Johnno

A ten year break

2020-01-30T08:33:00.002+11:00

Managed to do some major recovery and find my old name.

Now spinning The Sunny Boys Self titled album.

So what do I do?

2010-04-21T01:37:00.004+10:00

Do I click through all my old dusty links and see who's still around.....or start afresh?

Hmmmmm..... Actually I was looking through the old blog to find out some info on a post made quite a few years back. It's become rather a useful archive.

Had a look through the stats and 25,000 have dropped by to say hello. Thanks! Hope you found something of interest.

So perhaps it's enough on the writing sabbatical and time to jump back in.

Here's my latest

Bamboo through the window

2009-11-22T07:51:00.002+11:00

Almost two years.

I've been on Flickr.

Wind Combs

2007-12-23T01:39:00.000+11:00

I've done a bit of post processing work on a photo I took in October at San Sebastian (Donostia) Spain. It's in the heart of Basque territory and the artist Eduardo Chillida (Txillida in Basque) said it was one of his favourites.

It's an unusual sculpture, set in a smallish rocky cliff in La Concha bay........ rusting away 'til one day it will be gone. Nature taking its toll on art I suppose.

The pic seems to be popular on Flickr so I thought I'd post it here.

The Alan Greenspan Mask

2007-12-18T09:13:00.001+11:00

Radiohead - Reckoner (Thumbs Down Webcast)

2007-12-16T22:23:00.001+11:00

Smashed!

2007-11-26T11:02:00.001+11:00

National election downunder........ John Howard is dead, long live the new guy.

I was working on Saturday night with the election results on a TV in the meal room. The boys whooped it up when the Channel 7 animated "Tower of Power" whistled past 76. This was the magic number that meant that the conservative party had been booted out. "Take that you bastards." and a many more bluer expressions were thrown around. It was priceless.

The results were so good that it even appears that Howard has lost his own seat in Bennelong, a traditional white collar well to do area of Sydney.

And in a round up of newspaper editorials, Crikey has gathered the following:

The Australian: Rudd should stay on track
On Saturday, the Australian people voted the government out as much, perhaps more, as they embraced Mr Rudd. For all the assumptions of a bright new era that are being foisted on Mr Rudd by the green Left, and the desire for a return to the 1950s expressed by class-war warriors in the union movement, the prime minister-elect has given us every indication that he will deliver more of the same economic management strategies the previous government gave us.
The Age: Labor's ascendancy as the Coalition crashes and burns

AUSTRALIA'S political landscape has changed utterly. The Howard era is over. Emphatically it is over. Voters have delivered to John Howard and the Coalition a resounding verdict of renunciation. They did it across the continent and they did it personally. Mr Howard is likely to lose Bennelong, which he has held for 33 years. It will be only the second time that a prime minister has done so. Stanley Bruce was the other in 1929. Mr Howard will have to live with this legacy: that he will enter the annals of history as much for this ignominy as for anything he has achieved. He has no one to blame but himself. On Saturday night he took responsibility for defeat. He could hardly have done otherwise.
Sydney Morning Herald: Howard goes out a fighter, now for the aftershock
John Howard gave one of the great speeches of his career in signalling its close. Some may see the result in Bennelong - still in doubt, but likely to fall to Labor - as an ignominious end for one who has been a giant of Liberal and Australian politics. It is not. Some of history's greatest heroes have gone down fighting; so it was with John Howard. As successive redistributions transformed his seat from the blue-ribbon Liberal stronghold he inherited from Sir John Cramer in 1974 to a marginal proposition in 2007, Mr Howard spurned the temptation to move somewhere safer. His prestige will have helped shore up his party's support as Bennelong's voters started to look elsewhere; if it was not enough this time to hold the seat for the Liberals, it was not for want of leadership - or effort, or courage - from Australia's second-longest serving Prime Minister.
Courier Mail: Time to prove people’s choice
CONGRATULATIONS to Kevin Rudd and his team on an emphatic victory. It not only vindicated the stance of this newspaper and many others for a political renewal with a forward-looking government, but also reinforced the importance of Queensland on the national stage … The magnitude of the transfer in the power base from the traditional centres of Sydney and Melbourne and their entrenched networks should not be under-estimated. It is not so much an anomaly as a paradigm shift that says a lot about the future direction of Australia.
Herald Sun: Dawn of a new PM
Now Mr Howard is gone and the man we expected -- and the Libs needed -- to lead is also halfway out the door. Peter Costello, at 50, cites a need for "generational change" when the Coalition -- and the country -- most need his experience and talent to scrutinise the new Government. The Prime Minister-elect, also 50, is a 21st century leader. We can only hope his policy work will be for bedrock modernisation.
Daily Telegraph: The challenge is in the delivery
IT is Mr Rudd who has been given the opportunity to be at the forefront of "generational change". He and his party were elected on the basis of a promise of a better, brighter, fairer country, a country which - on Mr Rudd's own assessment - is already pretty good. So the challenge is before him - and every Australian will wish him success. But they will expect him to deliver.

