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.

The more things change...

Today I write of the proposal that Australia Post provides a range of banking and financial services at post offices nation-wide [1]. This initiative results from two facts: the gluttonous major banks threaten to lift mortgage interest rates above the Reserve Bank’s official rate increases [2], and Australia Post’s revenue and profit are falling [3]. I recall writing on this topic before, so I searched Farmdoc’s Blog. I found two posts on this theme – and they’re remarkably similar to each other. That I posted one in July 2008 [4] and the other in July 2009 [5] is a reason for me to go easy on myself for this repetition. I’ve no idea if the post office bank idea will fly. If it does, it’ll definitely be competition for the current banks. And it may curb their avarice and socially destructive excesses [6]. However it’d undoubtedly be corporate, with the attendant negative connotations of corporatism. Though corporations are staffed by humans, they lack humanity. For example the large Aussie telcos are resisting a government push for them to take action to reduce mobile phone ‘bill shock’ [7]. Regarding the post office bank proposal, my 2-cent bet is that it’ll happen. If so, we’ll return to how it was when I was a lad and post offices were agents for the (then) government-owned Commonwealth Bank. Oh the more things change, the more they stay the same. Ho hum.

farmdoc's blog post number 608

Here’s this week’s compendium. This week…
1. Federal environment Minister Peter Garrett used emergency powers to heritage list the Tarkine Wilderness in north-west Tasmania because it’s a place of outstanding natural and cultural heritage value [1]. The moronic Tasmanian government still wants to build a A$23M tourist road through it.
2. it was announced that biodegradable plastic bags will be used at the 2010 Australian F1 Grand Prix and will help make it a ‘Green Event’ [2]. What’s that hot, brown, steamy stuff that comes out of the back end of bulls?
3. the Medical Journal of Australia [MJA] reported that some people are more violent and exhibit `werewolf' tendencies during a full moon [3]. The next full moon’s on New Year's Eve, so it won’t be a true test.
4. the MJA also published research showing that the faster you tear off a Band-Aid, the less it hurts. Also women reported less pain so doing than men. [4] Doesn’t bother me because my wife and daughters have made me an honorary woman.
5. in yet more medical news, a Queensland study reveals that using sunscreen is cost effective in preventing cancer [5]. Yep.
6. the Australia Institute reported that in 2009, Australia’s big four banks made a combined profit of A$35.1B. In other words, for every dollar spent in Australia, three cents went into bank profits. [6] Yet the banks have the temerity to raise interest rates on their loans by almost double the recent Reserve Bank’s 0.25% rise. Bastards.
7. Grammar Girl reminds us that the ‘X’ in ‘Xmas’ has a religious origin, and is not merely replacing Christ with an X [7]. Ho hum.
8. happy 42nd wedding anniversary today to my Sweetheart Vivienne (and me). Also to Gavin and Orly on your 7th.
Finally, I wish you, dear Farmdoc’s Blog readers, a wonderful week.

farmdoc's blog post number 45

Bell Bay, about 100km north-east of Mole Creek, is where Gunns Limited, Australia’s biggest logging company, with the connivance of the Tasmanian Government, plans to build a A$2b pulp mill. This project’s triple bottom line score is 0/3: at best and with massive public subsidies it will be marginally profitable; it will be environmentally disastrous (including adding 2% to Australia’s greenhouse gases); and it is deeply socially divisive. Last week Gunns’ long-term bank, the ANZ, facing an ongoing campaign of organised public opposition, announced it would not finance the mill. The ANZ’s decision, whether on financial, environmental or social grounds, surprised me. However sweetheart Vivienne, a wise woman, has long maintained that the response to global warming will be led by insurance companies – after their profits are eroded by more frequent and severe weather events – and, adjunctively, banks. The emerging evidence confirms her prescience. Last Monday I learned that Westpac – the only one of Australia’s four major banks whose shares we own – became the first Australian bank to sign the Equator Principles thereby agreeing not to fund projects that endanger communities or the environment, and the Global Compact CEO Water Mandate to tackle the emerging global water crisis. Why did Westpac sign these two documents? I don’t know. I don’t care. It has, and from now it is accountable.