moon phases

Started this before change to "New Blogger", as backup in case of trouble with digiphoto blog "In a Small Dark Room", or rants & links blog "Hello Cruel World" . Useful - at one stage Dark Room was there, but like the astrophysical Dark Matter, we could't see it ... better now, but kept Just In Case.

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There is nothing. There is no God and no universe, there is only empty space, and in it a lost and homeless and wandering and companionless and indestructible Thought. And I am that thought. And God, and the Universe, and Time, and Life, and Death, and Joy and Sorrow and Pain only a grotesque and brutal dream, evolved from the frantic imagination of that same Thought.
Mark Twain (letter to Joseph Twichell after his wife's death)
[me, on a bad day]

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WRITER'S LINKS
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Absolute Write is one of the leading sites for information on writing and publishing, especially the scam versions thereof. It has a broad, deep online community with an enormous message base going back years. Now it needs help. See the details and discussion here
Preditors and Editors
Everything you wanted to know about literary agents
On the getting of agents
Writer Beware
Miss Snark
Writer's Net

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(and my Wish List)

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New Year's Eve Fireworks in Sydney 2007-2008  
Wal, that t'were right purdy. I'm back to eat dinner after watching the 'family fireworks' over Sydney Harbour. They start at 9pm AEST, just as the last colour deepens into a dark sky.

There was talk about there being new '3D' pyrotechnic effects. I think they meant those ones that seemed to be in spiral or lozenge shapes, and some odd-looking ones that might have been the outlines of cubes. Lots of a variety of the classical types too, I like the multi-puffball, where a dozen or so small dandelion-seedhead-shaped puffs arc out gracefully into a near-sphere from a central explosion. The pyrotechnicians use about 14 laptop computers (half are backups in case of failure) to coordinate and set off the 'cues'.

Looking forward to midnight, when we get more, plus a special display on the Harbour Bridge — that'll be the one you'll probably see clips from on New Year Celebrations coverage. I'm not well enough for the buffeting of the crowds in the streets and parks, so one of the advantages of the flat near the hospital I picked is that the roof (with clotheslines) is accessible and has a view towards the harbour (from one corner you can even see the bridge).

Wishing all here whatever they hope for the future turns out, and their fears don't.

This latest medical trouble was a shock, and quite rocked me back on my heels. Disruptions from holiday closures and people being away means we still don't quite know what the situation is yet, more tests are scheduled over the next weeks. I just finished watching all of Buffy, the Vampire Slayer on DVD, and that and Hogfather might have helped morale.

Labels: anniversaries, Australia, medical

More ... [permalink] posted by Mez at 9:54 pm

 
Mediproblems continued: Not Good News (Metastisis)  
Thursday after Christmas I went into the Oncology Clinic to get the results of the tests, including the examination of the fluid drained from my lung. They found cancer cells in the fluid. In the chest & abdomen CT scan they could see some substantial infiltration of my liver with abnormal cells, as well as the fluid-filled lung and its collapsed structure.

It's the breast cancer from 2006 metastized, I'll be starting up chemotherapy in a few weeks. This time, after the trouble with my veins collapsing — remember because of the surgery affecting my arm on the mastectomy side, which has now given rise to lymphoedema, they can only use the other arm for injections, taking blood, or even testing blood pressure — they will be implanting an injectable port in my chest. Again because of the disruption on the operated side, it'll be on the right side, which is the side the lung is filling up.

Labels: medical, quotidian

More ... [permalink] posted by Mez at 12:59 am

 
continued: Not Good News (Lung Drainage)  
So after being faffed around on Monday, I was able to get an appointment at the Oncology Unit on Tuesday (1 week before Christmas) when I was supposed to be at work. Another bunch of blood tests, the doctor (registrar under the consultant) tried to get an appointment to get the fluid in my lung drained. Originally arranged for Wednesday, which meant I could be there for the last day of work before we broke up for the Christmas-New Year break, by the afternoon of Tuesday it was postponed to Thursday morning. So I was able to go into work on the Wednesday, finish off a bit of work, distribute the goodies I'd put together, and collect some myself.

Bright and early on Thursday, presented my poor tender, breathless body for some help. They used ultrasound to visualize the inside while I sat sideways hooked over a chairback with my arm up on my opposite shoulder, then took a couple of stabs to get the bit they wanted. The first go made me feel quite sick, as well as feeling quite unpleasant (They'd applied local anaesthetic as well as antiseptic to the skin, so all the sensation was internal.) The second try, they also gave me oxygen to breathe. Whether it was that or because they were hitting a different set of nerves, although there was a very uncomfortable, deep sort of achey sensation (almost like joint pain or bone ache), I wasn't nauseated. They took a sample of the fluid for testing.

So I was hooked up to a plastic tube that drained into a cute little plastic receptacle with measurements marked on it, and a handle to carry around. They put me in a wheelchair with it & the oxygen cylinder, and we went up from the basement to the chemotherapy ward of happy memory where I sat with my drain inserted, draining for a couple of hours. Strangely, I hadn't slept at all well — only partly because of problems breathing — so although I had a book and was reading it, I also drifted off to sleep a few times. When no more fluid was draining out, one of the nurses extracted the tube and put a dressing over both the wounds.

After a little while it was back down to get another chest x-ray to see how well it had worked. Unluckily, the lung was still partially collapsed. On the plus side, I could breathe rather easier, if not normally. On the minus side, especially once the anaesthetic wore off, the stab wounds, internally as well as externally, hurt, and more when I coughed, and there was an irritation that made me cough a fair bit. Then it was a week to wait, including Christmas, for my next appointment to get the test results and see how the lung & I got on.

Labels: medical, quotidian

More ... [permalink] posted by Mez at 10:20 pm

 
Catch-up on more recent medical news  
Arrgh! More mediproblems. Quick catch-up. Possibly lack of posting has something to do with the tiredness & lack of energy. After the exploratory operation at the end of November to check on a different problem, my breathlessness was getting worse, despite keeping up gym attendance.

Finally got to a doctor. My (new) GP sent me off for a bunch of tests, because it could be any of several different causes. [Leaving out a whole recital of a pretty miserable day severely summarised below, might vent nearby later.] The first was a chest X-ray. After I finally found the place, the radiologist came out to talk, was worried about how I'd get home/wherever, and wanted me to take the X-ray straight back to the Medical Centre for the GP. Got back to Medical Centre, left X-ray, went to get blood taken for other tests near home [Big part of misery.] and grabbed groceries on the way home. [Free bread! Another story for later.] Got home to rest before heading to city to get Christmas needs and Medical Centre phoned to make appointment for later in the day, instead of original Monday appointment.

[Taxi problem! Part of 'venting' story.] Doctor seemed worried by the fluid on my lungs, wanted me to go back to one of my cancer units, possibly on Saturday. I said if possible could it wait 'til Monday (), and she said OK, but be prepared to go to Emergency if I started to have trouble breathing. I had to phone around my Tuesday night support group to tell them I might not be in if hospital keeps me.

Well, have survived weekend [Good story with friends, and watched 'Idiocracy' with two of them.] Getting ready to go to Oncology today. Packing bag to allow for possible overnight or longer stay, just in case.

