You get what you give, Mary

Mary Delahunty (pictured) [1]. She’s a 59-year-old former TV journalist who in 1998 became a Labor Party MP in Victoria’s lower house. From 1999 until her 2006 parliamentary retirement she was a Minister. I thought her a mature and sensible person. Until I read a recent Age op-ed piece she penned [2]. Titled ‘So ungenerous we can’t say thanks to departing politicians’, it’s subheaded ‘Whatever we think of their policies, we should be grateful for their service’. She writes: ‘they are volunteer public figures’. True. But they’re well paid for their service. And their retirement benefits are top notch. She asks: ‘why the scorn when they…confide that their stint is over?’ It’s because politicians’ attitude and behaviour to their political opponents, and moreso to their constituents, is secretive, patronising, elitist and thus disgraceful. Recent examples? The Age revealed the Victorian government authorised a secret deal for the police to make available secret files on anti-desalination protesters to the private consortium building the desalination plant [3]. The government continues to cite commercial-in-confidence for refusing to release figures in its contract with the said consortium [4]. And Victorian premier Brumby refused to disclose the cost of a tram rental agreement because Victorians don’t need to know [5]. Thus opposition leader Baillieu called Victoria ‘a state of secrecy’ [6]. So don’t whinge about the public’s lack of gratitude to politicians, Ms Delahunty. The moment they start acting decently, the public will reciprocate in kind. Until then, they can expect to get what they give.

Perish the thought.

Today I write of three separate yet related events:

1. Last week the Age reported a Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal ruling that during Ramadan bikinis can’t be worn at the public swimming pool in Dandenong (an outer Melbourne suburb) [1].

2. Last week the trial began of Dutch politician Geert Wilders [2a] who’s accused of inciting anti-Muslim hatred [2b, 2c ].

3. Also last week the Washington Post withdrew from publication a cartoon (pictured) [3a]. Apparently in the newspaper’s view it’s anti-Muslim and thus inflammatory. Titled ‘Where’s Muhammad?’, it’s a take on ‘Where’s Wally?’ [3b]. In the latter, Wally’s there for the finding. But Muhammad’s not in the former; so only the title can be anti-Muslim. (How, I can’t fathom.)

These three events have nothing to do with racism and/or racial discrimination – but everything to do with freedom of action and expression in Western democracies. If people are offended by bikinis during Ramadan they’re free not to attend the pool. If people are offended by what someone says , they shouldn’t listen. And if people are offended by a cartoon title, they shouldn’t read it. The hard-won freedoms of non-violent action and expression are, right now, under threat in Western democracies worldwide. Small cracks don’t repair themselves; and they’re easy to repair. But left unrepaired they become big cracks that are harder to repair. And unrepaired big cracks can cause mighty and ancient edifices to tumble. Perish the thought.

Of fixies and bureaucratic goons

Today I write of the intersection of two things – one I love (i.e. bicycles [1]) and the other I hate (i.e. government). Actually I don’t hate the institution of government all the time. Just when it acts wastefully, stupidly or irrationally. Which is most if not all the time. Back to bikes. ‘Fixie’ (pictured) is the cool name for a fixed-wheel bike, i.e. one whose pedals turn whenever its wheels turn [2, 3]. Fixies are the purest, most aesthetic form of bicycle. In fact they’re minimalist machines. When riding a fixie – which I’ve never done, though I’d love to – you speed up by turning the pedals faster, and you slow down (and eventually stop) by turning them slower. So brakes are superfluous. Redundant. But that doesn’t bother the government – to wit the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission [ACCC]. Some government halfwit’s decreed all bikes must have brakes. So the ACCC’s goons are fining bike shops and wholesalers who sell fixies without brakes [4]. No matter fixie riders know how to ride, and stop, safely. No matter statistics show inexperience is the main cause of cycling accidents. And no matter cycling is cheap and attractive prevention and therapy for our nation’s obesity epidemic. No sir. The ACCC’s fundamentalist bureaucrats know nought of such matters. So they’re asking the public to dob in offenders. Luckily fixie riders tend to be iconoclasts. But pity more people don’t scorn politicians and bureaucrats. Ho hum.

This week's compendium

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

1. the Zephyr unmanned solar plane set a record of 14 days 24 minutes aloft, thanks to its photovoltaic panels and lithium-sulphur batteries [1]. Go, Zephyr.

2. Blade Electric Vehicles [2a], Australia’s leading electric car manufacturer blasted the federal government for choosing an imported model to be our first electric trial fleet – even though Blade’s car’s better, cheaper and had been developed with federal government funding [2b]. Ho hum.

