Proud Stralian..... Really?

I have linked to this video on Google+ as well but G+ doesn't offer the same venue for comment that a blog post does so here we are. Below is a youtube video which I believe to be a beautiful counterpoint to the rise of nationalistic rhetoric that surround Australia Day.


 


It is sad to see so many people claim to be proud Australian but put nothing back into the community to keep this country great. A great place to start, if you want to put back in, is a local sporting club, SES, Surf lifesaving or Service club. While it takes up some of your time it's more than worth it for the people you meet and the friends you make.

Later Than Usual Review

Well 2011 was a big year. It started off with big events. first off was the renovating ( a continuing theme throughout the year) by the 26th of January I had renovated one of my units and rented it out. Next was a big weather event. Cyclone Yasi came thundering towards us in the latter part of January and hit well to the north of Townsville in very early February. With any normal cyclone if it hit more than 200km to the north all that we would have recieved here was a bit of a blow and a dousing of rain. Yasi was nothing like normal though. Severe and damaging winds extended out from the eye in every direction more than 500km. To put this in perspective for our NSW viewers that means that if the eye of Yasi had hit in the geographical centre of NSW the ENTIRE NSW coast line would have experienced cyclonic winds. Just imagine NSW trying to deal with every coastal town in the state being destroyed. Yasi didn't stop at the coast though. It was still a catyegory 2 cyclone when it reached Mt Isa. So if Yasi had of followed my theoretical path through the centre of NSW then all of the cities and towns west to Broken Hill would have been effected, or about 80% of the state (It got smaller as it went inland). We packed up the entire house and strapped everything down, this meant that the next month at least was unpacking and fixing up our two houses. Also with the effect on the community and the rebuilding efforts that went on this one storm coloured everything for the next few months. I still haven't found everything I "put away".

So with the Big start to the year, I then got into the Long events. With one unit finished I then had to get the other one done as well. I worked on it all year but it is finally finished and will be rented out soon. So it was a year where I finally got all the reno's out of the way. When Karin and I bought the place in 2003 we knew that we would eventually have to fix up both sides as neither side looked great. One side didn't even have a bathroom or kitchen. We decided to tackle the easy side first, the side we lived in. We fixed and almost completed that side with only the hallway and bedroom not painted along with an unfinished cupboard and a couple of other odds and ends. Since about 2005 though I have done little to the house. Well 2011 was the year for it I finished one side (which was the almost finished side) and 99%completed the other side. Must acknowledge helpers and workers for the cause. Min first and foremost for helping substantially and for putting up with me when not helping. Mum and Bernie for a good 60% of the interior painting and to Dad and Judes for painting as well. It has been a bit of a strain to work, paddle, and renovate for a year but with the way the place looks now I am super happy and proud of with the way it looks. Hopefully with this out of the way 2012 will be a year where I have more of both money and time.

With most of my time taken up working full time and renovating a house I then decided to take on extra duties with my paddling club. I took on the job of steerer for the men's crew. This meant I really needed to be at all training sessions and go to all regattas even when I was the only male paddling for the club. Sometimes I was the only male paddler for the club as well. For the first regatta in Airlie beach I was the only Maggie Island boy. Towards the end of the year I decided that you know I had too much spare time so I took over the job of President of Magnetic Island Outrigger Canoe Club.

Another big change for us was Min's job change. She took on the role of a project manager at the port running and overseeing some of the major projects that the port is undertaking such as the Billion dollar Port Expansion. The new Job really took up much more of Min's time then along with that Min decided to Join Rotary taking even more of her limited time. Luckily for us Min Joined paddling and raced in regatta's through 2011 so at the very least Min and I saw each other at Paddling.

Finished the year off with another renovation but this time at Mins house. Min and I created a Garden in the front yard. This one is all about keeping the view out to the street and adding flowers to that view along with protecting the front fence from the dogs and bringing some life into the front yard. Also with the garden come much... much needed irrigation for the front yard.