Labels: medical, quotidian

More ... [permalink] posted by Mez at 9:03 am

 
Pocket Films Festival  
Pocket Films Festival: "Pocket Films Festival" a Japanese site for people who've made films on their mobile phone camera (www.pocketfilms.jp/en). Also available in French & Japanese. The mobile phone film festival started in France in 2005.

Here's an article from Excite News about it: . I don't know how long these stories stay available online.
Films Shot on Camera Phones Get Showcase
Dec 7, 6:15 AM (ET)
By YURI KAGEYAMA
apnews.excite.com/article/20071207/D8TCINMO0.html

YOKOHAMA, Japan (AP) - Masked and demure, she speaks from the tiny screen of a cell phone like a thumb-size fairy forever trapped inside. "Welcome home," she says softly to the viewer. "Speak to me about anything."
The minuscule video is among the works on display at a film festival that opened Friday in this Japanese port town, featuring 48 movies - all shot on camera-equipped cell phones.
Hazy and raw but urgently personal, these pocket-size statements on film, like Yuka Kojima's five-minute "Thumb Girl," were selected from more than 400 entries in an international contest.
The works, streaming on monitors of cell phones strapped to tables, are filled with everyday shots, …

Labels: phones, pix, video

More ... [permalink] posted by Mez at 8:29 am

 
Saying Yes to Mess?  
Saying Yes to Mess - by PENELOPE GREEN
Published: December 21, 2006 New York Times

Last week David H. Freedman, another amiable mess analyst (and science journalist), stood bemused in front of the heathery tweed collapsible storage boxes with clear panels ($29.99) at the Container Store in Natick, Mass., and suggested that the main thing most people’s closets are brimming with is unused organizing equipment. “This is another wonderful trend,” Mr. Freedman said dryly, referring to the clear panels. “We’re going to lose the ability to put clutter away. Inside your storage box, you’d better be organized.

More ... [permalink] posted by Mez at 6:25 pm

 
Federal Election 2007  
It was a wonderful, wonderful night. Started out watching SkyNews at gym, listened to radio coverage on the way home, almost crying with hope on the bus, surfed around the TV coverage while cooking 'n' stuff at home, then watched the concession & victory speeches "jointly" by phone with some nearly-hysterical friends. Greatly enjoyed the different stations' approaches. Did anyone else boggle at Jeff Kennett's mo, or find the Potplant of Destiny fascinating, or watching Kerry O'Brien's body language, &c, &c?

By midnight when they closed down, I was too excited to sleep, so walked up & down Oxford Street (near where I live at the moment) under the glorious full moon watching the celebrating crowds greeting whoever was in a Kevin07 t-shirt before joining my friends in their local club where we spent a couple of very mellow hours smiling, talking, laughing, and raising glasses in many toasts like "to Barnaby Joyce, the new Nowhere Man", "to John Howard's retirement" and so forth.

I'm not happy with the Blair-like far too 'conservative' Rudd style of Labor, but at least there's some hope of steering away from the fear, hate, regression to pre-democratic ways and appeal to all the worst tendencies in people and communities that have depressed me so much for so many years.

Labels: history, politics

More ... [permalink] posted by Mez at 6:52 pm

 
Big Day  
It's Election Day today.

Labels: history, politics

More ... [permalink] posted by Mez at 10:39 am

 
Firestorm  
William Strutt, artist. Black Thursday, February 6th 1851. Oil on canvas, 106 x 343 cm. H280049. La Trobe Picture Collection - No 75 Autumn 2005 - La Trobe Journal: "William Strutt, artist. Black Thursday, February 6th 1851. Oil on canvas, 106 x 343 cm. H280049. La Trobe Picture Collection"

Labels: history, pix

More ... [permalink] posted by Mez at 12:29 am

 
Room 101 ‘The Worst Thing‘  
I've recently read a couple of mentions of one's own personal ‘Room 101' — the worst torture of yourself you can imagine — and how you shouldn't ever reveal it. I've been building up courage to ask or discuss a point about that, which also ties in with earlier points about how torture affects the victim.

What if some of the worst things you were afraid of did happen, but not as torture? Several bouts of different diseases: surgery, drugs, painful & difficult treatments & rehabilitation over a few short years, leaving permanent deformities & ongoing disabilities. Some of the treatment is close to torture, tho' done with all care & good intent.
Overlapping with those, deaths & other very painful family difficulties.
Resulting from these & medical stuff, some large & complex financial problems.

On hearing the diagnosis of my most recent serious disease, I was almost disappointed that it wasn't a probably-terminal recurrence of a previous one. I could have ‘settled my affairs‘ & enjoyed what time I had left. But it was new, and I had to face many months of new pain & struggle.

So far, I've physically survived — less a few important bodily bits — but rather than feeling ‘refined by fire‘ or strengthened, or learning deep spiritual lessons, etc, etc, etc, I feel broken: weak, distractable, fearful, often depressed, less able to do now what I could do before in almost every way. One friend likened it to post-traumatic stress disorder.

Some places I've been on the Internet are more comforting than the ‘inspirational‘ stories I see around in the media, where various people overcome their suffering to run a marathon, or something of that sort, and say that the disease or accident was ‘the best thing that's happened‘ to them because of the good things they've learnt. There I read of people dealing with their problems, or suffering through them, but not usually praising them.

Labels: medical, memories, torture

More ... [permalink] posted by Mez at 4:21 pm

 
Boyer Lectures online  
I'm alerting y'all to the start of the 2007 Boyer Lectures. This series (the 48th) is called Restoring The Senses. It's available streaming, or as a podcast or transcript from www.abc.net.au/rn/boyerlectures (don't be put off by the short excursion into philosophy/theology near the beginning). Their summary:

"Professor Graeme Clark, creator of the bionic ear, is ABC Radio National's Boyer lecturer for 2007. In this series of six lectures … Professor Clark draws on decades of experience as a clinician, surgeon and researcher to celebrate our senses. He also tells the compelling story of how the bionic ear was created, and provides an insight into the extraordinary future of bionics."

Archives, either as transcripts or audio recordings, back as far as 1997 are also available on the ABC site.

Labels: audio, biology, health, medicine, nature, science

More ... [permalink] posted by Mez at 11:09 am

 
Remembrance Day 2007  
Remembering the Great War, 2007
11/11/11 (2006)
Ghosts of the Great War, 2003
Ghosts of the Great War, 2004
Ghosts of the Great War, 2005

Labels: anniversaries, history

More ... [permalink] posted by Mez at 10:40 am

 
Back to the 'Fifties, again  

The path down which so many of us worry 'WorkChoices' leads — part of a story about working in the USA ('Tales From Kafka Station', below, from the Undulant Fever blog).

This is one of the reasons I get so croggled that there's an idea that one would vote for the Liberal Party (of Australia)'s policies "because I'm worried about my (grand)children". I actually saw someone write this in a printed newspaper during the previous election. His (yes, it was a male) whole argument in his letter led, as I read it, to one point; except the final sentence was the exact opposite of what I thought. The mental sensation was very like being abruptly spun around physically.

