Thursday 4 July 2019
Who is this person?
He/she
* was born in New York
* delivered the keynote address at a Melbourne Writers Festival
* has written fiction
* has written biography
* has written about history
* has been known to shoot 'self in the foot
* has been a big city's mayor
* says writing romantic fiction could be on his/her agenda
* hopes to get a big promotion in the very near future
* is not backward in coming forward
* was given Alexander or Alexandra as his/her first given name
* might use the pen name Rosie M. Banks for future books
Think you know?
The answer will be revealed tomorrow.
Credits:
1. Thanks to my mate Elwyn for giving a heads up on this.
2. The source for the information contained in this quiz will be provided tomorrow.
Wednesday 3 July 2019
Well, wouldn't you know it!
Yesterday the Reserve Bank of Australia cut the cash rate from 1.25% to 1%. However, the Commonwealth Bank, The National Australia Bank and Westpac announced they will not be passing on the full benefit of the interest cut rate to all of their home loan customers. Meanwhile, ANZ Bank said it will pass on the cut in full.
Let's go back to June when the RBA cut the cash rate from 1.5% to 1.25%. The Commonwealth Bank, the National Bank and Westpac passed on the full cut but the ANZ Bank didn't.
Who's having a lend of who?
This observer reckons the Big Four are having a lend of us all.
Tuesday 2 July 2019
Monday 1 July 2019
Road rage is no joke
piece for Malaysia's The New Strait Times.
It's not too difficult to apply the story to Australia. When reading its references to "Malaysia", think "Australia".
At a corporate dinner some years ago, stand-up comedian Harith Iskander made a humorous observation that Malaysian drivers had the habit of displaying a menacing look to their fellow drivers when the latter did something wrong in the way they drove
Yes, that menacing, disgusting look by the angry driver right after the car driver in front made a mistake, like hogging the road or failing to signal when turning into a junction.
The driver would usually drive past by you and make an angry face, wearing that somewhat Angry Bird look with pointed eyebrows and shaking his head in disbelief at you as if he wanted to know who the imbecile was.
...
Generally, Malaysian drivers do not like being honked at, tailgated and blinded by high beams. If you are a patient and civil driver, you’d give way to the oncoming car from behind. But if you are one of those who do not like being pushed over on the road, your average Malaysian drivers’ response would be to honk back, tailgate the driver and blind the car in front with high beams.
If you drive on the road today, you’d notice Malaysian motorists tend to make endless mistakes. Not signaling when turning into a junction, weaving in and out of traffic, running traffic lights and signs, using mobile phones while driving and even hogging the road below the allowed speed limit of 110kph on highways are just a few of the mistakes that you can observe on a daily basis.
But the worst is when incidents of road rage culminate in road bullying and assaults that result in injuries and deaths of either drivers.
We have seen a lot of these horrifying incidents captured on videos that went viral over the past years. I do not wish to dwell on those horrendous incidents, which have been said and written about in volumes on social media platforms, in newspapers and social forums.
But I want to stress the “small” mistakes we commit that could cause our fellow drivers to lose their cool
Admittedly, I have made plenty of mistakes while driving.
In an incident not too long ago, as I was sending my children to school in the morning and turning into a junction, I saw a four-wheel drive coming from behind fast, zigzagging past the traffic, and incessantly giving other vehicles high headlight beams.
As the vehicle drove past, I was shocked to find that a woman was in the driver’s seat. She rolled down the window, drove past and shouted at the top of her lungs: “Pakcik, lesen kopi ke? Apasal tak bagi signal?”
I was angry at first, wanting to violently respond, but I knew I made a mistake by not signaling. I rolled the window and showed my hand with open palm, gesturing an apology.
Nowadays, Malaysian women drive fast and furious, don’t they? Not just men any more. Aggressive driving, especially weaving through traffic, is the norm on our roads every day.
In another incident, I was given the middle finger not just by the driver, but by his supposedly young passenger son as well. “Bapa borek, anak rintik” (like father, like son); that’s what a Malay proverb says.
It was my mistake for changing lanes quite abruptly into the right side of the road, although I gave the indicating light.
Nonetheless, this car came from behind so fast that it hit on the brake so suddenly it screeched to a halt. It almost hit my car when the driver gave me the stern, menacing look as he overtook my car.
I was about to show my hands to gesticulate an apology, but the driver and his young passenger gave me the finger. Naturally, I wanted to give chase and gestured the driver with my own middle finger, but I kept my cool. It would have only made things uglier if I had done it.
I just couldn’t understand how a young boy, probably in his teens, could do such a thing. It ruined my day.
According to a Malaysian Institute of Road Safety research conducted two years ago, out of the total 13.3 million registered drivers in Malaysia, 2.4 million lose their temper on the road. It means two out of 10 people drive while fuming.