Don't expect the Murdoch run newspapers to offer much in cloying support as they have done with the Bush and Howard regimes.

A cool way to fix neck pain

2007-11-17T20:39:00.000+11:00

I found this here at a Bowen Therapy website. I found it really works, especially for a shoulder blade pain I sometimes get....... which is (I think) neck related. I'm reasoning, the neck muscle tenses up and pulls the shoulder blade upwards and I think perhaps a nerve is getting pinched in there somewhere.

Sad thing is, I'm finding that I'm injuring myself whilst sleeping on the couch. If ever there was a sign of reaching the autumn years, that is it. WARNING: SLEEPING COULD BE INJURIOUS TO YOU HEALTH.

Anyway the words are here and there's some diagrams at the site above. Their reasoning seems to make some sort of pragmatic sense.

Figure 1 shows a person with pain that goes from just below the head and down the left side of the neck. The pain restricts the rotation of the head to the left.

The cause of the pain is usually a tight (hypertonus) muscle with a small knot deep within it. The knot is cramped muscle due to an accumulation of lactic acid. This impacts on the nerves within the muscle causing the pain. The aim of the exercise is to release the lactic acid without further aggravating the condition.

The anatomical drawing, Figure 2, shows the area of concern.

1. The area within the affected muscle (levator scapulae).

2. Shoulder blade (scapula).

3. Clavicle.

4. The head of the bone in the upper arm, (humerus).

5. A cut-away section of the major muscle that reaches across each shoulder and down from the top of the neck to the lower part of the back (Trapezius).

Area 1, though not apparently related to the neck pain, is the part that needs to be located and treated.

Figure 3 illustrates the position of the hand and fingers needed to relieve the discomfort.

The left hand is positioned over the right shoulder, the middle and index finger gently resting on the area just above the inner top edge of the shoulder blade. The right arm is supported in a relaxed position on the lap.

It is important that the two fingers of the left hand are laid flat on the skin and apply only light pressure. (See Figure 4.) Undue pressure will irritate the muscle and make the neck problem worse. (Paradoxically this inducement of pain can give relief for an indeterminate period as the body releases endorphins, the body’s natural painkiller. However, like many painkillers, it does not necessarily remove the root cause of the problem.)

Figure 5 shows the means of applying the release technique.

To locate the spot slowly turn the head, without going into pain, from right to left. A raised area about 2 to 3 cms across should be felt moving under the fingers. If not, relocate the fingers slightly and repeat the movement of the head until the area is located. Maintain the pressure and rotate the head from side to side, going further around the arc each time, until full pain-free movement of the head and neck has been achieved. Remove the fingers from the shoulder and check to see if full rotation of the head is possible. If not, replace the fingers and repeat the procedure. If the pain has not dissipated at the third attempt then seek medical advice. In order to balance the neck muscles treat the other shoulder in the same manner.

Copyright reserved. Roy Wilson - Time to Treat.

Back from Europe and back to blogging.

2007-11-17T18:14:00.001+11:00

Above photo was taken beside Lyn (Lake) Gwynant in Wales. Best of about 8 shots which I had to squeeze in.

So I'm back from Europe and still getting my "Australian legs", trying to get the house in order and dealing with working on night shift. Hmmmmm unfortunately this was put on the backburner so I'll have to go a-visitin' on some old blogging brethren and sistren and let you all know I'm alive. Sorry about that. Everything still seems out of whack two weeks later.

I read somewhere it is bad form to go AWOL and post semi-regularly. Thing is I've had so much to write about I haven't known where to start. Took advice from a friend of mine who suggested, "Just bloody type!".

So here I am typing and it seems to be going well.

