Bundy on tap

I've previously written about the ethics of bottled water. The small New South Wales highland town of Bundanoon last night voted to ban bottled water. Reported in the local newspaper Southern Highland News (9 July 2009)

Bundanoon bans bottled water

ROBYN MURRAY

9/07/2009 5:39:00 PM

BUNDANOON'S "Bundy on Tap" campaign has spurred Premier Nathan Rees into action to reduce the use of commercially bottled water across the state.

As news of Bundanoon's move to become Australia's first bottled water free town flashed around the world on Wednesday, Mr Rees announced that he would ban all bottled water from government departments and agencies and seek "urgent advice" on ways to persuade consumers to drink less bottled water.

At a public meeting on Wednesday night, more than 350 people endorsed Bundanoon businesses' decision to remove bottled still water from their shelves from September.

Businesses will instead sell a reusable "Bundy on Tap" bottle that can be filled with chilled, filtered water from shops or bubblers in the main street.

Culligan Water has donated three $6000 water filters and bubblers to kick off the "Bundy On Tap" campaign.

One will go to the Bundanoon Public School to encourage children to drink water instead of sugary drinks.

Bundanoon Community Association will seek Wingecarribee Council's help to plumb the other two into the main street.

Planet Ark co-founder John Dee, who led the push to have Coles Bay in Tasmania declared Australia's first plastic bag free town, said Mr Rees' announcement showed the power of the community to inspire real change.

"It won't just be good for Bundanoon, it will provide a role model for everyone to follow."

Bundanoon Newagent Peter Stewart said businesses would lose revenue as a result of getting rid of bottled water.

"But there are more positive things than the money that we'll lose," he said.

Mr Stewart said the publicity generated by the "Bundy on Tap" campaign would attract more visitors to the town.

He urged Bundanoon residents to support the businesses taking part by shopping locally wherever possible.

"If there is a community that is going to go bottled water free, then it's got to be Bundanoon," he said.

"Bundy On Tap" co-ordinator Huw Kingston said Norlex Holding's plans to bottle and sell Bundanoon groundwater was a catalyst for the program.

But the move to declare Bundanoon a bottled water free town was driven by concern over the environmental cost of pumping, bottling, transporting bottled water and disposing of plastic bottles, rather than a protest against Norlex, he said.

"If we were saying we were against water extraction, the logical step is to say no to the end product," he said.

"We have a magnificent community in Bundanoon in all sorts of ways and this campaign has been supported all the way through."

Only two people at the meeting voted against the "Bundy on Tap" campaign: One was a resident concerned about that banning bottled water would force children to turn to sugary drinks, the other was Australian Bottled Water Institute chief executive Geoff Parker.

Mr Parker commended the community on coming together on an "emotive issue" but warned that a ban on bottled water could harm tourism.

"If you ban bottled water in Bundanoon, you are taking away choice and that is what the Premier has done without consultation with the community," he said.

"Have you considered tourists who choose to come here, only to line up at bubblers?"

But Mr Dee said the Coles Bay has shown that the ban could have a positive effect on the community.

"Why is the [bottled water] industry giving the Bundanoon community no choice regarding the bottled water plant here?" Mr Dee said in response to Mr Parker.

"Why are we paying for [bottled] water when filtered water is just as good if not better?"

Mr Dee said the Bundanoon meeting's response sent a strong message to the bottled water industry.

"At the end of the day, when a community is as unified as this, you can take on any company," he said.

* Wingecarribee Council has approved Norlex Holdings application to build shops and a light industrial warehouse at Anzac Parade Bundanoon, despite residents' fears that the warehouse will be used to bottle water pumped from Governor's Road.

Amazing decision. As for the New South Wales government banning bottled water, it would be difficult to justify using government funds (from tax payers) to purchase bottled water when it is available from a tap at no additional cost.

big backyard birds

Brush turkeys are native to Australia, but we aren't allowed to eat them. From ABC

Back from the bush: turkeys hit Sydney backyards
By Kathryn Stolarchuk for The World Today

Posted 8 July 2009

Here to stay: the indefatigable brush turkey. (ABC News: Giulio Saggin)

Brush turkeys have been invading suburban Sydney on a scale not seen since the ibis moved in many years ago.

The large, aggressive birds are playing havoc with gardens, frightening pets, eating their food and building huge mounds.

But the experts are warning they are here to stay; it is illegal to eat a protected native species and people should get used to them.

The brush turkey is a ground-dwelling bird about 70 centimetres long that lives exclusively in the Australasian region of the world.

Dr Ann Goeth is a senior threatened species officer with the Department of Environment and Climate Change and also one of the world's leading authorities on the local birds.

She believes the turkeys are moving into suburban areas of Sydney for a number of reasons, including the drought.

"They also find a lot of food in the kind of mulch and gardens that people provide," she said.

"A lot of people indirectly attract these birds as well by either providing compost heaps where the birds can feed from, they have bird feeders, which brush-turkeys really like as well, or they might leave their pet food out on the back porch, which brush turkeys really like to eat as well."

Gardener's nightmare

Geoff Ross, a wildlife management officer with New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife, says the birds are also making a mess of backyards.

"This species are megapodes, which means they build mounds," he said.

"So the males incubate the eggs laid by females in these large mounds of garden material that's effectively breaking down and providing heat and that incubates the eggs.

"We're seeing a lot more of these mounds around the inner-urban areas now - one reporting of an instance in Mosman.

"Mounds are being located in Epping, Lane Cove and places like that on the North Shore. So they are gradually moving into those urban interfaces."

Mr Ross says it is this building of the mounds and their propensity to destroy flower beds with their enthusiastic scratching that makes the turkeys the enemy of local gardeners.

"They'll scratch up a lot of backyards' garden material to build that mound, particularly with people who have spent a lot of resources in maintaining a natural urban bushland, then of course brush turkeys will avail themselves of that very natural area and start building mounds in that backyard," he said.

