There's nothing like it

According to Tourism Australia, there's nothing like Australia.

The exact same thing could be said for many other places...

like...

France
Italy
Greece
Turkey
India
China
Thailand

#slogan fail

TARDIS renovation

A sneak peak from the Radio Times



I hope the new series shows more of other parts of the interior of the TARDIS. Apparently, there used to be a swimming pool.

What happened to an apple for the teacher?

According to the (UK) Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), pupils no longer just give apples to teachers. From media release

From half eaten chocolate bars to a brace of pheasants - present giving is alive and well in UK schools - ATL
26 March 2010

From bizarre ornaments and recycled toiletries, to opera tickets and champagne, giving presents to thank education staff for their efforts, or to celebrate religious festivals, is alive and well. Over 90% of school and college staff have received a gift from a pupil or their parent or guardian, according to a new survey conducted by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL).

Forty-seven per cent of staff receive gifts twice a year and 66% of presents were given directly by a pupil, rather than by their parent or guardian. The most common time of year to receive a gift was at the end of the academic year (70%), followed by religious festivals such as Christmas, Hanukah or Eid (63%).

Most of the gifts were under £5 (58%) or between £5 and £10 (37%). Overall the most popular gift for staff were chocolates with 85% having received some. Other popular presents include flowers or plants (53%), alcohol (49%), toiletries (48%) and mugs (38%).

Primary staff are more likely to receive presents more than once a year (82%), than secondary school staff (36%). Meanwhile, state school staff are far less likely to receive alcohol (43%) than their independent counterparts (72%). But they are nearly twice as likely to be given a mug (43%), than staff at an independent school (27%).

Most institutions do not have a policy on the receiving of gifts (59%), and many staff choose to open their presents in class (41%) or take them home (41%).

The most popular gifts among staff were personalised items such as paintings done by a student of their teacher, or hand-made jewellery and cards.

Some staff have received expensive gifts, with one being given a Tiffany bracelet, another tickets to an England cricket Test Match, and another £1,000 of gift vouchers. Other extravagant presents included; a Mulberry handbag, a Yves St Laurent scarf, champagne, a brace of pheasants, and theatre vouchers. One primary teacher in an independent school commented: "One parent bought me £200 of Opera House vouchers".

Some of the strangest gifts reported included a 49p Somerfield half eaten chocolate bar, a ripped book with 10 of the last pages missing, and "a second hand photo album with dog hair all over it".

Chris Clarke a classroom teacher in a primary state school, said: "Although I am very grateful that pupils and their parents appreciate what I do for them, I do feel that in our school there is a culture of present-giving that can become almost unhealthy. I make a point of especially praising those pupils who make gifts or cards rather than buy them."

Kathy White, a head of department in a further education college, said: "I think the pressure to give gifts to teachers has been increased by the card shops as at the end of year there are a wide range of gifts. The best "gift" I have ever received is a card made by a group of learners where each contributed, adding how I had changed their lives and how my belief in them had motivated them. This is priceless!"

Mr Roberts, an NQT at a state secondary school, commented: "I received a Christmas card from one of my year 8's this year, I stuck it on the wall, and then another child who hadn't got me a card drew a Santa on the back of an envelope with "Happy Christmas from ____ " written on it. I was just as appreciative and it was stuck next to the bought card."

A female teacher in an independent secondary school, said: "I've only just moved back to independent from maintained. Very few presents are now given in secondary compared to when I started teaching 20 years ago, and yet the expectation is that you buy your tutor group treats at end of each term."

Dr Mary Bousted, general secretary of ATL, said: "Although most staff like getting presents from their pupils to show their hard work is appreciated, they don't expect them. Staff certainly don't want their pupils to feel they have to give presents and feel humiliated if they can't afford to do so.

"Staff are just as delighted by a handmade gift or card - the thought really does count."

Further notes:
ATL surveyed over 1,016 primary, secondary, and further education staff working in state and independent schools and colleges in the UK between 15 February and 12 March 2010.

To view the full survey results click here

When I was in primary (elementary) school, the teachers only received cheap toiletries (after shave or perfume and other cheap fancy soaps) and only for Christmas presents. Occasionally an apple. Surely at any other time, a gift to a teacher could be construed as a bribe.

