Brutal medico knife culture

Previously at “Iain Hall”, I have discussed how I think that surgery is a very poor fit for those individuals  with Gender identity problems. The permanence of mutilations and a total lack of real reverse ability means that this course of action has to be the ultimate “act in haste , repent at leisure” situation. Well the piece from the SMH That i quote below shows just what happens when doctors start to play God.

Andrew*, born male, was minutes away from an operation that would make him a woman. Psychiatrists said he had a female brain in a male body. Gender reassignment surgery was the only way to ease the mental torment.

But as he headed to surgery he was struck by an unshakeable thought: “It’s not right.” He remembers telling the surgeon: “I think I’m doing the wrong thing, I think we’ve got to stop it.”

Act in haste, repent at leisure

The surgeon stroked Andrew’s face, telling him it was natural to feel frightened before an operation. He protested again. Then it went black. When he woke up he was sure the surgery had been cancelled. The tales he had read of transsexuals who awoke post-surgery feeling “reborn” convinced Andrew, then 21, the operation had been halted, because he felt no different. “Then I remember lifting up the sheets and … feeling it all bandaged. I just started bawling my eyes out and screaming … I remember saying to myself, ‘how could you be so bloody stupid?”‘

Twenty years after surgery that left him feeling like a “desexed dog”, the grief can still overwhelm him. Now 42, Andrew said the operation has shattered him. After surgeons from Melbourne’s Monash Medical Centre’s Gender Dysphoria Clinic gave him breast implants and removed his male genitals, using the discarded skin to fashion a makeshift vagina, he tried to make the most of his new life as a woman. He grew his hair long and wore make-up in a bid to fit in. Doctors told him it was normal to go through a period of adjustment. But something was not right. “I remember thinking to myself, what would happen if I admitted the truth to myself? I’m a man and I’ve just been mutilated, that’s all.”

But It is not just men who have been mutilated in this rather brutal medico knife culture.

ANOTHER former patient, Angela*, was also an abused child. Sexually molested by a cousin between the ages of four and nine, she grew up hating her femininity. She recalls punching her breasts and exercising obsessively to “remove anything that reminded me I was female”. At 22, she was referred to the clinic by her GP, depressed and struggling with her identity. Dr Kennedy diagnosed her as transsexual at the first assessment, prescribing her male hormones and suggesting surgery.

Within months Angela’s body was covered in thick hair and her voice deepened. She had to shave under the covers every morning to hide the truth from her conservative parents. Two years later she had surgery to remove both breasts and was scheduled to have a full sex change. Angela could no longer conceal the truth from her family and began living as “David”. She realised there had been a mistake before going ahead with full genital surgery.

“I remember … looking at myself in the mirror with this beard, my breasts gone … I was the classic bearded woman, a monster trapped between two worlds.” She claims her pleas for help were also ignored by the clinic and her return to life as a woman was a nightmare of painful electrolysis to remove body hair and surgery to reconstruct her breasts. Now married to a “wonderful” man, Angela has three children and has slowly rebuilt her life. She acknowledges she gave consent for the procedure, but believes it was not informed consent. She feels she was mentally ill, and childhood abuse played a part in her gender confusion.

The rest of the article goes on to make the point that there is a great deal of pressure amongst the “transgender community”and their doctors to silence any dissent from their view that surgery is the solution to what is essentially a mental problem.

This is at the centre of the controversy surrounding the clinic. Like many psychiatrists, Dr Kennedy maintains people with gender dysphoria are born with a genetic predisposition. While the condition is classified as a psychiatric illness, they believe it has a biological basis and can be cured only by surgery. They reject notions that a history of abuse, conflict with parents or psychological problems can cause gender dysphoria. Just months ago Melbourne scientists added fuel to this argument, discovering a gene that seemed to be associated with feelings of being born the wrong sex.

