Of mice and men

I’ve never read the John Steinbeck novel I stole this title from – but in a piece of fact from the “stranger than fiction” category – this story just has me scratching my head.

New research from Brazil is pushing the boundaries on human fertility. I know this is a major issue for infertile couples – but surely there are boundaries to scientific research – or at least there should be.

“Our data indicate that the mouse can yield human sperm cells,” said Irina Kerkis of the Roger Abdelmassih clinic and research centre in Sao Paolo, Brazil.

Science, like the arts – who are in the midst of their own “boundaries” debate, is a wonderful tool for helping people understand the world around us – and for making life better and more comfortable.

This advance – like many others – comes at a cost. What do you do with the family tree following the application of this research? Is it a reverse Stuart Little? Only with the mouse not actually talking? Do you keep, and pamper the mouse for as long as you both shall live in recognition of its unique place in the family structure? I don’t know – and they seem like stupid questions to be asking, on the back of some pretty stupid research.

My problem with science – and its approach to tackling undoubtably serious issues like curing diseases, healing the sick and helping the barren conceive – is that it tries to fight of the inevitable and creates false hopes, and false securities. Nature is by its very nature natural. There is a place for the natural order of things, as a Christian I see this place as coming under God’s authority – and that forms the basis of some of my objections. Stem cell research falls in the same moral boat – it’s great for those who want to preserve life (arguably at the expense of others) but this is fundamentally selfish. Why do we seek to preserve life? If overpopulation is a pressing concern – and it seems to be one for the sustainability lobby sector – shouldn’t we subscribe to the James Bond theory of “live and let die.” Seeking to prolong life by whatever means necessary ultimately cheapens life and is a real life example of the drowning man clutching at straws.

July 7, 2008

12,000,000 killer bees?

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npnZvTLMR1w&hl=en&fs=1]

Robyn particularly likes the “200 Killer Wasps” Toyota ad. She laughs every time it’s on.

In a case of life imitating advertising – a truck carrying 12 million “endangered bees” sparked local panic in Ontario when it overturned. Most of the bees were recovered.

Bees play a vital role in US agriculture – and climate change is apparently killing them. According to the first article the US population only took this seriously when they realised Bees were responsible for a large component of their ice cream production.

With Global Warming happening ice cream will no doubt be in increased demand – so more freezers will be purchased, in turn emitting more greenhouse gases. The demise of the honeybee is a viscous viscious cycle.

July 7, 2008

Untitled

Tim “I blog once a month, and I vote” Canavan obviously has no patience and ignored the time frame I gave for resurrecting this blog. His comment served as a prompter though – and I do plan to provide some new and interesting content in my inimitable style (although you’re welcome to try copying it Tim). I’m still toying with some ideas. I’d like to actually provide a rationale for reading my blog – not just have it as a forum for my rants and raves.

I probably won’t be as verbose as Mr Canavan, nor will I explore the serious theological issues he discusses – although, again, that is something under consideration – but probably in another context or forum.

I have spent a bit of time reading blogs recently and have decided I most appreciate those that offer actual advice, “how tos” and the like… especially food and coffee blogs – so some new posts will have that flavour. If you have any suggestions for topics I can throw my “investigative journalism” skills at let me know and I’ll probably do it.

July 5, 2008

On Message

I’m planning a more comprehensive resurrection of this blog in coming weeks. But for now – two pieces of multimedia of particular relevance to me today.

Firstly, the boys in blue pulled me over and fined me $225 for “pausing” at a stop sign rather than stopping. Since when is a pause not a stop? It reminded me of this TISM song. Which I have tried to embed – not sure if it will work.

Secondly, wordle.net is a cool web tool for creating funky tag cloud things – I used it to analyse how good I’ve been at staying on message in every media release I’ve sent out in my 2.5 years in my job.

Check it out.

Then, just for fun, I used it to analyse this blog…

June 19, 2008

Reflections… or lack thereof

They say (they being the ultimate in non-specific generalisations) that the reason vampires don’t have a reflection in the mirror is because they don’t have a soul. That’s an interesting opening sentence for this blog. It turns out Keira Knightley agrees with the “Australian Aborigines” who believe that every photo steals a portion of your soul (sucks to be wearing red at the Oscars then). (And now for the “reveal” when it comes to this somewhat bizarre segue) As a result of some three years spent as a law student I estimate that I too have lost a significant portion of my soul. I was talking to my friend Ben this afternoon – who has just started doing law post-grad – about why I dropped law and decided to turn my rant into this post.
I didn’t like the smug superiority that radiated from the inevitably private school educated pretty boys with their deck shoes and polo shirts – or the “look at me” hairstyles with sticking up fringes invariably worn by single-sex-school-educated girls who carried all their books around in those rectangular shopping bags from Sportsgirl or whatever chain it is they liked to buy their ridiculously undersized shorts from.