Water, water everywhere and fit to drink from tap

I have previously written about bottled water. In developed countries, where water is safe to drink straight from the tap, there is no need to spend money unnecessarily on bottled water.

Here is a great video about bottled water from The Story of Stuff.



Extending the logic, soft drink (soda) is also wasteful consumption. It provides absolutely no nutritional value, being full of sugar and artificial chemicals.

football - round 1

It has been a long wait for the start of the football season and the start has not disappointed.

BRISBANE LIONS 2.6 6.10 9.12 16.18 (114)
WEST COAST 4.2 7.6 10.8 12.10 (82)

GOALS
Brisbane Lions: Brown 5, Power 3, Fevola 3, Drummond, Banfield, Brennan, Sherman, Staker.
West Coast: Schuey 2, Kennedy 2, Lynch 2, Ebert, LeCras, Naitanui, McGinnity, Embley, Cox.

BEST:
Brisbane Lions: Brennan, Brown, Black, Power, Fevola, Drummond.
West Coast: Embley, McGinnity, Kerr, Selwood, Priddis, Butler.

INJURIES
Brisbane Lions: Buchanan (broken thumb), Adcock (ankle).
UMPIRES: Hay, Wenn, Jeffery.
CROWD: 29,201 at the Gabba.

West Coast were the underdogs for this game but put up a good fight for the first three quarters until they ran out of legs. The star of the show was not our high-profile recruit traded from Carlton, Brendan Fevola, but the enigmatic and brilliant Jared Brennan.

Pictures via Getty Images (hover mouse over for descriptions)

Earth Hour - power of the planet

We participated in Earth hour in 2009 and 2008, and will observe it again this year. From Earth Hour website

Earth Hour started in 2007 in Sydney, Australia when 2.2 million homes and businesses turned their lights off for one hour to make their stand against climate change. Only a year later and Earth Hour had become a global sustainability movement with more than 50 million people across 35 countries participating. Global landmarks such as the, Sydney Harbour Bridge, The CN Tower in Toronto, The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, and Rome’s Colosseum, all stood in darkness, as symbols of hope for a cause that grows more urgent by the hour.

In March 2009, hundreds of millions of people took part in the third Earth Hour. Over 4000 cities in 88 countries officially switched off to pledge their support for the planet, making Earth Hour 2009 the world’s largest global climate change initiative.

Earth Hour 2010 takes place on Saturday 27 March at 8.30pm (local time) and is a global call to action to every individual, every business and every community throughout the world. It is a call to stand up, to take responsibility, to get involved and lead the way towards a sustainable future. Iconic buildings and landmarks from Europe to Asia to the Americas will stand in darkness. People across the world from all walks of life will turn off their lights and join together in celebration and contemplation of the one thing we all have in common – our planet.

There may be debate in some quarters about climate change, but the real message ought to be about not wasting energy and the power of collective action.



I like the idea of global fasting on one day of the year, of one meal, for the medically fit, to raise awareness of poverty and starvation. Perhaps something for Make Poverty History.

Clash of the Titan generations

The original Clash of the Titans film was released in 1981. The remake of 2010 is about to be released. There are vast differences in the styles - acting, special effects, storyline and even in the trailers.

original trailer of 1981 film


'remix' of the 1981 film using today's style


trailer for 2010 remake


Given today's technology, films with the old effects are now nearly unwatchable.

Even Ray Harryhausen's Jason and the Argonauts of 1963 could do with a remake

Lèse majesté part 3

I've previously written about lèse majesté in terms of how it is implemented.

A recent issue of The Economist carried an in-depth article about the Thai royal family and succession issues. Consequently, Bangkok Post reported that The Economist would not be distributing that issue in Thailand due to lèse majesté laws.

Within the readership of The Economist, it has generated a debate, with the magazine suggesting that "[w]e hold that Thailand’s lèse-majesté laws should be lifted. They harm the country itself; on those grounds they should be removed."

Of course, given that nobody within Thailand can have such a debate, the comment may fall on deaf ears.

See also New Mandala (Australian National University).

Nature by Numbers

An awesome movie by Cristóbal Vila, inspired by numbers, geometry and nature.



Also check out the theory behind the movie at Etérea.

