip from one of her customers though- don't tell the florist you want a 'bouquet', ask for 'a bunch of flowers', because when the florist hears 'bouquet' they'll add $100 on to the price. Well. I'm not a florist so I don't know how true that is (probably true enough) but I'd already planned on asking a florist what they can do for me with Australian flowers- I don't think I would have used the word 'bouquet' anyway.It's not like we're planning anything over-the-top. I suppose they are right- I've let an awful lot of months slip by without actually doing anything, so it's probably well I've got them there to remind me of all the crap that needs doing to make the event happen.

Finally they asked where we were planning on going after the wedding. Um- back to work? We can't afford a honeymoon! I'm sure we'll have a honeymoon one day, but given that we don't buy scratch-its or play lotto I think we'll have to rely on good old-fashioned hard work before we can afford one. Living alone and without a flatmate is a big enough luxury for the time being.

Get sick and get paid!

Why can't a trial like this come along when I'm actually sick? I used to get multiple colds per year and it was awful, but the last couple of years I've hardly been seriously sick at all. This must be one of the easiest trials ever- most only pay anywhere near $500 if there are multiple overnight stays in hospital involved. Far be it from me to wish I could get sick, but I bet I'll only catch something once the study is over. Grrr...

The Australian Clinical Research Organisation has a large number of positions available for a trial for persons exhibiting cold or flu like symptoms. If you do not currently have any cold/flu symptoms but later develop them, please sign up for the trial at this time via the form at http://www.rewardsforresearch.com.

This trial requires an initial nasal swab (approx. 30 mins), from which it will be determined whether the patient has RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Virus - ie. common cold-like virus) or the flu (a more severe virus). Regardless of the diagnosis, you will be reimbursed $20 for your time at this stage. If you have the RSV infection, you will be asked to provide four 50ml blood samples (approx. 30-45 mins), each approximately 28 days apart, as outlined at http://www.rewardsforresearch.com. Upon completion you will receive a further $400 compensation, or $100 per blood sample.

I'm here to check your pipes...

Get this- I just got home from uni, about to get ready to go in to work, when I heard a knock on the door. I was expecting Gam home from clinic at Ipswich around 2pm, and I figured maybe he'd got home a bit early, so I opened the door.

It was the plumber. I forgot we'd told our resident managers that the plumber was welcome to pop by whenever he was in the complex in the course of fixing the problem with the hot water we've been having lately.

He made a beeline for the bathroom where the valve he's supposed to change is. The bathroom is kind of messy, but I didn't worry too much.

Until I saw that one of my vibrators that Gam had removed from the cupboard for some reason was sitting upright on the bathroom sink. It took the plumber a while to notice, but once he did, he couldn't stop darting a look at it from the corner of his eyes every couple of seconds. I had to try and stop myself from laughing and carry on the conversation, pretending nothing happened.

He's in there right now changing the valve, with my vibrator perched above his head... I don't know who would be more embarrassed by this, but I reckon I know what his story to his mates at the pub will be this week... and the latter half of the story will no doubt consist of speculation about what was interrupted by the knock on the door (nothing this time, I swear!).

Now I'm wondering how many of our other toys are in the bathroom cupboard that contains the pipe with the valve he's working on. Oh dear...

Update: it's worse than I thought- there are at least *two* more vibrators in that cupboard. Or rather I should say 'were'. Despite the plumber declining my previous offer to clear out the cupboard, he obviously decided it was necessary, and among all the soaps, shampoos and toiletry bags I can see two more vibrators poking out of the pile- a bit difficult to miss given that one's bright green and the other bright purple.

I am officially the more embarrassed of us both, now. A little warning would be nice in the future!

Minimum wage rise in US

A small news item from the AP that I just read in the New York Times:

The minimum wage rises 70 cents to $5.85 an hour today, the first increase in a decade. It ends the longest period without an increase since the federal minimum wage was enacted in 1938. The last previous increase came in September 1997. Legislation signed in May increases the wage 70 cents each summer until 2009, when it will reach $7.25 an hour. Government figures show about 1.7 million people earned $5.15 or less per hour in 2006. A person working 40 hours a week at the current minimum wage of $5.15 makes about $10,700 a year. A raise to $5.85 an hour would increase that to $12,168 a year before taxes. An increase to $7.25 would raise that to just over $15,000 a year.