Mature aged students though – the ones who through lack of better judgement thought that asking pointless hypothetical questions, that have no real application in the world they’re so much more familiar with than the run-of-the-mill high school graduate, were actually improving the quality of the education of the younger “peers” who were just so lucky to have the benefit of their company in class – they are the worst kind of animal. Their existence is so pointless and vacuous that one wonders why they didn’t stick with whatever mediocre career path they were no doubt traversing when they decided “a law degree will no doubt aid my slowing ascent up the corporate ladder and keep the yapping jaws of the generation below me who already boast multiple paper qualifications thanks to the somewhat new university policy of maximising revenue through double degrees away from my heels for just that little bit longer…

And that ladies and gentlemen, along with the fact that I wanted to salvage part of my soul, is why I dropped law – and also why I’m glad I don’t have to sit through a lecture with mature aged students who are being “retrained” or “reeducated” or “reskilled” on the company credit card. I’m also startled by the realisation that my peers (ala Ben) are now exactly that type of person.

February 26, 2008

It’s Time

Well, after a two month hiatus I figure it’s high time I provide some sort of update for the google spiders – who are probably this blog’s only current readers. Today’s post will be brought to you by the prefix “ob“.

Observations
So, K-Rudd has been PM for slightly longer than my blog free period. In fact he was sworn in the day before my last post. So I blame him for my lack of inspiration. Really he’s just boring. Boring, boring, boring (coincidentally the prefix bo is the reverse of ob). Only slightly more boring is the obstreperous Mr 9% – Nelson and his hapless team. Anyone who the Courier Mail captions as Brenden Abbott – dig up a copy from the 31st of January – is in political trouble. K-Rudd’s problem is that he’s all symbolism and no substance – his response to any issue is to talk – form a committee, a war cabinet, a talkfest. His speeches are grand – and loaded with symbolic guff. His apology speech was well crafted – but not Obamaesque (I’ll get to him later). Two months in to his reign we’ve had a symbolic (some would say token) ratification of Kyoto (which expires in 2012 – hardly a long term solution) – and a token (some would say symbolic) apology to the obviously obscenely treated aboriginal people – an apology which explicitly ruled out compensation. I have mixed feelings about compensation – I think there’s probably a case for some form of compensation. Now that the government has admitted they did the wrong thing they should probably have to pay for that mistake. The proverbial can of worms has been opened.

Obsessions
Another reason I haven’t been blogging lately must be the disproportionate amount of time and resourcing I’ve been giving to my current obsession – coffee. Robyn would probably agree – although she’s enjoying the benefits.

Here’s the progression I’ve gone through in terms of my coffee “habit”
1. Discovered home roasting – through coffeesnobs.com.au – I highly recommend their starter pack. But I’ve since been ordering through Ministry Grounds. I purchased a heat gun from eBay for the purpose of roasting my beans – with the view to building a corretto when I can locate a suitable breadmaker. At the moment I’m just using the heatgun and wok.
2. I was less than happy with our existing grinder – a little bladed number sold as a “herb and coffee” grinder. It was good as an introduction to the freshness of ground coffee – but didn’t produce a particularly even grind – so I purchased an EM0480 Sunbeam grinder second hand from coffeesnobs.com.au.
3. I recently shelled out $400 (plus freight) for a commercial Rancillio machine on eBay – it’s yet to arrive, but I’ll edit this post to include some pictures when my browser will let me.

Home roasted coffee is terrific. I highly recommend my new hobby.

Obama
Barack – the man I’ve dubbed “the new black” when it comes to US Presidential candidates – Obama has just won his tenth straight contest for the Democratic nomination. I’m nominally a Democrats fan in the US thanks to the West Wing. And I picked Barack a year ago – before he was cool.

