Waste Disposal

"To go to a landfill, a trailer load costs $40, $50 or $60 so if they can spend $5 worth of petrol and just go down a dirt road and dump it, they will."

The article is about the hidden cameras being placed around to catch people who thoughtlessly just dump their rubbish anywhere. I  have been thinking about this whole matter of waste for a long time and I do blog about it from time to time. We have had one e-waste collection locally and that helped. We need more and we need a permanaent place to take e-waste, not an occasional e-waste collection. Our councils have also been very clear as to what we can put in our bins so it leaves us with a whole heap of things we can no longer put in the rubbish. We live in homes. We build, refurbish and repair. There is nowhere to put the waste. According to the article:

"He said the most commonly dumped items were broken household goods , building materials, tyres, vehicles and plant waste."

That's the thing. Some people do not have the money to go to a rubbish dump. The fees have become very high. Most houses do not have trailers. Then there is the problem that some, and I would imagine it is quite a few, just cannot lift the stuff. So the roadside collections we used to have would be good. A way of people managing the waste would be good. Looking at the whole picture and getting some input would probably save a lot of pollution and irresponsible dumping. If nothing else there could be some good businesses made from organising our waste and dumping. We need a far more practical approach  here.

The Phantom Post Snatcher

Strange things have been happening in the blogosphere of late. Posts have been snatched and have dematerialised before my very eyes in a twinkling. In a microsecond the post is gone. Vanished. The phantom post snatcher has no allegiance to any blog provider. Posts have vanished  both on Wordpress and Blogger. Glitch. White out. Gone. No draft to save me. Nothing.Words sucked up into cyberspace in one easy glitch.Twice it has happened on Wordpress and even the page presentation was changed so I could not publish and then bang...gone! My words devoured by the phantom post snatcher. On Blogger she was less hungry for words. She came in, devoured the middle of my post and left me with the top and bottom which , I confess, were not very tasty morsels. Now my problem is what bait to set to trap the phantom post snatcher or maybe I should just prepare dull,bland and tasteless posts? One to give her indigestion?

BP Oil Spill

According to this site, BP is the 4th richest company in the world. At the top is Wal-Mart, followed by Exxon, Royal Dutch Shell and Toyota at number five. Rich companies indeed so a disaster such as the spill in the gulf of Mexico ,which is already into the millions, will be doing BP harm. Exxon also had the big Exxon Valdez spill in Prince William Sound when a boat ran into the reef in 1989.Has Exxon suffered? Big traders seem to be able to recover. Will the planet? The Global Marine Oil Information site gives a very good overview of the environmental and social impact of oil spills and the global efforts to contain these sorts of spills, but this BP one is HUGE. Bigger than anything. We cannot actually compare it. The explosion on April 20th appears to have been as a result of a whole set of difficulties which came together to create the disaster. This article clarifies some of the issues quite well and if what is says is true there can be as many as 260 possibilities for failure in equipment. Blame is not going to work here. We consume oil at an alarming rates and we know we do. We have been on and on about it. So the oil companies are under pressure to meet planetary needs for oil consumption. That may mean they do not have sufficient time to test all equipment properly and it seems even the emergency testing equipment wasn't working. You know you have a disaster on your hands when everything is wrong. Everything conspired to bring this about. Eleven people lost their lives and I do not think we have cared enough about them and their families because we have focussed on the magnanimity of the disaster. The families cannot get those people back. Eventually we will find a way to contain the oil leak. I say we. We need to change our perspective and starting thinking. A big bath plug is not going to work. Maybe a top hat will. A president will not fix this. He is in charge of the country. He has to lead the country through the disaster and manage the fall out, but he is not a scientist nor an oil expert and given this has been going on since April 20th and is still not fixed, then some people are asking more of Barack Obama than they are asking of combined planetary environmentalists and scientists. When things are this huge we need to maximise the potential to connect across the planet to resolve the situation. Then we need to think about our oil and coal use. Last millennium. So last millennium. There is a touching tribute on the Net to the men of Gloucester, Massachusetts who have lost their lives at sea and in March 1869 on The Augustus E. Price the entire crew of 11 men lost their lives at sea. Eleven is a football team so these eleven people lost in the explosion were a team trying to work for us. I used my car today. Did you? I don't want those people forgotten in all of this. I don't want blame. I want to see it unravelled and solved in a systematic way . We can do better. We need to. BP will pay the price but the cost is ours to bear.

