Bonne année ....Happy New Year

Carte Champagne

Drug Labs

This is the 61st clandestine drug laboratory that police have uncovered and shut down this year.

And may there be more. Drugs are doing us harm. The cost is far too high even though the profit from them is astronomical. The more we uncover the better and the more we work as a team, the better. Drugs just cost too much.

Facebooking Escapee

AN escaped British prisoner is taunting police and attracting a growing fan base from a Facebook profile page.

I should imagine Craig Lazie Lynch will be easier to identfy now he has published himself on Facebook, turkey and all.  An armed robber who escaped from a low security prison and who is social networking and not necessarily where he says. The joy of virtual living. I am surprised he has such a following. but then again, nothing in our current society should surprise me. Everyone knows what he looks like now whereas before he might have been just a name. I cannot see this turning out well for him.

Smoking

Department of Health and Ageing secretary Jane Halton says in the directive that the ban is part of her "ongoing commitment to help staff tackle a range of lifestyle health and wellbeing issues".

There is no doubt about the fact that peer pressure has practically made smoking illegal. It is a group which has been solidly targetted. I am happy no one smokes at work and that the smokers go elsewhere. I am happy I can eat and there is no smoke, travel and there is no smoke and watch a film and there is no smoke. But society has done sod all about the drinkers and drug takers , non prescription or otherwise.  People drink at work and who cares? It's "sociable". Our tolerance of alcohol and drugs is truly hypocritical.

Aceh

It doesn't seem 5 years since the tsunami hit all those places and Aceh is one which really sticks in my heart and emotions. It was just so devastated and then there was the haunting pphotos of all but the mosque being destroyed. So when I read this BBC article I was really pleased to hear there has been progress in those 5 years and that the people have been able to find themselves a home again. I do not suppose the wounds have healed  at all because so many people died and so many families were devastated along with the homes .I doubt everyone is doing okay...but it pays to focus on these things once in a while to remind ourselves we cared an awful lot at the time and we would want to know that these areas are coming back to a happier phase in their history. I'd like to think there would be some really good news now that we could celebrate as a world.

Charity

LESS than one cent in every dollar raised by an Adelaide charity has gone to its intended cause in its first two financial years, documents show.

This is  getting plenty of publicity and so it should. It may not be as bad as it sounds because charities do have a lot of organisational costs, but the article is heartening in that we seem to be going to regulate charitiable organisations better. We are willing to give but we hate it when our money is NOT used for the reason we gave. Infrastructure can suck up costs so I think we do need to look at how charities operate and the best ways of maximising the donations going to the cause and  not the running costs!

Charles Harrison Missing

I don't normally cover missing people, but this man is 80 and it's very hot . Charles Harrison has been missing in the southern suburbs since Christmas Day. His family must be beside themselves so I think it's important we make an effort to try and locate him. He does have medical conditions and so finding him will be important for his health...He was going to the local shops and didn't return. The article gives more details.

Angas Street Travel

I saw this on the way to the gourmet IGA on Hutt Street. It is outside Angas Street Travel and even though I have the photos, I neglected to remeber the name of the artist. It is to celebrate 30 years and it is truly lovely. Very fresh and eye catching and a nice touch for the international school of cookery. I wish we had more of these things to show off our art and our artists.

Office Cliches

THE phrase 'At the end of the day' has been unveiled as Britain's most common annoying office cliche. 

The  worst thing about office talk is that it is inflexible and basically air filling. You have to talk to talk so you are seen as part of the group. Mandatory to learn office rubbish for interviews and yet it niether promotes thinking nor creativity the two things essential for resilience and development. My own pet peeve is " I just wanted to touch base with you." What an instant vomit turn of phrase that one is.

Slimming Down Santa

Now his wild ways are catching up with him, with calls for a radical overhaul of his bad boy image. A study by Monash University public health expert Dr Nathan Grills found Santa could be promoting obesity, speeding and drink-driving, and damaging millions of lives.

Here we go again. PC or not PC...and let's ignore history and cultural development ,shall we? Getting Santa to snack on his reindeer's celery and carrots??? Have they worked out Santa is a fictional character? Have they worked out that parents and adults are powerful influences in a child's life. Parents are real. Santa is not real. He does not exist. He doesn't eat!!!

