text:
Once upon a time, I used to be one of the people who gathered around and started to enumerate how proud they are to be Lebanese. Slowly but surely, I started to become disenchanted with the country; I started to see its flaws and how helpless and powerless I was to try and change anything. Soon enough, I saw no point in pride.
For a long time, I used to be called a pessimist for being such a person, a constantly negative reminder that people like me existed. After the past few days, Lebanon has not only hit an entirely new low for me, but many seem to have come to the realization, like I have a long time ago, that this country is hopeless and that pride has not set foot in this land.
Welcome to the club, and this is why you should join.
1) The Garbage Crisis:
It's been more than 2 weeks that the garbage in Beirut has been piling up with no end in sight. The pictures and videos are aplenty. I've already seen patients in the ER whose chief complaint was how the odor of the garbage is affecting their health. The cabinet has met a total of 4 times so far, all of which were utterly in vain to try to fix the crisis, but they couldn't.
The garbage problem is not that the Lebanese individual produces a lot of trash or that we don't recycle, and the numbers don't lie. It's that this is a sector that, for years now, has been the money machine for Lebanese politicians to fill their pockets without any one noticing.
The garbage crisis has shown us that our politicians can't even begin to handle our trash… and here they are tasked with handling more pressing issues facing the country. It has also shown that those same politicians who have been benefitting from our garbage's tax money for years couldn't, even as the trash piled up, to rise beyond the danger to their pockets and treat their citizens as people for once.
The average cost of a ton of garbage in Lebanon is $120. Contrast this with less than $20 in Egypt. Why? Because the remaining $100 has other uses.
Instead of searching for a radical fix, they tried to put a bandaid on a profusely bleeding wound by simply dumping Beirut's garbage elsewhere, confirming what we all knew: non-Beiruti-Lebanese are lesser citizens who should be forced to live next to Beirut's trash. The country of temporary solutions for critical crisis shines again.
Our politicians turned the country into nothing more than a garbage dump. We've become the laughing stock of the world in doing so, only this time it wasn't Mia Khalife or Miss Lebanon's fault, it was our own: we got beyond incompetent people in office, and we are reaping what we've sown.
Welcome to the republic of garbage.
2) Jumblat Turned The Garbage Sectarian:
Some headlines would have been "The Onion" material even back during the Civil War when Christians and Muslims were killing each other. This time around, one of the leading Lebanese politicians not only made our garbage sectarian, but he divided it according to confessional lines.
In a recent statement, PSP leader Walid Jumblat figured it would be a good idea to propose he handles the garbage of the Muslims while Christian leaders handle the garbage of the Christians affected by the crisis.
The sad part is his statement did not turn heads. The situation is that dire. I'm surprised the proposal didn't include specific color codes for garbage bags that also worked according to sects. I mean, isn't that the next logical step?
The country isn't only run on sectarian ground; our politicians have also turned our trash sectarian. The sadder part? Someone who talks of garbage in sectarian terms is governing us.
Welcome to the land of segregation.
3) The Minister of Social Affairs Arrests A Protester… After Ignoring His Abuse Complaints For Years:
Tarek el Mallah was an orphan who was abused for years at Lebanon's Islamic orphanage. When he reached adulthood, Tarek filed for a lawsuit against the orphanage. Such serious abuse should not have happened if Lebanon had a decent Social Affairs ministry that actually cared for the well-being of the country children, or if that Social Affairs ministry fought for those children when they spoke up.
Following the lawsuit, the minister of Social Affairs Rachid Derbas tried to convince Tarek el Mallah to stop his pursuit for justice. Why? Because he was giving Sunnis a bad name, but Tarek wouldn't have it.
So when Tarek was protesting in the "Tel3et Ri7etkon" movement, Rachid Derbas made sure he got arrested for "civil strife."
Rachid Derbas abusing his title to try and tarnish the reputation of Lebanese citizens whose only fault was to speak up is not an unusual behavior for Lebanese politicians. It has been going on for years. The lesson from such a thing, one that we always need to remember is the following:
You, as a Lebanese citizen, don't have rights. You are not allowed to fight for your rights, face politicians who think they own you because they happen to govern you, face the status quo and get away with it, because someone in power will always have power over you, even if they don't. This is how things are.
Welcome to the land of injustice.
4) The Death of Georges El Rif & Rabih Kahil:
A couple of weeks ago, Georges el Rif was stabbed in broad daylight, to the observation of many, in Gemmayzeh, by a Lebanese figure's bodyguard… because that bodyguard cut him off in traffic (link). A few days ago, colonel Rabih Kahil, who fought last summer in Arsal, was killed because he was in an argument with someone over the phone and a passer-by was annoyed he was shouting, so he shot him three times.
No one is safe in this land of lawlessness. Everyone has a gun, or a knife, and a lot are willing to use their weapons, just because they can.
It's sad to think that we live in a country where we all prone to have our names turned into a justice hashtag. But what can you do when you live here?
Welcome to the jungle.
5) No President and No Parliament:
I'm sure you've forgotten by now, but amid the garbage, people getting shot and stabbed or arrested because ministers have a personal vendetta, the country has not had a president for exactly 432 days. That's over one year and two months of the country's head being vacant, ironically accurate given how the country actually is today.
Over the past 432 days, our parliament, which has been illegally working for over 775 days, failed to convene more than 25 times to vote for a president. I honestly lost count at 25.
Not only do those who represent us feel entitled to renew for themselves and rob us from our fundamental right to vote, but they also can't manage to do their job, not that elections would have changed anything because we all know that our people would vote for the same lot all over again.
It says a lot when the country is this dysfunctional. It says even more when not having a president for over a year is… okay? Yet again, what can you expect from those who can't handle garbage.
Welcome to the republic of non-republicanism.
6) ISIS Still Has Our Soldiers:
As we've all forgotten the president, or lack thereof, this is a friendly reminder that ISIS still has several of our soldiers detained somewhere we don't know, and that the government has essentially given up on bringing them back.
ISIS killed our soldiers on several occasions, and we utterly failed every single time.
Welcome to the republic of disgrace.
7) The Status Quo Will Live On:
If you think the current state of the country has gotten people to open their eyes, you're deeply mistaken. Apart from the minority taking it to the streets to call on our political class to resign, the vast majority still puts sect before country and before their basic human rights.
Lebanese Christians today are haunted by the need to fight for their "Christian" rights, foregoing the notion that their rights as people are synonymous with the rights of everyone else in the country and that fighting for rights should be across the board.
Lebanese Muslims today are too dependent on their two or three leaders to actually rise beyond being anything more than followers who do as they are told, who vote as they are instructed and who can't complain for fear of breaking order.
In the land of apathy, of utter and sheer dependence, the vicious cycle will forever live on.
If you're still reading, good on you. Here's a sticker.
Forget about the glories of Gebran, because I don't care about his book.
Forget about Carlos Selim Helu being originally Lebanese, because I don't care about his money.
Forget about this or that Lebanese doing something impressive abroad, because in the grand scheme of things, they are irrelevant to you.
Forget about hummus. Forget about tabbouleh. Forget about Beirut and our parties.
What matters is not that some Lebanese wrote a book that became a worldwide hit.
