Our storyteller shares the tale of an animal rescue -- or an attempt at an animal rescue -- involving a beaver, a box, great compassion and perhaps a bit too much beer.Enjoy!
Welcome friends and family. For those of you curious about my life here in Perth, Australia I created this web site. I add content from time to time as things happen, so check back often. Feel free to write me..
For those who don't know me. I'm a Californian who relocated to Perth Australia in Oct 2001. Read about why..
Saturday, April 29, 2006
The Great Beaver Rescue Effort
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Some terrible laws headed our way in the US
If allowed to happen, we in the US will loose our edge in information technology. These bills will kill innovation. They will kill the very thing the US invented, the Internet. The average US citizen will have a fraction of the information service that the rest of the world has, or will have.
And all of this is because the traditional telephone and entertainment companies can't figure out how to change and compete. Rather than do that, they have decided to kill the Internet so they can continue their old business models.
Network Nutrality
The first major one is what is called "Network Nutrality". Congress wants to take this core prinipal of the Inetnet away from Americans. They are going to hand the Internet over to AT&T and and handful of other providors, who will then get to decide exactly what you get to use the internet for.
We are not talking about charging more for more data. We are talking about preventing you from using Skype (Voice over IP) to make free telephone calls on the Internet connection you already have and pay for. Why would these companies want to kill VoIP? Because it competes with their traditional long-distance service. These laws will allow them to look at exactly what you are using the internet for, and then either blocking, or charging extra, depending on what it is.
The problem is that on the Internet, everything is just packets. The Internet doesn't care if that packet contains an email, web page, part of a VoIP telephone call, or what. The internet's only function is to deliver packets of data as quickly and reliably as it can. How would you like it if you find one day that you can not use Skype because your ISP has decided to slow it down to where it is unusable. And then wants to charge your $10-$20 more a month to get it back?
See this web site for more information about this.
Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
The DCMA is back, and it is worse than ever. This was a set of laws passed by Congress around 2001 and killed by the courts for being unconstitutional. This is the one that Hollywood wants. In a nutshell, you can go to prison for decades for even thinking about bypassing any copy or use protection system that Hollywood implements.
The problems are multiple. Hollywood wants to dictact how you use the content that you purchase. They tried to kill VCR's when they first came out. But the courts ruled that people have the right to time-shift TV shows and watch them when they want. Not when the TV station dictates. It is called "Fair Use". When you by a CD, why can't you play that music you bought in your car, home, and portable player? Now Hollywood wants to control when, where, and how you are to enjoy the content that YOU paid for.
Another serious problem is that the technical solutions that Hollywood has introduced are terrible and intrusive. They spy on you. They break your computers. They can do anything they want. And if you attempt to discover exactly what they are doing (even beyond their role of protecting the content from misuse), or attempt to prevent it from doing things that you feel are not right, then you are a felon and go to prison.
Let's say you buy a CD or DVD. They company that sells that can install any thing they want on it. They don't have to tell you what they are doing. They can install software on your compter that tells them everything about you. They can see what web sites you visit. They can capture your passwords. And legally, according to the DMCA, you are not allowed to even ask any questions. All these extra things they do all fall under the protection of the DMCA. It puts corporate America inside your computers, spying on you, and telling you what you can and can not do.
Read more here.
The Future
To be honest, the future of the home computer, entertainment, and the Internet in the US looks very bad right now. The telephone companies want to control where you can go on the net and what functions you use. Hollywood wants to control what goes on inside your computer.
Please write a letter to your Congressman and your two state Senators telling them to keep their paws of your Internt and computer.
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
A sane voice in Egypt
Some of my favorite bloggers are Egyptian. They are even muslim. But they hate the insanity that seems to be gripping their country, driving people to murder in the name of God.
One of the blogger's I follow is MindBleed. He has a post that I think is worth reading that he wrote after the guy went on a stabbing rampage at some Alexandria Christian churches a couple of weeks ago. In particular, this paragraph I think sums up his point better than anything I could hope to write.
Violent Muslims, loonies, terrorists, fundies, whatever you want to call them, are the most selfish creatures ever created on God’s earth. They are willing to inflict pain and suffering on fellow man and beast only to get some cheap gate pass to Heaven. Instead of toiling at ‘life’ like the rest of us sorry fucks, these idiots think they can hop onto the superhighway to heaven by chopping other people’s heads off and pointing to God and saying ‘gimme gimme.’Read the rest of the post here.
