Cablog

Three young families

Here's a story from last weekend which I've held over for a night off. It deals with three young families from different socio-economic areas of Sydney. These examples demonstrate how some parents juggle work, relaxation and babysitters...according to their finances...

Early in the evening I carried a visiting New Jersey couple to the Sydney Cricket Ground. They were off to see their first game of Australian Rules Football. Immediately on dropping them I was hailed by a departing couple, just as the game kicked off. Where the elderly American couple were excited, this middle-aged couple were fractious.

He requested I take them to Mosman, on the lower North Shore. Then he quietly harangued his wife regarding a phone call they were responding to. The babysitter they’d organised informed them the baby would not take the bottle and settle for the night. Additionally, their two young daughters were still awake and running wild...

May Investigate

Hot off the press comes the latest Investigate with a cover story on face transplants. 'Want ya face re-arranged', used to be a schoolyard threat. Now it's possible, even desireable !

Actually the story looks at how ethics, or the lack of, square with new medical technologies.

Another feature story, Trafficking in Tears, is a report on the growing sex slavery in the Aussie underworld. I Spy covers the new surveillance State including a court case against bloggers.

Ghost in the Machine is an Investigate-New Zealand interview of a prominent Maori Govt MP. In NZ it caused the proverbial to hit the fan, yet received little attention in Australia.

Writers include James Morrow, Alan RM Jones, Alan Anderson, Ann Coulter, Ian Wishart, John Quiggen, Matt Hayden, Claire Morrow, Jeni Payne, Shelly Horton and Jake Ryan.

Finally, I have a piece titled, Looking for Trouble concerning a deluded passenger on the prowl. Some blokes have it all, yet still don't get it. I consider this story my best so far. Do me a favour..? Go buy a copy and feed the poor. I love youse all. (image enlarges)

Anzac Night '05

This year's Anzac Day being a Monday made for a dead, dead night on the cabs. In a word, rooted. Consequently I'm home early at 1 am, yet with nothing to report.

So I re-visited last year's corresponding post on Anzac Night, a Sunday followed by a public holiday Monday. There I found heaps of action and so have decided to re-post it as a half decent read.

By rights, the post should have been titled, The Good, the Bad, the Desperate and Ugly... 

Lest We Forget

It’s 5.20 am on Anzac Day and I’ve just arrived home from work...

Spot the Anglo

As a kid back in the Sixties, I grew up in the inner south-west of Sydney. It was a district like so many others in Australia, being predominately populated by Anglo Saxons. However Marrickville was different, as it was one of the first suburbs inhabitated by immigrants. Or New Australians as they were more commonly known. I vividly recall catching the local bus through Marrickville with my brothers and playing 'Spot the Aussie'. Even back then we knew this was called 'racism'. Today, in a multiplicity of suburbs around Sydney this game would be called 'Spot the Anglo'. Check the list of 158 New Australians granted citizenship this week, proudly presided over by Acting Mayor, Clr. Wong. Click on this image at right and see how many Anglos you can find. I'm now a big fan of our multiculturalism. A once boring mono-cultural Australia has evolved into a multi-dimensional wonderland. Attention all New Australians - welcome to paradise !

Blogging tips ?

Yet John Howard in the space of nine years has subjugated virtually every government Federal service which previously acted independently of political influence into a branches of his Coalition government and his rule, via the stacking of the like-minded at the top on limited contracts (thus ensuring loyalty) or straight out threats of sacking and intimidation.

This 57 word sentence is from a Webdiary post concerning, believe it or not, the Bali drug busts. Furthermore, this silly convoluted rave attracted well over 300 comments ! Where am I going wrong...?

Update : Oh, now I see a 'chuffed' Margo kicked off the comment thread, to report The Oz quoted her in yesterday's Editorial. A quote they labelled, 'nonsense...arrogrant'. That's what my posts are missing - arrant nonsense !

Mates

When Omar from Iraq the Model responded to Blog Widows I was embarassed I haven't visited him for some time. And it's easy to forget from a distance the struggle still goes on for his people.   

However via the medium of blogging there is plenty of news coming from Iraq, giving an accurate picture of the people's mindset. Plus Omar reports blogs are now starting to emerge from Syria, an important leg of the Ba'ath ruled countries.

Within Iraq, blogging has really taken hold amongst the citizens. In a post with many local blog links Omar concludes,

If the internet in general made this world a small village, then blogging has succeded in making it a big family.

Pay Omar a visit and say hi from his Aussie mates.

Blog Widows

The development of automated publishing software, the platform on which blogs operate, has seen lives change overnight. And for many bloggers, their blogging has impacted on connections and partners in unintended ways. Simply put, blogging can create a class of partners I call, the Blog Widows.

My girlfriend is a Blog Widow. For her, blogging sucks. She is totally nonplussed by what to me is a big part of my daily life. Though when pushed she insists she’s happy for me, in spite of reservations of where it will lead.

Mainly though, I sense she resents the intrusion of such a time consuming player in our relationship. Which is entirely understandable given blogging bears the characteristics of 'an affair'.

Blogging can and often does, occupy some 4-6 hours of my time each day. This is an inordinate, some would even say unhealthy, amount of unpaid time to spend at a keyboard. So let me come straight out and say it - for me blogging is a drug. A drug which satisfies a life long desire to write and be published. Indeed, I’ve even set up a facility for blogging from my mobile phone. Hard core mate.

Fortunately for my blogging, The Angel and I don’t live together. She is a single mother raising 3 teenage children and a star who I love dearly. However when we do get together, she will wake alone in the middle of the night to the dreaded sound of keyboard tapping. Sadly, my occupation and body clock has me programmed to post by dawn.

It’s tough for her but what can she do. She’s in love with a blog addict, resigned to her lot as a Blog Widow. Consequently, I wondered if other bloggers had similar experience in their relationships to mine. So I contacted those on my Blogroll - here’s a list of responses, to which I’ll add more as they come in....

On Dying

For the dying, death is a very personal thing. How one dies and in whose company, are important considerations for aspirants looking for an ideal exit. I used to think how awful it would be to die alone. These days though, I’m not so sure it’s such a bad way to go. Indeed, at the moment of death, going out alone may be the only way to go.

How many times have you heard of someone on their death bed, hanging on for the return of a loved one. Only to then slip away whilst everyone is outside, having a short break from their bedside vigil. It’s as if the dying crave that little bit of personal space, in order to take the final jump. For want of a better term.

There are also plenty of instances of a grieving connection telling the dying, ‘It’s alright to go now’. Which indicates to me the dying have more control over their departure than we imagine...

A Backhander

Bad girl Ann Coulter makes the latest Time cover. Much to their chagrin it would seem. Not only have they used an unflattering shot of Coulter on the cover but chosen a satirical image from a Protest Warrior demonstration ! Editors out at lunch. MSM dopes.

via Tim Blair - images enlarge