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| [+] Meaningless Drivel » Do you (Go to) | Helen Thomas | |
| No competition... Dyson is magical... When we first got ours our carpets changed colour, the amount of crap it sucked up was unbelievable!  | ||
| [+] Meaningless Drivel » Kids (Go to) | Ashok Mash | |
Having 1 kid (now 11 mnths old) - We are in the middle of this debate at home! - The question (for us) is not so much 1 or more but small or big family - I'm of the opinion that 2 kids is the right size for us and balances out the companionship of having siblings vs competition for resources (both finanical and emotional) - My wife however, comes from a larger family and likes the idea of at least 3 kids. Only time will tell who wins the argument!
In the interests of decreasing cost and getting best practice efficiency, maximum re-use of equipment, clothes and shared toys - having kids as close together as possible must be a good idea (driving 2 kids to same daycare centre, then same school etc etc is gonna be easier than driving one to infant daycare and the other to after school soccer for example). Kids closer in age are also more likely to form strong friendship bonds than those seperated by a large gap. However, if kids are sufficiently spaced apart then perhaps the older sibling is able to assist with care giving in some cases (or at least understand enough to get out of the way when theres a fully-fledged toddler tantrum going on!) - and perhaps a benefit from a female perspective we could consider that having kids further apart gives the body more time to recover from pregnancy and childbirth before going through the whole thing again! I think the increasing trend for women getting older before having first children is bound to have 2 effects: a) More single children families - With the average age of first time mothers drifting to the wrong side of 30 the changes of women remaining fertile long enough to have a second child are dramatically reduced (and thats without considering whether or not a second child is desired) b) Families are likely to me more "compressed" as people rush to squeeze in 2 or more kids before its "too late", so instead of having kids when they are 23 and 27, a typical 2 child family may have kids when mum is aged 30 and 32 What effect this will have on society is yet to be determined - previously it had been suggested that only children have an increased tendency to be self-centred than those with siblings, but its hard (and horrific) to imagine society becoming even more self centred than it currently is!  | ||
| [+] Meaningless Drivel » Indian Budget 2005 (Go to) | Pradeep bhatt | |
What is 'L'? Excuse my ignorance - just looked it up L=100,000 As far as I can gather, roughly speaking 1L = US$2300 Which would mean your top rate of income tax kicks in at around US$5700. (Is this right? seems a bit low to me? compare with Australias top rate of tax (48% that kicks in at just over US$50K, meaning a large chunk of the population i.e. ~15-20% [I'm guessing]pay top rate tax) ..and US (which is unfeasibly hard to find out!) of 30something%? that kicks in if you earn horrendously large sums of money US$350,000??, meaning that virtually nobody pays top rate tax) Not trying to draw any conclusions - but the difference is staggering! [ February 28, 2005: Message edited by: Adrian Wallace ] | ||
| [+] Meaningless Drivel » How do you manage....? (Go to) | Jeffrey Hunter | |
| Tina, A year ago I worked for an employer who criticised me heavily for being a "40 hour a week" guy. This was despite the fact that I got all my worked completed within required deadlines and gained certifications (after study in private time) that the company needed to gain for business partnership reasons. I was moved out of my chosen area and pushed into working on a project that I had no interest in and forced to spend all day in the most uncomfortable office with the most unlikable man in the universe.. I raised my concerns to other senior managers, but the corporate bullying tactics went unchecked. I suffered a great deal of stress but was never under the illusion that increasing the number of hours was going to improve the situation. My boss clearly had decided that he didnt want anything to do with me any more and was going to do whatever he could to make my life miserable (occasional meetings would result in a flurry of verbal abuse from him, sometimes on work issues, other times just plain abuse on the basis of my nationality!) The only course of action I had was to look for a new job since it was clear that at the first hint of opportunity my boss was going to sack me (redundency was out of the question since they would have had to pay me) but unfortunately at the time the job market was very quiet and things were clearly going to take some time. Later I discovered that my manager was in fact monitoring all my email correspondence when he threatened to call the police on me for an email that he considered to contain content that was "illegal" (I sent myself a list of my personal contacts from my work address book!) Fortunately I found a new job! I reduced my travel time from 2hrs a day to 30 minutes a day, 40 hours a week is as much as is expected - and nobody minds if I do some of those hours from home, I leave home around 7:15am every morning and get back before 4pm every afternoon. I'm working on a project that is far more interesting than anything I would've done in my previous company and I get paid 30% more than I did 13 months ago!   