the talk of the town

Das Schiff Esperanza

2013-06-10T09:35:00.000+09:30

Image : Amazon

Das Schiff Esperanza (The ship HOPE) is a powerful radio play written in 1953 by Fred von Hoerschelmann. It has lost none of its power and relevance in all these years. It was on our South Australian Year 12 curriculum for German for years and may well still be. I wonder how many ex German students think of it. It was way ahead of its time as were his other plays. Every time I hear of the untimely and awful end to some more asylum seekers, I think of this play. The ship's captain was making money by taking asylum seeks onboard who hoped and dreamed of making a new life in a new land. The brilliance of Hoerschelmann is that he can economically and succinctly capture the mood and far reaching implications of anything being said or done. The asylum seekers are tricked to being let off the boat saying they have to swim the last bit since the boat is not able to dock. They drown, of course, and the boat comes back for more asylum seekers. In the end, through a twist of plot , something far reaching and indelible happens in the own captain's life. Poetic justice. This radio play plays out time and time again. The asylum seekers in 2013 climb aboard the ships full of their hopes and dreams and somehow it all falls apart and the best we can do is bat them back and forth across the political divide.At no stage does the world get together and look seriously about managing this in a humane way. Yes, there will be undesirables amongst those who seek refuge and, yes, it is hard to house asylum seekers in large numbers. It is not a political issue. It's a humanitarian one. We need to address this far better without all the talk and squawk and come up with a proper regional plan and a proper global plan. I have no time for the predatory boat smugglers and the radio play has played a role in that. People need to get out and read more so we don't avoid dealing with reality in a competent manner.

New logo for South Australia

2013-04-22T11:47:00.000+09:30

Image: adelaidenow

Well, we would not have known we had a new logo had it not been for the article above on the Adelaide Now site. The comments are right. It looks like a hole. It looks like a door you go through to walk out of the State and Australia. Australia looks like a folded bit of flimsy card and Tasmania is well and truly missing. The 1.3 million logo does not represent us at all and it's not a representation of Australia either. Leaving Tasmania out is a serious oversight. Unthinkable. The comments with the article say it all. It is dull , uninteresting and the money would have gone to better use elsewhere - like saving local jobs and businesses, creating initiatives for the state. We had no idea, so we have had no say and now we are stuck with something again which is making us look useless. We actually need someone who understands the value of South Australia. Don Dunstan made it the coolest state to live in because he understood it and was prepared to create a daring vision for us. You know, so many South Australians have done wonderfully well inspite of banal logos like this. We should laud what we have done as a state and we should allow people to know. It's pretty impressive.