Other psychiatrists worry about the mounting evidence that surgery may not improve lives. A review of more than 100 studies of post-operative transsexuals by the University of Birmingham found there was no evidence that surgery was effective and in many cases patients were left more distressed. Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore – which had one of the pioneer gender clinics – no longer performs sex-change surgery due to such concerns. A recent British review found suicide rates of up to 18 per cent post-surgery.

Look at it this way, if your PC statrted to think that it was a Mac would you take to it with an angle grinder and try to make it look like a product from Apple, or would you go in and work at fixing the obvious software problem? What these activists have been doing is swinging the angle grinder with, (dare I say it?) gay abandon and often the results please nobody, except perhaps the doctors accountants. One thing that is certain is that the lack of study of the real results of  mutilating their patients does nothing for the credibility of those who advocate surgery to treat a mental problem.

Cheers Comrades

8)

Electricty deregulation a “$3 billion lemon”.

Talk about the chickens coming home to roost

QUEENSLAND’S competitive power market is close to collapse, with some retailers refusing to offer contracts and others ditching customers and retreating interstate.

Two years after the State Government promised deregulation would herald lower prices, the deals have dried up and thousands of households are stuck paying more for power.

The market has gone from being state-run to a duopoly, with only Origin Energy and AGL able to provide cheap electricity.

Six other retailers are licensed in the state, but the high cost of buying electricity themselves means four are offering contracts and the savings are minimal.

The number of active players is well below the 19 touted by the Government when it began spruiking deregulation.

Energy industry expert Ben Polis called the deregulation a “$3 billion lemon”.

I just want to ask one simple question to thoise fans of privitisation and that is this , just how can adding the need for a profit to the cost of a basic comodity, like electricity, ever going to make it cheaper for consumers?
Because it seems to me that when the power is extracted from the fuel in a central location(s) then it makes no sense to me to create an artiface that we have a choice in our suppliers. In any case if there has to be a monoply at least a state run enterprise is ameanable to an electoral sanction if it fails to please the people. Now that the Labor Governwemnt has sold of this part of the family silver it is a case of no care taken and no responsibility accepted either.
Cheers Comrades

Questions from another Ian

Admission time, I have yet to read Ian Plimer’s new book, but it is on my Christmas present list, None the less I am pleased to see that this tome is sending shock waves through the ranks of the faithful (blessed is the name of Al Gore) and their bitter denouncements says heaps about how much they fear their nakedness being highlighted.

Ian Plimer's new book

There has never been a climate change debate in Australia. Only dogma. To demonise element number six in the periodic table is amusing. Why not promethium? Carbon dioxide is an odourless, colourless, harmless natural gas. It is plant food. Without carbon, there would be no life on Earth.

The original source of atmospheric CO2 is volcanoes. The Earth’s early atmosphere had a thousand times the CO2 of today’s atmosphere. This CO2 was recycled through rocks, life and the oceans.

Through time, this CO2 has been sequestered into plants, coal, petroleum, minerals and carbonate rocks, resulting in a decrease in atmosphericCO2.

The atmosphere now contains 800billion tonnes of carbon as CO2. Soils and plants contain 2000 billion tonnes, oceans 39,000 billion tonnes and limestone 65,000,000 billion tonnes. The atmosphere contains only 0.001 per cent of the total carbon in the top few kilometres of the Earth.

Deeper in Earth, there are huge volumes of CO2 yet to be leaked into the atmosphere. So depleted is the atmosphere in CO2, that horticulturalists pump warm CO2 into glasshouses to accelerate plant growth.

The first 50 parts per million of CO2 operates as a powerful greenhouse gas. After that, CO2 has done its job, which is why there has been no runaway greenhouse in the past when CO2 was far higher.

During previous times of high CO2, there were climate cycles driven by galactic forces, the sun, Earth’s orbit, tides and random events such as volcanoes. These forces still operate. Why should such forces disappear just because we humans live on Earth?

