Zagreb j'taime

There's another name to add to Paris Tokyo New York street fashions - its Zagreb.  First check out the pictures of this stylish old lady on styletone and then check out the street styles!

Did Australia incite unrest in Timor Leste

Why would Australia do that?


I suspected the government were evil, but I didn't realise they were this evil
according to new matilda
citing  a wikileaks source from a cable from the US embassy in Lisbon well and truly sticking the boot in!!!


What's it all about Alfie???

Resources, resources, resources, of course.

Prevent an environmental disaster raise the profile for the need to clean up the seas around Chuuk lagoon

Lush vegetation and simple living punctuate the lives of the lagoon. Fishing, weaving and tending garden supplant the subsistence lives that many sustain on their individual islands. It is not unusual to see women waist deep in the mangroves hunting for a special delicacy or men walking the reefs by torchlight at night looking for baby octopus. Boat makers create vessels high in the hills of the inner islands and take them down to sea when finished. Open hearth fires are still used to cook the daily meals. Life here is close to nature and lived in conjunction with the land and the sea. Local carvers are also famous for using beautiful local woods to carve warrior masks and busts. 


Chuuk, with its vast, shallow, beautiful lagoon is a Mecca for wreck divers. A major shipwreck site from WWII, Truk Lagoon is unquestionably the world's best shipwreck diving destination. Here, more than 50 hulks have been transformed into shipreefs, holding the very best of the undersea world and maritime history at one site. Hard and soft corals in a kaleidoscope of colors and shapes attract divers worldwide for both daytime and night diving. The vast selection of artifacts still found on the wrecks after five decades are testament to the unique history of the Micronesian Islands. The historical aspect of Truk Lagoon is not totally hidden by the jungles. Japanese lighthouses, perched high atop the lagoon's finest overlooks, can be reached by hiking or driving. Old runways, command centers, gun emplacements, cave networks, hospitals and libraries can be found with the help of a knowledgeable guide. from the Chuuk tourist website


Now here comes the thud down to earth "To compare the Exxon Valdez with the wrecks in Chuuk Lagoon is not stretching the bow too far because the Exxon Valdez was basically out in an open ocean environment or estuary area, Chuuk Lagoon is a coral reef system and to have the sudden release of thousands of tonnes of toxic oil sludge on these pristine shores would be utterly devastating and would ruin the whole island’s economy for generations to come.” Ian McLeod, corrosion expert WA Museum. Source: Foreign Correspondent, ABC TV.

Teenage Angst taken to extremes

What was he thinking? Didn't Sid Vicious do this first?
 New York Daily News

You say distractions, I say destructions... let's call the whole thing off!

In this day and age there are so many demands on our time; so many entertainments and distractions in the form of  information technology and other people and work demands and even demands that come from arrangements we have entered into willingly.  Its hard to keep up with them all, and sometimes there is overload and all I want to do is to pull the doona over my head and go back to sleep.


But there is an answer for me.  I can learn from Reggie's example.

After all the years he has been on this planet, stumbling about, Reggie has learned that when he keeps on top of the little things in his life - at least the ones that are within his control, he is better equipped to also manage the bigger challenges that inevitably come his way.  These things don't take much time and you will feel more in control of your life if you do them.

Thank you Reggie Darling! Now everyone can share these gems from the wonderful New York social diary which never ceases to entertain, enlighten and uplift.

Life in the fast lane...

So there I was minding my own business, in the supermarket and waiting for my turn to put my groceries through and I witnessed a very worrying event in front of me.  There was a woman with a lot of groceries going through.  The last of her groceries was bread and biscuits. The woman behind her had a few things and they were in a carry basked.  So she kept pushing her basket into the other woman's bread.  She did it once, and then again, and eventually she was seen, and she said something to the woman in front of her.  Then when that woman wasn't looking she did it again.  I just happen to notice, and I had to look away so they couldn't see me smirking about it.   Then the first woman whose groceries had finally all gone through lent back and said something to the woman behind her, and while they were talking she reached over and squeezed the woman's bread.  She really gave it a good squeeze.
It was hilarious!
I don't know what she was saying to the woman who was directly in front of me, but she kind of reeled back, but it was a full line, and there was nowhere to go.
It was hilarious!
Afterwards the woman in front of me put her groceries through and she had this sad crestfallen look on her face.  There was no opportunity to change her now quite deformed loaf of bread, so she just had to take it.
That was hilarious!
Sadly, it reminded me of how we are now in an age of not only traffic rage, but supermarket rage!

