Culture

Well,Google Wave is happening... The Internet is abuzz with Google Wave. Tweets about it are flowing. I think it may be the next big thing on the net.

Yet, I am still looking for an invite. As soon as I have one, I will register, play with it and report on it.

Meanwhile, if you can, please do send me an invite.

Why do so many, if not all politicians have this most annoying habit of not answering maybe what are difficult questions but nevertheless pertinent or important. They do so by giving an answer that puts forward one their own positions but does not answer the questions asked. Yet, those very same politicians are the one that cannot heap enough praise on democracy and on transparency of government.

Jessica Watson is in the news. Just do a Google search. She is a sixteen year old about to embark on a solo, unaided, non-stop circumnavigation of the world (22,000 nautical miles over an estimated 240 days) in a 10 meter yacht.

Her website can be found here: http://www.jessicawatson.com.au/ .

Let me wish Jessica Watson a lot of luck. She will need it, even was she not so manifestly lacking the required skills. There is ample evidence that very highly skilled and highly experienced solo sailing seafarers can get into deep trouble and even get killed, as well as jeopardizing other lives, those of their rescuers, in much smaller events than what Jessica is attempting.

Let me say outright that my objections to Jessica attempt has nothing to do with the fact that the sport is dangerous, that lives are likely to be at risk or that she is female. I simply object to children's exploitation. Jessica is sixteen. She is, at

McDonald's raises prices 'in poorer suburbs'.

McDonald's is the Scrooge of hamburger chains. "Kick them whilst they are down", could be their motto.

Ronald McDonald's gives kids a trinket, at a "discounted" price, whilst he takes the food out of their mouths.

From various media outlets around Australia (AAP, Streetcorner.com.au, AFN-Food for Thought, Daniel Palmer), my comments in bold.
-The managing director of McDonald', Catriona Noble, is reported as saying that, to justify the appalling recommendation:

As we are celebrating Darwin 200th anniversary of his birth, I like to reflect on what it means. I realise that due to the endeavour and openness of mind of someone born 200 years ago, and that is a long time ago, a veil of ignorance was lifted from the world, and unbelievable progress was made possible as a consequence of the change of mindset.