But Dr Anne Goeth reminds people that brush turkeys are a native species and protected by law.

"So you're not allowed to catch them. You're also not allowed to actually destroy these mounds when there is eggs in there because you would destroy the eggs and the chicks," she said.

No Christmas turkey

And she says you are definitely not allowed to put them on the barbie.

"I mean they're big birds, big turkeys and obviously it's easier to shoot one of those than buy something if you are hungry, but hopefully that's not happening anymore these days," she said.

"I've been told it's quite tough. I have never eaten them myself, of course."

Mr Ross recommends that instead people learn to be tolerant of their new neighbours.

"Now if you do have a mound you can seek National Parks' guidance on how to deal with that mound in your back garden," he said.

"If it's particularly impacting upon you or your family, we can offer things like we give you a permit that will allow you to cover the mound with a tarpaulin and so the male can't work the mound, or you can cover it with mesh.

"You can use sprinklers to divert the male's attention away from the mound. Things like that, particularly now that we're allowed to hose our gardens again."

He says Sydneysiders worried about the turkeys should follow the example of their Queensland counterparts.

"They are here to stay and it's one of being able to adapt to them being there and of course, this is nothing new for those people who live north of the border in Queensland," he said.

"Brush turkeys are an everyday occurrence in the backyards of all Brisbane residents and residents on the Gold Coast.

"So wherever you reside in those warmer coastal areas you get a few brush turkeys and again in Sydney they're just recapturing, if you like, those habitats they used to live in before."

I think it would be cool to have one in the backyard.

Kumar goes from White Castle to the White House

Actor Kal Penn, who as Kumar went to White Castle with Harold, has now gone to the White House. Under his real name of Kalpen Modi, he will be working as an associate director at the White House Office of Public Engagement. Of course, this shouldn't be any surprise to Washington watchers. From Washington Times

During the campaign, he was one of the most reliable surrogates for Mr. Obama, after, he said, signing up to volunteer like any other supporter.

But campaign aides said in 2007 that the actor called them to offer his unsolicited help for Mr. Obama's then long-shot candidacy. He surpassed their best expectations and attracted young voters across the nation, starring in at least 14 campaign videos on YouTube and appearing at multiple events on the candidate's behalf.

"Kal was one of the hardest working volunteers we had in Iowa," said Tommy Vietor, an assistant White House press secretary who worked on the campaign. "He visited nearly every high school in the state and didn't care if he was met by five or 50 students, or if he nearly got lost in a blizzard trying to get there."

Mr. Modi heaped praise on his new boss Mr. Obama on Monday, telling reporters he hopes to further the "honest dialogue Americans have grown to believe in" and calling the job a "great honor" at an "incredibly historic time."

"I hope to serve my country to the best of my ability," he said.

Obviously, Modi connected with young voters and should do a great job.

talking on the power of the youth vote


talking about working at the White House

The FILTH in Hong-kers

British expatriates living abroad write in to the (UK) Daily Telegraph about their lives "as an expat". There was a great piece by Tim Pile about what happened to the Britons who stayed behind in Hong Kong after the colony reverted to Chinese control.

What's the first word that comes to mind when you hear the term "Hong Kong expatriate?"

Thought so. Everyone says banker.

Twelve years ago this week, Hong Kong ceased to be a British colony. Just after midnight on July 1st 1997 Chris Patten boarded the Royal Yacht Britannia and sailed away to the strains of Land of Hope and Glory.

His departure coincided with rumours of an accompanying exodus of British expatriates. Traditional red post boxes had been painted green and purple and bank notes no longer carried a picture of the Queen – for some, there seemed little point in staying.

As it turned out, not everyone left when the last governor did. The British Consulate in Hong Kong estimates that there are currently between 25,000 and 30,000 UK expats based in the city. And contrary to popular belief, we're from a diverse range of professions and backgrounds – from former civil servants to clergymen; wheeler-dealers to washed-up backpackers.

Car mechanic Derek Brooks followed his girlfriend out to Hong Kong in 1994, found work maintaining a fleet of buses and decided not to return to Britain. When contracts started going to Chinese firms after 1997, the native of Harrow, Middlesex, took a job installing state of the art desks on the dealing floors of international banks.

In a form of economic irony, the recent wave of layoffs in the finance industry mean Brooks has never been busier. "I'm taking back out all the desks I put in," he jokes.

Mark Knight joined the Hong Kong Civil Service in the late Eighties and was impressed with the perks. "We had a huge apartment, a maid, gratuities and generous travel allowances," he says.

When the privileges ended in 1997, Knight qualified as an English language examiner and now specialises in corporate benchmarking across Asia.

"The opportunity to reinvent yourself is far greater here than back home. Switching careers in the UK would be much more difficult," he says.

David Tait would agree. Colonial Hong Kong was a sought-after posting for British military personnel and the Scottish Royal Navy officer liked what he saw during two tours of duty in the Eighties. He quit the Submarine Service and settled here permanently in 1993.

"I had no fixed career plans when I returned but the place was awash with money," the former lieutenant remembers. After a stint selling advertising space, Tait set up his own publishing company which has been in business for a decade this year.

At a time when the transfer of sovereignty was causing anxiety for some long-term expats, others saw the chance of a lifetime. Large numbers of young Britons poured into the colony for a last hurrah, attracted by preferential immigration and employment status and the chance to witness history being made.

Clutching CVs of varying pedigree, they slept on friends' sofas and hustled for job openings. These eleventh-hour arrivals became known as FILTH (Failed In London, Try Hong Kong). Many are still here.

British backpackers also arrived in droves. In need of a cash injection after extended jaunts around south-east Asia, they could turn up in Hong Kong in the afternoon and be serving drinks in a bar by evening.