Boston bombings

2013-04-20T19:06:00.004+09:30

Image: boston.cbslocal

I was just looking at the image of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev on a news site when my daughter rang. "I can't believe he did it. He looks so young, so innocent, so untouched," I was saying. "That's the whole point , Mum. Bombers just don't look like bombers." " But he is so innocent looking. I am sure it cannot be him. " "Mum, a bomber isn't going to look like a bomber. That's the whole point and why we end up in these messes. Bombers are anyone and they can look as nice as they like. " It troubles me when I look at Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's face that he could be capable of something so awful at such a young age. Not just the marathon bombings but all which has happened since. Boston is a city about the size of Melbourne and when I was listening to the news conference after they had finally caught Dzhokhar Tsarnaev then I was thinking it is just incredible a 19 year old can hold 4 million people or more to ransom. Granted he had a brother who was also a suspect. I need him to be a suspect. Sometimes it comes across as though he is it. Guilty. They are it. Guilty. The two brothers wreaked all this havoc and pain on lives and brought a city into hell. It's hard to know when you are on the other side of the planet how this is actually playing out. Are they suspects? Or is it like Anders Brevik? They are so clear about the two of them being implicated that a trial would really only confirm what they know? Suspects or not, then Tamerlan and Dzohokhar Tsarnaev have been so dangerous. It's the Boston police commissioner, Edward Davis, who really impressed me this morning in the news conference. When I saw how many people were entitled to speak at the news conference I became aware of what a massive and tough operation this had been. Clearly everyone had played their part, including the public, and clearly there was a good feeling of being with a safe and competent network of reliable colleagues. Edward Davis was asked a question at one point and suddenly he articulated for me all that had been the real achievement of this grueling, ongoing, hell-sent event . I knew it was awful .I knew it was tense. I knew it was hard, but Edward Davis' words took flight and crystallized the essence of what had made it so gruelling and yet such an amazing human achievement as well. He said the local police were not used to things like this. He said the officers were being asked to deal with something which was very dangerous and not part of their routine as Boston and Watertown police. He said Sean Collier had responded to a police call and then was caught up in circumstances which ultimately took his life. Sean Collier was the 26 year old MIT officer who was killed. Edward Davis then allowed me to have some clarity in this swamped head of mine. Boston is like Melbourne. What has happened is hideous and way over the top. Yet these officers have been out there, co operating as a team and the public has worked with them, to bring peace and safety back to the city. Officers like Sean Collier. So young and yet he did what he did to help protect others. The firefighters in Texas also lost their lives in the front line trying to help with the fertiliser factory explosion. So , really, we need to take the time to realise what these officers do for us and the risks they take to help keep us safe. Our police , fire fighters and surf life savers are no different. On Thursday we have Anzac Day and we shall remember those lost in war but we need to also shine the light and care onto these service people who put themselves literally in the line of fire to help protect us, even when it is unfamiliar and unyielding ground. We need a day to honour them.

Paid leave kidney donation

2013-04-08T16:19:00.000+09:30

Image: Kathryn Hedges

Health Minister,Tanya Plibersek , has set the rules for paid leave kidney donation as these:

Living donors will be offered cash grants up to $3,600
Donors must have a job and employers will distribute payments over six weeks
Paid leave scheme will be offered for living donors offering kidneys and parts of their liver

Our discussions about it at work this morning were the liveliest and most animated I have heard in a long time. Like me, people believed this was a significant, serious break from traditional practice and belief in Australia and found it to be deeply disturbing. We are tertiary educated professionals. This was making us really sit up and think because no attention was being paid to the ethical, moral and social implications and ramifications of a health minister making such decisions without prior consultation and debate with the general public. Some said it was a third world approach to the matter and had thought that as they read the article. It also means severe kidney disease has ascendancy over other life threatening diseases and workers have ascendancy over non-workers. To discuss this properly and adequately it is essential to have a wide and well considered look at all the implications. Suddenly instead of this being a matter which is managed in a personal way through families and workplaces there are now a number of considerations and we are now all party to paid leave for kidney donation and we were not included in any way in this matter. It is serious. Deadly serious. If we cannot get enough organs to transplant then we need to think long and hard about that and look at why people are reluctant to donate organs when they know they mean such a difference in the lives of others. Paying people for donation leave is putting a whole new look on transplants and it is not the one we want. The discussions at work were fast and furious. Other countries have live organ donations. The UK version is here and the US version is here. Living with one kidney is possible but it is not without risks which ought to be discussed and freely available. I am certainly not going to be party to a government which is paying people to create health issues for themselves even though they may be benefiting someone else. It's wrong. If you make that as a unilateral, personal decision, there is no issue. Living Donor 101 documents the risks to the donor and they are significant, so if it is believed that is not the case we need proper data and information. On the UK donor site above it says a kidney from a living donor who is related will allow a further 20 years life . That is a best case scenario. The UK National Kidney Foundation site says there is a 50% chance of surviving 10 years or more. We should not be in this position. That is partly what is so wrong and unacceptable about it. To discuss it we are discussing people and their lives. A number of us had family members who had had kidney transplants so we were well aware of what this could mean in all its goodness and then all its sadness. It isn't going away. Not the problem of live saving transplants nor a government dealing with this in a way which is truly disturbing us. As it stands it has deflected the focus away from organ donations and onto the myriad of other issues.

