Googlewhacked

Hmm, so Belle de Jour turned out to be a broke PhD student, who is now a practising scientist in Bristol. Now Billie Piper on that TV show is back in my head - make it stop, please!

Anyways, story today is how a fellow British blogger, 'Darren', managed to figure out her identity a long time ago, and kept it secret. Even setting up a website with relevant details so he could see who was doing search terms for both her literary and real selves. And was able to figure out that the Daily Mail was on her tail a while ago, so that she could prepare for outing by going to the Times instead.

I know it's not out and out stalking, but surely it's kind of a creepy sort of lurking? Like a spy agency having a sleeper agent in a hostile country, to be activated as and when necessary. And to be able to figure out that two random blogs are written very similarly, and then to figure out IP addresses and where they come from. I guess I can't say much, chained to the PC as I am...

And this last comment - 'probably the biggest literary puzzle in the UK this century' - puhleez. A sex blog versus what happens in Harry Potter book 7? As just the first example off the top of my head?

English Rugby, Not At HQ

A non-Twickers match. Of course, it was only Saracens v South Africa as a mid week match, but more interestingly than the match itself was the fact that a random fan won the half time competition, winning 250k pound sterling (damn, the pound button isn't on my keyboard - maybe I will just do the Australian media thing and convert it to local dollars - or maybe, not). He apparently had to hit the crossbar of the goal posts, and he did that. Wow, all that money.

Talking of money, there was a drugs raid in Brisbane yesterday, in amongst all the cannabis and pills and such, they found $90k worth of cash. So there are people in the world who swim in money, all I need to do is break into the drug trade to do it.

Lemmings

Peering over the edge. No great will to go one way or the other, it's just instinct and evolution.

Yeah, I'm not in too good a mood thus far this week.

Another Police Screw Up

Does the Australian Federal Police do anything apart from audition for Keystone Kops or Police Academy movies? A guy who got convicted of child rape in Papua New Guinea (somehow charged for it in Australia) and handed five and a half years jail sentence had his conviction quashed because the AFP had information on flight details showing him not to be in Port Moresby on the day of the alleged crime.

Firstly, bad enough that the guy got convicted (he has been in jail since at least 2006). Secondly, awful that the police sat on details that they had all along apparently, that would have exonerated him. Thirdly, and most ickily, the nature of the crime he was accused of, pedophilia. But of course, the cops , as well as the federal prosecutors, will probably get away with nothing more than a slap on the wrists. And the story will probably die a quick death.

Who watches the watchmen, indeed.

Recovery, What Recovery?

So, the Australian unemployment rate creeps to 5.8 per cent, a rise of 0.1% over last month. While the employment rate goes up by 25K. Love it when economic indicators are completely the opposite of one another - yes, unemployment went up, but apparently only because population went up more than the job creation rate. And also the fact that some people who weren't officially looking for work last month were encouraged to look now.

And what with Australia missing technical recession, our interest rates going up, and the unemployment rate stalling, and the endless talking up of the economy by the commentariat, you would think we were in a recovery, wouldn't you? Though we also saw the Treasurer, Wayne Swan, commenting from the APEC summit in Singapore, saying that there were still challenges in the economy and we needed to keep stimulating.

Umm, more money into the economy by the government, means that the Reserve Bank will just squeeze it out of the private sector with faster rate rises. The only logical reason Swan and Rudd still want the stimulus would be that if the money keeps flowing long enough, it will feed into next year's election. No politician wants to turn off the money tap, or even worse, finally start following through on the tough decisions they keep promising us budget after budget, before an election. I am seeing Swan and his stimulus as either the boy that cried wolf or the boy with the finger in the dyke. Which analogy is more appropriate, hmm...

Recession, What Recession?

Well, it's good to know that the art world is back on its feet again - Warhol Fetches $43.7 Million at Auction - in amongst the latest Sotheby's sale going for over $134m, which was well over expectations. That 10.2% unemployment in the USA must be a statistical glitch, and wouldn't be surprised if there was something socialist about it.

Though speaking as a major fan of art, I am faking the cynicism above somewhat -or at least, the amount of it. When the art market falls through the floor, with a lot of galleries and museums restructuring and downsizing, as has happened in the past year, there is always the query from Joe Public or Sixpack or Plumber and the media (usually the Murdoch side of the room) of what is art for, it's obscene, it's stupid and all. Well, that question is always there, but more so in bad times. Not that I agree necessarily with the super-rich bidding the rest of us out of the market, but for every piece sold for an outrageous amount, that probably means the prices for artworks in general go up, helping out current artists and inspiring a dozen more.

