Dave's Half Arsed Blog

But what if pissing off greenies make me happy?

2006-07-16T07:52:00.000-07:00

Let's say you want to find out who are the happiest (and unhappiest) people are in the world. Let's say your a envirofundamentalist group with an agenda. How do you go about it?

Well for starters you can ask them how happy they are. It's not bad place to start, but it's subjective. It also doesn't give you an answer that suits your agenda. The last thing you want is to produce a report that says that people who have plasma tv's and digital wristwatches are pretty chuffed with them, and are enjoying life in general.

So how else can you measure how happy people are? Well you can look at how long people live. With the exception of followers of fanatical death cults, most people don't find dying a happy experience. It also has the advantage that most governments try to keep track of these sorts of things, meaning it doesn't take much effort to collect the data. Sure some lie about it, especially when they are the ones responsible for the dying, but it's mostly correct. Unfortunately, it also doesn't fit your agenda. See the problem is that all these highly developed countries have highly developed medical services, and tend to keep people alive and healthy longer.

So to get the result you want, you need some other criteria. Something that guarantees you the "correct" result. Luckily, the answer is right under your nose. Just assume that what makes people the happiest is knowing they aren't using more than their share of the worlds resources, and that anyone who is using more than their fair share is inherently unhappy, whether they realise it or not. So now you can declare that all of usliving in consumerist societies are miserable, and we'd all be much happier if we lived in a tree and worshipped almighty gaia.

Only problem is when people actually read your report. See your report comes up with some strange results. By your calculations, people living in some of the repressive dictatorships are much happier than anyone living in a western country. Apparently Cuba(6), Syria(86), Burma(77), Iran(67) and Libya(107) are happier places to live than Australia(139). War and famine ravaged Ethiopia(144), Eritrea(137), Ivory Coast(151) and Sierra Leone(153) are just as happy place to live as the US(150). Despite not actually being a country, Palestine(45) manages to come in well ahead of Israel(117).

Even better, they let you calculate personally how unhappy you are. According to them my happiness index is 15.5, compared to a world average of 46 and Australia's average of 34.1. Now it's dragged down a bit by my estimated life expectancy of 57.8 (mostly due to family history), but of course what makes me "unhappiest" is my ecological footprint of 20.83 global hectares, or 11.57 planets, which is apparently higher than the national averages for every country in the world, and more than five times my "share". It's even so much that there results page has a scaling problem drawing the bar chart.

"But I thought they had vitamins in them and stuff!"

2006-05-31T07:31:00.000-07:00

Nanny is not pleased. Putting warnings on cigarette packets failed to make everyone quit. putting bigger warnings on them also failed to make everyone quit. Now putting graphic pictures on them is working just as well. Can anyone find me a smoker who doesn't know cigarettes are bad for you?

Well apparently some people don't want to be told over and over again something they already know, and as often happens in capitalist societies, someone decides to sell them what they want. In this case a cover to put your pack of cigarettes in. According to Nanny, this is bad, because you need to be nagged, and you shouldn't have the option of not listening to Nanny nag you.

Despite the fact I'm not a smoker, these people make me want to light up and blow smoke in their faces.

Does this thing still work?

2006-05-31T07:12:00.000-07:00

Well, that took longer than planned.

The good news is that I'm now no longer working three jobs, and might actually have some time to pay attention to what's happening in the world, and perhaps even blog about it!

Tis the season

2005-12-21T18:22:00.000-08:00

Posting will likely be infrequent around here for a while as I intend to spend most of my holiday out fishing.

So in case I get lost at sea, just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas now.

Say it isn't so!

2005-12-21T18:14:00.000-08:00

You mean to tell that the claims of anti-nuclear groups are unscientific fearmongering?. I mean, would they lie about something like that (oh, that's right, they would).

The good prof is wrong about one thing though, it won't help "dispel many environmentalists' fears". Their fear isn't nuclear power, it's human development. They don't care how little pollution it creates, they want everyone living in caves.