Strangely enough, with the reduction in stress I have found that the quality of my work has improved, my health is better and I have more energy for my family when I'm at home. In short - If you're working too long and getting stressed - MOVE! Keep looking until you find a place to work that suits you! There are reasonable employers out there - you just have to find one! | ||
| [+] Meaningless Drivel » rant: Scrolling Websites (Go to) | Nick George | |
This - I completely agree - is totaly unacceptable ..While we're on the subject of asthetics obscuring function can we rant about excessive use of FLASH??!!!  | ||
| [+] Meaningless Drivel » rant: Scrolling Websites (Go to) | Nick George | |
| Its all a matter of taste... personally I *HATE* having to negiate through several pages (with associated server round-trips)! So what's up with all the web designers out there who force everyone to page through multiple server trips just to fill in single forms? it's REALLY frustrating after a while... I shouldn't have page through a whole load of stuff when a simple scroll would suffice!  [ February 23, 2005: Message edited by: Adrian Wallace ] | ||
| [+] Meaningless Drivel » Maid service (Go to) | Alan Wanwierd | |
| The argument in our household is a little bit different: Me: This house is a disgusting, its falling apart and is barely fit for habitation - can we get a cleaner?  Her: No - I dont want a stranger in my house Me: But... I cant manage - I'm not keeping on top of things  Her: No - I dont want a stranger in my nouse Me: Well then - can you help me and do some of the the cooking, washing up, clean the house, do the laundry, clean the pool, mow the lawn etc etc sometime so that I have some free time to spend with our daughter? Her: I'm too tired - I'll do it later...  Pretty soon I'm going to crack and form a secret alliance with a cleaner to come in when my wife is at work! | ||
| [+] Meaningless Drivel » Long haul travel with toddler?! (Go to) | Aj Mathia | |
"Overnight" is a fairly meaningless concept when such distances and so many timezones are involved, but... Roughly speaking we leave Brisbane at 11am and arrive 10 hours later at 6pm in Hong Kong and then leave HongKong at 11pm getting into London 12 hours later at 5am So I suppose its one long afternoon flight followed by a monumentaly stretched night. Once we arrive its all up to my parents (who will have loved driving in to pick us up from Heathrow at 5am on a Sunday!) to deal with any screaming tantrums while my wife and I just recover for a few days! | ||
| [+] Meaningless Drivel » Long haul travel with toddler?! (Go to) | Aj Mathia | |
| It seemed like a good idea at the time... she was such a peaceful, almost inanimate infant that the idea of taking her to see her relatives on the other side of the world was quite attractive (particularly as I had enough reward points to get my flight for free and she's young enough to fly for free).. So we made a booking a few months ago (to ensure cheapest possible cost of flight for my wife who needed to actually purchase a ticket in the traditional way).. 10Hr Brisbane - Hong Kong on a Qantas A330 5Hr transit in Hong Kong 12Hr Hong Kong - London on a B.A. 747 The airlines suggest that infant bassinettes **may** be available for children under 11kg (which she will *just* be [even if she has to STARVE for a week beforehand!]  )Of course now that all the flights for my wife, daughter and I are booked and locked-in, my daughter is starting to "awaken" and is becoming more and more adventurous and loud! - Meal times are becoming increasingly frantic and messy and the concept of sitting on a plane with a wriggling 12 month old on our lap for 24 hours is quite frankly terrifying! Are we mad? Can we use sedatives? (on her or me?) Will we drive our fellow pasengers insane? Will Qantas/BA allow us some degree of sanity and give her a bassinette - or will they refuse saying she's too heavy?! ..The trip is still 2 months away and already I'm dreading it!!! | ||
| [+] Meaningless Drivel » Renters right to dispute security deposit (Go to) | Jeroen Wenting | |