Apart from the harmful things that those policies (or sometimes the lack of any policy) do to the environment, which will detrimentally effect those following generations, they affect society in a way that is of detriment to the majority of people in it, in things like working conditions for instance. Again, I'll repeat that it's not the 1950s that John Howard is reviving, it's the 1850s.

undulantfever.blogspot.com/ 2007/ 10/ tales-from-kafka-station.html

Tales From Kafka Station
10/20/2007
But I think the major part of it may be that this is part of a tendency among Big Business (not just the Postal Service) that's been growing for years, to deliver -- subtly or blatantly -- a message to employees that "Your Life Belongs To US!"

Forced overtime. Cancelled days off. Restrictions on use of leave time. And all growing more and more frequent, more and more the "standard" model of a working environment, more and more what American workers expect to find in the workplace, more and more what's considered normal.

What I was told in that office was just a step away from actually being forbidden to see a doctor on my day off, because in the eyes of management, every day of an employee's life belongs to them.

That's not an employee/management situation.

The name for that is slavery.

In Australia, following the British law, most official employment in the nineteenth century, gradually changing through the twentieth, was under the Master & Servant Act. Many of the concepts were very similar to so-called 'modern' work ideas; stripping away the 'playing-field-levelling' and protections built up with so much time & struggle.

"Much of the labour law which has evolved in the 20th century … stems from an experience-based perception that the market constraint is not a sufficient protection." – Keith Hancock, senior deputy president (1992-1997), Australian Industrial Relations Commission

Labels: history, industrial relations, IR, politics, society, USA

More ... [permalink] posted by Mez at 9:59 am

 
It's 9/11 (9th November) again – Kristallnacht  


An eyewitness account by Erich Kästner, is included with other memories — look under the heading 'Crystal Night, 1938'
Earlier remembrances on this blog — 2002; 2003; 2004; 2006;

Two of many Historical links
www.remember.org/ fact.fin.kristal.html
www.us-israel.org/ jsource/ Holocaust/ kristallnacht.html

Some of the Consequences of Kristallnacht
A Promise to My Grandfather: A Follow Up
www.dailykos.com/ story/ 2005/ 3/ 4/ 151715/5913
by amprather
Fri Mar 04, 2005 at 04:07:33 PM PST

Labels: anniversaries, history

More ... [permalink] posted by Mez at 12:02 am

 
Edge of Asperger's?  
I'm not sure how soundly-based the quiz is. But heres the link — www.rdos.net/ eng/ Aspie-quiz.php — so you can check it yourself if you want to.

My 'Aspie' score: 151 of 200
My neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 60 of 200
This makes me very likely an 'Aspie'
[PDF] File

Labels: people, quiz, test

More ... [permalink] posted by Mez at 12:05 am

 
Very Useful story - soon for sidebar  
Counterpunch 27 August, 2007
Manuel Garcia, Jr
"You Are Now Entering a Black Hole. 911 Emergency!"

More ... [permalink] posted by Mez at 11:35 am

 
Old Rush  
I've been remembering the classic old Aussie ABC TV Series Rush (imdb) set in the Victorian Goldfields during our gold rush, with the very catchy George Dreyfus theme music (MP3 excerpt) quoting folk tunes, and the incredibly swoonable-at brooding, mysterious Sgt McKellar (next step after Captain Scarlet, see below). You can actually now get DVDs not of the original series – curses — but of a more recent revoiced parody called The Olden Days, by the comedy group D-Generation, part of their The Late Show.

A friend entertained me while I was sick last year by (among other things) showing me episodes from his DVD box set of the UFO series. Not too bad at all. We only saw some of the Gerry Anderson series in Oz. My fave was Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons (poster) with its unseen villains — how can you have a schoolgirl crush on a puppet? People are strange.

The gullwing door cars, like the series, distinctly pre-date the 1980s Delorean, e.g. the Mercedes Benz 300L (some here) is from the 1950s.

Labels: cars, memories, music, tv

More ... [permalink] posted by Mez at 6:29 pm

 
Not Donne with Inquisitors yet  

From slacktivist: Inquisitors: Aug 16, 2007
slacktivist.typepad.com/ slacktivist/ 2007 /08/ inquisitors.html

.. let me direct your attention to a post from Harper's Scott Horton: 'John Donne and the Outlawing of Torture.' (harpers.org/ archive/ 2007/ 08/ hbc-90000907)

Donne's sermon "Against the Abomination of Torture" for Easter Sunday, 17 April 1625 at St Pauls, online: (www.lib.byu.edu/ dlib/ donne [PDF] or see Harpers copy)

Only three years after this sermon, following the assassination of the Duke of Buckingham, the lawyers and judges of England assembled in the Inns of Court in London to consider a special question put to them by the king. Was the practice of torture to be permitted by the common law?

And the judges met, deliberated and declared “upon their sacred honour, and the honour of England” that the answer was “no.” That marked the end of legalized torture in the English-speaking world &hellip

Related Links
www.csmonitor.com/ 2007/ 0814/ p11s01-usju.html (Warren Richey) August 14, 2007 "US Gov't broke Padilla through intense isolation, say experts"
www.atlanticfreepress.com/ content/ view/ 2188/ 1/ (Chris Floyd) 15 August 2007 "Monsters Among Us: Living in a Torture State"
www.newyorker.com/ reporting/ 2007/ 08/ 13/ 070813fa_fact_mayer (Jane Mayer) August 13, 2007 "The Black Sites"

Labels: history, politics

More ... [permalink] posted by Mez at 1:44 pm

 
Relationships  
Reminds me of a song by Judy Small I still remember quite well.
[Links to lyrics: unionsong.com/ u295.html and
deafpagan.com/ 2007/ 05/ 27/ a-womans-song-for-memorial-day]

The chorus is

The first time it was fathers the last time it was sons
And in between your husbands marched away with drums and guns
And you never thought to question you just went on with your lives
'Cause all they'd taught you who to be was mothers, daughters, wives

[ sample (RealMedia) or Amazon and full-tune midi ]
I think it's originally from 'Ladies & Gems', aka 'Mothers, Daughters, Wives'.

Links:

www.folktrax.com/ sound/ cmr005_4.ram
www.amazon.com/ Best-Judy-Small-Word-Mouth/ dp/ B0000023YC
www.singout.org/ midis/ 444/ mothe.mid

My mother would have been about the age of the generation she's singing about.

But speaking of pain, I saw the Sydney production of the opera Dead Man Walking this week. It was pretty good. At the moment I prefer it to A Streetcar Named Desire, seen a month ago. They used the same bloke (Teddy Tahu Rhodes) to play the main male protagonist, he can successfully pull off the scene where Joe is doing & counting push-ups bare-chested, then sings quite a bit. (There's also an odd little cameo by Alan Jones (check his cast listing to see why it's odd).) Anyway, the show might 'make one to think' as well as feel.

Labels: music

More ... [permalink] posted by Mez at 11:01 pm

 
Annihilation: Black Hole  
'Annihilation', from the Latin word nihil, meaning nothingness, nothing, absence, zero.

