shannonsays.com

Politicians & Free Trade

Interesting idea from Andrew Bolt (yes, he's back) this week.

Following the defection of Victorian Senetor Julian McGauran to the Liberals this week, the Bolta suggests a kind of poltical draft:

At the age of 50, say, or 45, a politician should be expected to finally know his -- or her -- best mind. Let them at that age have the right to go into an annual draft to join a more compatible team, as do footballers when they join another club.

And so the Liberals could trade the multiculturalist Petro Georgiou for Labor's one-Australia Martin Ferguson. Labor could take soft Bruce Baird -- please -- in exchange for the pro-freedom hawk Michael Danby. And wouldn't Malcolm Turnbull, so GQ modern, make Labor an excellent leader in the Hawke mode? Beazley, I'm sure, would make a nice swap, fitting in snugly as John Howard's pro-war Minister for Defence.

As if Beazley could fit snugly anwhere.... And Julia Gillard?  Well, she can go join the Democrats (do they still exist?)

Un-Australia Day

January 26...Australia Day...whatever that means in 2006.  Whilst it is probably reasonable for me to suggest that today means bugger all else to many Australians than a Public Holiday, it is also fair to suggest that we think we know more about being "Un-Australian" than being Australian.  We certainly bandy the term around enough to suggest that we know what it means.

The term "Un-Australian" has become one of the most overused adjectives of the last twelve months, and will probably continue its rise to prominance throughout 2006.  Every one is using it; politicans, sports stars, police chiefs, journalists, commentators, people in the street, you name it.  All pedal it out to abuse opponents, or to personally taunt them. 

Here are some examples:

"I think associating with a terrorist organisation demonstrates that you are un-Australian"  Tasmanian MP Michael Ferguson.

" It is not Australian to adopt a mob mentality and assult women.  I have never seen anything as un-Australian"  NSW Police Commissioner Ken Moroney (on the Cronulla riots)

"Labor will fight every day until the Howard Government is brought down for these vicious, unnecessary and unAustralian laws." Opposition Leader Kim Beazley on the Federal Government's Idustrial Relations Laws

On a basic level it is just another in vogue weasel word.  But it has moved to another level now, to become a term that has a nasty, dark meaning.  Used to try and tarnish the character of people who you don't agree with backed up by the assumption that the rest of Australia agrees with them.  Make no mistake, it is a term of abuse.  An attack on character.

You don't hear people (at least I never have) being called un-American, or un-French, or un-British.  So why have we embraced un Australian so much?

I don't really know.  Probably because it reminds me of our cultural cringe and our anxieties and suspicions about globalisation and all things (people, ideas) foreign.

I do know that I squirm every time I hear it.

Happy Australia Day. 

When Internet Marketers Meet Internet Journo's

I know marketers get themselves into a frothy lather when they talk about the prospects of internet advertising.  I just laugh at them:

 

Who's to blame?  Fairfax or the Ad Agency?

 

Tact and Ethics aren't words usually associated with either group...

At least Serena's bum is here

January in Melbourne means it's time for the tennis.  And as usual the players have been arriving in Melbourne over the last week to much fanfare and speculation over their fitness.  I am not sure if Serena Williams' over sized backside arrived on the same plane as Serena, but it is most definitely here!.  In fact her full behind has dominated both the front and the back of the local papers during the week, with the former number 1's sporting prowess taking a back seat to heated debate about the proportions of her lycra-clad bum...

The balloon like rear end made the front page of Sydney's Daily Telegraph: "Serena is back – and she's bigger, if not better, than ever." And the Herald Sun wheeled out leading sports medico Dr Peter Larkins, who used a piece of paper across the waist to split the photo of her body in two. "If you look at the upper half, gee she looks in good shape," Larkins said. "If you put a sheet of paper over the top half and look at the bottom, you'd think that person couldn't be an athlete."

