Sunday, September 28, 2008

Taronga, Kirrawee, Illawarra, Woolloomooloo

Ho hum, another brilliant day in Sydney. What's uncommon about this one is that I don't have to work. I hopped a bus to the Apple Store this morning and uploaded some photos from last Sunday's visit to Taronga. The koalas, wombats, wallabies, and platypus were all pretty cool, but my favorite encounter of the day may have been with the emu -- mainly because I got to walk right up to the Brobdingnagian beast with no barrier separating us.

Close up emu
Dinosaur feet

Click here to view the thumbnail shots of the zoo (they're the ones with the animals), or else clicking on the above photos will take you directly to their individual pages.

After some morning internet activity I yum cha'd at Marigold in Chinatown with some of the Animal crew, and I'm now riding a train to Kirrawee on the Illawarra line to Cronulla. We just pulled out of Wolli Creek station. Does this sound like foolish baby talk? OF COURSE. But I'm starting to get used to it.

Just call me a drongo if I ever say I want to watch some footy while drinking a cuppa for brekkie.

Monday, September 22, 2008

When Atheists Attack

Dear America,

I'm relieved to see that you're finally beginning to express some trepidation about a "Palin-McCain Administration" (her words, not mine). If you're still leaning in the Republican direction, however, I'd encourage you to read this Newsweek article by Sam Harris. Yes, he is one of the so-called New Atheists, and I know how you feel about them apostates, both old and new. But please, look past his identity and just take note of what he has to say. After all, you don't have to renounce your belief in a god to listen to reason. And it is reasonable to expect a dangerous outcome for our country, indeed the world, if someone as inexperienced and self-righteous as Sarah Palin should happen to be hiked the nuclear football.

Here is the link to the article in its entirety.

"Ask yourself: how has "elitism" become a bad word in American politics? There is simply no other walk of life in which extraordinary talent and rigorous training are denigrated. We want elite pilots to fly our planes, elite troops to undertake our most critical missions, elite athletes to represent us in competition and elite scientists to devote the most productive years of their lives to curing our diseases. And yet, when it comes time to vest people with even greater responsibilities, we consider it a virtue to shun any and all standards of excellence. When it comes to choosing the people whose thoughts and actions will decide the fates of millions, then we suddenly want someone just like us, someone fit to have a beer with, someone down-to-earth—in fact, almost anyone, provided that he or she doesn't seem too intelligent or well educated." -- Sam Harris

Friday, September 19, 2008

Top Republican says Palin unready

Click here to read this brief BBC article from Tuesday.

"You get a passport for the first time in your life last year? I mean, I don't know what you can say. You can't say anything."

Exactly, Mr. Hagel. I'm speechless as well.

Saturday, September 13, 2008

How to Speak Australian

G'day.....Hello/Hey/Good morning/What's up
Bottle-O.....Bottle shop (Liquor store)
Heaps.....A lot/very (as in, "That's heaps cool!")
Mate.....Man/holmes/dude/friend
How you going?.....How you doing?
Sultana Bran.....Raisin bran
Lolly.....Candy
Footy.....Football
Footpath.....Sidewalk
Haitch.....The letter "H" ( as in, "Haitch ess bee see bank")
Hyaah.....Here
Hungry Jack's.....Burger King
Whinge.....To complain
Reggo.....Registration
Cuppa.....Cup of tea
Light globe.....Light bulb
Umbrella.....Disposable instrument that keeps the rain off of you for 10 minutes before exploding in a gust of wind

broken umbrella

ignorance ain't bliss

You know what's great about living in Australia? There's no chance that an economic simpleton will become the Vice President anytime soon.

That, and chocolate-scented deodorant.

Saturday, September 06, 2008

Palin: wrong woman, wrong message

Dear America,

What's wrong with you? A new national poll has put Obama and McCain in a dead heat, 42% to 42%. Time is running out for you to wake the hell up. Oh, I watched a little of the Republican Convention; I can see the appeal of all those red, white and blue balloons. But it'll take more than helium to turn this ship around. And what's with McCain now claiming to be the "candidate of change"? Sir, you cannot wear that hat when you agree with the current administration on nearly 100% of its policies, including the failed and foolish ones (100% in 2008, 95% in 2007). In fact, McCain sided with Bush more than any other Republican in the Senate in 2007. This is the "candidate of change"? What happened to the Straight Talk Express of yesteryear? What happened to "the Maverick"? Where be your defiance now? Your ability to speak truth to power? Gone, like all my respect for you when you embraced Jerry Falwell's chubby flanks after rightfully calling him an "agent of intolerance". Crash and burn, eh, Mav?

America, please peruse this article on Sarah Palin from Thursday's L.A. Times, by Gloria Steinem (Yes, she was an idiot in the child sexual abuse scandals of the 1980s, but this time she's on the right side of science, unlike Ms. Palin). Click here to read the article in its entirety, these are just a few representative quotations.

"When asked last month about the vice presidency, she said, "I still can't answer that question until someone answers for me: What is it exactly that the VP does every day?" When asked about Iraq, she said, "I haven't really focused much on the war in Iraq."

"She opposes just about every issue that women support by a majority or plurality. She believes that creationism should be taught in public schools but disbelieves global warming; she opposes gun control but supports government control of women's wombs; she opposes stem cell research but approves "abstinence-only" programs, which increase unwanted births, sexually transmitted diseases and abortions; she tried to use taxpayers' millions for a state program to shoot wolves from the air but didn't spend enough money to fix a state school system with the lowest high-school graduation rate in the nation; she runs with a candidate who opposes the Fair Pay Act but supports $500 million in subsidies for a natural gas pipeline across Alaska; she supports drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve, though even McCain has opted for the lesser evil of offshore drilling. She is Phyllis Schlafly, only younger."

Some pics from Sydney up on Flickr


Sydney Harbour Bridge, originally uploaded by xopherlance.

Sydney, Australia: world capital of abandoned umbrellas. Walking from Surry Hills to George Street in the driving rain today, I came across at least a dozen broken umbrellas; tossed aside in gutters, parks, on the footpath, and sticking out of rubbish bins. I even bore witness to an act of abandonment: I saw the wind rip an umbrella out of the hands of a girl six meters ahead of me and watched it float back, people dodging it, until it was caught by a man just in front of me. Actually it wasn't ripped from her hands, since she still held the handle -- it had broken off mid-stem. She didn't even attempt to recover it! She just threw the handle to the ground and leaned into the wind, driving her now empty hands deep inside her pockets.

I'm sitting on the top floor of the Apple store looking at the umbrella that I bought for $11 a few hours ago. It's already bent and pitiful. It won't close because the hooks that hold it shut were busted by the force of the gale. I'll probably toss it into the air on the way home and watch it sail away.



Go to http://flickr.com/photos/ninedragons/ to see the photos from last week, before the rains came.