Utter destruction: eradication, extermination, extinction, extinguishment, extirpation, liquidation, obliteration.
putting an end to: abolishment, abolition, abrogation, annulment, cancellation, defeasance, invalidation, negation, nullification, voidance.

In law: avoidance, extinguishment.

Images

www.spaceref.com/ news/ viewpr.html?pid=10345
www.djspiral.com/ images/ graphics/ BlackHole.html
www.spaceref.com/ news/ viewpr.html?pid=10290
www.bbc.co.uk/ derby/ unexplained/ unexplained_websites.shtml
www.cosmographica.com/ gallery/ portfolio/ portfolio101/ pages/ 131-BlackHole.htm
www.spaceprime.com/ blackhole.htm
www.thestarsareout.com
www.exn.net/ Stories/ 2000/ 01/ 13/ 57.asp

Sheer joy that Liberal Party is worried. I'm not sanguine about the result, though; many a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip, as the old saying goes. I do like the use of the word they so freely and without feeling or care liked to use to wipe out people from consideration being used repeatedly in the dictionary/thesaurus entries for the word they are worried about for themselves. (I used to carp and say they should use 'extinction' rather than 'extinguishment', because that might bring people up a little short and get them to think.)

Labels: astronomy, language, pix, politics, space

More ... [permalink] posted by Mez at 12:19 pm

 
Alternative History (What might have been)  

September, 2001

"There are people who are willing to commit heinous acts to change what we do, who we are, and how we act.

We are not the only nation to face such problems, the Basque separatists in Spain, the Tigers in Sri Lanka, the IRA in Ireland; and the UK, all have afflicted those nations.

Like them we will remain true to our ideals. We will mobilise our police, streamline out intelligence. See where our failures were and close our vulnerabilities, but we will not cower.

As FDR said, "The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself," if we give in to fear we grant them a victory, in a struggle which will never end; just as poverty can only be ameliorated, not eliminated, so too will those who feel marginilised magnify their greivances, while those who are marginal will manufacture them.

If we overreact, and give up our liberties, villianize those who share nothing more than nation, language or religion with those who have attacked us, be they Muslim, Christian, Hindu or Jew; Nationalist or religious fanatic, then we not only grant them a minor victory in a skirmish, but cede to them the field of battle. For if we let them make us demonize those with whom we have no quarrel, we will forfeit allies.

No, rather we shall affirm what we have always been. We have made mistakes; and for those we must own up, but nothing we have done justifies the targetting, the killing, the terrorising of a nation, much less the random killing of those who were not Americans, but merely victims of circumstance.

The FBI, the CIA, Interpol, and all those who are willing to aid us in the search will bring the investigative powers of the offended to bear. Make no mistake, the people who did this will be found. The case will be solid, and they will be brought to justice.

We will persevere. We will find them. We will show the world, in open court, that they did this.

And they will be punished."

                — Terry Karney

Labels: history, politics

More ... [permalink] posted by Mez at 2:02 am

 
Michelangelo's Pietàs (sculptures of and about mourning)  
The extraordinary Bandini Pietà (aka the Deposition) is in Florence, or there's the much more famous, much earlier, Pietà tucked behind heavy security barriers up towards the doors at the back of St Peter's Basilica in Rome. (There's another, even more extraordinary, fragmentary, late Pietà that you can experience in the Sforza Castle at Milan.)

UPDATE: Anita Roddick Dies

— Guardian story

Labels: art, mourning, sculpture, travel

More ... [permalink] posted by Mez at 11:57 pm

 
Scientific American: Flu child death rate increase; Might have pre-emptive vaccine  
In Australia there's been what seems to be a similar situation, except as our population is < 10 % of the USA, so is our death toll.
Flu killed 68 children in USA this season: CDC

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Influenza killed at least 68 children in America during the latest flu season and a third of them had a worrying new complication, U.S. health officials said on Thursday.
The 2006-2007 annual flu season never reached epidemic stage, but doctors should keep a lookout for such dangerous cases in children, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
The CDC issued an alert in May for deaths of children who were infected with both flu and a bacteria called Staphylococcus aureus, or staph. It said 21 of the children who died also had such infections, some of them resistant to antibiotics.
"Only one pediatric death with influenza and S. aureus coinfection had been reported during 2004-05, and three had been reported during the 2005-06 season," the CDC report said.

I'm trying to not spend as much time on working this blog, but sometimes I throw in something like this. Maybe this one's less cheerful than others — here's something more hopeful:
New vaccine may beat bird flu before it starts

Labels: epidemiology, health, history, medicine

More ... [permalink] posted by Mez at 11:32 am

 
Bloggers Consider Forming Labour Union  
Bloggers Consider Forming Labour Union
(Excite Money & Investing: Sunday August 5, 3:03 PM EDT): In a move that might make some people scratch their heads, a loosely formed coalition of left-leaning bloggers are trying to band together to form a labor union they hope will help them receive health insurance, conduct collective bargaining or even set professional standards.

Sitting at a panel titled "A Union for Bloggers: It's Time to Organize" at this week's YearlyKos Convention for bloggers in Chicago, Kirsten Burgard said she'd welcome a chance to join a unionized blogging community.

Committee to Protect Bloggers: http://committeetoprotectbloggers.civiblog.org
National Writers Union: http://www.nwu.org
Pew Internet & American Life Project: http://www.pewinternet.org

More ... [permalink] posted by Mez at 9:11 am

 
BBC: Saturn's ring mystery is solved  
BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Saturn's ring mystery is solved: "Scientists have made a significant step forward in understanding the dynamics of Saturn's magnificent and mysterious system of rings.

The behaviour of one ring in particular - the G ring - has baffled experts.

Its dust particles should ebb away because there are no nearby moons to hold them in place or replenish them.

But the Cassini probe has shed new light on the faint, narrow ring; showing that it interacts with a much more distant Saturnian satellite.

The work, published in Science, also unveiled the ring's odd structure."

More ... [permalink] posted by Mez at 9:55 pm

 
Hospital Ranking  
One big trouble with "League Tables" for schools, hospitals & so on, is that it seems that the result is often the exact opposite of what you'd think would be the useful purpose of having them.

My idea of that purpose is that "struggling" places should get extra resources, funding, and an examination of what can be done to improve them, e.g. by comparing their input, treatment (including the physical situation of the institution) & outcomes with "successful" ones.

Yet what seems to often happen is that the differences get worse, as the struggling places are penalised and the successful ones supported.

More ... [permalink] posted by Mez at 10:51 am

 
Forbes' "Fifteen People Who Have Changed the World"  

Forbes Magazine has, of course, their own ideal of what is "better" for the world. I have some strong disagreements. But it's good to get something to consider.

Fifteen People Who Have Changed the World - Lifestyle Channels (Yahoo): "Fifteen People Who Have Changed the World"

None of us can see what directions the world will take in the future, and events that seem monumental today might turn out to be mere pebbles on the road of history. But there are some achievements so notable, so ground-shaking, that even within the short space of a few decades we can feel their impact. We've chosen a few examples of this revolutionary spirit: 15 people who changed the world since 1950.

