Useless Export

I tried Exporting my blog today. You know... there's a link on your dashboard.

I suppose it works, in so far as all of the posts seem to have been exported (in descending order), and all of the comments seem to have been exported (in ascending order), but there's nothing in the export file that links the comments with the original posts.

Absolutely bloody useless.

So now I'll just do it all for myself, post by post, manually. What a pain in the rear end that will be.

Nothing Nuclear Weapons Can't Fix

I don't know. Really. Is he a lunatic, or is that thinking "normal" in his part of the world.

How many people actually think like that? Is it possible to get them to all gather in the one place at the one time? You know... times are tough and those tactical nukes are expensive.

Or do we just wait until they actually do this shit, causing the Americans to retaliate such that the whole bloody region glows in the dark?

It doesn't make me angry any more. It just makes me sad.

And what's perhaps even more scary is the tone of the comments. Ok. I know tangle.com is a Christian site, but seriously, who's whackier, the cleric of the commenters.

For example, this gem from someone called Kelsey Louks, who writes "Its a good thing Christianity has never been used to validate violence. " Um. Kelsey. Ever heard of the Inquisition? Hmmm. Probably not. I suspect it's about as welcome on the curriculum as Evolution.

Or there's the whole "The Tribulation is coming. The end is nigh" thing. I'm sorry... expecting God to save us from Islamic loonies is like praying for a win on the craps tables of Vegas.

What can one say?

Amazing World

I got yet another Nigerian Scam email this morning. This time, it was something about funds being transferred to my bank account. Whatever.

The point is, the scammer put a (fake) address on the bottom of the email. 236 Peckham Rd London.

That address meant I could respond with this...

Jeffrey,
Wow. This is amazing.
236 Peckham Rd.
Wow.
I used to live there. Really. Back in 1997 on a 12 month assignment in London. The big terrace with the green door and the camellias in the back garden.
Has the landlord fixed the leaking tap yet? I bet he hasn't. I called the managing agent every day with that one. It was always "we're looking into it". Seriously. How smart do you have to be to call a bloody plumber?
I remember catching the No 12 bus to work in the West End every morning. We had an office just near Covent Garden market. The bus was always quicker than the tube, and a damned site more comfortable. Too many sweaty people on the tube, don't you think? And from Peckham Rd, The bus was so much more conventient.
Is that great little café still there? You know the one. What's it called? The Como?
And the pub.... The Greyhound. Yes. That's it. Just down the road on the other side of the street. Do you drink there? If you do, say Hi to Annabelle for me. You know. The barmaid with big knockers. She'll remember me. Say "Schlong said hi".
Then there's Wendy's on the way home from the Greyhound after a few beers for a kebab. Not one of the world's great kebab houses, but that made me so homesick, because a lamb kebab on the way home from the pub is just about compulsory in Australia.
Oh... and that pie shop on the corner... Manzes. Fantastic pies, but I just can't bring myself to eat those jellied eels. Have you tried them? Say hi to Michael for me. He's the owner.
Wow.
This is great.
I haven't thought of Peckham Rd for years.
Thanks
Chester

I've never been to Peckham Rd, though I did spend most of 1997 in London working at an office near Covent Garden Market. (They say all good lies have to be based on at least a slither of truth.)

The research took 10 minutes, thanks to Google and StreetView. In a way, that's scary.
Actually, 236 Peckham Rd is a block of apartments. From what I can tell on StreetView, it's a converted terrace, but Jeffrey doesn't know that, I'm sure. There's one to rent there right now, by the way, for about nine hundred pounds a month. Nine hundred quid. For a one bedroom. Pffft.

Another quick Google search yeilded "The Standard Monetary Transfer Control Bank" at that address. It's not real, I'd suspect. You'd think the scammers would invest in some professional web design if they really want to pull his off. Ah well.

See? Isn't the web a wonderful place?

Even More Dangerous

And while we're on the subject of "dangerous to democracy", there's something happening in Australia right now that is, perhaps, the most dangerous of all.

