farmdoc's blog post number 276

At 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday 20 January 2009 in Washington DC, which is 3:30 a.m. this morning Mole Creek time, Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th President of the USA. I’ve mentioned him in three previous Farmdoc’s Blog posts. Whilst today’s post must be about him, I don’t want it to be deep and meaningful, for two reasons: first, because today countless words will be written about him by countless other people most of whom will be more qualified than I to do so. And second because he bears what I reckon is the massive weight of unrealistic expectations, and far be it from me to add to that weight. So here’s some music: To start, the Yes We Can song. Simply inspirational, but is it a knockoff of Bob the Builder’s song? Next, based on the Book of Ecclesiastes, Turn Turn Turn, written by my hero Pete Seeger. Talking of Pete, at the pre-inauguration concert, at the Lincoln Memorial, he sang Woody Guthrie’s This Land is Your Land. And president-elect Obama sang right along. Nice one, Pete. Finally, Mr Obama's journey from Philadephia to Washington for his inauguration sworn on Abraham Lincoln’s bible, retraced Lincoln’s train journey to his own inauguration 149 years ago. One wit called Obama’s train the Abe Train. I wish President Obama success. As every decent person must.

You can fool me all of the time

On Saturday 17 July, the next Federal election was scheduled for Saturday 21 August. So today’s day 13 of the 36 day campaign period. And already I’m sick of it. It’s so predictable. And boring. The party leaders have no long-term vision, and no coordinated policy platform. They espouse only pap. And on the overriding issue of global warming and climate change they’re absent: the Government proposes a citizen’s talkfest [1], and the Opposition zilch because its leader’s a climate change denier [2]. How I yearn for politicians who are different. And innovative. Who inspire rather than aspire. I was about to write ‘like Barack Obama’. But the merest reflection reveals he’s a massive disappointment. A better candidate than President is Mr Obama. To find an inspirational elected political leader, maybe one must hark back to Abraham Lincoln. I’ve written [3] that Perhaps the most famous words Lincoln said in his life came at the end of his Gettysburg Address – regarding ‘government: of the people, by the people, for the people’ [4]. If only that was true today. Lincoln’s second most famous quote could be ‘You can fool some of the people some of the time…’ [5]. When it comes to politics, I’m foolable. For I don’t care. Even so, I doubt my ability to stay sane during the next 23 days until my fellow Australians and I vote. Unless I switch it all off. Literally. Which is what I’ve resolved to do. It’s the sanest decision I’ve made lately. Ho hum.

farmdoc's blog post number 218

Hillary Rodham Clinton is likely to be Secretary of State (SecState) in Barack Obama’s administration. Though her nomination has to be confirmed by the Senate, my vast experience – which has all come from watching The West Wing – tells me a nomination’s not made unless it’s almost a shoo-in. So Senator (as she remains, for the time being) Clinton is almost certain to be the incoming SecState. I’m pretty pleased, for a few reasons. This is a job which needs skill and toughness, and Senator Clinton seems to be nobody’s fool. I reckon she’d be formidable in any diplomatic push-come-to-shove. And after eight years of W’s administration, there are several global situations that’ll require some pushing and shoving by the new US administration. Hillary Clinton would be the third female US SecState – after Madeleine Albright and Condoleezza Rice. Colin Powell interrupted the female trifecta. It’s wonderful to see two political opponents, albeit in the same party, reconciling their differences and working together for the common good. That Obama was able to make this magnanimous gesture is a further positive sign of his personal qualities. And it augurs well for his presidency. Finally, I have a chance to use this wonderful photograph. I came across it in salon.com last August. Isn’t it wonderful. Just like I expect Hillary Clinton will be as the US’s 67th SecState.

farmdoc's blog post number 204

I don't know why I started watching DVDs of the series The West Wing. I suspect I read about it in the New Yorker. Anyway Sweetheart Vivienne and I’ve watched episodes 1-15 of Series 1’s 22 episodes. As there are seven series (1999 to 2006), we’ve only just begun. So far we’re loving it – characters, content, dialogue, settings. All superb. The films (and books, and stories) I like best are those providing insight into subcultures or situations I know little or nothing about. The West Wing sure fits that bill. Its President Josiah Bartlet, played wonderfully by Martin Sheen, embodies the very best traits of a POTUS (President of the United States) – and thus, of course, he’s the antithesis of George W in every important way. My enthusiasm for The West Wing and its President Bartlet has sensitised my interest in Barack Obama. Not, I hastily add, in John McCain whom I knew wouldn’t win the election because I reckoned Americans would vote in the antithesis of W (i.e. someone like Bartlet), and not a facsimile of W albeit one a bit older and wiser. So Obama it’ll be – the 44th POTUS (excluding fictional ones), from 20 January 2009 for at least four years, barring the unexpected. I wish him success. The whole world must too, because our planet’s future depends on him. I’m quietly optimistic.