I've been rather busy on flickr too. Catching up on a backlog of 1400+ photos, trying to create some semblance of order out of them. So THAT has been another prioiry but this has been nagging me to get back. Oh in good news I've been shortlisted by Mercedes Benz Germany for aa photo of mine to go in a coffee table book they are producing. Could be my first paid commision.

Anyway I'll try to get some sort of semi-regular deal going again. I promise!

Oh, changed the title of my blog seeing so many people were linking me as Johnno :)

Now off to stir the pot at Scruggs, Peter, Golby and other establishments of ill-repute.

Azure I

2007-10-27T22:48:00.001+10:00

Azure II

2007-10-27T22:47:00.001+10:00

Britain

2007-10-22T07:43:00.001+10:00

Britain, originally uploaded by johnno30.

Somewhere in Spain

2007-10-20T05:42:00.000+10:00

Hmmmmmm.....

Haven´t blogged much because I´ve been in Europe and the Internet cafes are few and far between. I´m currently in San Sebastian (I think an upward inflection or tilde should be there somewhere) where there about 250 bars in the old quarter and the tapas and red wine are flowing freely. Shame I can´t understand a word of it.

Anyhoo..... I´ll report in later when I get home. The laptop died, the mobile phone doesn´t work and the exchange rate is awful. Nevertheless I´m having a great time. I can´t upload photos and have about 800+ photos to share when I get back.

Nevertheless I know the basics. Uno Cerevas Por Favor........ I´m getting quite good at that one.

The APEC Fence

2007-09-05T16:58:00.001+10:00

The APEC Fence, originally uploaded by Jarod_Needs_Sleep.

This makes a rather bizarre contrast to the Adelaide parade by the Beatles in the 60's I posted below.

As the photographer Jarod_Needs_Sleep wrote.

"I'm not sure if this is on the good side or the evil side.

APEC 07: Welcome to (the cage of) Sydney!

2007-09-05T16:53:00.001+10:00

APEC 07: Welcome to (the cage of) Sydney!, originally uploaded by Rain.Forest.

This may give an idea of the cage around the city streets to keep the riff-raff out...... or the riff-raff in.....depending on which side of the fence one is on!

The Beatles in Adelaide

2007-09-05T15:53:00.000+10:00

Picked up a copy of Mark Haywards "The Beatles in Australia" which should be named "The Beatles in Adelaide". Hayward picked up a series of photos at Christies and Sothebys auction houses of the Adelaide concert. They really give a feel of the madness and mayhem that surrounded the Fab Four's whirlwind tour of South Australia.

Originally they were going to miss Adelaide however DJ Bob Francis (now a shock jock) saw fit to arrange a little bit of a detour from their Eastern Australian gigs. Francis recalls in an interview at the Australian Broacasting Commision.

You know, in 1964 I was working as a disc jockey, I had a bit more hair in those days, and we had some fabulous news -- The Beatles were coming to Australia. The bad news is they weren't coming to Adelaide and I had to get a little help from my friends. And we worked out that through the power of radio, we could change the course of history. The excitement of The Beatles was just amazing. They had five number one hits in the Top 40 chart. It had never been known before. And so when we had the information that The Beatles weren't coming to South Australia, that really got me mad. And I thought, is it worthwhile asking on air why don't we get some signatures together. Get some signatures together? We got 80,000 signatures in about three weeks, which was just marvellous. The telegram came back within a couple of days saying, "Beatles now coming to Adelaide." And that was just fabulous news. I'd never seen it happen before. People actually camped from the Friday night after work and the Monday morning the tickets were going to go on sale.

We set up a studio on the terrace to be able to have music playing out of the trees in speakers. Ah, people were bopping all over the place. It was just such a -- a fantastic atmosphere. And the lovely part was everybody behaved themselves. There was no booze, it was just a different era, a different time.

Fabulous time. Well, the stage was set. 11 June 1964, they said, "Bob, would you like to go to Sydney?" And I said, "Yes, sir." Off to Sydney, on a Fokker Friendship, to meet The Beatles. (Laughs) Just the greatest thing in my world had happened on that day.

And here's where it gets a little interesting in Johnno world. My Mum and Dad were dating and had not yet been engaged. Anyway, Mum wanted tickets and my grandmother obliged by being one of those who camped out. I took a browse of the book and found a photo of her in front of John Martin's on Rundle Street.