Paul Docherty landed a job at Joe Bananas, a popular city nightspot. Realising he was never going to get rich pulling pints for homesick tourists, he decided to set up his own pub on rural Lantau Island.

The timing and location were perfect – construction of the new Hong Kong International Airport had started nearby and thirsty workers crowded into Papa Doc's from the day it opened. "The airport project definitely affected my decision to look for a place on Lantau," Docherty admits.

For another group of transplanted Brits, the Chinese passion for education is a blessing. No one has ever counted but there are probably more UK born teachers than bankers in Hong Kong.

From tutoring in language clubs to lecturing at universities, anyone with (and sometimes without) a qualification can usually find a teaching position.

Dominic Abbott arrived in 1993 and in another "it could only happen in Hong Kong" tale; he combined teaching English with work as a bouncer at a bar in Kowloon. The primary school teacher from Bradford says his nocturnal employment was infinitely more interesting than his day job.

"Triads would come in and offer money to spend the night with the barmaids. I had to tactfully explain that it wasn't that kind of place without upsetting the gang members. Then after a couple of hours' sleep I had to go and teach grammar to a class of Chinese housewives."

A different kind of violence was about to erupt as one visitor was deciding whether to put down roots in the city. Reverend John Chynchen first ventured to the Far East in the Sixties, arriving in Hong Kong for the first time in 1966.

The Communist-inspired riots a year later didn't dampen the former marine surveyor's enthusiasm however and he moved to the colony permanently not long after. Ordained as a deacon in 1989, he has no plans to abandon his flock.

"I was all set to leave in 1997," he recalls "but I realised that I wasn't ready to retire." Like most "old China hands" Chynchen, originally from Enfield, deals with bouts of homesickness by returning to the UK at regular intervals.

"I would definitely describe myself as an expatriate," he says "but I still retain membership of my London club."

Under the "one country, two systems" policy, Hong Kong is rapidly integrating with mainland China. Colonial privilege and residual goodwill are waning and resourceful British expats are discovering that adaptability and cultural awareness are more useful than membership of the cricket club.

This morning I asked my four-year-old son to sing me a song he'd learned at kindergarten. I recognised the tune immediately but not the words. He was singing in Mandarin.

I always wondered what happened to them. Even those born in Hong Kong were not entitled to Chinese citizenship unless they were of Chinese descent. I wonder if these British permanent residents in Hong Kong learnt to speak Cantonese.

luxury pets? part 2

In April, I wrote about pets being abandoned in Britain due to the economic climate. It seems Australia isn't immune. From The Age (Melbourne)

Abandoned pets the downturn's collateral damage

Mark Russell

July 5, 2009

Jessica Steen, 19, had to give up one of her pet dogs. Photo: Craig Sillitoe

ANIMAL welfare groups have blamed the financial crisis for a dramatic rise in the number of pets being abandoned.

Thousands of dogs and cats have been dumped by owners who have lost their jobs or been forced to sell their homes and move to rental accommodation where pets are banned.

The State Government's Bureau of Animal Welfare manager, policy and education, Tracy Helman, said tough economic times had forced an increasing number of people to give up their pets.

"We're certainly seeing people who feel they can't afford to have pets," Ms Helman said.

"Generally, pet owners have made a lifetime commitment to that pet and to give it up is emotionally distressing. If they have a family, it can be hard to explain to a child why the pet has to go."

Ms Helman said it was ironic that pets were being dumped when research showed they made a positive difference to an owner's physical and emotional wellbeing in tough times.

She said more people would be able to keep their pets if landlords and real estate agents relaxed their "no pet" policies for rental properties.

Pets are part of the family for 63 per cent of the 7.5 million households in Australia, and 2.8 million of these animals are dogs.

In 2007-08, there were 19,087 dogs and 17,870 cats admitted to RSPCA shelters in Victoria, compared to the 17,395 dogs and 13,989 cats given up the previous year.

Nationally, the RSPCA received 161,994 animals in 2007-08 compared to 144,400 the previous year. There were 70,514 dogs, with 23,772 euthanased (33 per cent); 69,034 cats, with 42,731 euthanased (62 per cent) and 22,446 other animals, with 11,015 euthanased (49 per cent).

The RSPCA estimates it costs between $1200 and $2000 a year to keep the average dog.

The organisation does not keep a list of the reasons given as to why pets are being abandoned, but animal shelters say owners are frequently using the financial crisis as an excuse.

RSPCA Victoria's animal shelter manager Andrew Foran said more pets were being surrendered because of the "financial squeeze".

"This is a very difficult time, especially for people who have a strong bond with their animal, which makes it devastating to have to give them up," Mr Foran said.

North Melbourne Lost Dogs' Home managing director Graeme Smith said the increase in dumped pets was directly linked to the rising national unemployment rate. He said the jobless rate and mortgage defaulters could lead to a 25 per cent rise in the number of pets abandoned by Christmas.

Pet owner Jessica Steen, 19, of Ivanhoe, was recently forced to give up her dog, Billy, a Dalmation cross she found at the Lost Dogs' Home.

Ms Steen, a dog groomer, had had Billy for four months when she realised she could no longer afford to pay for its food. "It was awful. I cried a lot," she said.

This is heart-breaking.

football - round 14

Port Adelaide 2.2 10.3 13.6 19.14 (128)
Brisbane Lions 2.4 6.7 11.11 11.14 (80)

GOALS
Port Adelaide: Ebert 4, Westhoff 3, Gray 3, Tredrea 2, Cornes, Pearce, Salopek, Brogan, Logan, Lade, Krakouer
Brisbane Lions: Bradshaw 2, Brown 2, Proud 2, Hooper, Sherman, Johnstone, Black, Rich

BEST
Port Adelaide: Rodan, Cassisi, Burgoyne, Pearce, Ebert, Brogan, Gray
Brisbane Lions: Sherman, Adcock, Power, Rich

Reports:
Port Adelaide: Troy Chaplin for charging Daniel Rich in the third term.
Brisbane Lions: Jared Brennan for head butting Josh Carr in the final term.