Cash for kidneys

2013-04-07T08:47:00.002+09:30

I got up this morning to be greeted with this: Cash for kidneys and the rules are:

Living donors will be offered cash grants up to $3,600
Donors must have a job and employers will distribute payments over six weeks
Paid leave scheme will be offered for living donors offering kidneys and parts of their liver

Where was the discussion? The consultation? The inclusion? It is being described as a radical pilot programme. It is more than that. It is a complete breakdown in communication and has a total disregard for ethics in our society. Paying people for body parts is a massive break from whom we are and what we think and NO government official has the right to implement a programme such as this without a full and proper discussion. It's outrageous. I totally abhor the notion of anyone generating income from the sale of their body bits and I totally abhor the notion a government would encourage this. Paying their wages is paying them for the organ. It is something which has to be discussed NOT implemented. There are a whole heap of steps missing - like social ramifications, workplace ramifications, personal ramifications. A parent selling a kidney to help someone else is a family and social issue . An adult fundraising through sale of their kidney and then creating pressure in the workplace because they have to have leave and the workload is then spread to others - that has implications. The fundamental belief, though, that it is government sanctioned sale of body parts is horrific and certainly needs to be addressed because it is not ethical. So does the notion that it can only be applied to people who work. Those who work are entitled to have their wages covered for donation. Those who don't work? They can donate a kidney and pay their own way through recovery? No government has my permission to enact such a trial or programme without my permission because it breaks with notions which people hold very dearly in Australia. I am so disgusted I am working hard to stay calm. I cannot believe this is Sunday 7th April in Australia 2013.

I just want to walk my dog

2013-04-01T10:59:00.000+10:30

The myth that black dogs are a menace has not been dispelled this week. A week ago I was taking my dog for a walk and got slammed in the leg by a black labrador retriever barrelling angrily down its driveway growling and headed straight for my dog. Went straight into my leg and then tried to get my dog. The owner said he was a nice dog but never gets out but he let his dog have two more goes at mine while I was trying to work out if my leg worked or not. I accept dogs do accidentally get out even when you don't mean them to. I accept some dogs are just kept in the back yard, but my dog now hasn't had a walk for over a week because I can't walk. I had X-rays and 3 days off work. There is no major damage but having taken the full weight of a big dog against my leg, I have to now wait until it's better. I can't live my own life and all I wanted to do was take my dog for a walk. She comes from the RSPCA and I have had her 7 months now. She was physically and mentally abused and this walk - which was the same very time,was to get her steadied down and reassured. She took no notice of the attack. She was by my other leg, which is why I got slammed into I suppose, and then she lay down until it was all over. We had been walking the same walk for 7 months and had crossed over to that side of the road because a corner house on the other side had two mad dogs which ran up and down the garden, leaping at the fence and barking a lot. They had been trying to dog under and once the weather changed I wasn't going to go down that way because it was only a matter of time before those dogs got themselves out and were a menace on the street. Maybe the labrador retriever needs to get out on a walk too to get used to other animals and people. Maybe the owner should have got hold of him and put him back inside but the owner seemed to be convinced he was a nice dog and would settle down. While my knee is healing I have time to think how I can now walk my dog in my area but stay out of harm's way as well.

Happy Easter/ Bonne fête de Pâques

2013-03-31T07:48:00.003+10:30

Happy Easter, everyone. Keep safe and well.