Obligatory references to real life
Married life continues to be a barrel of caffeine induced laughs (see above). It really is great fun. We’ve recently filled our fish tank with a plethora of new marine life. We’re now leading the kid’s club at church on a Friday night – putting the kibosh on our social life during school term. An unwholesome amount of our spare time is spent playing Tetris on Facebook. Robyn has posted an almost blasphemous score of 946,000 or thereabouts.

February 21, 2008

World Cup coming to Australa? Is the Titanic at the bottom of the ocean?

When a deckhand on the Titanic famously proclaimed that “Even God couldn’t sink this ship” just prior to the liner’s fateful (or ill-fated or predestined) maiden voyage, he unwittingly became the butt of many sermon illustrations over the years on the problem with dismissing the almighty too lightly. It seems others have not learned from his mistake – Danny Joordan the man behind South Africa’s preparations for the 2010 Football World Cup is tempting fate offering the following challenge in a story published today  – “Only God can take the World Cup away,” he said.

His statement came in response to rumours that Australia is gearing up to step in as an emergency replacement destination if the African country can’t get its stuff together.

So, if we’ve learned anything from the Titanic we’ll be seeing world class football (and not the garden variety Beckham variety – I mean seriously, has Beckham done anything other than hit pretty nice freekicks and the odd cross in his life? He is one dimensional, has no pace and is only famous because he married a Spice Girl…) on our shores in the near future. In all probability we won’t actually be playing – having been drawn in the “group of death” – now all we need is for someone to come out and say “Even God couldn’t help Australia qualify for the World Cup,” which I’m happy to do here and now.

Maybe that could be K-Rudd’s next project now that he’s single-handedly saved the globe from impending climate induced destruction by ratifying a treaty that’s set to expire in about four years that 170 nations around the world had already signed up to. Now if someone comes out and says “God alone couldn’t sink this country” we’re in real trouble…

Scanned by the NetBox from NetBox Blue

December 4, 2007

Chewin’ the fat

It’s pretty much widely acknowledged that Heather Mills is one crazy lady. Possibly had Sir Paul met Ms Mills around the same time John met Yoko Ono the Japanese born American singer would have been held in high regard by the British public (who for the unwashed is pretty much regarded as the catalyst for the Beatles break up – which means she’s not very popular…still). I meant to post on this a week ago when I read it, but forgot until it popped up today. I’ve got to say if there’s one thing I hate more than a credit card wielding neo-socialist it’s an animal rights activist. So PETA aren’t at the top of the organisations I’m most likely to respond positively to… Their idea of “controversial” is to have models who would generally pose naked for money posing naked for their cause… alright they also throw animal blood on models at catwalks etc… but their approach can pretty much be described along the lines of the advertising mantra that “sex sells”. Unfortunately this methodology has been picked up by animal rights/vegan protest group Viva. hich brings us to Mills, who is their latest “celebrity” activist throwing her unbalanced weight (geddit, geddit, oh I give up) behind the cause. To show that it’s not more than a ploy to boost her ailing image following a messy public divorce (and outrageously bad interview a little while ago where she pretty much blamed the plight of the planet on the media) she agreed to be interviewed on the topic. If you haven’t clicked the link already here are the highlights…

“There are 25 alternative milks available in health shops and supermarkets,” she added, saying she turned vegan when an African woman at Live 8 asked her: “Why don’t people stop drinking cows’ milk lattes?”

“Why do we not drink rats’ milk, cats’ milk or dogs’ milk?”

Mills, and Viva, somewhat tenuously link meat eating to global warming. This position strikes me as contradictory for two reasons – one, sure cows may produce massive amounts of greenhouse gasses – but doesn’t this mean that population control in the form of Maccas burger patties is doing its bit for the environment? Shouldn’t we all be eating a cow to save the planet? And two… shouldn’t a pro-life (the natural corollary of an anti-slaughter animal rights position) be advocating for cows to live out their days in peace – thus creating no real mechanism of population control and allowing the unabated flow of harmful methane leaden greenhouse flatulence into the atmosphere?

