Blogalogue of Random Writings

New car for LM Mackay

2011-08-23T16:06:00.000+10:00

2005-05-02T22:51:00.000+10:00

Hello Cocky

ANZAC Day - "Lest We Forget"

2005-04-25T09:34:00.000+10:00

"They shall not grow old as we that are left grow old.

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning,

we will remember them.

Lest we forget."

April 25th, marks ANZAC day in Australian and New Zealand. On this day in 1915, members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) landed on the shores of Gallipoli in Turkey.

In a military encounter which was poorly executed, the Australians and New Zealanders were blown off-course and rather than landing on a beach with low hills, landed at what is now known as ANZAC Cove. A beach surrounded by towering hills with almost verticle cliffs. With the Turks well dug in, the ANZAC's were "butchered like lambs at the slaughter".

The journey to ANZAC Cove at Gallipoli has become a pilgimage for Australians. An estimated 16,000 attended the dawn service today. Each year the numbers of visitors grows.

ANZAC Day is not a day to celebrate war. The destruction of so many lives is not something to celebrate. ANZAC Day is the day we remember and thank those that served their country.

For those who served, whether voluntarily or by conscription. For those who served during war or peacekeeping times. For those that returned and those that did not. Regardless of personal views for or against each of the conflicts we have been involved in. Today is the day that Australians and New Zealanders say thank you.

"And the band played Waltzing Matilda" (C) Eric Bogle.

When I was a young man I carried me pack

And I lived the free life of the rover

From the Murray's green basin to the dusty outback

I waltzed my Matilda all over

Then in 1915 my country said: Son,

It's time to stop rambling, there's work to be done

So they gave me a tin hat and they gave me a gun

And they sent me away to the war

And the band played Waltzing Matilda

When the ship pulled away from the quay

And amid all the tears, flag waving and cheers

We sailed off for Gallipoli

Well I remember that terrible day

When our blood stained the sand and the water

And how in that hell they call Suvla Bay

We were butchered like lambs at the slaughter

Johnny Turk, he was ready, he primed himself well

He rained us with bullets, and he showered us with shell

And in five minutes flat, we were all blown to hell

He nearly blew us back home to Australia

And the band played Waltzing Matilda

When we stopped to bury our slain

Well we buried ours and the Turks buried theirs

Then it started all over again

Oh those that were living just tried to survive

In that mad world of blood, death and fire

And for ten weary weeks I kept myself alive

While around me the corpses piled higher

Then a big Turkish shell knocked me arse over head

And when I awoke in me hospital bed

And saw what it had done, I wished I was dead

I never knew there was worse things than dying

Oh no more I'll go Waltzing Matilda

All around the green bush far and near

For to hump tent and pegs, a man needs both legs

No more waltzing Matilda for me

They collected the wounded, the crippled, the maimed

And they shipped us back home to Australia

The armless, the legless, the blind and the insane

Those proud wounded heroes of Suvla

And when the ship pulled into Circular Quay

I looked at the place where me legs used to be

And thank Christ there was no one there waiting for me

To grieve and to mourn and to pity

And the Band played Waltzing Matilda

When they carried us down the gangway

Oh nobody cheered, they just stood there and stared

Then they turned all their faces away

Now every April I sit on my porch

And I watch the parade pass before me

I see my old comrades, how proudly they march

Renewing their dreams of past glories

I see the old men all tired, stiff and worn

Those weary old heroes of a forgotten war

And the young people ask "What are they marching for?"

And I ask myself the same question

And the band plays Waltzing Matilda

And the old men still answer the call

But year after year, their numbers get fewer

Someday, no one will march there at all

Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda

Who'll come a-Waltzing Matilda with me?

And their ghosts may be heard as they march by the billabong

So who'll come a-Waltzing Matilda with me?

Rather than no-one marching there at all, the Returned Services League allowed the children and relatives of deceased soldiers to march in their place. The annual march has grown in size and has become one of the most important days on the Australian and New Zealand calendars.

"Lest we Forget"

Glad I'm not a betting man

2004-10-14T13:29:00.000+10:00

The day before the Australian Federal election, I made some predictions about the results. With most of the results now known, I decided to see how close I got.

Needless to say, if I had put my money where my mouth was, I would be much poorer for the experience.

Firstly, Dawson:

Prediction - De-Anne Kelly to get 53% primary vote (no preferences needed)
Reality - De-Anne Kelly 48.5% primary vote.

Australia:

Prediction - Coalition to win with margin falling from 12 to 3
Reality - Coalition gained 3 seats with 4 still undecided.