This is the reason why I made a point to want to be patient, be civil and remember to recite prayers when I start my car every time. The ugly side of me, however, reminds me to anticipate the worst.
I’d anticipate that other drivers on the road today are not in their right mind as they carry with them so much baggage in their lives. They could have had arguments with their wives that morning, anticipated a really bad day with piles of work and horrible bosses, afraid of arriving late to work or just missed breakfast.
It's not too difficult to apply the story to Australia. When reading its references to "Malaysia", think "Australia".
At a corporate dinner some years ago, stand-up comedian Harith Iskander made a humorous observation that Malaysian drivers had the habit of displaying a menacing look to their fellow drivers when the latter did something wrong in the way they drove
Yes, that menacing, disgusting look by the angry driver right after the car driver in front made a mistake, like hogging the road or failing to signal when turning into a junction.
The driver would usually drive past by you and make an angry face, wearing that somewhat Angry Bird look with pointed eyebrows and shaking his head in disbelief at you as if he wanted to know who the imbecile was.
...
Generally, Malaysian drivers do not like being honked at, tailgated and blinded by high beams. If you are a patient and civil driver, you’d give way to the oncoming car from behind. But if you are one of those who do not like being pushed over on the road, your average Malaysian drivers’ response would be to honk back, tailgate the driver and blind the car in front with high beams.
If you drive on the road today, you’d notice Malaysian motorists tend to make endless mistakes. Not signaling when turning into a junction, weaving in and out of traffic, running traffic lights and signs, using mobile phones while driving and even hogging the road below the allowed speed limit of 110kph on highways are just a few of the mistakes that you can observe on a daily basis.
But the worst is when incidents of road rage culminate in road bullying and assaults that result in injuries and deaths of either drivers.
We have seen a lot of these horrifying incidents captured on videos that went viral over the past years. I do not wish to dwell on those horrendous incidents, which have been said and written about in volumes on social media platforms, in newspapers and social forums.
But I want to stress the “small” mistakes we commit that could cause our fellow drivers to lose their cool
Admittedly, I have made plenty of mistakes while driving.
In an incident not too long ago, as I was sending my children to school in the morning and turning into a junction, I saw a four-wheel drive coming from behind fast, zigzagging past the traffic, and incessantly giving other vehicles high headlight beams.
As the vehicle drove past, I was shocked to find that a woman was in the driver’s seat. She rolled down the window, drove past and shouted at the top of her lungs: “Pakcik, lesen kopi ke? Apasal tak bagi signal?”
I was angry at first, wanting to violently respond, but I knew I made a mistake by not signaling. I rolled the window and showed my hand with open palm, gesturing an apology.
Nowadays, Malaysian women drive fast and furious, don’t they? Not just men any more. Aggressive driving, especially weaving through traffic, is the norm on our roads every day.
In another incident, I was given the middle finger not just by the driver, but by his supposedly young passenger son as well. “Bapa borek, anak rintik” (like father, like son); that’s what a Malay proverb says.
It was my mistake for changing lanes quite abruptly into the right side of the road, although I gave the indicating light.
Nonetheless, this car came from behind so fast that it hit on the brake so suddenly it screeched to a halt. It almost hit my car when the driver gave me the stern, menacing look as he overtook my car.
I was about to show my hands to gesticulate an apology, but the driver and his young passenger gave me the finger. Naturally, I wanted to give chase and gestured the driver with my own middle finger, but I kept my cool. It would have only made things uglier if I had done it.
I just couldn’t understand how a young boy, probably in his teens, could do such a thing. It ruined my day.
According to a Malaysian Institute of Road Safety research conducted two years ago, out of the total 13.3 million registered drivers in Malaysia, 2.4 million lose their temper on the road. It means two out of 10 people drive while fuming.
This is the reason why I made a point to want to be patient, be civil and remember to recite prayers when I start my car every time. The ugly side of me, however, reminds me to anticipate the worst.
I’d anticipate that other drivers on the road today are not in their right mind as they carry with them so much baggage in their lives. They could have had arguments with their wives that morning, anticipated a really bad day with piles of work and horrible bosses, afraid of arriving late to work or just missed breakfast.
Credit: The New Strait Times
Sunday 30 June 2019
Saturday 29 June 2019
Helium balloons on Clarence Valley Council land and facilities are "busted"
Yes, that's right! This week Clarence Valley Council voted to develop a policy on prohibiting the use and sale of helium balloons on Council managed land and facilities.
The Daily Examiner's Tim Howard wrote this piece for Friday's edition of the paper.
Helium
filled balloons might be on the way out on council land in the Clarence Valley,
but they’ll still have a place in the region’s tourism literature.
At Tuesday’s meeting, Clarence
Valley councillors voted to develop a policy to allow council to ban the sale
and release of helium filled balloons from its land. But when it came to the
next item of business, a motion calling for the removal of the flying
balloons-inspired Clarence Valley tourism logo, they baulked.
