Twenty-two degrees C, light rain, humidity 93 per cent at 8:00am – just another Sydney summer day. Great conditions for the garden which is alive with flora and fauna.
And on another matter
For great oratory check out Obama’s State of the Nation speech at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLYphVUutTs
I see in Tuesday’s SMH Business Day that eBay is accusing major bricks-and-mortar Australian retailers of ‘dirty tricks’. They, the b & m retailers, are threatening their suppliers if they sell through eBay. Nothing new in this; that’s competition[1]. Gerry Harvey blames the fall in retailing revenue to no-GST on internet purchases, the carbon tax and Australia Post. I think it’s a combination of:
I have no evidence of this other than I am building up my cash resources after recovering from mega losses in 2008. I could do some research but not willing. I just read and hear that people are saving.
Recent purchases on-line have been a Macbook Pro, a 27inch iMac, fish water conditioner, an analogue tape cassette to digital converter, books, Mac batteries, hard drives, clothing – it is a long list. There have been a few duds but I am satisfied with the convenience and deliveries.
Why trek into a bookstore and pay more when I can purchase on-line. Here is just one example. Mathew Evans, author, critic, chef, chook and cow herder living in Tasmania was touting his book, The Real Food Companion. Murdoch Books (the publisher) prints in China. The price discounted at AUD79.95 from Booktopia plus postage (they’re in Lane Cove so probably about AUD10.00) or from Amazon at AUD36.70 (at current conversion) plus postage at AUD14.00 and ships from New York. Half the price from New York – nothing to do with GST or the carbon tax.
I visited Rebel Sports at Warringah Mall to buy a yoga mat for a Christmas present (Gerry Harvey is a major shareholder). There were three assistants; one was tied up with a complicated process at the cash register, another avoided me and went out back, the third helped and then couldn’t log into the second register so I had to wait, and wait, and wait. This is Christmas, the busiest retailing period in the year and there are only three people looking after a major store. I struggle with parking at the Mall, I have to find the store, I have to find the yoga mat, I have to wait to pay for it, I have to get out of the parking lot – this is not a pleasant experience and I wont repeat it.
But there is good service. I buy petrol locally, not on price but because it’s a family business and they will fill my gas bottles at awkward times. I bought a wrong cable at Dick Smith Marrickville and happened to be passing their Dee Why store – exchange no problem and done graciously. I bought a whipper-snipper at Aldi; it failed and I was sent a new, upgraded model. My iPhone (bought on-line) died on a Sunday, I connected to Apple and in 30 minutes had all the information to return it for replacement. This included free packing and post by Australia Post on Monday. On Tuesday a new iPhone was delivered to the house. I plugged it into iTunes and uploaded the latest backup – nothing lost. I bought a set of Bose earbuds and the on-off switch failed. I took them out to Bose at Silverwater and was handed a new, upgraded set within 15 minutes. This is what keeps me going back to Aldi, Apple, Bose, Dick Smith and the others – service.
The day of the b & m retailer promoting female models, interest-free terms and over-priced goods is waning and the smart retailers are on to this. Those who threaten and cajole hoping it’s the way back to profitability do not have a winning formula; not for this consumer anyway.
I see in today’s SMH Business Day. “Ireland crushes Norman conquest” – Gerry and his shareholders dropped $38.6 million this year on Ireland (last year it was $51.1). Perhaps Gerry, like me, has just made some bad decisions.
[1] eBay is indulging in its own ‘dirty tricks’. I have a glitch in my Paypal address – NSW is an invalid state – so I can’t buy through eBay and use Paypal and they haven’t been able to fix this. If I attempt to contact the seller and buy direct, eBay now strip out my email address – they can’t fix a bug and they prohibit direct contact.
Gosses Bluff, Central Australia
Gosses Bluff is an impact crater in Central of Australia, about 175 km west of Alice Springs. It was formed by the impact of an asteroid or comet approximately 142 million years ago. The original crater rim has been estimated at about 22 km in diameter, but this has been eroded away. The 5 km diameter, 150 m high crater-like feature, now exposed, is interpreted as the eroded relic of the crater’s central uplift.
The site is known as Tnorala to the Western Arrernte Aboriginal people, and is a sacred place. It is now located in the Tnorala Conservation Reserve. A Western Arrernte story attributes its origins to a cosmic impact: in the Dreaming, a group of celestial women were dancing as stars in the Milky Way. One of the women grew tired and placed her baby in a wooden basket. As the women continued dancing, the basket fell and plunged into the earth. The baby fell to the earth and forced the rocks upward, forming the circular mountain range. The baby’s parents, the evening and morning star (Venus), continue to search for their baby. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gosses_Bluff_crater
Yesterday, the review of Sarah Palin’s Going Rogue prompted some thinking about the USA. This continues today.
For five weeks in 2004, we tootled through Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah and had a wonderful and educational time. Beginning in Las Vegas, which was overwhelmingly amazing, we visited 30 National Parks and Monuments marveling at the vistas, the art, the craft and the super camping conditions. We also saw poverty and modern tribalism in the Indian reservations and discovered that Americans can talk but principally about themselves. This was at the beginning of the Iraq invasion and the wave of patriotism manifested in flags in front yards, on cars and Harley Davidsons, and the TV coverage was an experience. This exuberance has long vanished but it is an indicator of the naivety of US people.
This war and the invasion of Afghanistan, the sub-prime mortgage blow-out, the extraordinary bonuses, the incredible deficit; contributions that will I think, lead to the permanent sinking of the USA. Then there are the social discrepancies.
Santa Fe has the highest minimum wage at $9.92 per hour as of January 1, 2009. Kansas for many years had the lowest state approved minimum wage, set at $2.65 per hour (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._minimum_wages). Our minimum wage is $14.31 per hour but casual work rates are $20 per hour.