What matters is how this country of ours is treating us as people and how it sees our value as its citizens.
It's easy to say that Lebanese politicians are ruining us, but they do not exist in void: they are of us, emanating from our values and from our votes.
It's easy to say that the current state of the country is not "my" fault, but it sure is ours.
There's nothing sadder than to feel so disenchanted by one's country that your existence in it becomes nauseating, except this time the stench is real.


text:
I began writing this back in June 2011, after Honah Lee had their CD release party at Asbury Lanes this past summer. I got stuck in a writing slump for a number of reasons, but I've jump started a little in the last week due to some extreme Green Day fan weirdness, which I will have to relate one of these days. Sigh. But, as I love Honah Lee to bits and pieces, I wanted to finish this post off before I wrote anything else. I said awhile ago that I would, and so I am. <143
I haven't been up to writing lately. For those of you who visit Green Day Mind for new stuff on Green Day and the band's side projects, other bands and musical adventures, sorry that I'm lame. Several issues and incidents including a health concern overwhelmed me these last months and American Idiot's closing here in New York wiped me out! I'll write about the end of American Idiot… one of these days, as Pink Floyd would say. It was a slightly traumatic day, and no, not because the show closed, but that certainly is a part of the story. It was blazingly hot that last day of American Idiot on Broadway in NYC, April 24th, 2011. The temperature one day was freezing, and the next day, "ho as hell." I got dehydrated and fainted across the street from the St. James, in front of the Phantom of the Opera, and had to go to the hospital by ambulance where I got seven stitches in the emergency room because I smashed my head on the sidewalk, thereby prompting me to miss the matinee. When I came to, I swore that someone had walked by and randomly curbed me! Um… not so good times. I made it back to the evening performance of the final show and subsequent concert, but the day wasn't as fun as it should have been. Thanks forever to David and Jaymee and Val who helped me that day. I will be forever grateful. (And sorry about all that blood on the hoodie…)
That head-meeting-sidewalk incident came two months after getting a black eye at the last Frustrators show that I attended at the Phenomenauts' Command Center in February 2011. Both incidents knocked my mojo out of whack, and were a little embarrassing. Not only did I need to heal from the head injuries but I also had a scare about my thyroid (yay for no cancer!) and for me, it takes some time to heal from acute embarrassment! Some say it's only rocknroll, but there is that part of me that says, "What the fuck, rocknroll?" There's more to the story, but I'll have to save that tale for one of these days, again, as Pink Floyd would say.
Speaking of Pink Floyd, did you catch Roger Waters and David Gilmour's performance earlier this year of Floyd's classic, "Comfortably Numb," when Waters toured Pink Floyd in London? It was my theme song for a bit this year, and if you haven't seen the performance, you should! Rogers and Gilmour rarely perform together and may never do it again. "Comfortably Numb" is one of my favorite all-time songs and the album it derives from, The Wall, is both a classic LP and one of the best adaptations of a rock-record-turned-musical-movie ever made. I saw Pink Floyd back in the 1980s at Nassau Coliseum and God was in attendance at the show. Or, at least, I think I saw him.
"Comfortably Numb" – Pink Floyd with Roger Waters and David Gilmour – O2, London, May 2011
Luckily while recovering from my head injuries and acute embarrassment, Bobby Joe Ebola and the Children MacNuggits came through town twice–once for a show at Lulu's in Brooklyn on June 7th–and then later in September for a crazy successful show put together by Mike CM (or Chickenman) at Tommy's Tavern in Brooklyn that included acoustic sets by Bobby Joe, solo gigs by Mikey Erg and Franz Nikolay and PEOP's Fly, and bands Devastation Wagon and Bobby Joe's tour mates from out West, the merry men of Sherwood Forest, Tornado Rider, complete with cello as stringed guitar. It was a great night, though it would have been nice if Mike had been at his own show. Alas, he had some issues and fell off of the planet for a bit. He's on the mend now and I'm hoping for more shows from him if he wants to still do it. Mike seriously knows music and the eclectic lineup he put together at Tommy's oddly worked and was ripping fun.
I've seen a bunch of bands in addition to Bobby Joe and Honah Lee since the end of American Idiot including Social Distortion at the Stone Pony in Asbury, NJ, the Foo Fighters, the Pogues, Fucked Up!, The Cro-Mags, Dear Landlord, the Dopamines, Against Me!, Dengue Fever, TV on the Radio, Fishbone, Frank Turner, Andrew Jackson Jihad, Screaming Females, Japanther, Girl in a Coma, White Wives, Declan Bennett, the Atom Age, and three boys from American Idiot making their currently nameless band debut, in Manhattan and Brooklyn. I also caught a Halloween show put on by a little band called Green Day in a little room in Manhattan called Webster Hall Studio. I went to Baltimore's Insubordination Fest in August and saw a ton of great bands there, and witnessed Emily's Army's debut on the Insub Pop Punk Circuit. They put on a great show and taught those mean old pop punkers a few lessons on how to pop punk it. All of these bands helped with the mojo, but seeing Honah Lee regularly throughout the year injected me with doses of irreverent Jersey, sorta like a Jersey form of B12 or something, shot in the butt. Or something.
I've seen Honah Lee ten or more times this year (yes, I know, there's something wrong with me), including Asbury Lanes on June 17th, a few of their other shows at the Mill Hill in Trenton, the Court Tavern in New Brunswick, the Loop Lounge in Patterson, and twin nights at the little basement venue of Williamsburg's Charleston Bar on Bedford Avenue in Brooklyn. I traveled to Jersey to celebrate my birthday in March with these twerps, but of course they went on last at 1:00am and I had to catch a 1:27am train back to Brooklyn. I heard three songs and missed my birthday toast. Boo. In other words, I heart Honah Lee. I mean, how can you not heart these four crazily demented, but lovable, faces?
Honah Lee (Tim Hoh, Jim Graz, Joseph Wolstenholme and Anthony Catanese) is a catchy, fun, loud, live band. Tim's nasally-thin trumpet of a lead voice combined with Dim's rock guitar licks and Jim's bass and Tony G.'s drum rhythm section is a steady groovemaker when they get to revving and in Tim's case, roaring. "Gimme something with a badass tempo" says their song, Bobby's Dead, and I agree. I'm quite fond of the way these guys roll out their backbeat. I always expect to scream out some lyrics whenever I see the guys, as I'm fueled by that deceptive and steady rhythm just below the surface and lyrics that touch basic human chords: the futility of trying, even if you can't give up; desires noted but not acted on; "don't be me, cause I ain't shit," and whatever other rage within that needs tempering by a cheery attitude of desperate fun. It's a little cathartic.
In general, "Honah Lee's" songs are rhythms and lyrics that most listeners will embrace on the spot. If I still had my meaningless job at that publishing company, I would have blasted 'I Hate My Job' each and every day on my way to work. The song is almost a rallying anthem in which the masses can unite, but ultimately as Tim shouts 'You gotta do it if you wanna get paid'. "Honah Lee" sings about what is universal. These guys would have been writing songs about girls ten years ago. Now, they write about the monotony of work and the general ambivalence that we all feel towards life at times. —The Real Musician – Review of Honah Lee/The Plurals Split EP, "Lick It."
we play along like there's nothing wrong, yea, we make it look so fucking fun… don't. be. me… cause I ain't shit"
—Don't Be Me
It's neat to see Honah Lee's audiences grow since that epic show at Don Hill's back in February 2010 when Honah Lee and the Mystic Knights of the Cobra opened for the Foxboro Hot Tubs and only a handful of people in the room knew their name. Prior to and since that show, they've consistently built an audience and constantly play gigs all over New Jersey and surrounding areas. It's even more neat hearing audiences sing along with them.