| I once moved out of a rented apartment where I expected to get grief from the agent (I was cutting the lease short due to moving into a place I'd bought). The apartment was fairly new and was clean when we moved in, but agents being agents I know they were going to try something. I cleaned the place from top to bottom and went around with a camcorder to show how spotless the place was. In places on the video you could see the reflection of me in the kitchen and bathroom chrome fittings - the place was gleaming! When we moved out and I claimed my bond back from the third party government organisation who handle these things in Qld, I was informed that the agent required $350 for cleaning (The agency hold all bond money until both parties agree on how it should be refunded). I refused to acknowledge that the appartment needed cleaning - depite being presented with copies of the invoices from the cleaning company and had a series of angry phone calls with the agent talking about how they clearly had a suspect relationship with the cleaning company and things got very ugly! Eventually I told the agent that if they wanted the money from me then they'd have to take me to court and point out the cleaning that was required on my 15 minute video (which I offered to show them). Mysteriously enough they backed down and I got my entire deposit back! | ||
| [+] Meaningless Drivel » Is faith healing unscientific? (Go to) | Dave Lenton | |
Picking of woldflowers is frowned upon in many areas of the world (and illegal in some). Where natural habitats are shrinking the wear and tear from human visitation on forests, wetlands, heathland etc is increasingly a problem. Most natural areas encourage a "Leave nothing but footprints, take nothing but photos" approach. | ||
| [+] Meaningless Drivel » The boy Scout and the Mountain Man (Go to) | Dave Lenton | |
I think you may be forgetting the 3rd approach - named "City folk". City folk head out into the wilderness after having seen a TV documentary or read a slim book about it and think its a "neat idea". Unfortunately they are often ill-equiped and poorly prepared and find themsleves getting into trouble and calling on the services of mountain rescue teams etc etc. Perhaps in your world of analogy - "City folk" = "Managers" - keen to get into it after having been revved up by glossy marketing presentations but blissfully unaware of the potential pitfalls. Of course once things get into trouble the Manager invariably needs to call emergency services in the form of consultant "Mountain Men" or "Boy Scouts"!! | ||
| [+] Meaningless Drivel » 2005 Toyota Avalon (Go to) | Alan Wanwierd | |
In my experience new cars in UK are very expensive compared with the same car here in Australia - however, there are caveats to that statement: 1) European cars are RIDICULOUSLY overpriced in Australia (Peugeout, Renault are regarded as "premium" brands - and you pay for it... 2) Ford + GM cars are cheap anywhere... 3) Toyota are a far more common (and therefore less pricey) in Australia than UK FYI: Price of a new Camry on road here in Australia < AU$30K (GBP12K, US$25K). Same price gets a very small, mid-spec Peugeot 206... However, in the UK the second hand car market is a great deal more attractive! GBP500 (AU$1300, $US1000) gets you something that will still drive for a few months whereas an Australian vehicle costing less than AU$3000 (GBP1200) is unlikely to get you more than a few hundred metres down the road before it packs up! The main reason for this is the UKs annual roadworthiness certificate which means old cars need to pass rigorous tests annually and so become economically unviable. Australian cars continue to be legal to drive even when they clearly shouldnt be - so the deprecisation curve is a LOT longer.... | ||
| [+] Meaningless Drivel » Second life .. (Go to) | Subhash Bhushan C | |
| I tried so hard not to be in IT... and failed miserably!!!' I grew up with both my parents talking "IT" over the dining table every evening and promised myself I'd do something more interesting, worthwhile and satisfying with my life. I completed a suitably vague degree in Politics and Music and spent a year scraping by on various cash-in-hand gigs and unemployment benefit whilst looking for a job other than in IT. I *nearly* joined the Police, thinking that a career in a community services away from the corporate world would keep me satisfied, but the force I applied to announced a 3 yr recruitment freeze due to government budget cuts [insert rant about centre-right minimalist government policies here]- so I had to find something else to do. Eventually I caved in and joined the ranks of the IT professionals - (IT was the only job that could be found.) 10 years later and I'm still doing it.. disliking what I do, having no enthusiasm for the corporate world I live in - but I'm addicted to the money!! (and now havent got a hope in hell of getting an equivalent income in any other line of work) Should I have tried harder? Should I have kept up with my musician mates (who still live on the poverty line)? Should I have held on and joined the cops? Who knows...... I'm here now and theres no point trying to change that! | ||
| [+] Meaningless Drivel » Programming Language Inventor or Serial Killer (Go to) | Alan Wanwierd | |
| Ooops: 4/10 !! | ||
| [+] Meaningless Drivel » The Super IQ Test (Go to) | Jesse Torres | |