Hircinous Hicks

2005-12-15T18:15:00.000-08:00

The UK government has announced that they will appeal this weeks court ruling that David Hicks is eligible for British citizenship. Although it seems unlikely that their appeal will succeed. I guess at worst they can demand he applies in person at the nearest embassy.

However I doubt that they appreciate their laws being used by someone trying to evade justice, so I would imagine they won't be too eager to demand his release.

Catch of the Day

2005-12-15T16:48:00.000-08:00

Well done sir!

Remorsefully taking to his feet he beat a very remorseful retreat

2005-12-12T21:35:00.000-08:00

Remorseful for the killing, or just the fact he was arrested for it?

Ok lets see, runs down and kills 82 year old woman. Apparently was doing 54km/h, and while the article doesn't mention what the speed limit was, I doubt it was much less than that. Maybe he just wasn't paying attention, or perhaps she ran out in front of him.

I'd have a lot easier time believing how remorseful he was, if he hadn't gone to such lengths to conceal his crime. First took off after the accident. Then lied to the police when questioned about his whereabouts. Then presented fake ownership transfer papers to police, to try and claim they had sold the car. Then had the car repaired and altered. Then claims remorse when arrested. Seems to me his arrest is about his only regret.

As for his parents, if they represent the moral guidance he was raised with, it explains a lot about his actions.

Mob behaving like a mob

2005-12-11T23:18:00.000-08:00

There's a reason why we rely on our police forces to enforce the law, rather than just letting mobs of vigilante's roam around meting out punishment as they see fit, to who they see fit. It's because mob behaviour is prone to punishing the nearest available target, rather than going to the trouble of finding the culprit of the original offence. They also have a tendency to mete out punishment far in excess of what we'd consider appropriate to the offence.

But what happens when a large enough number of people feel that the police either aren't willing or aren't able to enforce the law? We then you get scenes like were seen in Cronulla, where people will take the law into their own hands, without much regard for the letter of the law. Whatever the realities of police efforts against the lebanese muslim gangs, there is undeniably a feeling within sections of the community that the law isn't being applied the same to everyone, and that the police aren't making the same effort to protect some sections of the community as they are others. I doubt this was helped when the police stated during the week that they would crack down those who were planning on "taking back the beach", despite not being seen to be making an effort to crack down on the gangs that had committed the earlier attacks.

If the media has any blame it's not for reporting stories that may have fuelled anger, but for not reporting stories, and for only partially reporting the details. Maybe they reduce the chance of payback attacks by report offenders as "person of middle eastern appearance" or "youths of specific ethnic origin" (or as they most often do, make no mention at all), but in doing so they help to hide the problem, rather than exposing it so that something might get done. When enough people have been on the receiving end, media reports that deliberately avoid naming the perpetrators make things worse.

Link of the day

2005-12-11T23:10:00.000-08:00

How to look stylish, while wasting ammo.

My favourite is the guy in the life-jacket. While it might save your life if you are drowning, it probably won't stop a bullet. I'd have thought that if you were in a war zone, the last thing you'd want to do is wear something really bright which will make you easy to spot.

Compulsory contributions canned by Christian

2005-12-08T23:47:00.000-08:00

In the best news I've heard all week, Family First Senator Stephen Fielding has passed the VSU bill after Barnaby Joyce crossed the floor to block it.

Hating hircinous Hicks humectates holothurians

2005-12-08T18:51:00.000-08:00

Apparently today is not only the 25th anniversary of John Lennon's shooting, but also the 4th anniversary of David Hicks caribbean holiday, so his supporters are having a party in his honor. Not that I totally object to that, I support parties for just about any reason, with the possible except of political ones.

As usual, they moan that he must be tried in a civil court. That would be true if he was arrested by the police in a law enforcement operation. But he wasn't, he was detained in a military operation while fighting for the other side.