Australians would do well to continue to bear in mind just how much John Howard idolises America and the way that businesses there are much more free to screw over their workers. Anyone wanting a minimum wage of $5.85 should vote for John Howard. Anyone else who votes for him must have rocks in their head.

Government thuggery, Union 'thuggery'

When I saw the headline 'Policy on thuggery a joke: Hockey', I initially thought he must have been referring to the way the government has treated Dr Mohamed Haneef.

Of course, I was wrong. He was rabbiting on about 'teh unions' again.

From the WTF files:

From Google Analytics today:

i've been using parsley to terminate pregnancy and nothing happens what should you do?

And in case you think they're the only person crazy enough to try that, think again. "Insert parsley into the vagina"- are you fucking kidding me?

Joke of the Week

George Bush had a colonoscopy a couple days ago, the doctors removed 5 polyps and john howards glasses.

Pinched from a comment on Johnny's YouTube video on climate change. That thing is a goldmine.

Test Run

We're trialling anonymous comments for a week. If all goes well, we'll leave it. Got any defamatory stuff on Peter Beattie? Got paid for sex by Michael Costa? Our comments await.

Kev, NO-ONE CARES!

Kevin, ya boofhead-

It didn't work last election, so what makes you think it will work now?

I'm referring of course to the weak-arsed 'a vote for Howard is a vote for Costello' scare that the ALP still haven't learned their lesson on from the last couple of elections. There are plenty of real issues to attack the government on, and this is not one of them. Voters don't really give a shit.

Political cowardice isn't the way to win elections. We're going to need to see strong attacks on Howard's policies if the ALP is to effectively overcome the government rather than barely stumble over the line. I would have hoped that the ALP and their highly paid 'strategists' would have learned that targeting Costello over Howard and wasting precious advertising dollars on doing so was one of their biggest mistakes. With the public attitude so negative towards Howard, it boggles the mind that the ALP would think that now is the time for a small-target approach.

Yesterday, the Opposition Leader, campaigning in Launceston in northern Tasmania, said there was a mood for change in Australia and "it is time for Mr Howard to go".

But Mr Rudd, who has been criticised for agreeing with Mr Howard on the arrest of Dr Haneef, faced environmental protesters in Launceston last night angry about a Tasmanian pulp mill and accusing Mr Rudd of being "John Howard's echo" and "Kim Beazley the Second".

They're right: the way the Labor party is being run lately it's like having Kim Beazley in charge again. And that's a big mistake.

Also in The Australian today:

Rudd travelled to Tasmania to expunge from Labor's forest policy any lingering traces of eau de Latham, the nose-turning, girlie-green odour that delivered the entire lumberjack vote plus a couple of seats to the Coalition in 2004. Labor's new policy is now essentially the Government's.

"What is the difference?" asked a befuddled reporter, prompting Rudd to babble about long-term impacts, proper strategies and getting the science right.

The real answer, however, was: "Hardly anything."

I heard that exchange broadcast on ABC Newsradio. Rudd did a Howard and waffled out a whole heap of whole heap of stuff without even saying anything, carefully staying 'on message' by repeating "getting the science right" about 500 times. Sure, it's 'clever', as Rudd might like to call it, but it's not smart.

'Diary' entry- study, work

After making some enquiries about whether my choice of an elective this semester will have any bearing on my chances of doing honours next year, I've swapped my public health subject for a Torres Strait Islander studies subject. The first class is tomorrow and I'm really looking forward to it. If we ever move up north to work it may just come in handy, too.

The only other thing the lecturer I sought advice from suggested was a health research methodology subject- statistics based. I know I'm going to need to know that sort of stuff if I do a masters in public health nutrition in a few years, but I just couldn't stomach a stats subject unless it was absolutely necessary. Sure, it's probably better than the stats subject I completed last year that was based around a horrid little piece of software called Minitab, but I still think I'd rather eat dirt.