She's the old lady in the black overcoat at the front of the queue.

Here's the closeup. The old establishment type with the horn rimmed glasses, tie, tweed jacket and lapel pin looks remakably like my Grandfather too. I have no idea who the elegant dear in the white jacket is! Their persistance resulted in front row tickets for Ma and Pa Johnno, Dad was unimpressed by the concert, unable to hear anything due to the screaming of fans.

From an ABC website

Some 300,000 people, roughly one-third of Adelaide's population, lined the route from Adelaide Airport to the city to welcome the boys from Liverpool. John Lennon later described the Adelaide welcome as "the most exciting thing that's ever happened to us in the way of crowds and appearances...especially the drive down that road, the Anzac Highway, yes, I'll never forget that".

And here's a shot of the motorcade as it crawls along King William Street.

Here's another pic from the book John Lennon and Ernie Sigley with a copy of John's book "In his own Write". Current signed editions going for around US$6000 ! From Wiki

Sigley is especially remembered for his 1964 association with the Adelaide leg of The Beatles tour of Australia. His intelligent questioning of The Beatles during media meetings, was a relief for the group after the banal media probing.

In one famous press conference, Sigley's questioning of The Beatles about their rock influences, and being able to discuss them (e.g. Buddy Holly), bought about an enthusiastic response from John Lennon, which contrasted strongly from all the questions asked by other interviewers during the conference.

It is clear that Sigley knew what his fellow media associates didn't - The Beatles weren't a passing fad, and chose to treat them accordingly. Sigley's questioning allowed The Beatles, in 1964 at the height of their fame, to put on record, a rarely honest response to questions that are now historically more important than any of the questions being asked of them during their breakthrough period.

Lastly a shot of the guy responsible for pulling a lot of it together. A baby faced Bob Francis looking dapper in his tweed jacket signing autographs for some female fans!

Billy Bragg on Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson

2007-09-04T00:54:00.001+10:00

Rookwood Necropolis

2007-08-13T12:16:00.000+10:00

For some reason I found myself once again in the Catholic section of Rookwood Necropolis. It's the largest cemetery in Australia and for whatever reason I find some sort of peace there.

I had my camera in the car and the sun was just beginning to set so I took a few pics.

These two are my favourites. the one above has an IHS on it supposedly the first three letters in Greek for Iησους (Iēsous)...... don't see that spelling in the King James. It's also said to stand for the latin phrase in hoc signo, short for in hoc signo vinces (in this sign you shall conquer).....or Iesus Hominum Salvator (Jesus saviour of men).

Like most things Catholic the real meaning seems to be have lost in time.

The below is a nice image with the background out of focus.

The little guy bites back.

2007-08-10T21:15:00.000+10:00

Major bookchain sent out the following letter:

Angus & Robertson

30th July 2007

Michael Rakusin
TOWER BOOKS
Unit 2 / 17 Rodborough Road
Frenches Forrest
NSW 2086

Dear Michael

I am writing to inform you of some of the changes to the way we manage our business.

We have recently completed a piece of work to rank our suppliers in terms of the net profit they generate for our business. We have concluded that we have far too many suppliers, and over 40% of our supplier agreements fall below our requirements in terms of profit earned. At a time when the cost of doing business continues to rise, I’m sure you can understand that this is an unpalatable set of circumstances for us, and as such we have no option but to act quickly to remedy the situation.

Accordingly, we will be rationalising our supplier numbers and setting a minimum earnigs ration of income to trade purchases that we expect to achieve from our suppliers.

I am writing to you because TOWER BOOKS falls into this category of unacceptable profitability.

As a consequence we would invite you to pay the attached invoice by Aug 17th 2007. The payment represents the gap fro your your business, and moves it from an unacceptable level of profitability, to above our minimum threshold.

If we fail to receive your payment by this time we will have no option but to remove you from our list of authorised suppliers, and you will be unable to complete any further transactions with us until such time as the payment is made.

I have also attached a proforma for you to complete wand return to me, with your proposed terms of trade for our financial year commencing Sept 1st 2007. We have the following expectations:

All agreements contain a standard rebate, a growth rebate and a minimum co-op commitment to enable participation in our marketing activity.

Growth rebates activate as soon as our purchases with you increase by $1 on the previous year.