farmdoc's blog post number 285

After Charles Dickens’s 1859 novel A Tale of Two Cities, today’s post is titled A Tale of Two Countries. First. the USA: the world’s biggest greenhouse gas producer, and a Kyoto protocol non-ratifier. But with a new President who, according to salon.com, understands the cause and gravity of global warming: ‘Fortunately, Obama clearly gets it. He devoted more of his inaugural address to clean energy and global warming than even the strongest advocate could have imagined…(and)…he has assembled a team with unmatched knowledge and commitment to solve the climate problem’. The USA also has Repower America, an organisation chaired by Al Gore, that aims for 100% clean electricity within ten years. Can America do it? Yes it can – if it really wants to. Now to Australia: the world’s biggest per capita greenhouse gas producer. Until early 2008 a Kyoto non-ratifier. With a Prime Minister who appears not to understand the gravity of global warming, who has not assembled a dream team, who has formulated a pathetically inadequate (5%) carbon reduction target, and who has no vision and no plan and so reportedly has squandered billions of dollars of solar infrastructure investment. Luckily the USA and Australia share the same planet. So I’m hoping upon hope President Obama and his people will pull the rest of the world up by its bootstraps. This is our last chance. It’s now or never.

farmdoc's blog post number 251

In Sweetheart Vivienne’s RMIT Diploma of Professional Writing and Editing course, one of the study subjects is Myths and Symbols. Previously I’ve thought it a strange topic for a writing subject. But then I changed my mind – because symbols are extremely powerful. Take Barack Obama. Recently I’ve been thinking about how the world’s currently in such a mess. Or at least a bigger mess than usual. Whatever usual is. And how the people of the US, and maybe the planet at large, are looking to him to lead them out of this mess. So what does he need to do first? I’m no expert, but I reckon he needs to be presidential. That is, statesmanlike. He needs to do it quickly. And the quickest way to do it is with symbols. Evidently he’s already thought of this, because on 20 January he’ll swear his oath of office on Abraham Lincoln’s bible; and he’s promised that the entire Whitehouse fleet will be plug-in hybrids. Excellent symbols, in my view. However Prime Minister Rudd’s initial symbols – ratifying Kyoto, the Stolen Generations apology, the Australia 2020 Summit – have been followed by, well, not much. I expect more from President Obama. Much more. A recent photograph shows his muscular physique. I’m glad his shoulders are broad because, symbolically, the future of our planet rests upon them.

farmdoc's blog post number 604

Every week I listen to the This American Life podcast. Each episode comprises a few stories on one theme. Today’s Farmdoc’s Blog post copies that format. The theme’s ‘money’:

I wrote last Sunday that COP15 grinds on. Now, with four days to go, it looks to be inexorably headed toward a stalemate, or an at best meagre agreement. Look at its sponsors. I don’t know of them all, but I see four car makers, an airline and a transport firm. Who the sponsors are mightn’t affect the deliberations of apparatchiks, but it’s unethical and improper for a UN conference – not to mention a climate change one – to have privates sponsors at all let alone this lot of carbon mega-polluters.

Fighting terrorists and terrorism militarily is expensive, and going by recent experience it’s not so effective either. So what to do? As per the old adage, follow the money. The Jerusalem Post reports that 18 months ago a US Federal Court froze US$2B of Iranian money which is at the centre of a legal struggle between US Marine victims of a 1983 Hizbullah terror attack on a Marine barracks in Beirut, and a Luxembourg bank (which I guess is an Iranian proxy or front). Terrorists needs lots of money. So hit ’em where it hurts. In the wallet.

Meantime President Obama and the US Congress are hitting greedy, amoral, unrepentant Wall Street leeches with a host of new measures aiming to rein in their excesses and increase their accountability. Will these measures work? No-one knows yet. But there’s no downside to trying.