| The way you think about things makes you a Complex Intellectual. This means you are highly intelligent and have extraordinarily strong verbal and math skills. Compared to others you are a highly conceptual and complex thinker and are able to understand information in an abstract form. You also show great attention to detail. In fact, it's hard to find something you're not good at. ...The 3 dimensions you scored highest on combine to make you a Complex Intellectual. Only 6 out of 1,000 people have this rare combination of abilities... Do all of their classifications come with this 6/1000 statistic??? Does that mean they have 167 different classifications? | ||
| [+] Meaningless Drivel » GPM ? (Go to) | Hussein Baghdadi | |
| Units used to measure fuel consumption seem to vary incredibly depending on location - here in Australia the number quoted is always litres per 100Km.. My Landrover Discovery (Turbo Diesel) uses as few as 10lt/100KM and as much as 13.5lt/100KM (good when cruising not so good in traffic) My crappy Toyota Corolla 1.6 auto uses 10 to 12 lt/100KM Your stats suggest the Hummer uses close to 24lt/100KM.... ..but your stats also seem to suggest that a Mini is no more efficient than my Landrover which seems extremely unlikely! [ February 08, 2005: Message edited by: Adrian Wallace ] | ||
| [+] Meaningless Drivel » Want suggestions... (Go to) | ammu vasanth | |
Interesting - My daughter was also breech and born by c-section. But doctors didnt mention height as siginificant despite the fact that I am 6'3" and my wife is 5'0" !!! (On current projections baby daughter now 10 mnth old, looks to be taking after neither of us and being totaly average height!) | ||
| [+] Meaningless Drivel » Campaign for deletion of "Word Association" thread. (Go to) | Varun Khanna | |
| Given that JR does not have a facilty for selecting "Ignore this thread". Can we possibly remove the "Word Association" thread? Its clutters up the list of threads with its 78 pages of purile nonsense and really gets in the way of trying to monitor real "active" and potentialy interesting threads! I realise that this may well be the absolute epitome of "Meaningless Drivel", so perhaps has a claim to remain - but seriously folks - do we have to??? I would argue that since offensive threads are deleted efficiently there are two possible strategies to employ: 1) Declare the thread offensively dull and boring and therefore not fit for survival, or 2) Flood the thread with outrageous OTT anti-american, racist, and downright offensive "Word Associations" - in the hope that one of the gods of censorship sees 'thread death' as the best option!!! | ||
| [+] Meaningless Drivel » Want suggestions... (Go to) | ammu vasanth | |
Show us the function! Heres one.... | ||
| [+] Meaningless Drivel » Indian arranged marriages (Go to) | PS Iyer | |
I think if both participants are happy with the idea that it seems perfectly reasonable. If anything its a far more sensible way of basing a long term relationship than the common western approach of finding a partner via a drunken encounter in a darkened room with loud music with both participants pouring copious amount of alcohol down their necks! | ||
| [+] Meaningless Drivel » Bose and iPod (Go to) | Alan Wanwierd | |
Not true - the higher the wattage the LOUDER the output, and there might be a rough corolation with quality for similarly constructed units since a speaker working at 50% its max capacity will perform better than one working at 95% its capacity (Which will tend to start distorting). So a 100W speaker cranking out 50W of power will tend to distort less than a 50W speaker cranking out 50W of power.... but it isnt necessarily as simple as that! Good speakers will perform much better then bad ones when driven towards the top end of their power rating. Have you ever heard people listening to a cheap radio in SE Asia? It tends to be turned up loud, but you cant hear a damn thing 'cos its its all a distorted horrible mess. The measure of a good speaker is not loudness - its clarity!. When you can listen to Berlioz Symphony Fantastique and have the tubular bell send shivers down your spine as the pure tone cuts through all the orchestral backround - you know you've got a good sound. When you can listen to Miles Davis and think you can hear the smoke bellowing around the room - thats a good sound, and when you listen to modern teen-pop and realise that actually theres no depth to the music whatsoever - that may be because you've got used to hearing all the depth in other things through your excellent clear speakers! You dont need it to be loud to experience good hifi!! (Although if you refer to the "Legalise drugs" thread, you can learn a number of ways to increase your enjoyment of good hifi! | ||
| [+] Meaningless Drivel » what is a auto immune disease (Go to) | Alan Wanwierd | |
