Tales from the Data Design Hell Hole

Ecstasy vs Peanuts

2009-02-26T17:21:00.001Z

Finally, some sense being talked over the issue! Not that it will ever reach the rarefied stratosphere of our dear leaders, but there we go...

Sourced from http://www.spectator.co.uk/alexmassie/3376111/ecstasy-vs-peanuts.thtml

Here's a question for you:

Imagine you are seated at a table with two bowls in front of you. One contains peanuts, the other tablets of the illegal recreational drug MDMA (ecstasy). A stranger joins you, and you have to decide whether to give them a peanut or a pill. Which is safest?

So asks the New Scientist in its latest editorial. I think you know the answer, don't you?

You should give them ecstasy, of course. A much larger percentage of people suffer a fatal acute reaction to peanuts than to MDMA.

Now it's true that some research suggests there may be some ill-effects* associated with ecstasy use; but it's also the case that even these effects are, so far, so marginal as to have, in general terms, no meaningful impact upon users' ability to remain functional members of society. As the New Scientist argues in an article accompanying its excellent leader:

Enough time has finally elapsed to start asking if ecstasy damages health in the long term. According to the biggest review ever undertaken, it causes slight memory difficulties and mild depression, but these rarely translate into problems in the real world. While smaller studies show that some individuals have bigger problems, including weakened immunity and larger memory deficits, so far, for most people, ecstasy seems to be nowhere near as harmful over time as you may have been led to believe.

Common sense tells us this must be true: after all it is estimated that half a million people in Britain take ecstasy every year. Shockingly, they continue to lead normal lives. Who knew?

*Of course even if the adverse consequences of taking ecstasy (something I've never done myself, incidentally) were much more apparent there would still be little reason to prohibit people from taking an informed choice as to whether or not they wanted to use the durg.

Finally, something from Ricky Gervais I can agree with

2009-01-06T14:29:00.000Z

"I really don't know why a doctor under a hippocratic oath takes the risk of something going badly wrong, sometimes with general anaesthetic, because someone can't be bothered to go for a fucking run.

"They have bits sliced off and tied up and sucked out. I want to say to them, 'You lazy f---ing fat pig. Just go for a run and stop eating burgers. You might fucking die'.

"Some things are not worth the risk. When someone's facial surgery goes wrong because they wanted plumper lips or a little nose, I think they're a fucking idiot.

"If your arse is too fucking fat, stop eating and go for a run."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/celebritynews/4076644/Comedian-Ricky-Gervais-in-attack-on-the-overweight.html

The Best Internet Spam I've Ever Seen

2008-12-28T23:42:00.004Z

Easily the funniest thing I've read in months. Pure comic gold.

Aloha, gentleman

My happiness! I ask you, answer me!
I’m absolutely adequate and cheerful person. But the thing is that I’m
working much, sometimes even too much and because of it I’m lack of men
attention. I’m catastrophically out of time for my private life and to
build my own happiness. That is why I have to use power and might of the
modern life – Internet. My only desire is to find a Man, the real and
desired one. But otherwise this is not an end in itself. In man I appreciate
the good sense of humor and even can forbid some shortcomings if he will
be able to make me laugh. Do you want me to cook for you? You are right!
My dishes will effect you! Do you want to have pretty woman nearby? You
will be dazzeled by my beauty. Believe me, I am your treasure!
Smile at me http://fortunatehearts.net/hoping/

Good-bye
Uliana S.

Matt Dancing

2008-07-02T21:31:00.002+01:00

I love this video, and so do you, really, even if you don't want to admit it.

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

Al Gore Endorses Barack Obama in Detroit, MI

2008-06-19T15:54:00.002+01:00

Al Gore at his very best - I really do hope that Barack Obama can pull it off, I think he is America's last best hope - and by extension, all of our last best hope.

Photosynth Prototype

2008-05-30T16:03:00.001+01:00

Wow, is that impressive technology, really unbelievable

The Curse of Faith

2008-05-23T17:48:00.001+01:00

Immortal Technique - The Poverty of Philosophy

2008-05-22T01:24:00.001+01:00

Immortal Technique telling it how it is

Welcome to my world

2008-05-20T11:17:00.002+01:00

Eco Tip #2: Don't use plastic bottles, and avoid canned food.

2008-05-12T22:46:00.002+01:00

A second useful tip, this time via the fantastic Grist environmental news magazine.
Dear Umbra,

I've been hearing a lot in the news lately about the dangers of certain kinds of plastic bottles. What's the lowdown?

Thirstily,
Ginger
Littleton, Colo.

Dearest Ginger,

Always happy to be your source for the lowest lowdown around town. Today's lowdown: Don't use plastic bottles, and avoid canned food.

All the latest plastics hullabaloo is over bisphenol A, a component of many plastic products. Serious Gristoholic Readers have known for years now that BPA, in its role as an endocrine disruptor, probably poses threats to public health. These readers have been easy to spot at recent cocktail parties: they lounge about looking self-satisfied and say, "Oh, I knew that already," when the topic of toxic plastic bottles comes up. Hence our motto: "Read Grist today,woo untold strangers with your wisdom tomorrow."

The properties of BPA lend a hardness and durability to plastic products, and it is (or was) in many now infamous consumer items, including baby bottles and clear Nalgene bottles. (Nalgene has now forsworn BPA, as have Camelbak, Toys R Us, Playtex, and others.) It also lines food cans, such as might hold soup or beans. It leaches from all of these places into our food and then into our bodies; tests have found it lurking in our bodily fluids. In laboratory animals, low-dose exposure to BPA has been linked to cancer, diabetes, fertility problems, and behavior disorders.

Over the past decade, scientists have brought increasing pressure on the U.S. government to revisit its BPA-exposure standards, because said scientists keep finding probable harm at lower doses than the EPA safety level. The topic has been a continuing drama, especially over the past year. Some highlights: the U.S. government hired a firm to assess BPA toxicity, the firm ignored all the anti-BPA scientists and was later found to have links to the plastic industry, the FDA was forced to show its hand and found wanting in scientific rigor (shock!), and the National Toxicology Program came out with a tentatively anti-BPA draft. Then Health Canada opened a comment period on banning BPA, and major retailers and producers starting abandoning the BPA ship -- all within the last few months.

The Environmental Working Group has a detailed timeline of BPA studies and political developments, which you may enjoy reading. You can also find info by searching Grist for "bisphenol A" -- even just searching Ask Umbra for "bisphenol A" will get you scads of resources. I've put a few of the most relevant Grist links in this handy box for you:

Grist links on BPA

Ask Umbra on which plastics to avoid

Ask Umbra on plastic and kids, and a guide to buying non-plastic baby products

A Grist primer on chemicals, fertility, and reproduction

Listen to Grist's Sarah Kraybill Burkhalter discuss BPA on NPR

Let me summarize a few of those resources and tips here, once again, so that we can all sleep easier at night. (Unless you have young babies -- even switching to glass bottles may not convince your child to sleep through the night.)

Avoid using plastic bottles, plastic food containers, and canned food. Find your own way to mitigate the loss of convenience this causes you. Glass, stainless steel, frozen foods, and fresh foods are all useful resources for a plastics- and BPA-free diet. BPA is not in every plastic, but each plastic has its own problems (cheery Grist article on chemicals may help you here) -- at least avoid vinyl, and any "Lexan" or No. 7 plastic that does not explicitly lack BPA. You would find such explicit lack of BPA via news from the manufacturer or, increasingly, on the packaging.

If you must use plastic, choose No. 1 PETE, No. 2 HDPE, No. 4 LDPE, or No. 5 PP, and eschew the rest. Tips on avoiding the nastiest plastics are found in handy guides such as those put out by Environment California, the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, and the Environmental Working Group.

Scientists are still debating the toxicity of BPA. I advocate making a change in your plastics use now, if you haven't already -- not because the science is definitive, but because it looks like it will become so, because it's not often that a potential toxin turns out to be safe, and because there are additional reasons to reduce plastic consumption and eat fresh foods over canned foods. I'm out of room, so if anyone needs to know the additional reasons, please write in.

Dramatically,
Umbra

Solar Power From Africa: The Best Investment the EU Can Make

2008-05-02T17:41:00.000+01:00

by Stacy Feldman - Apr 21st, 2008

"Big Solar" may take on a whole new meaning if Desertec, the most ambitious solar thermal plan ever conceived, gets funded.

Its architects claim they can build a supergrid of concentrating solar thermal plants (CSP) that can meet most of Europe's current electricity needs by using just 0.3 percent of the deserts of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) – and at a cost less than oil.

The long-term prospects look even sunnier.

For an investment of $400 billion over 30 years, Desertec could eventually power Europe plus two-thirds of the MENA countries by 2050, while dramatically cutting C02 emissions and phasing out nuclear power at the same time.

That’s a sizeable chunk of the whole world’s energy needs. And for only $13 billion per year.

What a bargain, if you consider that building a single nuclear power plant in Europe carries a price tag of around $2.5 to $3.5 billion these days.

Desertec was developed by the Trans-Mediterranean Renewable Energy Corporation, the brain child of the Club of Rome, with support from the German Aerospace Bureau, among other influentials.

And it was created with this idea in mind: the solar energy available for harvest in the world’s deserts is 700 times the amount of energy needed to sustain the Earth’s population.

If the EU is charmed into supporting it, the desert lands of the MENA countries will bloom with hundreds, and eventually thousands, of arrays of solar mirrors that will generate an enormous 100 GW of exportable solar – with the potential for substantially more.

Too good to be true? Not anymore.

Skyrocketing fuel prices and the mounting reality of a peak oil future have made Desertec economically attractive for the first time since it was conceived back in 2003.

And it doesn’t hurt that the project carries a built-in bonus: drinking water. The plan aims to use the waste heat from the solar power plants for thermal desalination to create clean water for host countries.

The biggest snag is how to transmit the power to Europe across the Mediterranean Sea without losing mass amounts of energy during underwater transit. But Desertrec has already come up with the fix: clean electrical power via High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) transmission lines that will cause reasonable losses of 10 to 15 percent from Africa to Europe.

Still, the EU hasn't bought into it -- not yet. And Desertec needs Europe to invest big and early.

The European Parliament has asked Desertec for more specifics, especially how it will protect investors from financial losses when political instability strikes the MENA region.

Valid question.

In the meantime, the EU would be wise to back a Desertec demonstration project that would create a favorable economic framework for public and private investment in the long term.

If not, Europe may miss a lucrative opportunity to shape the future of desert solar, and its own energy economy.

Prince Hassan bin Talal from Jordan, former President of The Club of Rome and one of Desertec's most prominent supporters, offers this reminder to Europe:

"Such a win-win cooperation between the European Union and its southern and eastern Mediterranean neighbours is reminiscent of the Union for Coal and Steel in Europe founded some 60 years ago, which led Europe into a prosperous and peaceful future."

And if not the EU, then somebody else.

In the next 12 years alone companies will spend between $80 billion and $200 billion on CSP installations, according to a new report by Prometheus Institute and Greentech Media.

That includes more than $30 billion worth of new plants that companies have announced just in the last six months.

(Source: Geotimes)

Bit of a legend

2008-04-30T12:59:00.001+01:00

This guy cracks me up - not that I am endorsing drink driving - but he does it with style :)

Tim Wise - The Creation of Whiteness

2008-04-25T11:36:00.003+01:00

Hi guys,

Here's a really interesting clip from a lecturer called Tim Wise, talking about the historical context and drive behind the creation of the concept of 'whiteness' - specifically in a class context, in which race/colour was used to divide the black/white working class and indentured labourer coalitions that formed in opposition to the settler elites. Its fascinating stuff, and fully supported by a lot of the reading I've done in this area during my degree. Interestingly, it also ties in strongly with the writing of Zygmunt Bauman on the nature of racism and genocide. As ever, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

4:20 Earth Day

2008-04-24T20:56:00.000+01:00

Hilarious, more power to them I say!

Gap Unveils New 'For Kids By Kids' Clothing Line

2008-04-24T20:27:00.000+01:00

Fucking love it

Gap Unveils New 'For Kids By Kids' Clothing Line

Hey people of earth, wake the fuck up

2008-04-23T11:48:00.003+01:00

Nicholas Stern says climate change worse than he thought

Nicholas Stern, the British economist known for a major report in which he declared that combating climate change would cost less than ignoring it, has announced that he was wrong -- about how bad the problem is. "We badly underestimated the degree of damages and the risks of climate change" in the Oct. 2006 report, he speechified last week. "All of the links in the chain are on average worse than we thought a couple of years ago." Thawing permafrost is releasing methane, oceans are acidifying faster than expected, and carbon sinks are becoming less effective, said Stern. He urged nations to come up with a stringent global climate treaty taking food production into account, and reiterated that the world should aim to produce zero-carbon electricity by 2050 (he backs carbon sequestration, nuclear power, and renewable energy). "This is about buying down risk," Stern said. "Starting now, that means it requires at least 1 percent of world GDP. That is small relative to a planetary catastrophe

Andy McKee

2008-04-14T17:06:00.001+01:00

Wow, just check that man out! Great sound, great to watch

glumbert - Guitar never seemed so hard

Stu's awesome electronic music club #1

2008-04-14T16:57:00.003+01:00

Hello everyone. Just a quick one. I'm always listening to dance music, chained as I am to my desk in the data design dungeon, and I thought I might share this great progressive house mix by a DJ I've just recently started listening to called Shiloh - well, enjoy, and let me know what you think!