Our doctors do not support "ritual nicking".

The college for Australia's obstetricians and gynaecologists says it does not support the "ritual nicking" of young Muslim girls and anyone suspected of performing such genital mutilation should be reported to authorities.

I am glad. It is out in the open and it is being discussed and we are looking at the issues, but the obstetricians and gynaecologists in Australia do not support female genital mutilation. I am glad because these are emotional issues as were the abortion issues in the 60s. Since this has come up then there are people questioning and discussing circumcision in male babies too. We need to look at these practices and we need to discuss them openly and with the facts before us. We are not going to rename things to make them sound more palatable and we are not going to avoid complex decisions. We need to take up the issue of abusing babies in this way and why we accept male circumcision and object to female mutilation. In my mind there is no comparison but I am female and am looking at it from my point of view. Facts. We need facts and information and we need to uphold our current laws. If the laws need changing we had better be doing it in a well considered, informed way. In the meantime, we just need to keep talking.

Ritual Nicks

The Royal Australian New Zealand College of Obstetricians will next month discuss backing "ritual nicks", a modified form of genital mutilation.

I'm horrified, but here is no time for that. We need to put our collective heads together and get some sense into this and stop mutilating women and stop abusing children. If we cut any other body part off for no good reason we'd understand we were being inhuman. This is not going to be a logical post, I can tell. Man's inhumanity to man. Can't believe it.  The article clarifies the situation quite well and explains the rationale behind us considering legal, hospital based genital mutilation. The prime reason is the same as our reasoning behind legalising abortions. Many girls and women were mutilated and /or died from hideous backyard abortions in the 60s. To prevent that we shifted them into a medical situation because we couldn't stop women having abortions. That puts it simply. This transference of genital mutilation from another country and cultural practice to our shores is something we are really going to have to face up to. Hundreds of us have supported causes to help the women in Africa who are trying to rid their country of this practice. It is something we have cared about. So what are we going to do to stop it happening  here? Abusing children is illegal here , abusing women is illegal here. There are many of us who would say we are not feminists but...well, it is time to kick that butt and take action but the sort of action we take is going to have to ensure we do not drive it underground as happened with abortions. For a start there are plenty of African people in this country. Do they support it? Can they mediate? Secondly, we shall abandon this notion now of making it sound better because it is done medically and called a "ritual nick". We will not hide behind convenient turns of phrase. We have laws. Are we going to enforce them? People who live here need to live by our laws. Shall we pull that one out of the bag? Do we get political and contact our MPs? Do we run adverts? Do we have an awareness raising campaign? We had it for domestic violence. We need to start right now this minute.

Numerical Oppression

I wrote a post a while ago called the Numerical Liberation Front about our obsession with numbers and how they restrict us. We haven't changed and , as usual, I am feeling repressed. What is it with us and numbers?Okay, okay, I know the stock market  rises and falls and the fiscal mayhem is driving people into dire straits and they have to work the numbers to get out of it, but then you see people glued to their computers checking on their shares calculating all the rises and falls and it just looks like torture to me. We need money, though, so I understand their obsession and certainly the planet needs to come up with the numbers to get more people out of the state of abject misery. What I really wanted to address is all the daily  advice  we are given about being a better person,  blogger, worker. 7 hours sleep. 5 veggies a day. 3 serves of fruit. At least 10 minutes to yourself. Only 10 minutes? You are joking! 30 minutes of exercise. 8 words per presentation slide, 250 words per blog post. Number the lists.It used to be write about 3 things at a time..the best 3 things. Then it was the best 5. That transformed into the top 10, the top 20, the top 100. The top 100 companies, the top 10 richest people on the planet, the top 10 cleanest cities in the world. The more we work with databases, the more we obsess with ,and focus on ,aggregation and sorting. So now we are being advised not to do 10 tips or 10 ideas but 7. Seven? Why 7? Yes, it is a very lucky number but seven? It's a bit like when you ask people the time and they say 6.23. What time are we finishing? Around 5.16. Oh, okay. It's all a bit peculiar to me. To me it  harnesses thinking and  promotes rigidity. At this point I am way over my 250 recommended post length. Twitter and its 140 characters would be in a spasm by now. I am always over. Numerically I am terribly inadequate and the constant obsession with numbers just reinforces it to the max...is that more than hundreds? Or is is thousands?