Of course, not everyone changes the world for the better. Clearly, we could do with fewer Osama bin Ladens and more Mikhail Gorbachevs, who, when given great power, directed it toward goals that benefited mankind. Our list is made up exclusively of the latter.

Slideshow (www.forbes.com/2007/05/23/people-changed-world-tech-07rev_cz_tb_0524changers_slide_2.html)

Tim Berners-Lee - World Wide Web

Francis Crick, James Watson and Rosalind Franklin - DNA Structure

Milton Friedman - Free Marketeer Economist

Mikhail Gorbachev - Ending Communism in USSR

Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce - Microchip

Paul Lauterbur and Peter Mansfield - MRI

George Lucas - Changed economics of movie industry

Malcolm McLean - Shipping container

Gregory Pincus, M.C. Chang, and John Rock - Contraceptive pill

More ... [permalink] posted by Mez at 11:56 am

 
Similar to the USSR too?  


Not without application to the current Australian government

Integrity, by Digby (Sat, 30th June, 2007)
digbysblog.blogspot.com/2007/06/integrity-by-digby-watergate.html
...
I remember after the 2000 election debacle, a rather exasperated acquaintance explained to me that Americans respect winners and it didn't matter how Bush took office, all that mattered was that he did. Even at my advanced age I was a bit shocked by such cynicism. But as I watched the way the media and the political establishment treated Bush, I had to admit that, at least as far as the leadership class of America was concerned, he was right. But it was even worse than what he said. There was a distinct undercurrent of special respect for the fact that Bush had not only won, but that he'd done it in such a way that everybody knew he'd manipulated the system and there was nothing they could do about it. That audaciousness made people bow down. On some level he wanted people to know he cheated and he wanted them to recognize that he got away with it. That's real power.
...
The founders understood how power can corrupt, which is why they designed a clunky system of government that would impede its application. But nothing can stop it when so many people are working in tandem to do so. The answer then, is not to depend upon personal integrity but to insure that our systems are working properly and that those who corrupt it are held accountable for what they have done when they lose institutional power at the hands of the people ...
So, as much as I value it as a personal virtue, personal integrity is beside the point. There have always been crooks and liars in politics. It's the failure of our institutions to properly guard their prerogatives and police the political system that is the true failure. And that is something that we can fix. ... to ensure that these crimes are not covered up and that the people of this country are reminded that corruption and cheating have negative consequences...

Labels: politics

More ... [permalink] posted by Mez at 9:00 am

 
"Family" (Guest Book comment)  
From the ABC Radio National 'Saturday Extra' guestbook

Phyllis Gorman: Three budget examples — 16/06/2007 4:10 PM
While the three families who presented how they budget in the current 'boom' economy were interesting, [] I am disappointed that, as usual, people like myself who are single, and living alone are invisible. We are a growing segment of the demographic, but are rarely referred to in the political rhetoric. Families are important to Australia, but so are we ... we, who often do it hard; we, who often volunteer to help others; and we, who would like to have our voices heard too. Single person households take on the full responsibility for the mortgage or the rent. We have no one with whom we can share the electric or telephone bill. And we pay taxes to support ALL Australians, not just Australian families. Please include us in your examples should you revisit how the economy affects the Australian population.

Coming in to support Phyllis Gorman about the blinkered use of "family" in public debate. For several years before she died I worked part-time & cared, first with my partner, then alone, for my deaf, frail, increasingly demented mother only because she was my mother; we were family. Yet we were never included in any of the "family" policies or discussions I heard.

Now, widowed in my forties, I am back living & working as a single person, with the prospect of continuing so for some thirty or forty years. I hope to still be engaged and contributing for that time, but am worried that 'my kind' tend to be either ignored or treated as a problem. As Phyllis pointed out, we're never in the standard "how the budget affects you" examples, nor in "your finances" recommendations, except sometimes as a throwaway glance at a 'young single' who's just starting out.

More ... [permalink] posted by Mez at 8:59 am

 
Golden Compass film  


More ... [permalink] posted by Mez at 12:24 am

 
Pyrmont Changes (v1): Photos old & new  
Something I put together, using both historic and my own still photos, for some older relatives who are living far away to show them some of what has happened, or is happening, to Pyrmont (in Sydney, Australia), where they grew up.



This is, at the moment, a filler to accompany some family photos I put on DVD for them to watch on TV. I'd like to one day put a better version together. It could use a lot more work, but am cutting off time for now, it's been delayed far too long.

Labels: Australia, buildings, history, panoramas, pix, Pyrmont, Sydney

More ... [permalink] posted by Mez at 1:42 pm

 
Worry for us dependent on plastic bags  
War declared on plastic bags
Saturday June 2, 04:19 PM
au.news.yahoo.com/070602/2/13n3o.html

State and territory governments will work together to eliminate one-use plastic shopping bags, says ACT Environment Minister Jon Stanhope.

The announcement followed a meeting between state and territory environment ministers in Cairns on Saturday.

- Yahoo!7 News (AAP)

Labels: medical, politics, sustainability

More ... [permalink] posted by Mez at 8:45 am

 
Words, words, words  

Are you aware of the Double-Tongued Dictionary, a lexicon of fringe English - www.doubletongued.org ?

(Seems to be associated with 'A Way with Words', about words, grammar, and language on USA public radio)

Labels: dictionaries, language

More ... [permalink] posted by Mez at 1:54 pm

 
A Looking Glass  
"Mirror" Reflects Slo Mo Images in Real Time
http://blog.wired.com/underwire/2007/05/british_slomo_m.html

Picture House at Belsay Hall
http://www.pixelsumo.com/post/picture-house
This exhibition at Belsay Hall (near Newcastle, northern England) “sees the magnificent empty and austere nineteenth century Hall, fourteenth century castle and grade one listed gardens transformed by film directors, sound and music producers, performers, artists and fashion designers

As part of the English Heritage Picture House exhibition ( http://www.picturehousebelsay.co.uk/installations/artist.php?id=6&total=15 ), UVA created a video installation titled “Hereafter”. Hereafter uses a high speed camera to create a live history of the space, mixing previous recorded interactions, objects and people.
http://www.uva.co.uk/

More ... [permalink] posted by Mez at 10:51 am

 
Solar Systems – Straight & Heat Pump  
This is system I saw at Easter Show. It's a variation on the standard solar Hot Water System idea, rather than the 'heat pump' technology I'm quite keen on

Hills Endless Solar hot water system
www.endless-solar.com/faqs.htm

"Operates up to 40% more efficiently than traditional flat plate solar systems", "Perfect for cold, humid and hail-prone areas", "Easily fitted to most existing electric or instant gas systems"

Heat Pumps

Edwards Hot Water
www.edwards.com.au/default.asp?V_DOC_ID=882
http://www.qualitysolar.com.au/New/Edwards%20Heat%20Pump.htm


peswiki.com/index.php/Directory:Edwards_Heat_Pump_for_Hot_Water
from the "Pure Energy Systems" wiki -- might have other info.