All rebates are paid quarterly for the previous quarter’s performance, you must make sure that your remittance, with calculations, is received by us by the 7th of the month following the preceding quarter. Any remittances not received by this date will attract a daily 5% interest charge.

I am also including a copy of our ratecard, and our marketing calendar, to enable you to begin planning your promotional participation now.

If you would like to discuss this with me in more detail, I am delighted to confirm an appointment with you at 1.00pm on Friday 17th August for 10 minutes at my offices at 379 Collins St, Melbourne.

Best Regards

[signed]

Charlie Rimmer
ARW Group Commercial Manager

Enc: A&R Ratecard
A&R Marketing calendar
Trading Terms Proforma
Invoice

Small publisher replied:

6 August 2007

Mr Charlie Rimmer
ARW Group Commercial Manager
14th Floor, 379 Collins Street,
Melbourne, VIC 3000

Dear Mr Rimmer

We are in receipt of your letter of 30 July 2007 terminating our further supply to Angus & Robertson. As you have requested, we will cancel all Angus & Robertson Company orders on 17 August and will desist from any further supply to your stores.

I have to say that my initial response on reading your letter as to how you propose to "manage" your business in the future was one of voluble hilarity, I literally burst out laughing aloud. My second response was to note the unmitigated arrogance of your communication, I could not actually believe I was reading an official letter from Angus & Robertson on an Angus & Robertson letterhead.

My reply to you will perforce be a lengthy one. I hope you will take the trouble to read it, you may learn something. Then again, when I look at the level of real response we have had from Angus & Robertson over the past six or so years, I somehow doubt it.

The first thing I would say to you is that arrogance of the kind penned by you in your letter of 30 July is an unenviable trait in any officer of any company, no matter how important that individual thinks himself or his company, no matter how dominant that company may be in its market sector. Business has a strange habit of moving in cycles: today's villain may be tomorrow's hero. It is quite possible to part from a business relationship in a pleasant way leaving the door open for future engagement. Sadly, in this case, you have slammed and bolted it.

More to the point, however, we have watched our business with Angus & Robertson dwindle year upon year since 2000. We had to wear the cost of sub-economic ordering from you through ownership changes, SAP installation, new management, and stock overhang. In summary our business with you has dropped from over $1.2 million at the end of 2000 to less than $600,000 in 2007.

You would be quite correct to question whether our offering to the market had changed in any way. The answer can be derived from the fact that during the same period our business with Dymocks, Book City, QBD and Borders continued to grow in double digits, our business with your own franchise stores has grown healthily, and our overall business during the same period has grown by more than 50%.

Six years ago we were allowed to send reps to your company stores and do stock checks. Then these were "uninvited" and we had to rely on monthly rep calls to your Buying Office. Subsequently even that was too much trouble; your Buying Office was too busy to see us, so we were asked to make new title submissions electronically. Every few months the new submission template became more and more complex. This year, we have been allowed quarterly visits to your Buying Office at which we were to be given the opportunity to sell to all your Category Managers. At the first, we did indeed see all of the Category Managers - but they didn't buy any of the titles offered. At the second, one Category manager was available, and again no purchases resulted. At the last (only last week), two Category managers attended. Through all of this, your overworked and under resourced Buying Department never got to see, let alone read, an actual book. While one may be forgiven for believing that Angus & Robertson is actually a company purveying "Sale" signs, I do believe you are still in the book business?

That Angus & Robertson is struggling for margin does not surprise me. It amazes me that the message has not become clear to your "management": there are only so many costs you can cut, there is only so much destiny you can put in the hands of a computer system, there are only so many sweetheart deals you can do with large suppliers. After that, in order to prosper one actually has to know one's product and have an appropriately staffed buying department. Most importantly, one has to train sales people of competence. You will never beat the DDSs at their cost cutting game, you will only prosper by putting "books" back into Angus & Robertson. And it would seem to me paramount to stop blaming suppliers for your misfortunes, trying ever harder to squeeze them to death, and actually focus on your core incompetencies in order to redress them.

How a business that calls itself a book business is going to do without titles such as the Miles Franklin Prize winning book or titles like Rich Dad Poor Dad (according to this week's Sydney Morning Herald it is still the fifth best selling business title in Australia nine years after publication) is beyond me. And how in good conscience Australia's self-purported largest chain of book shops proposes to exclude emerging Australian writers who are represented by the smaller distributors, is an equal mystery.