I also had my 'training' for work today, and came away with a massive bundle of templates to fill in with all the information on the packaging of various food products. I asked a bit about the company I'm working for- apparently they're making a new database to replace (or rival) AusNut, which I used for one of my subjects last year in completing a three day food intake record. AusNut has numerous limitations, particularly the fact that it is based around generic food descriptions that ignore differences between brands. Apparently the database will be available online for consumers to compare products "at a price".

I won't be having much contact with the people I'm working for, other than sending in sheafs of completed templates each week; most of the people in the office seemed fairly young, apart from one 50-something guy, but I don't miss having a formal 'workplace'- it will be really handy to have flexible hours.

Subwoofers may make substandard neighbours

A special Star Wars Nerd subwoofer

Clover Moore is onto a very sensible idea with her idea to place restrictions on people using subwoofers that disturb their neighbours. Noise pollution is a very big deal and can really affect peoples' lives, as small a problem as it might sound. I'm glad we don't have neighbours into regularly playing excessively loud music, but I feel for those who do.

I know Sydney laws will probably have little bearing on Brisbane, but I love Moore's idea of putting restrictions on the use of leafblowers too. Ordinary leafblowers are horrid enough, but there's one particular gardening franchise around here that makes a noise like a jet engine. I figure the guy who uses it must already be hearing impaired or something, because it is painfully loud.

Japan targets pregnant whales for 'science'

Why does Australia even proclaim that it has an 'Australian Whale Sanctuary' in Antarctic waters if we're too gutless to do anything apart from a bit of public hand-wringing to prevent whales from being slaughtered there?

Some sanctuary.

Mmm, amaretto

Gam and I bought a bottle of duty free Luxardo amaretto in Johannesburg airport when we were returning from Botswana/Ghana in early 2005. I'm not sure what prompted us to buy the stuff, because I'd never tried it before, but it immediately became my favourite liqueur. I have a feeling we bought it because it came in a particularly beautiful bottle. I enjoyed it on ice, in coffee, in cocktails and I even used it to macerate chopped ginger in for my ginger cake. It's good stuff.

Problem is, the only amaretto we've been able to find in liquor stores here is the Galliano brand amaretto, which is nowhere near as good, so we simply don't buy it. Then Gam had the lightbulb idea of asking Semefa to get some of the Luxardo amaretto on his way over. There wasn't any available, so he bought Disaronno instead. While the bottle is nowhere near as pretty, the amaretto within is just as good, maybe even better. Hard to know, given that we ran out of the Luxardo way before any of the other liquor we bought. The Frangelico we bought at the same time only ran out a month ago!

Interestingly, Disarrono is made using apricot-kernel oil, something I learned from the Wiki on amaretto.

I think, rather than waiting for our next overseas trip, we're going to traipse around Brisbane until we find somewhere that sells it.

Mmm, cheese bargain

This is why, since giving up dairy products, I try and avoid the cheese section of any supermarkets and delis we go to. Normally the price is enough to prevent me from buying nice cheese, but I can't resist a bargain. Like when a ~$9 Tasmanian Heritage double brie right on the use-by date (when the cheese is at its best) is marked down to $3.50. It's a miracle I stopped at one. Except I didn't really, because a ~$9 Tasmanian Heritage camembert was also marked down, to $4.50... I couldn't resist.

What wasn't such a bargain was the lettuce we bought at Fruity Capers- $2.99 for a red oakleaf! Iceberg lettuces were $4.39 and cos $4.99. Ye-owch.Not only that, it was full (really, really full) of aphids, which weren't visible on the lettuce but materialised in surprising numbers in the rinse water. I had to rinse each leaf 3-4 times. Needless to say, Gam wasn't happy when he made himself a sandwich and discovered that the lettuce he'd eaten in his first two was once riddled with aphids. Reassuring him of my conscientious lettuce-washing was not sufficient to placate him, perhaps understandably. I'm of the "if it's got live bugs on it, it's probably not too full of pesticides" school, where as Gam is of the "spray the damn thing with as much pesticide as you like, just don't present me with bugs on my food" school.

Still, a fresh wholemeal bread roll, a bunch of lettuce, a huge chunk of well-ripened brie or camembert and some black pepper makes a great meal. And I suppose no-one but me is going to notice the couple of extra pimples that I'm going to get in the next couple of days given that I've already got a face-full from having a 'dairy binge' on the weekend and allowing myself a heap of cream with the sticky date pudding I cooked and Gam's delicious condensed milk-based pecan pie... for which I helpfully cleaned the condensed milk tins...