Shiloh - Vonyc Sessions
http://www.hybridized.org/sets/517

Sad Wet Cat

2008-04-02T01:00:00.001+01:00

Does exactly what it says on the tin.

Asking Anti-Abortion Demonstrators an Important Question

2008-04-01T16:17:00.002+01:00

I love this video, it's fantastic how clearly, simply and honestly this interviewer draws out the narrowmindedness and failure of these people to even consider another's perspective or position. People campaigning to make abortion illegal, 'because it's murder', but they don't want to follow through the full ramifications of their position and views. Fantastically done.

The Landlord

2008-03-28T13:19:00.001Z

Obama - 'A More Perfect Union' Speech

2008-03-19T16:37:00.001Z

Damn he's good - next president to my mind, no doubt

Stand with Tibet - Support the Dalai Lama

2008-03-19T16:04:00.003Z

Hello everyone,

I'm sure you've all seen or heard about what is happening in Tibet right now, and its frankly shocking on so many levels. Many many people have already been killed, and its probably only going to get worse at this stage. Whilst I can't condone the violence, what the Chinese government is doing with its continued occupation, vast settlement programme and active repression of the Tibetan language and culture is genocidal under the terms of the UN Declaration on Genocide. And lets not even mention the UN Declaration on Human Rights.

I just signed an urgent petition calling on the Chinese government to respect human rights in Tibet and engage in meaningful dialogue with the Dalai Lama. This is really important, and I thought you might want to take action

HERE

After nearly 50 years of Chinese rule, the Tibetans are demanding change. But violence is spreading across Tibet and neighbouring regions, and the Chinese regime is right now considering a choice between increasing brutality or dialogue, that could determine the future of Tibet and China.

We can affect this historic choice. China does care about its international reputation. Its economy is totally dependent on "Made in China" exports that we all buy, and it is keen to make the Olympics in Beijing this summer a celebration of a new China that is a respected world power.

President Hu needs to hear that 'Brand China' and the Olympics can succeed only if he makes the right choice. But it will take an avalanche of global people power to get his attention. Click below to join me and sign a petition to President Hu calling for restraint in Tibet and dialogue with the Dalai Lama -- and tell absolutely everyone you can right away. The petition is organized by Avaaz, and they are urgently aiming to reach 1 million signatures to deliver directly to Chinese officials:

So go one, take two seconds to add your voice

Eco Tip #1 - Unplug your phone charger when not in use

2008-03-14T14:55:00.002Z

Hello and welcome to the first of many posts where I'll be trying to help people change their views and habits in an easy and painless way that helps everyone - you save money, and you save the environment! Hurah indeed Henry.

In the UK, 95% of the energy used by mobile phone chargers is wasted. Only 5% is actually used to charge the phone and the rest is wasted by leaving the charger plugged in. Remember to unplug your charger when it's not in use. It takes a forest with an area equivalent to 500 football pitches to absorb all the CO2 produced by chargers that are left plugged in.

So, make sure you always either unplug your charger when your not using it - seriously, how hard is that?

Hungover but hey, who cares?

2008-03-13T13:14:00.002Z

Hello everyone! Despite being horrifically hung over this morning (afternoon?), I'm in a pretty good mood all round - my house is slowly coming together, bit by bit, its almost friday, and I even got my laptop repaired by Dell - now I just need to rescue the data! But that's not too bad. I had a great evening last night, and its great to feel like my life is getting something of an order again after so long - I'll get paid tomorrow, and next week, operation new job! woohoo! So yes, its all very good stuff really.

Pop Star

2008-02-26T11:53:00.000Z

So this made me laugh a lot whilst I'm chained to my desk

House Mates ARE GO

2008-02-13T17:39:00.002Z

Well ladies and gents, the stressful situation that is moving (or in my case, not moving) house has come to an end, it seems. Whilst it is not yet set in stone, and things could still go wrong, I do indeed now seem to have found two good people to live with. Along with a death in the family and divorce, moving house is apparently just about the most challanging time in life - so I am glad its coming to an end! Now I just need to find me a new job - one that I actually like! Any suggestions, postcard please. Especially if they allow me to become a fabulously successful and worldly travelled photographer. That would be ace, thanks.

Reflections on Returning

2008-02-12T11:03:00.000Z

To be honest, when I left Sydney, I was fairly certain I had seen the last of eBay, or, at the very least, the last of the endless data design work that I had spent over a year doing. At least then, I was basically on holiday, and in any case always had a goal, my road trip up the east coast. Coming back to the UK exhausted and essentially broke, thanks to the help of one very persausive Hong Kong tailor, I found myself talked into returning, once again, to the Data Design Hell Hole.

Of course, it was never meant to be like this. I wasn't even meant to be doing this kind of work, and let me assure you, at no stage did I ever say I was an analyst. I design things, I look at crappy classification and make it better - thats it. I'm an information mercenary, and the only thing that keeps me going is the money. And yet, even that is starting to fall far short of what I want to keep doing this - the endless stream of emails demanding status updates, metrics, financials, analysis and all other manner of endlessly circular logic and no little or no action. The ever shifting goal posts of work loads, and the consistent failure to ever define or explain the project or my role.

These are the shackles of the Data Design Hell Hole, dear readers.

Alice Springs

2007-10-11T04:46:00.000+01:00

Hi all, sorry for the delays, things have been busy! Well yes, I am now in Alice Springs, I just took the 'legenday' Ghan train down from Darwin and got in a few hours ago.

Darwin was hot, wow, so hot and so humid. There isn't a tremendous amount to see or do there to be honest, but I went on a 3 day safari round Kakadu National Park, and that was just great - good people, good tour guide, loads of fun - inspite of the mumidity and the 41c weather! Thoroughly enjoyed it, and some of the scenery really is just unbelievable, I'll try to get some pics up once I have a chance, but you'll be blown away.

So yes, alice springs for a week and then i'm off to adelaide!

Photo links!

2007-10-06T12:18:00.000+01:00

Karunda
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=4534&l=21b73&id=508109359

Cooktown Vol. 2

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=4533&l=86804&id=508109359

Cooktown Vol. 1

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=4532&l=b4530&id=508109359

Cape Tribulation Vol. 2

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=4531&l=bed95&id=508109359

Cape Tribulation Vol. 1

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=4530&l=83443&id=508109359

Port Douglas & Mossman

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=4529&l=40ee9&id=508109359

Paluma Range

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=4528&l=e626f&id=508109359

Cairns

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=4527&l=87fc0&id=508109359

Johnson River Crocodile Farm Vol. 2

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=4526&l=36a25&id=508109359

Johnson River Crocodile Farm Vol. 1

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=4525&l=33898&id=508109359

Mission Beach

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=4524&l=1acb8&id=508109359

Magnetic Island Vol. 2

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=4523&l=fc49b&id=508109359

Magnetic Island Vol. 1

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=4251&l=11121&id=508109359

Townsville

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=4522&l=538cb&id=508109359

Roadtrip from Airlie Beach to Townsville via Bowen

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=4521&l=51c77&id=508109359

Sailing the Whitsundays

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=4520&l=b911f&id=508109359

Airlie Beach

link:http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=4519&l=37397&id=508109359

Eungella National Park

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=4518&l=d1c54&id=508109359

Roadtrip from Agnes Water to Eungella via Rockhampton

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=4517&l=b380f&id=508109359

Agnes Water

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=4516&l=35fbf&id=508109359

Bundaberg

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=4515&l=e5900&id=508109359

Fraser Island Vol. 2

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=4513&l=1d697&id=508109359

Fraser Island Vol. 1

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=4046&l=93c69&id=508109359

Rainbow

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=4511&l=1414e&id=508109359

Noosa

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=4510&l=35606&id=508109359

Brisbane Vol. 3

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=4508&l=f7fd2&id=508109359

Brisbane Vol. 2

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=4507&l=faf3b&id=508109359

Brisbane Vol. 1

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=4506&l=77c50&id=508109359

Bundagen

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=4505&l=b5d4d&id=508109359

Brisbane Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA)

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=4504&l=40490&id=508109359

Bellingen

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=4495&l=72ae4&id=508109359

Great Barrier Reef tomorrow

2007-09-21T14:41:00.000+01:00

Hey guys,

Just a quick note as I'm fairly knackered right now, but then, after two days of 6.30am starts and dive courses, its little wonder. So, today we finished off most the pool session stuff today, and tomorrow it is out to the reef for four whole days of diving - i'll even be doing some deep dive stuff at 30metres, and a night dive too, so as excited and nervous as i am, I can't wait. The first few times with the kit seemed a little strange, but its all quickly come into place, and if i can just keep the thought of violent decompression sickness and exploding nitrogen bubbles in my brain at a distance, it could just be fun ;) I'm planning to hire a underwater didigtal camera too, so that should be pretty rad too. Anyways, a pimpelly curly haired aussie youth is attempting to turf me out of the internet cafe, so i best go - but thanks for all the comments on the car sale - good news all round, seriously. So, speak to you all laters.

Sold the car!

2007-09-19T10:42:00.000+01:00

Yes awesome news, Le Tank, aka the hunk 'o' crap money hole, has some how miraculously been sold! its been a strange old few days what with emilie leaving, and me in cairns on my own after so long, and the car giving me one problem after another - i'm so happy to have sold it and minimised my losses on it! So tomorrow I start a 6 day dive course out on the Barrier Reef! Awesome! Can't wait, should be great stuff. From there i get back and the next day i fly back to Sydney for work, so its all coming out quite nicely to be honest. Anyway, times up so have to dash, but looking forward to seeing everyone again very soon!

Back in Cairns

2007-09-12T14:33:00.000+01:00

Just a quick post, but here is a link to some pictures from Lady Musgrave Island

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=4250&l=dcaa2&id=508109359

Karunda

2007-09-11T07:45:00.000+01:00

Hey guys,

Back from a brief trip into the outback - we drove from Cape Tribulation through the inland road, about 300km in total, up to Cooktown - basically as far north as you can get on a normal road on the east coast.

And wow it was pretty crazy stuff, real outback and no mistake - baking hot scrub and savannah land, kangrooes, massive termite mounds everywhere and endless flat roads. We passed through a few one pub towns (no really, mt carbine has one pub and one road house gas stations, thats it) and what seemed like a eternity later got into Cooktown - a weird place. Very remote and really with nothing happening, despite the virilent invasion of germans (seriously, it was unbelieveable, of the 20 or so people we met, all were german. And fucking annoyingly so I'm afraid to say). We stayed just a full day, and really, that was plenty - 'Cooktown, where we make the most of the miserable history we have!' could easily be the slogan. Still, it was good to see something authentic like that.

Still, its very very much made me question the whole outback leg of my travelling - the drive back in particular. We foolishly did some 30kms on some pretty rough unsealed road to get to an admittadley nice waterfall, and on the way back everything seemed fine - until we almost hit two wallabies. And then a massive white cow, standing in the middle of the road. And then two kangerooes. After all that, the car has been making a weird tapping noise. Mechanic assures me that its a tappette thats not quite closing properly, suggests an oil change and some lubricant stuff. Thing is, we didn't know all that last nigth when we limped into the 'functional' ('crap') two on Mareeba, where incidentally there was no accomodation other then a room in a bearded truckers house. Of course, his mates all tried to help fix the car, up to the point of 'come back tomorrow with a case of piss, i'll bring my tools and we'll be right'. I can't beleive we were actually half considering all that as an option even! Thankfully we decided to keep on going to here, and the mechanic says the guys would have trashed the car (still further) if IU had let them anywhere near the thing. So I'm glad we made a good decision under the stressful circumstances.

So, whats next? Still weighing up the options in my mind to be honest. Maybe work back in Sydney, maybe learn to dive in Cairns, maybe go to Perth. Probably a combination of all three I suspect. Its hard to know whats best, but I am sure the answer will as ever present itself to me. Anyways, until then speak laters.

Day Whatever - Cape Tribulation

2007-09-07T23:46:00.000+01:00

Morning all,

Yes, by some bizarre twist of fate, I seem to have awoken at a ashcokingly early 7.30am this moring, bright eyed and cheery, so I thought I would plunge into the cyber realm for an hour or so, listen to some banging psytrance on my ipod in this tent in the middle of the oldest rainforest on earth. Just to mix it up a little.

So, we've been in Cape Tribulation for three days now - this is real wild country, about two hours north of Cairns, into the old old rainforest. Its very beautiful and, after the holiday resort hell hole that is Port Douglas, quite a nice change. We're staying in cabins out in the rainforest, which is great, and went on a night walk through the forest with a guide the night before last, which was also a lot of fun. Yesterday we went horse riding through the rainforest, which was also a pretty amazing experience, so its another great thing to tick of the list (skydive, snorkelling, white water rafting etc).

