Carnival

It's racing season in Victoria - horse racing that is. For the past several weeks, Victoria's citizens have been dressing up in fancy duds and heading to the track for a day of binge drinking and gambling. It all culminates in the Melbourne Cup next Tuesday, which is a state holiday for Victoria. The racing appears to take a back seat to the fashion spectacle - as far as I can tell, the entire season is an excuse for women to purchase dresses and hats that are entirely inappropriate for any other other occassion. Due to the high cost, the mobs of people, and the fact that we'll be in Sydney, we won't be able to attend this year's Melbourne Cup or any of the preceeding races. There's always next year. . .

Back from Sydney

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Originally uploaded by BLP.

I returned from Sydney Sunday night to spend a few days in Melbourne before picking up Uta's sister, Katrin, and heading back to Sydney on Friday for another long weekend.

I spent Friday in Sydney checking out (in the rain) its more famous sights - the Opera house, Sydney Harbour Bridge, the ANZAC memorial, etc. (Click on the opera house to link to all the photos).

We took the ferry over to Manly (a beach community on the north side of the harbour) on Saturday morning, after eating breakfast at a cafe where we sat next to two couples from Atlanta who were having trouble ordering coffee ("coffee" in Australia only exists in its more pretentious forms: lattes, cappuccinos, as well as some uniquely Australian variants).

Saturday night we ate dinner at a Thai restraint in Darling Harbour and then joined two of Uta's fellow consultants for drinks in Circular Quay followed by more drinks at a club called "Gelato" - I think the name says it all.

Sunday, we took a train and bus to the famous Bondi Beach, where we ate breakfast and then walked along the coast toward the slightly more low-key Bronte Beach.

Waterloo Indeed

Eurovision celebrated its 50th anniversary over the weekend. I've seen a couple of these over the years, but am still powerless to describe it. It's somewhat of an international pop star battle, with the "best" talents from individual nations competing to be the top of the eurotrash pile. Past winners have included Celine Dion and Secret Garden, so that gives you an idea of the kind of rubbish that constitutes the event. But overall, it's a completely incomrehensible mix of genres, from heavy metal to traditional folk ballads. To commemorate the 50th anniversary, an award was given to the best act over the past half century. That award went to ABBA for the song Waterloo, which they performed on Eurovision in 1974. It's been all downhill since then. Although rumor has it that Serbia/Montenegro are coming on strong - that's the nation to look to over the next few years. . .

Sydney

I'm off tonight to join Uta in Sydney for the weekend in an attempt to figure out what this whole Australian west coast/east coast (i.e., Melbourne and Sydney)feud is all about.

WIIIIIILLLLLLMMMMMMAAAAA!

The 2005 hurricane season has delivered a parting shot to the Caribbean, and likely the United States. Wilma briefly broke the record for barometric intensity (something that will certainly keep the climate change folks happy) and is due to wobble around the Caribbean for a few more days before attacking the hurricane ravaged state of Florida.

The Smartest Guys in the Room

Last night, I participated in the now routine weekday movie outing to see Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room. There wasn't too much that I hadn't heard before, but when it's all served up on a single plate, it's a bit awe inspiring.

We dined before hand at Cosi on Toorak Road.

Over Here, Over There

Some Australians are apparently so proud of their ANZAC heritage, born on the rocks of Gallipoli, that some have advocated for recreating the WWI Turkish battlefield at Point Nepean on the Mornington Peninsula, south of Melbourne. But the idea appears to have died a rapid death after being panned by critics. Victoria's Premier, Steve Bracks, described the concept as "definitely tacky", while historians have pointed out that the proposed site is almost, but not quite, nothing like Gallipoli.

Meanwhile, William Evan Allan, Australia's oldest WWI serviceman died Monday at the age of 106. Allan served in the Australian Navy during both WWI (enlisting at age 14) and WWII.

Mercury 05

Victoria's counter-terrorism team has been working overtime in preparation for the Commonwealth games in Early 2006. The nationwide Mercury 05 training exercise featured various special forces units staging mock raids and rescues throughout Victoria and elsewhere. Victorian authorities have called the operation a success and feel well-prepared to deal with any terror-like nonsense during the games. Nevertheless, one can still wander aimlessly through any airport in Australia and board a plane without a single piece of identification. Hmmmmm. . .