The Labor Government is trialling new net censorship technology. They say it's to block access to child porn (which I would support... the blocking, not the porn). However, child porn clearly isn't the government's true intention, because the way they're implementing the filtering system is cloaked in secrecy, has no independent oversight, amd no right of appeal.

Last month, for example, the filters blocked access to a US anti-abortion site which the government deemed "inappropriate".

So now it's "inappropriate" sites that are to be blocked, and child porn is just a subset of that. And who decides what's inappropriate?

The government.

No. Stop. You're talking about Australia Chester. It's one of the few places left on earth where freedom and democracy are cherished, isn't it?

Well it used to be, but apparently no longer.

The web content filtering trial isn't about censoring child porn. It's about implementing technology that can censor ANY information that doesn't fit with what the government (or some nameless, faceless bureaucrat) deems 'appropriate'.

Last month, it was the anti-abortion website. This month, it's a Danish site that reveals something of the inner workings of the censorship itself. Next month? Maybe they'll switch off sites that raise concerns about union right of entry in their new IR package, or maybe they’ll turn attention to criticism of their ill conceived stimulus package And after that, how long before they find something on chesterbear.blogspot.com that they deem ‘inappropriate’?

Don’t you get it? Whatever the excuse, and whatever the merits of censoring genuinely objectionable sites (like child porn), no government should be allowed to implement technology like this without independent judicial oversight, because once that technology’s in place, it can be turned on anything a government doesn’t like.

What are we, China? Saudi Arabia? North Korea? Zimbabwe? I'm sorry, but I'm not comfortable with my nation being on that list.

I know the economy is at risk. I know the government’s got the proposed Emissions Trading Scheme all wrong, but there is no greater threat to this nation than giving a government the ability to arbitrarily censor criticism, and if you don’t believe that once the technology’s in place, sooner or later they’ll use it, then you are out of touch with the true nature of politics.

I urge you to write to Senator Conroy, the Minister responsible. His email address is senator.conroy@aph.gov.au.

Also write to people who are in a position to oppose this. Here's a short list.
Malcolm Turnbull, Leader of the Opposition - Malcolm.Turnbull.MP@aph.gov.au
Senator Nick Xenaphon, Independent Senator - http://www.aph.gov.au/Senate/senators/homepages/contact.asp?id=8IV
Senator Steven Fielding, Leader of Family First - senator.fielding@aph.gov.au
Senator Scott Ludlam, Greens Telecommunications Spokesman - senator.ludlam@aph.gov.au
Senator Nick Minchin, Opposition Telecommunications Shadow Minister - http://www.aph.gov.au/Senate/senators/homepages/contact.asp?id=JX4

And write to your newspapers, call your radio stations, talk about this with your friends and work colleagues.

If we do nothing, we won't have a democracy.

Dangerous

I read with alarm over the weekend that the Australian Labor Party has effectively taken over the Australian Red Cross, making it a defacto wing. They did that first by having one of their own, former Aboriginal Affairs Minister Robert Tickner, appointed as its CEO. Ok. I should clarify... The Red Cross appointed him, but since that appointment, Tickner has progressively politicised the organisation by appointing ex-Labor staffers and ex-union leaders to key positions.

The've then developed a cozy relationship with Labor Governments, both at a Federal and State level, such the the Red Cross has now become "the charity of choice" for many government initiatives, and is an instrument of Labor policy.

For example, the Red Cross controls the A$200m + that's been raised for the Victorian Bushfire Appeal, to the exclusion of other charities like The Salvation Army which raised $16m of its own, but has been frozen out of the comittee which will decide on how and where the aid is spent.

Salvation Army insiders are reported as saying that they are concerned at the closeness of the Red Cross/Labor relationship, and that, increasingly, to be selected for government partnerships, an NGO has to be seen to be a vocal supporter of the Labor government. Worse, they believe speaking out against government policy means an organisation could be sidelined.

This is a dangerous road for the Australian democracy. It's the sort of corrupt tactic that's commonplace in the third world, where governments attempt to remain in power by controlling every facet of a society.

I'm sure the Red Cross does good work. I just don't believe it ought be become an instrument of politics.