Democrats:

Prediction - Vote to plummett, Senate seats lost.
Reality - Vote plummets, Senate seats lost.

The Democrat vote dropped from 7.25% in the Senate to 2.05%. Very few people in Australia actually join political parties. The Democrats had the unique situation where the members were at mainly to the left of the ALP, where the people who voted for them were Coalition voters with a social conscience.

When the members took the party closer (or even past) the ALP, the Coalition supporters who used the party as their "Senate insurance" withdrew that support. It also caused many members to leave the party.

Long-Term Projection:

2007 election. It's a long way to go, but I predict that economic forces will conspire to bring down the government. Due to continued high oil prices, a lower $A, changing demographics and an overheated economy, interest rates will be forced higher and the property market will suffer a severe collapse.

many Australians are overextended and many will end up owning property that is less than their mortgages. They will hold the government accountable for their own greed and vote against the Coalition. The scare tactic of "A vote for the ALP is a vote for higher interest rates" will not work a second time.

Big prediction, I know. I've been wrong before, but let's wait to see how close I get. Hopefully better than last time.

Election Prediction

2004-10-07T20:35:00.001+10:00

I did not get the chance to run through all the candidates for tomorrow's election.

I started writing when my health failed and I have recently had a relapse, hence I have not been able to keep up with my plan of writing every day.

This weekend, the people in the Dawson electorate will return the National Party Candidate, De-Anne Kelly. Even with 9 candidates and much anger with members of the National's traditional voter base, De-Anne will win and win very easily.

My guess is a National's win on the primary vote, with no need to look at preferences. De-Anne will attract 53% of the primary vote.

Overall, the Coalition will win with John Howard getting the Prime Minister's job for another term. (Although, he will retire after 18 months). The margin will narrow to 6 seats.

The Democrats vote will plummett and they will lose Senate seats to the Greens. This will be the beginning of the end for the Democrats. The in-fighting and excessive influence of the loopy left will split the party, or drive the party so far to the left, they will lose their traditional supporters. (Remember they were started by ex-liberal Don Chipp)

About this time tomorrow, I will have a rough idea of how close my predictions are.

Margaret Menzel - Katter Sugar Reform Independent

2004-09-29T23:15:00.000+10:00

The first name on the ballot paper for the seat of Dawson will be that of Margaret Menzel. She will appear with the word "independent" next to her name.

She has been deeply involved with the Sugar Reform Group, which formed after the Australia - US free trade agreement, which excluded sugar. They ran candidates at the last Queensland state election. Because of the involvement of outspoken politician and supporter, Bob Katter, these sugar reform candidates were called "Katter Independents".

With most major newspapers ignoring minor party candidates, my knowledge of the policies is very limited. From interviews around the time of that state election, it appears that the major focus is on getting subsidies to be provided to sugar farmers and other rural exports.

These subsidies would then allow farmers to earn more while selling into the world market at less than what the farmers get paid. Basically, they want the same kind of deal that they are upset that the Americans have.

Dawson is an ideal target for this group, with sugar being one of the major industries. The sitting member was also the secretary to the trade minister and was partly responsible for the actual agreement and what it's details would contain.

In the absence of further details from the candidate or her supporters (An open invitation to post comments) I have concluded that there appears to be little in the way of broad based policy. The sugar industry is vital to the local area.

There have been people calling on the sugar industry to prepare for growing global competition and to diversify into other crops or to start value adding by using sugar mills for co-generation and paper manufacturing. The co-generation idea is particularly attractive at the moment with the revelation that Queensland is facing electricity shortages in the very near future.

Unless I can locate and study more policy details, there is little likelihood of me supporting this candidate.

Dawson hit with candidate deluge

2004-09-28T22:07:00.000+10:00

In the Australian federal Election due on October 8th, I have the choice of 9 candidates. Realistically, our electorate has been held by the National Party since at least 1975.

This year, we have a plethora of new minor parties as well as some of the far right parties that this electorate is renown for. While Gympie may get the media coverage as being the home of the far right in Australia, the electorate of Dawson continually has the highest support of right wing candidates at federal elections.

The choice we have (in ballot form order) is:

1) Independent (Katter/sugar independent)
2) Family First Party
3) Nationals
4) New Country
5) One Nation
6) Aust Labor Party
7) Aust Democrats
8) Greens
9) Citizens Electoral Council

Who do you choose? Over the next 9 posts, I will run through the candidates and their policies (or lack thereof) and see what my research comes up with. I honestly haven't made up my mind who to vote for, so this is an exercise for myself as well as a reason to blog further.