Online ID

I posted a keynote address about Identity 2.0 earlier  and I want to come back to that. I have some real issues about having an online ID which everyone knows. I can see that being misappropriated and misued and want the whole thing properly discussed before we move entirely over to that online identity and we shall. Already they have sites which try and match up all your online stuff and then there is the burgeoning of Web 2.0 where real people are moving online in a big and effective way. What is currently really getting on my goat is the fact that I have to register everywhere to sometimes even get to see what is something which is on offer. It ought to be a shop front not a gated community. That aside I am tired of 700 passwords and logins and I am tired of having to constantly register so having one online login for everything would be good. Or would it? I get Twitter and Facebook, my bank, my email and Windows Live and the Ubuntu community. In my mind they all have a right to a registration from me...but every site and its dog??? There is pressure to merge and identify who you are and what you do online. The internet is far nosier than real life. Perhaps it has reason to be. Perhaps not. So open up the floodgates and let's get a good global talk going about Identity 2.0 and what we need and what we want. I am happy to have an online identity which links my blogs and Twitter and so on. There is the real world and there is online...but what is the line on? Where do we draw the line?  Where indeed!

Wild Winds

STRONG winds have caused widespread damage across Adelaide, the Hills and Yorke Peninsula. 

Indeed, our beautiful autumn weather has gone and been replaced by wet, windy and cold conditions. The damage is not surprising because the winds whipped up and we have been dry and now wet. Makes the branches brittle. The  giant gum tree down the back of my place has made a total mess of my garden. I cleaned up once but then it became too wet so now I have bark , twigs, branches and leaves everywhere. Luckily not big branches. They just snap and the loose bark from summer just strips off the trees. Even though we have had rain it hasn't been enough to get the trees to get a real hold in the soil again so yes, they blow over. Our gardeners and building experts are usually pretty good at helping us to overcome these seasonal and climate problems. We need help! Even though we have been getting stuck into our gardens and tidying them up, the climate changes have created some problems we are not sure how to deal with. Some people have just got the chain saws out and removed trees. Sad. There has to be a better way because the trees afford us shade and protection in the heat.

IE8

Browsers are driving me crazy at the moment. I normally use Firefox but used Chrome for a while because it is by far the best at managing flash programmes. Chrome started to play up so I just played on Firefox but with some things you have to use IE. Microsoft has become better at understanding that people use the browser they want for particular reasons but there are times when it still insists upon IE.. If you really want to have an adventure and know we are blessed, download Lynx and work on a totally text based interface. I did it to check my blogs for optimisation. I got as far as one, was intriguing and decided I need to leave it until I sit and master it properly. I can manage a lot of things but when you go totally into text browsing well, it's an adventure and you come out totally grateful for the graphic user interfaces we have with lovely pictures and total clickability! I have little to complain about. So what is it with me and IE8? I cannot get the hang of it at all. It sent my harddrive into overdrive on Farm Town and made my computer hang. I have a new computer. It just couldn't cope.I tried again. Same thing. So I have gone back to farming in Firefox. Not a problem. IE then wanted to install the URLs of my tabs. Why? I just want the sites to open in tabs. It has a pretty useful desk space button so you can cruise between sites very easily but it is on the left. It would be easier on the right I should have thought. Then when my computer goes to sleep when I am not using it IE assumes I am offline and I go back on the computer and IE doesn't want to play. I figure if I keep using it it will get better. Software is often like that. Very flouncy to start with and then you tame it. Lastly, since we are all into energy saving, I'd like Blackle or Bellzar as a seach option instead of just Google. That would show some real commitment to the planet. Apart from that, I am happy and Lynx has kept it all in perspective for me!

Soyouwanna

Something you want to know? Something you want to learn how to do? Something you need to find out about? Then this site will probably be able to help you. Soyouwanna teaches you about so much and even the most bizarre things you might want to know. It's the site which will probably answer your questions when no one else wants to. It deals with some very practical issues and then things like your wanting to change religion  and then things like travelling and beating stress. Everything. It has just about everything!