Wedding dress 'shopping'

Gam came with me to browse a bunch of bridal stores in the city on Friday. We only visited three because we couldn't be arsed finding out where the rest are, even though there are lots of them. We then visited Stella May Bridal in Milton on the weekend- it's a small business that we'd walked past numerous times on our way to pick up computer stuff from U-mart. 'Stella' turned out to be a nice middle-aged lady, originally from Hong Kong, maybe in her 50s. She didn't freak out at the prospect of making a wedding dress that incorporated our kente cloth, showed us some colour swatches and agreed with me on the shade of white that will probably go best with the fabric (an ivory or gold-tinted white), and said the cloth should be good to work with.

The price figure she gave us was very good compared with the prices of a great many of the ready-made dresses we viewed in the city (although it would still freak out my Mum, who wore a cream silk skirt and blouse bought from an op-shop the day before her wedding when it was discovered that my Grandma's old wedding dress a had rust stain on it). All we have to do now is go back to Stella when we've finalised a design.



When we were heading home from the city on Friday evening we stopped for a chat with the steel drums guy. I keep forgetting to ask his name, but last time we spoke to him he mentioned he is 54. Fifty-fucking-four! I thought he was in his late 30s! He is the best-aged person I have ever seen. Now I know his age I can't help but scrutinise his face for wrinkles, but it's depressing because I probably have almost as many as he does. I suppose the fact that he and his wife had their first kid together only 12 months or so ago only adds to the impression of his youthfulness.

This time we heard the story of how he met his wife- she's Japanese and was studying english at one of the private colleges in the city when they met around 7 years ago. He used to practice his japanese phrases with the tourists who would drop money in his case. She used to hang around and listen to him play- one day she offered to help him practice japanese, and I guess the rest is history! What I really like is their philosophy on life- more than anything else they enjoy spending time together as a family, and if he has met his target for the day she encourages him to come home even if the pickings are good. Rather than seeing dollar signs, she prefers to see him, and he her. She also does what I try to do with Gam- improve his diet so he will live a long and healthy life! I don't know if Gam and I will ever have jobs for which we control our own hours, at least not in the early stages of our careers, but I hope we can eventually engineer ways to spend as much of our time together as we'd like.

I felt bad for stopping to chat with him for so long in case we were preventing him from making money, but he didn't mind. That guy is a real highlight of our visits to Queen St Mall. The mall is the pits and so is the casino, but the steel drums guy is awesome- plays great music and strikes me as being a lovely person. On the one hand I hope he makes loads of money so he could retire and spend all his time with his wife and kid, but on the other hand I'd like him to keep playing forever and make all our city visits that bit nicer.

Halogen lights cause house fires

This article on 'halogen light deathtraps' made me laugh. Halogen lights are awful things. Larry has posted about them before. What's funny is that there are so many rich wankers having hundreds of these things in their McMansions in place of regular lights, and they're putting themselves at risk with their dumb decisions. One night last week Gam and I counted just over 40 individual halogen lights in a house on the river while we were on the CityCat. That was just in the room(s) visible from the CityCat. Wankfest.

Thousands of Victorian homes fitted with halogen downlights are potential death traps, with 57 house fires in Melbourne over the past 18 months directly caused by the fashionable lights igniting roofing insulation.

Most worryingly, firefighters warn that as the blazes spread rapidly in the roof cavity, ceiling-mounted smoke alarms are unable to detect the inferno and most residents only become aware of the fire when the roof starts to collapse around them.

Unless tougher regulations on the use and installation of halogen downlights are introduced, it is only a matter of time before someone is killed, the Metropolitan Fire brigade has told The Sunday Age.

[...]

Melbourne blazes alone have caused an estimated $17 million damage in the past 18 months.

Halogen lights, which produce heat of up to 370 degrees at the base, are not dangerous until they come into contact with combustible roofing insulation, Mr East said.