Umpires: Margetts, McLaren, Kamolins
Official Crowd: 20,293 at AAMI Stadium

Terrible game this afternoon. Unbearable to watch.

Photos below from Slattery Media Group

Scotty


Polks


Jahz


Mitch


Bam Bam

Walkman 30

30 years ago, Sony invented a device that so revolutionised the way people listened to music that even Time magazine wrote about its significance. By Meaghan Haire

On July 1, 1979, Sony Corp. introduced the Sony Walkman TPS-L2, a 14 ounce, blue-and-silver, portable cassette player with chunky buttons, headphones and a leather case. It even had a second earphone jack so that two people could listen in at once. Masaru Ibuka, Sony's co-founder, traveled often for business and would find himself lugging Sony's bulky TC-D5 cassette recorder around to listen to music. He asked Norio Ohga, then Executive Deputy President, to design a playback-only stereo version, optimized for use with headphones. Ibuka brought the result — a compact, high-quality music player — to Chairman Akio Morita and reportedly said, "Try this. Don't you think a stereo cassette player that you can listen to while walking around is a good idea?"

All the device needed now was a name. Originally the Walkman was introduced in the U.S. as the "Sound-About" and in the UK as the "Stowaway," but coming up with new, uncopyrighted names in every country it was marketed in proved costly; Sony eventually decided on "Walkman" as a play on the Sony Pressman, a mono cassette recorder the first Walkman prototype was based on. First released in Japan, it was a massive hit: while Sony predicted it would only sell about 5,000 units a month, the Walkman sold upwards of 50,000 in the first two months. Sony wasn't the first company to introduce portable audio: the first-ever portable transistor radio, the index card-sized Regency TR-1, debuted in 1954. But the Walkman's unprecedented combination of portability (it ran on two AA batteries) and privacy (it featured a headphone jack but no external speaker) made it the ideal product for thousands of consumers looking for a compact portable stereo that they could take with them anywhere.

Just as today's generation of young people have no idea what a vinyl LP (long play) record looks like, there will be many wondering what a cassette tape looks like.

Challenging assumptions - pork eating Turkish Muslims

Simon Reeve is one of the best travel docu-journalists around. In his new BBC series called Explore, in episode 'Istanbul and Anatolia', Adil Ray reported on the enigma of secular Turks who eat pork and drink beer.

You see, what I discovered in Turkey was probably the single most shocking piece of information regarding practising Muslims I have ever encountered.

No, not that the longer the beard the more religious you are, although some TV journalists would have us think so.

It's that in some parts of Turkey it is deemed perfectly acceptable for a Muslim to eat pork!

The guys I met take so much pleasure from it, in fact, that they actually go and hunt for it themselves - presumably to make sure it's real pork and not some kind of "tofu" variation supplied by the Islamic authorities.

I never thought I would see this day.

While a student, I was under the impression that even if a speck of my housemate's bacon fat was to get anywhere near my fish finger, I would be immediately struck down by lightning, but not before I had received 40 lashes in public from the local mullah and was disowned by the entire family.


Adil Ray joins a wild boar hunt in a Turkish forest

What struck me about the pork-eating and beer-drinking Turkish Muslims was how informed they were about their religion.

The people I spoke to had read the Koran and had made their choices.

This wasn't a case of someone feeling it had to be one choice or the other and that his or her life, beliefs and freedom were being compromised.

Until, that is, the authorities try to make it hard for them to hunt and sell pig meat or try to close down their local bars.

There are exceptions to every rule!

In any case, there was a time friends came over for breakfast and I had served bacon. The Jewish friend ate the bacon knowingly without any problem.

not a boring shirt

From Moschino's 2010 Spring/Summer collection at this year's Milan Fashion Week.



My kind of shirt.

real news

An opinion/editorial (filed on Monday 29 May 2009) in The Daily Evergreen, student newspaper of Washington State University (in Pullman, not to be confused with University of Washington in Seattle) was very topical.

Celebrity deaths eclipse real news

The Daily Evergreen

---

The over-saturated coverage of the deaths of Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett and television pitchman Billy Mays display America’s morbid fascination with celebrity. Their deaths are undoubtedly newsworthy, but they don’t require the incessant media coverage that has enveloped the nation’s airwaves, Web sites and newspapers in recent days. News outlets need to stop treating every celebrity’s death like it’s the fall of the Berlin Wall. When a person of relative importance passes away, a brief summary of the person’s life should be given an allotted amount of time for reflection without digressing into unrelenting coverage.

It should not supplant actual news that may be relevant, both locally and globally. We’re just as enthralled with “Thriller” as everyone else, but the deteriorating situation in Iran and the dire economic straits here at home should take preference over a crotch-grabbing, moonwalking cultural icon of the 1980s.

The deaths of Fawcett, Mays and Ed McMahon have all captivated the nation, albeit to a lesser extent than Jackson’s. But just consider the fact that we’re talking more about Fawcett four days after her death than the majority of us have in the last 20 years. Yes, she’s a person, and yes, she deserves to be mourned. But why not leave that for the people who loved her and cared for her, rather than exploiting death for ratings.

Of course, it’s not just the media that deserves to be admonished. Web sites from Google to Twitter reported being inundated with traffic around the time Jackson was taken to the hospital. One might expect the Los Angeles Times’ site to strain under the load after announcing his death. But Twitter (as has been shown in the last week) is proving to be a crucial outlet for the people of Iran to let their government and the rest of the world know of the election fraud that has taken place in their country. The constant influx of status updates bemoaning Jackson’s death overpowers news from Iran. We should be more concerned with holding corrupt governments accountable rather than the banality of celebrity.