In a few hours we're going to drive north still further, up to Cooktown, which is just about as far north as you can get in Oz without a 4x4, so I'm excited. We'll be going through the outback and over some mountain ranges too, so it should be fantastic drive - Emilie is even doing some of the driving! ;)

My longer term plans still remain a little unclear, despite furious thinking on the issue day and night in the back of my mind. I could sell the car in Cairns and go back to Sydney for a months worth of work, and save over a thousand pounds (no small amount), but then again, when am I going to be in Oz like this again, with my own wheels and 40 days to spare? Right now I am thinking I want to keep on roadtripping, and having looked at the available time, I think I have more then enough time to hit Darwin, Alice Springs, Adelaide and then Sydney - and still have time to sell the car. There is just so much out there, and I'm desperate to see it - and I know the sense of acheivement and satisfaction that I will feel when I drive back into Sydney in the same car I left in, having done 5000km, will be something I'll take with my for the rest of my life. So, its looking like thats the plan at the moment! ;)

Port Douglas

2007-09-04T14:52:00.000+01:00

Hey all, bit bored so got on the internet. Tired too to be honest, camping up here - which probably wasn't the best plan. Both me and emilie are getting really tired out from being on the move all the time, and the rather excessively cheesy (and german) backpacker scene up here is starting to grind a little. I guess I am just getting too old for this shit, as danny glover would say. So its off to Cape Tribulation tomorrow, then back to Cairns and around I guess. Not too sure what next. Anyway, time to go, amazing how quick it goes when you pay for it...

Missing photos link

2007-09-04T14:51:00.000+01:00

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=4046&l=93c69&id=508109359

Day 49 (i think?) - Mission Beach

2007-08-29T10:32:00.000+01:00

Hello all,

Good news, I've finally found a great hostel that has free computers (though you pay for internet access itself) - this means I should FINALLY be able to start sorting through some photos, and hopefully have them all sorted through offline and then I can try yo stick a few hundred up tomorrow onto facebook (with links here obviously). Cause I know you're all just dying to see what I've been up to.

Mission beach is a pretty tiny quiet little place, in the middle of some very ancient rainforest here on the north queensland coast. Its the home of the famous cassoway, but I havcen't seen one yet (they are highly endangered, with only about 50 left here apparently). I'm fairly certian I heard on in the forest the other day though, so thats pretty good for me.

Tomorrow we are going to go white water rafting on the Tully River - apparently its one of the best rivers in the entire world to go on, so I'm really looking forward to it a lot - it should be pretty awesome ;) If not a bit wet and tiring I imagine ;P

So, suddenly I feel like I haven't really got a whole lot to say! Here's a link to some pictures from Fraser Island, taken with my old camera just before it died (hence the interesting colour scheme! Kind of works sometimes anyways). Ok hopefully post up a ton of pics tomorrow for you guys, adios

Day 46 - Townsville

2007-08-26T14:40:00.000+01:00

Well as ever there is never enough time to write!

So, in five mins i will try to update you all on whats been going on - since we last met in virutal space, I've driven a marathon 7 hour stint up from Agnes Water to the sleeply little mountain place of Eungella national park - we could only stay there a day unfortunately, because we headed down the road to Airlie Beach - a eal feature on the east coast stupid dumb backpacker circuit, but it had to be dne all the same - got to go sail the Whitsunday Islands! We had a great time, ratehr inspite of then because of the boat itself, but enjoyed it all the same. Airli, the perpetual party town, wasn't in much of a mood to let us go, but we finally escaped up to Twnsville via a day in Bowen a few days ago. Townsville may be the biggest city outside of Brisbane, but that ain't saying much. The shear vastness of Oz has become apparent here in Queeensland - its so damn big you wouldn't believe it. And there is just no one around. We came to Townsville to go to Magnetic Island - just across the water from the town - nice little place, very beautiful but very boring too (2 days is enough, not our 3 I think) - still, did a lot of walking, snorkelling, hit the nudist beach again (got a bit of a taste for it now i think!). Bugger, 55 seconds of internet left! OK, so leaving for Mission Beach tomorrow, will try to update you there! Adios amigos!

Response to Anon: Day 8 - Coffs Harbour Comment

2007-08-26T14:24:00.000+01:00

Hi Anon,

Sorry its taken a bit for me to get back to you on this one, not much time free and internet is surprisingly hard to find when you want it for big chunks of time. Well, first and foremost thank you very much! its great to have someone getting interactive with this blog, it is exactly what I wanted all along - so please keep them coming!

Now, in case some of you don't know, I talked about the Bundugen 'alternative' community that I visited, and how I was disappointed that it wasn't so much alternative, as 'not in my backyard'. In response, Anon posted the following:

'I read your bit about the Bundagen alternative community, it is typical that you would call it a cop-out, I used to say that too about people that left the big city to live in harmony with nature. That was before I lived my life and got smarter. I need to let you know that being one who loves nature and intends to go visit this community, I see these people as heros because they decided not to live ina manipulatived society, they are free thinkers and decided to live the way that nature intended before we became reliant on the media to to give us all the information we supposedly need. Solar panels: I think an ulternative thinking person actually designed them. Maybe you should think again before putting down a communty and speading your profound wisdom.'

Sadly Anon, I think you've perhaps missed the point, or misunderstood my post. As someone who has actually been to this community, (as opposed to yourself), I can assure you that these people are not 'living the way nature intended'. There not primitavists, hell, they aren't even Amish. They're using mobile phones, 4x4 land cruisers, satellite internet connections and laptops. There houses are made from industrially produced cement and processed metals, there cars run on industrially extracted petroleum, their laptops from industrially mined iridium, their fridges run on electricity produced from coal fired power stations, the solar panels are made from industrially produced silicon, and so on and so on. That isn't living an eco life, thats living a selfish life - I want all the tools and conveniences of modern industrial life, but I don't want the mess and pollution in my backyard where I can see it, and I want to escape the nagging guilt from the hypocricy of it all.

I'm in no way putting down the community in terms of its beautiful surroundings, chilled out atmosphere, healthy community spirit and local democracy, respect for their surrounding enviroment, organic farming methods or liberated artisitc community. What I am saying is that this is not an eco community, it is not individually sustainable and any assertion to the contray is bullshit. Pull the plug of the modern industrial world and this place would crumple and vanish.

But please, throw the ball back at me with this one ;)

2007-08-11T14:12:00.001+01:00

Day Something Else - Agnes Water & 1770
Hello all! Hope your all good - let me start by saying that i'm in a great mood at the moment after my little low a few days ago. As I suspected, I think I was pretty exhuasted from the Fraser Island leg, and its taken me a few days to get back up to speed.That said, we've been busy. From Rainbow Beach we drived a few hours further north (ever north, ever north it seems) to the dreaded Bundeberg - home of the chain gang worked slave dwelling backpacker army that picks the fruit around here for a pitetence. Just ask Emilie about it some time (I didn't even go near it from the very start)/ Anyway, it was actually pretty good fun to stay there - tiny little hostel, we were the only non asian people there, got dinner and a conversation from a Korean girl Emilie met when working here, and the next day we hit up the Bundeberg Rum Factory tour before encountering a bizarre - but utterly captivating - old Russian man named Igor who was born in South Africa and fought in the cold war proxie/ wars of independence/ civil wars/ mercenary armies of Africa in the 1960s. To top it all off we ended up with a local delicacy, battered fish with yes, battered chips.From there we headed north still further to a tiny little twin town area called Agnes Water and The Town of 1770 (the place of Cook's second landing in Australia). Fantastic little place, best backpackers I have ever stayed at I think (certainly in terms of facilities and services) and the craziest thing is the town is set in something like 200km of coast national park, with just 8km for the towns - they only got the dirt road sealed 3 years ago! So yesterday we went to 1770 and did a fantastic 3 hour sunset sea kayak tour, which was awesome (drank goon on the beach and ate ginger bread cake) and today we went out the Lady Musgrave Island, the southern tip of the Great Barrier Reef - just absolutely amazin - easily one of the very best things I've ever done, without a doubt. And joy of joys, I've finally had a chance to look at my pics and the camera lense is fine, and the photos are frankly fucking awesome. They're also massive, so I'm going to have to figure something out so I can actually share them with you guys. I'll stick just the one or two up for now.So whats next? Well, tomorrow I'm going on a 1.5 hour flight around the bay and over the national park and coast, landing on a beach and having some fresh oysters! In the afternoon we're leaving to do a big big drive in a convoy up to a national park to go platypus watching with some friends we've made along the way - two irish guys, a french guy and a dutch girl - looking forward to it a lot!Well, its getting late, I've been up since 6.30am, and I'm pretty tired (plusthis is about $5 an hour online) so I'm going to shoot - speak to you soon!

Day Something Else - Agnes Water & 1770

2007-08-11T13:47:00.000+01:00

Hello all! Hope your all good - let me start by saying that i'm in a great mood at the moment after my little low a few days ago. As I suspected, I think I was pretty exhuasted from the Fraser Island leg, and its taken me a few days to get back up to speed.

That said, we've been busy. From Rainbow Beach we drived a few hours further north (ever north, ever north it seems) to the dreaded Bundeberg - home of the chain gang worked slave dwelling backpacker army that picks the fruit around here for a pitetence. Just ask Emilie about it some time (I didn't even go near it from the very start)/ Anyway, it was actually pretty good fun to stay there - tiny little hostel, we were the only non asian people there, got dinner and a conversation from a Korean girl Emilie met when working here, and the next day we hit up the Bundeberg Rum Factory tour before encountering a bizarre - but utterly captivating - old Russian man named Igor who was born in South Africa and fought in the cold war proxie/ wars of independence/ civil wars/ mercenary armies of Africa in the 1960s. To top it all off we ended up with a local delicacy, battered fish with yes, battered chips.

From there we headed north still further to a tiny little twin town area called Agnes Water and The Town of 1770 (the place of Cook's second landing in Australia). Fantastic little place, best backpackers I have ever stayed at I think (certainly in terms of facilities and services) and the craziest thing is the town is set in something like 200km of coast national park, with just 8km for the towns - they only got the dirt road sealed 3 years ago! So yesterday we went to 1770 and did a fantastic 3 hour sunset sea kayak tour, which was awesome (drank goon on the beach and ate ginger bread cake) and today we went out the Lady Musgrave Island, the southern tip of the Great Barrier Reef - just absolutely amazin - easily one of the very best things I've ever done, without a doubt. And joy of joys, I've finally had a chance to look at my pics and the camera lense is fine, and the photos are frankly fucking awesome. They're also massive, so I'm going to have to figure something out so I can actually share them with you guys. I'll stick just the one or two up for now.

So whats next? Well, tomorrow I'm going on a 1.5 hour flight around the bay and over the national park and coast, landing on a beach and having some fresh oysters! In the afternoon we're leaving to do a big big drive in a convoy up to a national park to go platypus watching with some friends we've made along the way - two irish guys, a french guy and a dutch girl - looking forward to it a lot!

Well, its getting late, I've been up since 6.30am, and I'm pretty tired (plusthis is about $5 an hour online) so I'm going to shoot - speak to you soon!

Day Something - Rainbow Beach

2007-08-07T08:29:00.000+01:00

OKay so sper quick as I only just 8 minuttes left on thsi machine - basically, in Rainbow Beach now after Noosa - just got back froma a 3 day/ 2 night camping trip over to Fraser Island. Quiet an intense experience actually, as with a lot of these kinds of camping great oputdoors things, the imagine in your head is usually a bit more romanticised then the reality - the sand, the damned sand, nearly drove me insane :) Seriously it just gets everywhere. The island was pretty interesting, but trecking out with 10 strangers and camping out was pretty intense, along with the 4x4 in the sand etc. But hey, glad i did it even if I am totally shattered. Managed to get one big stratch in my camera lense, which did bum me out a fair bit - but it doesn't seem to make any impact to my eye. Kind of thinking maybe I should have jsut bought a good point and click to be honest, I miss the convenience and useability of my old one :( Anyway, done now, so I guess i'll just have to get on with it. We're off tomorrow, but no real ideas where but we'll see where we end up. Feeling really tired out to be honest, could do with a rest! :) Not sure when I will be back in the UK, but could be pretty soon actually, I'm thinking of seeling the car in Cairns in a month or so, and then flying from Cairns to Perth, stay for a few weeks, then fly to Sydney and then home (via HK). Damn its going to be good to see home again!

Day 23 - Noosa - PICTURES!

2007-08-01T09:10:00.000+01:00

Hola from Noosa! We're currently at a Travel Bugs backpackers place online, so I thought it best to update you - and yes, I've finally got some pictures up, from Sydney to Bellingen (I'll try with the others in a moment, and all links will be at the bottom!)