We had two halogen lights in each of our bathrooms that were installed when the complex was built. Every twelve months or so, the transformers would overheat and the lights would die, costing over $100 each to be replaced. Of course, they always died one at a time, so to save money we would wait until both lights died before getting them replaced. This year we were operating with a single halogen light in each bathroom, when the second transformer in the main bathroom died. We'd been waiting for this to happen so we could replace the halogen bulbs with something more energy efficient and cost effective; the electrician suggested compact fluorescent downlights that are the same size as the halogens but don't have a transformer for each light and are much more energy-efficient. The downside, he said, was that they were less bright (not a worry for us, as we'd been operating on one light per bathroom). The lights take a while to get to full brightness, which can be frustrating when you need a good light and a mirror in a hurry (like when you get something in your eye). We still have two in our kitchen that rarely get used because the kitchen has a regular light with one of those long-lasting fluorescent bulbs. I suppose the only reason they still work is because we hardly ever use them, or they'd probably 'cook' as well.

I don't know why anyone would choose to use a bunch of halogen bulbs in place of a regular light. Apparently now there are even LED downlights available.

Just as well he wasn't carrying a SIM card

A man tried to smuggle a dismantled gun through Brisbane airport on Saturday.

He was released on bail.

Clearly he wasn't a muslim.Just compare his treatment with the treatment meted out to Dr Mohamed Haneef.

No dog-whistle required

From The Observer:

Since the failed terrorist attack on Glasgow airport, Strathclyde police have had to deal with more than 200 racial incidents, many of them carried out as reprisals on innocent members of the Muslim community. Verbal and physical assaults, along with damage to property ranging from graffiti to a vehicle being driven into a shop belonging to Asians and set on fire, have been reported across the city.

Just over 10 racially motivated crimes per day, on average, have been recorded since the airport bomb attack compared with a daily average of less than seven racist incidents during April, May and June.

A Modest Proposal

One of the arguments for giving Australia a nuclear industry is that we have a lot of uranium and it makes sense to sell it and make money off it. Banning the sale of uranium would be silly and make no sense economically. Besides, once we hand the stuff over we're not morally responsible for it, so don't lose too much sleep over that. This is a valid point I say. Why stop there though?



Why not sell aboriginal children too? We have lots of them and it makes no sense to ignore a potential profit when there are buyers out there. Once we hand over a container load of children we have no moral responsibility as to their use. It'd also be more honest to use the children we already have, compared to saddling future kids with a future global nuclear industry. Also we have a responsibility to exploit every single resource we have to make money, regardless of consequence.

Bluetongue drinking

I went outside a few minutes ago to give some apple cores to Keith Richards, when I saw the bluetongue up on the wall with its front feet in the dish of water that Gam put out for the laceneck doves that visit...

It was having a drink! I've never seen it drinking before, and though I usually keep a bowl full of water out the back for the slugs to live under and drink from (it used to be for breeding mosquito larvae as fish food), I emptied the water out a week or two ago after it went stagnant... looks like I'll have to be more careful about keeping it topped up- I don't want to be responsible for the lizard dying of thirst! S/He already looks pretty hungry, but last time I tried to tempt it with an egg it wasn't interested, probably because it's too cold for it to digest any food, I think.

The battle against domestic violence... sort of.

The Australian has a piece on the 'battle against domestic violence'. How timely. Funny that Matthew Newton doesn't bear mentioning.

The ABS found over 2.5 million, or 33 per cent of all women, had experienced physical violence since the age of 15, and 1.5 million (19 per cent) sexual violence.

There had been some falls in the rates between 1996 and 2005, but these were modest: 443,000 women or 5.8 per cent experienced violence in 2005, compared to 490,400 in 1996.

A previous partner was the most common perpetrator, accounting for about 50 per cent of cases.

They forgot to ask how many of these were 'one-offs'. Part of Matthew Newton's defence was that punching your girlfriend doesn't count if it's a one-off. I wonder if Brooke Satchwell felt any better knowing it was a one-off?

Poverty Hath Its Privileges

I hope the complimentary champagne is worth it!

First class and business passengers are more likely to die than those of us in cattle class.

Howard didn't care about workers worse off

Finally the media is saying out loud what many of us have known for ages- that John Howard is a slimy bastard. Here's a transcript of an interview with him on the 7.30 Report in July 2005, shortly after the announcement of their WorkChoices 'I can't believe it's not WorkChoices' legislation:

JOHN HOWARD: The current evidence is that people on AWAs are better off than people on awards.