How can this society accept 35 million uninsured people receiving sub-standard health care? Why does it cost $35,000 to have a baby? Why so much litigation concerning mal-practice? This morning I listened to Edward Albee talk of his play The Death of Bessie Smith (1959) who died from injuries in a car accident and was turned away from the hospital because she was black.
Australian taxpayers contribute 1.5 per cent of their taxable income to Medicare. To obtain extra insurance covering private hospitalization, dental, optical and other refunds, we pay a total of $170 a month (for the two of us) to a private insurer. Last year I had a melanoma cut out of my back, didn’t pay any additional fee and received a letter of thanks from the hospital for using their service.
We have our ‘fundamentalists’ and evangelicals but they pale beside the Jimmy Swaggert model that comfortably combines televangelism, money-gathering and adultery. And then there are the Waco, Texas massacres and the polygamous Mormons. We may have these weirdoes in Australia but they are well hidden.
Gross Debt is the national debt plus intra-governmental debt obligations or debt held by trust funds like the Social Security Trust Fund. Types of securities sold by the federal government include, but are not limited to, Treasury Bills, Notes, Bonds, TIPS, and United States Savings Bonds. This is now $10 trillion. Of this the Peoples Republic of China own more than $2 trillion (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_public_debt),
I can’t get an accurate debt for Australia but it appears to be about $80 billion.
On the positive we witness extraordinary cleverness. Above I mentioned Edward Albee; sharp at 81 and writing still. A remarkable collection of thinkers, artists, writers, academics and entrepreneurs. We have ours but not in the same numbers.
There are many similarities between the USA and Australia; the rawness mixing with the sophistication, the landscapes, but it is the magnitude of the grossness in the USA that is prefacing the decline of a society. Is it the ‘Decline and Fall Of the USA Empire’?
“Edward Albee”. ArtWorks, 20 December, http://www.abc.net.au/rn/artworks/stories/2009/2712866.htm
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? remains the best known of all the plays Edward Albee has written, but there are 30 more of them and he’s still going. Now 81 years old, he has received many awards, including the three Pulitzer prizes for drama and numerous Tony Awards. Edward Albee has just been in Australia, where he had a conversation with actor and writer Jonathan Biggins at the Sydney Theatre.
On the train to Liverpool yesterday.
How lucky we are to have this distinctive building off-setting the very drab Australian suburban surroundings. I pity the poor Swiss for voting against minarets.
I have, in developing my cook book, claimed not to eat Atlantic Salmon (although I did have to order it for the family Christmas dinner). Here are the reasons:
“Salmon: Clean, green super-food or battery hens of the sea?”, ABC News, 8 December, http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/12/08/2765421.htm
It’s being served up on plates all the way from Sydney to Shanghai and the entrepreneurs driving the Tasmanian salmon industry have predicted it will become a billion dollar industry. It is amazing growth for a product that only started in Tasmania 20 years ago, when the first Atlantic salmon eggs were shipped in and hatched in local waters.
Salmon farmers have relied on marketing Tasmania’s clean, green image to spearhead their assault on mainland and overseas markets. Advertisers use phrases like “grown in the pristine oceans off Tasmania” and the industry has acknowledged that this association has been crucial to salmon’s success. But a growing number of critics say the marketing is a sham and that the waters of a salmon farm are more likely to be swirling with chemicals and waste.
Canadian environmentalist Dr David Suzuki is one of the industry’s detractors. Three years ago he fired the first shot in the salmon wars, berating the National Press Club for eating Tasmanian salmon during his speech. “You all sat and chowed down on farmed salmon and obviously you don’t give a shit about what you’re putting into your body,” he said. “You know what a farmed salmon is, it’s filled with toxic chemicals.” Dr Suzuki is continuing his campaign against farmed salmon, here and in Canada.
The allegations are fiercely contested by the Tasmanian salmon farmers who assure customers their product is the way of the future. “There are always critics out there and I guess our test will be ultimately whether we are sustainable or not, and we’re continuing to invest to make sure that we are,” Mr Ryan said.
The Australian Marine Conservation Society has been one of the most persistent critics. Marine campaigner Ben Birt says the society has consistently urged environmentally-conscious consumers to say no to Tasmanian farmed salmon.
“In order to feed the salmon to grow them you need to catch a lot of wild fish and, each year, millions of tonnes of smaller fish like anchovy and sardine are removed from the sea in order to be fed to the salmon,” he said. “This has potentially huge implications for the wild ecosystems.” The society says as many as four kilograms of wild fish need to be caught to raise one kilogram of Tasmanian salmon.
But perhaps the biggest PR problem for the industry has been its use of antibiotics to treat its fish. As many as 50,000 salmon are farmed inside each pen and keeping disease from spreading in these tight confines is a constant battle. Industry figures show that from 2006 to 2008 almost 18 tonnes of the antibiotics Oxytetracycline and Amoxicillin (also used to treat people) were fed to Tasmanian salmon.
The industry stresses that it flushes and tests the fish before they are sold to ensure there are no traces of antibiotics when they arrive on plates. However, critics like Tasmanian Greens MP Kim Booth says wild fish can eat the antibiotics which are given to the salmon in fish pellets.
“If they don’t deal with the issues of antibiotics and they don’t deal with the issues of the effluent that falls off these things into the bottom of the ocean they will end up … they’re being called the battery hens of the seas,” he said.
Figures obtained exclusively by the ABC suggest that the great majority of the antibiotics were used by Tassal. Tassal boss Mark Ryan refused to supply figures on his company’s antibiotic use to the ABC but said they were only used on animal welfare grounds to keep the fish healthy.