Lance Armstrong

2013-01-19T13:08:00.000+10:30

With all due respect and without prejudice I am not sure why Lance Armstrong was launched into a media event and wasn't in front of some tribunal or court so I'll ask the question again - what sort of culture are we trying to teach here? What messages do we wish to send out about our culture and what are we thinking people will learn from it?
I liked the way Oprah conducted the interview. I am not a fan of hers as such but I respect her because she was the one who got off her bottom and did something for the people of New Orleans when Katrina hit, the levees broke and they were just left there for days to fend for themselves. Oprah was the one who got some good change going and galvanised the nation into action. It still came as a surprise to me that Lance Armstrong would be interviewed by her and then there was so much hype around it. So I watched as much as I could stomach which was where it was at for me. The yes/no at the beginning was powerful and clarified some things in black and white. She has since been taken to task for not pushing through on detail. Why should she? As she asked the questions we got to see how he managed them and responded. She put facts before him and asked him questions and then we saw what Lance Armstrong said and did. Had she done more we might have been playing another ball game, the goal posts might have shifted and it might have become quite a different matter. As it stood we saw what he was prepared to do and say without interference. That to me is a good interviewer. When she asked him about how it was actually done - and she did ask that more than once because she asked him to walk her through how these things were done - he avoided the answer. He could not respond. As she said things she dropped in some information to make him aware that she was well in control of her facts and therefore the interview. Every so often there was a shadow over his face where you could see he acknowledged that and was a bit surprised at the extent of her knowledge and her capacity to speak the truth about the situation. At one stage she asked about the syringes in Coke cans and the fans outside and there was quite an upheaval inside of him. I thought he was going to get angry and I thought he could understand just how disgusting that image was. He passed over that one too and no, she didn't come back to it because her job was done.
So I wonder what this is about. People have since questioned the sport and cyclists. Lance Armstrong was saying it was the culture and others were involved but said no more. So, if that were the case there will be people who know he knows and I guess that gives him control ,which is what he likes from what he has said, because he has owned up. They haven't. They will know he knows. There has even been a suggestion that cycling be pulled from the Olympic games and that all cyclists are now under suspicion. I don't think so. I think we need to stop the wrongdoer as victim mentality right now. While we are paying attention to him we are forgetting all the cyclists and sports people who get it right. We are forgetting some good people would have been involved knowing this was happening and still giving it their best anyway because of the love of the sport. As we focus on him we forget we have winners who never got their moment nor their medal. There are aspiring cyclists who have the right to aspire.
We have the Anna Mears, the Cadell Evans, the Stuart O'Gradys and the Amy Gilletts - Amy lived for cycling and her memory and good she can do is kept alive because of her love of and dedication to cycling. Lance Armstrong is never going to get it right because he has got it so wrong. Anyone else who is uncovered will have also got it wrong. The sport didn't get it wrong and nor have the others who have worked hard to achieve fitness and goal levels. They have a right to continue to do that. There are families out on the street in Adelaide right now looking to see their cycling stars and the awesomeness of a pack of superfit and dedicated cyclists in the Tour Downunder. Those cyclists in the world who are getting it / have got it wrong need to be sorted out. The rest need to cheered on, praised and rewarded.

We need a better world

2013-01-13T20:24:00.000+10:30

"Aaron's insatiable curiosity, creativity, and brilliance; his reflexive empathy and capacity for selfless, boundless love; his refusal to accept injustice as inevitable - these gifts made the world, and our lives, far brighter,'' Swartz's family said in a statement.

What is the matter with the world? What is the matter with people? 26, brilliant and dead. There has to be a better way. We have to be able to nurture such talent which is literally world changing. Aaron Swartz should still be here. As a young person he was showing us how different our world could be and giving us things which we valued. A bright star and someone who could navigate our future. This needs to be discussed for a long time. We can do better than this. I feel so very sorry for his parents , in particular, and his family and friends.

Happy New Year - Bonne année

2012-12-31T12:34:00.000+10:30

Have a great New Year ! I wish you all health and happiness and a chance to relax and unwind. The world can be very demanding at times but when we all work together positively we manage to get ourselves to new and better ground.

Wouldn't it be nice?

2012-12-28T19:58:00.000+10:30

The original video is here and was made as a Christmas message. It is so cheerful and positive. Such a nice reminder we have kind people in the world.

Bring back sub editors

2012-12-28T08:08:00.000+10:30

Image : Quick thinking saves unconscious driver from being struck by Sunlander train

This isn't the first time I have read rubbish in captions or in the shortened version of the Google search. There is currently a trend for English users to have totally lost linguistic control. Sometimes sentences finish half way through. Sometimes the word order is wrong as in this one. I am not sure what the problem is. Lack of sleep? Lack of rest? Too much enthusiasm? You know, it doesn't take much to check print before it goes online. I can write rubbish too but I check or someone in my family checks. The story itself is a winner. Living proof that technology is worth it. Mobile phones and caring people make a good combination for saving lives and preventing accidents. The situation was dealt with competently and well because people can and do connect. When the story goes to press it then needs to be checked and a suitable heading found.

