Yup, they just keep on coming.
Looks like I'm going to can the planned trip to Hong Kong after all. I'll try to get there next year instead - at least it should be easier to catch up with my Hong Kong buddy then.
Instead I'm going to meet another friend in CAMBODIA!!! Yerrrsssss!! After the debacle that was my life last year, it look like I'll finally live out one of my dreams and watch the sun rise at Angkor Wat - at Christmas instead of New Years though.
At the end of last week it was all doom and gloom on the markets, but this morning they're up in Australia after the government guaranteed all bank deposits for the next three years. We'll see how long this lasts. Whatever happens, the lessons from history are hardly soothing...
For Japan, the outlook is not good at all. The yen has soared against most major currencies, meaning bad news for exporters, and therefore everyone who works for them. Already tight belts will tighten even more, spelling problems for businesses that have already cut back as much as they can. Look for the continued growth of part-time and casual work and more hardship.
Things are starting to get a bit heated in the former Yugoslavia.
The great Australian drought isn't over by a long shot.
Dirty tricks are back with a vengeance with less than a month to go in the US election. Voters are being purged illegally in six battlefront states. No guesses as to which party stands to benefit the most...
McCain would do well to push his Wall Street buddies to get the market back on its feet in a hurry if this chart is anything to go by.
Sarah Palin Watch continues. This article looks at how Palin is mirroring (and even outdoing) Bush in her use of sports to mask her faults. That's quite tame compared to how this one compares Palin's politics to that of the Khmer Rouge. It's actually compelling and scary reading.
As much as I don't trust Obama, I'd take him and Biden over McCain and Palin any day of any week.
In Afghanistan, the amount of opium grown has surged in recent years, but global heroin supply (and price) has been constant. The question international investigators are asking is, what's happened to all that excess heroin? The answer could be is that it's being stored close to the fields in case it's needed. Another possibility is that certain countries (Russia, Iran, Khazakstan, etc.) have understated the heroin problems that are in their countries.
In recent weeks in Australia there's been an explosion of public hysteria over teenage sexuality, especially that of young girls. At the centre has been the photography of Bill Henson (you can Google him yourself, and the pix are freely available on the Net) and controversy following his motivations and methodology. With films such as Juno and Towelhead also exploring this topic, now should be a time for carefully considered and calm, realistic discussion of this topic. This article goes into the topic a little and makes some good points; in a world saturated by sexualised images of women, especially young women, and where women admit to strong sexual desires, there is a need for open and honest discussion of young sexuality. My thoughts that once people are comfortable with themselves, and can talk about their feelings in a way that is open and safe, then the chances of repression and dangerous secret acts become less. In a country where 97% of girls and 100% of boys under 15 have seen porn and 1/3 of 13 year-old girls admit to having a sexual experience, the time is most definitely now.
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and having two close family members lose their lives due to the disease, I'm always interested and supportive of new research and treatments in this area of medicine. A timely piece of news is about a robot that can detect and destroy breast cancer cells. It kinda bring up images from horror movies - having a robot perform surgery - but if this works, then the precision this new technique could bring could help women worldwide.
It looks like they're going to be tinkering with the teaching of Australian history with the new curriculum. I hope they heed the warning that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
Mercury... wow!
Sydney as you've never seen it before. These videos (and this photographic technique) are very, very cool!
Monday, October 13, 2008
Tuesday, October 07, 2008
Apologies
.. for the little bit of creative writing. We'll get back to the ranting and links for a bit.
A lot happens in a week, especially when the world is teetering on the brink of a global financial mess that we haven't seen the likes of in my or my parents' lifetime. Some things are clear though. There is a fantastic amount of debt involved here: trillions of dollars. US$700 billion is a lot of money, but it isn't going to settle that debt by a long way. The phrase "shuffling the deckchairs on The Titanic" comes to mind. The US economy has been weak for a long time. The growth of the past few years was leveraged on a speculative growth in the value of real estate which could only end. (It all sounds familiar, eh Japan? and things aren't getting any better.) Ireland declared it was in recession, followed by some Eastern European countries. Britain's troubles are getting worse. Iceland's economy is on the brink. The European Community started bailing out and shoring up its banks. The crisis has spread - and it's nothing like others we've had to deal with before.
Australia's strength has also diminished. Relying on the strength of the commodities market is putting a lot of eggs into one basket, and who says that market is immune from the weaknesses in other parts of the economy? As the Reserve Bank looks to lower interest rates, Australia's attractiveness to foreign investors will dip. Then again, with the Aussie dollar weakening, it may be time to send some money home... if I had some.