Jackson’s death is not irrelevant and people’s grief is genuine in many cases, but a proper grieving process includes reserving retrospective analysis for the people who truly impact our daily lives With the number of “celebrities” (and we use the term as loosely as the rest of the media does) increasing every day, we’re rapidly approaching the point of total saturation. We have only the best wishes for the Jackson family and for those close to him. For the rest of us, it’s time to take the hint and “Beat It” – we’ve got enough things to worry about.

Indeed, the death of any one person should not need to take up half of a 30 minute or one hour news bulletin, let alone continuing on for days afterwards. It would be interesting to compare the coverage to that of Pope John Paul II, whose death really did directly affect over one billion Catholics.

2012

Disaster and doomsday scenarios make for great movies - the disaster film, its own genre.

The soon to be released (on 13 November 2009), film 2012 is a little unsettling.



According to experts, the Mayan long count calendar stops at 21 December 2012.

Scary. Boo!

football - round 13

BRISBANE LIONS: 3.4, 9.7, 13.13, 16.15 (111)
MELBOURNE: 2.0, 2.2, 2.5, 8.8 (56)

GOALS:
Brisbane Lions: Brown 5, Bradshaw 4, Rich 2, Polkinghorne 2, Stiller, Roe, Sherman
Melbourne: Sylvia 2, Morton, Robertson, Bruce, Jones, Jurrah, Davey
BEST:
Brisbane Lions: Power, Black, Brown, Rich, Bradshaw, Brennan
Melbourne: Sylvia, Davey, Bruce, Green, Grimes
CHANGES: M Bate (Melbourne) replaced in selected side by N Jones
UMPIRES: Donlon, Hay, Jeffery
CROWD: 23,750 at the Gabba

The match was an avenging one to make up for last year's one point loss to Melbourne at the same time last year, which started a downhill spiral. At one stage, the margin was an incredible 74 points, but the Dees (Melbourne Demons) came back with six goals in the final quarter. While a great win, it wasn't really an exciting game to watch.

Photos by Mervyn Lowe (ML) and Sean Garnsworthy (SG) for Slattery Media Group

Jahz (ML)


Jed (ML)


Luke (SG)


Rischi (SG)


Shermo (SG)

Vampire-Con

Oh dear. It was eventually going to happen. Popular culture (film, television and fiction/books) are obsessed with this sub-genre.

From Vampire-Con.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 06.04.09

VAMPIRE-CON SINKS ITS FANGS INTO LOS ANGELES!
FRIDAY, AUGUST 14th TO SUNDAY, AUGUST 16th

The Vam-Pop Culture Weekend Celebrates Our Favorite Creatures of the Night with a Two-Night Film Festival, Celebrity Guests, 40th Anniversary Celebration of Vampirella ® And A Moonlit Danse Macabre

June 4, 2009, Hollywood, CA – Vampire-Con 2009, the world’s first convention devoted to Vam-Pop culture swoops into Hollywood, CA for a weekend-long event, August 14 – 16. In association with Harris Comics, Vampire-Con will celebrate the 40th anniversary of the sexy comic-book icon Vampirella ®.

The weekend kicks off with a Vampire Film Festival at The New Beverly Cinema on Friday, August 14th and Saturday, August 15th. The fest will feature celebrity guests, contests and a program of your favorite vampire flicks both classic and new.

On Sunday, August 16th, Vampire-Con takes wing to the famed Music Box Theatre @ Fonda in Hollywood. Find your inner vampire at the day-long event on two floors of vendors, SFX make-up demonstrations and celebrity panel discussions. Topics will include Inked in Blood: 40 Years of Vampirella ®, Why We Love Vampires: A Brief History of the Undead and Hot Blooded: Vampires & Sexuality.

On Sunday evening, The Music Box @ Fonda transforms into VAMPIRELLA’S ® BALL, a heart-pounding 21 & over danse macabre. Vampires and humans alike will experience the dark side of Los Angeles’ acclaimed underground vaudeville cirque “Lucent Dossier” and revel the night away to the blood-churning beats provided by DJ Gary Calamar, music supervisor of HBO’s TRUE BLOOD and host of KCRW’s The Open Road.

From Dracula to Twilight, Vampires have provided an ageless mythology that taps into our cultural pulse. As new generations become fans, Vampire-Con celebrates these scary and sexy creatures that capture our collective imagination.

Tickets are $15 for the Sunday day-walkers and $30 for Vampirella’s ® Ball. Film festival admission is $7 per night. Stay tuned for updates about celebrity guests, prizes, contests and more!

Heidi Johnson Hijinx
Social | Media | Marketing

323.204.7246

The real ones might turn up and feed. I would attend if I live in Los Angeles, but don't. I wonder if Anne Rice was invited. It was her books that hooked me.

book - finished reading

Breakout : how I escaped from the Exclusive Brethren by David Tchappat (New Holland 2009)

From publisher's notes

Imagine a life without television, music or freedom; imagine every minute of your spare time being spent attending church; imagine growing up believing swimming pools, cinemas and dancing were evil.

For members of the Exclusive Brethren, a strict religious sect, constraints such as these are normal. No member is allowed to eat in the same room as a ‘worldly’ person, they are forbidden from owning a pet and they are restricted from socialising with anyone outside of the Exclusive Brethren. Most members are so isolated within the sect that they can’t even imagine a life on the outside.

But not all members can live such a controlled existence. Once David Tchappat had a taste of the real world as a teenager, there was no going back despite the fact he knew he would be cruelly ostracised from his family, friends and the only life he had known.

A very interesting read from a personal perspective of a very secretive organisation. Exclusive Bethren received a lot of media attention during previous Australian federal election campaigns allegedly due to their political influence with the previous Australian prime minister and political donations, particularly given members of the organisation are forbidden to vote.

Tchappat's autobiography is very honest and revealing.

More information on Exclusive Bethren.