2012-12-24T21:43:00.000+10:30

Merry Christmas everyone.

Jacintha Saldanha

2012-12-10T20:25:00.000+10:30

The storm continues to rage. There is a belief that the media are whipping it up. I don't think so. Most media outlets, including social media , are discussing this incessantly and deeply but in a considered way from all angles . Some say we should be paying attention to other things in the world. Not at the moment. Not right now. We are upset that Jacintha Saldanha has lost her life. She was a nurse. A mother . A caring person. We want the media to realise that this is the real story. Jacintha Saldanha won't be spending Christmas with her family and her family will not be spending Christmas with her. It is irrelevant what frame of mind she may or may not have had leading up to the hoax call. What is relevant is what has happened now - to her, to her family, to her colleagues. Currently we do not know why she is no longer here. There are assumptions about what occurred and eventually we might know the truth. We are upset because the news came after Daniel Morcombe's funeral and the good feeling we had as a nation to stand by as citizens, friends, media and care for a family that had been through so much. Then we found out what happened to Jacintha Saldanha and it was profoundly sad. Would she be here had the call not gone through? Would we make a call like that to Barack Obama's or Vladimir Putin's private hospital where their child was being treated and then broadcast the information? That some think it didn't matter because it was the British royal family demonstrates the cultural lack of concern here for a nation which has given us a constitutional monarchy. What if I pretended to be grandma and rang the hospital where your son's wife was being treated, got personal and private information and then made that public? It just doesn't sit well, does it? In South Australia you cannot record and publish information without consent:

LISTENING AND SURVEILLANCE DEVICES ACT 1972 - SECT 5

5—Prohibition on communication or publication

(1) A person must not knowingly communicate or publish information or material derived from the use (whether by that person or another person) of a listening device in contravention of section 4.

Maximum penalty: $10 000 or imprisonment for 2 years.

(2) This section does not prevent the communication or publication of information or material derived from the use of a listening device in contravention of section 4—

(a) to a person who was a party to the conversation to which the information or material relates; or

(b) with the consent of each party to the conversation to which the information or material relates; or

(c) for the purposes of a relevant investigation or a relevant proceeding relating to that contravention of section 4 or a contravention of this section involving the communication or publication of that information or material.

That is South Australia. Britain has just been through so much heartache and anguish over the Murdoch press and so their sensitivity to something like this will be raw. There has been a history of prank shows on television and on radio all around the world. Normally people are informed during the interviews, like on Candid Camera.

There is also Occupational Health and Safety to consider. I am not sure what the current British practice is, but in South Australia workplaces have to be physically and psychologically safe. Psychological safety is generally covered by protocols to ensure workplace safety. This incident has highlighted well the need to address all forms of risk management in a connected world. Hospitals normally put family members through, though. They don't put friends through necessarily and there is one hospital here in Adelaide which will always ask the patient if they wish to take the call from someone or they will ask you if you wish to take the call from the patient.We also have to remember that we don't have royalty but Britain does. We have to have some cultural understanding of social moraes in other countries if we are connecting internationally.

What has also bothered us is this radio station doesn't seem to have learnt from the Alan Jones incident earlier this year . People like the Duke and Duchess of Kent and they were concerned for Kate. It was even bringing women out to discuss her condition because it wasn't just morning sickness. We were actually getting an understanding of what the condition was and now that has all been shut down, so yes, people are angry. There is also the belief that media just cannot leave the women close to prince William alone. They are hounding the women he loves. He lost his mother because of it and already Kate has started to become scrutinised and abused in the same way.

