lounges are all the same

Once upon a time travel was exotic and romantic and I loved it. Actually, I do still enjoy it I don't play the world weary traveller that well, do I? but one thing that has palled for me are the business and first class lounges. for example,the air new zeala one I,m innow is nice but that's it, nice! I don't really feel special, I'm no more relaxed. I,m not distracted from the 16 hours I'm about to spend onthe plane.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.5.5.2

using android

yay I'm joining the 21st century and blogging via smartphone, nothing can stop me now.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.5.5.2

Another only in America moment

Another only in America moment, originally uploaded by PMac Imagery.

I really loved living in the USA and deeply regretted that I didnt get to see or do enough while I lived there. But I've got to be really honest, there is one part of the US culture I was very glad to leave behind and I desperately hope never makes it across the Pacific - the insane obsession with guns.

I hope to never have to see a sign like this at a Folk festival in Australia.

PS. This was taken at the Seattle Folklife festival 2010. I suspect the bans and signs were brought on by the killing of a person at the festival the year or so before when a simple fight between a couple of guys went very very bad.

Remember, guns don't kill people, people with guns kill people.

The 2nd best government since the war defeated.

Ok, the best government Australia has had since the war, perhaps ever, was the ALP government from 1983. That government transformed and modernised Australia, laying the foundation of almost three decades amazing prosperity.

The 2007 ALP government was not that good, the GFC robbed it of any chance of having the same trans-formative capacity. However, the Rudd governments astoundingly decisive and effective response wins it a clear second place in the pantheon of Australian governments.

That Australia just voted the ALP out of office has revealed one thing however, that the party that can govern will always lose to a party that can campaign. For years the ALP has told itself it has the most professional campaigners, the most hard nosed and pragmatic administration. That has been shown to be utterly wrong. The party must reach out and find minds from outside its current gene pool. It must find new ways of thinking, communicating and rebuild itself for the 21st century.

365 Days. Day 4. Hmmm nectar of the gods

Hmmm nectar of the gods, originally uploaded by PMac Imagery.

Ok, while I'm trying to develop some good habits there are a couple of bad one (or if not strictly bad then not great) that I will continue to indulge.

One of those is coffee, but being at elitist snob I struggle with instant, bags or even plain filter coffee these days. My favourite poison is a soy cappuccino with one sugar (preferably raw sugar).

What a great part of the day and something I got to enjoy today.

365 Days. Day 3. Why favourite new toy and why.

365 Days. Day 3. Why favourite new toy and why., originally uploaded by PMac Imagery.

Its perhaps a little sad that three days in I'm resorting to defining myself by stuff I own but I dont really feel too much shame. The little camera on the right is my new toy, a Sony NEX5 with a 16mm 2.8 pancake lens. This thing is so small that in july I doubt its been more than 20 feet from me and in one month I've taken more photo's than i did in the 6 preceding it.

There's a lot to love about the NEX5, mostly because its rekindled the simple joy of taking photos.

365 Days, Day 2. Another challenge

365 Days, Day 2. Another challenge, originally uploaded by PMac Imagery.

Well day two. They say thirty days to make a habit, so 28 to go. And here's another habit. At work, they've instituted the 10,000 step challenge to promote more active lifestyles for us and get the more lardy amongst us (yes, people like me) moving.

Well I've been going sporadically fro a few weeks but here's today's result. A little short of the target but on the way.

PS. 10,000 steps is a lot!

365 Days. Day 1. Bruised but ok.

365 Days. Day 1. Bruised but ok., originally uploaded by PMac Imagery.

With a big (and very weird, day I figured now was the ideal time to restarted my aborted 365 day project. I've been wondering if I'd use this but what the hell.

So what happened?

Ok, this is not a love bite, its a bruise coming from a punch I took at our local Westfield shopping centre. Now getting punched at a Westfield is just wrong, how can that happen? Well here's the story.

I was minding my own business, having a spot of Sushi with my daughter when a girl and a guy went racing past screaming. Now the Westfield foodcourt is a bit of a hang out for the young folk so I just thought they were playing. But I noticed that the girl in front of me had this look of horror on her face and so turned to see what the problem was.