The problem for the left in championing his case is right there in the opening few words of the article "SUPPORTERS of Australian terror suspect". I'm astounded that they think that they can get anyone to give a rats arse about what happens to him. To quote one from Kev's comments:

The problem for the right (which you’d have to agree with) is that with the Government ignoring this bong smoker from Adelaide, and letting him rot in a Cuban gaol without justice, one has a rallying point for the left which might just come back to haunt Howard, especially should the trail process be found illegitimate.

Rally around Hicks all you want, as long as your intention is to keep Howard in power. If you want the support of the australian people, I'd suggest not deliberately associating yourself with someone who'd like to see their way of life destroyed.

Mad mullah Mahmoud mulls massive move

2005-12-08T18:35:00.000-08:00

Iran's hardline* President has softened his stance on Israel. Now instead of wiping them out, he says he'd be happy for them to simply be forced to move from the middle east. See, he can be reasonable, we just need to be more understanding of his point of view.

Kofi it seems is shocked by this. I'm sure he'd be just as shocked to find out what Iran would like to use it's long range missiles with "Death to Israel" painted on the side for as soon as it acquires nuclear technology.

*I seem to remember him being refered to as a "moderate" when he was elected. In fairness he probably was the most moderate of the candidates who where allowed to run. And for his involvement in the Embassy hostage crisis he gets described as "a straight-talking former commando". Lovely.

Prancing protesters pester Pine Gap.

2005-12-08T18:11:00.000-08:00

Who needs Scott Parkin, when we've got our own Serial Pests.

I hope they feel a little better about themselves, for having bravely stood up to "the man". Can we cut their dole cheques yet?

Gag reflex

2005-12-07T20:42:00.000-08:00

I'd probably find it a lot easier to get worked up about the government gagging debate in parliament, if any real debate was actually going on, as distinct from name-calling and pointless censure motions (yeah, the government is really going to pass a censure motion against itself).

Dirty Bombs

2005-12-07T19:22:00.000-08:00

I've always thought that the threat of terrorists utilising Dirty Bombs is overstated. The "x% higher chance of certain types of cancer y years from now" just doesn't seem to fit the death, destruction and mayhem idiom they seem so fond of.

If they do end up setting off a dirty bomb, I would think it would more likely poorly assembled nuke that didn't go off with quite the bang they expected.

New Terror Laws

2005-12-07T17:14:00.000-08:00

Since the discussion of the new terror laws over at Kev's joint is already careening offtopic (somehow Gerard's appointment to the Reserve Bank got raised, what that has to do with terrorism beats me), I'll state my postion over here.

First of all, the one thing I really like about these laws is the inclusion of a sunset provision. I can't think over any other laws in this country that were passed with a similar provision, and I'd have to say I'd love it to be more common.

To the other points:
* CONTROL orders to monitor terrorism suspects;
* PREVENTATIVE detention of suspects without charge for up to 14 days;
* 16 to 18-YEAR-OLDS suspected of terrorism can be subject to control and detention orders;
Detention without charge isn't a nice concept, but I'll accept that it could be a necessary evil is some cases. As for monitoring, go for it.

* SEVEN-YEAR jail terms for urging violence against the government or sections of the community;
This would seem to be aimed at those who preach terrorism, but don't necesarily get involved with planning attacks. I'll accept that we need to have some ability to act against them, but I also wonder what they will do to prevent them prosetolysing from a jail cell.

* TOUGHER police stop, search and seizure powers;
* POLICE and ASIO powers to examine passenger and business information;
* BROADER use of surveillance cameras at transport hubs;
The key to authorities catching terrorists before an attack is carried out is information. The police already have the power to stop and search you if they have a reasonable belief, and they can already watch what you do in a public place (like a transport hub).