Honah Lee's twin shows at Brooklyn's tiny basement venue, the Charleston–about the size of Trenton's Mill Hill–in the heart of Williamsburg, USA have been laid back and relaxing, whether hanging on the Charleston's comfy outdoor seating, inside at the long bar, or downstairs in the basement music venue. The Charleston's small performance space is outfitted with an outsized speaker system that can blowout musicians and audience alike. At that first show, Tim knocked his beer over during the first song. It puddled at the band's feet and leaked through the holes in his shoes. The crowd was small, but the band gave it their all and won them over, despite the crappy sound and loss of beer. I was happy that they were playing in Brooklyn and the crowd had a good time. What more do you need?
I was wondering… what you gonna do, what you gonna do? Can I hang out with you, say I can hang out with? … I don't want to know what's on your mind… there's just nothing to do
I Was Wondering
This second time around at the Charleston on Friday, 12/3/2011, the band's sound was clearer and cleaner, no beer was spilled, the crowd was thicker, and most of them were there to see Honah Lee, which is pretty great since it's only their sixth or seventh time playing in Manhattan and Brooklyn, including that epic show at Don Hill's. Nicole M-W and her husband Anthony J-M-W (who I saw perform as lead singer in a smoking-hot Rage Against the Machine tribute band earlier this summer) and Cathryn, who I've met on fleeting occasions during the stage production of American Idiot, were there, along with some of Honah Lee's New Jersey friends and New York fans. Not The Bees!, a New Jersey band that tours on the local circuit with Honah Lee (one of four bands on the Charleston bill) filled out the front area of the audience, so there were more than a few people who knew the songs. Probably the best moment came during Honah Lee's song, Leave It To My Goddamn Brain, when Tim admonished his lyrical antagonist to… well, "fuck you"… with the crowd answering in support built on a steady uptempo beat, ending in a shared chorus and accompanied by their best middle finger salutes.
Nothing will beat the Honah Lee CD release party sing-a-long at Asbury Lanes back in June, though, except maybe the day when I see them play larger rooms. Why? Because almost everyone knew the lyrics to their songs and were more than willing to scream them back in abandon at the band, egged on by the driving rhythm section and teased by rock riffs. I can honestly say that this night was a highlight of my entire summer, and the gritty splender of the Lanes and beautiful Asbury Park made a perfect backdrop for exercising some demons. Good times, good people, good screaming.
I'd only been to Asbury Park one other time, a quick trip to catch Social Distortion's show at the Stone Pony earlier in May 2011. This time around, my friend Liz and I rented a room at the Asbury Berkeley and ended up in a beautiful suite on the quiet, i.e., non-Honah Lee-staying, side of the hotel. We had an expansive view of a never-ending crystal blue Atlantic Ocean and the restored Asbury Park Pavilion. We got to town around 6:00, explored the Boardwalk, marveled at the ocean and the architecture, went back to the hotel for a minute and then off to Asbury Lanes.
Asbury Lanes is a bowling alley turned band venue, with a stage nested in the lanes, a solid sound system and ample dance floor. The Plurals, an outstanding trio from Lansing, Michigan, was on the bill that night, with Lakeside Drive, Radio Exiles and Communication Redlight. Honah Lee went on last with a full audience of hardcore HL fans, friends, and family who knew almost every damn word to the songs. The resultant (slightly intoxicated) singalong ended ultimately in audience members storming the stage as someone ran by in a taco costume. Or was that a hot dog costume? I don't remember.
"Coca cola drives me crazy. Sex and cigarettes all night. I'm a liar like, a priest, the messiah, I'm insane."
—Sex N'Cigarettes
Honah Lee's simple, heartfelt lyrics and chords are tinged with touches of irony and a little ennui; simple, singable choruses invite the audience to "scream it out" with them. (Although Tony, the curmudgeonly drummer, says he hates it when the audience sings along. I don't know if he's serious, he hates everything.) I know a few people who don't like Honah Lee, comparing them to Weezer and such (as if that's a bad thing), but I just don't get it. Weezer is certainly an influence, but so is Screeching Weasel. In fact, Honah Lee has a song coming out soon in Ben Weasel's defense. Pop-punkers tend to dismiss them for one reason or another, and that's their prerogative. Whatever the reasons, Honah Lee may not move mountains, but it was way neat seeing them move the V.F.W. audience in Somewhere, New Jersey this summer, cause when Honah Lee gets into a groove, their melodies flow well and Tony keeps a badass tempo behind guitarists Tim and Dim, and bassist Jim rips some deep, moving basslines. Tim encourages the room to drink (anything), always raises his glass in a toast to the audience, and off they run. Looking at that room of people in Asbury was amazing, as the crowd sang with the band, and more than a few antics broke out. They have a solid rapport with their audience.
Fuck responsibility, I don't want to do a goddamn thing, but sit on my ass, and watch tv, drink some beers, and smoke some weed… LIFE WON'T LET ME… YOU WON'T LET ME… TIME WON'T LET ME… AND LIFE… WON'T… LET… ME…" –
–Life Won't Let Me
Honah Lee work their asses off playing music, promoting their shows with well-crafted flyers, booking gigs, recording tracks, criss crossing New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Michigan, Ohio, and other States to play. Yea, they may be strange, but it warms my heart to see a group of guys work hard despite the odds by "BOLDLY FOLLOWING A DREAM GOING NOWHERE," even in the face of this "BROKEN MUSIC SCENE." I'm hoping that one day they'll be as big as Bieber… haha, I kid… but I would like to see a whole mess of folks in an audience screaming their lyrics back at them in a mad dance. I'm not sure how big a "mess of folks" would be, but the moment itself will be a solid, fun time of musically shared zeitgeist, some antics, and a beer or two.
I've lost my heart I've lost my soul I lost myself in the…. rock and roll….
Loss for Words
On a slightly sad note, after seeing the band off from their Charleston gig on Friday, the boys made it back to New Jersey, and the next day, the band and their lovely wives, fiancees, and girlfriends all went to their friend's wedding. Everyone had a mirthful time celebrating the nuptials. Towards the end of the night, Tim, who has been known to go off and take a leak in the woods, found himself off the side of a cliff instead of an expanse of soft, dewey, grass, and hurt his back in the subsequent 12-foot drop. He has to stay off his feet for a little bit, and according to their Facebook, the band will have to cancel a few shows in the next weeks, but hope to be back before the end of the month.
Next time Tim, go to the men's room.
You can hear the album, Life Won't Let Me, on their Soundcloud.
All Honah Lee flyers courtesy of Anthony Catanese. More flyers here.