@ at MoMA

New York's Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) has acquired the @ symbol into its collection. For free. It's a strange acquisition as @ belongs to everyone and to no one.

The symbol @ was more commonly used to denote 'at' or 'at the rate of' in commercial transactions, such as 5 apples @ $1.

In 1971, Ray Tomlinson appropriated the symbol for use in the first email. Today, it is used in Twitter to address tweets to tweeters. You can send me a tweet @daniels_den (I don't receive many tweets addressed to me).

See New York Times.

The thing is, we don't have to visit MoMA to see @. It's right there on your keyboard. I wonder if MoMA also has ampersand & in its collection.

Our strange fascination with metro maps

I've previously written about metros and in particular, the Berlin U-Bahn. Die Welt recently had two superb articles about metro maps, 'Die seltsame Faszination von U-Bahn-Plänen' (The strange fascination of metro plans).

Ihre Farben sind fast überall gleich: Rot, Grün, Blau, Gelb. Sie erinnern an Teller voller Spaghetti, an kämpfende Würmer oder äußerst wirre Grafiken und weisen uns doch den Weg. U-Bahn-Pläne aus verschiedenen Städten üben große Anziehungskraft aus – auch wenn man gerade nicht in der Bahn sitzt.

translation

Their colors are almost the same everywhere: red, green, blue, yellow. They remind us of plate of spaghetti, with fighting worms or extremely confused graphics and show us the way yet. Metro plans of various cities exert great attraction - even when not sitting in the train.

See also part 2.

Metro maps are indeed fascinating. We would be lost in the maze of platforms if it were not for the maps. We need to know before boarding a metro train the direction of travel, where to change trains and how many stops before our desired destination.

Lots of subway maps can be found at Amadeus.

Voyage of the Plastiki

A boat made up of plastic bottles and other recycled material, named the Plastiki, has set sail from San Francisco on a 100 day journey to Sydney, to raise awareness about maritime pollution. See AP video


The project is led by David De Rothschild (photo by Plastiki press centre)


The boat is a catamaran (photo from Plastiki press centre)



You can follow the journey online
- www.theplastiki.com
- www.adventureecology.com
- photos on Flickr

Of course, the name Plastiki is an acknowledgment of the famous Kon-Tiki expedition of the 1940s.

'socialized' health care? 2

Tea baggers, err tea partiers at a 16 March protest



These people also vote. Sometimes the most vocal critics are also the most misinformed and it is evident as soon as they talk.

Strange, there were no complaints about 'socialized' banking after the Wall Street bail out.

City of Literature 3

I previously wrote about Melbourne becoming the second UNESCO City of Literature. The first was Edinburgh and the third was Iowa City.

The Wheeler Centre (for Books, Writing and Ideas) recently opened. It was named after Tony and Maureen Wheeler, founders of Lonely Planet, who provided a generous endowment.

The Wheeler Centre is within the complex of the State Library of Victoria, with a separate entrance on 176 Little Lonsdale Street. Description from their website

The Wheeler Centre

A Victorian Government initiative and the centrepiece of Melbourne's designation as a UNESCO City of Literature.

Our City of Literature status is not about Dickens on the tram, Nabokov in the Great Southern Stand or a Bronte or two over breakfast. It’s a recognition and celebration of Melbourne’s passionate readers.

We’re home to many of Australia's best and best-loved writers, past and present. We host an extraordinary network of booksellers, a diverse publishing culture and a vibrant community of thinkers.

Being a City of Literature is about engagement locally and globally. Because there’s a public conversation going on: in our papers and online, on our TVs and radios, in our workplaces and homes. Books, writing and ideas flow through Melbourne and there is something for everyone.

From 2010, Melbourne will have a new kind of cultural institution. The Wheeler Centre. A centre dedicated to the discussion and practice of writing and ideas. Through a year-round programme of talks and lectures, readings and debates, we invite you to join the conversation.

The other great passion of Melbourne is the football. It would be wonderful if the two came together.