To blog or not to blog....

To blog or not to blog

View more presentations from Sally Smith.

Methuselah Genes

Mona Hancock is one who can thank good genes for her long life as she celebrates her 101st birthday today.

Well, apparently Mona Hancock has Methuselah genes and that is why she could celebrate being 101 yesterday. Ninette's hairdresser which is shown in the video next to the article made a real fuss of her and you can see in the video that Mona is happy, well and incredibly positive. She believes keeping busy all her life is her secret. Scientists have discovered the Methuselah gene and it is in a third of people who life to a ripe old age. And the other two thirds? When you listen to people who have grown quite old they all tend to be animated and interested in life and so I would think your enthusiasm for living would have something to do with it and the fact your hairdressers take notice and make a fuss of you! If Mona Hancock can still inspire that kind of affection from people then that is probably part of her secret too. There is a lot to learn form this story because it's all about relationships and how important they are.

Cannabilistic Star

For the first time, scientists are seeing a distant planet being slowly eaten by its parent star.

Poor WASP-12b ...only about 10 million years before it is totally eaten!! The shortest lived planet, most likely and all of this brought to you by the wonderful Hubble! Hubble is just brilliant and those working with Hubble discover the most amazing things. I did write a poem about galaxy gourmands. Permit me to share:

Galaxy Gourmand

View more presentations from Sally Smith.

Victoria Square Plans

Until Adelaide becomes a more complex city which no one in their right mind would attempt to drive through rather than around, Victoria Square is doomed to be a traffic island.

This article brings up some of the issues related to redeveloping Victoria Square  and in terms of air quality and ease of movement no cars should be in the city. It should be something we should avoid because of  congestion, the unpleasant air and noise. For this reason I am very much in favour of trams and the tram going to Victoria Square because the tram to Glenelg leaves from there and there are other destinations we could have for a tram. I shouldn't be talking about THE tram. We need to get a bit  bolder and more self assured in our thinking!Trams. We could have tram..S!! Bourke Street in Melbourne is the main shopping strip and the trams go along there but the pedestrians are able to negotiate it well. It creates a good atmosphere. A tram to the new square would be great. Like the Place des Cocotiers in Noumea it could have a water feature and the Glacier there is a great place to eat and have coffee. It really is relaxing. 

La Place des Cocotiers has market stalls when it wants to and features events and musicians. It is also a great place to eat your lunch whether you buy it or bring it along and just off it are great shops and a shopping mall. A big square is very useful and creates a hub and focal point. Since Victoria Square is so close to the Law Courts and the Markets then it is an area which would soon become a central spot in Adelaide and then Rundle Mall could develop its own atmosphere as has Hutt Street. Hutt Street works quite well with the traffic but we need to allow Victoria Square to develop primarily as a pedestrian zone. Some people are concerned about vandalism. Well, that is our joint responsibility and if Victoria Square is a magnet for a slice of the nice life then I think the weight of numbers and our attitude will determine whether it is run down or not. We get what we accept. I want a nice place at that end of the city where I can just swan around!!

e-Bay Scam

 I don't have an e-Bay account so I gather this is yet another scam. I also got one from someone claiming 

to be the ANZ bank...I don't have an account with them either. 

A reminder to us all to put a stop to this nonsense and fight it on every front!

Your eBay Account Has Been Suspended - update -

...

From:	eBay ... Add to Contacts
To:

---

eBay sent this message to your registered email address username .
Your registered email username is included to show this message originated from eBay.

	FPA NOTICE: eBay Registration Suspension -Section 9-

Dear eBay Customer , We are writing to alert you that your eBay account has been suspended. Per the User Agreement, Section 9, we may immediately issue a warning, temporarily suspend, indefinitely suspend or terminate your membership and refuse to provide our services to you if we believe that your actions may cause financial loss or legal liability for you, our users or us. To remove any limitations, you are required to confirm your eBay registration.   Confirm your eBay registration   Due to the suspension of this account, please be advised you are prohibited from using eBay in any way until your confirmation. Please note that this will affect the ability to sell or bid on items. This includes the registering of a new account. Sincerely, eBay Safeharbor Department SD95