I will declare that I was a member of the Australian Democrats for almost 20 years, and actually ran for federal and state parliament, but resigned in disgust last year and no longer have any loyalty to that party.

My summaries of the candidates and policies will be as impartial as I possibly can. If you disagree or want to correct something, by all means go for it.

SPAM Blogs

2004-09-26T11:32:00.000+10:00

The world of blogs is getting overrun with SPAM.

Looking through random blogs via the "next blog" on the top right hand corner has shown that people peddling dubious products have realised that blogs can be another way to get in front of people's faces.

They have also learned that the more frequently you post, the greater than chances of being featured on the next blog list. With the ability to pre-set when the blog is to be published, some SPAMers are simply cutting & pasting the same SPAM into blogs that are set to be published every hour or so. With 24 blogs a day, the hit level is going to be reasonably high.

Luckily, the "next blog" button can be re-clicked to get past these SPAM blogs. Let's face it. If I want a personal injury lawyer, I'm not goping to choose one who SPAMS on blogs. If I need to lose weight, I will see a doctor, not search through blogs for something making unsubstatiated, wild claims.

SPAM blogs are just as annoying as SPAM e-mails, but unlike an e-mail, you can't set a SPAM filter on the "next blog" function.

I suppose it doesn't matter what form of communication that mankind comes up with, there will always be someone there to SPAM it.

Cheap Tyres for sale?

2004-09-23T13:28:00.000+10:00

At our picnic yesterday, the serene silence was shattered by the savage screech of rapidly rotating rubber.

We could not see the car that was making the noise, but the heavy throbbing of the engine, interspersed with the high pitched squeal was ample evidence that some of the local hoons were leaving their trademark circle of shame on a local road nearby.

I have often been mystified to know what the attraction is to drive a car around in very small circles. Particularly when fuel prices are at an all time high. With tyres being around $400 each, who has the money to be able to leave the better part of them lying on the road behind you? Next time I hear a hoon doing donuts, I'll have to track him down to find out where he buys his tyres. They must be dirt cheap if he can afford to waste them like that.

Luckily, the anti-hoon laws that have been enacted in this state make it possible to get these menaces off the roads. Dropping donuts and screeching tyres can result in the hoons vehicle being impounded for 24 to 48 hours for first offences.

Some Australian states have even tougher laws where vehicles can be forfeited to the government. The cars can then be sold and the funds used to help pay for road safety and further police patrols.

I am not trying to stop those who wish to drive fast and show their motoring skills. The place to show-off those skills is the racetrack, dragway or in a farmer's paddock (with permission, of course). In the right place, you are only going to kill yourself and passengers, if you're on the roads, stick to the rules. I don't want to be the one who pays the ultimate price, if you lose control.

Mad cow media

2004-09-20T21:38:00.000+10:00

We had an excellent example again this week of how poorly Australia's media checks it's facts.

A single case of classic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) was found in one Melbourne hospital patient. Wanting to be sure that cross contamination occurred, they announced that they were requesting all 1056 patients to come back for a follow-up check.

The hospital stressed very strongly and repeatedly that that classic CJD was a different disease to variant CJD, which is the human form of BSE (mad cow disease). It was stressed that Variant CJD and BSE had never been found in Australia. The media were warned by the hospital to make sure they reported this incident responsibly.

Needless to say, the airwaves were filled with the story of Mad Cow Disease for days afterwards. Naturally the hospital and the beef industry are not impressed.

Full details and thanks for the background for this story go to ABC Television's Media Watch. For anyone interested in the accuracy (or inaccuracies) of the media, then this program is a must watch. Monday nights at 8:45pm on Australia's ABC.

Cash for Comment

2004-09-18T22:50:00.000+10:00

Several years ago a furore erupted in Australian radio. Talkback announcers were being paid to promote companies without disclosing those sponsorships.

The two biggest names in Australian talkback radio suddenly changes their views on certain companies, once those companies had signed up to become sponsors. We are not talking about normal advertising here. These were editorial and talkback comments.

After constantly denigrating a particular telephone company and encouraging callers to share their complaints on air, the company started to be reported in a favourable light, with negative callers being cut-off and discouraged.

This sudden change of attitude was found to be the result of sponsorship contracts worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. No details of these contracts or even acknowledgement that the announcers had sponsorships were made.

The rules have changed requiring these contracts to be disclosed to listeners whenever the sponsor is mentioned. One announcer has formed his own radio station. The sponsorship still exists, but is between the station and sponsor, so there is no need to disclose this to listeners.