Ian Plimer

So to the true believers (praise be to Tim Flannery!) who read this humble blog I challenge you to answer the questions put by Ian Plimer in this piece from the Australian. Hang on though there is just one small caveat, and that is conspiracy theories about the mining and oil industries will earn you an instant fail in this little test.
Cheers Comrades

Ian Roberts vs The Footy show

One thing that I could not be accused of is being a fan of “The footy show” it find the idea that anyone could get so exited about any sport entirely alien However I do think that they have the right to write and preform skits and attempts at humour free from the strictures of “political correctness” This latest little piece of bullshit is a prime example of stupidity from a Gay activist.

Ian Roberts

In the skit, “Elton” is taken to hospital for being gay, with Andrew saying “I’m so ashamed of him”.

Gary Burns – who bizarrely has the same name as The Footy Show‘s executive producer – told Sydney magazine SX he had lodged a complaint with the NSW Anti-Discrimination Board.

Ian Roberts, the NRL’s highest-profile gay former player, came out swinging in support of Burns. He told SX he was “over the moon” about the complaint before declaring The Footy Show personalities “absolute f—ing morons”.

“It’s about time someone did this,” Roberts said.

“Those blokes at The Footy Show – and you can quote me on this – are absolute f—ing morons, and more power to Gary Burns for taking them to court.

“I will back him to the hilt on this 100 per cent. People like the Johns brothers need to be held accountable for their actions and their effect on others.”

By all means lets deride The Footy show for it juvenile carrying on and its moronic nature but even morons should have the right to say what the please in a free society without the PC  crowd taking them to court.

Cheers Comrades

Kate Miller-Heidke , for the girls in my house

Just a Quickie post to say that this will please both my beautiful wife and our lovely daughter because they are both fans of this singer.

Kate Miller-Heidke has been nominated for APRA's song of the year. Picture: Justin Lloy

BRISBANE singer Kate Miller-Heidke might want to think about buying a lottery ticket before the end of this week.

May is proving to be a month of good fortune for her, particularly as a songwriter.

On May 1, Miller-Heidke, 27, won the grand prize at the International Songwriting Competition, beating 15,500 entrants from around the world to the top prize with her song Caught in the Crowd.

Yesterday another of her songs, Can’t Shake It, was nominated for the APRA Song of the Year award.

Personally she does not do much for me in terms of her music, (not to bad to look at though) but it makes good sense for me to say that here in my blog rather than out loud at home…
Cheers Comrades

Photos emerge of couple missing after $10m bank error

Well folks this is an interesting story that I thought about posting on but I did not get round to it , instead I bring to you a guest post from Perry Olsen who asks all of the right questions,

Cheers Comrades

On the lam ... Kara Yang and her daughter Leena / Picture supplied.

THE brazen Kiwi couple at the centre of an embarrassing multi-million dollar bank loan blunder appear to have parted ways in Asia, New Zealand police say.

Leo Gao, 29, and his girlfriend Kara Yang, 30, fled New Zealand after $NZ10m ($7.87m) was accidentally deposited in Mr Gao’s Westpac bank account.

Police have been searching for the couple in Hong Kong but revealed today that the pair was apparently no longer travelling together.

A relative who returned from the Asian nation yesterday has told police they did not know where Mr Gao was.

The family member, believed to be Ms Yang’s younger sister Aroha Hurring, has told police she had been with Ms Yang in Hong Kong, but not Mr Gao.

“The individual has told police that Kara (Yang) was still in the Hong Kong area but they did not know the current whereabouts of Leo Gao,” New Zealand police said in today.

“This person is being treated as a witness and has not been charged with any offence.”

Westpac managed to claw back most of the money but Mr Gao still has access to $NZ3.8 million ($2.99m) after the bank gaffe, in which a decimal point was omitted from a loan clearance form.

The cash couldn’t have come at a better time for Mr Gao and Ms Yang, whose struggling petrol station in the tourist town of Rotorua went into receivership just a few days after they fled the country three weeks ago.

An international search has been underway for the party, which included Ms Yang’s seven-year-old daughter Leena and Hurring.