So yes, we left Brisbane and drove another few hours up to the little town of Noosa - right next to a big national park on a coastal headland, lovely beaches and great walks. Plus its hot again! So the tan is coming back, and its been nice to just lie around on the beach and not do much. From here we are planning to go up north to Hervey Bay, and from there do a few days on Fraser Island - the largest sand island in the world! more sand then the sahara! woo hoo!

man alive, its annoying to upload photos onto facebook from my new camera - doesn't like the 10meg images, obviously! Anyway, the trip continues to go well, though Le Tank has had to be fixed a few times - main thing was fixing up the reverse in the gear box, can't remember if I mentioned that already - but it seems to be pootling along ok. Anyway, I think the photos are done so here is the link - enjoy!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=3296&l=0b472&id=508109359

Day 17 - Brisbane

2007-07-27T08:56:00.000+01:00

Hello everyone!

I hope your all good, sorry for the delay in the update. Well, for a start, we are now in Brisbane - Australia's thrid largest city at 1.5 million people, and currently in the middle of a major drought (around 600 days without rain in the catchment area, dams at 17% capacity, so I read). All in all, its a really rather nice place, much to both our surprise really. Its got a very nice laid back feel to it, and its a great place to chill out in. We'll be here another few days, and then its off up north and onto Noosa.

So where have we been? We set off from Coffs Harbour and drove north along the coast line to the infamous Byron Bay - a heavan on earth, if you believe some backpackers. Personally, it was all too much for both of us I think - fucking travellers everywhere, an the whole town is both expensive and a bit corny to be honest. I can imagine it could be great in the summer time, but I found it all a bit too much. The first hostel we stayed in, the Arts Factory, was really more of a Club 18-30 holiday complex then anything else - own bar and resturant, cinema, band stage, club room and pool. All too much to be honest (maybe I'm just getting too old though!:) So we ended up moving to another quiet place for a few days - Byron is ok, but in the end, I wasn't sad to leave it really.

From there we headed inland to the infamous Nimbin - hippy central basically. Tiny little one street town in the Nimbin Valley, with a whole load of pothead hippies and a couldron of social problems just bubbling under the surface. Really strange small town mentality plus too many drugs methinks.

Anyway, this place is closing now so i'll be super quick! Basically, Nimbin to Brisbane via a broken reverse and almost dead gearbox which cost 300 bucks ot fix in Lismore - but could have been worse, if the box had died it would have been nearer a thousand I reckon, so its all good. :) Anyways, best run, speak soon!

Day 8 - Coffs Harbour

2007-07-18T14:47:00.000+01:00

Hey guys,

A speedy one as ever, as time on line seems to go so quckly when you have to pay for it! Well, we aer now in Coffs Harbour, which is only really about 30-40 mins drive from Bellingen, but frankly, we didn't feel like going much further. I had to get a few thigns looked at with the car - steering wheel alignment, slightly leak on the radiator seal, disc brakes - but the whole lot only cost me $33 dollars so I can't complain.

Finally it was good to leave Bellingen and move on. Not that I can complain about the place - wonderful chilled out hostel, nice people, very very relaxed and some beautiful scenery and mountains around. We went hiking in the Dorrigo national park, and yesterday went down to a alternative community called Bundagen - two hundred or so people living in a 900 acre plot in the middle of a national park, in nine small villages. Even comes with there own private nudist beach! (And yes, I did brave the elements!). In all it was an interesting experience, but also rather unreal - all these people were really nice and friendly, but there did seem this nagging sense of a cop-out - for all the talk of getting back to nature and escaping the rat race, everyone had there 4x4 cars, solar panels and modern plastics - their way of life wouldn't be possible without the backbone and basis of a modern industrial economy. So it kind of put everything into a different perspective.

Crap money is almost gone, try you get you tomorrow!

Day 6 - Bellingen

2007-07-16T11:49:00.000+01:00

Hola all!

Though it has only been six days since we set out, it feels like a million miles away from Sydney and my life back there. We left Port Macquarie yesterday and drove up the coast under a blisteringly hot and blindingly bright sun, stopping off for a few hours in the quiet little seaside town of Nambucca Heads. From there we continued north and inland, to a Bellingen - its a fantastic little hippy alternative town, one main street really, at the foothills of the Dorrigo National Park. Our hostel is an old wooden thing for 50 years or more, perched on a bluff overlooking fields with horses and cows. There is really just one pub, a few resturants and shops and thats about it - its pretty much perfect for chilling out :) Better yet I've no mobile reception, so I really feel like I have escaped from everything. Today we drove up the mountain to the National Park, and hiked around the escarpment for abut 3 hours - really damn cold as well! It was, apparently, -6c last night up there (compared to a still chilly 7c down here) and this put something of a damper on our picnic, but we still enjoyed it all a lot. I took the camera out for a spin today for the first time too, and am absolutely loving it, even if I haven't figured out even the most basic setting on it yet. So nice to be able to take the photos I always wanted to. Tomorrow we are off to a hippy commune on the beach, with there eco houses and nudist beach, and then the day after perhaps horseriding in the foothills. Its tough being unemployed, I tell you :)

Road Trip Day 3 - Port Macquarie

2007-07-13T11:47:00.000+01:00

Hola all! I'm gonna keep this short and with all the typo as the internet here is so expensive. We just got into Port Macquarie, about 6 hours drive north of Sydney. It is kind of crappy from what we can see, and having driven around for about 45 mins tryingot find the damn hostel, we're kind of over it before we got into it.

Still, road trip is goign well. The driving gets easier with every mile and every day, and now i've learned to love the excentricities of 'Le Tank' - the way, for example, it sounds like its about to take off when you reverse it, or the way the steering wheel is misaligned by about 6 degrees. I even got the locks fixed, though sadly, i didn't think to ask the guy to keep the key for me as a souvernier. Still makes me laugh to look at the picture!

So, we left Sydney predictably a few hours late, and after a few mistaken turns, got onto the (busy) freeway up to the lovely Port Stephens, where we stayed in a beautiful backpackers/ campsite called Melauela (I think) Backpackers. 5 mins walk from One Mile Beach, the first day was beautiful sunshine (even got a bit of a sunburn) and we spent it mostly in Nelson Bay - drank a pint in the sunshine, ate gourmet pie (prawn, baramundi and lobster in cocunut sauce no less!) at Red Ned's Pie Shop, and then did a couple of hours hiking up to Tomaree Head to see the sun set - really spectaculatr place, I'll put the pics up as soon as I can.

Today we slept through most of the sun :( but still went down to Stockton Beach to the massive (MASSIVE) sandbank and dunes, and walked around for a few hours to check it out. Really spectacular but very windy. From there we decided to head off and make for Port Macqaurie, which took a few hours (via a stock at The Rock Roadhouse - classic Australiana - a roadhouse rest stop in the giant model of Ayers Rock!!).

All in all things continue to go well, but its early days. I'm still getting to grips with all the driving, and the car, and the feeling of not going back to Sydney - that that chapter is all closed and done with. For the most part, it feels good, really good, to be moving again and exploring. Still haven't had a chance to figure out how to use my camera, but thats next on the list after i get off here (3 mins and counting).

So, please get interactive with this blog, leave psots and comments, I really do like to hear your thoughts. For those facebookers out there, I'll be posting the pics as soon as a I can, and of coruse, I'll put the links in this blog for those of you not yet down with the kids.

And a big big congratulations to Monica and Patrick! I'm so happy for you guys, I always had my suspicions that things might work out that way. Keep me posted on everything! All very exciting stuff! Next stop for me and Emilie after here will prob be Coff's Harbour, again another 250km or so up the coast, so I imagine the next post from me will be from there. Until then!

Why 'The World' Can't Take the US Seriously

2007-07-05T11:57:00.000+01:00

Seriously guys, I'm often at a exacerbating loss when trying to properly articulate just what the rest of the world finds so unreasonable about the the United States as a political, military and cultural force in the world. Fortunately, as they say, a picture paints a thousand words, and none more so then this ad I came across this.

I mean, is this for real? I mean, hell 'Merkins, you guys gotta do your part right, so why not buy your genuine 911 coin, minted with 'genuine silver recovered from Ground Zero'. I mean, for fucksake, can you get much more tasteless then this? Blood diamond? Try blood silver. Its really so crass and so tasteless, I find it all unbelievable.

Whats more, I can't understand why there isn't some kind of moral outrage over this in the US. The guy I found this link from had it entitled 'Why I Hate Capitalism', which is a completely ridiculous statement and, quite frankly, the kind of retarded kindergarden hippy student leftisim that drive me crazy. This has nothing to do with an economic system and everything to do with a certain, I think, excessive sentiment on the part of the American pscyhe to both defie and defile at the same time. The victims of 9/11 are defied into saints simply through there misfortune (an utterly spurious, but again, very Merkin, interpretation - grace through misfortune, passive, not active and not through sacrifice) - and yet at the same time, this religiosity is sold like any other commodity, forgiveness, penance, abolition, available free when you want how you want it, just a click away, a credit card number from salvation...

That's why we can't take you seriously.

Car Purchased

2007-07-02T10:16:00.000+01:00

Hi guys,

Just a quick post today as I've got a mass of things to do - or at least thats how it all feels - but I am now the proud owner of my very first automobile! Yes, this delightful beast is a 1989 Ford Falcon, aka The Tank. Its not too pretty and really rather large, but I think its going to do the job. Though I must confess, I was a little concerned to notice the state of the drivers door key (I think I might be getting a new lock fitted). I got the car checked out before I bought it, and the Swedish guys went and got the main repairs done, so it should be good to go - I hope! Still slightly paranoid that the engine is going to fall out after the first 10km, or the breaks will go on the first downhill (etc etc) but I'm sure I'm just being ridiculous. You wouldn't do that to me, would you guys? :)

Still, its big with enough space for two to sleep comfortably in the back, and comes with a tent, mattress, camping gear, maps, battery inverter, you name it, pretty much everything. The price was pretty good at $2200, and I'm hoping I'll be able to make most of that back too at the end. So now we're just got to give the thing a good clean, inventory and pack and we're good to go!

Still can't really believe I'm off in just over a week!

Dunce Nation

2007-06-26T07:39:00.001+01:00

Hey everyone. I'm still having technical difficulties at the moment, but will keep trying to post up stuff as often as I can. Things are all feeling a little bit crazy and manic this end, wrapping up work, buying a car, planning where to go, and as ever, I'm stressed as hell before setting off and doing something new. I just keep reminding myself that most things worth doing aren't easy.

On other news, I read with interest the results from a Newsweek poll conducted on political and cultural issues in the US. Crooks & Lairs pointed out, one section was particularly noteworthy.

Even today, more than four years into the war in Iraq, as many as four in ten Americans (41 percent) still believe Saddam Hussein’s regime was directly involved in financing, planning or carrying out the terrorist attacks on 9/11, even though no evidence has surfaced to support a connection. A majority of Americans were similarly unable to pick Saudi Arabia in a multiple-choice question about the country where most of the 9/11 hijackers were born. Just 43 percent got it right — and a full 20 percent thought most came from Iraq.

Worst still, the number of people who are 'confused' about Iraq’s non-existent role in the 9/11 attacks has actually gone up - when Newsweek asked the same question in the fall of 2004, 'only' 36% said Saddam Hussein was “directly involved” with the attacks. I guess it all goes back to that great Bush quote, 'the hardest part of my job is to connect Iraq to September 11th...'

Sick

2007-06-21T08:52:00.000+01:00

Hey guys, sorry I haven't updated in ages - I've had some problems accessing my blog again - and they're mysteriously disappeared again as before.

Sadly, I'm sick right now - I've got some nasty stomach bug and its pissing me off big time, I mean, come on, its been three days now already! I'm not impressed.

Still, I'm looking for a car, trying to get everything in order and also getting very close to buying a digital camera - check out the package, tell me what you think!

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=013&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&viewitem=&item=230138796469&rd=1&rd=1

Anyway, I'm going go home and feel a bit sick. I'll leave you with one of my favourite pics I've taken recently.

Sunni Homeboys 4 Life

2007-06-14T05:14:00.000+01:00

So, the US military decided to try another course of utter maddness...

The US military has embarked on a new and risky strategy in Iraq by arming Sunni insurgents in the hope that they will tackle the extremist al-Qaida in Iraq.

The US high command this month gave permission to its officers on the ground to negotiate arms deals with local leaders. Arms, ammunition, body armour and other equipment, as well as cash, pick-up trucks and fuel, have already been handed over in return for promises to turn on al-Qaida and not attack US troops

Great, so the US solution to the ever escalating civil war in Iraq is to align themselves with dozens of Sunni militiamen, cooperate, fund and arm sectarian militias - death squads- who work outside the Iraqi security forces, and include insurgent groups that have attacked Americans and coalition forces in the past.

“We have made a deal with the devil,” said an intelligence officer in the battalion.

Doesn't anyone, any where, see the horrific potential for blow back in this entire fucked situation? Please? Someone?

Back from the Long Weekend

2007-06-13T10:22:00.000+01:00

Well, indeed, the Queen had her official birthday and us fine people here in Australia got a holiday for it - sadly this pleasure doesn't extend so far as to the British people in the UK itself. Which is a shame really, because a day off is always nice.