Some things that didn't happen though was, rogaines, adventure races, camping trips, overseas trips. the first three are easy to bring back once we manage to make time for them. Min and I might hold off on any over seas trips for 2012 so we can build up a monetary buffer again.

Looking forward what would be nice to include in 2012 camping trip in a new spot. The adventure race that is run in Townsville. What has to happen in 2012. Job change is the big and scary fact of 2012 once I have negociated that Min and I should be set again for the next couple of years.

New Gambling Laws

"Won't work" has become the new black. Carbon tax? Won't work, says the Coalition. Plain cigarette packaging? Won't work, say retailers and the tobacco industry. Poker machine reforms? Won't work, says the gambling industry. No proof is required; it's enough to stare into the camera, look earnest and say forcefully, "It. Won't. Work."

The above is the first paragraph of a great piece on the drum today. I have often posted pieces on this blog by experts etc. about various topics that are currently effecting Australia. This time is similar and it's about the new gambling laws being brought in by the government. This guy is definitely an expert. Not unbiased but definitely an expert. Tom Cummings is a former problem gambler who has turned his attention to gambling reform and the industry in general.

My favourite part though is his description of the genesis of his addiction.

But something clicked inside my head the very first time I played the pokies. It was the start of years of addiction, years in which I pissed away close to $100,000 and destroyed the trust of everyone I knew. I was a poker machine addict, and no matter my intentions, I simply could not stop playing. Suicide became an option I seriously contemplated, and it took discovery, exposure and the loss of everything I had to finally force my hand and give me the ability to step away. Yet while I was playing the pokies, I wasn't gambling on anything else... and in the years since I stopped, no other form of gambling has interested me. It wasn't about the gambling; it was about the pokies and nothing more.

Tom gives a first hand account of what pokie addiction is like and how he thinks the new laws will affect pokie addiction. It is a very illuminating piece of writing and well worth a read considering the current advertising campaign from Clubs Australia.

Climate Doubt

Below I have embedded a great video on how doubt has been created, where none really exists, about climate change.

DOUBT from The Climate Reality Project on Vimeo.

Italian Disgrace

A Quick warning this post might get a bit sweary right at the end!

Perusing the ABC website I found a story about Italian scientists being charged with Manslaughter. It caught my interest and I clicked on the link expecting to see a story about scientists who had been trialling a dodgy drug and people had died.

What I found however was a story about a panel of 6 Geologists. WHAT? How did Geologists cause people to die? The First paragraph explained it all it out to me:

"A group of Italian scientists have gone on trial accused of manslaughter over the 2009 L'Aquila earthquake that killed more than 300 people."

No... Actually wait that doesn't really explain it at all. What these scientists Caused the Earthquake through ill advised geology experiments? Lets see what the rest of the story had to say:

"Prosecutors allege the defendants gave a falsely reassuring statement before the quake and say residents around L'Aquila should have been warned to flee their homes in the days before the quake..... The defendants were members of a panel that had met six days before the April 6 quake to assess risks after hundreds of tremors had shaken the medieval city in Italy's mountainous Abruzzo region. At that meeting, a committee analysed data from the low-magnitude tremors and determined the activity was not a prelude to a major earthquake. The experts had made it clear that it was not possible to predict whether a stronger quake would occur but had recommended stricter enforcement of anti-seismic measures, particularly regarding building construction."

So the scientists analysed the data and failed to predict and earthquake so they are charged with Manslaughter. Just Like everyone else in Italy they failed to predict the earthquake. Just like every person ever to have lived so far they failed to predict an earthquake. They did mention in their statement that " it was not possible to predict whether a stronger quake would occur" and the recommended that "stricter enforcement of anti-seismic measures, particularly regarding building construction".