What is it going to take to sort out this crisis? For a start, it's going to require a lot of government intervention and oversight; the kinds of projects that haven't been seen in the US since the last Great Depression. I can't see John McCain doing that. People need jobs, something that hasn't been happening in the US for quite a while now. A massive public works program would go a long way to solving that problem. It would also shore up US infrastructure; something that the country needs urgently - before another bridge collapses. The government should help those who are struggling to pay their mortgages, not help the bankers who got us into this mess. No, really. Help those who are actually struggling. Maybe foreign governments should just refuse to help the US and let the government lapse into bankruptcy. At least the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan would creak to a halt. Of course that would lead to a lot of bad, as well as perhaps some long term good.
One thing that I'm sure of, is that we are all going to suffer - especially women. Things will get worse before they get better.
The Pope blames the pursuit of wealth for the crisis. Hey, Benedict! Then you should sell off all the assets of the Catholic Church (how many billion would that get?) Just melting down and selling off the gold in that staff he's holding would bail out a few mortgages, I'm sure. Yeeesh.
This has to be the best anti Sarah Palin rant I've read so far. It contains gems from start to finish, including, "she's the tawdriest, most half-assed fraud imaginable, 20 floors below the lowest common denominator, a character too dumb even for daytime TV", "rifle-toting, serially pregnant moose killer who thinks God lobbies for oil pipelines", "(i)t was like watching Gidget address the Reichstag", and "(s)he's a puffed-up dimwit with primitive religious beliefs". But perhaps, even better, is a blog, "Things Sarah Palin Can Name". You could always try and interview Sarah Palin yourself, if you dare.... But one thing is certain, John McCain (as well as the rest of us) has a lot to fear from Palin's naked ambition. A Palin presidency would make George W. Bush's reign of ignorance seem like the good old days.
Apparently static electricity caused 1500 votes to mysteriously appear on a voting machine in a recent US election. No word on which party they supported, but you can guess.
Oops.
In Africa, China is succeeding where Britain, Germany, Belgium and Italy could not; creating a colonial system that works, and enslaving the native population. It is an amazing and scary read. I thoroughly recommend it.
Sssssh! The Arctic permafrost has been melting and releasing millions of tons of methane into the atmosphere!
A British school has stopped giving its students lists of words to learn to spell because it "distresses" them. Boo Flippin' Hoo. I hope those same kids will be able to sue the school after they are rejected from jobs because they can't spell on their application letters.
I'd like to go to Okunoshima in Hiroshima Prefecture - a beautiful island with a dark past.
10 people from your past who will haunt you on Facebook. It really more truth than humour...
What happens when you put a McDonald's burger from 12 years ago next to one from yesterday? It's hard to tell the difference between them....
A lot happens in a week, especially when the world is teetering on the brink of a global financial mess that we haven't seen the likes of in my or my parents' lifetime. Some things are clear though. There is a fantastic amount of debt involved here: trillions of dollars. US$700 billion is a lot of money, but it isn't going to settle that debt by a long way. The phrase "shuffling the deckchairs on The Titanic" comes to mind. The US economy has been weak for a long time. The growth of the past few years was leveraged on a speculative growth in the value of real estate which could only end. (It all sounds familiar, eh Japan? and things aren't getting any better.) Ireland declared it was in recession, followed by some Eastern European countries. Britain's troubles are getting worse. Iceland's economy is on the brink. The European Community started bailing out and shoring up its banks. The crisis has spread - and it's nothing like others we've had to deal with before.
Australia's strength has also diminished. Relying on the strength of the commodities market is putting a lot of eggs into one basket, and who says that market is immune from the weaknesses in other parts of the economy? As the Reserve Bank looks to lower interest rates, Australia's attractiveness to foreign investors will dip. Then again, with the Aussie dollar weakening, it may be time to send some money home... if I had some.
What is it going to take to sort out this crisis? For a start, it's going to require a lot of government intervention and oversight; the kinds of projects that haven't been seen in the US since the last Great Depression. I can't see John McCain doing that. People need jobs, something that hasn't been happening in the US for quite a while now. A massive public works program would go a long way to solving that problem. It would also shore up US infrastructure; something that the country needs urgently - before another bridge collapses. The government should help those who are struggling to pay their mortgages, not help the bankers who got us into this mess. No, really. Help those who are actually struggling. Maybe foreign governments should just refuse to help the US and let the government lapse into bankruptcy. At least the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan would creak to a halt. Of course that would lead to a lot of bad, as well as perhaps some long term good.
One thing that I'm sure of, is that we are all going to suffer - especially women. Things will get worse before they get better.