Unless of course your a contractor like me, and don't get paid for it. Which means it then kind of sucks. It then begins to really suck when your hit for almost the entire length of the 4 days by a massive storm that rocks the entire coastal region of your current country of residence. Here's an example of the what I'm talking about. This is at the beach I used to go to all the time in summer, Coogee. Pretty wild hu?

It got a whole lot worse further up the coast though, and fortunately Sydney was spared the worst of it by a long way - just look what happened to this tanker! The guys didn't heed the warning and tried to keep on going through the storm, up at Newcastle. Bit of a mess really!

Still, I actually had a really fun weekend, booze fuelled as it was - but I digress and its getting late. Even worse, its frickin' cold now - really cold - and the houses here have no insulation and no central heating. So its really rather unpleasant. I'm going to go now and freeze my way back home on my bike, but I'll post more tomorrow.

Bush in Albania, June 2007

2007-06-13T04:34:00.000+01:00

Heres a hilarious video of 'Bushie' being 'cheered' in Fushe Kruja

Notice that nice black watch on his left wrist at 00.50 minutes? It doesn't last long to the 'adoring' crowd - they fleece him for everything he's worth...

I wonder what you could sell THAT for on eBay?

Update: So, apparently, from another camera angle you can see Bush, sensing the potential, actually took off his watch and put it in his pocket. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little disappointed.

But the more serious issue is, why is Secret Service letting people get so close to him? Its got to be a massive security issue, surely?

Just for kicks

2007-06-08T07:38:00.000+01:00

http://studenthome.nku.edu/~russelljo/flash/dudefalling.swf

All Too True

2007-06-08T07:19:00.000+01:00

Green Day performing Working Class Hero

2007-06-08T06:20:00.001+01:00

Hi everyone,

I'm still playing around with all this blogging milarky, and have just figured out how to start embedding youtube videos into posts, all very exciting.

Anyway, I wanted to share with you this cover by Green Day of John Lennon's Working Class Hero - they've teamed up with Amnesty International to highlight some of the terrible things that are, in spite of all our rhetoric, still going on in Darfur.

Make Some Noise is venture from Amnesty that mixes music, cleebration and action to protect individuals wherever justice, freedom and equality are denied. You can check out more details here.

I hope you enjoy the song and the video, I found it really moving.

Google Chan

2007-06-08T05:58:00.000+01:00

Just don't tell Vice I'm stealing their content :)

If you had to imagine someone that knows every fact in the world, he would probably look like this. Google Chan at your service.

Taronga Zoo!

2007-06-06T08:13:00.001+01:00

Hello all,

Not a huge amount to say today really, I'm mostly been just trying to get my shit sorted out, tidy up and get a bit more organised generally - I can't believe I'm going to be finished work in just a few weeks time! Very strange indeed.

Anyway, I thought I'd put up a few pics of a trip to Taronga Zoo that me and Emilie took a few weeks ago (back when it was atually warm! sob!). An awesome day and a lot of fun - I can't remember the last time I went to the zoo, I really can't We brought a picnic and stuff, and it was generally a fantastic day out. If you want to have a look at some more pics, just click here.

2007-06-06T08:13:00.000+01:00

Thought of the Day

2007-06-06T06:10:00.000+01:00

'The fatal idea of progress, which means leaving things behind us, has utterly obscured the real idea of growth, which means leaving things inside us'

G.K. Chesterton

the street (in progress)

2007-06-05T09:54:00.000+01:00

Just a quick additional post whilst I think of it.

As some of you might know, I'm a keen amateur photographer and really just love capturing the world around me as I see it and live it. I've been seriously looking into buying a digital camera (thanks for all the advice Ben), but at 800 quid plus, I'm going to take my time figuring out exactly what SLR I want. Still, all very exciting.

Anyway, I just wanted to link you to this fantastic flickr album by a French photographer of various homeless people living in France (primarily Paris I think). These mostly black and white portraits are really stunningly moving, displaying such honesty and intensity. I challenge you not to be moved.

Please, as ever, get interactive, let me know what you think.

Driving Lesson Today!

2007-06-05T09:45:00.000+01:00

Evening all,

As my incredibly original posting title might suggest, I actually got behind the wheel of a car today and moved the damn thing around the quiet back suburbs of Sydney. First of all, let me go on record as saying Redfern isn't nearly as shitty and diseased and crime ridden as most of those snobs in Surrey Hills would have you believe.

Anyway, back to the issue at hand. Though the guy was 20 minutes late on the account of the fact my house on Albion Avenue is a complete nightmare to drive to, everything kicked off very well indeed. I was honestly amazed at how quickly a lot of it all came back to me - I was expecting things to be a real struggle - but I guess its like riding a bike. You can get rusty but you never forget (I should hope not - was a fucking nightmare to get my license!).

But seriously, he said just another hour or two to get my confidence back up and get used to driving and I'm good to go - everything else was pretty good, just got to watch mirrors, practice three point turn, all that jazz really. So thats a massive, huge relief to me - I've been quietly stressing over this one for a while now! I'm sure all the cycling has helped a lot - you've got to be really road aware, especially over here - far fewer cyclists and a lot of crappy drivers.

So, all in, I'm in a good mood today, because I'm so pleasantly surprised by the entire thing to be honest! Now we've just got to buy a damn car and hit the wide open road!

John Edwards

2007-05-30T05:44:00.000+01:00

I like John Edwards. He's a charismatic, intelligent and articulate guy who, with his American media-good looks and Southern accent, instantly makes me think of Bill Clinton back in the day. I suspect he is presidential material, possibly as early as 2008, and I could see him on a ticket with Obama very comfortably.

And yes, he may have cosponsored Joe 'Republican' Lieberman's S.J.RES.46, the Iraq War Resolution, and also later voted for it in the full Senate to authorize the use of military force against Iraq, but having just read this foreign policy speech, I think he's learnt his lesson from that particular mistake - he publicly apologised later.

Here a brief extract from the speech, I think you'll find it both enlightening and very refreshing.

"The war on terror is a slogan designed only for politics, not a strategy to make America safe. It's a bumper sticker, not a plan. It has damaged our alliances and weakened our standing in the world. As a political "frame," it's been used to justify everything from the Iraq War to Guantanamo to illegal spying on the American people. It's even been used by this White House as a partisan weapon to bludgeon their political opponents. Whether by manipulating threat levels leading up to elections, or by deeming opponents "weak on terror," they have shown no hesitation whatsoever about using fear to divide.

But the worst thing about this slogan is that it hasn't worked. The so-called "war" has created even more terrorism—as we have seen so tragically in Iraq. The State Department itself recently released a study showing that worldwide terrorism has increased 25% in 2006, including a 40% surge in civilian fatalities.

By framing this as a "war," we have walked right into the trap that terrorists have set—that we are engaged in some kind of clash of civilizations and a war against Islam.

The "war" metaphor has also failed because it exaggerates the role of only one instrument of American power—the military. This has occurred in part because the military is so effective at what it does. Yet if you think all you have is a hammer, then every problem looks like a nail."

Upbeat but Still Concerned

2007-05-29T09:31:00.000+01:00

Hello all,

As you might have gathered from yesterdays post, I was feeling pretty down about stuff. Feeling a little lonely and a little lost out here; I guess I've been missing home a lot, friends a lot, and struggling to put together in my own mind what I will do next. I'm leaving Sydney soon too, which after more then seven months, really has become my home - heading out into the big open road has got a certain daunting nature to it (not to mention, all the hassle of getting everything ready to go).

Still, I'm feeling better today, so I soldier on as ever. I've just finished reading this great article in the Guardian entitled 'No Fairytales Allowed'; an extract from Gitmo lawyer Clive Stafford Smith's new book, Bad Men. With 36 clients in detention, he has been many times and has a unique insight into just how terrible a place it is. Secrecy in the camp is a disease, and it threatens to poison our entire political culture in the West.

I'm still concerned, just where is the outrage?

Just a Quckie

2007-05-28T08:43:00.000+01:00

Ooo-er Missus

Yes, just a quick post before I leap upon the trusty speedster and head off into the dark cold night that is now Sydney at 5.45pm/ Those happy sunny hot days seem but a distant memory to me at the moment, sad as that may seem.

I must confess, still finding things a bit tough going at the moment, what with the cold weather, precious few hours of sunshine and general lack of people around these days. Its obviously not all doom and gloom or anything like that, but at the same time, I'm feeling a bit more homesick then usual. Plagued by that 'what the hell exactly are you doing?' feeling, where your mind insists on pulling up a wide selection of things for you to feel regretful or remorseful about.

I look back, for example, and really, just wish I had never gone to France, never broken my finger, and all the things that seem to have followed on from that one decision, taken so very rashly really, and in so very much ignorance and hubris.

Funny how life pans out like that sometimes.

Al Gore in the Guardian

2007-05-28T06:14:00.001+01:00

'The pursuit of "dominance" in foreign policy led the Bush administration to ignore the UN, to do serious damage to our most important alliances, to violate international law, and to cultivate the hatred and contempt of many in the rest of the world. The seductive appeal of exercising unconstrained unilateral power led this president to interpret his powers under the constitution in a way that brought to life the worst nightmare of the founders. Any policy based on domination of the rest of the world not only creates enemies for the US and recruits for al-Qaida, but also undermines the international cooperation that is essential to defeating terrorists who wish to harm and intimidate America.'

You can read the rest from America's Last Best Hope here.

The Governator

2007-05-25T06:11:00.000+01:00

Now, I'll admit it, when Arnie won the the race to become Governor of california, the fifth largest economy of the world, I really did think it represented an all time low in American politics, the final dirty triumph of celebrity soundbite and photoshoot politics. I struggled to understand just how the people of California could elect the same man who ran around in a loin cloth and big sword, chopping off peoples heads, pillaging villages and shagging nubile barbarian women. I didn't think it boded particularly well for the future, especially combined with with G. Dubya at the national helm.

And yet, in spite of all that initial misgiving, I can only say that I'm deeply impressed by the man. Whilst nominally a Republican, he's a Californian first and foremost, and that means liberal with a small L. He's pro choice and pro gay rights, and in July this year even signed a further $150m to stem cell research after Bush's veto of a bill that would allow federal funding. He's raised the minimum wage from $6.75 to $8.50, and perhaps most importantly for me, behind the image of the cigar smoking Hummer driver, someone who is really actually rather radically green in his agenda.

For example, just today Schwarzenegger and fellow Republican Gov. Jodi Rell of Connecticut accused the U.S. government on Monday of "inaction and denial" on global warming.

"It's bad enough that the federal government has yet to take the threat of global warming seriously, but it borders on malfeasance for it to block the efforts of states such as California and Connecticut that are trying to protect the public's health and welfare," the governors wrote in The Washington Post.

California is leading the US now on climate change issues, and where it goes, the rest of the country tends to follow. In September, he signed a bill to reduce the states greenhouse gas emissions by 25% over the next 20 years, stating that "We simply must do everything we can in our power to slow down global warming before it is too late... The science is clear. The global warming debate is over."

So whats going on here? Well, it seems clear, when you strip away the Hollywood persona, that Arnold is no chump. Here is a guy who was born into a small backward Austrian town, to a drunken Nazi father, and used body building to get to America, won Mr. Olympia six times in a row, and became probably one of the biggest film stars of the last couple decades. Behind the muscles, chiseled jaw line and thick accent, there is a shrewd business man and entepreneur, and one who, it seems, has a great deal more awareness, foresight and vision then anyone, including this humble fan, gave him credit for.

Al Sharpton vs Christopher Hitchens

2007-05-24T04:06:00.000+01:00

In case you hadn't heard, Christopher Hitchens has recently just released a new book, provocatively entitled 'God is Not Great: Why Religion Poisons Everything'. It looks to be a fantastically cracking good read, because love him or hate (and a lot of people do fall into both camps), he is a brilliant polemicist. His dry, sarcastic delivery is razor sharp, and he cracks me up - he once argued against sainthood for Mother Teresa, complaining that 'the old bitch got it anyway'. Gotta love it.

Of course, he's pretty controversial, having gone from a former Trotsyist to an unapologetic champion of the Iraq War. He continues to stress the danger from fundmentalism with the rather ridiculous and vacuous Daily Mail terminology of 'Islamofascism', whatever that means. And yet, whilst I disagree with him on a lot of issues, I admire his intellectual rigor and shear balls in the way he openly confronts those he disagrees with - his smack down on Sean Hannity for his complete intellectual ignorance about arguments for atheism, and his brutal eulogizing for Jerry Farwell ('a disgusting little toad' were his words I think) are a joy to watch :)

Anyway, heres a really interesting debate between him at Al Sharpton, which I highly recommend you check out. I'm also, incidentally, really rather impressed with the hosting site, Fora.tv - nice flash stand alone player, nice streaming, very professionally done - I'll be checking it out again for sure - I can see interviews with Henry Kissinger, debates on Buddha and 'New trends in Global Jihadi Terrors'. Heck, you can even download the programmes in Ipod format! woo hoo!

Anyway, as ever, let me know your thoughts!