JOURNALIST: That's because of the no disadvantage test which you're abolishing.

JOHN HOWARD: Yes, but there are ... would be other factors that will bear on what people get. You're asking me whether I believe, generally speaking, people will be worse off as a result of these changes, and I'm saying no, I do not believe they will be worse off.

REPORTER 2: So you're saying some will be, but most won't?

JOHN HOWARD: No, I'm not saying that, I'm just saying that generally people won't be worse off.

REPORTER 2: But what does that mean?

JOHN HOWARD: It means exactly what I said it means.

Thanks to The Pigs are Flying for the transcript.

Today, 'news' is out that John Howard knew that 'I can't believe it's not WorkChoices' would leave workers worse off. Not that it's really news, as it's something that everyone knew, but the media haven't dared to report it this way until now, preferring to give Howard the benefit of the doubt on his weasel-words. It's got to be said that this new biography of Howard is turning out to be rather politically juicy:

THE Federal Government introduced its Work Choices legislation into Parliament knowing it would leave some workers worse off, the new biography of John Howard reveals.

However, the Prime Minister ruled out further changes because he was keen to have the legislation passed. Time was short and Mr Howard wanted the laws bedded down politically well before this year's election.

The revelations are based on interviews with two cabinet ministers who witnessed the deliberations on Work Choices, and explain why Mr Howard would never pledge that no worker would be worse off. They also explain why he introduced a "fairness test" in May as perceptions and anecdotal evidence continued to emerge about some workers losing pay and conditions.

Note that Phillip Coorey speaks only of "perceptions and anecdotal evidence". Talk about soft-ball journalism. What about studies like this? There's solid evidence that workers are being screwed over, and there's no point in pussy-footing around it. Even the public aren't fooled, this time.

As for the "Howard wanted the laws bedded down politically well before this year's election" bit, here's what I had to say in 2005 about Howard's policy tactics:

It's also just part of John Howard's typical election cycle. Get the nasties (GST, Telstra sale, IR reform, VSU) over and done with in the first 12 or 18 months, and then start thinking up the next election campaign.

It's good to see that for once, it seems this tactic hasn't worked, as Howard's IR laws are still a top concern for voters.




GIMPed image by Gam :)

AFP false evidence 'cock-up' in Haneef case

Dr Haneef and his wife Firdous on vacation at Surfers Paradise earlier this year.

I really enjoyed reading this tidbit in the SMH regarding the Howard government and AFP 'cock-up' surrounding the detention and charge of Mohammed Haneef:

In Britain, a source close to the investigation confirmed the SIM card was found in Liverpool, and said the Australian police were considered a laughing stock by Britain's Metropolitan Police for allowing "such a major cock-up" to happen. "Australian police have got their wires crossed. This is very embarrassing for them. The police here are laughing at the Australian police, saying, 'What on earth have they done?' [Haneef] is clearly more of a political case than a police case."

Even Peter Beattie was on the TV news tonight, putting the boot into the AFP over their presentation of false affidavits to the court. If Peter Beattie is coming to the party, you know it's all over for Howard and his ministers. They're going to have to apologise to Haneef at some point, or look even sillier than they do now.

If anyone has failed a 'character test' in this whole affair it's Kevin Andrews, Howard, Ruddock and everyone else who put the boot into Dr Haneef despite the detention and charge looking like a farce right from the start.

Funny, I thought it'd be his mum

"I Like to keep him where I can see him."

"You talk about a whole lot of things when you're trying to convince people to do things," Mrs Howard says in the book.

"But you don't go back and honour every single one of those unless you have made a firm commitment about it, and John wasn't into making firm commitments."

SMH

Well there you have it. John Howard's wife pretty much says he's an inveterate liar. I mean, I don't know what else you need to do. Nothing that comes out of the little skunk's mouth can be trusted. If even his own wife doesn't trust the shifty little weasel (a terrible slur on noble mustelidae) why the hell should any of us?