Hurring’s regular Facebook updates on their travels through Hong Kong, the Asian Las Vegas Macau and mainland China, as well as calls home to relatives, had been helping police track the pair.

Detective Senior Sergeant David Harvey again called for Mr Gao and Ms Yang to return to New Zealand.

“I again urge them to reflect on their options, take the opportunity to come back to New Zealand, and get this matter resolved before all the money is spent,” he said today.

The detective said the couple was unlikely to be charged with theft as they had not physically handled the money involved, but they could face charges relating to using a computer to access the money.

Source

The questions need to be asked,  in the current climate of massive bank greed, profits, and general lack of morality towards it’s customers, who would think that the answers are  hard to envisage ?

How can the couple be charged with theft, when they didn’t actually steal the money ?

Does anyone out there feel sorry for the banks ? or better still perhaps another ?

Would any of us have acted any differently, if the bank had mistakenly placed 7m in our bank accounts ? or better still :

Did we all go and check our bank accounts, when the story broke, and look for a cat to kick, when there wasn’t 7mil in our accounts ?

Wonder if, and who (?)  the bank tried to “buy off”, in an attempt to cover it’s embarrassment ?

Perry Olsen

“California Supreme Court upholds same-sex marriage ban; lets stand existing gay unions”

Those of us who support a definition of marriage that says that it is a heterosexual union have cause to be rather pleased that the supreme court in California has upheld the change in that state’s constitution brought about by the Proposition 8 ballot last November.

Don Grundmann, of San Leandro, protests in support of the California Supreme Court upholding the constitutionality of Proposition 8. The ballot measure, passed by California voters, effectively banned same-sex marriages in California. (Maria J. Avila / Mercury News)

The 6-1 decision to uphold Prop 8 was widely expected by legal experts, as it was considered unlikely the justices would have the legal authority to overturn a voter-approved amendment to the California constitution. Only Justice Carlos Moreno voted to strike down Prop 8.

Chief Justice Ronald George, who authored last year’s ruling striking down the state’s prior ban on gay marriage, wrote today’s majority opinion upholding Prop 8, cautioning that the decision is not based on whether the measure “is wise or sound as a matter of policy,” but instead “concerns the scope of the right of the people … to change or alter the state Constitution itself.”

The ruling is likely to shift the battleground over gay marriage back to the political arena, as gay rights advocates already are mobilizing to push another ballot measure to erase Prop 8, approved by voters by a 52 to 48 percent margin.

Civil rights groups are hopeful they can duplicate the political momentum they’ve gained in Iowa and on the East Coast, where a number of states have moved in recent months to legalize gay marriage.

“While we were hoping the court would rule in favor of equality, we have been building the infrastructure to win marriage equality rights at the ballot box,” said Rick Jacobs, chair of the pro-gay marriage Courage Campaign.

Gay marriage foes quickly praised the ruling.

“In America, we respect the results of fair elections,” said Austin Nimocks, senior legal counsel for the conservative Alliance Defense Fund. “The California Supreme Court arrived at the only correct conclusion available.”

In a statement, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger repeated his past stance that he believes gay marriage willl eventually be permitted in California. “While I believe that one day either the people or courts will recognize gay marriage, as governor of California I will uphold the decision,” he said, adding the justices “made the right decision” to keep the existing marriages intact.

For the state Supreme Court, today’s ruling rested on very different issues than what the justices considered last May, when they overturned California’s previous ban on gay marriage in a historic ruling that rocked the state and sent thousands of same-sex couples scrambling to the altar. In that 4-3 decision, the court concluded that a ballot measure and family law statute outlawing same-sex marriage violated the California constitution’s equal protection guarantees for gays and lesbians by depriving them of the equal right to marry.

But Prop 8 altered the legal debate because it actually amended the state constitution itself, the ultimate trump card against Supreme Court intervention. The majority portrayed Prop 8 as a measure that has limits, removing the label of marriage for same-sex couples but not “the right of those couples to establish an officially recognized family relationship.”