Photo of Honah Lee from album, Life Won't Let Me by Michelle Lawlor
"Bobby's Dead" – Honah Lee at Asbury, June 17, 2011
*Filmed by me, not a videographer…
"Gimme something with a badass tempo… gimme something that will stick in my head… gimme something with some real emotion… ya give me something so I know I'm not dead…"–Bobby's Dead

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Famous actor Alec Baldwin has outed himself as an alien in a Super Bowl commercial!
TV spots during the annual Super Bowl are the most expensive of the entire year, coming in at $3 million for a 30-second ad in 2009. This is due to audiences often exceeding 90 million viewers.
So what was newly-revealed alien Alec Baldwin thinking?!
[polldaddy poll=1335211]


text:
Christine McGinn
(Australian Associated Press)
Jetsetters eager to get to their destination won't be slowed down at Melbourne Airport pulling out electronics and carry-on liquids thanks to an Australian-first security rollout.
Four smart lanes as part of the advanced security screening will be permanently used at the airport's Terminal 4 – home to Tigerair, Jetstar and REX – from Wednesday.
The technology uses x-ray systems to look into passengers' carry-on baggage without the need to remove electronics or liquids, with the aim of streamlining bag checks.
The cabin baggage is scanned while an automatic tray-handling system and special software is used to free up security staff to identify bottlenecks in the process.
The successful trial of the first four adopted smart lanes in Australia last November prompted the official rollout to streamline the trip to the gate for passengers.
Two extra units in Terminal 4 and seven in Terminal 2 – home to international arrivals and departures – are expected to be completed over the next two months.
Melbourne Airport spokesman Scott Dullard said the use of the technology at screening checkpoints had good security outcomes and had improved passengers' experiences.
"The new technology allows analysis of 3D images, improving security outcomes by providing security staff with greater detail and functionality to conduct their assessments," he said.
"Overall, we are seeing a 50 per cent reduction in passenger journey time, down to a little more than a minute."


text:
Remember I bought some new fabric (oops – seven fabrics) on impulse recently? Well I've been really good and sewn one piece up already. I initially had this blouse/shirt pattern earmarked for some black viscose, but I had sewn sew much black recently that I started to feel guilty, and decided to make it up in this viscose ink stain print – and I love it!
I'm glad I hesitated on the black option, as this is a fairly plain design and I now have a more exciting version planned for the black! This version is a simple loose fitting undarted blouse, with long set-in sleeves, a split centre front seam and tie neck. I made the ties quite narrow and long so it can be tied multiple ways.
Look – marathon medals!
I usually wrap them around my neck once and then cross them over and magically they stay put all day with no adjustment. (Just thought I should add that I'm referring to the neck tie here, not the medals…:)
Before I make anything my new rule is to make sure it goes with at least two other things. This top goes with just about everything – jeans, skinny pants, skirts. It may go with culottes but I haven't tried them together yet and suspect that could be a bit full-on.
I split the hem so it could be tucked in, out or half-tucked:
I couldn't decide whether to use the perfectly-matching peachy-cream thread that I had, or the perfectly matching charcoal thread. I opted for the peachy-cream so the stitching around the front neck split – the greater focal point – was less noticeable, but this meant the stitching around the hem was more obvious. Sometimes you can't win, and let's face it – no-one but us is going to notice!
With the neck tied loosely, it falls off the shoulders a bit at the back, but it adds to the relaxed look. It makes the sleeves even longer – always good!
So – overall I really like it, I've worn it three times in two weeks, which is a ton more than some of the items in my last post!
Tiggy is annoyed because I am sitting in her late afternoon spot…
A while ago I read a post on a blog somewhere about the 'falseness' of blogs, and how some bloggers portray their life as 'perfect'. I think it is only natural to show your best side and this is not some new internet thing. Most of us will brush our hair or clear away the background clutter before getting our photo taken – and have done so way before blogging. Some bloggers will spend more time than others styling the perfect shot and I think that is awesome they are using their talent in such a way. There is no need for anyone to be envious of the resulting perfect picture. Surely most people know there is probably a pile of laundry waiting to be folded just to the left of the frame!
Anyway – I thought of this because my son snapped this out-of-focus-behind-the-scenes-NZ-Saturday-afternoon-reality shot as we switched locations in our garden while photographing this blouse. It made me smile – it is complete with lawnmower (bottom left), garden hose, pet cat, ice-cream container come paint tray, washing basket(s), clothes on the line, work boots and even a wet pair of socks!
This is my perfect life!


text:
Much like the one that kicked this whole blog off, this post is being composed at some ungodly hour of the (wrong side of the) morning, largely in the hope of appeasing my overly-busy brain so I can finally get some bloody sleep. We shall see.
"Why is your brain so busy?", I hear you ask. Well, to be honest, there are a fair few things buzzing noisily around my head (more than a couple of them are recipes), but I'll share with you the most relevant one to my day. This isn't a cooking blog, after all. I do tell you (in lurid detail) about the food I eat, but I don't tell you how to make it. (Sorry.)
To explain why today was exciting for me, I have to go back a couple of weeks. And before that, I have to tell you a little more about myself. So here that goes: I love to sing. Not just in the shower, or my little galley kitchen (although I do enjoy both of those forums immensely), but also in public. I used to do quite a lot of it; another love of mine is musical theatre. I'm sure you can see how the two passions go quite well together. All through my teenage years I performed in shows, interspersed with the odd concert, and I loved every minute. With the exception, perhaps, of the necessary evil of the auditions which naturally preceded the shows – I get truly terrible stage-fright, and it's never worse than when I'm auditioning. Nausea, numb hands, cold sweats, shaking head to toe… the works.
The last show I performed in was 'Oliver!' – I played the female lead, Nancy, and it was hands down my favourite role to date. SO much fun. (Never mind that I couldn't shake the 'Nancy stance' of standing feet apart and hands on hips for about two years afterwards. It didn't look that odd.)
That was a fair while ago now, though, and my musical theatre performing has been woefully thin on the ground since then. I did try my hand at another sort of performance for a bit, though: for a year or so during my uni years, I became a regular on the busking scene of Birmingham and her surrounding towns.
That was a very interesting experience. I learned a lot just from the doing, and my voice changed in ways I didn't know it had the capacity to, without me actively trying to change it at all. For one thing, my range somehow expanded significantly; I also accidentally learned to spontaneously harmonise. As an extra bonus, making money doing something I enjoyed so much was pretty gratifying, to say the least. I couldn't help figuring out what my 'hourly rate' amounted to at the end of each session, and then comparing it gleefully to my former waitressing wages. I wasn't using the busking as an actual source of income, but I certainly wasn't complaining about the financial boost!
Unfortunately, that came to an end when I broke up with my ex, who had also been my busking partner. He'd provided our instrumentals with his guitar – I didn't play an instrument myself. I toyed with the idea of creating tracks to sing to, but said ex had always been very disparaging about people who did that, and I (foolishly) let myself be deterred by that. I was also more than a little scared of going solo on the street!
So that was that. My mic and its stand became a permanent fixture at the back of my wardrobe and my little street amp was only saved from the same fate because (unsurprisingly) it made really decent home speakers. Eventually, I got over my aversion to singing to a track – far better than not singing at all – and I resolved over and over again to get back on the proverbial horse. But I simply couldn't find the courage. The idea scared me silly. I got butterflies just looking at my amp. It was never "a good time".