Bora Bora Je T'aime

Turtle and fish soup!

Amazing cloud formation over the mountain on the main island 

Creature lurking under the cabin

Looking back at our cabins and towards the 'main island' from le plage

Looking over at the neighbours

The view from our over water bungalow

Canberra fun and fitness

Who said Senate Estimates was boring - the age newspaper reported today that the federal Education Department has banned the Latin American fitness craze Zumba from its Canberra headquarters after a dance class caused the new building to shake so violently some staff feared for their safety.

Officials told a Senate hearing yesterday that the department called in the building's owners and the firm that constructed the offices after a Zumba class held on the 12th floor in October caused the building to vibrate.

Tests confirmed exercise classes were causing the building to shake. While all buildings are designed to move in response to factors such as wind, the high impact movements of Zumba caused a build-up of ''harmonic vibrations'', despite the floor on which the exercise class was held exceeding Australian standards for gymnasiums, officials said.

The secretary of the department, Lisa Paul, said she felt safe in the building.


However the reports do not shed light on the scurrulous rumours that Ms Paul was leading the exercise class!!!

Everyone talks about the weather but no one does anything about it,” Mark Twain once quipped.

Its raining again in Canberra - not that that's a bad thing, or is it too much now - I can't tell any more!

UN commissioner for human rights to visit Australia, following criticism of human rights record

according to abc news  Navi Pillay is scheduled to visit at the end of May, at the invitation of the Federal Government, to raise a number of issues.  Last month a regular review of human rights by about 50 UN member nations - including allies like the United States and the UK - recommended Australia end mandatory immigration detention and improve the lives of Indigenous people.

Though it is a review that all UN members are subjected to, the office of the high commissioner has received numerous complaints about Australia in recent years.  Rachel Ball from the Human Rights Law Resource Centre says there are obvious issues that need to be discussed, like:

In Geneva last year, a group of Indigenous people also raised the Northern Territory intervention with the high commissioner.

Ian Rintoul from the Refugee Action Coalition says Christmas Island and plans for a detention centre in East Timor should also be discussed.

Not for the faint hearted

The number of Americans without health insurance rose to 46.3 million last year as people began losing jobs and coverage in the current recession. The poverty rate hit 13.2 percent, an 11-year high.

read more if you don't have a weak constitution

Who is Bradley Manning?

He has entered his ninth month in military detention and continues to be held in maximum security conditions that are in violation of his human rights,  according to the Guardian.

Manning spends 23 hours of every day in his windowless 6.7 square metre cell, which contains nothing but a bed and blanket, sink and toilet.  He is allowed no personal objects other than one book or magazine at a time and is prevented from taking any exercise other than in the one hour a day allocated to it, when he is taken to an empty room and allowed to walk around it in a figure of eight.


But what's this all about?

What has Bradley Manning done to make him public enemy no 1 in the USA?

Who is Bradley Manning and what has he done?

He has entered his ninth month in military detention and continues to be held in maximum security conditions that are in violation of his human rights,  according to the Guardian.


Manning spends 23 hours of every day in his windowless 6.7 square metre cell, which contains nothing but a bed and blanket, sink and toilet.  He is allowed no personal objects other than one book or magazine at a time and is prevented from taking any exercise other than in the one hour a day allocated to it, when he is taken to an empty room and allowed to walk around it in a figure of eight.

despite the shakeup Hosni Mubarak remains president

 When you've got no friends left, its time  to face facts, they're not protesting with you they're protesting at you.  Mubarak still doesn't get it as far as regional newspapers report

Judicial Activism?

The legislation was duly enacted by both the House and Senate, the elected representatives of the people and signed into law by the President of the United States, who was elected by a substantial majority of the American people.

Judge Sarokin's article on Huffpost

The absence of conservative criticism regarding the decisions declaring the ACA unconstitutional demonstrates that judicial activism is in the eyes of the beholder. It is not judicial activism to the right because they agree with the decision. Whether or not the statute is or is not constitutional is a profound and difficult question of law. Judges will disagree -- as they have. Neither outcome should be viewed as judicial activism.

These boots were made for walkin'

Will Self
walked from the airport all the way to Hollywood.  This is psychogeography.

trust

penelope trunk  says the coming decade will be about trust

she also says: I know there is more to life. 
I just can’t seem to find it.
she's not Robinson Crusoe!