Finally I’ve just read here that if Australia’s successful in its bid to host FIFA’s 2018 or 2022 soccer World Cup, it’ll cost A$2.9B. Thank you, but no thank you, FIFA.

farmdoc's blog post number 398

More about car makes. I’ve previously written of my erstwhile idiosyncratic car-naming skill. However I thought I still knew all the makes even though nowadays I’m often unable to name them when I see cars – in the metal, or in photographs. Until a couple of weeks ago when during a visit to my friend and neighbour Dorothy, she showed me some photographs she’d taken. ‘This one’s a Zonda,’ she said. ‘A what?’ I blurted. ‘A Zonda. One of the fastest road cars in the world,’ she retorted. And she went on to tell me she saw one competing in this year’s Targa Tasmania. According to Wikipedia, the Zonda’s a mid-engined sports car produced by Pagani in Italy. It debuted in 1999. About 10 cars are made per year. And up to September 2008, only 95 Zondas had been built. So it’s exclusive. And swish, too. So now I know of the existence of Pagani and its Zonda. But with a 7.3 litre 12-cylinder engine, the Zonda won’t get anywhere near the upgraded US fuel efficiency benchmarks President Obama announced earlier this week. A few people in the world can afford Zondas, but the world itself can’t. It may be an engineering marvel, but its existence is irresponsible. Hopefully it’ll cease production. And soon. But if Pagani’s engineering wizards turn their attention to producing an electric Zonda, that’d be a different story. For sure.

farmdoc's blog post number 281

Today is Australia Day. Veteran aboriginal activist and lawyer Mick Dodson is the 2009 Australian of the Year. That’s good. At least he’s not a sportsman or an entertainer. Peter Cundall was a finalist, but he was never going to win because he’s vocally opposed to Gunns’ Tasmanian pulp mill. As I expected, Prime Minister Rudd’s Australia Day speech was dispassionate, measured and boring. (I feel ashamed I voted for him.) Oh for an Aussie Obama. Today 536 Australians received national recognition awards – most for services to the Labor Party and the government, or for doing the jobs they’re paid to do. And, naturally, women were under-represented. On this national public holiday, my countrymen may have flown the occasional Australian flag, but certainly we barbecued and alcoholised, watched tennis and cricket either there or electronically, and generally acted like the yobbos and yahoos we are. Sweetheart Vivienne, my moral compass, often marvels at how lucky we were to have been born in Australia compared with say Nigeria, Sudan, Iran, or anywhere else which is not blessed with our democratic political system, freedom, natural resources, prosperity and climate. And, as usual, she’s right. So today I didn’t attend any Australia Day events, I didn’t listen to any speeches, and I didn’t watch any sport. But I did reflect on how blessed I am, that I’m a citizen of this nation.

farmdoc's blog post number 317

It’s 44 days since Operation Cast Lead ended on 18 January. No permanent ceasefire’s in place, Hamas’s resumed rocketing southern Israel, Israel’s Air Force’s responding, Gilad Shalit’s captivity’s in it’s 33rd month, tortuous Israeli post-election coalition jostling grinds on, the Palestinian Authority and Hamas flirt with betrothal overtures, and POTUS Obama and SecState Clinton ponder what to do. Maybe the only progress since 18 January is information from Israel confirming the adage: ‘Truth is the first casualty of war’ – of uncertain origin but nonetheless valid. The Palestinian Center for Human Rights reported that two thirds of 1,338 fatalities were civilians. But Colonel Moshe Levi, head of the Israel Defence Forces’ Gaza Coordination and Liaison Administration (CLA), has painstakingly analysed every single fatality, and in a 200-page report concluded civilians comprised no more than one third of deaths. And regarding the 6 January UN school incident in which initial Palestinian reports claimed IDF shells had hit the school and killed 40 or more people, many of them civilians, the CLA’s investigation revealed no school hits, and 12 fatalities including nine combatants. To those bleeding-heart liberals in the media and the public-at-large who protested the number of civilian deaths, during the Operation, without waiting for the truth to out, I say this: ‘Those who know, don’t talk. Those who talk, don’t know’.

farmdoc's blog post number 278

Even at age 61½ years, I’m not too old to learn and change. Last Monday evening I returned home from Melbourne following my mother-in-law’s funeral last Sunday. For me, that weekend and the preceding few days were life-changing. At least I hope they’ll be. In that period I’ve learned about what it means, and takes, to be a big person: to be understanding of others and their limitations, to forgive them, to be more accommodating and less critical. Oh I knew all of that before. But I didn’t put it into action much. I was all too quick to judge. Several things, I think, made me want to change: Reading Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus got me started. Then on YouTube, I watched for the first time, Barack Obama's election acceptance speech in which he was exceptionally, and genuinely, gracious to Senator McCain. Then in Melbourne I witnessed Sweetheart Vivienne’s determination to establish her mother’s true legacy; her father’s love towards everyone despite his major personal loss; and how openly and demonstrably emotional ordinarily unemotional folk were. Sure, there are people out there who are malevolent or otherwise ill-intentioned. But from now on, I aim to view and treat all well-intentioned people benevolently and respectfully. That is, to recognise they’re doing the best they can with the resources they have. That’s the least I can do.