Eloquence

News Ltd CEO Rupert Murdoch received the American Jewish Comittee National Humanitarian Award this week and I'd like to quote from his acceptance speech. (Rupert, I hope that's OK with you.)

He had delivered a succinct summation of the situation in Israel and Gaza, and he ended with this...

My friends, I do not pretend to have all the answers to Gaza this evening. But I do know this: The free world makes a terrible mistake if we deceive ourselves into thinking this is not our fight. In the end, the Israeli people are fighting the same enemy we are: cold-blooded killers who reject peace … who reject freedom … and who rule by the suicide vest, the car bomb, and the human shield. Against such an enemy, I will not second-guess the decisions of a free Israel defending her citizens. And I would ask all those who support peace and freedom to do the same.

I encourage you to read the full test of his speech HERE

What Would You Do IV

How close do you think Iran is to developing nuclear weapons?

What do you think they'll do with them once they have them?

Think about this... think of just about any terrorist attack on Israel, the United States, and The West over the last 20 years, and you'll find the hand of Iran in there.

Those rocket attacks from Gaza into Israel... supplied and funded by Iran.
The Taliban... funded by Iran.
and I could go on and on, but you get the idea.

So here's anotehr hypothetical...

You're the head of a small country surrounded by enemies. One of those enemies, Iran, has vowed to bring about your total destruction. Its leaders use words like "we will wipe you off the map" on an almost daily basis.

That country is actively developing nuclear weapons, and all the while, it lies to the rest of the world about its intentions.

The day when they have enough fissionable material is fast approaching. SOme anaysts even think it has passed.

What would you do?

Make no mistake. A nuclear armed Iran which continues to fund terrorism on a global scale is an extremely dangerous animal. It doesn't just threaten Israel. It threatens you, because the creed of the people with their fingers on the trigger is that through bringing about the deaths of non-believers, they ensure their place in heaven.

Be afraid, and hope someone finds a solution sooner rather than later.

What Would You Do III

Did you know that Hamas terrorists are still firing rockets from Gaza into southern Israel?

That's right, more than 200 of them since the end of the Israeli military action on January 18.

Yesterday, they launched 5.

Where is the international condemnation?
Where are the protesters on the streets?
Where are the spineless leaders of governments, who fail to stand up and utter any words of condemnation?
Where is the United Nations, the bureaucratic and politicised waste of space that is so quick to condemn when Israel defends itself?

Do I sound pissed off? Good. Because I am... bloody pissed off.

Israel is a beacon of civilisation in a cesspit of lunacy. Every day, thousands of tonnes of humanitarian aid and supplies cross from southern Israel into Gaza... 131,477 tons of aid and 12,701,900 liters of fuel since January 18. Show me one other nation anywhere on earth that would permit supplies to flow across its border into a territory whose leaders refuse to abandon war and calls for its destruction. You can't, because it wouldn't happen.

So let me ask you for a third time... if you were the leader of a nation, and lunatic terrorists hell bent on your destruction and the death of all of your people were firing rockets at you from the territory next door, and the leadership of that territory was either complicit in those attacks or failed comprehensively to stop them, what would you do?

Don't answer, because anything other than "I'd blow the crap out of them" isn't the truth.

Israel is showing extraordinary restraint.

Tara And Bella

I'll admit it. I cried.

Charge It!

I noticed yesterday that the world's major mobile phone manufacturers have reached an agreement to standardise phone chargers across all models and all brands. One charger will then be able to charge any phone.

All I can say is "it's about bloody time". It always seemed the incredible waste, stupidity and excess that each time you bought a new phone, the charger was different. I have a box full of the things sitting in my attic... it seems such a waste to throw them out, but, of course, the phones they belong to have long gone.

My only hope is that laptop makers follow the lead.

Validation

I know this is long (16 minutes), but I can not recommend it to you more highly.

Zac's Day

The webcam at Zac's daycare caught him in an uncharacteristically quiet few moments today.

Dangerous Felon

Police in Nigeria detained a goat last Thursday on suspicion of attempted armed robbery.

Really. They did. In fact, not only did they arrest the goat, they paraded him in front of bewildered media at a press briefing.

Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Tunde Mohammed, explained that the goat is an armed robber who attempted to snatch a Mazda car on Wednesday night, and later transformed into the goat in a bid to escape arrest.

He explained that men of a vigilance group in Anifowose Ipata/Oloje areas of the state capital had chased two armed robbery suspects who wanted to demobilise a Mazda car with the intention of stealing it, and "while one of them escaped, the other was about to be apprehended by the team when he turned his back on the wall and turned to this goat", Mohammed said.

"They quickly grabbed the goat and here it is.’’

The police spokesman said the goat "armed robbery suspect" will not be let off the hook until investigations into the case are concluded. Actually, he's reported as saying "left off the hook", which presumably points to the fate awaiting the goat if he is released.

Really. I didn't make this up. The full story is here in the Nigerian newspaper, The Vanguard.

Stunning Skill

I hope all of my readers appreciate the stunning skill displayed this week by Captain Chesley Sullenberger, pilot of the ill fated US Airways flight 1549 that ditched into the Hudson River earlier this week.

This is the first time in aviation history that a commercial airliner has made a "water landing" and survived in tact. It was a remarkable piece of flying, because Sullenberger needed to put that plane into the water absolutely horizontal from wingtip to wingtip. Just a few degrees out, and one side of the plane would have hit the water before the other, creating draq and torque that would have turned the plane sideways, flipped it over and smashed it into very small pieces. Just look at what happened to Ethiopian Airlines flight 961 which ditched into the Indian Ocean near a beach in Cormoros in 1996, killing 125 of the 175 people on board.

That could easily have been the outcome on the Hudson this week, if not for the exceptional skill of Captain Sullenberger.

Footnote: At the bottom of a report on the crash in the Sydney Morning Herald today were the usual Googleads, this time spruiking "Fear of Flying" courses.

In Their Own Words

I don't think I have anything more to add, other than the words of Benjamin Netenyahu...

'If the Arabs put down their weapons today, there would be no more violence. If the Jews put down their weapons today, there would be no more Israel'

Barak "H" Obama

I was listening to an NPR report on the upcoming innauguration the other day, and one thing struck me as odd.

They were playing clips from the rehearsal.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the 43rd President of the United States, George Walker Bush" the announcer declared.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the President Elect of the Unites States, Barak H Obama."

Um... his middle name is Hussein. "H"? What's with that?

We'll see what they do on the day.

2012

There's a doomsday prophecy bouncing around in my head right now that is making me think about planning for the worst.

Now I know doomsday prophecies are usually rooted in serious use of halucinogens or the waving of chicken bones over alternating lines of salt and sand but this one has some scientific legs that are tied to the cycle of solar flares and magnetic storms.

The sun, according to accepted astronomy, operates in regular 11 year cycles. Right now, we're coming out of a "quiet" period, so quiet that some astronomers have called it "the calm before the storm", and so quiet that 2008 was the first year since 1900 that the sun had a period during which there were no sun spots. Solar flare and magnetic storm activity will gradually rise over the next four years, reaching a peak late in 2012.

You probably already know that solar flare activity can interfere with radio communications and can even knock out satellites. What you may not know is that there can be a profound effect down here on the ground too.

Time for some quick science... The earth, as you know, is magnetically polarised. They don't call them the North and South Poles for fun. We're like a giant magnet floating in space, and our magnetic field deflects and traps charged particles ejected from the sun. Without the magnetosphere, we'd be bombarded with radiation and life on earth would be in trouble.

The sun also has a magnetic field, called the heliosphere, only instead of being relatively stable like ours, the sun's magnetic poles shift around erratically.

Each time there's a solar flare or magnetic storm eminating from the sun, it's magnetically charged. If it's oriented one way, our magnetic shield happily blocks it, creating a very pretty dancing light show in the far north and far south of our planet.

If it's aligned the other way, billions of watts of charged particles bombard the earth. The atmosphere is, literally, electrified. A single storm contains enough electrical energy to power all human activity on earth, and without protection from that much energy. trouble is at hand.