What is it about living isolated together on a desert island that turned everyone poisonous?

A friend of mine recently returned from Australia. He was amazed to find nearly every living creature that walks, swims or crawls Down Under can turn out to be deadly poisonous. 

It was incredible, he said – they had venomous toads and frogs and spiders and fish and snakes and centipedes and jellyfish and even a poisonous octopus. Just about anything you met could end up killing you.

What was it about living isolated together on a desert island that turned everyone poisonous?

Amazingly - the author of that text: the people's therapist might be surprised to find that because of Australia's size there's no being isolated together instead there's plenty of space for everyone to roam around with plenty of opportunities for establishing vast personal space on this enormous Island.

But he goes on:

If you are stranded on a miserable island with the same people for a long time, eyeing one another as candidates for lunch, you begin to turn poisonous. Everything turns poisonous.

You watch the damn penguin die, and you’re glad it’s not you.

This Island is paradise on earth, my friend, it is far from being 'a miserable island'.

Because is not enough to trash Australia, he turns to insulting lawyers:

It starts to feel like a law firm, he says.  

I gather he means Australia is a terrible dismal place that turns people against each other and makes them super aggressive.  

OK, maybe life in a law firm is like that, but if that's nothing like Australia.

This was the reaction from the crowd on the Althouse blog:

Interestingly, I worked in the same law firm he did: I left because I wanted to be a law professor. I was interested in ideas and not so much deals, fights, money, and clients. I'm more the serene, contemplative type and I like self-expression, not expression on behalf of a client's interests. These are just tastes of mine. I've got nothing against the people who like to be out there in the real world making things happen, trying to get things done. You have to know yourself and get into the line of work that suits you.

 

One time, back when I was a student on Law Review, people were having a big conversation about how everyone there was Type A, when I walked into the room. Somebody pointed out that I wasn't and it was roundly agreed that I was the only non-Type A person there. I was a sojourner amongst the lawyers, and I always knew it. Since 1984, I've been an observer, from my remote outpost.  I'm the same way about politics. I think about politics and I write about it, but I'm the furthest thing from a politician.

I practiced law for 16 years. Never for a large firm though, mostly in a small firm (4-10 lawyers) and a few years as as a solo practitioner. One thing they never prepare you for in law school is the ever present contentiousness. Every time the phone rings and just about every piece of mail you get, it's always contentious to one degree or another.  The worst of all to deal with were other lawyers, and that's what lawyers mostly do: interact with one another.  It wears on you, and after awhile it does things to you. I too left law to teach.  It's a much more appealing environment and more personally rewarding too.

Viciousness in a lawyer can be fine when it's directed towards an opponent in a adversarial case and it serves the best purpose of the attorney's client. 

Do lawyers hater their jobs? I don't know.

that was from the people's therapist:

Neuroses? Superstitions? Substance abuse? Blackouts? And suicide? are these problems typical for psychologists? How are Freud's successors doing? Or, to put the question another way: Are shrinks really  crazy?

above the law

a picture from the wild island where the killer bees will get you for sure if the yellow cars don't run you down first!

hcrazy?

Pavlova reading / viewing

and forget Damien Hirst born 1965, forget Tracy Emin born 1963 they are old haggard boring has beens: this is the cutting edge of now art

















when are they going to get it these are not l'enfant terribles these are geriatrics terribles!!!!

I'm gonna play Sun City

I'm gonna play Sun City, originally uploaded by paprikka.

I thought I died and went to Sun City

unlock the door

I am staying indoors today as I want to unlock the door to my mind before opening the door to the world. - ha ha  (to convolute a quote attributed to John Liepa)

 

beautiful pictures of snow on the ever gorgeous New York Social Diary.

 

 

 

Is Ali McGraw still alive?

I am still always so surprised to see her alive and well.  Somehow I can't get used to the idea she's still alive

the gorgeous new york social diary never disappoints to enlighten

the reward you get for reading all the way to the end of the story is to see the gorgeous Ali McGraw looking happy and carefree.  I can't get over the fact that

she died in Love Story

I saw it at a formative age and it seemed so real to me.

OOOhhh how about these giant roses

friday night flowers

My ex mother in law used to

get flowers every Friday night from her third husband (yeah! she lived).  Nice idea.