The Pope blames the pursuit of wealth for the crisis. Hey, Benedict! Then you should sell off all the assets of the Catholic Church (how many billion would that get?) Just melting down and selling off the gold in that staff he's holding would bail out a few mortgages, I'm sure. Yeeesh.
This has to be the best anti Sarah Palin rant I've read so far. It contains gems from start to finish, including, "she's the tawdriest, most half-assed fraud imaginable, 20 floors below the lowest common denominator, a character too dumb even for daytime TV", "rifle-toting, serially pregnant moose killer who thinks God lobbies for oil pipelines", "(i)t was like watching Gidget address the Reichstag", and "(s)he's a puffed-up dimwit with primitive religious beliefs". But perhaps, even better, is a blog, "Things Sarah Palin Can Name". You could always try and interview Sarah Palin yourself, if you dare.... But one thing is certain, John McCain (as well as the rest of us) has a lot to fear from Palin's naked ambition. A Palin presidency would make George W. Bush's reign of ignorance seem like the good old days.
Apparently static electricity caused 1500 votes to mysteriously appear on a voting machine in a recent US election. No word on which party they supported, but you can guess.
Oops.
In Africa, China is succeeding where Britain, Germany, Belgium and Italy could not; creating a colonial system that works, and enslaving the native population. It is an amazing and scary read. I thoroughly recommend it.
Sssssh! The Arctic permafrost has been melting and releasing millions of tons of methane into the atmosphere!
A British school has stopped giving its students lists of words to learn to spell because it "distresses" them. Boo Flippin' Hoo. I hope those same kids will be able to sue the school after they are rejected from jobs because they can't spell on their application letters.
I'd like to go to Okunoshima in Hiroshima Prefecture - a beautiful island with a dark past.
10 people from your past who will haunt you on Facebook. It really more truth than humour...
What happens when you put a McDonald's burger from 12 years ago next to one from yesterday? It's hard to tell the difference between them....
And so it goes...
One of the good things about watching this economic collapse unfold is that it goes to show that Wall Street financial people aren't dummies.
Setting: Main Street on a dry and dusty western town. Music by Ennio Morricone.
Wall Street: Help! I've fallen and I can't get up!
Government: Well, gee. Look at that!
WS: Hey! We gave you all that money! You like money, right?
G: Well... geee.... yeah!
WS: Help us get back up and we can give you money again!
G: But you're mortally wounded, look at those gunshot wounds... Hey, is that a gun in your hand? Did you do that to yoursel..
WS: No! It was... errrmmm... those other guys. The common people!
Common People: What?!? Hey, we have no idea how that guy works, but he promised if we gave him our money, that he would lend to us, we'd get rich! What happened?
WS: I have no idea what you're talking about. Oh, and that big house over there isn't mine either.
G: Well, we'd be happy to help. Common People, we need more money - again.
CP: What!? Don't we pay you enough too?!? If we give you our money then we won't have anything left to go and buy food, hay for the horses, and so on. The shops will all close.
WS: Argh! Help me up!
G: Come on! Let's help!
CP: Well.... OK.... I guess....
Wall Street gets to his feet, shoves the wad of cash into his coat pocket, and falls over again.
WS: Help! I can't get up!
Today's heavy-handed allegory is brought to you by the numbers 9,956 and 10,172 and falling.
Setting: Main Street on a dry and dusty western town. Music by Ennio Morricone.
Wall Street: Help! I've fallen and I can't get up!
Government: Well, gee. Look at that!
WS: Hey! We gave you all that money! You like money, right?
G: Well... geee.... yeah!
WS: Help us get back up and we can give you money again!
G: But you're mortally wounded, look at those gunshot wounds... Hey, is that a gun in your hand? Did you do that to yoursel..
WS: No! It was... errrmmm... those other guys. The common people!
Common People: What?!? Hey, we have no idea how that guy works, but he promised if we gave him our money, that he would lend to us, we'd get rich! What happened?
WS: I have no idea what you're talking about. Oh, and that big house over there isn't mine either.
G: Well, we'd be happy to help. Common People, we need more money - again.
CP: What!? Don't we pay you enough too?!? If we give you our money then we won't have anything left to go and buy food, hay for the horses, and so on. The shops will all close.
WS: Argh! Help me up!
G: Come on! Let's help!
CP: Well.... OK.... I guess....
Wall Street gets to his feet, shoves the wad of cash into his coat pocket, and falls over again.
WS: Help! I can't get up!
Today's heavy-handed allegory is brought to you by the numbers 9,956 and 10,172 and falling.
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