Nearly Christmas!

It's getting pretty busy around the shops but everyone still seems to be in control. The shops have a happy festive feel and shop assistants who are doing incredibly long hours, especially in fresh food, need to be congratulated and thanked for keeping it all turning over so well. They must be exhausted. Some are starting at 4am. Starting work. at 4 am. So when are they getting up??? It will be a long, hard day but hopefully we can provide them with appreciation and cheer to keep them going. The fresh food is just waking out of the shops so it's nice to know we are looking after ourselves by enjoying what is on offer. I have two more things to make...the honey meringue icecream cake and the cajun chicken and then I can seriously settle into Christmas Eve with the family. It is worth all the effort just to make it festive and special.

Don't forget your helmet!

Two Kiwi men wearing nothing but their birthday suits have been issued with a warning for riding without protective head gear on a jaunt around a sleepy New Zealand seaside town.

The two very fit men were only charged with not wearing helmets because their "bits and pieces " were covered so long as they stayed on their bikes. Nice treat for the locals?!  Great story. So New Zealand.

Skimming Scam

Police will allege the men formed part of a well organised international crime syndicate responsible for the skimming crimes and theft of significant sums of money from the credit card and bank accounts of West Australians, at automatic teller machines in New South Wales, Victoria, Canada, Great Britain, USA, India and Malaysia.

Well, thank heavens these guys were caught. Outrageous! How dare they!   I'd like to know if they are known, why they have been allowed to travel and be in our country to rip us off?

Portable North Pole

Santa is now in the technological age and can send your children big and small personalised video  messages !

Postal Strike

The union representing postal workers wants a new workplace agreement that protects penalty shifts and pay, and improves workplace safety.

So is it a strike or not? The  article says Australia Post says three quarters of the workers won't be striking.  No one will argue with the reasons for the strike but this is Christmas and obviously three quarters of Australia Post have got it right. Season of good will. Everyone doing their bit, hauling together and getting Christmas over the line and post is a part of that even though a lot of people don't sent cards these days, there are still plenty who do and those all important overseas packages which keep you in touch with friends and family. It's getting hard because it costs a fortune to airmail small things overseas and you wish you could send them more cheaply or be able to spend that money on the gift. $11 dollars for tiny articles is silly but we no longer have the sea option. The would has changed. maybe we need to get better research into teleportation and kinesis. In the meantime, postal workers have a right to a safe work place, proper shifts and pay...but the flood gates have opened on pay issues and you can see how it is all unravelling.

Windows 7 News and Tips

If you are looking for more information about Windows 7 or a site to get you up and running with plenty of goodies, news and information as to how to get the best out of Windows 7, then go to the News and Tips site. I have just downloaded a Christmas theme and there are plenty of themes to choose form. There are competitions and the site is well laid out so you are not digging and hunting around as you usually are on the Microsoft main site. This one is very navigable!

Christmas Risks

They say young men experience a big increase in mental health problems, suicide and risky behaviour in the holiday period and they're urging family members and friends to watch out for warning signs.

While we are all preparing for Christmas then it doesn't hurt to remind ourselves that this can be a precarious time of year for people with mental instability. It is good we have articles like this, not to depress us, but to remember that even though we cannot be saviours, our heightened awareness of mental difficulties might help some people manage Christmas better. We can at least try to take the pressure off and keep others calmer than they might be if they have to try and navigate the festive season alone. Apart from drink driving and drinking too much which we have to be firm about, we need to be understanding of people who are mentally ill or unstable. Christmas does put the pressure on them. They cannot cope with the preparations, the changes, the endless things to do and then the socialising. Mentally ill people need their quiet time and their time out so their heads don't get too busy and confused. This article reminds us to keep a watchful eye on young men. It's worth the read.  In the mean time perhaps mental health care workers can give us some tips on how to help people who are stressing over Christmas. We cannot solve their problems but we can ease their pain.

River Murray

"I don't think I need to be sacrificing water just so South Australians can have their nature strips nice and green," he said. "South Australia is just a pack of whinging hypocrites."

Charmed, I am sure.