Vincenzo Vittorini, a doctor who founded the association "309 Martyrs" and lost his wife and daughter in the disaster, said: "No-one expected to be told the exact time of the quake. We just wanted to be warned that we were sitting on a bomb". Wait just a fucking second. Earlier in the story it mentioned that the scientist had assessed the risks after HUNDREDS of minor earthquakes. How can you not know your "sitting on a bomb" when you can feel the Ticking through your ass? You live in an earthquake zone plan for it and build or renovate your house accordingly. Don't be a Cockhead and try and ruin someone else's life just because you FAILED to look after yours. I live in a Cyclone area and I have planned extensively for cyclones including an evacuation plan for the bigger ones. Now you will not know that a earthquake is coming, BECAUSE NO-ONE CAN PREDICT AN EARTHQUAKE, but you can still have an evacuation plan in your house and have designed safe areas in your house where you will survive if the house falls apart.

In an open letter sent to Italian president Giorgio Napolitano, more than 5,000 scientists said the defendants essentially face criminal charges for failing to predict quakes, even though this remains technically impossible. I would like to see Scientists and people from all over the world sign a petition in support of these poor guys being victimised by the Italian government.

It's not just about bike lanes

The Following article by Jan Garrard was published over on the ABC website.

It has long been recognised that urban planning and transport policies in Australia encourage car use and discourage cycling and walking. But what has been less well-recognised is that our road safety policies and practices are also car-oriented. This is arguably a more serious bias, because it results in unacceptably high levels of death and serious injury among unprotected road users such as cyclists.

Australia prides itself on having achieved a relatively low traffic crash fatality rate of 6.8 fatalities per 100,000 population. World's best practice (3.8 fatalities per 100,000 population) is not that far away, and we aspire to achieve it. But Australia's overall fatality rate hides an inconvenient truth - our cyclist fatality and serious injury rates are several times higher than world's best practice, and increasing. 

Cycling accounts for about one per cent of daily trips in Australia, but cyclists comprise two per cent of road transport fatalities and 15 per cent of serious injuries. Serious injury rates for cyclists are increasing as bicycle use increases (by 47 per cent from 2000 to 2007), while for most other road users rates are steady or declining. The relative risk of injury per kilometre travelled is several times higher for a cyclist than for a person in a car.

Improving cycling safety is a key factor for increasing everyday cycling, particularly for the 'missing' cyclists in Australia: women, children, adolescent girls and older adults. It is also important to recognise that perceived safety is as important as actual safety. Most people don't know the relative risk of injury for a bike trip compared to a car trip, but they know how it feels, and cycling in Australia feels risky. 

Cycling safety and cycling prevalence go hand in hand. Not only does the Netherlands have one of the highest rates of cycling in the developed world (27 per cent of daily trips are by bicycle), it also has the lowest cyclist injury rate (1.4 per 10 million kilometres cycled). These figures highlight the potential for a win-win-win-etc scenario. More cycling trips mean more health; cleaner air; less traffic congestion; and more liveable cities; and, if we get it right, fewer road traffic injuries. Achieving high levels of safe cycling begins with acknowledging that cycling is a legitimate form of transport. In Australia we begrudgingly tolerate cyclists on our roads, but the high-cycling countries of Western Europe actually prioritise cycling over driving for the numerous short to medium-distance trips that are a part of daily life. 

The implication of accepting cyclists as legitimate road users is that people who ride bicycles have a right to complete their journey safely. Citizens in high-cycling countries are protected by road safety systems that acknowledge that the greatest risk to cyclists comes from motor vehicles and the way they are driven. The protection is multi-faceted - safe cycling infrastructure is complemented by ethical, moral and legal environments that protect vulnerable road users. In several European countries, the higher standards of duty-of-care for more vulnerable road users include the legal responsibility for car drivers to avoid collisions with cyclists and pedestrians. In these countries the onus is on drivers to prove no-fault when in collisions with pedestrians and cyclists. 

"I just didn't see her", "He came from no-where", or "It was raining/foggy/dark/glary" are not legitimate excuses for colliding with people on bikes or on foot. A driver is expected to anticipate the presence of cyclists and pedestrians on the road, and take action to avoid injuring them. In contrast, drivers in Australia, the USA and UK are far less likely to be held accountable for injuring cyclists and pedestrians, including when the driver clearly is at fault. An analysis of pedestrian and cyclist fatalities in New York City found that most pedestrian and cyclist deaths were caused by dangerous driving (90 per cent), but few of the drivers responsible (26 per cent) received summonses for traffic violations. No comparable analysis has been conducted in Australia, but numerous instances have been reported that demonstrate a similar social and legal tolerance of the harm caused by drivers to cyclists and pedestrians.