I seriously think that Howard supporters (the poor mug punters, not the rich ones) back him the same way people go out and buy the shirt of whichever football team wins grand maximum prize. It's not about the circumstances of the win, just being associated with a winner. Something losers always desperately try to do. It poisons the political landscape, turning it into an American style race to become maximum leader simply for the sake of becoming maximum leader.

Slap on the wallet for cabbie-basher

Some dickhead who punched a cabbie in the face has been let off with a $1000 fine by a magistrate in Kembla local court in Wollongong.

[Taxi driver Farouk Elmoubayed] was unable to work for 15 days and needed stitches across his nose after the bashing on June 23 at Barrack Heights, near Wollongong.

The taxi council wants the NSW government to appeal the sentence handed down on Thursday in Kembla Local Court after the man pleaded guilty to punching the cabbie during a drunken argument.

I think a $1000 fine isn't really sufficient punishment for assaulting someone. Like everyone else, cab drivers deserve to feel safe while they're working, and know that the law will back them up if they happen to become the victim of a violent assault.

ALP playing coy on Green preferences

The fools. The bloody fools. The ALP is so far refusing to commit to a preference deal with the Greens, despite the urging of the unions. Apparently it's out of fear of being painted as 'climate change extremists' by the government (because that Bob Brown, you know, he's wild).

Have they learned nothing from the disaster at the last election?

'Diary' entry- Hooray, I'm useful!

Having a job- almost as good as having a pet pygmy goat.

Having not heard back from the people I sent a job application off to last week, by the beginning of this week I'd pretty much given up hope that I would get it. Instead, I was scoping out volunteer-type jobs in the local area. This morning brought a nice surprise in the form of a phonecall asking me to come in for training on Tuesday, meaning I'll soon be gainfully employed doing something I do every time I go shopping- gleaning information from nutrition labels on food packets! The only difference is that instead of trying to memorise it, I'll have to write it all down. It sounds like the perfect job for me this semester- I'm only doing 3 subjects and I have 2 uni-free days, meaning that I can squeeze in most of my 10-15 hours per week into those two days. And it's in Toowong, far enough away for me to get a bit of exercise by walking there, but not so far as to be a deterrent. Couldn't ask for any more than that, really.

I'm pretty happy right now- even working my arse off at uni (which I admittedly didn't put 100% into last semester, a result of hating most of my subjects) I feel a bit worthless relying on Centrelink all the time. It'll be nice to be earning something, however little. Going through the Centrelink income-reporting process is a pain in the arse, but it will be worth it!

Speaking of uni, I got my results a week or so ago: two 6's -for food preservation and my favourite nutrition subject, the latter being something I was hoping for a 7 in but ultimately only got just over 80%, and two 5's for microbiology and food safety and quality management (the dodgy group assignment subject). Not as bad as it could have been, but not as good as I could have hoped; certainly not comparable to my last two semesters. Next semester should be much more interesting- I'm doing food microbiology (compulsory), nutrition health & disease (compulsory) and probably taking a public health subject called 'changing health behaviours' (elective).



Time for a whinge now- the hot water at our unit complex has been on the blink for a good month or two now, meaning that at some times of the day we have hot water, while at others (usually when one of us is about to take a shower) we have none. At these times, the best we can get is a barely tepid shower. It's awful! Of course Murphy's law dictates that this problem not only happens in the dead of winter, but it happens in the dead of a winter in which Brisbane is experiencing the coldest temperatures on record!

As if this wasn't enough, since my last Linux update, Firefox is regularly crashing, and my Thunderbird email programme is regularly crashing too- almost every time I send an email. Not only that, the email doesn't send or copy to the 'sent' or 'drafts' or 'outbox' folder, meaning I lose all the email content! Grrrrrr.

The many faces of Mohamed Haneef

There's an interesting post on The Dead Roo on the depiction of Dr Mohamed Haneef in the Australian news media. Something I'd noticed, when looking for a picture for my posts on Dr Haneef, was that the very first (and normal-looking) picture of him I'd seen on Australian TV was nowhere to be found. Instead, the media favoured the grainy black and white photograph that resembles the photographs of so many other wanted terrorists, or court sketches.

Gam suggested that perhaps they were trying to make Haneef look more Arab, to better fit the 'terrorist' mould the media and government seem so keen to push him into.