November 28, 2007

On a Downer

Well. Who’d have thunk it? The Australian electorate (nb –not me because I didn’t actually get to vote) has collectively decided that it can forgive and forget an ear wax eater – and anoint him Prime Minister with a night of pompous cerumeny(sic) – that was my funniest joke ever. I promise. Click the link. Do it. So anyway, K-Rudd came through and became the ultimate tall poppy – now watch the media pack turn and devour him with the relish once reserved for Howard – who is now almost universally regarded as a hero of our times – albeit an unpopular, out of touch hero who somewhat selfishly singlehandedly brought about the destruction of his team – no sorry, that’s Willie Mason. The Liberal party is now Rudd-erless (unlike the other guys) and in a state of disrepair and disconnection from power never before seen – in fact Brisbane is the last bastion of official Liberal power – a stronghold at City Council level – held by my sur-namesake Campbell Newman… I can only surmise that with a dearth of experienced out of work pollies spread around the country the next few state elections will see a swing back to the Conservatives… In the meantime the Liberals and their country cousins – the Nationals are without leaders. This situation will keep the election aftermath in the news cycle for just that little bit longer – even I’m sick of the politics now – as the Libs have their own little election. We can only hope this one won’t be fought out in cyberspace with each candidate trying to outviral the other (Election 2.1 anyone?) – I for one don’t want to see anymore of Alexander Downer than I have to. Turnbull should get the nod – leading the Liberals into a new age of whatever it is waterfront magnates feel is important other than the accumulation of wealth and material possessions… so more of the same. My prediction is that Costello will sit on the backbench until the Liberals decide they really are better off with him – and he’ll come riding in from the sunset (where his career now sits metaphorically) on his trusty steed “Economic Management” – which is a stupid name for a horse, expect to see it running at next year’s Melbourne Cup.

November 26, 2007

Rack off lefty scum

The title of this ‘ere little post is stolen from perhaps my favourite piece of Junior Liberal’s propaganda – perhaps only marginally beating Liberals: We put the fun into funding cuts. The current batch of Liberal slogans ala “go for growth” are a little to obscure, obtuse and obviously written by geriatrics for me to get excited – but (segue) one thing that is sure to get me excited, one thing that’s sure to raise my ire, is the nu-left trendy hippy intellectually self-congratulatory latte pinko lefties. That’s right – the kind of people who when they hear that I – due to the AEC’s stringent and altogether too rigorous attempts to cut the yoof out of the polls and restrict the chances of messy electoral change – am not voting at this election and respond by saying “good, we don’t want your conservative vote anyway” – they’re the one’s who really raise my hackles. Let me tell you a thing or two about these self absorbed commies who go running around with their commercially mass-produced Che Guevara t-shirts extolling the evils of economic rationalism while enjoying their imported South American coffee, French art house films and hydroponic cones… they trumpet idealism and moral superiority, call on the government to end poverty, global corruption and anything resembling “the machine”, “the man”, or “globalisation”… What really gets me is their hypocrisy – their complete inability or lack of desire to put their money where their mouth is. And I mean that literally. Sure be a hippy, smoke your dope, call for a removal of inhibiting laws, the woman’s right to choose to terminate her unborn child’s life, make dope legal, build injection rooms, feed the hungry, water the trees, save the whales…protest against globalisation, protest against free trade, protest against war. But don’t ever let your personal convictions get in the way of your pleasure and comfort. These wacko lefties claim to be all about social justice but the ideologues aren’t prepared to reach into their own pockets (except through taxes) to support anything except the “save a panda” foundation which is just marginally trendy enough to score kudos with their stoned John Butler loving friends. Climate Change and saving whales are in vogue with those of the environmentally superior – but they’re bandwagon jumping, cause loving anti-establishment fiends who’d support the extermination of a people group if the government was against it and decry it as fascism when the government endorses it. Ok – that was pure hyperbole and exaggeration. My point is this – before you, my lefty friends go decrying me and my “conservative Christian” friends who happen to be generally supportive of public morality being maintained in the guise of “law and order” – as callous, unfeeling bigots, be prepared to defend the fact that while you spend your money on Hare Krishna “smile” stickers for your combi or whatever it is you drive these days, and sign your name to whatever Greenpeace petition is thrust in front of your face, us “conservatives” are out practicing the theories of a freemarket economy and donating to worthy charities designed to bring people out of poverty. For ever barb you chardonnay swillers throw at Hillsong for counselling young, pregnant women against having abortions, they’re donating real money to causes like getting people off the street and into jobs. You whinging dole bludging “arts graduate” wannabees are much too busy fighting for intellectual causes to actually address the physical reality.