Drink Driving

A LEARNER driver with a blood-alcohol level four times the limit was among more than 100 people banned from driving in the first two nights of Operation Safe Holidays.

A learner with little or no regard for safe driving ought never to be able to drive. Harsh? Maybe...but so are the consequences for the driver and others when they drink and drive. A learner with no regard for themself or others needs a LOT of help because they are not understanding the most obvious thing about driving...safety. Obviously they have a lot to learn and it may take quite some time to get through to them if they are so prepared to drink that much and drive and think the law does not apply to them. The law ought not be the deterrant...the massive injuries , grief and loss of life is known to all of us and we should be ever mindful of it. Mybe the costs to people and families needs to be made public . The untold cost is the personal one but here is a substantial financial cost when someone injures another or kills someone. Maybe those sorts of cases need to be made public without making them personal. The police must be baffled by how so many people just do not care. We need to lift our game and get the message through because no one likes what inevitably happens if they don't play the designated driver card.

All wrapped up!

Windows 7

I continue to be impressed. I am even using the Paint programme which comes with it. I don't need a fancy Adobe Photoshop but I know people who do and what they can do with Adobe is awe inspiring. Me, I just do very simple images and have a couple of programmes which will fancy them up a bit that I got with my camera, but basically I just like it simple! The Paint which comes with Windows 7 is very similar in look to the Office 7 stuff and so is very nice to deal with. The other thing Windows 7 did was just load my printer. I needed to print the rellie letter and then I realised I hadn't loaded my printer software on this new desktop...so I was searching and unlike me the software wasn't where it should be. So I though I'd try and download it off the Net. I turned on the printer and Windows 7 just installed it and it worked! Just like that. I like the taskbar set up and things just get done on Windows 7 without all the ususal tripe you get with Microsoft. It certainly has made my desktop run more smoothly and faster. Can't say the same of the laptop which is the same brand. The laptop doesn't really run any better and I am still miffed I was told  Windows 7 would free up another gigabyte of ram on it and it hasn't. That aside, I'd say I have all the benefits of Windows with the ease Of Apple without the juvenile Apple approach. Windows 7 is more mature in its approach...oh , and it runs as quietly and as fuss-free as Ubuntu.

Weird Weather

The bureau of meteorlogy tells me it will be 26 today. My computer tells me it's 17 at the moment and I am freezing. I am seriously contemplating getting a jumper to put on! It is cold, overcast, dull and grey. Hardly summer in Adelaide. We had one day of 40 and everyone complained like hell. Not me. I was warm. This was Adelaide and summer. No, I don't go walking around in the heat...but I do expect it to be hot in summer and I like it hot. I cannot stand this dull , grey cold muck which is nothing like an Adelaide summer. Yesterday it got finer later on but I kept myself warm cooking. Must have affected people maybe because town was unusually quiet for this time of year...maybe they were all cooking. There is no sense of panic about Christmas. It is really fun with the customers in the shops. Everyone is relaxed and thinking about what to buy for Christmas and we have all been enjoying it. We have such lovely food at the moment and okay, some of us are up and out early and think fresh food will be immediately available at an ungodly hour. No, they need time to get it out. I feel sorry for the fresh food people, some of whom are up at 3.30 am at least to get in early to make things nice for us. I haven't been impatient at all because our Adelaide food people are doing a great job and we need to appreciate the effort they are going to to bring us some really good choices. It is hard on them when they are up early and most shops are running on a shortage of staff because that saves money. Saves money, breaks people. Time we looked at why we are driving good people so hard.

Maison de Noel/Christmas House

Internet Filtering

"Some limits, like child pornography, are obvious. No Australian wants that to be available - and we agree. Google, like many other internet companies, has a global, all-product ban against child sexual abuse material and we filter out this content from our search results."

I take it that's a no from Google?