Given the number of top players that are not missing from the 2006 Aus Open (eg Rafael Nadal, defending champion Marat Safin, and the perennial favourite Andre Agassi) coupled with those that are hobbling about under injury clouds (Maria Sharapova, Kim Clisjters and Roger Federer) I guess we should be happy that Serena and her rear end are actually here and ready to play some tennis.

It's the same every year, a number of players pull out because of some sort of injury.  I don't know how this is allowed to happen- this is a Grand Slam event after all.  It would seem to be a case of too much tennis, too many tournaments.  The folks that put tennis calendar does not appear to place much importance on making sure that it's top players get to the starting line for its signature events.

So you end up having Grand Slams, in particular next week's Open, that remind us that tennis's overlong calendar of events is putting too much strain on its biggest draw cards.  It's not the players fault- they'll enter as many events as they can to maximise their earnings potential. 

The tennis authorities need to scale back the number of events they schedule each year.  Surely we as fans would we rather watch the very best less often?

Dakar Rally: The Worl'd Most Dangerous Sporting Event?

Being the motorsport junkie that I am, the annual Dakar Rally is an annual high-octane oasis at this time of year when not much else is happening.  And the nightly coverage on SBS is excellent.

I was excited last week to hear that Aussie rider Andy Caldecott had won a stage of this grueling event. I was shocked and saddened to hear about his death four days later.   Death is undoubtedly a high price to pay for racing across the dusty tracks of the African desert, but the Dakar Rally is a dangerous event.   As The Age reported , it has taken 23 lives in the last 28 years.

But is it the most dangerous sporting event in the world.  Well according some analysis by crikey.com's sporting writer Thomas Hunter the short answer is "yes":

"There is no other single sporting event that can be relied upon to kill contestants with the same regularity as the Dakar Rally. But when you look at a list of the world's most deadly sports, driving at high speed across rocks and dust barely even rates a mention.

50 years ago, track-based motorsport would have gone close to winning the title of the world's most dangerous sport, in part because it also endangered the crowd. In the 1955 Le Mans 24 hour event, a car left the track killing around 80 spectators. But with every horrific crash, safety measures were improved to the point where you could say motorsport today is relatively safe, with apologies to Ayrton Senna.

Sailing takes lives each year, but not all of those who die are competing in a single race. Freak weather killed six people in the 1998 Sydney to Hobart, but that was tragedy on an unimaginable scale for the event. In the 54 year history of the event prior to 1998, only two other deaths had been recorded.

BASE jumping, heli-skiing, diving, mountaineering, big wave surfing and bull riding also contribute to the annual tally of deaths in sport, but none of them donate lives as generously as boxing, a sport that may be the world's premier Very Deadly Sport. According to the Journal of Combative Sport, world boxing recorded approximately 58 deaths from January 2004 to May 2005 alone.

A mortality rate that high certainly gives the anti-boxing movement a leg-up. Similarly, there are those who argue the human cost of the Dakar Rally should prohibit the running of that event as well."

While organisers are already talking about how next year's Rally will have the strictest safety measures yet, those changes won't be enough to change the already horrific legacy of the event.  And it remains to be seen just how you can make such an event "safe", particularly for motorcyclists

Back on the blogging bike

It's been a long time since I updated my weblog. But I am not dead, and neither is my blog, but the thrust of my life during that last 3 or so months hasn't left me much time to blurt out random opinions and thoughts.

But as 2005 has (quickly but not so quietly) slipped into 2006 I intend to jump back onto the blogging bike with a bit more vigor than I was during the latter part of 05.  I might even give the site a bit of a freshen up to help fan the flames of my re-found enthusiasm.

That's probably not the best word to use; "enthusiasm"; I never really lost my enthusiasm; I read more weblogs now than I did a year ago, have discovered some cool podcasts and listen to a load of stuff from audible (almost two and half hours in the car each day = much time to listen).  So the enthusiasm hasn't waned, just the blogging manifestation of it has been on hiatus.

Funny though, although I haven't been blogging much over that last couple of months my visitor numbers have remained pretty constant.  I might have lost a few RSS subscribers, but that is OK.  I am always changing the feeds I read; tossing some and picking up others with regularity.

