The Dow Jones is going to lose more today than on 9/11 and probably more than Black Tuesday in September of 1987, the late night comics are struggling without writers and the Oscars will probably end up looking like a press conference but at least "our" Cate Blanchett picked up two Oscar nominations - one as a bloke and one as a lady.
今週、私 のブロッグのリンクのデーターを初めて調査しました。考えてみると、もし日本語でポストをすると影響あるかどうか、調べます。さて、日本の方皆様ようこそ！
I suspect every other blogger has been doing this since the beginning of time but yesterday I figured out how to blog by iPhone. The result is my previous post...The car comment was because Kim and I had just picked up a rental at LAX and the lack of really basic features in some autos always amazes me.
The other one that kills me is leaving your lights on as you turn of the engine. Some (smart) cars simply kill the lights as you turn the engine off. Others however have the technology to annoy the heck out of you with an extended warning noise but can't quite figure out how to just turn them off for you...sounding like a doddering pensioner now...
NB: I am in no way judging a woman's choice of birth so hold the phone - this is about better birth outcomes.
Just a day before Ricki Lake's aforementioned movie premiere and the lead story in Sydney's major newspaper is a timely one. Choice of birth is for each expectant parent to decide. I had just never thought through the impact of the increasing number of C-Sections on overall bed availability.
They definitely have their place. But C-sections are increasingly becoming the default which seems a shame as the process of natural birth is one of the few experiences that ties generations of women together. In Australia as the article suggests, 30% of all births are now done by C-section. It certainly hasn't delivered Australia better birth outcomes. In 2007, we ranked 20th. America is at 28th. The clear goal is improving birth outcomes. An approach other than C-sections would appear to be a good first step.
Thirteen years ago a rag tag group of graduates from Newcastle University with some hangers-on put together a rugby team for the Waverley rugby club that went on to win the prestigious (ish) Sydney Judd Cup rugby competition. For many of us, it was our only Premiership in rugby careers that were cut short by buggared achilles, torn ACL's, tight hammies and girlfriends who just kept asking why. That and the reality that at 25, we were probably not going to make it into the Wallabies.
The boys will be gathering for a slap up Chinese meal in the coming months. I hope to Skype myself in for a virtual beer.
Why commemorate after 13 years? Counting was never our strong suit. And if Kim tries to throw the jersey out one more time, we may be off to "irreconcilable differences" land...!
The winner of last week's pop quiz were Gillian & Arden with this response:
"Tuvalu leased the marketing rights to its ".tv" Internet domain name to a Canadian entrepreneur in a much-publicized deal that has so far brought in more than $30 million (the rights were later leased to VeriSign); it adds capital through the sale of colorful Tuvalu postage stamps; and until 2000, it sold its excess phone capacity to overseas sex-chat operators." (!)
Congratulations!
Three years after arriving in the US , my Aussie-born son Fynn pipes up last week asking: "Dad, I want to see a Basketball game". The Portland Trailblazers are on quite the tear even without Greg Oden. Thanks to a friend, we scored amazing tickets - 12 rows back behind the board.
Given this was our first experience and our first boys night out, we needed to do it 100%. We bought the #52 jersey of Greg Oden and Blazer cap for Fynn. We ate popcorn, dogs and fairy floss (Mum's the word).
And then we took our seats for a two and a half hour entertainment extravaganza both on and off the court. A remote controlled blimp flew over head dropping coupons for an NBA game on XBox...we scored one. (so now need to buy an Xbox - Mum's the word (again)). We watched the mini cheerleaders, then the real cheerleaders, then the really strong blokes lifting the midget women high over their heads. An insurance underwriter's dream come true right there.
Then it was game time and after two quarters trailing the Jazz, the Blazers roared ahead to finish 20 points in front. The Blazers nailed every aspect of the game - free throw percentage, rebounds, shooting...
Fynn loved it. We bought a ball after the game and in the ensuing 20 hours he has dribbled it for about 95% of the time.
Needless to stay the cricket gear has now been shelved. My only hope is that the American -born # 2 son sees the light...I don't like my chances...
What is the main source of income for the aforementioned Tuvalu?
This just in. So the Neopoletani's are up in arms as their landfills are full and their garbage hasn't been collected since before Xmas. Yikes. As their garbage accumulates, a protest ensued. And what form would this protest take? A hunger strike? In Italy - are you kidding? Burn baby burn that garbage is what they did. And the smell that followed was unbelievable as you can imagine.
Full landfills are hardly an isolated problem. Hawaii has no more landfill so they ship all their solid waste to the State of Washington for $5 a ton. There has to be a better way and the island of Tuvalu in the South Pacific may have found it, at least for diapers.
When covering global warming issues, the networks always use images of Tuvalu when trying to scare the bejesus out of their viewers. The island is one foot above sea level so they are the metaphoric canary in this coal mine of ours. Since 2005 they have banned disposable diapers and only use gDiapers. Sure there are only 11,000 Tuvaluans but it is a start.