Anyway, fast forward to 2018, anglaise living and loving her vie parisienne. New life, pretty much, new resolve. I had a specific goal this time, busking-wise: I wanted earn my right to perform to the halls of the Metro.
Sounds a bit of an odd one, as goals go, but that's pretty much the Holy Grail of Busking as far as Paris is concerned. Rules above ground are patchy, and acceptable pitches are pretty hit-and-miss. But the Metro promises a steady audience and delightful acoustics, not to mention protection from the elements. My research promised those underground spots were by far the most lucrative for the aspiring busker.
One problem: it's no free-for-all. Busking in the Metro requires a license in Paris, and it is heavily policed.* Furthermore, one cannot simply obtain said license by asking for it. Ohhh no. They're serious about this stuff. You want the Metro Powers That Be to let you perform in peace on their patch, then you've got to prove yourself.
By audition, of course.
Remember the aforementioned audition "truly terrible stage fright" which is "never worse than when I'm auditioning"? Mmm. Tricky. And it really had been such a long time since I had auditioned for anything at this point. Years had passed since I had undergone the veritable ordeal of singing for a po-faced panel. Still, I'm not one to shirk a challenge on the basis that it promises to be… well, challenging, so I did a bit of research and pinged an email off to the organisers of the license-allocating scheme – 'Musiciens du Metro' – reassuring myself that a request for further details was no binding contract.
What I was not expecting was the swift response which informed me that in order to apply for an audition, I would have to submit the required information by the end of that week. This was a Wednesday. I did not have long to make my mind up. Which, in hindsight, is probably just as well, since that also meant I didn't have long to talk myself out of my shaky resolve. And besides, even if I applied, they might not give me an audition. AND, even if they DID give me an audition, I wasn't obliged to go. In theory. Reassured, I applied.
The letter from RATP (the transport agency) came the following Friday. They had decided to invite me to audition. On Tuesday 12th October. I.e. in four days time. I'm fairly sure I physically felt the colour drain from my face as I worked this out. Shit. What was I supposed to do with that? I didn't even know what I was going to sing yet. Four days was nothing. Practically a heartbeat. A really long heartbeat. Shit. Shitshitshit.
Turns out the answer to "what was I supposed to do with that?" was: annoy the hell out of the neighbours all weekend by singing the same song over and over and over and over and over again. Said song being 'Think of Me' from the Phantom of the Opera, by the way; a beautiful song when done justice, but also not what anyone would categorize as "easy background listening". It's rather high, for one thing. Gets quite powerful, for another.
My least favourite part of living in an apartment (rather than a house) is that it makes me very uncomfortable singing at home, for fear of bothering those on the other sides of the walls. When I do sing in the flat, it's done in the constant dread of a sudden hammering on the door and/or a bellow to "STOP THAT BLOODY RACKET". Or whatever that would be in French. But on this particular occasion, I had no choice other than to send all trepidation (/respect for my neighbours' peace) flying out the window, in my best efforts to be audition-ready by Tuesday. At least I didn't have new lyrics to contend with – I was pretty much raised on the music of Phantom,** and have been word-perfect on this particular song for well over a decade.
Predictably, Tuesday came around far more quickly than it had any business doing. I beat my alarm out of bed and started warming up more or less straight away, pacing the apartment singing scales and arpeggios with a steaming mug of honey-infused water clutched in my quivering hand. Sorry, again, Next Door.
Before I knew it, it was time to leave, and I spent the entirety of the hour-or-so journey to (literally) the other side of Paris humming quietly under my breath and attempting to keep my very trembly knees under some semblance of control. Quite the crazy lady, but I was MUCH too far into the realms of nauseatingly nervous to care in the slightest. This only worsened as I left the metro, and walked the hundred-or-so metres to my destination. I took a deep, shaky breath and buzzed the intercom.
"Oui, 'allo?"
*translated from French into English now*
"Er… hello… My name's Jodie Hughes, I'm here for my Musiciens du Metro audition"
"Your audition's tomorrow."
"…But my letter says Tuesday. Today's Tuesday."
"It says the 12th. That's tomorrow. Your audition's tomorrow."
~ I will interject here to add that I actually realised the previous night that my letter did say both Tuesday, and the 12th, as I mentioned above. The problem with this, however, was that Tuesday was the 11th. Too late to contact the organisers, or change my last-minute day's holiday booked off work, I had decided there was nothing for it but to go along and hope~
"Well, I know tomorrow's the 12th, but you see I've booked today off work and…"
"Everyone is coming to audition tomorrow."
"Umm, right well, is there anything…"
"Did you confirm attendance?"
"Yes… for Tuesday…"
So wait I did, getting increasingly het up by the minute, lump building in my throat, frustrated tears threatening to escape my eyes (I was ridiculously overwrought with nerves, and the intercom lady was being unnecessarily brusque). She kept me waiting for the longest five minutes, and then suddenly, with no warning at all, the intercom buzzed, the door clicked open, and the owner of the brusque voice was standing there impatiently, wearing a brusque expression. Someone would see me, she informed me irritably; clearly, she did not approve of such an ostentatious display of benevolence. I started to apologize for the confusion, brandishing my letter, which said 'Tuesday' in very large letters in the middle of the page, but she waved me off with a sharp "c'est un bug". As if it was my fault for not realising something so glaringly obvious.
She waved at me to follow her, which I did, down a narrow, spiral staircase at the back of the small room I had entered from the street. At the bottom of the stairs, I found myself in a room which was clearly purpose-built; there was nothing in there, but a tiny sofa, a camcorder on a tripod, three microphones in stands, and a fairly fancy-looking sound system of some description. In case the furnishings left any room for doubt, the back wall, behind the mic stands, was splashed with the blue 'Musiciens du Metro' logo.
After establishing that yes, I had brought my track, and yes, I did have something to play it from, and yes, I had my own a cable (she really didn't seem to have much faith in my being at all prepared) I was told to wait, again, and the woman (whose name she did not deign to share) disappeared back up the stairs, leaving me alone to prepare. I.e. attempt to flatten the lump that was still sitting uncomfortably in my throat. It disappeared surprisingly quickly though, when I attempted a few shaky warm-up notes and realised that the acoustics in the audition room were gorgeous. Drawing some semblance of confidence from that, I tried a few scales. They rang beautifully in the little space. Suddenly, I almost felt as if I could do a decent job here. Almost.
And I did. Not just almost, actually. At risk of blowing my own trumpet here, it was genuinely the best audition I've ever done. Maybe the best I've ever sung that song. By the time the last, long note was fading into the space, I was high on the kind of adrenaline rush that only a successful performance can bring. Now the shaking started again, but this time, it was from the buzz. The gentleman who had watched and recorded my audition – the head of the scheme, it transpires (his female colleague had not reappeared) – asked me some questions, about my busking set, whether I sang only in English, about the equipment I needed for my 'act'. He also wanted to know about my training. His assumption was that I had trained at a music school, and we had to go back and forward a good few times, him trying to establish where I had learned to sing, before he eventually asked, with a touch of incredulity that I know I did not imagine "So… are you saying you taught yourself?". I conceded at this point that my mother is a wonderful singer, and he nodded, understanding now: "So your mother is a professional singer…". Again, he was surprised when I responded in the negative.