Health Direct Australia

Some people were rather apprehensive about the introduction of a 24 hour health line. They thought it was a cop out and would lower our standard of health care.Health  Direct has been bloomin' brilliant in my observation and I cannot thank them enough of the level of care they have provided for 2 of my family members who both have considerable medication requirements and long term health issues. They both use the service because I initially prompted them to try it. The service does several things .It provides complete reassurance. Both of these family members need that because if things go wrong it can have serious consequences. Managing those sorts of illnesses are possible but people tend to become anxious and so the first thing they need and get with Health Direct is reassurance and a settling approach. Whoever is at the end of the line inspires confidence and trust very quickly. The second thing they get from Health Direct is a competent, calm, organised appraisal of the situation. From that point it is then a filtering service and the person directs them to the appropriate help. It means our services are better used and accessed. One family member is concerned about over utilising services when others might need them. The other one doesn't think about that. In both situations they are directed to the right medical service and if an ambulance has to be called then there are good grounds for it and the ambulance people don't feel they have been called out for nothing. In both cases the people have received good advice and a sound approach. It has also meant when things have been very serious they have been managed in an incredibly effective manner.We all have things wrong with us from time to time and so it's good to have a service which keeps us calm and practical and points us in the right direction. In this way we are better catered to as a nation. Good health is important to keep us all happy and productive!

Fix it up phase

I am going through a fix it up phase and about time. Things just get left and you put up with things when the obvious thing to do is just go and fix it. So I now how a whole list behind me of annoying things I have remedied and my life has lifted to a new high! Unfixed things create a drag somehow. So I have had the dicky power points in the kitchen fixed, I have a new roller door with a remote, I have rebuilt the garden box out the back and re edged my garden. I have removed the weeds which came in the lawn last year because of the wind. I have ordered my new dining room chairs today, replaced my wobbly computer chair, upgraded my home insurance onto a more effective plan. I have regrouted in the bathroom and the list just goes on. Each day I put on my list the things I know I can easily fix. Enough of the lack of action, the lethargy and the "I haven't got time". It has taken me a lot less time than I thought and I feel so much better for it. I  have now decided that the end of autumn is a good time to have a fix it phase and let go of my inertia and all the things which need fixing!

Spider Goats

Spiders also have a tendancy to eat each other, so milking one thread from six out of a solo spider was clearly never going to service the entire human race.

I haven't picked my jaw up yet. This is the sort of  mind blowing stuff I like to read. It is well written, gives me the information I need and has quite a good sense of humour. It is such an extraordinary story and I like to read about just how ingenious we are as human beings and how we can use our brains and curiosity to further ourselves in a good way. We do not promote enough of this capacity of ours to be amazing. Scientists have  spliced spider genes into goats' milk so they can harvest the spider webs from the milk to use  the silk for fishing lines, sutures, ligament replacement...wherever it takes us scientifically. It is just mind boggling and the whole article is well worth the read. I shall never look at cob webs in the same way again.

No for sale signs on cars

"The primary purpose of the by-law is to stop the potentially dangerous practice of having multiple drivers stopping to look at a car advertised for sale on the side of a road.

The article gives a good run down of the situation. If the problem is where the for sale cars are parked then can we look at that and approach it slightly differently rather than fining people for putting a for sale sign on their car? Some of this will be financial desperation and some of it will be the usual not thinking. Cars for sale are often at the front of the owner's property on the lawn. Some are on blocks of vacant land or in areas where there is off road land so people can see the cars. That to me is a risk to the owner whose car may be damaged while out of the owner's view. That tends to suggest they are desperate. I think public education about where to park a car for sale, some help with advertising it in the classifieds and a bit of awareness raising of the issues is what we need. Cars for sale around the place have been a part of our landscape and lifestyle for years. The councils need to start getting people onside through the Messenger Press or creating a workable approach to selling cars. There is always a contact number on the car for sale so a phone call to any owner of a thoughtlessly parked car is all it takes and they then have a chance to move it. If they won't move it , that is another matter. It might also be an idea to create a Sunday morning car sale fest. Car dealers  and the RAA might like to help support  that one . Let's get festive about it and turn it into an event. That's my bit, what about you?

Chokolait

Melbourne has a commitment to brilliant chocolate and coffee too!