Good for you - I'd like to get Remicade too!! My condition gives me constant back pain and is slowly fusing my spine together and reducing my flexibility. (I am already over-reliant on car mirrors 'cos I cant turn my head enough to look over my shoulder, and I can expect this to get gradually worse with decreasing mobility for the rest of my life). Studies suggest that Remicade is so effective that many patients (around 80%) with my condition experience not only relief from painful inflamation and halting of the disease, but also a gradual increase in mobility (reversal of disease). Unfortunately my private health insurance [and all similar products I've seen in Australia] covers just $500 of non-government subsidised drug costs per year so at a cost of more than $25K per year for treatment its just something for lottery winners! My best hope is that doctors will manage to persuade the government that this drug **is** as good as the hype and is worth the money!! (fingers crossed!) | ||
| [+] Meaningless Drivel » Measuring an effective police force (Go to) | Helen Thomas | |
Isnt that directly due to "3) The level of hysteria in the media"?? Our local news here often talks about how Brisbane city center is no longer safe at night and crime is gripping the city, yet after living here for 6 years I am yet to meet anyone who has become a victim of ANY kind of crime at all!! (and plenty of the people I know are regular late night city dwellers!) | ||
| [+] Meaningless Drivel » Bose and iPod (Go to) | Alan Wanwierd | |
| I wouldnt necessarily say 'best hands down'... but Bose do have a high quality product. (There are plenty of smaller manufacters who produce fantasicly good speakers at least as good as Bose if not better). Decent speakers or headphones will improve the quality of your listening experience with a great deal more detail being audible and a sharp clear sound (difficult to describe - but go to a hi-fi shop and do a comparison test - you'll know what I'm talking about). Unfortunately if you're using these headphones primarily to listen to MP3s from an iPod, a large amount of the detail will already have been 'clipped' by the compression and you may not get the full benefits of expensive kit! | ||
| [+] Meaningless Drivel » what is a auto immune disease (Go to) | Alan Wanwierd | |
Hey - if Kishore has just been diagnosed with this disease its perfectly reasonable for him to try and find out more about it! I did the same think when I was diagnosed with Ankylosing Spondilitis (another crippling auto-immune condition). I spent hours pouring over all the research I could, trying to find out what the disease was and what possible treatments were, what research was being done etc etc.. I didnt actually find out anything useful apart from the recent development of extremely effective anti TNF (Tumour Necrosis Factor) drugs which unfortunately are so expensive as to be unavailable to me unless the UK NHS or Australias PBS(Pharmacutical Benefits Scheme) start covering the costs. If the NHS gets there first then I'll have to 'up sticks' and move back to the UK!! Are there any treatments for Crohns? If so - are they affordable? | ||
| [+] Meaningless Drivel » Call for Global Taxation (Go to) | Axel Janssen | |
Even **if** (and its a big if) homosexual males are the largest demographic of HIV patients in USA, I'm sure that amongst Africa and SEAsia (Where HIV is far more prevalent) that the largest numbers would be amongst the heterosexual world spread mainly by unprotected heterosexual encounters. In Thailand for example I think I read that as many as 1 in 3 prostitutes in some areas have HIV - spreading the virus quite effectively among the hetrosexual community since condom use is still relatively rare (compared with the gay community). If we can accept this (and I'd be surprised if this wasnt the case) then surely we must accept that globaly, the vast majority of HIV/AIDS suffers are in fact NOT homosexual. [ January 27, 2005: Message edited by: Adrian Wallace ] | ||
| [+] Meaningless Drivel » Measuring an effective police force (Go to) | Helen Thomas | |
| Measuring crime is notoriously difficult. There are 2 main method and both are clearly flawed: 1) Use the police stats - Does an increase in people cuaght speeding mean more people are exceeding the speed limit? Not necessarily - It may just mean that more police are focussing on catching people speeding. Crime rates reported in this way could be slashed to zero by not catching people speeding! (Not very effective for anything much). This method is used widely to report alsorts of crime - particularly drink driving every xmas where true numbers cannot be established and the only guide is the number who are caught. The meda still tell us that this year numbers drink driving were down 5% on last year... (which is fairly meaningless unless we can compare the number of Police performing RBTs this year and last year at the same time) 2) Use crime reported crime figures. Sexual abuse, we are led to believe by the media, has increased massively over the last decade or so. Reports of abuse are up a gazillion percent (I have no idea what any actual numbers are). In actual fact the number of sexual abuses may well be at a fairly constant level in our society - but in the last decade it has become more acceptable to report such crimes. The resultant appearance is of a society becoming more and more depraved when in fact we are just more and more aware. The