Bird Flu: Should Australia be worried

The news yesterday that some dodgy imported (from Canada) pigeons that were exposed to bird flu have been quarantined in Melbourne has sparked lots of discussion here in Australia; do we start to panic, or do we have nothing to worry about?  Well, Crikey's Sophie Vorrath gives us some reasons why Australians should and shouldn't panic:

Why we SHOULD panic:

• Because the H5N1 strain of the virus has killed about half the 120 people known to have picked it up from birds, says David Dobbs in Slate – and it bears disturbing genetic and clinical likenesses to the mass-killer Spanish flu virus of 1918.

• Because while scientists predict that the virus may become less pathogenic when it adapts to humans, even with much lower virulence the human and economic cost would be high, says Haruhiko Kuroda in the Financial Times.

• Because Australian customs officers discovered that 102 pigeons exposed to the bird flu made it to our shores, with three of the birds imported from Canada testing positive to bird flu antibodies.

• Because the European Union seems to be panicking, says The Economist. After outbreaks of the deadly H5N1 strain were confirmed in Russia, Romania, Turkey and possibly Greece, the EU's ministers held urgent meetings to discuss how to tackle an epidemic that could devastate the poultry industry or, worse, if the virus changes to become more easily communicable among people, set off a human influenza pandemic that threatens the lives of millions.

• Because bird flu has claimed another human life – this time a Thai villager, who contracted the disease when handling contaminated dead chickens. And though it's been a year since the virus last killed someone in Thailand, this highlights the difficulties south-east Asian countries still face in stamping out the disease.

Why we SHOULDN'T panic:

• Because the Prime Minister says so. While acknowledging that Australia is at risk from the virus, John Howard says the government is taking all the precautions it can, including trying to remedy the situation in which the public is finding it hard to access anti-viral medication such as Tamiflu.

• Because the UK's chief medical officer Sir Liam Donaldson says so – he told a media gathering this week that a pandemic was unlikely this European winter, says the Financial Times.

• Because fear distorts thinking and renders much of the decision-making in epidemics irrational and inefficient, says Raj Persaud in the Financial Times. Managing our fears is as vital at this time as understanding the virus.

• Because it's a beat-up, says Mick Hume in The Times. No doubt the experts and authorities should have contingency plans for a possible pandemic, but this doesn't justify the “public circus of warnings and point-scoring that is making a melodrama out of a health crisis, even before one exists.”

• Because it's the regular old human flu we should be worrying about, says Erdal Safak in Turkey's Sabah (via the BBC). World Health Organisation officials warn that the real danger of an epidemic will appear when these two viruses meet – we should start a campaign of free flu vaccinations before winter comes.

• Because clinical testing now under way suggests we'll soon have a viable vaccine, says Dobbs (in Slate). The biggest trial so far, conducted by drug maker Sanofi-Pasteur, has found that the company's vaccine safely produces immunity in healthy adults. They are now testing it on the elderly and children. Other drug makers, including Chiron, GlaxoSmithKline, and Medimmune, are running early trials of other formulations

I remember Tony saying earlier in the year that the whole Bird Flu thing scare's him; but even the "Canadian Pigeon" scare has failed to frighten me too much.  That probably says more about me than it does about Tony (or anyone who is scared by Bird Flu).

I understand how deadly it is, and the article in this weeks Economist sure got me thinking, but the "I'm alright Jack" attitude in me still holds sway.  It's not that I have absolute confidence in the ability of our Government's and authorities to keep us shielded from the virus, or that I am blessed with a super immune system.

There are three reasons that prevent me from raising a worrying cold sweat over Bird Flu.  One; what's the probability of it making it to Australia?  In all reality, pretty low.  Two; if it does make it to Australia what are the odds that I, or anyone I know will contract it?  Again, slim.  And the third, and most telling (and the one that binds the first two) is that I am simply too self-centred to think that it will ever happen to me....And I reakon most Australians have their head in the same hole as me.