In 1859 a super magnetic storm fused the coils in many telegraph stations, shorted wires and started fires. In fact, if it hadn't been for those telegraphs, we probably wouldn't have noticed because you could count on the fingers of one hand the number of other electrical appliances in use at the time.

Today, though, we live in a different world, where everything, and I really do mean everything relies on electricity and/or electronics.

Which brings me back to 2012...

Astronomers estimate that an 1859 style super storm comes every hundred years or so. That means we're 50 years past the due date, and if the next magnetic storm is "the big one", and if that "big one" is oriented the wrong way, every microchip on earth that's not properly shielded will cease to function.

Copper coils will fuse. Some will even melt as they absorb the massive energy from the atmosphere. Copper coils... you know... like the coils in generators, electric motors, power transformers, radio transmitters and even on your computer's motherboard.

The last time it happened was in 1989 when a relatively minor solar storm shut down the power grid in the North Eastern US and Canada. "Minor."

Are you getting the picture?

If the next cycle of solar storms produces "the big one", and if it's oriented the wrong way, everything we rely on to keep our civilisation functioning will stop working.

First, the power generation system will go down. The huge transformers that convert power coming out of the generators to power we can plug out TVs into will be destroyed, and because this equipment is so specialised, there's only enough manufacturing capability to turn out a couple a month to replace the thousands lost.

No electricity means no refrigeration. No refrigeration means no food in the cities. Food supplies will be gone in just a few days.

Food? That's nothing. Water purification and pumping will also stop. No running water. No water treatment. No sewage system. Drinkable water supplies will disappear within 24 hours.

Pumps will stop working, which means subway and road tunnels will quickly flood.

When the Visigoths sacked Rome in 410AD, they destroyed the aquaducts that fed water into the city. Almost overnight, the population of Rome dropped from more than a million to a few thousand and the city became unlivable. It was the end of Civilisation as they knew it, and the end of the Roman Empire.

Radio communication will also shut down. That battery powered radio you have hidden away somewhere for major emergencies will pick up nothing but static, if it works at all. No TV either. No phones, mobile or otherwise, and no internet. In fact, no electronic communication of any kind. No newspapers or printing presses either. No means other than word of mouth for getting any message or instructions from anyone in charge to anyone else.

No banking. All of our banking records are held electronically, and while the data won't be lost, the bank's won't have an ability to retrieve it. That means no money, which means commere will cease.

Transportation systems, from your car up will no longer function. The electronics will be fried so you won't even be able to get them started. Actually, that's not entirely true. Some properly shielded military vehicles will run though they will be overwhelmed. A few really old diesels will run too, but you'd need to hand start them first and because of the compression of a diesel, that's no mean feat.

Of course, nothing will be flying for the same reason.

A recent report from the National Academy of Sciences estimates that such a storm could "shut down the United States" for months, if not years. They estimate that recovery from such an event could take ten years or more.

They're being conservative, but even if the shut down was only partial and even if it only lasted for a few weeks, the death toll will be far beyond any natural disaster we've ever experienced.

Guns will still work though. That's a bigger problem in the USA than it is here in Australia, but it's a problem everywhere because governments will have no capability to co-ordinate any law and order effort. For the first weeks after the event, it will be survival of the best armed.

Now here's the spooky bit...

The Aztec Calendar Stone, properly called Cuauhxicalli Eagle Bowl and created in 1479, predicts "the end of the world" on December 24, 2011.

The Chinese I-Ching calendar is said to predict the "end of the world" at about the same time.

And finally, the Mayan calendar, on which the Aztec calendar was based, ends on December 21, 2012.

Hmmmm... better disconnect from the grid, get the bunker stocked and the household electrics shielded. Don't complain that you weren't warned.

One Last Thought

Journalist Paul Sheehan wrote an exceptional analysis of the Gaza mess in the Sydney Morning Herald today. I commend it to you.

Hybrid

Hey Honda... if this ad's not really yours, it should be.

And then there's this...

This is a clip from Palestinian TV.

The whole thing is just a bloody mess, driven by a political agenda of hatred lies and manipulation.