reverse effect may also have happened with some petty theft where the public perception of police ineffectiveness means that much petty theft goes unreported since the victim cannot be bothered to go through all the hassle with no hope of retrieving their property. As far as "prevention of crime and disorder" is concerned, that may have been a leading principle behind policing but it seems to me that now the Police are responsible for dealing with societies thirst for revenge (see comment about "locking them up" or "removing gonads" in the drugs legalisation thread for examples). Time and time again we see punishment being ineffective as a preventative measure and despite calls from leading police figures to try and involve police in preventative policing, the public still demand crime solving rather than crime prevention 'cos they get to see the 'bad guy' get punished at the end! (which is percieved as value for money by the public). A 100% effective preventative police force (a theoretical construct only), would, despite its effectiveness have trouble arguing for its existence since zero crime would lead public to question the need for policing! [ January 27, 2005: Message edited by: Adrian Wallace ] | ||
| [+] Meaningless Drivel » Australia Day... (and flagwaving in general) (Go to) | Thomas Paul | |
or another way of looking might be that if my biggest oppressors are not in fact governments, but are multinational corporations, then the protection of national governments can simply be sidestepped by the corporate oppressors moving elsewhere. Only a truly global government could have sufficient power to hold global corporations in check. | ||
| [+] Meaningless Drivel » Australia Day... (and flagwaving in general) (Go to) | Thomas Paul | |
Gain sympathy? - I was actually asking if anywhere (other than "new world") got so into flag-waving patriotism to see whether my awkwardness is shared by others. I require no sympathy. I am *not* embarassed to be Australian and if you think I am then you have misunderstood me. As for Australia having things to be proud of - yes they(we?) have plenty to be proud of (and I share that pride in many things). I think the flat class-less social structure of Australia and their(our?!) continued commitment to try and support the weaker members of society is to be applauded. I think the modern cosmopolitan nature of Australian cities has many unique features that are worth celebrating the integration of asian european and other cultures has produced a dynamic and lively country. The landscapes and natural aspects of the country are truly wonderful and managed and respected in a sensitive and sustainable way. Australian socieies have a sense of civic pride the likes of which I have never seen in Europe. The community qualities of many areas never ceases to amaze me with people offering their services, often for no reward, just to help out (e.g. surf lifesavers). All these things and many more are great reasons for me to be in Australia... I grew up in a world where open display of national patriotism were discouraged and seen as politcally insensitive. Pride in _my_ nation is something I do have and I can understand others having - I'd just rather not see that expressed in open public displays. (May be thats my repressed British 'stiff upper lip' nature shining through! ) | ||
| [+] Meaningless Drivel » Australia Day... (and flagwaving in general) (Go to) | Thomas Paul | |
My reasons are many (none of them economic) - you be the judge of whether they are unprincipled: 1) I want security from eviction! - No matter what changes happen in immigration law I want to be able to travel freely and return to my home and my daughter (who is an Australian by birth). As a British Citizen with a Permanent Residency visa the *current* rules would be satisfactory for this - but I have no confidence in the rules remaining the same. The only truly secure arrangement is for me to become a citizen of Australia (whilst also remaining a British citizen). 2) Although I despise the compulsory voting arrangement in australia, (I believe it dilutes the quality of democray), I would like to be able to vote when I feel so inclined (at other times I shall be forced to enter a spoilt ballot to register my distaste). I have always, (since arriving) been a high tax payer in Australia - I think it only fair that I have my input into the government rules and regulations under which I must live. 3) When I travel, I want to be able to go through the "Fast-track" passport control queue everytime!! - So when I show up in the UK I'll flash my British passport and when I return to Australia I'll flash the Australian one!..of course there is a downside - I may now be called for Jury service, and can be fined if I forget to show up and vote on polling day. Also I supose theres the possibility of being draftedinto the military against my will - if that sort of thing happens [extremely unlikely]. But its a brave military that tries to get me involved!! Unfit, unsuited... unmotivated - so I'm not really that worried.