Well it appears it wasnt just a bit of fun. Actually the guy was assaulting the girl, he had her on the ground, was pulling her head back by the hair and was trying to punch her. This is in the middle of a busy foodcourt with perhaps a 500 people sitting or standing around. But no one was moving. I am not a reflexive hero, so I didnt jump from my seat immediately and wade in but it was pretty clear that no one else was going to do anything so I got up, stood over him and told him to stop. He immediately got up and rounded on me, ready to fight.

I had given this so little thought I hadnt even put down my sushi, so I'm standing there confronted by a psycho hose beast ready for anything with a slightly fuzzy head from a cold, wielding a california roll and suddenly realising this could get really messy.

But, in for a penny, in for a pound so I could hardly say "sorry, didnt mean to disturb you" so I just stood there and told him to stop again. Thankfully the girl got up and ran and I figured security must be coming soon. I had another quick look to make sure the girl was out of there when my psycho finally lost it with me an threw a punch. He was obviously aiming for my face but while I moved slow it was just fast enough to make him miss and hit my neck.

Frankly I was so surprised, I hadnt been in a fight for 30 years, I just turned back to face him and said "is that it?" I wasnt being smart, it wasnt an action movie one liner, I was really just taken aback at how little the punch rocked me.

I dont know if psycho was worried he hadnt put me down or just deciding that the rest of the crowd was gaining a little courage and others were moving in but he then ran. I followed but a couple of others were quicker and security turned up a in a few seconds and it was all over.

So, the guy could've been on drugs, he could have had a knife (this being Australia a gun was pretty unlikely) and all in all in could have been much worse. And I clearly showed that I am no Chuck Norris, the process of actually fighting doesnt come naturally to me. But whats the alternative?

I feel pretty stupid, picturing myself standing there clutching my seaweed, rice and fish dinner, essentially just taking a punch but I would have felt worse if I didnt do anything. If I had just sat there, ignoring the assault going on just behind me. I know it can go terribly, terribly wrong but surely living a life we can be proud of means risking that occasionally.

8800 Steps and doing ok.

Just a quick one today, 8800 steps and doing ok. I would have really liked to hit 10,000 but then again after yesterdays deck hockey I still hurt all over anyway.

The key is, I think, turning good intentions into real actions and then transforming a series of individual actions into a habit. Someone recently told me it takes 30 days to bed a habit in - so 28 to go I suppose.

The Marie Celeste is still sailing

Just a quick post to get the ball rolling again.

Clearly I am failing on at least one of my new years resolutions. Actually I'm failing on virtually all of them. But its never too late (well I suppose after you are dead is too late - but I'm not there yet) to try and get back on track so here I am.

Anyway, a little gem to get back. Along with blogging again I'm joined the 10,000 step challenge as yet another attempt to get my weight under control and my health and fitness back. Wish me luck.

PS - my first full day on the program, 8095 steps (about 4000 of which came from 50 minutes of deck hockey)

Pmac 365 Day 12. Leaving Apple behind.

Pmac 365 Day 12. Leaving Apple behind., originally uploaded by PMac Imagery.

I dont know if its an allergic reaction to Smug, my hate of iTunes as the worst media player ever or the feeling someone is trying to rob me when I see the price of iBooks but all in all I'm an Apple hater.

So here is my next stage in cutting myself free. Tired of the crappy job iTunes does at digitizing music (and iPods at playing it) I'm going through my cd collection, ripping it properly and getting ready to ditch the iPod.


(though this will take a little while).

Pmac 365 Day 11. My most recent reading.

Pmac 365 Day 11. My most recent reading., originally uploaded by PMac Imagery.

Continueing my effort to meet my goals for 2010 I'm now up to three books read for the year (just 47 to go). The latest book is 31 Days to Power. A quick and dirty analysis of the Bob Hawkes sudden elevation to leader of the ALP on the eve of the 1983 federal campaign and his triumph in that election.

The book is fascinating for two reasons:

1. Having been written immediately after the events (ie just months afterwards) there is a real freshness to the writings and a focus on the players that were important then and there without seeing them through the lens of history. As a result John Howard is just a failed treasurer and outsider in the liberal party while Paul Keating is just another factional heavyweight of the NSW machine.

2. Its written in a context where foreign communism, union power and the ALPs inability to handle power (in the aftermath of the Whitlam years perhaps not an unreasonable fear) were staples in the media. The concluding phases of the book speak at some length of the danger to the ecomony posed by the recently installed Hawke government.