Solar Shop
www.solarshop.com.au/solar%20hot%20water%20page.htm
These have a range of different HWS (& other devices) to give you an idea of the variety of choices.
See the list at the bottom of the pages

"Solar Shop has a team of professional electricians as well as contractors who manufacture the renewable system in-house and perform the on site installations." -- www.solarshop.com.au/about%20us%20page.htm

These people have a range of systems:
Quantum Energy Technologies
www.quantum-energy.com.au

In General
'Be Green': www.begreen.com.au
Building – www.begreen.com.au/build_green.html
Investment – www.begreen.com.au/invest_green.html

Ecological Homes (Inner Sydney) – www.ecologicalhomes.com.au

Labels: home, reference, sustainability

More ... [permalink] posted by Mez at 9:33 am

 
Falling: Well or Badly?  
Obituaries: The Times; Toronto Star;
Chris Hitchens: Slate (YouTube) & a more general interview Late Night Live (MP3), (streaming)
I flashed back to my reactions on hearing that Ayatollah Khomeini had died: relief that he wouldn't be able to, personally, do more harmful & hateful things, then sadness that he wouldn't have any more chance to make any amendments that might help, because now there was no hope that he might help his followers change their minds.
OK that's a very faint hope indeed, but >0.

I recommend Lady Sisyphus' comment, which includes: "In the hearts and minds of folk who use Christianity as an excuse to hate, Jerry Falwell lives. He's arguably more useful dead, as his spirit lives on while his potential for embarrassing himself further has been curtailed."

Roy Zimmerman had an earlier musical comment.

Labels: obits, religion

More ... [permalink] posted by Mez at 1:10 pm

 
Shielded with smoke, bedazzled by mirrors  

Budget puts tax burden on average workers
Matt Wade Economics Writer
May 15, 2007
www.smh.com.au/ news/ national/ budget-puts-tax-burden-on-average-workers/ 2007/ 05/ 14/ 1178995079809.htmlor
www.smh.com.au/ articles/ 2007/ 05/ 14/ 1178995079809.html
or
www.smh.com.au/ text/ articles/ 2007/ 05/ 14/ 1178995079809.html (text-only version)

Labels: money, politics, society

More ... [permalink] posted by Mez at 10:38 pm

 
Catmas Five  
Less than 6 months now to Catmas!
And if you need a catpic fix before the first Friday in October, check out the Catmas blog, as linked above.

I need cheering up after hearing of the death of Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. He's left us a wonderful legacy, but will still be missed.

New York Times on Vonnegut: God Bless You, Mr. Vonnegut, by A. O. SCOTT (October 9, 2005); Kurt Vonnegut, by Verlyn Klinkenborg (April 13, 2007); Novelist Who Caught the Imagination of His Age, by Dinitia Smith (April 12, 2007)

"If you really want to hurt your parents, and you don’t have nerve enough to be a homosexual, the least you can do is go into the arts." (1996)

So it goes.

Labels: cats, mourning, sorrybiz

More ... [permalink] posted by Mez at 11:39 am

 
Science seeking Truthiness  
I am putting here Charlie Stross' post and its links on the subject, with a link to it and its numerous comments. I can barely coherently frame my thoughts on the subject.

February 4, 2007
The definition of contempt
The American Enterprise Institute, a think tank largely funded by Exxon-Mobil is offering to pay climatologists $10,000 for articles that emphasise the shortcomings of a report from the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (www.ipcc.ch).

This is not surprising: lacking any real defense, it's only logical for them to seek men of straw to argue the case for them. The surprise is that they expect climatologists to be willing to trash their professional reputations — in a manner that will come back to haunt them whenever they subsequently apply for a job — for a mere ten thousand dollars. For a professional lobbyist that's a couple of billable hours; yet they suppose it's the measure of a working scientist's life's work.

Seldom has it been so easy to put an exact price on contempt.

Addendum: I note with interest that the American Enterprise Institute are Ayaan Hirsi Ali's current employers. More on this rather creepy body of unelected would-be architects of your future here (en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/ American_Enterprise_Institute).

Posted by Charlie Stross at 12:36 PM

(Guardian article linked at beginning: www.guardian.co.uk/ international/ story/ 0,,2004230,00.html

From the comments:
Regarding the economics of AGW, there's an interesting discussion at (www.realclimate.org/index.php/ archives/ 2007/ 01/ stern-science). I particularly like this comment:

"Question: If we could save the world from a 100% certain total destruction of the whole infrastructure in 2057 in a way that would cost 10% of its total value, would it be profitable to do the investment and save the world?
If we use a moderate 5% interest rate in our calculation, the answer is clearly no! We should not save the world infrastructure 0f 2057, it costs too much today. The present day discounted value of the world infrastucture in 2057 (when I am 100 years old and probably in my grave), is only 8.72% of its total value in 2057 and less than the calculated 10% (of the total value) required investment today. So we decide not to save the world infrastructure.
If the doom was about in 2107, using the same calculations, it would not be "profitable" to use even 1% of the total value of the future infrastructure to save it today. I hope you check my calculations, discounting is relatively easy and fundamental to profitability analysis the economists regularly use to give their expert opinions."

The ensuing discussion shows that the arguments can be more complicated than that (as one would expect). But this does give an insight into what sort of questions we should be asking if someone says that dealing with climate change now would be "too expensive".

Posted by: Dave Berry

Labels: climate, politics, science

More ... [permalink] posted by Mez at 2:35 pm

 
Five Years  

Dirge without Music

I am not resigned to the shutting away of loving hearts in the hard ground.
So it is, and so it will be, for so it has been, time out of mind:
Into the darkness they go, the wise and the lovely.
Crowned with lilies and with laurel they go: but I am not resigned.

Lovers and thinkers, into the earth with you.
Be one with the dull, the indiscriminate dust.
A fragment of what you felt, of what you knew,
A formula, a phrase remains – but the best is lost.

The answers quick and keen, the honest look, the laughter, the love,–
They are gone. They are gone to feed the roses. Elegant and curled
Is the blossom. Fragrant is the blossom. I know. But I do not approve.
More precious was the light in your eyes than all the roses in the world.

Down, down, down into the darkness of the grave
Gently they go, the beautiful, the tender, the kind;
Quietly they go, the intelligent, the witty, the brave.
I know. But I do not approve. And I am not resigned.

Edna St. Vincent Millay

(via)

Labels: anniversaries, poems, poetry, sorrybiz

More ... [permalink] posted by Mez at 4:56 am

 
Six Months On ...  
... In a Smaller, Darker World, we remember — Earlier entry

Update: Websnark's appreciation

Labels: sorrybiz

More ... [permalink] posted by Mez at 12:00 pm

 
Election Day — NSW State Election 2007  
Whatever happens, it's been nice to be able to (try and) say "Premier Iemma, the Member for Lakemba", simply from a tongue-twisting perspective

Labels: events, language, politics

More ... [permalink] posted by Mez at 11:40 am

 
Quick News, plus Harbour Bridge 75th Anniversary  
Am working on a Family Photo DVD project, and trying to do some other non-computer-related things, so I haven't added stuff here.
Also got some more worrying medical news, there's a growth of some sort in one of my eyes. It might be a secondary cancer from the breast cancer, it could be a separate melanoma, or it may be a simple kind of mole. Having had this now diagnosed by one specialist, I am going to a more specialised specialist to try and sort that out. Desperately hoping that I won't have to get back onto the medical merry-go-round. See some links in a separate post.

