This week's compendium

Here’s this week’s compendium. This week…

1. salon.com put out two great articles by Working Class Foodies: ‘How to roast a chicken’ [1a] and ‘Knife skills and chicken tagine’ [1b]. I especially like the knife skills bit.

2. a survey found the break-even point for financial planners producing a full financial plan was $2,700; but clients thought a reasonable fee for the same service was $300 [2]. Ho hum.

3. after the Reserve Bank lifted the official interest rate by 0.25%, the Commonwealth Bank lifted its home loan rate by 0.45% [3a]. Bastards. Hence this TV ad from GetUp! [3b]

4. there was an official change in Alzheimer’s terminology [4]. Hope it’ll be useful – and not just a shuffle of the dementia deckchairs.

5. a randomised controlled trial of people with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer’s showed that omega-3 supplements had no effect on disease progression [5]. What this means for Alzheimer’s prevention’s unclear.

6. Sweetheart Vivienne alerted me to this NYT essay about the benefit of sisters [6]. I love mine.

7. I came across a useful Australian website about reducing one’s carbon footprint [7]. We can’t wait for governments to act.

8. our house guest Dieter hugged a small wallaby [8]. Not many overseas visitors get to do that.

Finally, I wish you, dear Farmdoc’s Blog readers, a wonderful week.

farmdoc's blog post number 545

Here’s this week’s compendium. This week…

1. I learned that a man’s reason for not attending an appointment with me, was that his daughter had changed their clock’s time for daylight saving, and in error she’d changed the clock’s date too. Daylight saving started on Sunday 4.10.09 [1]. His appointment with me was on Wednesday 7.10.09.

2. a US study found that exposure to nature helps people to value community and relationships more, and to be more generous [2]. I’m not surprised. It’s something I’ve intuitively felt for many years.

3. Professor Ada Yonath, an Israeli working at the Weizmann Institute of Science, was awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. She’s Israel’s ninth Nobel Laureate [3] – which given Israel’s population and economic and military situation, is a remarkable achievement.

4. darling Jarrah celebrated her sixth birthday with a cupcake party [4]. I’m so sorry I wasn’t there.

5. GetUp! released its iCoal 2.0 advertisement [5]. Clean coal’s an oxymoron. It’s never going to happen. It’s an abomination that the coal industry will be compensated in the proposed emissions trading scheme.

6. the Australian Grand Prix Corporation announced a loss of A$40M for the 2009 F1 event [6]. Though the 2009 loss is miraculously the same as the 2008 loss, it’s an absolute waste of public money. It’d fund 400 $100,000 p.a. jobs, or 800 $50,000 p.a. jobs.

7. a comparison was published of the administration of Barack Obama, and that of Josiah Bartlet in The West Wing TV series [7]. Let Bartlet be Bartlet.

8. the invitations went out for Sweetheart Vivienne’s book launch [8]. Also the media interviews began. Her excitement and success are mine too. How very wonderful she is.

Finally, I wish you, dear Farmdoc’s Blog readers, a wonderful week.

farmdoc's blog post number 272

As I’ve written, I’ve never taken kindly to authority figures. Therefore, naturally, I object to the pathetic attempt by the government of my country, to censor the internet. It plans to filter all Australian internet traffic, and blocking material it deems ‘inappropriate’. Under the plan, the government can add any ‘unwanted’ site to a secret blacklist. Testing has already begun on systems that’ll slow our internet by up to 87%, make it more expensive, miss the vast majority of inappropriate content, and accidentally block up to 1 in 12 legitimate sites. Due to these factors (especially the internet slowing), and because I have no respect for politicians and therefore their judgement vis-à-vis what is ‘inappropriate’, I’ve joined the nearly 100,000 Australians who’ve signed GetUp!’s online petition. You can too, if you wish (see below). Talking of censorship, last week Israel’s Central Elections Committee voted to prohibit Arab political parties running in the 10 February national election. I can understand why many Israelis are increasingly suspicious about the loyalties of Israeli Arabs. But to me, anything less than full democracy is no democracy. So I'm pleased Israel’s Supreme Court is likely to overturn the decision. Because it’s critical that Israel maintains her vast moral superiority over her enemies. Incidentally, I've learned all this via my internet connection. Which is fast. Until now, anyway.