Among other things, Prop 8 does not impact the state’s strong domestic partnership protections for same-sex couples. Gay rights advocates, however, have decried such a system because it sets up a separate status from heterosexual couples.

Karen Strauss and Ruth Borenstein, lead plaintiffs in one of the legal challenges to Prop 8, expressed disappointment that they will be unable to marry now. “I was so hoping the court would find its way to a decision that continues, rather than repeals, our equality under the law,” Strauss said.

In his dissent, Moreno, who’d been mentioned in recent weeks as a possible U.S. Supreme Court candidate, warned that the ruling “places at risk the state constitutional rights of all disfavored minorities.”

I feel vindicated to some extent because a couple of commentators elsewhere on this subject were hopeful that the court would strike down proposition 8.  I am likewise pleased to discover that under California law homosexual unions are protected by dedicated provisions under the law.(as the bold above highlights)

As I have said before everyone should be free to engage in any kind of consensual relationship that pleases them but what such unions are called and how they are viewed by the law is another matter entirely and that requires the ascent of a society at at a broader level. The ballot for Proposition 8 was decisively won and all parties have to accept the result. Now if someone could just explain that to the sort of pro-homosexual “bigot” who has a hissy fit whenever anyone points out that a marriage is more than just cohabitation and sex  then the world would be a far better place for all.

Cheers Comrades

About the numbers…

Read this in this mornings OZ and thought that it is most pertinent to the debate that we have been having about the ongoing arrivals of so called “asylum seekers”.

When challenged to name one government since Federation with a different immigration policy, they mutter about “compassion”. I’m all for compassion but tell me what that means in numbers? Howard could have chosen his words more carefully but he merely reiterated the policy of his predecessors. No Australian government, and for that matter, no government in the world has an “open-door” policy.

The immigration debate has always been about numbers but it’s about time those who wail about Australia’s lack of compassion look at our record in providing a welcome to the world’s dispossessed and tell us precisely how many more refugees they would admit. Double, treble, quadruple? I’ll go along with that, but spare us the hypocrisy of indulging in the politics of the “warm inner glow”. Tell us, how many or if they would prefer an open-door policy?

Barry Cohen

Come on lads, dig deep and cite some numbers and some reasons for your citation….
Cheers Comrades

Not so sweet Sixteen…

Made all of the arguments on this issue in my previous posts about the last fifteen boats ….

THE 16th asylum seeker boat to arrive this year has been intercepted off Ashmore Island near Western Australia. It was carrying 77 people.

It comes as the Opposition prepares to vote against legislation to remove measures that charge asylum seekers for their time in immigration detention.

Details of the boat’s arrival are scarce but sources said last night that it originated in Indonesia and was part of a people smuggling operation. Home Affairs Minister Bob Debus said there were 73 passengers on the boat, with four crew members.

The extra 77 asylum seekers — the largest number of arrivals on a single boat this year — are likely to increase the pressure on resources and immigration staff on Christmas Island, which have been stretched by the surge.

Check this out

Sigh Comrades, sigh

Bluebird restoration

I love the jig used to make access to the work on restoring the Bluebird easier (click to enlarge)

Nothing deep and meaningful in this post just a link to the story of the restoration of the wreck of Donald Campbell”s water speed record boat Here
Cheers Comrades

Iconic design stands the test of time

Happy birthday: A participant in the annual pilgrimage zooms past in his classic Mini

Good design is one of my abiding interests, be it the way a web page is laid out the shape of the handle on a well loved screw driver or the design of a car. Of course may favourite car design is Colin Chapman’s Seven , but coming a close second is the classic Mini. Not that I have every owned a working example  but when I was a child my dad had a mini van courtesy of his employer and on the week ends he would unload all of his tools of trade (as a television technician) and my brothers and I would be bundled into the back for a trip to the seaside or for a picnic in country. there was of course none of the nonsense about proper seats or, gasp, seat belts in the back . Another fond memory was a new years eve party when I was 17 when I was one of eleven squeezed into a mini. Now days I would be horrified at such recklessness but at the time I was just enjoying the moment and the warmth of the girl sitting on my lap.