Did do one nice thing — turned out even better than I'd hoped, and I enjoyed it a lot. Walked across Sydney Harbour Bridge as part of its 75th Anniversary celebrations, timed to coincide with the Aboriginal smoking ceremony around sunset. It was beautifully done, as was the lighting afterwards. The sunset hope didn't work out because it was a dull & overcast day, but the trip over & everything else worked well — in fact I'm wondering if I shouldn't have tried the ferry after all.

Here's one of the newspaper photos:


And some links about it:
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/all-our-love-sydney/2007/03/18/1174152882293.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1

http://www.smh.com.au/photogallery/2007/03/18/1174152858574.html

http://www.smh.com.au/photogallery/2007/03/18/1174152887162.html

Labels: events, medical, pix

More ... [permalink] posted by Mez at 9:51 am

 
Eye problem — some links  


Bascom Palmer Eye Institute - Ocular Oncology
www.eyecancermd.org/ eye_cancers.html

Kellogg Institute, Uni Michigan - Intraocular Melanoma www.kellogg.umich.edu/ patientcare/ conditions/ intraocular.melanoma.html

National Retina Institute - Eye Health Library
Choroidal Nevus
www.bmgnri.com/ eyehealth/CN01.htm


Handbook of Ocular Disease Management
www.revoptom.com/ HANDBOOK/ sect5j.htm

www.cancer.gov/ cancertopics/ pdq/ treatment/ intraocularmelanoma/ healthprofessional
health.allrefer.com
www.merck.com/ mmhe/ sec20/ ch234/ ch234j.html

Labels: medical

More ... [permalink] posted by Mez at 2:42 am

 
Eternal Vigilance: Business Pushes Back Against Regulation  
Business Pushes Back Against Regulation
http://money.excite.com/jsp/nw/nwdt_rt_top.jsp?news_id=ap-d8nq6sf02&

Sunday March 11, 5:00 PM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The push by business interests to ease the laws and rules laid down in response to the 2002 corporate scandals is getting a serious hearing in Washington that is giving the idea heightened visibility.

An array of companies and business leaders have been making the case that the requirements born of the crisis of corporate malfeasance are overly onerous and costly.

A high-profile committee of business, legal and academic figures put forward proposals in November to clip back corporate governance rules, class-action lawsuits against companies and auditors, and criminal prosecution of companies by the government.

A second group, formed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, is releasing its report and recommendations Wednesday.

The Chamber also has been waging a legal assault against what it views as excessive regulation from an overreaction to the scandals, suing the Securities and Exchange Commission over rules and scoring several victories in high courts.

"Business is putting a big push on in the final years of the Bush administration," said James Cox, a law professor at Duke University.

Some experts, including Lynn Turner, a former SEC chief accountant, have warned against a softening of the rules

More ... [permalink] posted by Mez at 10:14 am

 
This week was difficult; We ain't seen nothin' yet  
Sydney braces for APEC traffic chaos
au.news.yahoo.com/070225/2/12jc1.html

Sunday February 25, 01:43 PM
Sydneysiders angered by traffic chaos caused by visiting super-liners and by the visit of US Vice-President Dick Cheney, have seen nothing yet.

Mr Cheney's visit to Australia caused traffic chaos throughout Sydney, particularly on Thursday and Friday.

With such a huge security operation in place, numerous roads had to be closed, including the Sydney Harbour Bridge, causing traffic chaos.
But asked by reporters how NSW will cope with the APEC conference, when 23 world leaders including US President George Bush will descend on Sydney for the week-long summit, NSW Police Minister John Watkins said any disruption would be much worse than that of the last few days.

"With 23 leaders around the city at that time, moving to meetings there is going to be major disruptions, much worse than we've seen over the last couple of days," he said. "But we do have time to learn the lessons of the last couple of days and communicate that as well as we can to the people of Sydney," ...

More ... [permalink] posted by Mez at 11:47 am

 
White Rose Day  
White Roses
wampum.wabanaki.net/vault/2007/02/003477.html
February 22nd

Abdel Kareem Nabil Suleiman just drew a four year sentence for writing unflatteringly about religion and the head of state. He'll be 26 when he next sees a keyboard or contributes to a blog. Of course, that was in Egypt. Nothing like that could ever, ever happen here.

It’s White Rose Day. On this day in 1943 Sophie and Hans Scholl and Christoph Probst were guillotined.

White roses and trout
faultline.org/index.php/site/comments/white_roses_and_trout

The Nazis executed Probst and the Scholls for blogging, or at least for getting as close to it as they could gven the technology of the day ...

The White Rose: A Lesson in Dissent
www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/rose.html

Most Germans took the traditional position, that once war breaks out, it is the duty of the citizen to support the troops by supporting the government. But Hans and Sophie Scholl believed differently. They believed that it was the duty of a citizen, even in times of war, to stand up against an evil regime, especially when it is sending hundreds of thousands of its citizens to their deaths. ...
Freisler and the other accusers could not understand what had happened to these German youths. After all, they all came from nice German families. They all had attended German schools. They had been members of the Hitler Youth. How could they have turned out to be traitors? What had so twisted and warped their minds?

Sophie Scholl shocked everyone in the courtroom when she remarked to Freisler: “Somebody, after all, had to make a start. What we wrote and said is also believed by many others. They just don't dare to express themselves as we did.” ...

No relatives visited Christoph Probst. His wife, who had just had their third child, was in the hospital. Neither she nor any members of his family even knew that he was on trial or that he had been sentenced to death. ...

Unfortunately, they were not the last to die. The Gestapo's investigation was relentless. Later tried and executed were Alex Schmorell (age 25), Willi Graf (age 25), and Kurt Huber (age 49). Students at the University of Hamburg were either executed or sent to concentration camps ...

Labels: history

More ... [permalink] posted by Mez at 11:29 pm

 
For St Valentine's Day  
Cherish the time you have together. There is so much more time apart. This year is 10 years since Chris & I travelled to Europe - happy times - and five years since he died.



xkcd.com/c162.html

More ... [permalink] posted by Mez at 11:34 am

 
Might be interesting to follow  
Global Warming 101

Venture out virtually on a polar expedition with environmentalist Will Steger and his team to see global warming in action.
Starting February 8, 2007, this group of educators and explorers will begin a 1200-mile, four-month dogsled journey across Baffin Island in the Canadian Arctic. You can be with them every mush of the way by following along online.
View their videos, see their images, hear their sounds, read their text.

More ... [permalink] posted by Mez at 11:32 am

 
Universal Postal Union  
Hadn't heard of this before, tho' you'd think there must be something like it. Well, here's the official site. Some useful info and links.