farmdoc's blog post number 361

At the start of every single phone interaction I have with a call centre – be it the tax office, an airline, a utility company, or you name it, I get asked those ‘proof of identity’ questions. They irritate the hell out of me. So sometimes – to the detriment of my best interests, I know – I gratuitously volunteer that my dog’s name’s Pete. I understand there are situations where identity does need to be confirmed, but I get these ridiculous questions even when I seek information not specific to me. So, overall, I think the privacy fetish of recent years is over the top. Well over. So you can imagine my alarm when I came across this link. It’s a photograph of President Obama’s 2009 inauguration, in which you can see in clear focus the face of every single individual in the crowd. You can scan, double left click and zoom to any section of the crowd. After a few seconds the focus adjusts. The photograph was taken with a 1,474 megapixel camera (295 times the standard 5 megapixel camera). So now it’s impossible to attend a public event such as a football game or a political rally, and keep your identity private. In the current age of terrorism maybe this technology's necessary. So why does it make me feel less, and not more, secure, eh George?

farmdoc's blog post number 297

Thirty years ago today, His Imperial Majesty Mohammad Rezā Shāh Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran, was overthrown by the Iranian Revolution, thus ending over 2,500 years of continuous monarchy since the founding of the Persian Empire. The Shah was no angel – the brutality of his secret police, Savak, is legendary – but at least he was secular and pro-Western. In its 30-year life to date, the Islamic Republic of Iran has become the hottest bed of Sharia law, suppression of women, and Holocaust denial. Also, directly as well as via its puppet surrogates Hamas and Hezbollah, virulently anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic and anti-Western, resulting in its inclusion in President Bush’s infamous ‘axis of evil’. It feels medieval – with a modern twist given its nuclear and space programmes. Because Iran’s a totalitarian place – its elections aren’t open and democratic, and there’s no separation of government, judiciary and clergy – it’s impossible to determine what the-man-in-the-Iranian-street thinks about it, and how he’s faring. And as to Iranian women’s views – well, forget it. Iran’s arguably the greatest geopolitical challenge currently facing President Obama and other world leaders of goodwill. I wish them well. Limiting Iran’s power by curtailing its petrodollar income is a worthwhile initial aim. Finally, on a micro level, you should know that all the packaged dates in our Woolworths and Coles supermarkets come from Iran.

farmdoc's blog post number 295

Last 27 January I wrote of left-handed Presidents of the US [POTUS] of whom President Obama, POTUS44, is the latest. Living in the White House with him are his two children – daughters, actually – Malia and Natasha. George W Bush’s twin daughters were in their late teens when their dad became POTUS43, and they lived in the White House during his presidency. POTUS 42 Clinton’s only daughter, Chelsea, did too. Therefore, the latest three POTUSs collectively have five daughters and no sons. POTUS41 Bush senior, the old dog, has two daughters and four sons, who were all too old to live in the White House during his presidency. POTUS40 Reagan had three daughters and one son (from both his marriages combined) who also were all too old to live in the White House during his presidency. POTUS39 Carter’s only child, daughter Amy, lived in the White House. POTUS38 Ford had four children of whom the youngest, Susan, lived in the White House. So the last seven children to live in the White House were all girls. I don’t know the probability of this outcome: my intuition says it’s 1 in 128 (i.e. ½ x ½ six times). I don’t know if that’s correct, but clearly it’s a small chance. I don't know if any, and if so how many, of them is left-handed. And what’s more, I’m not going to find out. I’ll just let that one go through to the keeper.