November 19, 2007

The media is the message

It’s been an interesting week in the election campaign – the Coalition’s Abbott showed why he’s unlikely to become a monk with a foul mouthed tirade at the health ministers’ debate, Peter Garrett unwittingly revealed Labor’s intentions to just “change everything” when/if they get into power. And Peter Costello and Wayne Swan traded barbs while in Townsville…

“Mr Swan is one of those cyborgs who repeats the same line in the hope that the media will pick it up”

“Sightings of Mr Costello in Townsville are about as rare as sightings of Migaloo”

The role the media plays in the election has also been under a bit of scrutiny with a few people whinging about favouritism – and incompetence.

And no surprises on the last one… here’s a paragraph from the SMH website today

“Man turns himself into police after another man was shot twice in the head in Sydney’s north west”

Vigilante justice? Or a bizarre case of metamorphism… or perhaps a typo.

Rudd is famous for his glass chin (and wax ear) when it comes to media criticism – he scored points this week for his humour when handling questions on the wax incident after the video of his waxy snack made it onto Jay Leno’s talk show. He lost points for refusing to talk to Townsville’s most popular radio breakfast host on 4TO because it’s the wrong demographic. Rudd is pandering to the young vote – possibly at the expense of everyone else.

Queensland’s state pollies – particularly the Labor ones (who can still count on the support of Liberal leader Bruce Flegg) had a rough week. Following leadfoot MP Andrew Choi’s admission that the beeping speed monitor just fades into the background when he’s speeding Deputy Premier Paul Lucas launched an extraordinary attack on the media. It seems he thinks it’s unfair that pollies have to face such intense scrutiny while journos don’t have to disclose anything about their speeding record. He’s kind of missed the point – journos don’t drive around in government funded cars or get paid to reduce the road toll like the Parliamentary Secretary for Roads.

Robyn wants me to tell everyone that she’s got a black eye. I want to make it clear that she needs to have my dinner ready on time… and point out that indoor soccer seems to be a dangerous game for her to play.

November 3, 2007

Grumpy old men

October 26, 2007

Uncle Kevvy Wants YOU!!!

October 26, 2007

Election 2.0

Ben has been persistent in his insistence that I be more consistent with my election ramblings – which currently number a couple of references to YouTube. So here goes. This election campaign is being hailed by members of the “new media”* as being Election 2.0 – the rise of the interwebs (Sequel to Election – The worm has (re)turned) – note that only those with a vested interest in promoting online content to boost advertising revenue streams are pointing people away from the traditional media. I’m not sure I buy this whole interweb campaign – ironic really, given that in posting this blog I’m contributing in a very small form to the debate…

But I digress… Kevin07 – Licence to ill (AKA the earwax video) is now a matter of international significance. The sequel to this episode could well have been Kevin goes to School (and gets mobbed by cheering children – note to K-Rudd – children can’t actually vote…) – however, in a priceless piece of electioneering – Kevin managed to get an old man from a retiree’s choir to swear at him… in front of the cameras (note to K-Rudd – old people can vote – even when senility sets in…). Rudd was obviously pandering to an audience that J-Ho has been traditionally popular with and boy, did it backfire.

Meanwhile the incumbent PM has been busy being heckled on his morning strolls canters – all while trying to lay down the law to a bunch of petulant bankers – warning them that there’ll be hell to pay if they raise rates and he’s re-elected… way to antagonise your core constituency J-Ho. The cynic in me thinks this is all a rouse designed by the PM to keep Costello away from the top job. Call it petty, call it what you will, but I’m fairly sure supporting the guy who’s constantly trying to stab you in the back and take your job is a tough ask – the idea that Howard is throwing the election because he’d prefer Rudd as PM over Cossie is pure, baseless, speculation.

In other news – a faceless caricature has emerged as the leading suspect in the case of the missing British girl Madeleine McCann. In a case that’s going from bizarre to more bizarre one of the McCann’s friends has only now come forward with a story about a man striding away from the hotel on the night…

It turns out the Scud, the Poo, the artist formerly known as Mark Philippousis is now ranked a stunning 1,109 in the world at tennis – his croquet ranking is a marginally better – 1,093 – which is a good thing because he can still enter Wimbledon (which is of course played at the All England Tennis and Croquet Club). The Scud attempted to make another comeback from another knee injury against a bunch of tennis grandpas (over 30s) and lost to John McEnroe. He’s now officially worse than when he started – his ranking then was a respectable 1,072.

October 26, 2007

Waxing lyrical

The guy in the background is K-Rudd – he’s obviously a little peckish…

October 23, 2007