3. the effectiveness of so-called Hands-Only CPR, i.e. with heart compression only, was found no less than CPR that also includes respiratory assistance [3a, 3b]. It’s easier too, of course.

4. I learnt of the GrowFood website that matches farmers with potential paid or volunteer farmworkers [4a, 4b]. Pity it’s currently limited to US farms.

5. Nutrition Diva told us how to store half an avocado [5]. Yep.

6. Get-It-Done Guy offered advice on how to respond to important emails [6]. You’ve no excuses from now on.

7. Australian airlines said they have no policy to deal with overweight or obese passengers – even though the public wanted one [7]. As weight affects aircraft fuel consumption, lighter passengers should get a bigger baggage allowance – and vice versa.

8. the Age’s Jason Koutsoukis wrote that ‘Israeli troops removed several trees on the Lebanese side of the border fence that separates the two countries without incident’ [8]. The fence’s 200-300 metres on the Israeli side of the border. Even UNIFIL said so – as Koutsoukis wrote at the end of his article. Yet again Koutsoukis didn’t let the truth spoil a good story. He’s an apologist – not a journalist.

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

Scalped

On page 180 of her little book Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth [1], Canadian author Margaret Atwood [2] writes of something called The Market. She says people have substituted The Market for God, attributing the same traits to it: all-knowingness, always-rightness, and the ability to make something called ‘corrections’. She’s right, of course. It’s a wonder the US hasn’t updated its official motto In God We Trust [3] to In The Market We Trust. I’m relieved the good old GFC’s put a halt to that – at least for the time being. Here Down Under it’s no different. Newscasts regularly proclaim that The Market did this or that – as if The Market possesses cognition and volition independent of the humans (I use this noun loosely) who work in it. All of which is background to this item in yesterday’s Age [4] about the scalping of tickets for Test Cricket. (By the way, the etymology of this use of scalp’s interesting [5].) To naïve old me, scalping’s nothing more than a microcosmic example of a Market in action – with pricing according to supply and demand, selling and buying, upside and downside risk, and winners and losers. The public likes it; or at least tolerates it [6]. So it’s beyond my ken why ‘the authorities’ – who no doubt in other contexts worship The Market – eschew ticket scalping. Maybe it’s their loss of control and thus power. Who knows? Who cares? Not I. Ho hum.

I'm not letting go

This is Farmdoc’s Blog post 821. I can’t tell which of the previous 820 posts is the most important. Or the best written. Or the most interesting. But I do know the one that defines me best is post 243 [1]. For it tells the pivotal story of my life: That I met Sweetheart Vivienne when she was 13 years old and I was 14. That it was love at first sight; or at most second. That we married when she was 19 and I was 20. That when I found the woman for me I grabbed her with both hands. And that 40+ years later I’m not letting go. Because she’s a good woman. The best. And I’m the luckiest man.

Set against that backdrop, I summarily devoured this article in last Wednesday’s Age [2]. It’s title, ‘Pros and Cons of marrying (or dating) young’, is self-explanatory. Sweetheart Vivienne and I were kids when we married. Well short of maturity. Though I didn’t consider it at the time, we could have grown apart. But, happily, we grew together. The Age piece sets out the pros and cons pretty well. I don’t need validation, but I found it validating. And I beamed when I read the penultimate sentence: ‘That if you truly find someone special, why delay it?’ It’s just another way of saying, as I wrote in post 243, ‘when you find a good woman you must grab her with both hands and never let go’. Amen.

This week's compendium

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

1. treehugger.com quoted an Australian report concluding increased energy efficiency could deliver 65% of worldwide carbon cuts by 2020, i.e. almost twice renewable energy, nuclear power and clean coal combined [1]. So surely this is the way to go, world.

2. in a US court, 91 Israeli civilian victims of the 1996 Second Lebanon War, filed a US$91.2B lawsuit against al-Jazeera claiming it intentionally reported realtime coverage of rocket strike locations in Israel, so Hezbollah could more accurately aim its rockets [2]. The Israelis must have good evidence. Time will tell.

3. the Age reported that Melbourne researchers who’ve developed a revolutionary treatment for Alzheimer’s, are having trouble raising A$1.5M of the A$3M needed for a clinical trial [3]. The Victorian Government wastes A$50M+ on the Grand Prix. Each year.

4. Grammar Girl's topic was ‘When to use Female Nouns’ [4]. I like her summary: 'What matters is getting across the massages you want to send, and trying to block those you don't'.

5. an HonestReporting item revealed a Lancet multi-article series on Palestinian health that’s scandalously and unequivocally biased [5]. It’s okay if the Lancet wants to be a political journal. But it shouldn’t masquerade as a medical journal.