[Inspiring them to make money]

No, pop art is NOT all about money. No matter how much evidence I see to the contrary, such as the uber gaudy exhibition currently at the Tate. Putting my fingers in my ears now hahaha.

Today's Rolling Eyes Moment

No, not the prosthetic testicled snake catcher from the earlier story, but the fact that in the TV show, Secret Diary of a Call Girl, based somewhat on the Belle de Jour blog, they have Billie freaking Piper playing Belle! She was alright kinda sorta in Dr Who, and positively tweeny in her pop phase - Honey to the B, anyone? But acting as a sassy escort, give me a break.

I Couldn't Resist This One

Well, those Territorians are interesting folk. Love rat faked cancer to keep his girlfriend indeed. This guy, to keep his relationship from breaking up, faked cancer, shaving his head in various spots to pretend he had chemo. His ex is two and a half grand out of pocket after funding him for three months, though any money he brought into the relationship was due to his part time job of 'snake catcher'. He also said he had a prosthetic testicle put in after an earlier bout of cancer, though the girl said they were exactly the same, but how was she to know what was fake and what was real. Obviously, if she believed everything he was saying.

She only found out the truth because she rang Darwin Hospital and they had no file on the guy. Though what with these single source stories, and the guy saying he didn't know what she was talking about to the reporter before hanging up, well, who is to say whether it is yet another hoax.

Surely no one can be dumb enough to think a fake testicle didn't involve any major scarring? I was thinking fake testicles must be a joke themselves, but then I went googling. Eek.

Oh, and what is with 'love rat' in the title? It was always a stupid phrase, and it puts me in mind of James Hewitt straight away. Ick on so many levels.

Scary

Not only the fact that I remember (vaguely) what I was doing twenty years ago today when the Berlin Wall fell, and thus I feel old, but the fact that Putin nostalgic for days as spy in East Germany - how many things are wrong with that sentence lol. Just need to add KGB to the phrase to get some sort of history bingo. Russia is more scary now than it was during the Cold War, because it is just so darned unpredictable. Though the Wall falling was less interesting - I can't think of a better word right at the moment - than Tiananmen Square or the Romanian uprising that year.

Talking of era changing events, it has been almost a decade since September 11 already. Time flies...

Swine Flu Update

This is well put - the great flu snafu - if we can't coordinate a response to swine flu, and it gives examples of how screwed up the northern hemisphere flu season looks to be, how on earth can we combat climate change. What with the Danish Prime Minister saying abandon hope all ye that enter lol.

I Tried, And Failed, Watching A Woody Allen Movie

I really thought I would make it this time. I mean, I have never sat the full way through a Woody Allen movie, not even Bananas, which I caught as a late night movie sometime in the early 90s, but Match Point was set in Europe, London even, and it had the rumour of naked Scarlett Johanssen. But whereas I loved her in Lost in Translation, in this one, she acted as a bad actor, and it showed. And she wasn't even full on naked, as far as I could see. And the plot line, for a good eighty percent of the movie, put me full asleep. There go any plans of seeing Vicky Christina Barcelona or Whatever Works - maybe I will give Annie Hall a go, or Manhattan, but if they bore the pants off me, I know Woody isn't a director for me.

Oh, and what is with American directors showing Europe out of the tourist brochures? A flat across from Parliament, an office job in The Gherkin, and a country estate that looked like it was in Sense and Sensibility? When will Americans do movies in Thornton Heath or Sleaford? lol

I actually saw five movies this weekend, and is it sad to say that Quantum of Solace or Kill Bill volume 1 were the best? I never thought I would be a Bond fan, but the last couple have actually been quite good, although the chatter I read online is that the pure action is betraying its roots - and where's Q? Face it, he had to adapt to the threat of the Bourne franchise. Hmm, Bond, Bourne and Austin Powers all in the same movie - that would be interesting :)

And Kill Bill, the last of the great Tarantino movies.

Slept walked through Independence Day and The Day The Earth Stood Still (the modern, Keanu version) as well. Mars Attacks is better on the first one, and I still have to get around to watching the original of the second.

A Nomination for Nobel Peace Prize 2010

Send asylum seekers home, says Joyce

Barnaby shows off his understanding of the post civil war scenario in Sri Lanka. Can we send the National Party on a rickety boat somewhere overseas? Or maybe even just a deprived indigenous community in the Territory perhaps?

I Always Support Underachieving Teams

To go with the Canucks not winning the Stanley Cup ever, since they started the franchise in what, 1971 or so, Cantabs show how to win with Wellington losing their seventh NPC final in eight years. I think we have only won one title in about twenty years, and of course the best the Hurricanes have ever done is reach the semi finals. Meh, next season :)

The England Australia rugby match was surprisingly good, and of course the ABs beat Wales - though a bit too close for comfort, just by a converted try...