* OMBUDSMAN to oversee police use of new powers;
* PARLIAMENT to receive reports on police powers;
* TEN-YEAR expiry date and five-year review of laws;
* LAW Reform Commission to review sedition laws in 2006.
Love the expiry date. Would like to see it on a lot more laws. As to what use the ombudsman, LRC and pollies will be in seeing that these laws aren't used unfairly, only time will tell.

Overall, I care far more about how these powers (and other powers granted to authorities) are actually used than about the individual legal points.If they start using detention without charge for druggies and car-thieves, then I'd say that's not why we granted you these powers. The claim is that the are needed to fight terrorism, and for that they have my support. Use them for anything else, and you'll have a hard time convincing me to support them.

I'm surprised the shepherd boy wasn't banned for depicting child labour

2005-12-07T17:06:00.000-08:00

Donald Sensing asks, What if you gave a Nativity and Jesus didn’t come?

I've got to say that is the silliest bits of PC I've ever heard of. I'd even go as far to say it tops those who say that we should follow the lead of several areas in the UK and refer to Christmas as "Winterval" so as no to offend non-christians. Given that we are in the southern hemisphere, I'd feel rather silly wishing someone a "Happy Winterval" in the middle of a scorching aussie summer.

Seriously dude, piss off

2005-12-06T17:54:00.000-08:00

Not content with wasting the time of our police and intelligence agencies, Scott Parkin now wants to waste the time of our courts as well.

Personally I think that he should have been denied entry on quarantine grounds, I see no problem with classifying him as a foreign pest.

We already knew that

2005-11-29T00:56:00.000-08:00

Over at instapundit I noticed a link to this story on pajamas media. Basically what this study determined is what has already been known for a long time, that pigs are a very good vector for any virus that wants to jump across species to humans.

But the good thing about this modern way of farming them is that it basically makes each piggery an isolated population. The greatest risk of bird flu becoming contagious amongst humans is for pigs to contract it, and mutate with another human borne virus. In this case the isolation works to minimise this, since they are not farmed alongside birds, and the humans who are entering and leaving are made to washed down upon entry (as well as all vehicles entering and leaving).

Where it is most likely to occur is where birds and pigs are farmed alongside, such as is common in China. In fact they've already caught it doing exactly that there.

Credit where credits not due

2005-11-10T00:12:00.000-08:00

Is it just me, or does it seem that the French government waited for things to begin quietening down before they took any action?

To take action earlier would have required them to take tougher action than they were obviously were prepared to, and if things run out of steam before you do anything, it just highlights that you were powerless to do anything. Better for it to look like your measures helped stop things, than it to appear that you twiddled your thumbs until the "youths" got bored?

It seems to me like the village witch doctor waiting for stormclouds to appear before commencing his raindance.

Update:
Of course the other way of making the "crisis" go away it to redefine "crisis". How nuanced.

Not clear on the concept

2005-11-06T20:26:00.000-08:00

While watching the news last night, they had coverage of the usual fools (the ones protesting, not the attendees) who were busily throwing molotovs into shop windows. Now, I guess I can see how torching some small business might seem symbolic of global corporations crushing local businesses to these pinheads, but the real joke was the reporter who insisted this was intended as a peaceful protest, and only turned violent when the police moved in. So we are meant to believe that they brought their molotov's "just in case"?

Oops, my bad!

2005-10-30T17:36:00.000-08:00

"Hey, that idiot is driving on the wrong side of the road! ... No wait. I am"

Not my job

2005-10-20T21:45:00.000-07:00

Council workers in action.

Or maybe I just listened to the Sex Pistols too much when I was a kid

2005-09-29T18:15:00.000-07:00

According to this test which others around the blogosphere have been doing, I'm:

I think that's probably going a bit far, I'd consider myself more a capitalist/libertarian. I don't want to detroy the government, I just want it to sod off and leave me alone.

According to their famous people graph, I'm nearest to George Washington, right between Ted Kacynski and Charles Manson.