I hope you can excuse the touch of self-indulgence in sharing this exchange with you, but for someone who has such fragile self-esteem when it comes to singing ability, this was truly the greatest compliment I could have received and I was just so ecstatically happy about it that I couldn't not tell you about it. Truly, when I left that audition room, I did not care in the slightest whether or not I got my license, because I just was so pleased with how the audition had gone, and with the reaction of the 'judge'. It was all I needed to relight the flame of enthusiasm for performing and I promised myself there and then that I would bloody well find somewhere to busk in Paris, even if they wouldn't permit me to do it underground.
Turns out I won't need to get creative with my pitch, though. My letter arrived a couple of weeks later: the license was mine!
So, to my delight and slight disbelief, I am officially a Musicienne du Metro. Owing to a particularly hectic couple of weeks, I am finishing this post a week later than I began it (oops), BUT to take you back to my opening paragraphs, my brain was so very busy on the night I started writing because that was the day I went to pick up my badge (and the various other paraphernalia I've been given to prove my right to my chosen pitch/es) – and I was just too bloody excited to sleep. I can't get started for a few weeks – I'm flying to San Francisco for a fortnight tomorrow, and I'm barely back a week before I return to England for my childhood best friend's wedding (two more reasons for late-night restlessness) – but I am absolutely bursting with impatience to get going as soon as I can.
I hope the public-transport-users of Paris like Phantom of the Opera….
* Or so I'm led to believe by overwhelming internet consensus.
** Along with Miss Saigon and Les Miserables…


text:
Robot cars and the fear gap
Sarah Connor told me that robots are going to kill us all, but I'm weirdly excited about climbing inside one and letting it drive me around . I'm an exception; last year, I wrote about the way broader media and community reactions to autonomous vehicles will take form:
Humans are responsible for the vast majority of motor vehicle deaths and injuries. In 2010 in Australia, there were 1,248 fatalities associated with motor vehicles — 75% to 90% of these were caused by human error"
"The [media coverage] pattern is simple: the magnitude of a risk is misperceived, individuals and media outlets react, and politicians demand greater regulation"
This tragic trajectory is taking shape. No technology will result in the complete eradication of vehicular fatalities, but considering the major role of human error in car accidents, computer assistance and eventual control should lead to a serious reduction of death and injury. Currently, this doesn't matter. We're set to see a period of skewed perception of risk, thanks to information presented in a way maximises skew, and minimises math.
Recently, Tesla enthusiast Joshua Brown was killed in a horrible accident on an American highway, in which a Model S on 'autopilot' mode failed to brake after a truck turned into the path of the vehicle. Tesla said, in a blog post:
"The customer who died in this crash had a loving family and we are beyond saddened by their loss. He was a friend to Tesla and the broader EV community, a person who spent his life focused on innovation and the promise of technology and who believed strongly in Tesla's mission. We would like to extend our deepest sympathies to his family and friends."
Since then, a variety of articles have criticised Tesla and focused heavily on the incident. A context-free and salient focus on dramatic events is a key component in the exaggeration of risk, something I focused on in my predictions.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has asserted, in blog posts and on Twitter, that though the accident is indeed a tragedy, a double standard exists – the Model S has an excellent safety record, and autonomous vehicle technology is something that will almost certainly lead to a serious reduction in road fatalities.
You can feel Musk's frustration when you scroll through his replies (and when you read their follow up blog post). This has led to criticism, of him and the company, from a some 'Crisis Communications' experts:
"According to Bernstein, resorting – as Musk did – to statistics to try to put an accident or malfunction which resulted in a death into a wider context, however well-meaning, was ill-judged. "I haven't seen anybody foolish enough to try the statistics approach in a long time," he said.
Asked what advice he would give to Musk, Bernstein said that he should "take a step back, take a deep breath, and practice delivering a message that communicates compassion, confidence, and competence".
"And if you can't do that, keep your mouth shut," he added"
I've seen plenty of instances where people lean too heavily on facts, and disregard community perceptions. I've also seen the inverse, where important facts are left out in favour of eagerly prodding community reactions.
The important thing here is that Musk's company is designing and deploying a safety technology into modern cars. This runs parallel to his efforts to transition vehicles away from internal combustion engines and towards electric motors – in essence, another safety feature removing the dangers created by sole reliance on carbon-intensive fuels.
In this context, statistics matter – the crisis communications experts seem only to value community reactions, and fully disregard the question of whether this technology actually works to reduce risk. They are being misled by their instincts, and this hostility towards communicating the mathematics of risk will likely to contribute to delays in the deployment of seemingly valuable safety features.
Musk has shunned this evidence-blind approach, hopefully, it's because deploying this safety feature is more important than bowing to the dominant skew in media coverage of new technology. Ideally, Tesla wouldn't have to do this – it would be included in media coverage by default.
There's a historical precedent to this. An article from a 1984 edition of the New York Times outline efforts to encourage seatbelt use, and the dramatic reasons people refuse to use them:
"Researchers say that misperceptions about the uses of seat belts, in addition to the discomfort of wearing them, contribute to drivers' reluctance to buckle up. There is a persistent myth, for example, that it is safer to be thrown free of the car than to be restrained by a belt. In fact, the chances of being killed in a crash increase 25 times if an occupant flies from the vehicle. Others fear being trapped by a belt if the car catches fire or falls into water"
Emotionally jarring tales of seatbelts taking the lives of occupants by locking them in burning cars, or the strap causing injury, have been around since the 1960s. Unfortunately, some of these are probably based on real occurrences. In the 1930s, The Gippsland Times editorialised on seatbelts:
"That it is deemed necessary for such a safety measure to be even suggested for self protection of drivers and passengers in motor cars is a regrettable reflection of the frailty of human nature and an indictment against bad and careless driving-the cause of nearly all motor accidents.
This prescient piece highlights something important, as remarked upon by a psychologist in the NYT article: "if you ask a room full of people to rate themselves as drivers, they all say they are the top of the distribution". The Gippsland Times errs in assuming that those who suffer serious accidents are 'bad' and 'careless' – they're normal. These are the limits of perception, reaction time, attention and salience. A person safely operating a car is easy. Millions of humans driving for many hours a day on congested and complicated road networks is something else, altogether.
It seems counter-intuitive, but as this safety technology saves an increasing number of lives, we'll increasingly perceive it as risky and unsafe, and media outlets will continue to maximise this emotionally-salient disconnect:
It would be quite nice to skip this gap altogether, but an inherent feature of new technology is the presentation of familiar risks as new and scary threats. If this 'Hazard-Perception' gap emerged around seatbelts, it's definitely going to emerge around people stepping inside computer cars. We pay a lot of attention to warnings presented in the right way; hence the incentive for click-driven media coverage to widen the gap. But, as Michael Barnard writes at Clean Technica:
"This level of [autonomous technology] sophistication and competence leads to drivers using it. A large part of the reason Tesla is in the spotlight for the fatality is because its driver assist features are so much better than its competitors. Simply put, fatalities are a statistical inevitability of driving, but the other manufacturers' technology hasn't been used enough that the sad inevitability has occurred yet"
The 'crisis communications' experts aren't talking about the many thousands of daily deaths from car controlled by human minds because they don't need to – incumbency has desensitised us to the serious risks that emerge when you blend our brain (with all of its perceptual flaws and cognitive shortcuts) with a sharp, heavy and enormous metal box powered by compressed and refined old, dead plant matter.