Cartoons!

2007-05-23T08:16:00.000+01:00

Evening all,

Well, I continue my love affair with my video Ipod, and have become completely addicted to the various podcasts going around - I've now got far far too many to try and watch or listen - its a full time job!

My particular favourite right now is Frederator - its a brilliant concept, people submit short cartoons and animations, of all different styles and contents, and then it magically gets beamed out to you via the wonder of the internet.

I highly recommend you check it out - I found this really weird, but really good, little set of cartoons through it... let me know what you think ;)

Iraq for Sale

2007-05-22T10:45:00.000+01:00

Evening dear readers,

Well, now that my blog is back up and running properly, I'm determined to try to keep it up to date a little bit more regularly, as I know your all such keen readers ;)

It's 8pm here in eBay Towers Sydney, and I'm just pottling along through my design work for LightHouse, and I'm watching this fantastic documentary called 'Iraq for Sale' by Robert Greenwald - it looks at the role that civilian contractors (and private profit) have been behind a huge number of scandals in the Iraq war - most notably in the infamous abuse at Abu Ghraib. These massive 'security contractor' (read: mercenary) firms have about 120k men in Iraq - basically doubling the US military presence, yet they are specifically exempt from Iraqi law, and the US military code of justice. This is the real privatisation of war for pure profit.

I mean, every time these 80k trucks broke down, they didn't order replacement parts -or even spare tires- they BURNT them, and just billed the government for another on a cost plus system. It's totally insane.

Seriously, I'm just shocked at how fucked up this all is, and basically, no one is going to go down for any of this. Instead, fat cat CEOs and retired military personnel will all be heading home with fat pay cheques, and this whole clusterfuck of a war will just keep on rolling along...

Watch it.

Greetings devoted world readers!

2007-05-15T09:40:00.000+01:00

Yes indeedy, good evening, good morning and good afternoon to my veritable army of global readers - I notice today that I've even had a viewing from southern India - who are you?! As ever, I'm excited to collect little red dots from around the world on my ClustrMap.

So, as someone of you might have noticed, I've been sadly absence from the old blogging for a while now. Well, for some reason my access here at eBay Towers was having all kinds of strange and mysterious error messages whenever I tried to access any blog pages. Well, it seems to have resolved itself for now, so I'll try to give you all an update.

Well, first and foremost, I'm still in Sydney, still living in Paddington and still working away doing Magellan/ Ligthhouse work for eBay (that will mean almost nothing to most of you, but trust me, its really not that interesting, but at least the money is good). I'll be working until the end of June, and then I'll have finally done my time and will be free to hit the big open road and explore Australia - and whilst I'm actually crapping myself at the thought of actually having to drive after, ooooh, about four years, I know it will be a fantastic experience.

Life in Sydney continues to pottle along, though I'm sad to say that most of my friends here have finally moved on to travel to pastures new and green (Funk House Crew, R.I.P.) But, as they say, such is the life of the traveller, and the challenges of the modern day nomad. I can't really complain anyway, there are still enough good people around to keep things interesting, and I'm determined to throw myself into my work for the remaining time to make sure its a well done job.

I've been trying to keep myself busy too. My music collection continues to grow ridiculously through a number of different free dj hosting sites I've found (do message me if your interested, I can put the links up) to the point that I've now got over 105gb of music on my external harddisk (thanks so much for bringing that over Dave, life saver). My love affair with my 80gb Ipod continues without end, and I can't quite get over how long I held out on getting one - I should have invested in it years ago! My head continues to overflow with a ridiculous number of blogs and podcasts on current affairs that I try to read and listen to at work, to the point of overload sometimes I must confess. Whilst I miss the UK, England, my friends and my family a lot, I'm fascinated by just how easy it is to keep a finger on the pulse of British life through various online things - the Newsnight pod cast being probably my single favourite flavour from home - Jeremy Paxman rules :)

I'm a bit down at the moment because my finger basically still isn't really improving at all, and despite all the exercises and therapy (and money) I keep throwing at the problem, there doesn't really seem to be any realistic prospect of improvement. So its a little depressing at times to think that I'm going to have this constant pain in my hand for, oh,, the remainder of my natural life (another 60 odd years?). I try to not let it get to me, but sometimes its really tough to control the frustration. As ridiculous as it sounds, I've started to read some texts on Buddhism, and I think there is a tremendous amount of truth and wisdom in it, which I'm finding very helpful in exploring this side of life, and crafting some meaning out of something that continues to weigh so heavily on my shoulders.

Anyway! That sounds kind of bit too down, so lets catch up on what I've been doing. Well, most recently and excitingly, I did a five day trip to Tasmania to check it out. Me and my house mate Florent, plus two additional Frenchies, Jean-Mi and Guillaume, flew into Hobart and hired a car to explore this very wild and rugged bit of Australia. I'll post a few pictures below for you to get a taste, but you can check the full collection of the trip in Facebook, here, here, and here. In many ways, the place reminded me of parts of Scotland, the Lake District, Ireland and New Zealand. Its a pretty remote place, and we stayed in some really very small and remote places - the main thing you do out here is go hiking and walking in the national parks, and we certainly got our fair share of that done - we did a minimum of 3-4 hours a day, and even managed an epic 6 hours of hiking on the final day in the amazing Cradle Mountain National Park (see the final pictures - it only gets 1 day of sunshine out of 10, so we were pretty pleased to get such great weather!). Besides all the walking (and driving) we got to eat a whole lot of very good fresh fish and sea food, which was obviously a great treat - and whilst I'm still not too keen on the whole oyster thing, the fish was excellent and I'm always game to try something, if only once. We also managed to find a great little whisky distillery, which me and Jean-Mi made good use of in trying a whole range of different spirits.

In all, it was a great trip, and I'd thoroughly recommend it - though maybe more in the summer time, when you might get some sunshine :) Still, I can't complain at all! Okay, well its 7.11pm, so I think I'll make a move and head on home now, but I'm thinking of you all, wish I could be with you for just a while, or you here to share some of the great things I love about Australia and this city, so get in touch, drop me a message, an email or a text and tell me what your up to!

p.s. Dave, sign up to Facebook. Don't argue about it, just do it. And no, its not Myspace for old people.

Melbourne Long Weekend Break

2007-04-17T05:50:00.000+01:00

Hello there again! I know I posted some of these pics on Facebook already, so I dare say most of you guys will have had a chance to look at them already - and for those of you not on facebook yet, go check it out! Its a great way to share photos and keep in touch with people, and this from someone who normally hates these kinds of social networking sites. From a geeky IT industry worker perspective, its a really very interesting company - the guy who owns it apparently turned down something like $980m to sell it!

So, a week and a bit ago I went down to Melbourne, as we had a long four day weekend and I thought, what the hell, it would be great to check out somewhere new (can you believe I've been in Sydney for about six months now?). So, I went down with my housemate Chrissy and a few of her friends - a 10 hour or so car drive, but really not that much in a country as big as Australia - its so damn big you hardly even realise just how long your driving for or how far you've gone, its all so similar, big, flat rolling prairie land or bush mostly.

I stayed with my friend Martin who I met in the hostel I stayed at when I was in Barcelona, and he very kindly offered me his sofa if I ever made it down to Melbourne. Unfortunately I picked up a nasty cold on the way down (typical hu, go on holiday, get sick!) so it was kind of frustrating, but I still had a great time - checked out Queen Elizabeth Market, went to see all kinds of Australian artists at the Ian Potter Centre of the National Gallery of Victoria, walked along the Yarra River, saw China Town and the suburb of Fitzroy and of course, checked out the bars and clubs (the heart of the Melbourne social secene, don't you know).

Overall, its a great city and I can see why people rate it as so liveable, but really for me, it was just too small - the down town area really is tiny - and I don't think I could rate it as attractive as Sydney, not with the harbour and beaches :) I guess I'm a Sydneysider already! Anyway, enjoy! I continue to check my ClustrMap with interest - got some Midwestern US vistors and a few Swedes I see, and who's from the North of England?

My first football match!

2007-04-17T05:04:00.000+01:00

Well, this was actually from a few weeks back, but I have had the opportunity to put these pics up until now. This was a great game that I went to see with my friends Winston, his girlfriend, Matt and one of his mates - we saw Sydney FC vs the Arawa Reds from Japan, complete with crazed Japanese fans. I mean, seriously, these guys were jumping up and down, banging drums, waving huge flags and doing coordinated dances and chants for the full 90 minutes! Great evening, and a lot of fun.

Hi all

2007-04-03T08:36:00.000+01:00

Sorry there hasn't been much blogging of late.

This isn't to say, of course, that nothing has been happening this side of the the world, just that my memory card reader is bust, and I can't put any new pictures of my merry exploits up until my new one arrives fresh from Hong Kong (from which it seems a vast majority of goods on eBay come from).

So, sadly the weather seems to be taking a bit of a turn for the worst - well, quite frankly, after the summer of sunshine, how could it not? And yes, I know the Sydneysiders of you will bitch about it being the shittiest summer in years, but hey, I enjoyed it and your not taking that one away from me ;) Beside, yesterday was a really beautiful autumn day, bright glorious hot sunshine, cool crisp sea breeze, and really rather pleasant. Cycling round the city, down the old back streets and past the quaint wooden terraced houses by the moonlight has its own special appeal. Still, its come as a surprise just how cold its getting at night now, compared to those sweaty, stuffy humid nights of just a month or so ago. This is definitely not European weather!

So, whats been happening? I just finished up a six week project working for the US team based in San Jose last friday, and overall I'm really pleased with the amount of design work - and the level of complexity and coverage - that we managed to achieve in such a short space of time, and its been a real pleasure to work for the guys out there. And a nice change too!

The life of a contractor continues to be a pretty pleasant one - I get in basically when I want to (within some reason) and finish when I want, I can take time off as and when (though its unpaid, and I don't get any holidays or sick leave), and frankly, get paid far more then I really should. So, I can't complain at all, not when I'm watching streamed episodes of Family Guy whilst I design product domains.

I'm started work this week for another (intial) six week project, this time working for the UK guys, having turned down an offer from the French team for me to move to Paris for three months to lead there design team (!) - despite not speaking French (!!). I tell you, I'll travel the world with eBay yet :) Anyway, its nice to be working with some old familiar faces back in the UK, and I'm very much looking forward to getting stuck into it all. Of course, right now I'm finding it difficult to plan exactly what to do next - I still want to get the car and hit the road, drive round Oz for a bit and see what there is to see - but the work keeps coming, and the nest egg keeps growing, so its a bit of a tough one. I'd also like to go back to the UK for Andy and Booey's wedding at the end of June, so if that happens, I'll be in Sydney working my botty off (well, no, not really) until at least then. We will see - would be great to go back for it, and especially if I can somehow find a Glastonbury ticket and go to that as well! So, keep your eyes and ears open people ;)

Its not all work and domestic Sydney life, however. There is a long four day weekend coming up over this week, so I'm heading down to Melbourne to check it out and see what is like; I'll probably be there for a five or six days, so I'm pretty excited. I'm also planning to go to Tasmania at the end of the month with some French friends, Guillaume, Jean-Mi and Florent - so that should kick ass too!

Anyway, I've Family Guy/ work to do, so speak to you later - and please, people, throw me a frickin' bone here and write a comment or something, just so I know your out there.

Oh, and check out the way cool ClustrMap I added to my blog ;)

Skydiving!

2007-03-26T06:33:00.000+01:00

Well, last Saturday I went skydiving for the first time! Me, Guillaume and Chrissy were all celebrating our birthdays (last Thursday and Wednesday, respectfully) and what better way to that then throw yourself out of a plane at 14,000 feet :)

Jervis Bay Weekend Break

2007-03-16T06:48:00.000Z

So, last weekend I had a fantastic weekend break down at Jervis Bay - its a small area about 2.5 hours drive south of Sydney, right in the middle of an absolutely massive national park.

Me, Winston, Emilie, Jean-Michelle and Guillaume (spot the frenchies :) rented a great little house for the weekend, drank a whole lotta beer and had some excellent bbq grub, as well as going to some really amazing beaches.

I even went snorkelling for the first time - just check out that crystal clear electric blue waters, and blistering white sand! Living the dream my friend, living the dream...

Senator Joe Biden (D-DE)

2007-03-15T01:28:00.000Z

Just check out the power of this man as an orator on the floor - he completely rips the GOP and Bush to pieces over there failure, in every sense, in Iraq.

A simple statement of facts

2007-03-13T23:32:00.000Z

The simple problem is that the free market, the ideology on which the US is built, is bad news for the US unless it can be managed by military power.

And there is no contingency plan for the current failure of that approach.

Bad Day at the Office

2007-03-13T06:28:00.000Z

You couldn't really make this one up, could you?

Still, I'm glad to see that when their not busy implementing apartheid schemes or dropping cluster munitions on civilians, Israeli politicians like to kick back and relax like everyone else...

On a related note, I recommend everyone listen to this interview with Robert Fisk, Chief Middle East correspondent with the Independent, on Democracy Now! He is an incredibly well informed, articulate and passionate journalist who is really beyond reproach in his writing.