Grand Final Recap

2005-09-24T08:45:00.000-07:00

Will not be happening since I wandered off to do something else late in the first quarter and never felt compelled to go back and watch the rest of the game. From what I saw of the first quarter, I saw everything that I had no desire to watch, a non-functioning Eagles forward line, and the Swans trying to flood their way to a premiership.

AFL Grand Final

2005-09-23T08:54:00.000-07:00

Much as I'd like to say that I think the Eagles will win, I'm backing the Swans to win by around 6 goals. I doubt that their midfield will be given the room to run free that they need to kick the goals that their forwards don't seem capable of managing. I also have my doubts about how their defence will hold if the midfield isn't dominating.

That said, I've got a bottle of zubrowka that's getting opened tommorrow night if they do get up.

Spring into Action!

2005-09-20T19:49:00.000-07:00

The Aussie selectors finally twig that the team isn't playing that well. I wonder what tipped them off.

You can't deny their brilliance though: "We are looking to include players who can bat, bowl and field". Yes that would be handy to have in a cricket team.

Omission corrected

2005-09-20T18:27:00.000-07:00

I've been reading the sage writings of the Ozguru back since the days when he was at Mk1, but for some reason hadn't included him in ye olde blogroll. Well since he's linked to me, I guess I should fix that.

I guess it can be "in play" as long as it's on the same field

2005-09-20T18:08:00.000-07:00

So Barry Hall is free to play in the grand final. From the incident it didn't really look like the sort of thing someone should get rubbed out for, but several others copped suspensions for similar incidents during the year. The difference being they had the option of missing one round, or challenging it and risking more, whereas Hall (and Gaspar) had the option of missing the grand final or risking missing the start of next year.

This decision does show though, that the new tribunal system is just as irregular as the old. The technical point he was let go on was that despite the fact it occurred 25 metres from where the ball was, it was judged to be "in play" not "behind play" as he had originally been charged. Now to most people if your a kick away from where the ball is, they'd say you are "behind play". But in the tribunal, there is no set definition, meaning they can interpret it whichever way gives them the result they want. Which is precisely the sort of thing the new tribunal system was meant to put an end to.

Maguire should have been done for a couple of weeks though. Surely there is some rule against acting like a complete pansy, this isn't soccer after all.

Notice

2005-09-08T19:26:00.000-07:00

I'm off to Brisbane for a few days

And England bat first again

2005-09-08T07:53:00.000-07:00

Given that Ponting has screwed up the call the one time he did win the toss and lost all the others, can we declare him a hopeless tosser now?

Katrina and Kyoto

2005-09-07T19:44:00.000-07:00

One of the dumbest efforts of those who blame bush for everything that is wrong with the world was their attempts to pin the blame on him for Hurricane Katrina because he won't ratify the Kyoto Protocol. Now, I am aware that it's the Senate that has to do it not the President, but that doesn't seem to matter to them.

What I want to have a go at is the Kyoto Protocol itself.

For the sake of the argument, lets say the tree-huggers are right, and all their theories about global warming are 100% correct. That is, the greenhouse gases covered by the protocol are causing the world to heat up, and will cause irrevocable climate change if we don't stop pumping them into the air. If they really believe their own arguments, then they should be fighting against the Kyoto Protocol, not for it.

As I understand it, the KP requires developed nations to cut their greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels. The same isn't required of developing and third world nations. For me 1990 was my first year of high school. I remember listening to questionable music and wearing some questionable clothes. As far as I remember, it wasn't exactly pre-industrial civilization. The same can be said of all other developed nations who would be required to limit their emissions. So reducing them to 1990 levels isn't exactly going to cause much of a reduction in those countries. Especially since most have EPA like regulation of their output, and are getting cleaner and more efficient all the time.

In less developed countries however, there are still many that aren't heavily industrialized. Even with the most efficient modern technologies, their outputs are going to increase. But in their case, the KP offers no incentive to minimize their outputs. If anything, it would reward those who took their polluting industries and, instead of cleaning them up, moved them to somewhere else where they can keep polluting.