In this instance, the approach is clear: don't take a binary approach to communications. Sensitivity is vital, but the statistical context has to be championed in a way that is not only accessible, but more interesting and compelling than the story of fear that will, by default, dominate coverage of robot cars.
[Edit 13/07/2016 – I didn't realise it, but I actually watched one of Joshua's videos a few months ago – in which the collision avoidance software in his car swerves to avoid a truck that changed into his lane without looking]


text:
Are you ready for a revolution? Today, after 3 years of machine learning development in stealth, BloomReach reveals its big data solution for website relevance optimization. BloomReach is capable of boosting organic search traffic by a whopping 80%, and will flip the search engine optimization and marketing industries upside down.
With a huge problem, a team of industry rockstars backed by $16 million from Bain Capital Ventures and Lightspeed Venture Partners, and the patented technology capable of executing, BloomReach could become the first $10 billion enterprise marketing company, joining other core solutions like Oracle, SAP, and Salesforce. SEO is dead, long live big data SEO.
BloomReach's cloud marketing platform attacks the lack of search result presence that plagues the content and products filling up the subpages of most big websites. Despite advertising, potential customers can't find what they want or are dumped on generic, low-relevance, high-bounce rate pages. Sites could make so much more money if the could just connect what they're already selling with the people who already want it.
Here's how BloomReach's core product BloomSearch fixes this. First, it crawls billions of web pages per day and analyzes your site's user behavior, including browsing, buying, and searching activity. A semantic interpreter teases out the underlying purpose of your content by referencing it against 10 billion synonym pairs and 1 billion phrases. Content is then compared with what potential visitors are searching for on the web. Your website's structure and content are then optimized to supply what users demand, and exposed to crawlers to score you a big increase in organic search discoverability.
For example, BloomSearch could determine that an ecommerce store sells "garden shears" but potential customers are searching for "garden scissors". It would then add metadata and aggregated content from across your site to the "garden shears" page to make both vistors and search engine crawlers see it as relevant for "garden scissors" searches. BloomReach says it can give sites a whopping 80% increase in traffic, far beyond what most A/B testing systems or SEO consultants can provide.
The other two products BloomReach launches today maximize conversions from search advertising and social curation. BloomLift dynamically cobbles together landing pages for ads so visitors see exactly what they were hoping to buy or consume. The product can make the CPC-wasting 55% bounce rate of the average ad landing page a thing of the past.
Say you buy search keyword ads for "red sweater". If someone searching for "red v-neck sweater" is shown your ad and clicks through, BloomReach generates a landing page of the products most relevant to their original search. It might show red scoop-neck sweaters and brown v-neck sweaters rather than just standard red sweaters. In a pilot program for an education company, BloomLift delivered 15% more conversions and a 50% increase in advertising profits.
BloomSocial crowdsources themed product pages by analyzing browsing patterns and surfacing clusters of related products. It could determine all the products people browse when they're planning a picnic, and create special "picnic"-themed page. Visitors can then socially follow, comment on, and share products and opt to be notified of new deals.
In Fall 2008, Raj De Datta, a former Director of Product Marketing at Cisco and Entrepreneur-In-Residence at Mohr-Davidow Ventures met with Bain Capital Ventures about the idea to replace SEO. Bain Capital Ventures and angels including Chris Dixon gave Raj a $5 million Series A in February 2009 to recruit a team of geniuses capable of tackling the serious big data technology problem.
De Datta convinced world expert on machine learning Ashutosh Garg, formerly a Chief Scientist for Google who was working on his own search engine, to become CTO. Garg now has 50 approved and pending patents in online advertising, search, machine learning and bio-informatics. An $11 million series B round was secured from Bain Capital Ventures and Lightspeed Venture Partners in September 2010. It's gone towards building out the product and bringing the Mountain View-based BloomReach's employee count to 60 with talent poached from Google, Facebook, Yahoo, and Bing.
The biggest threat to BloomReach will be the need to adapt to new traffic sources beyond current search, ads, and social, as well as avoiding demotion from Google PageRank. However, Palo Alto Managing Director Ajay Agarwal of investor Bain Capital Ventures tells me "judging by time and effort spent building the team and product, it would be very difficult to compete with BloomReach, plus it's built intellectual property to protect what it's invented."
Over the last year, 70 big brands including Orbitz, Crate&Barrel, and Oodle Marketplace have been testing BloomReach in verticals such as ecommerce, travel, and listings (jobs, cars, real estate). While in stealth the service was already generating 52 million additional page views and 25 million extra visits to client sites per quarter. It expects to generate $145 million in incremental revenue for clients in 2012.
Luckily, those clients only pay if their site performance improves, making it a sure-fire return on investment for enterprises. Because spend so directly leads to results, big data optimization could pull spend away from every other marketing channel, especially offline advertising where impact is almost impossible to measure.
BloomReach is the single most disruptive enterprise technology I've seen in years. CEO and co-founder Raj De Datta breaks down the company's value proposition like this: "There is a stream of demand that will generate money for you, would you like to tap in?" Yes, enterprise will. So don't be surprised when the acquisition bids flood in, SEO gurus get the axe, and you start actually finding what you search for.


text:
Experience the Magic of Next-Gen Cinema Sound
This six-piece speaker package reproduces everything from multidimensional Dolby Atmos® soundtracks to MP3s streamed from your phone with utmost precision.
Two-way front speakers feature large paper-cone woofers and balanced-dome tweeters to articulate wide-spectrum audio with timing, clarity, and scale. They include an up firing driver housed in a compartment in the top of the cabinet which bounces "sound objects" contained in Dolby Atmos and DTS:X™ soundtracks off the ceiling and into the audience, convincingly replicating sounds that originate from overhead.
Joining two compact, wall-mountable surround-sound speakers and the dual-drive 2-Way centre speaker is a powerful 10-inch subwoofer delivering up to 80 W of wall-shaking bass.
Finished in elegant black hairline, the SKS-HT588 package is the most convenient way to get immersed in next-generation cinema sound magic.
SKF-2800 Dolby Atmos®-Enabled Integrated Front & Height Speakers
12 cm Cone Woofer
2.5 cm Balanced-Dome Tweeter
8 cm Cone (Separately Powered By Height Channel)
Max. Input Power: 130 W
Wall-Mounting Capability
SKC-594 2-Way Bass Reflex Centre Speaker
8 cm Cone Woofer x 2
2.5 cm Balanced-Dome Tweeter
Max. Input Power: 130 W
Wall-Mounting Capability
SKR-594 Full-Range Acoustic-Suspension Surround Speakers
8 cm Cone
Max. Input Power: 130 W
Wall-Mounting Capability
SKW-658 Bass Reflex Powered Subwoofer
20 cm Cone
Rated Output Power: 80 W (Minimum Continuous Power, 4 O, 100 Hz, 1%, IEC)
Energy-Saving High Power Amplifier
Down-Firing Design


text:
|Page tools: Print Page Print All
The eCensus is a facility that enables people to complete the Census Form via the Internet. The eCensus aims to provide a fast, easy and secure option for respondents.
