You’d have to go quite a way to find a nation (excepting the Islamic ones, natch) as misogynist and racist and fond of bestiality as Australia.

However, in Perth at least things might be changing*.

There’s a particular weasel (and that’s slightly unfair; some of my best friends are weasels) who happens to be the West Australian Opposition leader, and who is by all accounts a slimy bastard. As he won’t do the honourable thing with the pistol and a single round, or even step down, some scurrilous scallywags appear to have started a smear campaign. While the methods might be suspect, this sort of accusation is not new, and we can but hope it has the desired outcome.

Rough justice, outback style.

(more…)

And in breaking news, two photos I took have made it into an online guidebook to Australia!

They are of the Sydney Olympic Aquatic Centre and Floriade. The originals are at Flickr:

It is with deep sadness that the Ministry of Defence must confirm that Trooper Ratu Babakobau of the Household Cavalry Regiment was killed on Friday 2 May 2008, in Helmand, Afghanistan.

Compare and contrast:

1.

2.

 ”Oops”

Went fishing today. Some more pics at the other place.

It is with great sadness that the Ministry of Defence must confirm the death of Trooper Robert Pearson from the Queen’s Royal Lancers Regiment in Afghanistan yesterday, Monday 21 April 2008.

For over a year now the F1s have been using the old strawberry-coloured iMac. I set them up with a shared account, and a password that we all knew. That’s bad of me, but as secure as was needed in this environment.

This week Sophie (8) has been bugging me to set up separate accounts for them. They want some privacy, and don’t want the other reading their email. Fair enough. So yesterday I created new users, moved their separate mail into the right places, set up their iTunes library in the ‘Shared’ account, blah blah. I let Sophie set herself a password, and this morning Rachel (11) asks me if she can change her password?

Of course.

“I want to change it to <object>,” she said.

She hasn’t got quite got the hang of this. “Don’t tell me your password! Don’t tell anyone your password.”

“But you’re my Dad,” she says, innocently.

“It’s all right,” I said, “I have ultimate power over that computer.”

One of these days I will teach them about secure passwords, password security, and the concept of root accounts. But not yet: Rachel asked how to make the change, and before I could move Sophie had nipped in, <clickety click>, and shown her.

I will watch her career with great interest.

It is with great sadness that the Ministry of Defence must confirm the deaths of Senior Aircraftman Graham Livingstone of the Royal Air Force Regiment and Senior Aircraftman Gary Thompson of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force Regiment on Sunday 13 April 2008 in Afghanistan.

Conversation at dinner this evening moved on to the Olympics, and Tibet, and things. We tried to remember where the Olympics were held in 2004. Sophie (8 and a quarter!) informed us it was Athens, and we all chorussed “Two thousand was Sydney!”.

Sophie put her hand on her forehead and said,
“I predict 2012 will be in … London!”

Then,

“I’m a fortune-teller!” We all laughed, but corpsed completely when she followed up with,

“Naw, I googled it.”