The reasons that the Mini has achieved its iconic status is the basic “rightness” of the design: a wheel at each corner, maximum interior space contained in the minimum overall dimensions, good performance because it has a good power to weight ratio (especially in the  tuned versions) . What is there not to like?

These factors have been very often imitated (think of the myriad of “hot hatches”) but there is something about the original that just can’t be beaten, well you could put a high revving motor bike engine in one for a truly OTT car, as they love to do over in The UK. Minis with R1 Yamaha or Suzuki Hyabussa engines go like stink and make the most deliciously manic noise , Sadly they won’t let you do that here.

So here is to another fifty years of exciting motoring for the masses…

Cheers Comrades

One “Push factor” no longer valid

Twenty six years is a long time and the world is a better place now that the civil war in Sri Lanka is finally over with the Tamil Tigers decisively crushed. As I suggested in an earlier post here when a conflict is decisively won by one side there is actually a better chance  for an enduring peace than if there is an uneasy stalemate.

Outbreak of peace ... Sri Lankan supporters celebrate as the Tamil Tigers announce they have stopped fighting / AFP

AUSTRALIA faces a diplomatic rift with Sri Lanka after its high commissioner yesterday warned the Rudd Government not to accept Tamil refugees from its civil war.

The forthright comments by Sri Lanka’s high commissioner in Canberra, Senaka Walgampaya, came amid growing fears that Australia could be swamped by Tamil asylum seekers following the end of the country’s bloody civil war this week.

As many as 300,000 people, mostly Tamils, have been displaced by the conflict, forcing Canberra to send officials to Colombo to work with the Sri Lankan Government on ways to prevent a new wave of asylum seekers.

Mr Walgampaya told The Australian yesterday that he saw no justification for Australia accepting any Tamil asylum seekers on either political or humanitarian grounds.

“My view is that Australia should not accept political or humanitarian (Tamil) refugees because Sri Lanka is perfectly safe for Tamils and Singalese equally,” Mr Walgampaya said.

“The Government is adequately providing for (displaced Tamils). I do not accept (Tamil) claims that they are not being treated well. There is no reason for these people to be political or humanitarian refugees.”

The high commissioner’s comments place him on a collision course with Canberra, which is expected to increase the number of Tamils it currently accepts under its humanitarian program.

Sri Lankan armed forces this week crushed the last military resistance of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam after a 26-year civil war in which the LTTE failed to establish a separate state within Sri Lanka.

There is no doubt that there is a lot of healing and a lot of rebuilding to do in the war ravaged parts of Sri Lanka, and the country will need all of its bright and talented people to do their best for their fellows. So it stands to reason that those who have the drive and determination to  try to make a new life elsewhere in the world (like here   ) should be encouraged to put that drive and determination into rebuilding their own country. Our government should make a contribution to this worthy end by rejecting the now outdated claims for asylum in the light of the changed circumstances in their homeland. The question is will the hard left pro illegal immigration factions let them?

Cheers Comrades

8)

Keeping it in the family

Having called for suggestions about what to post on here I had a look at PKD’s Link and thought that it held only limited appeal, after all what can be said to defend such stupidity? Although i did think about the possibility of some sheep shagging humour because the miscreant is a Kiwi but in the end I thought, “Nah not today” instead I have come across this little story about MPs employing family members:

Lurks and perks ... Family First's Steve Fielding. / The Daily Telegraph

FEDERAL MPs are exploiting rules to employ their wives and other family members on taxpayer-funded salaries.

In the latest example of MPs enjoying generous perks, The Daily Telegraph can reveal family nepotism is common practice among Labor and Coalition MPs.

It follows yesterday’s report about MPs using travel allowances to pay off mortgages on second properties in Canberra and an online poll that showed 86 per cent of people want the practice stopped.

On the staffing perk, even Family First leader Steve Fielding is keeping it all in the family, hiring his wife – Susan Head – as a front-line adviser.