Water Recycling

Melbourne is really on the ball when it comes to recycling water and saving on bottled water. I was sitting in Bourke Street and somebody came up to this and they filled their water bottle. I realised then it was a filtered water dispenser.Took up no room, was cleverly disguised and was a service Melbourne was offering to tourists and residents so they had access to filtered water. Meant the rubbish from bottles was being cut down too. Federation Square is  plumbed using recycled water and so it is very clear when you visit that Melbourne has a commitment to water...quality water and the supply of drinking water. Their sustainability  policies and practices and their commitment to the environment and our water situation was very evident in good practice.

See you soon!

Phar Lap allegedly poisoned

As to who it was who might have poisoned Phar Lap, Dr Kempson says we will probably never know.

Doesn't hurt to ask nor to keep pursuing it because Phar lap is written into the annals of our history and our hearts and souls. Phar Lap is an icon. From time to time the discussions erupt and they hold centre stage for a while because when something precious comes to an unseemly and untimely end you don't let go of it. You want the truth. These experts have gone to extraordinary and meticulous lengths to determine whether Phar Lap was indeed poisoned by arsenic. It is a perfect example of a case that could be worked on globally now until it is resolved. We all have the capacity to connect and when it comes to solving the mysteries of life then online collaboration is the way to go. It would cement the technological paradigm of our new century. I hope they do find out who did it. All Australians would probably like to know. Things like this will never bring anything back to life but it would put right a wrong if what the experts have found is true. Someone has to know something which will lead to another something and eventually we shall reach that level of critical mass which will resolve the Phar Lap story.

Ubuntu 10.04

So what do I think? I am not keen on the magenta opening screen. I loved the chocolate and I still think Ubuntu 8 whatever has the best opening screens and backdrops. Ubuntu 10.04 looks the part though and has a very nice GUI. Very smooth. I got my wallpaper to match. I am pleased there are all the good screen savers back. The optical light is amazing but so are some of the others. The good Ubuntu screen savers are just so cool and different. I was surprised they had removed most of them in Ubuntu 9 whatever. Ubuntu 10.04 comes with some very good apps and everything works well. The only problem I had was the digital TV but now I have MeTV going and I really like the interface .I makes watching TV on the computer so easy. Ubuntu has the help file right up the top next to the browser icon but there is a LOT of really helpful information on the Internet . Anything I have a problem with I search for on the Net and the Linux and Ubuntu sites are very helpful and they have some good stuff on You Tube as well. That impressed me. It's so easy to follow it so I'll be back there. Magenta screen aside, I am pretty happy with Ubuntu 10.04. What were they thinking?! CHOCOLATE!!!

Yoo Hoo from Ubuntu- Me TV

Well, it's YooHoo from Ubuntu again and what a journey it has been to get here! I can now say all my computers dual boot and it's the way to go. Two dual boot Windows 7 and Ubuntu 9.04 and 10.04 and one dual boots Apple and Windows 2003. I get the best of all possible worlds. I like the challenge, I like to be cross platform and I like to be able to pick the OS for what I want to do or how I feel at the time. Basically we all have different learning needs and computers are about learning. I have learnt a lot these last few hours. On 3 other computers I have installed Ubuntu dual boot with no problems. On the Dell Hybrid it has been an adventure and a half. First it decided to have an error just as the installation was about complete so 9.04 took me to a live desk top with an install icon...and it all fell apart. So I tried to install it again. My fault this time. I didn't set the slider to give it enough space. There hasn't been a slider before so I just forgot and it is not that noticeable when you are absorbed! I had to go into disk management in Windows and remove the mess! I reinstalled and I was happily going with 9.04 and thought I'd try my USB  TV tuner . I actually installed MeTV through Terminal but it wouldn't work. I couldn't find the search channels file. By that time I was offered an upgrade to Karmic Koala and did that and still no TV. So then there was another upgrade to 10.04. In the meantime I was searching on the Net like mad. I tried MythTV and couldn't get the TV going because I couldn't really work out what to do. I couldn't get it to search. By that time MeTV , installed in the applications this time,was having trouble demuxing or not demuxing...I didn't even know what it meant. I had got it to find all the channels and I had got it going...but it kept hanging. So...in true Windows fashion I shut Ubuntu down and booted it up again and bingo!! My TV is going!! I have found once you get digital TV going you have to run it for a while on one channel on a computer and then it settles in. That's just digital TV on a computer. Get a picture and run it. So, I am happy now!