I'd rather bask in the glory of knowing that I can live in a world where nationality is not an issue, where I can travel freely and not need to jump through bureacratic hoops just to participate in our global society! I would like to say I'm not a citizen of any country - I am a citizen of humanity! (Bring on the Global government mentioned in another thread!! I'll sign up! )
They are, understandably, quite unimpressed with the whole deal!! There are lame attempts at creating "reconciliation ceremonies" and trying to involve indigenous communities in celebrating their Australian 'ness, but it smacks of tokenism - particularly as everywhere people are waving national flags that still have a British "Union Jack" in the corner! [ January 26, 2005: Message edited by: Adrian Wallace ] | ||
| [+] Meaningless Drivel » some thoughts on Ross Perot (Go to) | John Dunn | |
| I'm sure I heard (and I could be worng - I has been known ) that Ross Perot was resonsible for an HR policy within EDS of making it against the rules to grow a beard? The story goes that alhtough having a beard was deemed acceptable, to be in the process of growing one was unacceptable and any offender would be sent home to shave! If you wanted to grow a beard you would have to take annual leave until such time as your beard was established, whereupon you could show up at work complete with a full acceptable beard!Can anyone confirm or deny this story? [ January 26, 2005: Message edited by: Adrian Wallace ] | ||
| [+] Meaningless Drivel » Australia Day... (and flagwaving in general) (Go to) | Thomas Paul | |
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia_Day Yes I suppose Australia day is celebrating the start of colonization - but it is a significant historical date - when the first fleet arrived in Sydney in 1788. Generally now its just a celebration of all things Australian. Indepenence started by consent after referrendum and agreement of British Government and all former Asutralian colonies on 1st January 1901 - but since 1st January is already a public holiday, it'd be tough to move the holiday. There was no war of independence, but Australians have a habit of celebrating great losses and failures: 1) Australia day - All native australians invaded, loss of land, language and culture... 2) ANZAC day - Celebration of the completely shambollic invasion of Gallipoli 1915, where thousands of Australians needlessly got mowed down by Turkish machine guns due to a communications screw up with the English gun ships (who were supposed to be providing covering fire). Other widely celebrated major historical figures include: Burke & Wills - Explorers who first travelled from South to North coast and proved the lack of existance of an internal sea - Perished on their return journey. They had inadaquqte supplies and were generally incompetent to attempt such a journey! Ned Kelly - Common petty thief who got caught and was hanged. | ||
| [+] Meaningless Drivel » Australia Day... (and flagwaving in general) (Go to) | Thomas Paul | |
| Yesterday (26th) Was Australia Day (Public holiday with 4th July style flag waving) I spent the morning at my Citizenship Ceremony (I am now a fully naturalised Australian). Whilst I was happy enough to go through all the bureacratic steps to get my right to vote and right to a passport etc etc - I still cannot get into the idea of all the pompous flag waving and pledging of allegiance and find it all a little distastful. I have a theory that Europeans are less into flag waving and open displays of patriotism than many other groups of people because of politcal connotations: There was a guy in Germany some years ago who waved a flag around and said "My country is the best in the world - and my people are superior to all others"... and after some time it was decided that this guy was not nice!... Memory of that still lingers and I think that Patriotism is unfashionable for that reason. Flag waving has become a symbol of the extreme xenophobe - it sends a message of a distasteful social egotism. I belive that Americans are very into displays of patriotic flag waving - but what about other countries? Do other places in the world display their flag with patriotic fever? | ||
| [+] Meaningless Drivel » Drugs legalisation: 'when, not if' (Go to) | Jason Menard | |