Of course there was no way the authors could see that the ALP would be in power for 13 years and be possibly the most progressive and economically reformist government in the history of the Commonwealth. But really that just adds to the enjoyment, it really places you in the moment, not outside it like a reader who already knows the ending of the book.

I suppose the next question is "does the Hawke story tell us anything about today"? All I can think is not really. Rudd is no Fraser and Abbott is no Hawke. The then nascent power of television is actually beginning to give way to the internet and our engagement with politicians is continuing to change. On the other hand, the previous election between Rudd and Howard was a much more interesting (and apt) comparison.

Pmac 365 Days. Day 10. Exercise is not enough.

Pmac 365 Days. Day 10. Exercise is not enough., originally uploaded by PMac Imagery.

Perhaps this is stretching the bounds of 365 day rules but I dont think so.

When you have a lot of weight to lose exercise is a necessary, but not sufficient, activity. I also have to watch the calories. Today was a particularly bad day as I had to drive down to Sydney and back.

Therefore no gym. Thats means the VLCD (very low calorie diet) vanilla drink thing for dinner tonight.

Pmac 365 Days. Day 9. WTF?

Pmac 365 Days. Day 9. WTF? , originally uploaded by PMac Imagery.

This 365 days is part of a suite of new years resolutions I'm trying to keep. An people who might have seen my blog, Mineshaft Gap, might have seen I made 10 promises to myself. I'm not going great but I am, at least, going.

Part of all that was a desire to pull my life together after literally years of neglect. Well today I opened all those boxes I've been dreading and started down the path. But now with the bits of my life I've been ignoring (to my great cost) laid bare all I can say is WTF?

Pmac 365 Days. Day 8. Its a good life

Pmac 365 Days. Day 8. Its a good life, originally uploaded by PMac Imagery.

A quick review of my 365 days so far and I got the feeling I was channeling a 14 year old EMO chick with a lot of whining about my life. True, I'm busy and stressed and feeling a little stretched thin but there's more to life (and me) that that.

Well when this was taken I was on a fantastic beach just a few minutes from my house, watching a magnificent sunrise and life was good.

365 Days - Day 2. Driving in my car.

365 Days - Day 2. Driving in my car., originally uploaded by PMac Imagery.

I've started carrying my old A100 round in the car with me with a cheap as chips 28mm prime on it as you just never know when you'll need it.

365 Days - Day 1

365 Days - Day 1, originally uploaded by PMac Imagery.

Ok, a day late but what are you going to do hey? Well I'm trying the 365 day thing. My theory is that I need all the discipline I can get to force me into newer, healthier habits. So here it goes. Some discipline.

Rather than retype all the gory details of my injury (thats arent gory at all) just following the link back to my flickr site and you can read some more about this.

Richmond Tigers - Its going to be a long year.

A really quick one to get my ideas on the net, keep my blog half way active and get a step closer to keeping a promise.

Well the first round of the NAB cup is over and its clear that the Richmond Tigers are in for a long year. In short we got spanked by Hawthorn. Still, there were some good signs and it has to be remembered we had three key players from our regular team missing against a full strength Hawk line-up.

If you want to read more the Melbourne Herald Sun and Age are the best places to go.

Blaming the right people for insulation problems

Today The Australian asked a simple question. When four people are killed installing insulation that is subsidised by the Government who is at fault?

My usual way of seeing the world is complex and layered so ordinarily I'd say something like "thats not really a simple question" and deliver a long, convoluted arguement but in this cases the question really is simple, as is the answer - the installers and the company that employed them.

No government minister climbed into a roof and laid insulation. No government minister held a gun to the head of a worker and made them climb the ladder either. On the other hand, workers that were given the opportunity to train and had standards to work to did not apply that training or standards. Employers did nothing to ensure that the training was sufficient or that industry standards were being followed.

Given that I generally assume that a company is better able to deal with the complex issues of technical integrity and OHS I would tend to lay most of the responsibility with the employer.

But I am at a loss to understand just what anyone really expected the government to do. After all government recently offered incentives to by new cars - do we hold them responsible for Prius braking problems? Government offer a first home owners grant - do we hold them responsible for dodgy builders?

Climate change - the one sided burden of proof

On climate change, in fact on most topics, I regard myself as a skeptic. However, I am an equal opportunity skeptic - every argument deserves equal scrutiny.