I'd also generally recommend everyone check out Democracy Now! on a regular basis, they are consistently excellent interviews with some great people - for example, check this very interesting interview with Gen. Wes Clark, or this one with Chris Hedges on the parallels between the American Religious Right and the fascist movements of interwar Europe...

Good Vibrations Festival

2007-02-27T01:04:00.000Z

Well, this was actually from a couple of weeks ago, but I just haven't got round to put these pics up for everyone. the festival itself was a lot of fun, and the weather was absolutely roasting hot. Music wise, there were some good bands but to be honest nothing truly outstanding - Jurassic 5 were rather ridiculously stuck in a pretty small side tent, whilst local electro pop outfit Sneaky Sound System were put on the main stage, and despite much hype, Beastie Boys were actually a bit rubbish. I guess they're just a bit too old to kick it anymore :( they keep stopping to do slow bosa nova jazz numbers all the time, which kind of ruined the build set. So, overall, I'd say Snoop Dogg was actually the highlight, coming on as he did as the surprise mystery guest (he even did some stuff with the Beasties, which was awesome). Check out the picture of his ridiculously bling bling mic grill... And well, after that, what better way to end the night then to go to a uv/neon party at the infamous Clubb 77 - dirty electroclash disco ahoy!

Why Rudy G won't be President...

2007-02-21T05:28:00.000Z

...hell, he won't even make it through the primaries when they get a load of this

Iraqi: The Hidden Story

2007-02-21T02:42:00.000Z

Hey guys, I highly recommend everyone watch this Channel 4 documentary by Jon Snow. This is what isn't being shown on TV. We continue to sanitise and hide the death, brutality and bloodbath to console ourselves. Its a disgrace.

The Weekend Economist - #2 - Road (Pricing) Rage

2007-02-20T06:54:00.000Z

As most of you will probably remember, I've been trying to write a bit more journo type stuff, and got a short piece put up on The Weekend Economist. Well, I've managed to get another writen, so please, give it a read and let me know your thoughts!

Road (Pricing) Rage

It sometimes seems as if things couldn’t get any worse for poor Tony Blair; an endless quagmire in Iraq, embarrassing police interviews, John Prescott (need I elaborate?) and now yet again, the British public have once again voiced there disapproval – over 1.65 million people have signed an online e-petition, ending today, to ‘scrap the planned vehicle tracking and road pricing policy’.

The Great British Motorist, whose rage was last expressed rather visibly in the national fuel protests in 2000, is something of a civil institution in the UK, to be roundly whipped into a frenzy by various tabloid and/or political forces, as and when deemed necessary. We, unlike other Europeans, have had a long history of being rather unwilling to accept that motoring and fuel prices should in fact reflect the true socio-ecological costs of the activity itself. Perhaps we feel short changed in the ‘Blood for Oil’ War, with so little to show for it in at the pumps.

What startled me most was, however, to receive one of the multitude of emails urging people to sign from my mother. Far from being merely the bugbear of suburban bourgeois motorist (and the Conservative Party), this policy seems to have riled the nation up and down the land – either on the grounds cost or privacy (as Peter Roberts, author of the petition, has stated, “the idea of tracking every vehicle at all times is sinister and wrong…Road pricing is already here with the high level of taxation on fuel. The more you travel - the more tax you pay.”)

The rage was perhaps inevitable; but then, perhaps the short sightedness and intellectual papacy underpinning it was also to be expected. Yes, there are serious privacy considerations inherent with the proposal – who will have access to the data? How will it be regulated? What safe guards will be in place? On closer inspect, however, the fact that the overwhelming majority of people in Britain are ready to accept ID cards, phone tapping, curfews, electronic tagging, the opening of private mail and extensions to detention without charge to fight the rather ethereal threat from the Al-Qaeda bogeyman proves just how hollow this argument is in reality.

Still, bloggers screamed a call to arms, demanding to know “are we prepared to be taxed for the privilege of going about our business? At what point do we turn round and say that something is a basic right rather than a privilege, and as such not something we expect to be taxed for?” In the process, of course, such outspoken opposition illustrated in fact the very reasons why such a policy must, in fact, be implemented. Motoring, at least as it has been historically conceived, really is a privilege, not a right.

Without some kind of action, congestion on Britain’s roads is set to increase by 25% in less then a decade, in a country that has already seen road transport grow by a shocking 81% since 1980. We face a major transport crisis, made all the more significant by the Stern Report last year that underscored the very grave financial (let along human, social and environmental) costs of unrestrained global warming (of which transport accounts for 1/5^th of all CO2 emitted.) The transport study, led by Sir Rod Eddington, recommended the road pricing of around £1.28 per mile in direct recognition of this fact - "the world needs to face up to the reality of climate change, and that implies learning to live within a carbon-constrained future.” People need to "feel the consequences of their decisions," and this is, contrary to rage blinded motorists, neither patronizing nor authoritarian. The European Carbon Trading Scheme is already in place, and it is only a matter of time before this is extended to private individuals in the form of carbon credits.

It is, quite frankly, ridiculous to assert, as Austin Williams did in the Telegraph, that transport policy should follow a ‘predict and provide’ approach – endlessly expanding the road system is not a sustainable solution. Nor is it morally or intellectually honest to dismiss Eddington’s conclusion that “some of the best projects are small-scale, such as walking and cycling.” Indeed, such changes in habits – requiring as they do first and foremost a change in mentality – will only be achieved with both the carrot and the financial stick. As the Prime Ministers Official Spokesman pointed out, “people did feel strongly about this issue, but feeling strongly was not a substitute for coming up with practical proposals.”

The supreme irony, of course, was the in accusing Eddington of ‘Stalinist’ penny pinching, (asking, “since when have we ever reduced politics to such simple fiscal equations,”) Williams himself articulated the crassest form of financial selfishness on behalf of the British Motorist, urging them to “downplay the so-called harm that carbon does” and, despite all the scientific evidence available, stress that global warming “a potential problem.” Whilst that approach may save many motorists money, and yes, quite possibly a significant amount, it is tantamount to mortgaging our future and gambling with the very sustainability and prosperity of our children, for they are the ones who will have to deal with our legacy of an infatuation with boundless mobility and endless consumption.

“We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them” Albert Einstein

Ten Ways to Prepare for a Post-Oil Society

2007-02-13T04:50:00.000Z

Whilst this isn't my article (you can link to the original here) I wanted to bring this all to your attention. I've been reading a few different things by James Howard Kunstler, and whilst I consider him a little too doom and gloom at times (plus, slightly wonky with his economics), he's got a good point - we are entering Peak Oil, and we have still got our heads stuck far too deep in the sand. We need to wake up to the reality that the world is going to dramatically change, and pretty soon too. So, enjoy and comment on your thoughts!

Editor's Note: James Howard Kunstler is a leading writer on the topic of peak oil the problems it poses for American suburbia. Deeply concerned about the future of our petroleum dependent society, Kunstler believes we must take radical steps to avoid the total meltdown of modern society in the face looming oil and gas shortages. For background on this topic, read Kunstler's essay, "Pricey Gas, That's Reality."

Out in the public arena, people frequently twang on me for being "Mister Gloom'n'doom," or for "not offering any solutions" to our looming energy crisis. So, for those of you who are tired of wringing your hands, who would like to do something useful, or focus your attention in a purposeful way, here are my suggestions:

1. Expand your view beyond the question of how we will run all the cars by means other than gasoline. This obsession with keeping the cars running at all costs could really prove fatal. It is especially unhelpful that so many self-proclaimed "greens" and political "progressives" are hung up on this monomaniacal theme. Get this: the cars are not part of the solution (whether they run on fossil fuels, vodka, used frymax™ oil, or cow shit). They are at the heart of the problem. And trying to salvage the entire Happy Motoring system by shifting it from gasoline to other fuels will only make things much worse. The bottom line of this is: start thinking beyond the car. We have to make other arrangements for virtually all the common activities of daily life.

2. We have to produce food differently. The Monsanto/Cargill model of industrial agribusiness is heading toward its Waterloo. As oil and gas deplete, we will be left with sterile soils and farming organized at an unworkable scale. Many lives will depend on our ability to fix this. Farming will soon return much closer to the center of American economic life. It will necessarily have to be done more locally, at a smaller-and-finer scale, and will require more human labor. The value-added activities associated with farming -- e.g. making products like cheese, wine, oils -- will also have to be done much more locally. This situation presents excellent business and vocational opportunities for America's young people (if they can unplug their Ipods long enough to pay attention.) It also presents huge problems in land-use reform. Not to mention the fact that the knowledge and skill for doing these things has to be painstakingly retrieved from the dumpster of history. Get busy.

3. We have to inhabit the terrain differently. Virtually every place in our nation organized for car dependency is going to fail to some degree. Quite a few places (Phoenix, Las Vegas, Miami ...) will support only a fraction of their current populations. We'll have to return to traditional human ecologies at a smaller scale: villages, towns, and cities (along with a productive rural landscape). Our small towns are waiting to be reinhabited. Our cities will have to contract. The cities that are composed proportionately more of suburban fabric (e.g. Atlanta, Houston) will pose especially tough problems. Most of that stuff will not be fixed. The loss of monetary value in suburban property will have far-reaching ramifications. The stuff we build in the decades ahead will have to be made of regional materials found in nature -- as opposed to modular, snap-together, manufactured components -- at a more modest scale. This whole process will entail enormous demographic shifts and is liable to be turbulent. Like farming, it will require the retrieval of skill-sets and methodologies that have been forsaken. The graduate schools of architecture are still tragically preoccupied with teaching Narcissism. The faculties will have to be overthrown. Our attitudes about land-use will have to change dramatically. The building codes and zoning laws will eventually be abandoned and will have to be replaced with vernacular wisdom. Get busy.

4. We have to move things and people differently. This is the sunset of Happy Motoring (including the entire US trucking system). Get used to it. Don't waste your society's remaining resources trying to prop up car-and-truck dependency. Moving things and people by water and rail is vastly more energy-efficient. Need something to do? Get involved in restoring public transit. Let's start with railroads, and let's make sure we electrify them so they will run on things other than fossil fuel or, if we have to run them partly on coal-fired power plants, at least scrub the emissions and sequester the CO2 at as few source-points as possible. We also have to prepare our society for moving people and things much more by water. This implies the rebuilding of infrastructure for our harbors, and also for our inland river and canal systems -- including the towns associated with them. The great harbor towns, like Baltimore, Boston, and New York, can no longer devote their waterfronts to condo sites and bikeways. We actually have to put the piers and warehouses back in place (not to mention the sleazy accommodations for sailors). Right now, programs are underway to restore maritime shipping based on wind -- yes, sailing ships. It's for real. Lots to do here. Put down your Ipod and get busy.

5. We have to transform retail trade. The national chains that have used the high tide of fossil fuels to contrive predatory economies-of-scale (and kill local economies) -- they are going down. WalMart and the other outfits will not survive the coming era of expensive, scarcer oil. They will not be able to run the "warehouses-on-wheels" of 18-wheel tractor-trailers incessantly circulating along the interstate highways. Their 12,000-mile supply lines to the Asian slave-factories are also endangered as the US and China contest for Middle East and African oil. The local networks of commercial interdependency which these chain stores systematically destroyed (with the public's acquiescence) will have to be rebuilt brick-by-brick and inventory-by-inventory. This will require rich, fine-grained, multi-layered networks of people who make, distribute, and sell stuff (including the much-maligned "middlemen"). Don't be fooled into thinking that the Internet will replace local retail economies. Internet shopping is totally dependent now on cheap delivery, and delivery will no longer be cheap. It also is predicated on electric power systems that are completely reliable. That is something we are unlikely to enjoy in the years ahead. Do you have a penchant for retail trade and don't want to work for a big predatory corporation? There's lots to do here in the realm of small, local business. Quit carping and get busy.

6. We will have to make things again in America. However, we are going to make less stuff. We will have fewer things to buy, fewer choices of things. The curtain is coming down on the endless blue-light-special shopping frenzy that has occupied the forefront of daily life in America for decades. But we will still need household goods and things to wear. As a practical matter, we are not going to re-live the 20th century. The factories from America's heyday of manufacturing (1900 - 1970) were all designed for massive inputs of fossil fuel, and many of them have already been demolished. We're going to have to make things on a smaller scale by other means. Perhaps we will have to use more water power. The truth is, we don't know yet how we're going to make anything. This is something that the younger generations can put their minds and muscles into.

7. The age of canned entertainment is coming to and end. It was fun for a while. We liked "Citizen Kane" and the Beatles. But we're going to have to make our own music and our own drama down the road. We're going to need playhouses and live performance halls. We're going to need violin and banjo players and playwrights and scenery-makers, and singers. We'll need theater managers and stage-hands. The Internet is not going to save canned entertainment. The Internet will not work so well if the electricity is on the fritz half the time (or more).