Monday, April 24, 2006
The 50th anniversary of the simple metal box that changed the world
The ship and containers belonged to Malcom McLean of North Carolina. What he did that day revolutionized the shipping industry world wide. It was his creation that created the mass-consumer market of today... the Wal-Marts, Ikeas, and Targets. It is what allowed the Asian counties to become the economic tigers of today.
His idea now allows products to moved almost anywhere on the planet cheaply and quickly. What used take a week and 200 men now takes less than 10 hours and 20 men. It reduced the shipping expense of the average product from 15% to 1%. It has almost eliminated theft and breakage in shipping, which used to be serious problems. It allows fresh produce to be grown in one part of the planet, and shipped and consumed in another part of the planet.
It may not seem like much. But the containerization and intermodal ability of freight transport has had an enormous impact on the world and our lives over the last 50 years. I think it ranks up there with the telephone, computers, airplanes, the Interstate Highway System, the Internet, and Global Positioning Satellites. These are things that make the modern world work, and difficult to imagine life without them.
Malcom McLean died in 2001. He certainly deserves a toast. At the age of 42, he sold his successful trucking company that took him 20 years to build. He took a gamble on his idea. The world shrank that day, and made us all a part of a global economy.
Here are a couple of good articles about the revolution that was launched that day.
Sunday, April 23, 2006
The Aussie Ute - Ford & GM's Salvation?
So here we are in early 2006. Fuel prices are at record highs. The market for Ford and GM's SUV's and trucks is drying up as customers realize they can no longer afford to fill the fuel tank and frequently as needed. The Japanese, Koreans, and Germans are killing the Americans in the smaller car market. The luxury brands from overseas
are taking the best SUV and luxury car customers. What is a poor American car company to do?
Duh! How about looking at their own company for ideas? And guess what? Both GM and Ford have an answer right here in Australia. They have been making and selling something here for a long, long time that the Japanese and Europeans don't even have. It is called the "Ute".
A Ute is the Australian pick-up truck. It is actually a breed of car based pickup trucks. Ute is short for "Utility", because it is used for work. Unlike the classic American style pickup truck in the US, such as Ford's F-150 and the Chevy Colorado, the Ute is lower, sleeker, and slightly smaller. The front end, from the cab forward, is a 2-seater, sporty, coupe style, muscle car. The rear bed is often a shallow aluminum tray, but is actually a proper bed on the city models.
| Holden Ute |
| Ford Ute |
I think they are beautiful vehicles. They get much better mileage than the American pickups. They have powerful motors, are fast, and they look mean and sexy.
GM owns the only Australian car company, Holden. Holden makes a line of Utes. So does Ford Australia. They compete with each other for the loyalty of the Australian ute buyer, which is usually a male in his 20's or 30's.
But... there is a problem that Ford and GM need to overcome. In US, the legacy of their previous car/truck models, the Chevy El Camino and the Ford Ranchero is not good. Neither model is made any more, having been killed around 1980 by fuel and quality problems. The biggest problem is going to be getting past the image of these class of vehicle preferred by ignorant trailer-park trash.
You can thank Congress for that. They put these vehicles in the car group, while pickup trucks like the Chevy S10 where in the truck class. The truck class is exempt from safety and fuel economy requirements of the car class. So Ford and GM focused on Pickups and SUV's and let the car/truck die.
Now that we have come full circle and the market for the truck class vehicles has dried up, it is time to take a good look at the modern Aussie Ute. Both GM and Ford and going to have to give up on trying to use the old El Camino and Ranchero names. There is too much baggage with them. Just call them what they call them here in Australia. It could be the Chevy SS Ute and the Ford XR6.
I think they will sell well, if they don't f**k it over like GM did last year with the Australian Monaro.
Ah... the Monaro. In 2005 GM took a great Aussie muscle car, the Holden Monaro, and imported it to the US. But they couldn't leave well enough alone. I guess some GM executives had to justify their jobs by making changes rather then just selling them, as-is, off the boat from Australia. They changed the name, calling it the Pontiac GTO. They changed the body and drive train, which introduced quality problems. They softened the look and made it look like it had it balls cut off. Then they over-priced it and tried to sell it to middle age men family men. GM ended up killing it after one year. I wrote about that fiasco here.
You know, the US car companies were able to make the working-class pickup truck the preferred choice of soccer mom's and suburbia America by turning it into the SUV. They should be able to overcome the history of the El Camino/Ranchero and turn the Ute into a very successful and profitable vehicle. If you are top executive with Ford or GM in Detroit, please pull you head out of you ass and look down-under. What do you have to loose at this point?
But I'm not holding my breath.