Over Email

I don't know about you but I am so over email. It now seems clumsy. I am even more over getting a pen out and actually writing a letter. I find that such a chore these days if snail mail is what I have to do. With email I have to load up the programme then battle through whatever hurdles the different email clients offer. Some offer the chat now, so and so wants to chat with you, some offer the log in to the server stuff. You have to jump hoops before you get there. GMail doesn't do that. It just opens, but then I find myself in an email swamp of loose threads and started conversations and I go nuts trying to find out which tab I am supposed to click on so I answer the conversation and don't send it to myself. Oh yes, I have done that. I also feel very insecure when there are a number of recipients. Some are privileged and some are not so it's always a worry if you want to email certain people and not others with privileged information. On another email client that is at least clear. The best thing about GMail is the search box. So easy to find what you are looking for. But clattering away an email seems to be so passé these days. These days I mostly phones, SMS, tweet or Facebook and it;s all quick and clear. I wish more people would pick up the web 2.0 stuff. It really does improve communication and takes the burden out of it.

The cleanest country in the world

Well, in terms of CO2 emissions and clean air we have 3 contenders and I'd just like to know which site is right!  Trifter says Switzerland. On the environmental sustainability index, but that is for 2005, aneki.com says Finland and then this French article on Yahoo France says Iceland. Yes, Iceland!! So where is Australia in all of this? USA? Britain? Aneki had us at number 8 in 2005. Aneki is a great site for finding things out. We are the worst for CO2 emissions. Doesn't say the date. Maybe we have improved and Australia is number 3 for the best health care. That is something to be proud of. Healthy people contribute and participate. Whatever the facts are , we are not in the top 10 for environmental sustainability and we need to get onto it. Something to aim for and a challenge we ought to accept.

Games Market

Professor Jesse Schell of Carnigie Mellon University was speaking in the video I posted yesterday of how the games market had the unexpected turn of massive Facebook game consumption and children's online games. I have blogged before about how the games market has been too stereotyped and how people have perpetuated myths about games and who gamers are. When a company like Zynga can make 250 million a year from games like Farmville then the world needs to sit up and take notice. Firstly, Apple is having a thing about Flash games so it's looking down the gun barrel at companies like Zynga and the massive flocking of people to Facebook games and the like. Good luck with that one. Secondly, there is obviously a big market for co operative and Sims like games. People seem to like to lose themselves in a world. That will change and they'll want something else but finally there are games for everyone and the public has more than welcomed it with open arms. My last point is when you see how many millions of players will spend hours of their time on online games, then you have to wonder whether this oughtn't to be the prototype and template for the working world and if there are not ways and means of framing and repackaging jobs to utilise that massive commitment to creativity of farms, kingdoms, teams ,adventures,bubble bursting, other worlds and groups. If all that people power were to be put into the economy...we would solve every darn problem on the planet.

The World's Most Dangerous Place for Women

The World's Most Dangerous Place for Women is a very moving documentary by the gutsy Fiona Lloyd-Davis about Judith Wanga, an ex pat Congolese whose parents sent her to Britain so she could be safe but she makes a return journey to the Congo to meet her family , parents and then find out what is driving the continued violence against women in the area. The documentary introduces you to some very inspiring people who are working hard to remedy an horrific situation. The Congo is one of the richest places in the world but its people are poor. The surfeit of minerals and mining is making a lot of money but not for the Congolese. The battle is about the black mineral which runs our iPods and laptops. In many of the reactions to the documentary this has been overlooked. It was alluded to in the documentary but needs to be further explored and explained. If we are running our technology at the expense of the lives, the wellbeing and dignity of these women, then we need to look at our corporate and international responsibility. If you go to the BBC3 blog linked above the comments will show you just how much people care , want to care, want to act and want to change the world. On the blog there are links to places if you wish to make a personal contribution.That's the thing. As a planet we are all connected. Literally and metaphorically. The programme demonstrates how what we are doing is impacting on the lives of others.It also shows that there are some amazing people who are out there doing the tough stuff while we sit and blog about it from a safe, soft place. There were some women who were just so inspirational and doctors who were doing their best but who needed more help and support. I have thought about whether to blog about this or not because it is very easy to sit in judgement from a distance, but I am very conscious of the fact we have a number of people from the Congo who live here in Adelaide and yet, we know very little about their country and their previous life.We assume they can just get on with it. The Congo is stunningly beautiful. The shots in the documentary were just so amazing. The lifestyle, without the violence, is very family based and relaxed. Our Congolese speak several languages and then we have asked them to learn English on top of that. They need to explore their culture, their new culture and their profound experiences through their familiar languages and we could help there and show some linguistic awareness. We could also look to them to get some insight into this situation because by harming women in this way there is an attack on that culture which is long lasting and completely damaging. It needs to be understood and the Congolese are the best people to lead the way in terms of us responding to their needs. We can connect. We need to connect to lift people up.