8. We'll have to reorganize the education system. The centralized secondary school systems based on the yellow school bus fleets will not survive the coming decades. The huge investments we have made in these facilities will impede the transition out of them, but they will fail anyway. Since we will be a less-affluent society, we probably won't be able to replace these centralized facilities with smaller and more equitably distributed schools, at least not right away. Personally, I believe that the next incarnation of education will grow out of the home schooling movement, as home schooling efforts aggregate locally into units of more than one family. God knows what happens beyond secondary ed. The big universities, both public and private, may not be salvageable. And the activity of higher ed itself may engender huge resentment by those foreclosed from it. But anyone who learns to do long division and write a coherent paragraph will be at a great advantage -- and, in any case, will probably out-perform today's average college graduate. One thing for sure: teaching children is not liable to become an obsolete line-of-work, as compared to public relations and sports marketing. Lots to do here, and lots to think about. Get busy, future teachers of America.

9. We have to reorganize the medical system. The current skein of intertwined rackets based on endless Ponzi buck passing scams will not survive the discontinuities to come. We will probably have to return to a model of service much closer to what used to be called "doctoring." Medical training may also have to change as the big universities run into trouble functioning. Doctors of the 21st century will certainly drive fewer German cars, and there will be fewer opportunities in the cosmetic surgery field. Let's hope that we don't slide so far back that we forget the germ theory of disease, or the need to wash our hands, or the fundamentals of pharmaceutical science. Lots to do here for the unsqueamish.

10. Life in the USA will have to become much more local, and virtually all the activities of everyday life will have to be re-scaled. You can state categorically that any enterprise now supersized is likely to fail -- everything from the federal government to big corporations to huge institutions. If you can find a way to do something practical and useful on a smaller scale than it is currently being done, you are likely to have food in your cupboard and people who esteem you. An entire social infrastructure of voluntary associations, co-opted by the narcotic of television, needs to be reconstructed. Local institutions for care of the helpless will have to be organized. Local politics will be much more meaningful as state governments and federal agencies slide into complete impotence. Lots of jobs here for local heroes.

So, that's the task list for now. Forgive me if I left things out. Quit wishing and start doing. The best way to feel hopeful about the future is to get off your ass and demonstrate to yourself that you are a capable, competent individual resolutely able to face new circumstances.

My first stab at journo blogging

2007-02-12T06:16:00.000Z

Afternoon all,

As you'll all no doubt recall, part of my original intention of this blog, besides keeping your insatiable appetite for pictures and news of your good self satisfied, was to have some kind forum and virtual space to write, discuss and talk about a whole range of issues revolving around politics, international affairs, history, green issues and technology (to name but a few).

As things have played out, this isn't really going to be happening with this site - I just don't have enough people reading, commenting or getting involved for it to work. With this in mind, I've started writing for this blog called The Weekend Economist. I've only written one article so far, on the snowballing of the issue of climate change in the political and social landscape, but why not go check it out (its #33 The Green Avalanche).

Of course, if you have any suggestions, do stick them in the comments section!

The Blue Mountains

2007-02-08T00:13:00.000Z

So, I decided to take Monday off work and me, Dave and my house mate Emilie went up to the Blue Mountains, to a small town called Katoomba, about 100 odd miles in land from Sydney. For those of you who are into your wintersports, these might be a little too small to qualify as bonafide 'mountains', but there still pretty big, and really stunningly beautiful with the bush and rainforest stretching off as far as you can see into the distance. They get their name from the distinctive blue haze that you can see (perhaps not so well in the pictures mind) - this apparently comes from an ultra fine mist of oils given off by the eucalyptus trees. Pretty amazing stuff! Anyway, I hope you enjoy the pictures, it was certainly great to get out of the city and do some more 'travelling' again!

Will Gore Run?

2007-02-01T01:54:00.000Z

As I've said before, I'm consistently impressed with the breadth and quality of the journalism on Rolling Stone. I'd really like to recommend you have a quick read of this article, arguing why Al Gore should run for President, and why he can win.

I'll confess, I'm a complete US politics junkie these days - I just can't get enough of it right now, we're watching history being made and really, at the risk of sounding overly grandiose, we're at a critical moment in our global civilisation, the make or break. What happens in the US of A over the next two years will have huge and momentous implications for the entire planet.

I'd agree with the article that Gore is essentially biding his time at this stage; indeed, it makes sense for him to stay out of the traditional political scrum, because he's staked himself out as both the established political player and the maverick outside. Let the other Democrat hopefuls knock each other into a stalemate, and then sweep up the votes. On a national level, I think there are some real analogies to the Schwarzenegger story actually; both of them have now created for themselves formidable personal platforms which they can, very quickly, convert into meaningful political clout. Hell, just imagine if Gore win's the Oscar he's up for!

Al, if you're reading this, do it; go for it, a whole lotta people world wide are behind you ;)

Hey there

2007-02-01T01:52:00.000Z

Hi everyone,

Sorry I've been a bit slack with the posting of late - things have been fairly crazy and turbulent this end of the world. Things have settled down a little bit now though, so I'm going to try to get back into writing this a bit more - even though I'm not entirely convinced anyone is reading it! (If you are, this is your cue to add comments so I know your out there).

So, let the blogging continue.

“We're Taking Down Seven Countries in Five Years”

2007-01-18T00:35:00.000Z

Ok, so you thought that last post was scary enough.

Check this out

Last October in a speach Gen. Wesley Clark recounted his conversation with a general at the Pentagon in November 2001.

I said, "Are we still going to invade Iraq?" "Yes, Sir," he said, "but it's worse than that." I said, "How do you mean?" He held up this piece of paper. He said, "I just got this memo today or yesterday from the office of the Secretary of Defense upstairs. It's a, it's a five-year plan. We're going to take down seven countries in five years. We're going to start with Iraq, then Syria, Lebanon, then Libya, Somalia, Sudan, we're going to come back and get Iran in five years. I said, "Is that classified, that paper?" He said, "Yes Sir." I said, "Well, don't show it to me, because I want to be able to talk about it."

This was of course just two months after 9-11.

Where is this all going to end? Israeli nuclear strikes on Iran, a US/Iran 'Gulf of Tonkin' type incident?

US complicity with Saddam: [VIDEO]

2007-01-18T00:20:00.000Z

Morning everyone,

Can I very very strongly recommend that you watch this couple of short videos here

Its a documentary that Barry Lando, along with French journalist Michel Despratx, produced for Canal + in France, and has been broadcast in much of the world, but never in the United States. It details Western--and particularly U.S.-- complicity with the crimes of Saddam Hussein--such as his use of chemical weapons first against Iranian troops, then against his own Iraqi Kurds. Back then, of course, the U.S. was backing Saddam, their de facto ally, against Khomeini.

Isn't it convenient that he can now never give evidence at a trial?

Watch it, share it.

Sydney Sights

2007-01-15T05:11:00.000Z

Hi everyone, sorry I haven't posted anything in a while, its all been rather busy and I've been working and partying my arse off. Had a lot on my mind too, so its been hard to make the time to finish this. That said, I'm currently importing a brand list of about 3000 different names into a design server in the US, so this could take a while (if it doesn't entirely crash and lose the last 2 hours work.)

Anyway, the weekend before last I took a nice long walk through the eastern suburbs of Sydney, just for a wander to see what there was to see. As you can see, it really is all rather pretty, quite and very laid back. I also came across some pretty cool graffiti and street art, which I'm always fond on. Anyway, enjoy!

This is the truth of it

2007-01-11T01:33:00.000Z

If it weren't so true, it would be funny.

Much festive fun

2007-01-04T06:30:00.000Z

Hello! Well yes, I did survive the Christmas and New years Eve period, but damn, Sydney sure does like to party and party hard over the holiday period. I am still feeling distinctly knackered from what turned out to be basically, with a few days off here and there, one big long 10 day party!This involved repeat offending in King's Cross's many many excellent clubs, and combined with beautiful weather and a fantastic sunny day down at the fish market, eating amazing fresh fish and sea food and cold crisp austrlian white wine, and you've got a pretty awesome few days!
The fireworks on NYE were particularly amazing, given that it was the 75th anniversary of the Harbor Bridge, and the show was really something - these bad (drunken) pictures can't really do it justice, but it great fun.This was followed by a fantastic all day club event in the Greenwood Hotel on New Years Day - raving it up in the sunshine and then the rain, white sunglasses and bright glow sticks all round! This was, to top it all off, then followed by a stint again in Dragon Fly until 6am - and yes, I did go to work the next day!
All in all, a really awesome NYE!

Merry Christmas and all that!

2006-12-27T07:22:00.000Z

Hello everyone! I hope you've all had sufficiently fun and enjoyable festive celebrations! Personally, I've had just about the best Christmas I can remember to be honest! So much fun, I feel thoroughly knackered! The last four days have just be awesome - I finished work on the Friday at 12.30, so to kick everything off, I went down to Bondi beach to drink cold rose and soak up the sun with some friends.Then, that evening we (that is, the assorted ragtag band of hostel party goers) made our way down to the best club in Sydney, Chinese Laundry, for the a great weekly breaks night (Break Inn), where we had the very great pleasure of seeing Slyde from Finger Lickin' Records play - and a jolly knees up was had by all :) After a few hours rest, Christmas eve turned into a rather impromptu house warming party round my new crib. This was coupled with the fact that the 24th is in fact Swedish Christmas, and it therefore seemed, a perfect opportunity to drink lots of vodka, eat meatballs from Ikea (no, seriously) and various other Swedish dishes (most of which seem to revolve around nuclear-strength flavoured fish products). Again, very much fun had by all, and a truly shocking amount of all kinds of various beverages were consumed.Christmas Day itself, whilst rather distressingly hungover to start with, was actually also great. I went down to Woolongong, eventually (having managed to miss two trains) to visit my friend Lee, and had lunch with her extended family in the garden, which was just great - I was made to feel really welcome, and it was so nice to get out of the city. I of course also had to go down to the beach - I mean, I'm in Australia for Christmas, it would have been nigh on criminal not to go to the beach :) Yesterday was also yet another leg in the party marathon - me and some friends went down to the Botanical Garden to sit in the sun and play frisbee all day. In the evening we went to go see Pendulum play a rather blistering drum and bass set - this was, naturally, followed by another 4 hours clubbing to an tech-house/ electro breaks DJ in another club called Dragonfly. And here I am - back in the office, sore and a bit stiff, but having oh so much fun - and we've still got New Years Eve to come! Anyway, enjoy the pics, remember to post comments people!

The Ryugyong 'Hotel', North Korea

2006-12-21T23:12:00.000Z

Hey, check this crazy thing I just came across - its called the Ryugyong Hotel, though its a bit of a stretch to call it a hotel.

Under the personality cult of leaders Kim Jong-il and his father Kim Il-sung, North Korea has become fiercely isolationist, nationalistic, and totalitarian. Despite being one of the planet's poorest countries, the communist state looks for any achievement to boost itself in eyes of the world - hence the decision to build this ridiculously big building.

It's a massive, 105-story structure which dominates the city's skyline. It's also a massive embarrassment because it's a complete engineering failure… its empty, dilapidated husk lurks over the capital.

The hotel's story begins in 1987, when the North Korean government began construction at an estimated cost of $750 million, or 2% of the country's gross domestic product (GDP). By comparison, 2% of the United States' GDP would be about $220 billion.

It has a total of 3.9 million square feet of floor space. The hotel would be the tallest hotel and seventh largest building in the world if it were finished. It would also have been the first building with over one hundred floors outside of New York or Chicago. It was planned to have 3,000 rooms and 7 revolving restaurants, scheduled to open in June 1989 - but construction came to a halt in 1992 due to lack of funding, acute electricity shortages and a massive famine.

The shell of the building is complete but it has not been certified as safe for occupancy. There are no windows, fixtures, or fittings. The extremely poor quality concrete used in its construction has left the building sagging to such a great degree that the structure can never be finished without a massive overhaul.

I'm just blown away by this thing.

Check out the satellite picture of the 'hotel' here and a video of it here

Pictures from the Hunter Valley

2006-12-21T00:08:00.001Z

Hey gezzas, so I managed to get some pics from Henry of the trip - please note the sheer, unadulterated awesomeness of the van.

Drunken Pictures

2006-12-20T04:55:00.000Z

Hello there, I thought I try to stay 'on topic' with the blog, and stick some rather amusing pictures of myself and fellow travelers getting progressively more drunk on the hostel sunroof, followed by the den of utter iniquity and Bacchusian excess, 'the O'Malleys' not very Irish Irish pub. Enjoy!

Blair's Lies Exposed

2006-12-20T03:32:00.000Z

Here's how the Independent has covered the startling revelations, revealed in an until now repressed British document, written by a UK diplomat at the UN, that Blair knew that Iraq posed absolutely no WMD threat.

Here's the big bombshell

"at no time did HMG [Her Majesty's Government] assess that Iraq's WMD (or any other capability) posed a threat to the UK or its interests... There was, moreover, no intelligence or assessment during my time in the job that Iraq had any intention to launch an attack against its neighbours or the UK or the US"

How much longer can this go on before some serious heads start to roll? Blair should be ashamed of himself.