When it comes to climate change however, it seems that only on side of the debate appears to be required to survive any level of analysis. Proponent of man made climate change are required to explain every aspect of their models, models that are freely available, and are excoriated for making any adverse assumptions ever.

Any yet those claiming to be skeptics are happy to quote figures that appear to have been simply made up, with absolutely no support and coming from some of the most inaccurate commentators in the history of economic commentary, ie business.

Ok, where's this coming from?

Today in the Australian (the leading anti man made climate change paper in Australia) an article by Bjorn Lomborg (Axe the tax if you want to go green) claims that to reduce carbon to the levels required to required amount would cost - wait for it - 43 trillion dollars a year. Where does this come from? Dont know! What support does this model have? Dont know! What are the assumptions, where did the data come from, are are the error bounds? Dont know, dont know, dont know.

But I will tell you something I do know, economists are always wrong and always vastly, massively, amazingly over-estimate the negative impacts of government action. Every time the government raises the minimum wage we are told that thousands will be thrown out of work, that inflation will sky rocket, that growth will stall. Despite this the government always raises the minimum wage above what business wanted and guess what - nothing happens.

Here's something else I know. Every year, billions, perhaps even trillions of dollars are simply set on fire and burnt up with zero economic benefit. Whether its million dollar cars, boob jobs, twenty thousand dollar watches, gourmet pet food, cigarettes, personal shoppers, blah blah blah. One thing I know, its not that we cant afford to do a bit to deal with the risk of man made climate change, its just that we cant be arsed.

Finally, here's the last thing I know. The economy is imaginary and therefore infinitely flexible. Want proof? - google. This juggernaut is proof that the economy is a kind of fantasy land where immense value can be created (and as Worldcom showed destroyed) overnight, seemingly out of nothing. So you tell me fuel will skyrocket and we wont be able to afford cars, ok, that' s a pity (I love cars) but something else will come along - it always does.

So all I ask is that we demand the same burden of proof of economic Armageddon of those trying to prevent action on climate change as those advocating it. Oh, and while we are at it, just as many are willing to believe we are smart enough to find a technological way of dealing with climate change, how about we equally assume we are smart enough to find a way of dealing with carbon reduction measures.

The curious art of the music critic

For those not from Australia, the publicly funded, quasi alternative, "youth" radio station in Australia Triple J has an annual competition for their "Hottest 100" songs of the year and this year has seen an interesting development.

First, the winning song was Little Lion Man by Mumford and Sons.

The first interesting tid-bit is that I like this song, enough to actually go out and buy the album. (And quickly realised that The Cave is a much better song). That a 43 year old guy that hates dance music, rap, mash-ups, electro-pop and pretty much 90% of the Triple J playlist happened to enjoy the song rated as the hottest by the audience of that station is kind of cool.

But perhaps not unexpectedly, the critics have now started panning the song and a loud chorus of dismay is coming that the song is crap, thin, poorly written, shallow etc etc. This review at The Vine pretty much sums it up.

The thing is I dont disagree. But i suppose I wonder how does that make it different from any other song in the Top 5. Somehow some genres of pop have no requirement to make sense and simply make you want to move up and down and that's fine but others have to do so much more and have to be works of great poetry as well.

Well I dont care - Little Lion Man has some downright nonsensical lyrics but it still moves me somehow in a way that every other song in the top 5 doesnt even try to. I think thats the big difference between me and a whole bunch of other listeners. I dont judge Little Lion Differently to (say) Art vs. Science - 'Parlez-Vous Francais', both are catchy, both are bit silly (one intentionally, the other not so) but Little Lion Man tries to be more and I see that as a plus, not a minus.

Book Review - Shooting Star by Peter Temple

Well I had set a goal of reading 52 books in 2010 and I'm on track just having finished my first, Peter Temples "Shooting Star".

Since I've read this book and I'm trying to run a blog I figured I'd combine the two an include a book review. How I got to Peter Temple is a story first. Frankly when it comes to buying books I tend to be cheap and I'm a huge fan of the Penguin Classics series - after all in Australia books can be so expensive so I'll look for a bargain where-ever I can find one. So when I can get 'great' novels for half the price of average ones from mainstream publishers I'll take every one I can get. Through this series I 'discovered' Raymond Chandler. I wasnt a great fan of crime fiction but since its only a $10 investment I figured it was worth the risk.