Faced with a report inspired by
the council’s Climate Change Advisory Committee calling for a complete ban on
all balloons on council’s land and facilities, Greens Cr Greg Clancy put up a
compromise motion.
His motion called for council
to develop a policy to ban helium-filled balloons, investigate the implication
of the ban on other council policies and come up with a draft awareness
campaign about the environmental impacts of balloons.
His motion also called for the
erection of signs at council cemeteries to indicate balloons were banned.
A group of councillors: Mayor
Jim Simmons and Crs Andrew Baker, Richie Williamson and Arthur Lysaught argued
hard against the proposal.
But they met a passionate
response from an equally determined group in Crs Clancy, Karen Toms and Peter
Ellem.
After almost an hour of debate,
their arguments about the dangers to the environment swayed two extra votes
from Crs Debrah Novak and Jason Kingsley.
The next item up for discussion
was a report reviewing council logos.
Cr Toms took exception to the
Valley’s tourism logo, a bunch of coloured circles she said represented a
cluster of flying balloons.
To the frustration of several
councillors, the ensuing 25 minutes of debate resulted in a re-run of arguments
in the previous item.
Cr Toms argued because the
previous motion looked for a policy to ban balloons, it was a good time to
follow through by removing the logo.
But Cr Kingsley could not be
swayed this time and his vote against the proposal to remove the logo decided
the matter in the negative.
Below is a copy of CVC's resolution on Tuesday, June 25, 2019. It can also be seen at page 82 of Council's minutes here.
Credits:
1. The Daily Examiner for the image "Green light for balloon policy" and the text penned by its senior reporter Tim Howard
2. Clarence Valley Council for the Image of "Council Resolution".
Friday 28 June 2019
NAIDOC Week, 7-14 July 2019
This year's theme: Voice. Treaty. Truth. Let's work together.
The Indigenous voice of this country is over 65,000 plus years old.
They
are the first words spoken on this continent. Languages that passed
down lore, culture and knowledge for over millennia. They are precious
to our nation.
It’s
that Indigenous voice that include know-how, practices, skills and
innovations - found in a wide variety of contexts, such as agricultural,
scientific, technical, ecological and medicinal fields, as well as
biodiversity-related knowledge. They are words connecting us to
country, an understanding of country and of a people who are the oldest
continuing culture on the planet.
And with 2019 being celebrated as the United Nations International Year of Indigenous Languages, it’s time for our knowledge to be heard through our voice.
For
generations, we have sought recognition of our unique place in
Australian history and society today. We need to be the architects of
our lives and futures.
For generations, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have looked for significant and lasting change.
Voice. Treaty. Truth. were three key elements to the reforms set out in the Uluru Statement from the Heart. These reforms represent the unified position of First Nations Australians.
However, the Uluru
Statement built on generations of consultation and discussions among
Indigenous people on a range of issues and grievances. Consultations
about the further reforms necessary to secure and underpin our rights
and to ensure they can be exercised and enjoyed by Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander peoples.
It
specifically sequenced a set of reforms: first, a First Nations Voice
to Parliament enshrined in the Constitution and second, a Makarrata
Commission to supervise treaty processes and truth-telling.
(Makarrata
is a word from the language of the Yolngu people in Arnhem Land. The
Yolngu concept of Makarrata captures the idea of two parties coming
together after a struggle, healing the divisions of the past. It is
about acknowledging that something has been done wrong, and it seeks to
make things right.)
Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander people want their voice to be heard. First
Nations were excluded from the Constitutional convention debates of the
1800’s when the Australian Constitution came into force. Indigenous
people were excluded from the bargaining table.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have always wanted an enhanced role in decision-making in Australia’s democracy.
In
the European settlement of Australia, there were no treaties, no formal
settlements, no compacts. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
therefore did not cede sovereignty to our land. It was taken away from
us. That will remain a continuing source of dispute.
Our sovereignty has never been ceded – not in 1788, not in 1967, not with the Native Title Act, not with the Uluru Statement from the Heart. It coexists with the sovereignty of the Crown and should never be extinguished.
Australia
is one of the few liberal democracies around the world which still does
not have a treaty or treaties or some other kind of formal
acknowledgement or arrangement with its Indigenous minorities.
A substantive treaty has always been the primary aspiration of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander movement.
Critically, treaties are inseparable from Truth.
Lasting
and effective agreement cannot be achieved unless we have a shared,
truthful understanding of the nature of the dispute, of the history, of
how we got to where we stand.
The true story of colonisation must be told, must be heard, must be acknowledged.
But hearing this history is necessary before we can come to some true reconciliation, some genuine healing for both sides.
And
of course, this is not just the history of our First Peoples – it is
the history of all of us, of all of Australia, and we need to own it.
Then we can move forward together.
Credits: Image and text from NAIDOC.ORG.AU
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