Tony Blair has taken away something that we'll never get back...

videohttp://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/video/2011/jan/21/chilcot-inquiry-rose-gentle-tony-blair-video


her son, Gordon, who was killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq in 2004. She travelled to London to hear the former Prime Minister give evidence to the Chilcot inquiry for the second time

The tax system's almost as good as our health system...

NEW TAX SYSTEM (GOODS AND SERVICES TAX) ACT 1999 - SECT 165.55 Commissioner may disregard scheme in making declarations

For the purposes of making a declaration under this Subdivision, the Commissioner  may:

(a) treat a particular event that actually happened as not having happened; and

(b) treat a particular event that did not actually happen as having happened and, if appropriate, treat the event as:

(i) having happened at a particular time; and

(ii) having involved particular action by a particular entity; and 

(c) treat a particular event that actually happened as:

(i) having happened at a time different from the time it actually happened; or

(ii) having involved particular action by a particular entity (whether or not the event actually involved any action by that entity). 

all around us chaos and madness...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsFFBc7dhD0

it was a lovely hot  day, at Myer Music Bowl, was it 1 January 1982, could that be right?
 ... and there was this song..... and .... Moving Pictures performed What about Me, but that's all I remember... I do remember seeing a fantastic T-shirt .... the palm trees in Melbourne are intriguing....

there's hope yet

Law School Graduate Alice Thomas, 79, Raises the Bar

She received her law degree last year  with her sights set on practicing elder law.

http://www.aarp.org/personal-growth/transitions/info-05-2010/alice_thomas_raising_the_bar_at_79.html

http://lawmrh.wordpress.com/2010/02/24/bravo-79-year-old-alice-thomas-graduates-law-school-and-will-take-up-the-cause-of-the-elderly/

love me love my dog

or cat.  New York Social Diary has made another mention of the terrible problems that can befall pets in cities.  Here's a couple of old friends on the couch.... how does this camera thingey work? .... (guess which one is the brains of the outfit?) Two beauties tied up outside the market. I waited for the owner to come out. She was smiling with treats for them as she exited the store. I told her that it was dangerous to leave her dogs unattended on a city street. She said that they were safe because everyone in the neighborhood knew them. I reminded her that not everyone in the neighborhood is from the neighborhood and that people steal these guys to sell for purposes that are fatal to the animals. I know this is somber and serious and can sound just this side of scolding, but it is important to impress upon ourselves that we are responsible for protecting our loved ones, and these are loved ones. read on...

http://www.newyorksocialdiary.com/node/1904927

Fresh fruits and melons rose sharply for a second straight month

Among the biggest gainers were home heating oil, which jumped 12.3 percent, and fresh and dry vegetables, which surged 22.8 percent. Fresh fruits and melons rose sharply for a second straight month, posting a 15.4 percent gain.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE70B3VY20110113

A taste of what's to come in Oz after Queensland and all the crops have been flushed away.

The sound of a summer long long ago - Dire Straits - Sultans of Swing - Old Grey Whistle Test

....you get a shiver in the dark
It's raining in the park but ....   and then the Sultans play Creole

[I admit it, I was one of the people who had to have that line explained to them]

homage to a good night's sleep

This post is acknowledging the delivery of new bed, a new set of dreams, a new level of comfort and relaxation and a whole lot of good nights sleeps to come....

Estonia to use Euro

http://www.cis.org.au/media-information/opinion-pieces/article/2323-estonia-should-have-listened-to-marx

Who's Who

http://diplomamillnews.blogspot.com/2010/02/marcus-einfeld-pacific-university.html

lawyer of the day

http://abovethelaw.com/2011/01/lawyer-of-the-day-ex-prosecutor-maybe-had-a-little-too-much-peets-coffee/#

off to school with a satchel

Add caption

Graffiti near work!

How do you solve a problem like Maria?

What if Maria is really Myanmar?


Economic development has made us all smile - will it do the same for the people of Myanmar/Burma?


Chinese petrochemical giant and Burmese state energy enterprise confirm large on-shore natural gas find in central Burma


http://www.dvb.no/news/large-on-shore-gas-deposit-found/13624

China is happy to buy natural gas from Burma, so much so that they're prepared to provide a huge loan for a pipeline to be built

http://www.dvb.no/news/china-loans-billions-for-gas-pipeline/13428

Would solving a problem like Myanmar make ASEAN happy?


http://www.asiantribune.com/news/2010/04/13/asean’s-dream-may-not-come-true-if-it-fails-tame-its-unprincipled-member-burma

flying over central Australia in June 2010