"Big Brother 6" on Aussie TV
I've never watched that show, here, or in the US. If I wanted to sit around and watch a dumbass sitting there scratching his ass, then I will just put a web-cam on myself. I don't get it. Do people actually watch this program? Why?
Of course my imagination goes wild when I think about what I would do if I where in charge of producing Big Brother! I would take my inspiration from the classic Agatha Christie's mystery thriller "And Then There Were None". I would introduce an physco serial killer into the house, and then lock them all in. Only one gets out alive.
General Motors... RIP
In the 1990's, when fuel was cheap, they bet the company on SUV's. It paid off handsomely. They had something that the Japanese and Europeans car companies were not offering the American market. But they failed to take that money and plan for a day when the SUV market would cool off, or when their compeitiors would start to take their customers in the SUV market.
The day of reckoning is finally here. GM looks like it is going to end up in bankruptcy. Despite the fact they claim they don't want to, it is going to happen. They don't have a choice. If GM does file, they could emerge as a company without the burdens of debt, dead products lines (such as Oldmobile & Buick), pension obligations, and most important, union contracts. No company (that I can think of) is really going to want to buy their assets of factories and unsold stock.
Ford is not that far behind them. But I don't see Ford going bankrupt... willingly. The problem is that if GM does come out of BK without liabilites and most of their manufactoring assets, they could pose a serious competitive threat to Ford. GM will have the leeway to make cars and sell them for less than Ford. That will shave Ford's profit margins, and they will feel the need to similarlay shed their debts the same way in order to level the playing field.
The exact same things is happening in the airline industry. United went bankrupt. Delta is not far behind. The other large US carriers have already done it, or will, in order to compete against debt free competitors.
There is a wild card here. China. China is starting to build cars. They want to become a major car exporter like Japan and Korea. They can make their own brands and slug it out in the US market, taking years and years to build a customer base. Or, they could simply buy GM's factories, stock, and possibly even their name, in a bankruptcy sale. Wouldn't that be a surprise? If they come in with a decent offer, the bankruptcy judge would be obligated to sell. And the shareholders of GM would more than likely be glad to get something out of their holdings.
Perhaps if GM was to go "into play" with China making offers, then there are a couple of other options that could play out. First, Ford would be dumb not to buy GM. They could buy it simply to kill it and keep it from becoming a competitor. The problem is that Ford doesn't have the war chest to do this and win. Ford would have to borrow the money to do this. If they could convince investors that they kill GM and become the only major American car company, and compete sucessfully at home against Japan and Germany, then it might be a good bet.
Another option is Toyota might buy GM. Toyota is 10X the size the GM when measured by capitalization. Toyota could, if pressed, afford to eat GM, keep any good scraps, and throw away the rest. If Ford makes a serious play to buy and kill GM, then Toyota may have to do this.
The Chinese are going to find it hard to outbid Toyota for GM. Toyota wants to sell cars to China. They don't want to compete with the Chinese for the American car market. If China can make and sell cars in America to Americans, then they will eventually become stronger and stronger, just like the Japanese were in the 1970's, and Korea was in the 1990's.
So I'm betting that Toyota will end up buying and killing GM in the next 5 years after GM sheds its liabilites through bankruptcy.
Back from Uluru
Loretta had some frequent flyer miles that were going to expire at the end of January. She had enough miles to get her and I two tickets from Perth to Uluru. So we were able to fly for free. The hotels there are very expensive, so I opted to camp, which was very reasonable.
Impressions
My initial impression of the Uluru area? Lush! Seriously... It is so green. The photos you see of Uluru have what look like desert shrubs around the base. Those are not shrubs. They are trees. And, they are mostly PINE TREES. Who would have thunk? It feels like Arizona, but with pine trees instead of saguaro cacti.
Actually, they are not pine trees. They are technically an oak tree called The Desert Oak (Allocasuarina decaisneana). And their pine cones are technically fruit. They grow straight, have needles, and cones. They look like Christmas trees. Could have fooled me.Another thing about the are that surprised me was how hilly it was. I was expecting it to be flat, like the famous Nullabor Plain to the south. It was hilly with mountains ringing the horizon.
The campground was great! It is part of the resort there. They have a free shuttle from the airport. The campground features nice soft green grass and shade trees trees. Hot showers, a pool, laundry, fridges, store, gas cooking grills, communal kitchen. All for $13 a night. It sure beat paying $300+ a night for a room across the road!
It rained two of the days were were there. The locals said that was very rare. But it was no big deal. It didn't rain that hard. And it didn't stop us from enjoying the place.