They shun the conduits of evil communications: television, the radio, and the Internet.

No equivalent of the Amish's Rumspringa.

racial segregation in 2009

I was surprised and appalled to read this article in the Daily Telegraph, particularly as it is a British newspaper.

Segregated high school proms divide Georgia's students

Kera Nobles' senior prom should have been a high point of her life, as she celebrated graduation from her home town's school system after 13 years of education.

By Leonard Doyle in Montgomery county, Georgia

Published: 11:00AM BST 21 Jun 2009

Kera Nobles is photographed at a dinner. Nobles was a senior this year when Montgomery County High School held two proms, one attended by black students and the other by whites Photo: ADAM NADEL

But instead it has left the normally bubbly 17-year-old smouldering with anger. For, following a local tradition that seems extraordinary in a country which has elected its first black president, there was not just one formal dance for the 54 classmates who graduated from Montgomery County High, but two.

On the first night, a prom was held for the school's white students; the following night came the celebration for Miss Nobles and the school's other blacks.

"I don't like segregated proms, there's no need for it," she said, her eyes still burning with hurt. "We went to school together and we all graduated at the same time. I feel like I've been deprived of something that was important to me."

In early summer when Georgia peaches are at their sweetest and high school seniors can't wait to be loosed on the world, separate proms are part of the bitter aftertaste of segregation that persists in parts of America's Deep South.

For nearly 40 years state school pupils have been educated together. They have played sports together and developed close bonds of friendship, before finding themselves face to face with a cruel ghost from America's past.

"It was heartbreaking," said Miss Nobles, who will be leaving home to go to university this autumn. "It was the one night to see all your friends dressed up and I'm told, I have to wait until the next night because of the colour of my skin."

The annual prom held by high schools across America near the end of the academic year is big event, for which students and parents spend months preparing. But in a handful of Southern towns, parents still insist on whites-only proms which blacks are not allowed to attend.

The election of Barack Obama did nothing to change attitudes that go back generations in the small rural towns of Montgomery county, Georgia; the surge of pride black people felt in the election of the first black President was met by frosty silence by whites. The county, which is two thirds white, voted overwhelmingly Republican last November and attitudes have hardened as the months have passed.

Barred from attending the white prom, Kera still stood outside to show moral support for her closest friends, cheering and taking photographs as they arrived and did the "senior walk" into the community hall with their boyfriends or their fathers. Then she left, with her black friends.

Next evening her own white friends encouraged her and took their own pictures as she and her friends dressed in lavishly coloured dresses and rented dress suits for their own event at the same venue.

She was close to tears. "Every (school) class we sat beside each other," she said, ticking off the names of her best white girlfirends, Harley Boone and Cierra Sharpe.

"We love each other. But there's a lot of hidden history here, and while everybody gets along there's always something... If your parents are a certain way nine times out of 10 you're going to think the same way."

Blake Conner, 17, who is white, did not want to go to the prom at all, but was persuaded to attend by friends. "There's a lot of people I went to school with, who are my friends that I wish could have been there," he said, lifting sacks of sweet corn from an elderly farmer's pickup truck into farm shop where he has a summer job.

He believes it would be hard to have a successful integrated prom for what he calls "cultural reasons."

"My friends tried to organise a joint prom but they just couldn't agree on the music or even a theme," he said.

For two white sisters, Terra and Tamara Fountain, both of whom have black boyfriends, prom night was especially trying. "I wanted to go to the black prom," said Terra, 18, "but my mom wouldn't pay. She doesn't like me talking to black people anyway." She now lives with her black boyfriend, Gary Carswell, but neither feels comfortable living under scrutiny in a small town.

Her sister Tamara, 16, added that she cannot be seen on the street with her boyfriend Ken Troupe. "Its terrible, everybody's so racist round here," she said. "If they see you in public with a black guy they just stare at you with hate in their eyes."

Montgomery county's time warp seems to be rooted in institutionalised racism. Until relatively recently the black community of this town lived in terror of the lynch mob.

In one infamous killing in early August 1930, a prominent 70-year old black politician was taken from his house by a mob and tortured to death. In 1944, after a one-day trial by an all white jury, a maid was convicted and later executed for shooting dead a man who was sexually assaulting her.

Racially motivated killings continued through the 1950s, and in the late 1970s a white man was shot dead for having an affair with a black woman. No one was prosecuted.

Officials insist that the once powerful Ku Klux Klan is no longer active. "The Klan is now history and thank the Lord for that," said one. "They are gone now, we are just dealing with some old attitudes."

It's those attitudes that kept last month's proms segregated, since the parents of white pupils refuse to support it another way. This year's "white folks' prom", as it is known, was a lavish affair for which tickets cost over $200 a head - out of the reach of most black pupils, who are from some of the poorest families in the country.

The sadness of the black pupils was captured by Gillian Laub, a freelance photographer who reported on the town's segregated events for the New York Times Magazine.

Harley Boone, a graduating white student who posed by her parents' outdoor swimming pool, told her: "There's always been two separate proms. It don't seem like a big deal around here, it's just what we know and what our parents have done for so many years.

"In our school system it's not really about being racist or having all white friends or all black friends. We all hang out together, we're all in the same classes, and we all eat lunch together at the same table. It's not about what colour you are."

Miss Boone's comments outraged many and she found herself cruelly caricatured as a racist on a YouTube video that has been widely viewed.

Betty McCoy, the editor of the local newspaper, the Montgomery Monitor, has watched with dismay as segregated proms continue year after year. "It's really the fault of a few families," she said. "This is really a friendly and well integrated community."

Pastor F Lee Carter of the African Baptist Church - who once marched for civil rights in Selma, Alabama with Rev Martin Luther King, has little patience with those who demand separate proms.

"Political life is intertwined; educational life is too," he said. "So why shouldn't our social life be intertwined as well?"