The flip side of our reluctance to hold drivers responsible for injuring cyclists and pedestrians is our predilection to blame cyclists themselves. In a classic case of victim-blaming, cyclists are said to be "asking for trouble" by putting themselves in harm's way by cycling on public roads. The implication is that it is cyclists who should avoid hazardous drivers - not the other way around. Australia's National Cycling Strategy (pdf) aims to double cycling by the year 2016. Achieving this target will require investing in good cycling infrastructure. But constructing bike paths and lanes is not an effective stand-alone strategy for achieving high levels of safe cycling. We also need to invest in 'soft infrastructure' in the form of driver and cyclist education and training, and equitable (and equitably enforced) road rules. High levels of safe cycling are underpinned by a culture of respect for the rights of all road users to a safe and comfortable journey regardless of whether their vehicle of choice is a car or a bicycle.

The route to high levels of safer cycling is well-developed, clearly sign-posted, and not particularly difficult, it's simply that it can feel a little alien to a nation whose personal mobility is so all-pervasively car-oriented.

Discoveries

I have discovered Geoff Lemon. When I say discovered I don't mean found a raw talent and introduced him to the world. It's more in the sense of a great independent writer that is already out there but I'm just reading for the first time.

There is something special when you find a writer that can capture ideas well and express them in a fluent way. I follow Marieke Hardy on twitter and she expressed rather a fondness for his writing.

I then followed a link over to Heathen scripture only to find that Geoffs popularity had risen so much since writing his article titled 'You shut your goddamn carbon-taxin’ mouth' that he had to move his blog over to a wordpress account. I found a sometimes rude but mostly funny blog with some true gems. Anyway shut you carbon taxin mouth and the couple of articles that follow are really quite fun to read. I particularly like the following paragraph that he wrote in his article 'Australiar and the f*cking idiot dilemma'

Net result: people will always sulk about what they’ve got if they think that maybe they could have had something better. But a billion dollars is still a billion dollars, regardless of what-ifs in either direction. A business that is even turning a profit, any profit, is doing well, and should be thankful in the scheme of things. A business turning profits in the billions of dollars should just shut the hell up and eat its ice-cream.

Please head over to Heathen scripture and have a little read.

On the Should... Hu Hum... Pedals of Giants

Nearly every bike company on the planet sponsors professional riders. They do this to get their brand name known and to get a bit of a following. The professional riders also provide feedback about the bikes that the company make and aid in the development of next years models. This is all very good and I think everyone can see the importance of this type of marketing/development model.

It doesn't directly interact with everyday riders though. To do that you need to have a program like the one that Giant have just introduced.

I think this is a great idea and will hopefully win Giant a bit extra following. I have never owned a Giant bike but Min has and it was a fun little bike for her and quite cheep in comparison to other brands of Mountain bikes.

Carbon Tax

Finally Australia has decided to join the rest of the world and actually do something about the amount of CO² we are putting into our atmosphere. As always though, the devil is in the details. According to leading economic and law experts over at The Conversation the details, while not suiting all people or all thing, are pretty good.

So what does the carbon tax actually mean to most Australians? Well I think that Get up explained it very well in their 2 minute video, check it out below.

Something every "Straylian" should watch

Unfortunately I missed the first episode of SBS's new documentary which aired last night. 'Go Back to Where You Came From' is an excellent piece of television, a show that can restore some of the faith in the ability of TV to tackle important issues and amazing stories.

As I said unfortunately I missed the first episode, lucky for me though it is freely available on the SBS website. I highly recommend that everyone go there and catch up on last nights episode and tune in tonight and tomorrow night at 8:30 pm.

One thing that truly amazed me was how 'proud Australian' has become synonymous with 'horrible racist'. Such a shame for our country.