You dont think that perhaps the resultant outcry from the worlds population when somewhere starts doing this might cause just 1 or 2 problems? Hers a little "thought experiment": Lets pick a country at random and say that Australia were do adopt this policy "1st offence of drug related criminal activity results in sterilisation", Its a simple and cheap suggestion. After announcing the policy government buildings, police buildings prisons would be trashed by an angry mob protesting about civil rights and making parallels with Hitlers "final solution", outcry would be massive and immediate streets woudl be filled with protesters. - Government response would either be to set army on its own people, or to give in a rescind the policy. Lets assume (for the sake of debate) that the army manage to quell the rebellion and rebuild the infrastructure damaged in the riots. With a population now controlled by military, the economic atractiveness of Australia plummets and investors pull out, tourists wont go anywhere near Australia and the resultant economic decline further fuels civil unrest within the country. Pleas to the outside world are heard and sooner or later the people of Australia beg the international community for assistance in overthrowing their government, but pleas fall on deaf ears since UN is extremely reluctant to get involved in regime change. [-We wont go into _that_ here!-] Social, health and economic problems solved?... I doubt it! | ||
| [+] Meaningless Drivel » Call for Global Taxation (Go to) | Axel Janssen | |
| Why do you think a global tax is such a bad idea? We have many of them already administered not by a gobal government but by the power players who truly are global - corporations: Microsoft License fees for example. The tax is collected by Microsoft and you can avoid paying it by either 1) Not using microsoft software, 2) Using it illegaly. This is analagous to avoiding income tax by 1) Not getting a job or 2) Not declaring your income. The first solution to avoidance causes inconvenience the second increased risk of punishment. | ||
| [+] Meaningless Drivel » Drugs legalisation: 'when, not if' (Go to) | Jason Menard | |
Apparently there is a positive spin on cigarettes! - check this out: Research uncovers rare smoking positive | ||
| [+] Meaningless Drivel » San Francisco May Charge for Grocery Bags (Go to) | Jason Menard | |
| Plastic shopping bags are becoming a big issue world over. Introducing a charge is one way to ty and discourage their use. I thought this was a bit of a pain at first - but now that I am used to taking the stronger cloth bags I am actually much happier - they have a greater capacity and mean that the check-out chick can pack faster and I can carry more food between the car and my kitchen per trip once I've got home - thus greatly improving the efficiency of the whole shopping experience. It actually means I manage to get my frozen food into the safety of the freezer quicker, so not only am I causing less eco-damage, I'm also reducing my chance of spoilt ice-cream! (Very important whan its 40C outside)Do yourselves a favour - spend $2 on a decent canvas shopping bag and stop moaning about it! | ||
| [+] Meaningless Drivel » How many Holidays??? (Go to) | Neeru Misra | |
I believe the usual explanation for this is Latitude... Not enough sunlight during winter leading to increased risk of depression and seasonally linked bi-polar disorders. If so we should find similar suicide stats in the notherly latitudes of Canada, Alaska & Russia - Anybody care to research this (I cant be bothered!) | ||
| [+] Meaningless Drivel » How many Holidays??? (Go to) | Neeru Misra | |
There are parallels between US and Australia - but an important destinction is that Australian society is approx. 100 years later than American. The fact that by the time Australian society was formed, the political thinking of the day had moved on perhaps explains why Australia has inheritted a more "left-ish" political outlook. Another key difference between the two countries in their development would be that the earliy American settlers were (I think - and I'm sure I'll be corrected if I'm wrong) a puritanical protestant christians. The resultant society being very much shaped by some of these values. Max Weber (1904) suggests that these protestant values were exactly those that best developed a vibrant capitalist econonmy. Australia, with less religious zeal, perhaps did not have so much the required drive and therefore became less economically successful. In response to Franks "Liberalism=good, Socialism=bad" arguement I'd say that its a tribute to Australias modern society with a supportive welfare system that every year the list of "Most Livable Cities in the World" to live in contains more Australian cities in top 10 than any other country. Last years results (http://theage.com.au/articles/2004/02/06/1075854028808.html?oneclick=true): (Notice that all the countries listed in the top 10 are seem to be those with a supportive welfare system. Scandinavian countries seems very highly rated - and have probably the best social welfare systmes in the world) 1= Melbourne 1= Vancouver 1= Vienna 4 Perth 5 Geneva 6= Adelaide 6= Brisbane 6= Copenhagen 6= Montreal 6= Oslo 6= Sydney 6= Zurich 13= Helsinki 13= Stockholm 13= Toronto [ January 23, 2005: Message edited by: Adrian Wallace ] | ||
Why are you going in search of diseases? ...