So if the world is angry, if people are beside themselves, if they want to keep talking about it then that needs to carry on until we resolve what needs to be resolved. Our first thoughts are for Jacintha Saldanha because she needs to be remembered for who she was and what she stood for. We then need to consider whether we want to hurt anyone else. I don't think we do, so proceeding with caution would be prudent.

Daniel Morcombe

2012-12-07T15:55:00.000+10:30

Image : Adelaide Now

Australia has done what it does really well. It has stopped today and rallied around Daniel Morcombe's family. He went missing 9 years ago on December 7th and is now laid to rest on December 7th. ABC News 24 broadcast the public part of the funeral for those who wished to be there but who were not living in Queensland. You know, it is so much better to be standing in line to offer some care and hope to a family which has suffered so much than to be standing in line for the latest iPhone 5. Queuing to help humanity. The red is for the colour of the T Shirt he went missing in. Maybe the funeral would have been earlier had authorities not quibbled as to who would release the remains. They were only discovered recently so for all these 9 years Daniel's parents had no idea where he was. His twin brother Bradley was so shaken at the funeral. You could see it. He managed to play his part to get Daniel to the hearse but you could see the awful strain it was for him. We have all wondered why you would murder a little boy like that. How do you get such a thought in your head? We have felt for the parents as they have waited and waited and waited. Today the media have treated them with such care and honour. The SES attended, his school did a wonderful job of showing consideration and thought for him. Then there were thousands of Queenslanders who stood by and lent their strength to those mostly deeply hurt by this. It was a very touching and dignified event which was managed extremely well. Something to be proud of. The respect for Daniel has been enormous. It was obviously meant to be. He was meant to wait until this anniversary. His spirit is strong and has shone all these years and will live on with the Daniel Morcombe Foundation.

Rescue the cat, please!

2012-11-30T19:53:00.002+10:30

Image : Cat Alliance

"One group came armed with machetes, hammers and a steering wheel lock.

"It's such a basic neighbourly dispute. There are other avenues to sort these things out."

5 hospitalised

Machetes, hammers, steering wheel locks and hospitalising 5 people do not make a basic dispute. Fighting over the ownership of a cat in such a violent fashion doesn't bode well for the care of the cat. So, what happened to the cat? Isn't there a duty of care for it to be with responsible owners?

"The RSPCA believes that an animal’s welfare should be considered in terms of five freedoms which form a logical and comprehensive framework for analysis of welfare within any animal use together with the steps and compromises necessary to safeguard and improve welfare within the proper constraints of an effective livestock industry.

Freedom from hunger and thirst: by ready access to fresh water and a diet to maintain full health and vigour.
Freedom from discomfort: by providing an appropriate environment including shelter and a comfortable resting area.
Freedom from pain, injury or disease: by prevention through rapid diagnosis and treatment.
Freedom to express normal behaviour: by providing sufficient space, proper facilities and company of the animal’s own kind.
Freedom from fear and distress: by ensuring conditions and treatment which avoid mental suffering."

5 freedoms

Do these people have children?

Some like it hot

2012-11-25T19:27:00.000+10:30

Image : Bureau of Metereology

I much prefer this weather. I don't do cold and wet. This is brilliant. All year I wait for the heat and then listen to everyone complaining. They live in Adelaide in Australia and they complain because it is hot and would rather have it cold and wet!

It has been horribly cold. You can't open the doors and windows. you can't wander in and out at leisure. You can't eat outside, play outside, be outside. All you can do is pile on a mountain of clothes - layer upon layer of warmth - and huddle by the fire. In a courageous mood you can brave the elements and go for one of those bracing walks they bang on about.

Let it be nice and warm in Adelaide. Summer .

The state of Australian Music

2012-11-11T20:05:00.001+10:30

This man really resonated with me. We have spent quite some time now trotting the globe. Carbon emissions are an issue so amongst all the other things he says , Michael Kieren Harvey asks for us to stay home and feed our music and to stop worrying and feed our music . What he asks for is for us to move on and to now value the people we have in our country and encourage them. Sharing expertise across the planet can be done differently now. He is trying to encourage us to think about how we can feed and develop our talent. Well worth the hour of viewing.