But the school superintendent, Leon Batten, pointed out: "The most segregated hour of the week is 11 am on a Sunday morning when white and black attend separate churches."

Even so, Mr Batten has decided it is time to end the segregation - and next year there will be an integrated prom, arranged by the school instead of the parents, he told The Sunday Telegraph. "It may not be a great success at first, but we will persist and over time the segregation will be history."

Surely segregation is illegal. The students who disagreed should have boycotted the segregated separate proms. Ultimately, those who refuse to attend an integrated prom will clearly be in a minority.

Who ate all the Neanderthals?

We may have, or rather our early human ancestors may have, according to a study published in Journal of Anthropological Sciences Vol. 87 (2009), pp. 153-185. Summary of journal article

The view that Aurignacian technologies and their associated symbolic manifestations represent the archaeological proxy for the spread of Anatomically Modern Humans into Europe, is supported by few diagnostic human remains, including those from the Aurignacian site of Les Rois in south-western France. Here we reassess the taxonomic attribution of the human remains, their cultural affiliation, and provide five new radiocarbon dates for the site. Patterns of tooth growth along with the morphological and morphometric analysis of the human remains indicate that a juvenile mandible showing cutmarks presents some Neandertal features, whereas another mandible is attributed to Anatomically Modern Humans. Reappraisal of the archaeological sequence demonstrates that human remains derive from two layers dated to 28–30 kyr BP attributed to the Aurignacian, the only cultural tradition detected at the site.  Three possible explanations may account for this unexpected evidence.  The first one is that the Aurignacian was exclusively produced by AMH and that the child mandible from unit A2 represents evidence for consumption or, more likely, symbolic use of a Neandertal child by Aurignacian AMH.  The second possible explanation is that Aurignacian technologies were produced at Les Rois by human groups bearing both AMH and Neandertal features. Human remains from Les Rois would be in this case the first evidence of a biological contact between the two human groups.  The third possibility is that all human remains from Les Rois represent an AMH population with conserved plesiomorphic characters suggesting a larger variation in modern humans from the Upper Palaeolithic.

For easier to understand reporting, see The Guardian and ABC (Australia).

Is it still cannibalism even though the Neanderthals were a different species?

Acropolis Museum (Μουσείο της Ακρόπολης)

Greece's new Acropolis Museum (Μουσείο της Ακρόπολης) was officially opened today (20 June 2009) and open to the public from tomorrow.


(more pictures from BBC News)

Now that there is a possible new home to house the Parthenon marbles (Elgin marbles), the British Museum may return them.

See BBC News, Financial Times, Los Angeles Times

Döner Bratwurst

A strange article from Der Spiegel

06/18/2009

INTEGRATION SUCCESS

Introducing the Döner Bratwurst

It is said that the way to someone's heart is through the stomach. Could integration follow the same path? A German butcher has just announced his newest creation: the döner bratwurst.

In countries like Germany where sausage dominates the culinary offerings, there is one golden rule: Never, ever ask what's in a wurst. There is, after all, a distinct chance that you won't like the answer.

Döner kebab? Sausage? Or both?

One German sausage meister, however, has recently broken that rule -- and has done his part to promote German-Turkish integration in the process. He has come up with a brand new product: the döner bratwurst.

The new product is made completely from veal and is stuffed into a casing made of sheep's intestine, thereby avoiding pork out of respect for Muslim dietary restrictions. "One can eat it alone with ketchup or in a pita with salad just like a regular döner," inventor Stefan Voelker told the tabloid Bild. Voelker, the report says, is fond of creating new sausage variations in his free time.

And he might be on to something. Germany has long been looking for new ways to help integrate its Turkish minority. Döner kebabs have long been a staple of German youth as they stumble home from the bar in the wee hours. A neighborhood barbeque with döner sausage may be just the thing to help bring Turks and Germans together.

cgh

The question is, what took it so long? After all, Currywurst has been around for nearly 50 years.

Anyway, the logic of the article is a bit simplistic. As if a fusion dish could make people mix socially. Australia's variation to the Italian pizza is the ham and pineapple, and misnamed Hawaiian wasn't created to help Italian Australians mix. Rather it was a bastardisation of pizza that no Italian in their right mind would eat.

the best public transport

Ben Groundwater writes a brilliant travel 'blog' (column really) for the Sydney Morning Herald and has tackled the world's best (and worst) public transport

Most of the world's major cities have sorted out their public transport by now. Most have vast networks of underground trains, buses that seem to just materialise when you need them, and taxis that are affordable enough to qualify as public transport.

Sydney has none of those things.

It must bug the hell out of tourists. A public transport system can change the way you see the city your visiting - for the better, or worse.

Sydney's not alone. LA has next to no public transport that you'd ever want to set foot in - most locals will tell you that not having a car in LA is like not having a 4WD on the North Shore. You might as well not even be there.

Rome's not great either - for a huge city to only have two Metro lines is not ideal. Still, most things you'll want to see there are within walking distance of each other, which makes life a lot easier.

But enough of the bad news. Here are the cities around the world with the best public transport. It's cheap, it's fast, it's frequent, and it's easy to use. You listening, Clover? [Clover Moore is the Lord Mayor of Sydney and a member of the NSW state parliament - Daniel]

Seoul, Korea
Seoul's a nightmare of a place to walk around - the streets are badly signed, and the numbering system defies comprehension. But the city's Metro system is something else. Every trip, no matter how far, costs the equivalent of a dollar. A new train seems to arrive the minute the old one pulls out. All stations have maps of the surrounding area, and clearly numbered exits for you to get your bearings. Couldn't be easier.

Paris, France
It may not smell the best, but you can't fault the Paris Metro's frequency, and the areas of the city it manages to cover. Assuming no one's on strike, you can get around with ease. Admittedly, I haven't given the buses a whirl - anyone fill us in on that?