M.I.A. #1

I have been Missing In Action (well, as far as my weblog is concerned anyway) for the last couple of weeks.  Why?  Pretty simple really, too many other things consuming my time.  Work, and... work...

I leave home before six in the morning and don't get home until just before seven at night.  And by the time I throw some dinner down my neck, check through my emails and read some RSS feeds, I just don't feel like blogging.

There is heaps happening out there though.  Between my RSS feeds, podcasts and audible.com subscriptions I am certainly reading and listening to heaps of opinions, news, comments, and ideas.  But I just haven't felt like blogging some of my own thoughts and opinions.

But I am sure the hiatus is only temporary...my weblog is not another stray abandoned carcass floating about on the Internet.

Sydney: The One Night Stand

Great quote from Roy Masters in the smh on Sunday following the Sydney Swans victory in the AFL Grand Final, and the reaction of all the Sydney-siders who jump on whatever bandwagon is trundling along the best:

"In sporting terms, Sydney is the city of the one-night stand; Melbourne the home of the painfully durable marriage."

Couldn't have put it better myself.

People Who Owe Hootville Money

"Small business is a complex caper made all the more complex by clients who don't pay."

Yep sure is. So what to do when when of your customers doesn't pay.  In the olden days you might think about using a Debt Collection service, or maybe sending a member of Hell's Angels around (who is usually the neighbour of a cousin of a friend), but not anymore.  Now we can use the web to try and shame them into action.

It is an idea that stems from consumer-gripe sites like notgoodenough.org as well as countless blogs and discussion boards (try googling "company x" sucks) that let people vent their spleen over such things like crappy service or faulty products (remember hunterholdensucks.com?). 

How the successful these on-line campaigns are at damaging the reputations of a company is difficult to judge.  Sometimes all hell breaks loose; just ask the Kryponite bike lock folks.  Sometimes they are just screaming rants.  And how much notice do we take of negative feedback once we have decided to buy something anyway? 

So it will be interesting to see whether Wisegirls is affected by Brett DeHoedt's (Media Mega Star and owner of Melbourne PR Company Hootville Communications) campaign to get them to cough up the $5857 dollars they owe him.  He has a page titled "People who owe Hootville Money" where he lists clients who owe him for his services.  A Shame File.

It's a great idea, classic Cluetrain stuff.  Brett is using the Internet to get people talking about Wisegirls.  And the news is bad.  But why will it work for Brett?

Check out his site..  It's not like some on-line corporate glossy brochure shtick, it is a real site, run by real people using a real human voice.  It is less formal, less professional (you know what I mean Brett!) and less anonymous that many PR company sites (it is almost as cool as Huh Corp's).  It is written for us, not him.   And that is why this will really hurt Wisegirls, it is real.

People will believe Brett.

Plus, non paying shonks like Danielle Paruit deserve to be shamed (And not just because their website is just like every other travel website; ie a bland on-line brochure).

I'd get a bank cheque written tomorrow Danielle...   

*UPDATE 28/09:*
Here is an email Danielle fired off to Brett:

Dear Brett,

"I note that you have updated your site in relation to me and Wisegirls and removed the text that was clearly abusive, including the threat of stalking me. I suspect that my fax to your solicitor dated 22 September might have had something to do with it.

I also note your invitation ( as from 23 Sep) for my comments - also a new initiative. I don't believe that this type of forum is neither appropriate nor professional for any dispute resolutions. As you know I have written to your solicitor, and am now waiting from information from you, to progress this matter.

I would appreciate the entire and unedited contents of this email being posted on your website.

Regards, Danielle"

Hmm, as Brett noted there is a paradox in Danielle's wants:  Stop using the internet to air all this stuff, but make sure you publish what I have to say, in it's unedited entirety.  Whatever.

You can follow the saga via the link above.  It promises to get better, if Brett's parting words; "(It's) time to ramp up the campaign" are anything to go by.