The announcer and the sponsors are the same as before the rule change. The contracts, which were revealed by a journalist, show that the sponsorship is dependent on the talkback announcer staying with the station.

Despite the obvious sophistry to circumvent the intention of the law, the authorities have failed to act against this announcer. A small time announcer in another state was hit with 15 violations, but the big guys appear to be getting away with it.

Nominations close for Australian Federal Election

2004-09-16T13:23:00.000+10:00

The last chance to nominate as a candidate for the federal election on October 9th has just passed. Despite the leaders of the political parties and their minions campaigning, it is only today that voters will know who they have to choose from.

Last night we heard that Pauline Hanson will be running for a spot in the Senate for Queensland. She will be running as an independent and not as part of the One Nation party that she started a couple of elections ago.

In terms of predictions, it is too early and I have not yet done a seat by seat analysis, but I can confidently predict a Coalition win.

Each time government has changed hands, the incumbent has been trailling the challenger in the polls by a fair margin and has done so for around 12 months. With the polls showing a close call, history shows that the incumbent gets over the line. The scare tactics used by both sides convince voters to stick with the devil they know, rather than risk facing a greater peril.

Australians are basically given a choice of two parties that are so closely aligned that they have been called tweedle dee and tweedle dumb. It has also been said that we can choose from the Liberal Party and the ALP, which stand for Another Liberal Party. (The real name is Australian Labor Party).

To see who I have to select from, stayt tuned. The political stuff will be sprinkled lightly throughout , leaving room for other topics as I continue to practice and hone my writing skills.

Gun nation under god.

2004-09-15T13:25:00.000+10:00

The American Pledge of Allegiance may need to be changed as indicated in the title.

The second item in the bill of rights provides the right for citizens to bear arms. This was accepted in 1791, back when settlers were still fighting native Americans, each other and the dangerous wildlife. Since then they have had wars with the French from Canada, the Spanish, the Mexicans, the British and of course, each other during the civil war.

Those times have changed. There is now a structured law enforcement regime to protect the citizens. There is the army, navy, air force and marines to protect the borders from foreign invaders.

The politicians and the NRA must accept that times have changed and accept that the second amendment needs to be repealed. Compare the number of gun deaths per capita with other developed nations and you see that the easy access to weapons is killing the American people.

The weapons have changed as well. When the laws were passed, guns were inaccurate, single shot weapons that were a one shot kill would be rare. If the politicians and the NRA are not prepared to move with the times and accept the second amendment being repealed, then they should also refuse to accept that times have moved with gun technology. If the second amendment stays, then it should only apply to weapons that were available when the amendment was passed.

George Dubya allowed Clinton's law banning semi-automatic weapons to lapse yesterday. Changing a semi-automatic to fully automatic is a very easy step. Why did George Dubya allow these weapons back onto the streets of the US?

The pro-gun NRA had declined to announce support for either George Dubya or John Kerry. They have said that John Kerry is the most anti-gun candidate to ever nominate for President, but they would wait until mid-September before making their choice of candidate public.

After letting the guns back onto the streets, I imagine it will be a very short time before the NRA comes out in fulsome support of George Dubya. The NRA would never have supported Kerry, but George Dubya decided to consign an extra few hundred Americans to death by gun-fire to make sure that support stayed with him.

NRA figurehead Charlton Heston once said that they would have to prise his gun "from my cold dead hands". The concept of his cold dead hands is somehow very appealing.

Hurricanes, Cyclones & Typhoons

2004-09-14T10:44:00.000+10:00

The Carribean and Gulf of Mexico are about to get their third hurricane within a month. The powerful destructive force of these tropical storms is something that you have to experience to appreciate.

I have been living in a cyclone area for the last 15 years, but have been lucky enough to have missed any direct hits. Those that have come close have only been small. It is an eerie feeling listening to the constant howling of the wind knowing that the centre of the storm is still 200km or more away.

The deadliest part of the storm is not the wind, but the storm surge that comes with some of the bigger cyclones. Although the air does not weigh much, it does press down on the earth and moer importantly, the ocean. That weight is variable. High pressure means more weight, low pressure means less.

Cyclones are intense low pressure systems. With much less force pushing the ocean down, the sea level at the middle of a cyclone can rise above the rest of the ocean. When the cyclone crosses land, the higher ocean levels follow. It's not like a tsunami, where there may be one main wave, but the sea rises rapidly, with each wave coming higher up the beach than the last.

Bathurst Bay in North Queensland (Much further noth than me) holds the record for the biggest storm surge. The tide rose 14.6 metres (48 feet) above the normal high tide and travelled 5 km (3 miles) inland.