Shanghai, China
Like Seoul's system, the Shanghai Metro is cheap and easy to use, with plenty of signs in English, and maps around to help you out. The city also boasts the Maglev, the new train that whips you out to Pudong Airport from the city at 430km/h, and costs about 10 bucks. (Seriously, it really does go that fast.) Taxis are frightening, but cheap, and can even be paid for with the swipe card you get for the Metro.

New York, USA
I was freaked out by the subway at first. I'm not sure why - all those colours and dots I guess (I'm slightly colour blind, cut a brother some slack). But once you get the hang of things, the subway's a dream. There seems to be a station on just about every city block, and if you stand around looking confused for more than a few seconds, someone will offer to help you. Beats paying for cabs.

Amsterdam, Netherlands
Most people learn about Amsterdam's public transport the hard way - by almost getting run over by it. The city's trams are notoriously silent killers, creeping up on you and warning you with a "Ding!" seconds before impact. On the bright side though, they're cheap and easy to use - as is the train system that connects the 'Dam with neighbouring cities like Haarlem and Zandvoort. Best way to get around, though, is to do like the Dutchies do, and ride a bike.

London, UK
The downside: London transport is damn expensive. If you don't have an Oyster card, a single trip through one zone on the Tube will cost you the equivalent of $10. That's insane. Plus, riding the Tube in summer is about as much fun as cancer. The upside is that the trains are frequent, easy to use, and once you have that Oyster card, you can use it to pay for pretty much everything. Buses run all night too, which is handy, given the outrageous price of catching taxis...

Metro (underground train) systems are awesome, even New York's Subway and the London Underground. The quaintest is the Budapest Metro. I love the Paris Metro - the trains run on rubber tyres.

Come Play!

Australia has officially bid to host the FIFA World Cup in 2018 or 2022.

Come Play!

The bid film is awesome, with a cameo by the Australian Prime Minister at 1 minute 49 seconds into it.

Vegemite "Name Me"

From Australian Associated Press and widely reported (identically without variation) in The Age, Herald Sun etc

The makers of what is arguably Australia's most identifiable food may be American, but they are well aware of the danger of tampering with a national icon.

Which is why the people at Kraft Foods took the advice of more than 300,000 Australians before they meddled with Vegemite.

The result of those consultations, and nine months of tinkering with ingredients, is the first variation in 85 years on an astonishingly successful theme.

Kraft launched a new version of Vegemite today - and it did so with a certain amount of respectful trepidation, insisting that the product as "the new Vegemite experience".

"With such a well-loved, iconic brand we wouldn't create something using the Vegemite name unless we were absolutely sure Australians would love it," said Kraft's head of corporate affairs Simon Talbot.

To determine the level of that affection, Kraft undertook its "How Do You Like Your Vegemite" census and the Vegemite forum.

"They told us they wanted a Vegemite that doesn't require combining with butter and one that's easier to spread," Mr Talbot said.

The new spread resembles Vegemite and smells like Vegemite, but it has a smoother, more spreadable consistency.

While the exact recipe is a closely-held secret, the new Vegemite experience is, basically, regular vegemite combined with cream cheese.

The result, according to the company, is a vegemite for all occasions.

"This is a vegemite experience that can be enjoyed at all times of the day," said Kraft director of sales Darren O'Brien.

The new Vegemite won't be on the supermarket shelves until July 5 with today's launch being forced on Kraft after the existence of the product became public.

One thing Kraft hasn't come up with is a name for the Vegemite "experience".

As a result, they are turning to the method used in 1923 to name the "New Vegetable Food" invented by chemist Cyril Callister for the Fred Walker Cheese Company, which later became Kraft Foods.

In order to find a name for the new product, Mr Walker took ads in newspapers announcing a competition with 50 pound prize for the best suggestion.

As a result, Vegemite came into being and more than a billion jars and 85 years later the same method will be used.

The new Vegemite will bear a label carrying the words "Name Me" with the winner to receive, among other things, a ticket to the AFL grand final.

While Kraft is confident its new product will be widely accepted, it hasn't turned its back on the original Vegemite.

"Seventy per cent of all Australian homes have vegemite in the pantry," Mr Talbot said.

"They will still be able to get their favourite spread."

Actually, the formula of original Vegemite was changed sometime ago to reduce the amount of salt.

Kraft also combined Vegemite into Kraft Singles cheese slices last decade, called Vegemite Singles. They weren't bad, but were withdrawn probably due to low sales.

Vegemite without butter or margarine? Sacrilege.

Still, 5 July is a long time to wait. I like the name Vegemite Name Me.

Staff at Colorado Springs' The Gazette don't seem to like Vegemite, like many Americans. Pity.

football - round 12

BRISBANE 2.4 3.9 7.13 13.15 (93)
HAWTHORN 3.3 6.5 7.7 7.9 (51)

Goals:
Brisbane: J Brown 5 J Sherman 2 C Stiller D Rich M Clark M Rischitelli R Hooper T Notting.
Hawthorn: M Williams 3 B Sewell J Roughead L Franklin S Dew.

Best:
Brisbane: J Brown S Black J Brennan J Sherman L Power J Roe.
Hawthorn: S Mitchell J Lewis C Brown L Hodge B Sewell X Ellis.

Injuries: Brisbane: M Clark (quad) T Selwood (shoulder).

Umpires: Chris Donlon, Justin Schmitt, Hayden Kennedy.
Official Crowd: 16,710 at Aurora Stadium.

Watching the football on television is a great Sunday afternoon activity. The first half was terrible and I thought my team was going to be thrashed, trailing by 14 points at half time. The final two quarters were awesome, particularly given how many key players were still out from injury.

Photos by Lachlan Cunningham for Slattery Media Group.


Bunno injuring his shoulder


After one of Shermo's goals


Jaz being tackled


Chinny being tackled


Browny (captain)