What's in the pipeline?

This is well worth the 28 minutes and 19 seconds of viewing. Jesse Schell,Carnegie Mellon University Professor, gives a fascinating analysis of today's social network arena , games market and financial impact and then develops it into an incredible look into how this may well play out in our future lives.

Wii Games - E3 2010 - Guitar Hero 5

Burn Offs out of control

A prescribed burn-off in Coffin Bay on the Eyre Peninsula has jumped lines and the CFS issued a warning about smoke drifting across the Coffin Bay Rd from Flinders Hwy to Airport Lane.

I really am not surprised that people decided to burn off today and then it all fell apart. We have had some superb autumn days. Just superb and it has turned our minds to our gardens and our plants. We have thought about how we can make our gardens better and how we can heat proof them. So I imagine the farmers would have been thinking that way too and today was another one of those lovely days but around three o'clock the wind really blew up and it was quite strong and had come from nowhere. If the same happened on the Eyre Peninsula , then yes, things would have fallen apart and no wonder the CFS is working its backside off again. The weather is just so unpredictable one way or another.

Help Desk

Sometimes you go round in circles trying to resolve and solve technical problems. Asking for support, emailing for support, consulting help files and site support can end up driving you to a state of extreme frustration.  You have to accurately know the problem. The quickest way to get the right words is to search online. Use more than one search engine. CD popping out may not be the right words. You also need to know the names of parts and leads and this is where online searches and manuals are helpful. Can't watch online TV is often too vague. Which cord have you plugged in and where? What tuner card or USB are you using. Be specific. My quick ways of solving technical problems are these:

1. Ask the question on as many social networks as you have. The word gets out and people can be very helpful

2. Search online on more than one search engine and change the words of the search until you get the results you need. Sometimes you have to specifically change to UK, USA or another country to get better results.

3. Email tech support of the companies with a hardware  or software problem. Some companies get back to you almost instantly, some the next day aand some several days later with no help whatsoever.

4. Read the manual. Sometimes it is online.

5. Know the product number or the software version and know which OS you are using.

I have to confess that Windows 7 has been very good at trouble shooting all by itself and I have loaded old peripherals without a single hiccough. Apple OS will resolve the problem but I have often found it is browser related so I change form Camino to Safari to Firefox according to my needs. Ubuntu will troubleshoot in the background and often bring you the files you need to reolve issues or at least point you in the right direction.

There is one last place to get help and that's You Tube. I have been amazed how many helpful people have made videos about what I am trying to solve! The last tip is patience. Computers will sort themselves out and you can help them by being calm at all times. The crankier you get, the more they play up it seems!

Ants in iPod dock

Okay, I suppose it's not really newsworthy but it has created quite a commotion on the home front. The ants were on the cupboard top. Now these were the same ants I was trying to get rid of from the garden gate outside the room the iPod dock is in. I thought I had won my battle. I should have known ants are invincible. These tiny terrors can create such a hoo-ha. There isn't a trail...except out of the two round holes on the back of the clock dock. It is very  strange. The alarm had been playing up...going off some mornings and not others...the ants have been in there messing  with its inner workings. It's the oddest thing I have seen in a while. Ants are in the garden or food cupboards or they trail from your front door to somewhere or other and they climb trees! Well, now they nest in iPod docks. Who would have thought. Guess others have seen odd ant venues too. The dock is in the bin. Couldn't stop the ants coming out...now what?!