For heaven's sake!

2012-11-11T08:47:00.000+10:30

According to police, after the brawl Father Byrne told Father Smith to pick up an item up on the ground.

It was not until Father Smith returned to his unit that he realised the item he had picked up and put in his pocket was his right ear.

Ear bitten off in priest vs priest fight

Seriously, what is the world coming to? These are retired priests who should be full of heavenly wisdom by now.

President Obama is back!

2012-11-07T16:37:00.000+10:30

Image : Adelaide Now

We're happy. I couldn't find one person today who favoured Mitt Romney. Not of any age or persuasion and I was asking the question - Who do you think will win? Face book comments sum it up really:

"Obama won the election huh? cool. He seemed nicer than Romney. No idea about his policies or even what he has done in this term but he's pretty likeable."

Even if people didn't follow his politics they knew who he was and that he was accessible. Australia seemed to care very much about this election. Probably because we have taken to President Obama. He has meant something to so many people here and their age has not been relevant. He is a people person. We are used to American presidents we cannot identify with and whom we cannot relate to and Mitt Romney seems to have been in that category. He is not an American who is recognisable outside of his country. One Australian of Asian background couldn't work out why we were so focussed on the American election. His belief was no one cares about any other country and its elections so why America? Australians have always taken an interest in the elections of other nations with whom we have long term ties. These days I 'd go so far as to say we are far more geo politically aware and take an interest in government changes all over the world. We have been watching the American election for a long time but couldn't quite get into it . This week it was different. It meant something. Barack Obama is a president for the 21st century. He is global. He relates globally and other nations can respond to him. With such a hard fought race the Americans have given him something to think about in much the same way we will give our political leaders something to think about when we vote. He inherited so much. He turned the image of America around and that was a tough agenda item at the time. It has been taken a bit for granted. He has brought in some reforms we think are good, especially the health care reform. We like his wife Michelle because she cares about health and wellbeing and she gets out there to be a part of the national and global community. We relate to her...and their children and the dog. At the moment, it is what America needs so they have voted him back in with a headache. He will have to think out what happened. He's up for it. He has earned the second run and will hopefully have a chance to be able to show more of who he is and less of fixing what was broken and damaged. So, there are a lot of people in Adelaide going ....woo hooo! Bit unusual , really.

Someone needs a spillchucker.

2012-10-19T18:41:00.000+10:30

Image: ABC News

I am embarrassed.

Proud to be Australian

2012-10-01T20:26:00.000+09:30

Image : growabrain

We don't seem to have enough crevices to stuff the creepie crawlies into so we have had a change of plan and we are meeting them head on. We have drawn our line in the sand and this long weekend is a turning point in Australian history. We are not going to put up with it. We are going to have standards. We are going to give a damn and we are going to ensure 2012 means we will have equity. This long weekend brought the most horrendous triad of events into collision. The difference is we have taken the body blows and stood united to confront the awful human beings who share our space. We will no longer tolerate it and we know they are the minority. This weekend we have linked arms and hands across the country in a uniting gesture. In Adelaide yesterday on Rundle Mall someone was stabbed just after lunch. People chased the offender and helped to catch him. It is probably as a result of SAPOL coming onto Facebook. They have kept us informed and they have allowed us to know what is going on. It has developed a sense of community and so when the stabbing occurred there were those brave enough to make a stand and not let him get away with it. In Melbourne there was a massively impressive rally in support of Jill Meagher's husband and her family. It was one of the most impressive events I have seen in Australia. The dignity of it was tangible. It was to show we all cared. It was to show Melbourne cared and would represent the rest of us. It was a way of showing her family that we can stand together to try to ease their pain. We know we cannot help. We know we can say nothing. We know there are no words – but a sea of quiet and caring people is really something to behold. Then there was Alan Jones and his cruel , senseless comments about Julia Gillard's father who has recently passed away. His comments have not rendered us speechless. They have made us not want to have anyone with that amount of venom in the public arena, in the media nor connected to our companies . We don't want to be associated with him. So yes, we have matured as a nation and we have drawn that line in the sand. It has made me feel very proud to be Australian this weekend.