While Government ministers cannot hire close relatives, there are no restrictions on other MPs.

Now I know some Leftards will be very quick to use this as a stick to belt Steve Fielding with but as this is a practice common on all sides of the house and to be entirely frank I can see absolutely nothing wrong with the practice at all. Mainly because every backbencher works very hard and needs to have staff around them who have the same sort commitment to the job that they have  and who would be better and more loyal than a family member to do the work?
Cheers Comrades

Wet Wet Wet

Neurum Creek, along Neurum Road, about midway between Woodford and Kilcoy.

Although I live on a mountain I  had the unusual experience of having to go and collect my children mid morning from their school as the unseasonable rain has caused flooding and some of the teachers had been unable to get to school , the toilets there were flooded and basically the weather was not nice at all

The flooded Caboolture River at Caboolture, taken from Energex helicopter.

But the weather was not entirely unrelenting here yesterday, in fact our little patch of sky turned a lovely shade of blue and as I required a new angle grinder ( having killed my old one ) I even ventured out in my clubman, and actually had an interesting, if cold drive the roads were still wet and I had to be very careful as there was water* across the roads in lots of places but I could not see any rain in the distance as I descended the mountain. It started to spit when I got to Lawnton so after a very quick visit to Bunnings to buy the power tool I needed I began the journey home . Of course the heavens opened and I had a rather strong feeling that I had chosen the wrong car for the errand but I knew that  the rain was coming in from the south and as I was heading north I just hoped that I could get a head of it. Fortunately I did manage to do that and boy was I pleased when I could take of the safety glasses (my wet weather eye wear ) because I had got ahead of the rain and the rest of my journey home was entirely dry, still rather cold though!

It rained again last night, but the sun is shining now with that lovely winter warmth that makes this time of the year so lovely here  Our pressure pump has drowned and will have to be replaced but of course we have got off very lightly compared to many other people here in South East Queensland as the reports in the  Courier Mail and Brisbane Times show but the best way to appreciate the situation is to look at the gallery I drew on to illustrate this post.

The Upside is that our Dams are now full to over 70% cap0acity which is very nice indeed after five years of drought

Cheers Comrades

8)

* I am talking about water running from over full gutters and not raging creek crossings here BTW

Map reading & mobile phones

The network of GPS satellites constantly orbit the planet and beam signals back that help pinpoint your position on the Earth's surface

One thing that I have noticed is just how dumb people become when they embrace “smart technology” and there is no better example of this that the way that the invention of the mobile phone has made so many people incapable of reading a map or a street directory.  The proof of this is obvious any time  you try to get a tradesman to come to your house. The odds are that you will receive more than one call seeking directions . In the old days a Good tradie knew how to read a map and he would just arrive  when he said he he would .

The other side of this two hander is the more and more common “sat nav” user these little toys are supposed to be like a map reader in a box, with batteries, Oh yeah , and usually with an annoying robotic voice telling you what to do. Well it seems that now the aging satellite infrastructure that enables the GPS system to almost make sat nav work is in fact in big danger of falling over and then what will all those inner city latte sippers do?

The U.S. government has warned that the worldwide network of satellites that make up the Global Positioning System (GPS) could fail by 2010 – affecting millions of people around the globe.

Many are already dependent on the satellite navigation network that beams precise directions from A to B directly into users’ cars or on their mobile phones.

But mismanagement and a lack of investment means the 20-year-old system could lead consumers into nothing but trouble.

The first replacement satellite was supposed to be launched into space in 2007 – but won’t be ready until November of this year, nearly three years too late.

Now I may be an old fashioned  sort of guy but I think that it is a big trap to become too hooked on things like mobile phones (or any of the wizzo variants like the “I phone” or blackberry) and too reliant on Sat-Nav because you just never know when these things will fail and if that is all you know the result  may be you knowing  why barbed wire is such a bad material for canoe construction and how trying to paddle with your hands is less than attractive in that particular creek.

Cheers Comrades