We too have expectations Mr Rimmer. We have had the same expectations for many years, none of which Angus & Robertson have been willing to deliver:

â€¢That we are treated with equal respect to the larger publishers within the obvious parameters of commercial reality;
â€¢That your Buying Department is able and willing to assess our books with equal seriousness to those of the big publishers and buy them appropriately;
â€¢That you recognise the fundamental differences between the smaller distributors and the larger publishers and stop demanding of us terms that we are unable to deliver;
â€¢That you would support and help develop Australian literature.

Had you made any effort to meet these expectations you would have found the niche we should have occupied in your business, as have all other book shops, and you would have found our contribution to the profitability of your business would have been dramatically different.

In summary, we reject out of hand this notion that somehow, even giving you 45% discount on a Sale or Return basis, with free freight to each of your individual stores, where we make less than half of that on the same book, puts us in the "category of unacceptable profitability". We have seen Angus & Robertson try this tactic before - about 12 years ago Angus & Robertson decided that unless we gave them a 50% discount, they would not buy from us any longer. We refused. Angus & Robertson desisted from buying from us for seven months. We survived, Angus & Robertson came back cap in hand.

We have seen Myer effectively eliminate smaller suppliers. We survived and prospered but look at the Myer Book Departments today.

We have seen David Jones decide that it had too many publishers to deal with and to exclude the smaller suppliers. We survived and prospered but look at the David Jones Book Departments today.

David Jones and Myer sell other goods; Angus & Robertson does not.

That the contents of your letter of 30 July are both immoral and unethical, I have no doubt. That they probably contravene the Trade Practices Act, I shall leave to the ACCC to determine. (Five percent interest PER DAY !!!)

If you wish to discuss any of the contents hereof you may call my secretary for an appointment at my office in Frenchs Forest. I shall be marginally more generous than you and at least allow you to pick a convenient time.

Michael Rakusin
Director
Tower Books Pty Ltd
Carpentaria, Alexis Wright : Winner of 50th Anniversary Miles Franklin Literary Prize, 2007

Copy: Graeme Samuel, Chairman, ACCC
Rod Walker, Chairman, ARW Group
Ian Draper, ARW Group Managing Director
Rickard Gardell, Managing Director, Pacific Equity Partners
Simon Pillar, Managing Director, Pacific Equity Partners
Barbara Cullen, CEO, ABA
Maree McCaskill, CEO, APA

Note: The ACCC is the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, a guvmint trade practices organization. The ABA is the Australian Bookseller Association.

The reply is worthy of a Miles Franklin award itself!

World Clock

2007-08-08T16:08:00.000+10:00

Poodwaddle.com

AnimaMundi Series I: Le moine et le poisson

2007-08-08T00:30:00.001+10:00

Paranoia or how to Effectively shut down a city.

2007-08-06T13:26:00.000+10:00

Sydney is holding the APEC(Asia-Pacific Economic Forum) from September 8-9 2007. I was thinking of going down to get some photos but there seems to be a general feeling of "STAY AWAY" in big red letters.

Nevertheless, there will be people going for a sticky beak and protests and all other types of things they normally wouldn't be doing if the spotlight wasn't on Sydney for those couple of days. Sunday that would normally be spent in a cafe, browsing a bookshop, nursing a hangover, making love, or mowing the lawn....... seems to hold a certain attraction to some of getting arrested singing Kumba Yah. I think I'll stay away.

Anyway, I did a quick round up to see what I could find on the security measures to look after those leaders in the free world; the word "paradox" comes to mind.

SOME of Sydney's biggest hospitals will postpone or cut elective surgery for five days during the Asia-Pacific leaders' summit in a health disaster plan being implemented under a veil of secrecy.

The presence of heavily armed SAS (Specal Air Service) troops could complement unprecedented powers for police to manage security at September's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Sydney. HEAVILY-armed SAS troops could be ordered on to Sydney's streets to maintain control during the APEC summit later this year, a military law expert has warned. This move, which includes orders for the troopers to shoot to kill..........

More than 300 high definition CCTV cameras have been placed in potential terrorist targets in the lead-up to Sydney's APEC Summit, acting Premier John Watkins says. The new cameras bring to 6,400 the total number of cameras watching people using buses, trains and ferries. The cameras, 200 of which use cutting-edge facial recognition technology, have been installed across the city in buses, ferry and train stations

Three Sydney train stations and sections of the CBD will be shut down for three days in September during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit.Three city circle train stations - St James, Museum and Circular Quay - will all be closed for the three days.