So at best you'll have moderately higher total greenhouse emissions. Most likely you'd have significantly worse. Either way you haven't reduced them like you are screaming we need to (but at least we'd have moved all the nasty stuff to some other country).

And you expect people to take you seriously?

2005-09-07T18:33:00.000-07:00

Katrina fallout prompts call for Iraq exit strategy

We have to get out of Iraq because of a Hurricane in New Orleans. Ok, makes perfect sense I guess.

At least someone did

2005-08-31T21:10:00.000-07:00

Denny (among others) asked whether any one would be offering any help to the US in dealing with Katrina, or at least expressing honest condolences.

Well at least someone has.

Stop that! It's Silly.

2005-08-30T18:48:00.000-07:00

Nobody supports Howard more than me: Costello channels monty python.

"Now nobody supports Howard more than me, except Vanstone and that Downer across the hall, Ruddock, and that insieous man who pumps my petrol in the morning. Ok maybe, maybe almost any else supports Howard more than me."

When do we stop waiting for something to happen?

2005-08-30T01:52:00.000-07:00

According to Michael Slater that should happen now. As I mentioned with regards to them picking Gillespie doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result is insane.

While their is something to be said for showing patience with batsmen, after all anyone can make a mistake that gets them out no matter how good their form is, the entire top order has failed on almost every occasion this tour. Not only have they failed to make runs, they've often failed to show any determination to actually fight for their wicket. The two worst offenders are Martyn (168 runs at 21) and Hayden (180 at 22.5). Gilchrist (158 at 22.57) has had probably his worst ever series, but the entire middle order has been under worse pressure than they've had to deal with for a long time.

I'm not sure about Katich as an opener, from memory, isn't that the role that Brad Hodge (the specialist batsmen they took on tour) usually plays for Victoria? Although playing him as opener in the fifth and deciding match would certainly be chucking him in the deep end, I'd rather see them take a chance with him and fail, than just leave things as they are.

I'm not sure that they really need a fifth bowler as some have suggested, unless they are worried about the workload on Warne and about McGrath's durability. If they did want to bring in a fifth bowler I'd suggest Shane Watson for Martyn, and move Clark and Katich up the order.

Their other option is to bring in Brad Haddin for Gilchrist, but I'm inclined to say that Gilchrist may still deserve another chance, plus you could have Hodge playing his first test for the series, and Tait his second, and perhaps even Watson his first. I'm all for shaking things up a little, but not as far as replacing half the team.

It ain't bad, it just ain't that good

2005-08-29T08:51:00.000-07:00

I don't think that wind farms do any real harm, I'm sure that if cause of death statistics were compiled for birds in those areas, colliding with the windmills would barely rate a mention.

But I also don't think they are the solution to the worlds energy needs. Their power output is pretty modest and only when the wind blows, not when there is demand for it. The problem with that is that it unless you have some other source for when there is demand and no wind, you have to try and store it, losing much of the power produced, then release it on demand, again losing much of the power stored. Solar power has the same problems.

What gets annoying though is continually hearing completely impractical suggestions about how we should use them as our sole power source. I read in the comments on slashdot today (about an article on nuclear fusion), that we shouldn't be looking at nuclear power, instead we should build a 250,000 square km solar power plant in the desert. Basically the idea is that if a solar panel this size produces this much power, all we need to do is multiply that area by the amount of power we need. Never mind the fact that there probably isn't anywhere that you could put a power plant that large that isn't either too remote and isn't the delicate habitat of the endangered puckered arse wallaby. I also heard a proposal from some environmental group during the election that every single rooftop in Australia should be required to be covered in solar cells.