Social media really, really help

2012-09-27T15:51:00.001+09:30

Doesn't matter who it is. If I can find a company/organisation on Twitter and I do not have a complicated request, then I go on Twitter if I want an instant response. It has been by far the best way to sort out my little nuisance problems with anything. It has been fantastic. I almost always get an instant response. I discovered this by accident when I was using my computer to fill in the time while I was being told to wait while someone resolved something for me. By the time they had returned I had got the answer on Twitter by connecting with the organisation there and had moved on to doing something else!! I have just been sorting out a phone problem as I write this post. It's just too easy. We're dealing with texters so they are really quick on Twitter and I always have TweetDeck going. On Facebook I connect with companies and organisations I deal with and I will get a 24 hour turn around on responses there. It's good and it works. Beats hanging around online or on a phone connection or waiting for an email response. The social media service has been impeccable so I highly recommend it.

Free for all photography

2012-09-15T07:19:00.000+09:30

Some people just can't help sticking their lenses where they are not welcome. Here we'd probably offer the recommendation of a more suitable venue for their lens but they might already be accommodating a pineapple @ 3 dollars. It's good to see Kate and William put in their boundaries. They may be public figures but they are entitled to privacy and they are entitled to respect . England has gone through some agonising and robust discussions and legal proceedings to regain the right of anyone to have a life. The media do not have ascendancy nor the right to seep into every nook and cranny because they can and because they feel like it. Kate and William were on holidays. Sticking unsolicited lenses in is nosy and opportunistic. The photographer might like to pick up their camera, focus the lens and go to work.

Post Season Hazards

2012-09-14T15:54:00.000+09:30

This article which refers to Paul Marsh's call for a summit on athlete's work - life balance is important. Losing John McCarthy in Las Vegas is something which has had a profound effect in Adelaide this week. There has been no criticism of the club, the players, the inquiry in Las Vegas, the Las Vegas police. There have been no critics and praise has been offered where it is due. It has cut across all age groups and all people. It doesn't matter whether we care about football or not, care about Port Power or not, the resonance of losing a 22 year old player who was doing so well, reverberated through our state. It may well have reverberated through the whole of Australia. We are deeply concerned because we have all been talking about it but in a quiet, considered way. We are so sorry for his parents and cannot think how they must be feeling. Every parent with sons who plays sport and to a high level is troubled and concerned. We won't be stopping our children playing sport but we worry now for their safety. Port Power has had a horrible year and we are conscious of that so everyone has pulled together to ensure the club itself knows we do not see this as a Port Power issue. It is interesting how everyone has been very clear in their support for the Power so they know they can draw on our community strength to get through this. This is something we must all deal with and so Paul Marsh is suggesting something practical where we can look at the issues, the post season problems, the blokey culture perhaps - whatever it is which might have contributed to this pathway. A lot of women have wondered why players cannot celebrate the end of season at home in Australia or at home with their families. What is wrong with that? They spend a lot of time away playing , a lot of time dedicating their lives to fitness and condition so what is wrong with celebrating with their friends and family? Guys tend to think well, take them away, let them let off steam and then precisely what Paul Marsh has said - the post season carry on is now a concern. Perhaps it's our society. Perhaps its our culture so the next question I heard this week is what culture are clubs actually trying to engender in their players? What is it they want to achieve as part of the club culture? Post season is a part of that. We've accepted that as a community we all need to work on this and we all need to be part of the solution - if not, we shall be part of the precipitate and what is currently precipitating is making us so aware that his parents must be dealing with a really unthinkable situation right now and we are thinking about them a lot. We are also thinking a 22 year old just lost his life and so it's not letting off steam and it's not partying. It's not what we want. Even if we knew nothing about John McCarthy we are all now aware we have a young man who represents all our young althletes and we need to get this right. I hope people will listen to Paul Marsh and follow his lead and so we can all create something better for our young people.