I loved the Raymond Chandler novels and found a whole new genre of writing to enjoy.

So with that in mind, driving home, listening to the ABC on the radio a show called The Booksellers came on and each had a chance to name their books of the year, and during that time Peter Temple was mentioned. These things came together and I bought my first Temple novel that afternoon.

I've come to Temple late and I understand that Shooting Star was an early novel from him and is regarded as a bit raw. I would generally agree. Ok, a lightnng synopysis, Frank Calder, ex soldier/cop is hired by a wealthy family to assist following the kidnapping of one of their number. Without giving away the plot, the novel follows the progress to get the child back all the time digging into the family, its dark past and current sins. At the same time the character of Frank is slowly revealed, his history slowing emerging.

That all sounds great but their are a few problems.

I was reminded a little of the "Rome" novels of Colleen McCulloch where the labour of tracking intricate family relationships constantly breaks the flow of the story and it wasnt until I made a quick reference chart to look up as I went that I felt really drawn into the story. Even by the end of the book, Frank is still something of a mystery, thats not entirely a bad thing for a novel thats part of a series but since their appear no follow up to this story I was left feeling I'd sort of met a guy I might like but wasnt sure. Finally, I think the hardest part of any story like this is the ending. And this is perhaps the weakest part of the novel. A great ending to a thriller is one where in retrospect you can say "wow, I should have seen that" while all the time the outcome is
carefully hidden. In Shooting Star in the end I was simply left wondering where the hell had that come from.

So would I recommend the book - if this were the culmination of Temples career I'd probably say no. But its not, Temple has progressed and this book is a great entry into his burgeoning canon.

So, with this my first Temple novel, I look forward to reading my next very keenly.

New Years Resolutions

Well its been a few months and Mine Shaft Gap - the blog - was in serious danger of dying through a lack of interest. The reality is that the second half of 2009 was a bit of a disaster at home. A death in the family, work got amazingly busy and general life pressures all piled up to make me miss doing something I was really, really enjoying.

So anyway, I'm back, its the new year and now seems like as good a time as any to get back into "it". And what better way to start than with some new years resolutions?

Ok, we've all tried these and virtually none of us ever keep them. Still I persist in hoping that this year will be the year I stick at it.

To increase the odds of me succeeding, and to give me a way of charting my success, I've made 10 resolutions. Also, none (or almost none) of the resolutions are 'binary' that is there's nothing like "quit smoking" that's a single pass/fail. Each of my resolutions offers me the chance to get a partial pass.

Ok, enough gas bagging what are my resolutions?

1. Lose weight. I currently weight 126.5 KG. I aim to be 95 kg by 1 Jan 2011.
2. Get finances in order. I wont go into details but the reality is I've not paid the mucky muck of financial planning enough of a priority. I have more detailed goals but there are limits to what I'll put on the net.
3. Read 52 books, ie one a week. These have to be 'real' books (with words) and technical/how to books dont count.
4. Compete in a formal triathalon. This was a goal for 2009 and I failed. But failing once doesnt mean I cant aim to succeed this time around.
5. Learn French. Ok I'm only 43 but the realities of aging are beginning to turn up and I'm determined to beat them. Just as the triathalon is a 'marker' that my diet and exercise is working I'm using learning a new language as a marker that my brain is still functioning.
6. Have 1000 photos for sale via my stock site Alamy. I'm currently at around 350, so I have to get another 650 or around 50 shots a month. Thats a huge ask for me but its a goal.
7. Have 100 t shirt designs for sale at my red bubble site. I have pages and pages of ideas for stuff and as last year got worse and worse the ideas kept coming but the motivation to follow through evaporated. I've got about 25 designs for sale so far so thats really only a new design every 5 days. I should be able to achieve that - shouldn't I?
8. I want to get a blog entry out there - either here or on my pmac imagery blog every second day (as a minimum).
9. Get my Lancia rally car back and running (and perhaps even get an event under my belt)
10. Complete the flickr 365 day challenge. I clearly arent going to be able to start on 1 Jan - which would have been very convienient - so I'll start on Australia day 26 Jan. Why Australia day? Because I can pretty well be certain I'll have my camera handy.

So thats it - ten resolutions for all 365 days of the year. I'll be tracking my progress via the blog so stay tuned and be prepared to cheer me on or crow as I go down in flames yet again.