farmdoc's blog post number 601

Here’s this week’s compendium. This week…
1. Gunns Limited’s chairman John Gay has offloaded 3.4M (i.e. 20%) of his Gunns shares [1]. Hardly a gesture of confidence when Gunns is still seeking finance for its controversial A$2.5B pulp mill project.
2. I read this joke [2]: “Johnnie.” “Yes teacher.” “If there are twenty sheep in a field, and one gets out through a hole in the fence, how many sheep are left in the field?” “None, teacher.” “Johnnie, there are still nineteen sheep left in the field. Obviously you don't know arithmetic.” “Sorry, teacher, but I do know arithmetic. Obviously you don't know sheep.” Yep.
3. the day before President Obama received the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Oslo University named Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ‘Dictator of the Year’ for his achievements in ‘inspiring hostility among nations, increasing human suffering’. There were 11 candidates; Khamenei received over 72% of the 4145 votes [3]. A worthy winner indeed.
4. I read that Israel has the highest density of tech start-ups in the world. Israel’s venture capital dollars per person are 2.5 times the US’s, 30 times Europe’s, 80 times India’s and 300 times China’s. Israel has more companies on NASDAQ than any country except US; and more than all of Europe, Japan, Korea, India, and China combined [4]. A surprise, yet not a surprise.
5. a medical journal paper titled: ‘Age-associated cognitive decline’ calls such decline ‘an important human experience which differs in extent between individuals’. And it says the determinants of the differences in age-related cognitive decline are not fully understood…(but)…There is growing appreciation that factors affecting general bodily ageing also influence cognitive functions in old age [5]. The more research done on cognitive decline and dementia, the more likely scientific breakthroughs will be.
6. the Journal of the American Medical Association published a paper concluding that among women with breast cancer, soy food was significantly associated with decreased risk of death and recurrence[6]. How fascinating.
7. the Age reported that in 2008-9, during the GFC, the profits of Australian businesses soared to record highs. Corporate profits continued to increase – up to a record 27.7% of national income [7]. Why have corporate dividends fallen, then?
8. I was lucky enough to have several Skype conversations with darling Indigo. She has such a wicked sense of humour.
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 282

What have Napoleon, Michelangelo, Winston Churchill, the Everly bothers, Mark Twain, Rod Laver, Judy Garland, Leonardo da Vinci and Julia Roberts in common? Why they’re all left-handed, of course. Though only about 10% of the population is left-handed, left-handers, also known as molly-dookers and southpaws, are over-represented in just about every field of human excellence. If you’re a doubter, look at this list. Left-handers are right-brain dominant, which somehow this makes them excel, not just in physical activities but in artistic and intellectual ones too. An alternative, or maybe complementary, theory is that in a world where default scissors, chainsaws, guitars, cameras, can-openers etc etc are made for right-handers, lefties have to work harder to assert themselves. Who knows the real answer(s). Last week Barack Obama became President of the USA [POTUS]. The photo tells you his handedness. Fascinatingly, of the last 14 POTUSs, 50% have been either left-handed or ambidextrous, including five of the last seven (71%). Oh, yes, Senator McCain’s left-handed too. This American trend, however, isn’t replicated elsewhere – only two British post-war prime ministers were left-handed (Churchill and Callaghan), and no Canadian PM since at least 1980 has been. Australia? All I know is that John Howard bats left-handed at cricket. Finally I have a theory that lefties tend to use Apple computers. Anyone seen any figures on that one?

farmdoc's blog post number 650

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

Wednesday – being the anniversary of the day in 1945 when Auschwitz-Birkenau was liberated – was 'International Holocaust Remembrance Day' (in the UK, 'Holocaust Memorial Day') [1]. Never forgotten. Never again.

in its response to the Goldstone report, Hamas said it didn’t target civilians while firing hundreds of rockets at Israeli towns; it’s just that its rockets are unguided and they hit civilians by mistake [2]. I’m not surprised or disappointed by this. It’s what I expected from that lot.

Steve Jobs launched the iPad [3]. Some of the iJournalists and iTechies thought it’s the greatest thing since sliced iBread. Others looked down their iNoses at it and labelled it an iDud.

I came across this Queensland Health pdf file titled ‘Tooth friendly foods and tooth enemies’ [4]. It’s worth a quick read.

yesterday the Age published this article titled ‘How to deal with flight delays and travel hassles’ [5]. As it says, in the world of air travel, this is an age of lowered-expectations.

treehugger.com published this superb slideshow of the Passivhaus – which it calls ‘The Real Standard for a Real Green House’ [6]. I think they mean ‘a Really Green House’. But the pics are mouthwatering.

the Lancet published research concluding that in Type 2 diabetes, the most intensive glucose control is associated with increased risk for death [7]. I love research results that are counter-intuitive.

on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday Sweetheart Vivienne and I had our annual State of the Union discussions. In diplomatic speak, they were cordial and fruitful. On Wednesday a certain Mr Obama borrowed our idea and gave his State of the Union Address [8a, 8b].

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