6. the Archives of Internal Medicine published a 6-year prospective study finding a correlation between low vitamin D levels and the onset and progression of cognitive decline [6]. A chicken-and-egg scenario. But there’s no downside to ensuring one’s vitamin D level’s normal.

7. treehugger.com reported on a London urban orchard [7]. It’s terrific, but not as salubrious as the Artist as Family’s Food Forest in Sydney.

8. speaking of which, AaF’s Food Forest Plant-in Day last Saturday got some great media [8]. Well done, AaF.

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

Davids and Goliaths

Since I was a nipper it’s captivated me. The biblical story of David and Goliath, that is [1]. In which the underdog little guy knocking over the top dog big guy. Even ignoring its religious versus pagan connotations, it’s a romantic tale. And allegorical too. With David, well equipped with slingshot and lithely unencumbered by armour, more than a match for his opponent. The allegory’s modern day descendant’s asymmetric warfare [2]– wherein the ‘weaker’ combatant uses strategy to offset its resource deficiency. In the 8¾ years since 9/11, no-one – including the USA with its mighty resources – has captured or killed Osama Bin Laden despite a US$25M bounty. So whatever’s been done has failed. Enter Gary Brooks Faulker (pictured) [3], a Colorado carpenter. Last Tuesday Brooks – carrying a pistol, a sword, night-vision gear, Christian religious books and hashish – was arrested by police in Pakistan who said he was on a 1-man mission to personally hunt down and kill Bin Laden. I don’t know why he was arrested. An Age article [4] lampoons Faulkner, but the NYT takes him more seriously [5]. Me? I can’t find any evidence his mission wouldn’t have succeeded. Except that maybe Bin Laden’s in Iran and not Pakistan or Afghanistan [6]. But perhaps an unarrested Faulkner would’ve become a modern day David. And if so, wouldn’t that be delicious – for him to have slain Bin Laden who positions himself as a jihadist David.

Eh? Things I don't understand

Coldplay (pictured). Until I researched today’s Farmdoc’s Blog post I’d never heard of them. (I’m sure darling Emily, who’s a music aficionado, has. I hope she doesn’t think any the worse of me for not.) Wikipedia says Coldplay’s a world-famous English alternative rock band formed in 1997 [1]. One of their songs is ‘Things I Don’t Understand’ [2, 3]. Me? I think what I do understand’s miniscule compared with what I don’t. Here are two examples:

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder [PTSD]. Wikipedia defines it as ‘a severe anxiety disorder that can develop after exposure to any event that results in psychological trauma’ [4]. The Mayo Clinic’s definition’s similar: ‘a type of anxiety disorder that’s triggered by a traumatic event. You can develop post-traumatic stress disorder when you experience or witness an event that causes intense fear, helplessness or horror [5]’. Yet I’ve seen PTSD diagnosed in people who’ve no memory of an event and its antecedents and aftermath – due to loss of consciousness, retrograde amnesia and post-traumatic amnesia respectively. Eh? How can this be?

Last Wednesday’s Age carried this story [6]. It’s a horrid tale of lesbian paedophilia. But my main interest is that the 33-year-old reportedly cannot read or write, yet it’s alleged she met the 14-year-old over the internet. Eh? How can this be?

I don’t understand. I just don’t.

Cath's tormenting tweets

Catherine Deveny (pictured). I’ve mentioned her in four previous Farmdoc’s Blog posts [1a, 1b, 1c, 1d] including here [2] where I anoint her my second or third favourite journalist. Why? Because judging by her numerous Age articles she’s irreverent, iconoclastic, funny, edgy, politically incorrect, cheeky, inyerface, authentic, honest and unique. Last Tuesday the Age summarily sacked her because of two irreverent tweets she twittered [3] during last Sunday evening’s Logie award ersatz extravaganza [4]. Impertinent they were; and arguably mildly offensive to some people. But in no way ‘not in keeping with the standards we set at the Age’ – as the Age editor-in-chief pompously opined. His overblown self-congratulatory grandiloquence’s all the more unfathomable as Ms Deveny wasn’t representing the Age at the Logie awards. The rabid right-wing shock jocks – whom she berated here [5] last month, took no time returning the favour. Behold Neil Mitchell’s pious sanctimony in the video at the top of this link [6]. Pardon me while I puke. If you reckon your stomach’s stronger than mine, test it by reading some of the hundreds of Comments at the foot of the same linked page. It’s scary how many weirdos are out there. I’ve no doubt Ms Deveny’s exit leaves the Age more homogeneous and sanitised. And impoverished. Shame on you, Age. I’m sure Ms Deveny’s resilient enough that she won’t let the turkeys get her down. Her employability’s undoubted. I wish her well. And the Age ill.