Uluru (Ayres Rock)
You can climb Uluru, weather permitting. They discourage it. The aboriginal tribe who own the area claim it is sacred, the center of the world, and don't like it trampled on. So it is strongly suggested to be politically incorrect and cultural insensitive to climb it.
I've never been politically correct, or sensitive. So I climbed it. When I got back to work, my more "enlightened" co-workers asked me, with a condescending tone in their voice, if I had climbed it. I answer "Yes I did. But I didn't enjoy it." That usually shuts them up.
Because of the rain the first day, the climbing was closed. That was fine. Instead we did the base hike which circumvents the rock. Wow! You must do this hike. It is not technical since it is flat. But it does take a few hours. It is so remarkable because the rock has a million faces. Every few minutes you should stop and take a look. The view is totally different, just a breathtaking, and an amazing natural wonder.
The second day was bright and clear. So we were able to climb to the summit. This is not a climb for people who are afraid of heights! The first part is very steep, about 45 degrees in some spots. It is so steep that there is a chain bolted into the face to hang on to.
About half way up, the path levels out a little more, and the chain ends. From there to the summit you have to climb up and down through the deep cuts in the rock. It is more technical here. Not for people out of shape of scared of heights.
The view from the summit is magnificent. You can see the horizon for 360 degrees, for what seems like 100 miles around.
The Olgas
Nearby is another large rock outcropping called Kata Tjuta (aka "The Olgas"). You can't climb them. There are a couple of hiking trails there. Kata Tjuta is beautiful, far more than Uluru. It features the most amazing canyons. If you come to Uluru, then you must take half a day at least and hike Kata Tjuta.
Aboriginals
Didn't see very many Aborginals around there. They have a cultural center near Uluru that is worth seeing. In the center they have photos of many of the tribe leaders and important people. But when the person dies, they have to remove the photo from the center because Aborginals do not believe that it is OK to see an image of person who is dead. So as you walk through the center, they have blacked out photos here and there as the person in the photo has since died.
Wildlife
We did catch some wildlife. There are feral camels roaming around. We saw some wild Dingos, and you can hear them yelping at night like coyotes in America. We saw some Thorny Devils
on the road, Honey Ants, Crested Pigeons, and a lot of lizards.
Suggestion For Vistors
Because I didn't have a car there, I was not able to get over to King's Canyon, which is about a 3 hour drive away. The next trip to Northern Territory, I will go there.
If you plan to go there, I recommend that you fly into Alice Springs, and then hire a station wagon from Alice Camp 'n' Drive. It is a company run by a couple of guys in Alice Springs who came up with a good idea. They rent full size Ford station wagons loaded with camping gear (tent, air mattress, cooler, lamps, stove, etc.). I saw a few of their wagons at the campsite and I talked to the campers who had rented them. They had nothing but praise for the outfit. They liked them because they didn't have a 7 day minimum like the camper van companies do. They are cheaper (I was quoted $120 a day), and get much better mileage than an RV. Plus you can opt to skip the tent and sleep in the back of the wagon.
Food is expensive at the Ayres Rock Resort! There is a small, overpriced grocery store there. However, if you rent a wagon in Alice Springs, and stock up at a grocery store there before you go, then you can save a lot of money.
What else? If you like your booze, then stock up in Alice Springs before driving over. There is only one place you can buy beer and wine, and they limit how much you can have. Not a problem for me since I am a one-beer-a-day guy. But since you are in the desert, and they have a limit a 6 beers a day, I can see where that would be a serious problem for some people I know.
Flying Glitches
I had a couple of traveling glitches. After camping and hiking for 3 days, I looked like a bit of a wild man with my unshaven face and dark tan. So when I went through security at the airport for the flight home, I was pulled aside for special attention and a screening of my clothes and luggage for explosives. Loretta asked them why they picked me, and they gave her the stock answer "It is random." Bull shit. We finally got the lady to admit that she selected me because I fit the profile of a hijacker. You know, male, dark, hair on face, scary looking. It happens to me often when I travel, especially when I am tired, or tanner than normal.
On the way to the airport, and at the airport, Loretta and I kept detecting the faint whiff of something smelly, like poo. But we could not figure out what it was. Every once in a while it would hit us. We checked everything. No luck. So we got on the plane and flew to Perth. On the flight we kept smelling it again? Was it us? Was it one of the fellow passengers who left with us that day?
That night when I got home and undressed, I found the source of the smell. There was some dog shit smeared on the side of my tennis shoes that I was wearing. Even though I had checked the bottom of my shoes at the airport, I had failed to notice the poop because it was the extact some color as the red dirt all over my shoes. I was so mortified and embarrassed. I had made my fellow bus and place passengers suffer because I couldn't see dog poop through the dirt.