Invisibility cloak

Scientific journal Science has reported that scientists have created a three-dimensional invisibility cloak. Abstract

Three-Dimensional Invisibility Cloak at Optical Wavelengths
Tolga Ergin,^1,2,*, Nicolas Stenger,^1,2,* Patrice Brenner,² John B. Pendry,³ Martin Wegener^1,2,4

A three-dimensional invisibility-cloaking structure operating at optical wavelengths based on transformation optics has been designed and realized. Our blueprint uses a woodpile photonic crystal with tailored polymer filling fraction to hide a bump in a gold reflector. Structures and controls are fabricated by direct laser writing and characterized by simultaneous high-numerical-aperture far-field optical microscopy and spectroscopy. Cloaking operation with large bandwidth of unpolarized light from 1.4- to 2.7-µm wavelength is demonstrated for viewing angles up to 60 degrees.

¹ Institut für Angewandte Physik, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), D-76128 Karlsruhe, Germany.
² DFG-Center for Functional Nanostructures (CFN), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), D-76128 Karlsruhe, Germany.
³ Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK.
⁴ Institut für Nanotechnologie, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), D-76021 Karlsruhe, Germany.

^* These authors contributed equally to this work.

To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: tolga.ergin@kit.edu

See also BBC News.

There was no report of magic being involved at all.

Neither M or F, but what?

A couple of days ago, I wrote about the Norrie, who became the first non-gendered person in the world. It's an interesting topic as it challenges how we view the world and its people.

Today, the Sydney Morning Herald (sourced from AAP) reported that the non-gendered status has now been withdrawn. Excerpt

Norrie, who famously became the first person in the world deemed neither male nor female, has now had the certificate confirming the gender-neutral status withdrawn.

NSW's Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages deemed invalid the certificate it issued on February 25 which established the 48-year-old's sex as "non specified".

It says it cancelled Norrie's "recognised details certificate" after receiving legal advice it was invalid.

"When I got the call on Tuesday I was absolutely devastated. I felt like I had been killed," Norrie told AAP on Thursday.

"My identity has gone all over the world ... (now the) attorney-general's taking back what they sold to me.

"If I sell you something by mistake ... I can't say: `Oh no, I have re-thought that. I didn't mean to do that.' I can't take it back off you."

Norrie, who only uses one name, wants to know why the registry didn't seek legal advice before issuing the certificate.

"Three weeks after they issued it and I go public ... somehow they get legal advice telling them they didn't have the right to issue it in the first place," Norrie said.

NSW Attorney-General John Hatzistergos told parliament on Thursday his office made some inquiries about the certificate after the issue was "ventilated" in the media.

He said legal advice provided to the registry said "the registrar may only issue a recognised detail certificate or a new birth certificate following a change of sex in either male or female gender".

read more

It is such a step backwards in acknowledging the reality of the diversity of gender identity. Too many people don't fit exactly into society's accepted stereotypes.

We're all Irish today

Reported in the Irish Times, there is a shortage of shamrock in Ireland this year in time for St Patrick's Day because of late frosts.



In Australia, the plant is merely called clover and considered a weed. Thankfully, wearing green is an acceptable way to show support.

'socialized' health care?

I'm still perplexed about the claims of 'socialized' health care by those engaging in scare campaigns with respect to health care reforms in the United States.

Existing services that can be considered to be 'socialized' include education and public transport.

Why should taxpayers who do not have children subsidise the education of those who do have children? Why should governments fund and provide education when there are plenty of private providers who can do it? Why should those who drive cars subsidise public transport?

It is not just about economics. You can't pick and choose.

Why not dispense with government altogether? The military? Just hire private contractors and mercenaries. But who will pay for it?. Foreign policy? Let the think tanks sort it out and come up with a committee.

Why bother collecting taxes? Let consumers pay for what they consume.

It's easy to come up with slogans, but harder to articulate the logic behind such arguments.

headline of the month

From Iowa City Press-Citizen

Ronald McDonald arrested for pot

McDonald's corporation did not issue a statement. It is not known whether the alleged offender was asked to change his name.


photo from Foods for the soul

And now, news by formula

A few days ago I posted BriTANick's brilliant trailer for every Oscar winning film. Of course that applied to fiction.

However, even fact isn't immune to formula, in particular the reporting of 'fact'.

BBC Newswipe with Charlie Brooker


Onion (satire)



It isn't just the delivery of television news that is questionable. A lot of so called human interest stories are a waste of time.