Spring into Shape Results II

Sunday we ran the second 8km race in the Spring into Shape series. This time around, we finished with a time of 43:52 - an improvement over our previous time of 46:14, but still not enough to get us into the top half of the pack.

We rounded off the day with a little soccer (just in case we hadn't done enough running earlier in the day) and a barbie along the Yarra with some CSIRO and ex-CSIRO colleagues.

Australia's Bigfoot

A hunter recently bagged himself a big cat, seemingly putting an end to a mystery that has been hanging over Victoria for decades. For many years, Victorians (granted, primarily those in the Gippsland region) have reported seeing large cats on the prowl, but no solid evidence was ever obtained, making Gippsland a sort of Area-51 or Loch Ness. Enter Kurt Engel and his rifle. He took some trophy photos and cut the tail off the animal, but allegedly disposed of the carcass, leaving some residual doubt as to whether or not this urban legend is just that.

The Magician

The CSIRO crew saw The Magician last night, a fictional documentary about a Melbourne hitman, written, directed, and starring Scott Ryan with help from his film school buddies.

I have seen quite a few movies as of late - it appears to have become a weekday social club of sorts, and suprisingly, the quality has so far been quite good. The Magician offered the added bonus of being filmed in Melbourne, so many of the locations are readily recognizable.

Old Time Religion

It seems that the only thing Indonesians hate more than drug smuggling is terrorism. As Indonesians and Australians commemorated the anniversary of the 2002 bombings in Bali, protestors gathered outside the prison housing the perpetrators of the attack (or it had been housing, but they were moved out of obvious security concerns), and demanded their immediate death. In the wake of the more recent bomb attacks on October 1, Indonesians are naturally a bit fired up, particularly since the volumes of bad press Bali has received in recent years has done damage to its once thriving tourism industry. But for Americans always demanding greater condemnation from the Muslim community for the terrorist acts of Islamic fundamentalists, I think the words of the Balinese are pretty clear: "Fuck Terrorists".

More Corby

Schapelle Corby had her 20 year prison sentence for drug smuggling reduced to 15 years by an Indonesian appeals court. Not satisfied, her defense team plans to take the case to Indonesia's highest court.

Meanwhile, trials for the "Bali 9" have commenced - more young Australians implicated in drug smuggling trying to dodge a firing squad.

Road Warrior

On Monday, our division hosted a seminar on oil depletion. In a nutshell, oil production (if you haven't already heard) is anticipated to peak in the next 2-10 years, and so those high oil prices you've been experiencing lately are unlikely to go away anytime soon (i.e., ever).

In reflecting upon this, some of us started joking about the need to start hoarding oil, and the chaos that would reign as individuals fought over the precious liquid. But there was something oddly familiar about this idea. . .And then it hit me - the Road Warrior. It was prophetic. Post-apocalyptic Australians doing battle on the open road for the last few drops of petrol. It doesn't seem like such a far-fetched idea anymore.

And in case you think this is hyperbole, one of my colleagues informed me today that license plate thefts are on the rise. Due to high gas prices, people are stealing plates, putting them on their cars, driving into gas stations, and stealing gas. With the stolen plates, the theft can't be easily traced back. Law and order is already starting to crumble. It's only a matter of time before Max gets mad. And you know what happens then. . .

Arj Barker

Sunday afternoon, I went with Ian and Lisa to see Arj Barker (an American comedian) in Fitzroy. Obviously plenty of jokes and buffoonery, of which the following is perhaps the most relevant:

Arj (to an audience member): What would be a typical Australian holiday.

Audience Member: Australia Day

Arj: Australia Day? Sounds good. What do you do on Australia Day?

Audience Member: Nothing

Arj: Well, that's a very Australian thing to do.

Precrime

Acccording to Elizabeth Wingo, chief of the criminal section in the Washington, D.C. Attorney General's Office, individuals will be prosecuted for drunk driving, regardless of blood alcohol level.

Wingo has stated "We have zero tolerance for drunk driving. It doesn't matter what your blood alcohol level is," Wingo said.