So if you read on a blog somewhere on the net that some poor traveler flying out of Ayres Rock had a passenger from hell on board, a scary terrorist looking Yank who stank like poop, then it was me. I am so, so, sorry. *sigh*
Saturday, April 15, 2006
Russia to its pensioners... "Screw You"
I'm sure that is very comforting to the thousands of Russian pensioners and workers who are not getting paid at all. So instead of getting the money promised to buy a loaf of bread or oil to heat their flat this month. That money is going to help the Hamas terrorist buy new guns.
I'm not stupid enough to think that Russia is doing this out the goodness of their hearts. They are trying to buy political favors in the Middle East by trying to look like the good guy to short-sited Arabs.
So to the pensioners of Russia. Move to Palestine. It is warmer, and you will get your tax dollars to put food in your stomach.
Happy Easter... Off to Uluru!
I am off to Uluru (Ayers Rock) in the red heart of Australia for a few days of camping and hiking. I'm flying over... it is a long ass drive! So no phone or computer for a few days.
Talk to you all when I get back later next week!
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
How to fold a T-Shirt
The comments on the other blogs and boards about this video all claim that it works like magic and is worth learning. So I guess I wil try it. It looks about as hard as learning how to knot a tie.
How smart are ya, huh!?
Here's a one-question IQ Test to help you decide how you should spend the rest of your day......
There is a mute who wants to buy a toothbrush. By imitating the action of brushing one's teeth, he successfully expresses himself to the shopkeeper and the purchase is done.
Now, if there is a blind man who wishes to buy a pair of sunglasses, how should he express himself?
Think about it first before scrolling down for the answer...
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
He opens his mouth and says. "I would like to buy a pair of sunglasses"
If you got this wrong - please turn off your computer and call it a day. I've got mine shutting down right now.
Arrest Made in Malibu Ferrari Accident
Story here and here.
His wife was stopped driving their $600k Mercedes in Beverly Hills a few weeks ago. The police confiscated the Mercedes when the found it too was reported stolen by Scotland Yard. And his wife didn't have a drivers license (and never had one). They let her go home.
This is all part of the amazing story I've been tracking here.
Monday, April 10, 2006
Princess - From Southpark Guys
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
Condi... do the right thing.
The mayor of London, Ken Livingston, is angry with the US ambassador because the US embassy staff have racked up over $250k worth of driving fees in central London and have refused to pay it. The mayor has decided to pick on the US, even though 55 other consulates and embassies, including that of Germany, also refuse to pay.
The reason that the US and other nations refuse to pay is because they consider the fee to be a tax, which they are exempt from.
Article 34 of The 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations says, "a diplomatic agent shall be exempt from all dues and taxes, personal or real, national, regional or municipal." It includes exceptions, such as "charges levied for specific services rendered" and "registration, court or record fees, mortgage dues and stamp duty, with respect to immovable property,”
In 2003, London implemented a congestion charge for cars that enter central London. It was designed to reduce the traffic in that part of London. It apparently has worked very well, better than expected.
Personally, I think it is really chickenshit that we refuse the pay the fee simply because we don't HAVE to. This fee is not targeted for diplomates or us. It is applied to all cars in the area. We in the United States get upset because diplomates, especially UN diplomates driving in Manhattan, routinely rack up enormous parking fees, refuse to pay them, are exempt from prosecution for ignoring them.
The Golden Rule applies here. Do on to others as you wish others to do on to you. So please, Condi Rice. As our Secretary of State, please do the right thing and pay our fair share of the use of the roads of London.
Saturday, April 01, 2006
Should I blog anonymously?
My mom is one of the people. She told me that I like to get in people's faces. So, she is worried.
I don't feel that that I ask any questions that any other normal person would ask. I am always curious on how things work. How things got the way they are. Or why people make the decisions they do. Personally, I do not feel any danger. In the above case, I thought it was rather civil.
I expect people to be able to defend and explain their own decsions and actions. So I don't think that it is right that I should act like a coward and hide behind mask to ask the questions I want answered.
Any feedback would be appreciated.
Job Situation Update
It feels like Autumn has arrivied here in Perth. The last few nights have been cool and days feel like Indian Summer. I noticed the leaves on the maple trees outside of work have started to turn red. The middle part of the state is getting slammed by a giant cyclone (hurricane) right now, which might explain why it is so cloudy down here today.
So, I am sleeping good tonight.
Cheers!