Established in 1874, the Universal Postal Union (UPU) with its Headquarters in Berne (Switzerland), is the primary forum for cooperation between postal-sector players.
It now has 191 member countries, and is a specialised agency of the United Nations, fulfilling an advisory, mediating and liaison role, and rendering technical assistance where needed. It sets the rules for international mail exchanges.
It does not interfere in the domestic domain, such as setting postage rates, deciding which and how many postage stamps to issue, and managing postal operations and staff

Postcodes
These are unique, universal identifiers which unambiguously identify the addressee's locality. At present, 117 UPU member countries use postcodes as part of their addressing systems.

A set of PDF files listing Postcodes (or giving other postcode information) for the different countries: www.upu.int/post_code/en/countries/
Each is identified with a three-letter code for the country, e.g., AUS.pdf

Postal addressing systems
www.upu.int/post_code/en/postal_addressing_systems_member_countries.shtml


Royal Mail site
www.royalmail.com/portal/rm
Looking for a UK Address or Postcode
I had not realised that their system is so unlike the Australian one (which is closer to the USA version). Each code covers quite a small area, and they are reasonably often changed, added or deleted. A large-enough mail recipient, such as a company or government body, can have their own code. Our system is much more fixed, with smaller geographic zones covering a suburb or so in the urban areas and larger ones in 'regional' and rural areas which might cover several small towns as well as the country between. Each State starts with a separate integer, 2 in NSW, 3 in Victoria, etc. (which reflect their phone codes too, eg (07) 4567 8901 will be in Queensland, 7001 is Brisbane GPO), tho' Territories are messier, and the numbering starts near the centre of the State capital and works out. "Sydney 2000" is the Central Business District, as well as the Olympic Games. Just in recent years the '1xxx' series was added, which seems to identify specific Post Offices and mail sorting centres.

Validating UK Postcode formats
www.ml-consult.co.uk/foxst-39.htm
The official UK (Great Britain) Postcode Address File (PAF) contains around 27 million codes, and is subject to strict copyright and licensing controls. The only practical way to access it is by purchasing expensive, specialised address management software.

However, UK postcodes follow strict formatting rules. This article offers a Visual FoxPro function that checks if a given one follows the rules.
It's called the CheckPostcode function, returning .T. if the code passes the test, .F. otherwise.

A Map of London Postcodes: www.milesfaster.co.uk/postcodes/post-map.htm

Labels: mail, post, postcodes

More ... [permalink] posted by Mez at 1:44 pm

 
Manila After the Rain — another 'Tabblo'  

Testing this as another way to use my images. In this case, displaying wartime family photos (posted on flickr) in an album page style like the one around at the time they were taken.

More ... [permalink] posted by Mez at 6:30 pm

 
Penn Radio  
Penn Jillette. On Neil Gaiman's Journal he reports on his experience as guest on Penn Jillette's radio show, titled: "...and in the time it took to say that Neil Gaiman wrote another two movies..."

More ... [permalink] posted by Mez at 11:29 pm

 
Pre-Emptive Apology  
I've added in a player from La Cieca at Parterre to the sidebar, that will let you play some nice operatic music (Unnatural Acts of Opera), and posted my video of the New Year's Eve fireworks.

Unfortunately, these both seem to start playing when you arrive on the page. I'd much prefer they awaited your click to start. Certainly, if I was visiting another page with them on (in?) it, that's what I'd like as a visitor. If your connection is slow, it may delay things very much. Even getting to the stage where you can click on a 'pause' button might take a while. This is not what I am trying to achieve!

UPDATE: I think the video autoplay problem seems to have been fixed. I hope you enjoy the music. If I get negative feedback, I'll change that too.

I can't quite understand what the problem is with the video link, because I've seen plenty of pages where there's just a still that you click on to start the player. If my fiddling with the code doesn't stop it, I may just leave a bare link.

And I've always disliked pages that start blaring sounds at you when you arrive — altho a subtle atmospheric background or short not-too-offensive introductory noise of some kind can be a pleasant experience. Shorewalker used to have the sound of surf on the beach, just at a low level, on the first page, which I liked.

More ... [permalink] posted by Mez at 4:37 pm

 
Sydney 2007 New Year's Eve Fireworks by Mez  
The sights and sounds of midnight fireworks over Sydney Harbour for New Year's Eve (2006/2007). Centrepoint (Sydney Tower) is near the top left at the start of each shot. Seen from the roof of a block of units in Surry Hills, close to the party scene around Oxford Street and Taylor Square, and with lots of other blocks of flats around, nearly all with parties of people on their balconies. Rather dark & blurry picture, I'm afraid, but I like the atmosphere. Taken with a Canon A80 (original size 320 x 240).

The still photo below shows almost exactly the same scene as the start of the video, and was taken with the same camera. The Canon Powershot A80 does very good photos. Its video is not as good, but the separate video we'd borrowed & set up failed to work.

(Google Video version)

Midnight fireworks over Sydney harbour for New Year's Eve (2006/2007).

More ... [permalink] posted by Mez at 4:40 pm

 
Happy New Year 2007 from Sydney!  

Part of my view of the midnight fireworks in Sydney. Centrepoint (Sydney Tower), Australia Square and city buildings.
The forecast for New Years Eve was possible rain & storms. Although it was cool & overcast, there was no rain. We've had fortunate weather for Christmas & New Year, if damp. The crowd around the harbour and in the city nearby was huge. I didn't feel up to dealing with that, so my friends & I had a walk through Moore Park & a quiet part of Centennial Park & went for dinner to their place, nearby mine. Then we went back to my flat, watched the late fireworks with admiration (Excellent Work), and had a Greek celebration bread with '2007' on the top. I got the coin in my slice!

I was thinking that the flats I'm staying at would be crowded with the other residents and their guests, but there were only a few people.

There didn't seem to be noisy parties in the building either — which was rather surprising, because there's often quite a bit of noise & excitement around the building. Perhaps the party types were out somewhere more exciting. Certainly there was a lot of activity around some of the main venues, Oxford Street & so on. The sirens, voices, etc were busy for hours. Despite this, I probably would have slept OK except that something made me ill and that kept me up for quite a while longer. Despite that, a happy time overall.
My friend from Christmas is now visiting friends in Canberra, and sent a few SMS during the afternoon telling us about the hailstorm there.


More ... [permalink] posted by Mez at 11:18 am

 
Bethlem Royal Hospital Archives and Museum  
Bethlem Royal Hospital Archives and Museum:

"The Bethlem Royal Hospital Archives and Museum records the lives and experience and celebrates the achievements of people with mental health problems"

Originally St Mary of Bethlehem, now officially Bethlem, the common name for this place was Bedlam. It has become, of course, a word in itself with its own meaning.

It's also the ‘place of deposit’ for the archives of the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust and its predecessors, including the records of Bethlem, the Maudsley, and Warlingham Park Hospitals, and the joint records of Bridewell and Bethlem.

Through the information that they contain, archives can help us to understand the past and show us how the past has shaped our own lives, our institutions, and our environment. Most people think of archives as 'very old'. Some are, but they can also be quite recent: and the records which we create today will become tomorrow's archives, enabling future generations to learn about how we lived and worked.

The Way Things Go: A classic piece that's inspired many similar short films.

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