Holiday packages with special deals for various attractions will be used to lure Sydneysiders away from the city during the APEC long weekend.

Last year the NSW and federal governments declared Friday, September 7, 2007, would be a public holiday for employees who work in the Sydney metropolitan area, to help minimise disruption during the APEC summit.

Mobile phone calls in Sydney's CBD will be blocked by a sophisticated counter-terrorism measure to prevent bomb attacks during US President George W Bush's September APEC visit.

Concrete barriers to be set up in Sydney's CBD during next month's APEC meeting are intended to protect world leaders and divert traffic, says the head of the summit's police security command.

State Transit buses have been converted into "mobile holding cells" to be used during the summit in September.The buses have a regular capacity of about 70 sitting and standing passengers. The conversion has involved placing a panel over the back window, replacing passenger windows with wire mesh and installing what amounts to a mini-prison inside each bus.

High performance jet skis and rigid hull inflatable boats (RHIBS) have been provided by the Howard Government to NSW Police to enhance marine security arrangements for APEC, Attorney-General Philip Ruddock announced today. (There's a harbour exclusion zone apparently)

In a decision branded "pedantic" and "overkill" by recreational flyers, all aircraft - including remote control planes and model helicopters - will be banned within 80km of the Sydney CBD.

The Australian Defence Force has said it will deploy Black Hawk helicopters, F/A-18 Hornet fighters and naval ships to intercept any aerial and seaborne threats during the conference. The Chief of the Defence Force, Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, said a force of 1500 full-time and reserve troops would assist the security operation, which is being overseen by NSW police.

THE SPP from Moff

2007-08-05T21:09:00.001+10:00

Moff muses. Same stuff is being tried in Sydney during the Apec Summit. Closing down the whole damn city.
I dunno the paranoia in the "free world" seems to be catching.

Concrete fence to encircle Sydney for APEC
Thursday Aug 2 06:00 AEST

By ninemsn staff

A huge concrete wall will be built around Sydney's CBD in a bid to protect potential targets from terrorists and protestors during next month's APEC meetings.

Dubbed the "ring of steel", the 2.8m high concrete-reinforced fence will shield well-known businesses such as McDonald's and Starbucks amid fears they could be attacked by demonstrators.

Cranes will begin installing the fence around the Hotel Inter-Continental at the corner of Bridge and Macquarie Sts over five days from August 31. The wall will surround much of the city's center, according to the Daily Telegraph.

advertisement
The idea of dividing a city with concrete is reminiscent of the Berlin Wall, an iconic symbol of the Cold War which split the European city for 28 years.

The wall is just one of several radical security measures being taken ahead of US President George W Bush's arrival in Sydney on September 5 for the annual summit.

As Bush's presidential motorcade makes its way through the city, a helicopter equipped with signal-jamming equipment will shut down mobile phone calls in the area to cut down the risk of a remote control bomb.

Forty permanent loudspeakers are being installed around the city to inform residents what to do in the event of a terrorist attack.

Police have bought a $600,000 water cannon for use if protests get violent and more than 30 buses will serve as mobile detention cells.

Chief executive officer of the NSW Business Chamber Kevin MacDonald said the decision to build the wall is understandable.

"Given the experience of other major meetings of world leaders in recent years, I can understand why the police have decided to erect a temporary fence," Mr MacDonald said.

"The fence is temporary and hopefully will not be needed."

Galah for Peter Le Other

2007-07-24T20:11:00.001+10:00

Here we have a Galah (named by the aboriginals) or Eolophus roseicapillus (named by the scientists) which are usually found on the flat plains feasting on all manner of grass seeds. Don't very often see these in the mountains.

Lovely plumage!

Woodford Academy and Gum Tree

2007-07-22T18:02:00.000+10:00

"Hello I'm Johnno and I'm a blogger.....it's been three weeks since my last post." Thanks Golby!

This was very difficult to post process, I tried about ten versions before getting a version I was semi-happy-with. Either the stars and lens flare disappeared or the sky turned a very noisy speckled sort of effect with a bright yellow gum tree due to the strong yellow spotlight.

Large version is here

I may have to go back and try again. OK I'm off to post some comments.