They could be useful in some applications, in particular remote areas where it is impractical to connect them to the main power grid, and where local conditions favour them. For example an outback cattle station probably gets enough sun that it would be possible for them to run at least partially on solar energy. But for the moment at least, they are still a long way of being the most cost effective solution in those cases. I was actually looking into Solar cells for marine use last summer, and there was simply no comparison in terms of cost between Solar power versus Diesel generators, especially since you would still have to have the diesel generator as a backup for the solar.

I'm also not sure about the cost per Mw for them. A while back Western Power was running ads offering people the opportunity to join a renewable energy program, where they would be charged based on a rate for renewable energies rather than the general charge. I would be interested to know how much more (or less) those who signed up paid, and how many many takers they got. Given that it has been a while since I last saw one of those ads, I guess it probably wasn't many.

Since when?

2005-08-29T01:43:00.000-07:00

Ah, so she's wearing a burkha because she's a muslim. I'm curious to know how parading around on a catwalk in swimwear and revealing outfits meshes in with that, perhaps she has a male relative accompany her?

Or has she just converted to get the charges downgraded?

Merchandising opportunity

2005-08-29T01:30:00.000-07:00

Can someone tell me where I can get a tshirt with the first image here on it?

Maybe Tex could do up some whackingday.com merch with a Compost Che line. I'd love to show up to a family function where I know Aunt Hippie will be attending wearing one of these.

Slim Chance

2005-08-28T07:35:00.000-07:00

I thought when the follow on was enforced that if they could get 400 or more they might have a chance, in the end they got pretty close to that.

They can thank themselves for holding on for a draw in the last game for even having a chance. I doubt that Vaughn wanted to bat then try and bowl them out while they went for another draw.

Is the road to progress paved with idiots?

2005-08-24T23:56:00.000-07:00

Are the drug busts in Indonesia a good thing?

If Mr Taylor is correct, then the answer is yes, and I'm inclined to agree with him. As I mentioned earlier, there was a time when a drug bust in Bali only meant you had to shake the cops hand (with the right amount in your hand, they'd let you know how much). Last time I was there, someone ran into the back of the jimny we had hired. Now here, if someone didn't stop and exchange insurance details and the like, after you report it to the cops they will sort them out. We soon discovered that to get them to do anything about it would cost us more in bribes than it would cost to just get it fixed ourselves.

While it would be bad news for those who want to get involved with drugs in Indonesia, it would be good news for the Indonesians themselves. When corruption is rife, you'll never get much development, the investors you don't immediately scare off will eventually tire of paying off every public servant they encounter.

Tis better to remain silent

2005-08-24T22:44:00.000-07:00

"When I got arrested I was actually kind of happy because I ran out of cigarettes and I didn't have any money but everyone here is excellent and they couldn't stop giving me enough of their own"

Why settle for having people assume you're an idiot when you can pipe up and prove it?

I must be getting cynical in my old age

2005-08-23T21:19:00.000-07:00

Tell me, is this plan anything other than CSU under a new name? Will anyone be checking to see that this "amenities fee" doesn't just replace the current union fees?

I wouldn't be surprised to see the money end up in the same pool that covers busing their rent-a-crowds to parliament house.

Racial Hatred?

2005-08-23T20:50:00.000-07:00

Was Habib a victim of racial hatred? If I had my guess, I'd say it probably had more to do with his involvement with terrorists, than the color of his skin. I'd guess that David Hicks would probably have received the same welcome from them if he'd been walking through that park.

Why can't I overrule government policy I don't like?

2005-08-23T18:08:00.000-07:00

"I wrote on the death certificate that the cause of her heart attack was being harassed by the Department of Immigration"

From his description of his report immigration, I'm not surprised they demanded that she see a doctor who's medical opinion they felt they could trust.

Dr Owie exclaims "I don't even understand why they didn't accept my word". Maybe if you weren't acting like you felt you had the right to act as a self appointed visa fairy, they would have trusted you more.

Do these drugs make my arse look dumb?