So in an attempt to reduce drunk driving, Washington DC is now arresting people for just plain driving. Not since Minority Report has such an effective crime prevention tool been implemented (but then that was just fiction). Were it not for the foresight of Washington's finest, scores of sober DC residents would be left free to roam the streets, with some of them undoubtedly ending up, perhaps, in a bar, party, restaurant, or club where they would likely (maybe) consume alcohol and thus, possibly, drive drunk. Thank you metro police for stopping these dreadful crimes before they could have taken place (or not).

The Proposition

Uta and I showed up Saturday night for a showing of The Proposition, an Australian western, if you will, written by the original bad seed himself, Nick Cave. Another satisying Aussie film, despite its straightforward plot and brutal violence. The movie has plenty of the following: blood, sweat, dirt, flies, and sweeping landscapes depicting the nothingness of Australia's outback. I think this film may take the crown of sweatiest movie ever (yes, surpassing Cool Hand Luke by a longshot). I found this article, describing some of the difficulties encountered during filming.

Fallout

I've been shooting my mouth off over at Newley.com regarding the Fourth Amendment and the use of red light cameras in the United States. Back here in Australia, the government is dealing with its own scandal involving the violation of the rights of its citizens - specifically the fallout from the 2001 "accidental" deportation of Alvarez Solon, an Australian citizen (see my earlier comments here). An investigative report of the incident was recently released. Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone, has washed her hands of the affair, but one senior official has retired, and two others are likely to face disciplinary action. Apparently, there have been 20 other instances of Australian citizens being wrongfully detained for immigration violations (perhaps the gov needs some clarification of the term "citizen").

Truth is Stranger than Fiction

This is the stuff that B movies are made of:

Snake bursts after gobbling gator
An unusual clash between a 6-foot (1.8m) alligator and a 13-foot (3.9m) python has left two of the deadliest predators dead in Florida's swamps. . .

Weekend

I had a meeting at a hotel at the airport all day Friday, so I stuck around afterwards and waited for Uta's flight to arrive from Sydney so we could share a cab home. We subsequently dined at the Curry Club around the corner - a fantastic and relatively reasonable Indian restaurant in the neighborhood.

Saturday, Uta played her first match with her new tennis team, dominating all those foolish enough to challenger her on the tennis court. I can't remember the last time she played a match and lost, so if there's anyone out there up for it, bring it on - daddy needs a new pair of shoes. We then took advantage of the warm evening to dine at one of the many sidewalk cafes on Lygon Street. Lygon was hopping - packed full of locals, and I imagine a few tourists as well.

Sunday, the weather was nice once again, so we spent the day at St. Kilda beach doing lots of walking, sleeping, and people watching. There was a mildly amusing, but highly ineffectual, protest against the proposed dredging of the bay in order to keep the port open. I didn't see much in the way of protesting going on, but there was music and some ecocomedy (if such a thing exists) so people seemed to be having fun.

Australia Rules

The Economist Intelligence Unit recently released its assessment of the world's most liveable cities. Melbourne came in second behind Vancouver, with Sydney, Adelaide, and Perth also making it into the top ten. Brisbane came in at #11.

CANA

Last Thursday, I gave a talk at the Climate Action Network conference here in Melbourne. I spent the days leading up to the conference fretting over my talk until I realized that 10-15 minutes wasn't enough time to come up with a grand vision, so I just banged some stuff on some slides and got on with it.

After my talk, I got pulled out of the meeting to do an interview with SBS television. The interview started off on rocky footing, when my interviewer said they were doing some general coverage in support of the recent report from NASA about the "melting ice in Antarctica". I said, "uh, you mean the Arctic". I guess if you're on the ground, the north and south poles do look fairly similar. . .

In any case, I was a wonderful interviewee in a bumbling Hugh Grant without the charm kind of way. Nevertheless, the interview died somewhere in editing, but they did show some footage of me giving my presentation - Uta said "it was very short, and you were very small." There goes my manhood. . .

Thursday night, a bunch of us CSIRO folks met up to catch Tim Flannery's talk re: his new book on climate change (The Weathermakers). We followed that with dinner at the Kitten Club (sounds a bit sordid, but I assure you everything was on the up-and-up), which was followed by "one" drink at the Gin Palace (although that one drink took three hours to finish and came in multiple instalments).

William & Mary in the News

My alma mater, The College of William & Mary, made the news this week, albeit The Onion.

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