Interesting that Australia cannot decide on its own internet filtering protocol and that Google would see fit to speak out so strongly about what is an Australian decision. Bit like when France had a problem upholding its own laws in its own country about what goods could be sold over the internet. In the end they won their battle. The internet can completely pull down legal boundaries in a country and undermine the work of good people. It can become a dictatorship in its own right, simply because it is the internet and people wrongly assume it has more power than it actually has. The internet is a politcal body now and Google sees itself as a company which can take over the rights of real citizens in a real country. We , as Australians, need some clarification both about what is being filtered and who has the power here...us or the internet. Nice little thing to contend and a great discussion for the new age! The government is seeking to filter out criminal sites...but that is about all we know. I am more than happy for criminal sites not to have access to the internet. I am more than happy for child porn to be gone. I would actually like to say that saying no to the bottom end of humanity will not make me less free...it'll make me freer. I hate the way the negative people in the world have such divine right thanks to technology. Before connectivity we could keep nasty people and imagesout of our homes and our lives...we filtered them in real life. Now all of a sudden we are supposed to give them the light of day. Interesting world this. First time in history we have not been able to protect ourselves and our families by shutting the door...phones and computers just let it all in. I want this debated long and loud. It is a problem...both how we, as a nation,  manage our internet and what is allowed in our lives because of it.

Quality Rump Stolen

A police spokeswoman said it was unknown if the meat was stolen over a period of time or all at once.

What? 20 000 dollars worth of quality rump steak went missing from the Nairn meat factory in November and they don't know if it went a bit at a time or as a job lot? Don't they check? 20 000 dollars worth of rump is a lot of rump, quality or not. This sounds ridiculous . Where are the checks and balances? It went missing in November so it would have been good to know this before then so we could avoid cheap quality rump!! Where's the team work? Maybe we should just blame the papers again for reporting it wrongly.

Christmas Grumpy Bums

Went shopping early this morning to forage for today's recipes and to post the rellie packages. Gotta love the rellies. They send me parcels marked Royal Mail. Love it! I was in the post office and that particular post office is always bright and friendly and very hepful...well, all the others were their ususal cheerful selves and I got stuck with straight faced minimalist who couldn't even give me eye contact. Undeterred I carried on, survived the taciturn woman at the check out...all this at 8.30 to 9.30 but the prize for the po face of the day is the supervisor in a shop I went into to get Christmas bits and pieces...tea towels, little Christmas mat...I was so happy. The girl at the counter was lovely. Very happy and friendly. Then she had no change. So she called the supervisor. They opened at 8.30 and in half an hour the change drawer had no change. So we waited. I could see the girl ask another girl if the supervisor was coming. I could see her work out whether she should call her again because we waited and waited. She called again. Grumpy bum eventually arrived in a flurry of histrionic sighs and huffs and puffs. "Are you sure that's all you need? Do you need anything else?" she barked curtly at the sales assistant. Lousy ad for the shop and such a lack of supervisor skills. She needs to get another job if she is so hard done by DOING HER JOB and having to put up with such inconveniences as customers and sales assistants at the beginning of the day. Full on  meanie who needs lessons in supervisor grace and charm.

Windows 7

Windows is now on my Dell Inspiron 1525 laptop. I was told when I bought it there would be another gigabyte of RAM accessible when I installed the next version of windows (i.e.) Windows 7. No such luck. Still has 3 gigabyte of ram. It took an hour and a quarter for the upgrade a 15 minute advantage over the Dell hybrid desktop installation of yesterday. It lost my Firefox short cut and Explorer just isn't what I want. I can't skin it as easily. I can't get the toolbar how I want it and it doesn't manage the flash things as well. It suits a lot of people. Not me. Windows 7 is still pretty cool though and smooths out the computer operation no end. I like the icons in the toolbar which minimise your pages and bring them up like the Apple. It does it better than my MacBook and it shows thumbnails of the pages side by side if you have more than one open. I like all of that. This installation didn't lose my sidebar. It did lose my sticky notes which annoys me because I had reminders on there! I look forward to exploring Windows 7 because my impression is that it operates better than Vista...and I liked the shiny of Vista, so I shall be looking hard!