2005-08-23T00:07:00.000-07:00

Seriously, how does anyone decide to go to Indonesia and mess with drugs. It's not like there hasn't been any recent news from there that might indicate that you might get into trouble for it.

At least in Leslie's case she probably wasn't dealing it, just didn't read one the travel guides that says: don't buy drugs from the locals, because they'll then go get paid as police informants for telling the cops who they just sold to. In the past, what would then happen is they'd demand a bribe from you that was some multiple of what they paid the guy who sold it to you, but it seems that they are being more closely watched these days, so actually pressing charges.

Riddle me this, batman

2005-08-18T09:12:00.000-07:00

Is it just me, or is anyone else convinced that if the australian government were to arrange to have David Hicks brought back here to face trial in an australian court, the very same people who are currently insisting that he can be charged under our laws and therefore shouldn't face a US military tribunal, are going to be claiming that the australian legal system has no jurisdiction to hear the case?

I'm afraid we've had to issue him a fatal beating

2005-08-18T08:16:00.000-07:00

So it seems that not only did the UK police shoot an innocent man, they lied about the circumstances under which it was done. If what has been revealed since is true, then I'd say there needs to be two investigations. One into the cock-up that led to the shooting, and one into the coverup of that cock-up.

Regardless, there are some pretty important questions that need to be answered. How was an innocent man assumed to be a terrorist? Was there anything other than just which block of flats he happened to live in? How did we let someone we honestly thought was a terrorist get onto the train, and so into a situation that we felt that we only had one course of action open to us to stop him. Surely if they were certain enough to shoot, they were certain enough to intercept him before he got onto the train?

I think that the "shoot to kill" policy is still the only option when you have a situation where someone is about to carry out an attack, but that doesn't mean that there isn't a lot to be learnt from this tragedy.

Look here, mate

2005-08-18T08:07:00.000-07:00

To the ~~shitfor~~brains behind this, you need a kick somewhere sensitive, mate.

The definition of insanity...

2005-08-15T22:43:00.000-07:00

is often stated as doing the very same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. It also appears to be the ACB selection policy.

Can we try something different, at least for the next two tour matches? You know, really radical ideas like seeing if the guys who haven't played yet can do any better than the guys who have shown as much form as room temp icecream.

I am evil Homer!

2005-08-15T22:39:00.000-07:00

Was the sole purpose of this to remind everyone on the left who has the numbers in the senate?

Is there some secret plan I haven't heard about

2005-08-12T09:22:00.000-07:00

to make the english bowlers seem better than they really are?

Sure they've got a better bowling line-up than in past series, where the main difficulty for batsmen was keeping a straight face, not a straight bat, but as our tail-enders have shown, they aren't unplayable. So why the hell can't the guys who are actually being paid to bat manage the same? At this rate they'd do better to just pick seven bowlers. Sure they wouldn't score many runs, but the batsmen aren't either.

The Arshes

2005-08-11T07:22:00.000-07:00

Is it just me, or does going into a five day test match (with two more to follow in the series) with two bowlers under injury clouds not sound like a great plan?

Who is that masked man?

2005-08-10T08:32:00.000-07:00

My first thought was that its one of the guys from Tism.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki

2005-08-10T07:37:00.000-07:00

From the discussion here. Was it necessary to bomb populated cities rather than say letting them off in some deserted place as a show of strength?

Hiroshima and Nagasaki were relatively unpopulated areas, at least compared to say, Tokyo.

Why not just drop it on some unpopulated island instead of on a smallish city? Well I would say the reason for that is that they wanted the Japanese to know with certainty that they were prepared to use them on people. Remember that these were the only two nukes they had, if they had of detonated one somewhere remote, the Japanese might have decided they weren't prepared to use them on a city, in which case they would have had only one more chance.

Remember too that they were dropped a few days apart, and the final surrender came six days after that. They had time after the first to surrender, and even after the second they wouldn't surrender unconditionally.

Let the crap begin!

2005-08-10T00:48:00.000-07:00