Big Picture

Just as i had begun to worry about mortality and the aging process comes news that the speed of light may in fact not be constant. Fabulous.

And i love that one of the world's biggest, most technologically advanced telescopes is the

"Very Large Telescope"

in Chile.
Very Monty Python.

feminism? the revival.

After a few years of wondering if the whole feminist thing had become a bit of a self-indulgent romp i have been pleasantly surprised by a few recent victories. Although a recent study in the guardian speculated that it would take women another 40 years to break into the FTSE 100 we have Norway instituting a 2 year deadline by which time 40% of the seats of each company listed on the Oslo bourse must be occupied by women.

As much as they are not neccesarily of my personal political pursuasion it is also somewhat heartening that Angela Merkel (Germany) and Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf (Liberia) have taken up the highest political offices in their respective countries. It is however the election of Michelle Bachelet as the first female president of Chile that is making me smile today. The overall Left-ward swing in South America has on the whole been characterised by quite masculinist politics and it is wonderful to see that it is possible to look beyond this.

Now i know the UK had Mags and the USA will probably have Clinton Mark 2 or Condi (since Laura Bush has been tipping her recently) but c'mon Australia what's it going to take for this to even begin to look possible? (ALP i'm looking at you..) I would like to propose my own candidates if the party political folks can't get around to it.

Mary Kostakidis
Marie Bashir
Lee Lin Chin
Clover Moore (sorry, but i would)
Dorothy Porter
Judy Davis
Pat O'Shane
Tracy Moffat

just for starters.

Michelle Bachelet

A socialist, pediatrician, agnostic, single mother for President?
Chile, the world could learn a lot from you.

Torture by any other name

I am currently taking inspiration (and maintaing my subscription to the SMH) from today's article by Salman Rushdie about the murder of language and truth in this latest war. "extraordinary rendition" is perhaps one of the ugliest and most frightening examples of the power of renaming.

Let us reclaim our favourite words early on this year to save them from this. If i catch the us govt messing with these words i will, as a dear friend says, sedition their arses.

My Claims are:

Hirsute ~ mainly because i remember it because it kind of sounds like hair suit. It is also quite a regal word.

Acquiesce ~ a word which is performed through merely saying it. (aka Byron's Don Juan "and still she strove and much repented and whispering 'i'll ne'er consent', consented")

Words, words, words says Hamlet. R & G say they're all we have to go on. They are also the last line of defense, the congruence between the unthinkable and the unpronouncable and pure gibberish nonsense is closer than we might have thought.

ps. When did the phrase “my favourite artists…” Allow for the insertion of names like Madonna and Delta Goodrem instead of Klee, Modigliani, Magritte, Kahlo? Taking this one back also.

somewhere between pastiche and pesto

Ever been worried that you were becoming a caricature of yourself?
The fridge in my house currently contains the following:

Capers (3 bottles tiny capers packed in salt)
Béarnaise Sauce
Hollandaise Sauce
Artichoke Hearts
Marinated capsicum strips
Marinated, char grilled eggplant strips
Anchovies (2 bottles)
Wholegrain mustard (2 kinds)
Dijon Mustard (3 kinds)
Hot American Mustard
Heinz Ketchup (2 bottles)
Mayonnaise
Lemon Mayonnaise
Dijonnaise
Native Australian bush tomato ketchup
Caesar salad dressing (regular and fat free)

Green Chili Jam
Home-made plum compote
Red Miso Paste
Palm Sugar
Ghee
Wasabi Noodle Sauce
Japanese sesame dressing
Sambal Oelek (2 kinds)
Wasabi Paste
Tomato Chutney
XO Sauce
Katsu sauce
Fish Roe (black)
Crushed chili
Sashimi soy sauce
Shiraz Vinegar
Crushed Ginger

All natural peanut butter
Vegemite
Marmite
Promite
Sour cherry jam
Mixed berry jam
Sugar free blackberry jam
Golden syrup
Honey (stringy bark)
Coconut Jam (for Kaya toast)


It is entirely possible that we have become the hyper-bourgeoisie: the only class possible only in the post-modern age.

Do these people ever give up?

It seems that riding high on the 'success' of the Cronulla 'rally' Australia's favourite 'patriots' want to re-register their political 'party' Australia First.

Witness this beautiful line in todays SMH:

"What's being done in Australia now is a situation where the European identity is being deprecated further, to the point where Europeans will disappear next century... Under certain circumstances that would be called a genocide, but it's not, it's called progress."

from the party's NSW secretary, Jim Saleam.

Genocide? Check wiki dude, "The term genocide was made up by Raphael Lemkin, a Polish Jew, in 1944, from the roots genos (Greek for family, tribe or race) and -cide (Latin - occidere, to kill)"

Europeans might not end up being the dominant group in Australia 'culturally' but i'm pretty sure they're not being murdered on any kind of mass scale as part of an ethnic cleansing policy. If i remember my primary school history, we (the euro-trash) are the ones who kinda did that here. And i'm pretty sure Europeans won't dissapear next century unless Europe itself falls into a freak continental rift...

If these ridiculous fools do succeed in contesting any seats i for one will be there in my sound-of-music finest.