With the amount of people, particularly baby boomers, moving to the coast in warm tropical cities, how long will it be before we see another huge storm surge, this time striking a city rather than a isolated beach like Bathurst Bay?

The city of Cairns in Far North Queensland has 130,000 people and is so close to sea level, that parts of the city go underwater during high tides. The Town of Bowen, while much smaller, has an entire suburb that is below sea level, protected by a set of sand dunes.

The baby boomers are flocking to North Queensland in search of the sun and a more relaxed lifestyle. That lifestyle may be shattered one day when they find they are living in a disaster area waiting to happen. Just to make the disaster complete, no Australian insurance company will provide cover for storm surge damage.

It's nice to live somewhere you can easily go to the beach, just make sure it's not somewhere the beach can come to you.

Shares at record high

2004-09-13T15:44:00.000+10:00

Back in 2001, when I was doing a money program on a local community radio station, I started to record some of the financial data on a weekly basis to chart performance over time.

Although, I am no longer involved with the radio station or the finance industry, I continue to keep these weekly records. The reason I keep the record going is because I see it as a waste of the effort that has been put in over the last 3 1/2 years to let it go.

To avoid the data from the Australian sharemarket disappearing off the top of the graph, I had to extend the scale. This prompted me to look at graph and note some of the features. From the peak in March 2002, Australian have passed through a bear market and regained their losses in 119 weeks. It took 52 weeks to fall and 67 weeks to stabilise and come back.

In the 12 weeks since setting a new market high, Australian shares have continued to add value. Looking at the graph, it shows what I have always said to people. "Shares may fall, but they always come back to be stronger than before." While some individual companies may have fallen, the index, which covers the majority of the market has risen.

Another factor that people forget is that the index does not include the value of the dividends paid. Australian companies pay out about 3% in dividends each year. So when you add the dividends, the time to break even after the fall started was actually 85 weeks, not 109.
For long-term growth and ability to increase wealth, a good diversified share portfolio is a low risk, proven performer.

Getting rid of nuisance members

2004-09-12T20:45:00.000+10:00

When you are a member of a club or organisation, there will sometimes be a member who creates havoc for the club and drives members away. There are a few things that you can do to make sure that your club can survive and if the executive is strong enough, remove the nuisance member from the organisation.

Firstly the executive must ensure that the rules of the organisation are strictly adhered to. If there is a nuisance member, the rules of the club must be strictly enforced. It can be difficult to justify cancelling a person's membership for breaches that have been routinely overlooked by other members. Most importantly, the committee must have a good knowledge of the constitution and by-laws. It's hard to enforce the rules, when you don’t know what they are.

Often the nuisance member does not break any of the rules, but just agitates and makes members feel uncomfortable. This may make it hard to rid the organisation of the member. Hard, but not impossible.

One strategy is to make sure that all new members get voted into the organisation. If this is not being done, then propose that the new rule be implemented. Then you must move a vote to accept each existing member.

Once this procedure has been set in place, you can then move that the vote accepting the nuisance member be rescinded. Technically, the member is not ejected or expelled, but their acceptance is no longer valid. This can allow a club to expel a member even if the rules do not give that option.

Remember that you should check your constitution to see if this strategy does not break any of the existing rules. For a complete guide to how to run meetings properly, contact your nearest Toastmasters Club, or head to your local library for the book "A guide for meetings and organisations" by N.E. Renton.

Welcome to Random Writings

2004-09-11T15:45:00.000+10:00

Welcome to Kev's cornucopia of random writings.

First the basics: I am a 37 year-old Australian, living in North Queensland. For overseas readers, that's the North Eastern coast of Australia, above the tropic of Capricorn. Due to illness, my ability to work is limited and I find that writing is one of the tasks that I can continue, although, this is generally restricted to writing for 15 minutes before resting for 1 - 2 hours.

Authors have told me that one method of improving your writing skills is to write daily. On reflection, this appears to be simple yet accurate advice, along the lines of "practice makes perfect".

This blog is designed to help get me into the habit of writing regularly, and it will allow me to cover a wide range of different topics without disrupting the integrity and continuity of my 2 other blogs which are restricted to the topics of health fraud (AKA alternative medicine) and critical thinking.

There is another blog that I am the author of, but that blog is under a different name and is the blog for a local organisation. The blog allows me to report on the organisations social activities, educations activities and public service duties that the organisation does on behalf of the local community. I will keep details of that organisation separate as the views that may appear on my various blogs may not represent the views of that organisation or it's members.
Well, that's all for this first blog on my road to becoming a better writer.