Countdown to Christmas

Everyone seems to have Christmas under control. There isn't a feeling of frantic and everyone seems to be going about Christmas in a very down to earth way. There has been some real ingenuity with packaging because we are so over wrapping presents! It isn't than we are mean spirited. Our weather is all over the place...hot cold hot cold, wet cold hot dry...and our bodies are just tired from the constant adjustments...so we are getting real about what is possible for Christmas and what is not. At the shops customers and shop assitants are exchanging tips and tricks and the sales staff are very good at getting you on the right track with the right frame of mind. Fuss free. The food is looking great and I have been enjoying preparing thte things I am making for the festive season. Today was the marinated feta and it was good to smell the fresh basil and to sautee the capsicums with the garlic. Smelt lovely! As did the easist Christmas cake ever that I cooked yesterday.So we are in good spirits and just doing it bit by bit. It's a really good feeling.

Windows 7

I have just installed the Windows 7 upgrade form Vista on my Dell Hybrid desktop and can't wait to get it onto my laptop. On my laptop it will free up another gigabyte of ram. The upgrade took a good hour and a half and I wrapped and packed presents and made cups of tea. It is not a slick install but it is very efficient and straight forward. Put the disk in, choose upgrade and an hour and a half later I am laughing. The computer is going like a bomb and I can get split screens just like in the good old Windows days...put one Windows screen next to the other. What were they thinking to get rid of that? It changed the display settings so they were all BIG and in my face so that was easily fixed. I was online the whole time and so it connected to get what it wanted to ensure a safe landing on my desktop. It's not classy like Vista but it is very efficient and seems to be as stable as XP. I got the impression they had decent coders on it this time because it was so no frills and real coders tend to avoid the show pony stuff. I now have giant icons on my task bar so it feels a bit kiddie to me but if first impressions count - I am sold on this new Windows. Handles the flash stuff really well and that's a relief for me. I paid the 40 dollars extra for the version to install on 3 computers. I wonder how long a clean install takes?

The World's Tiniest Aquarium Widget

Widgetbox is a good site for widgets to calm and sooth , but they are also quite fun. I have the fish and waterfall one on my side bar and this is the link to the tiniest aquarium! So cute!

Inspiration

Ibu

Ibutrade is just one example of what a lot of us are thinking about this year...how to buy presents and benefit those people who are trying to create original and eco friendly gifts. Helping us help others seems to be the spirit of this Christmas and making sure our presents are not damaging the planet is important. I have even bought eco firendly Christmas decorations this year and I  love them. I am still using my old ones but I shall replace them with eco friendly ones and know that these decorations benefit the welfare of the communities who make them too. It wasn't a surprise the great long procession about climate change was at the same time as we were Christmas shopping yesterday. We stopped and watched and were actually proud Adelaide had got off its bum in such large numbers to rally against climate change. We were pleased to lend our support and went about our shopping in a more mindful way. Working together helps!

4 year old violinist

Oh so totally cute and just the thing to get you on the way to Christmas.

Theodore Roosevelt

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”

 

Theodore Roosevelt quotes

Walking the Dog

OWNERS who don't walk their dogs at least once a day face punishment under animal welfare laws proposed by an RSPCA chief

I so hope this will be discussed properly. At the moment it is outrageous. I fully agree with dog owners looking after the health and welfare of their dogs. There are several things you  have to take into account before you slap fines on people. The health and happiness of the dog. The health and happiness of the owner. The neighbourhood. The other dogs in the neighbourhood.The working hours of the owner. The weather. A random once a day walk which is enforced by law is ludicrous. It is inflexible and takes nothing into account. I have a dog with cancer. She is not going for a walk. She is not a dog who is walked regularly anyway because I have a very erratic neighbourhood and I would not want to be out there some days with my dog. 4 different vets have seen her and have all been astounded at her level of health and happiness. We play a lot. I have a big garden. We play ball, we play hamburger ,we jump and we do do all sorts of things to keep her fit and well. My last dog had lymphoma which I was unaware of until he had to be put down but he didn't like walks. He liked to play and then have a bit of a short wander with me. People have to adjust their activities according to who they are. Not everyone walks everyday. Some go to the beach and swim. Some to the pool. Some go to the gym and some have a gym at home. Anything which encourages dog owners to get out there is probably a good thing because people on the streets keep us safe. We have joggers, walkers and dog and children walkers. It has helped...but you cannot tell people to put themselves at risk and you cannot tell people how to manage the health of their dog. What you can do is ensure people are looking after their pets.

Tony Abbott

One vote, eh? Lights, action, camera...popcorn...let the games begin.