HQ, Twickers

Some random thoughts during the England v Australia rugby match -

Robbie Deans singing Advance Australia Fair - Robbie, you have fair sold your soul to the devil on that one. Coaching the team I can understand, singing the anthem, less so.

Johnny Wilkinson kicking a drop goal, takes me back to those late 90s games where 90% of the scoring was due to drop kicks. Good on you England and South Africa, and no, don't mention the amount of games Mehrtens won for us scoring that way.

A rolling maul from the English - took me fair back to the mid to late 80s Auckland team, who always seemed to do that for 90% of the game. And they always seemed to be playing Canterbury for the Ranfurly Shield lol.

And yes, I know that the All Blacks v Wales is on, but that's not being covered on free to air TV, beggars can't be choosers, and we get so little rugby on free TV as it is, though I may go to bed at any moment - or should that be go to sleep with the entertainment value lol.

Signs of the Recession Number 1

Going to Blockbuster - itself a rare occurrence nowadays - hunting through the weekly rentals for half an hour, finding five movies you didn't really want to watch anyway, all to save $3 from the new releases deal.

LOL ROFL

The pure brilliance of the Keating mind

Our former PM never seems to be happy at the moment.

This Is A Car Crash In Slow Motion

Climate change, and the Copenhagen conference is what I am talking about.

But the headline caught my eye - Leaders 'likely' to go to summit - and the fact that people are wondering whether Our Barack will turn up. Made me think about the last time he was in Denmark, when Chicago got kicked out of the 2016 nominations on the first vote. What wonders of international diplomacy will the Nobel Peace Prize winner manage to weave this time around?

On climate change itself, and speaking specifically on the Australian approach, our PM and government are insisting the carbon reduction scheme be voted through before Copenhagen. The policy is a dog though, 5% reduction of greenhouse gases, and enough concessions to the large polluters for it not to even start reducing emissions for approximately 20 to 25 years. But the government is out on the front foot, saying all doubters are just out and out climate change sceptics, all the while putting the boot into the domestic political opposition, who - truth be told - couldn't unite on a climate change policy if their lives depended on it.

Oh, and talking climate change also takes the focus off asylum seekers.

Dateline: Somalia

Has there ever been a 'good news story' come out of Somalia? From radical Islamists, to pirates, to Ethiopian invasions, to Black Hawk Down, the last twenty years have been pretty bleak all round.

Today, we have Somali adulterer stoned to death, care of the BBC. Not just the fact that stoning is a pretty barbaric execution style - is it bad of me to admit that I never really thought about how they did it until an American Dad episode earlier in the week? - but the fact that the second party in the adultery, the woman, has had a stay of execution. Only until she gives birth though.

Am trying to imagine what growing up as that orphan will be like, but simply does not compute. Somalia, where illegal immigrants, climate change, unemployment rates and American mass shootings are the last things on peoples' minds.

Yet Another Blog

Welcome to my blog, version 5.0 I believe we are up to.

When last I was on the blogging kick, I am pretty sure facebook was just starting out and twitter was just a twinkle in a developer's eye. A lot has changed on the online world the last couple of years, but I'm not sure whether anyone has made a lot of money out of it yet. Especially on the social media or blogging side.

Anyways, even though I am reasonably plugged into social media, I thought I needed to take a bit of a break away from there from time to time. Facebook is a series of carefully constructed online personalities, which usually align with the real me, but sometimes does not. I mean, I think 'Facebook Me' is much cooler and outgoing than real me for starters, and how often do you see truly negative status updates, such as 'I'm depressed' or 'I really really hate my job at XYZ Corporation', especially when I am sure XYZ Corp self googles on facebook all the time.

Sometimes I sit at my keyboard, wondering how I am going to put a positive spin on the day - sometimes, though thankfully not often. And the effort put into pithy one liners is almost overwhelming sometimes - no wonder most comedians seem to be manic depressives lol.

But mostly I am setting up a new blog because there are many many more news articles than I post on facebook that I find interesting - and I know most of my FB contacts would find less than thrilling. You don't want to be the person that gets de-friended because you put up too much crap. Though am actually also wondering why I spent so much time on facecrack in the first place.

And even though I don't, and will likely never, twitter, there are many times when 140 characters aren't enough. Try twittering on Palestine, for example, without sounding like a nimrod lol. Though I did give the don't and will likely never line about iTunes once upon a time, and look what is my default music programme now...

Let's see how long this one lasts - no, not talking Bond girls :)