Introducing eCensus has created various efficiencies in collecting and processing data. eCensus forms are processed immediately, without waiting for bulk deliveries of materials three weeks after Census night.For example, 2006 where all personnel in Australia's Antarctic Territories completed an eCensus form. This took months off the time it has traditionally taken for paper forms to be returned via sea.
It is hoped that the success of the 2006 eCensus will see an increase in numbers of people submitting their 2011 Census Form online. The ABS is targeting a minimum of 30%, and perhaps as high as 40%, take up of eCensus lodgement. The eCensus option will be widely advertised and details will be available from Census Collectors. Below are statistics reflecting the number of eCensus forms returned by State in 2006.
A critical feature of eCensus is the first-rate security it uses to protect the privacy of all personal information collected. The connection from the user's computer to the eCensus is protected using 128-bit SSL encryption, the same encryption technology used for internet banking. The system has been designed to be best practice and complies with the Australian Government Information Security Manual developed by the Defence Signals Directorate. The security has been independently reviewed and thoroughly tested to ensure that people's private information is secure.
With a tool such as eCensus, respondents are able to save and exit their form, return later and view data they have previously entered, without the system administrators in the data centre being able to access the decrypted data. The encrypted data is transmitted to the ABS once a form is fully completed, and then decrypted for processing.
The security of Census information also relies upon the confidentiality of the eCensus Number. Ensuring that a household's eCensus Number is stored in a secure manner will prevent others from using the number to access private information. Once the eCensus form has been submitted, it cannot be retrieved by the user.
eCensus Accessibility
The eCensus application has been designed to work on commonly used computer technology and be accessible for everyone. The eCensus has been designed to comply with accepted accessibility standards as set out by the World Wide Web Consortium.
Text in eCensus can be resized and contrasting colours have been used to make the text easier to read. In particular, persons with visual impairment or with limited motor skills will be able to independently complete their Census form through the use of assisting technologies such as screen readers. The form has been designed to be compatible with commonly used screenreader programs such as Jaws© and Windows Eyes©.
Document Selection
These documents will be presented in a new window.


text: This is a blog with amazing pictures and gifs of different animals from all over the world. In addition after every picture there will be some interesting fact about the animal on it (working on that part). I hope you like them. Please help me make this blog more popular, so more and more people can enjoy it(e.g. tell friends and family, post links to it etc). You can click on each picture in order to make it bigger! Hope you will like it and have a pleasant stay!


text:
2pcs cluster crown moissanite ring band oval emerald engagement ring set rose gold vintage emerald May birthstone wedding bridal ring set
This is a 1.3 carat lab treated emerald engagement ring in solid gold,about 6x8mm oval cut. The accent stones are moissanites,forever classic quality.
It can be made in any ring size. However please contact me to custom make it to a special big or small size.
It can be made in white gold,rose gold or yellow gold with 14k or 18k. However for some people who are nickel allergic,I can also make it to 925 sterling silver to make you can wear it.
The ring is handmade,very high quality! 30 days money back guarantee.
Please note as it is handmade, it may need 2-4 weeks to finish. Rush order needs 7-10 business days to finish. After finishing, it can be shipped out by standard shipping or express. Contact me if you need rush order.


text:
While much of the focus on emerging security analytics programs tends to fixate on the data science, algorithms, and technology that makes it all possible, people and process plays as much of a role in analytics as it does in any other facet of security. Many organizations today are learning that lesson the hard way as they find process-oriented impediments standing in the way of security analytics success.
Following are some of the common organizational mistakes that trip up enterprises.
Organizational silos block data flows
To get the full benefit out of a mature security analytics program, data scientists need to get their hands on a lot of contextual business data and IT operational data that doesn't come from security devices.
"Don't underestimate the importance of functional collaboration," says Jessica Gulick, chief strategist for Global Cyber solutions at CSG International. "Accurately correlating security data with business and IT analytics will promote a well-rounded approach."
Unfortunately, organizational structure can greatly impede the free flow of data.
"There [are] often these silos in larger organizations where the people who run the firewall or run the vulnerability scan might not even be in the security group; they're operations," says John Pescatore, director of emerging trends at SANS Institute. "Then the threat analytics guys are in the security group and they're using totally different tools, and the data found in the other silos never get banged into each other."
Read the rest of this article on Dark Reading.


text:
There are so many striking things about Indonesia; the people are so friendly, warm and welcoming, the incredibly diverse cultures are ancient and fascinating, the landscape varied, and jaw dropping and somewhere steaming away in this heady mix is the coffee, something of a superstar in the waiting.
Of all the coffee giants in the world; Latin America, Africa, India etc, I feel Indonesia is slightly overlooked. Especially Sulawesi. You may see some packs of Java beans out there, but nothing much else. The variety of Indonesia's coffee cornucopia is poorly represented and we're missing out big time.
Indonesia has the perfect conditions for coffee (and cacao) growing. Coffee and chocolate, what a combo! There is a youthful espresso fuelled movement swinging into existence bringing quality coffee back to it's roots and cherries, so to speak. Led by the sprawling megalopolis that is Jakarta, there is a growing trendy cafe culture over here, hip and buzzing, Indonesians are getting to enjoy their coffee and not just export it away. We have been lucky to sample a bewildering array of brews and take in some plantations, each island produces very different styles of beans, within those islands are various regions, each with their own character and the tumbling coffee kaleidescope continues.
Perfect cremas are not always the case though. Many Indonesians don't drink coffee as we Euro coffee snobs like it. The local brew is something like a long Greek/ Turkish coffee. Needing a few minutes to settle into a dark cuppa with some funky sludge greeting you towards the latter stages. It is normally pretty decent, better than packet instant, but this new roasted and toasted trend is very exciting. Young guys with hipster quiffs and girls wearing brightly coloured hijabs let loose on Italian-made coffee machines to extract the maximum wow and yum. Jakarta is filling up with bespoke cafes and the big chains are lumbering in; Starclucks are making their insidious presence felt and bizarrely use beans from Guatemala!! Speaks volumes.
So Toraja is a remote region in Central Sulawesi, one of the largest islands in Indonesia, roughly the same size as France and basically, one big jungle. Toraja is reached by spectacularly rutted and windy roads, a mountainous region famous over here for producing some of the best Arabica in the country and is also home to an incredible tribal culture (see here).
Coffee is not a big deal in Toraja, they may drink it occasionally and most of the traditional houses in villages (see the top photo) had a little ornate wooden pot full of ground coffee. The beans are normally roasted in a steel pan over an open fire, which leads to inconsistent heat and inevitably a mixture of burnt and raw beans. I have tried roasting beans using this method in Luzon, Philippines and is seems that no matter how much care you take, there is little chance of avoiding charred bits with pale interiors. This could be why the Torajan's didn't generally cherish their beans. The same could be said of cacao (chocolate beans) which also grows everywhere, their brilliantly red and yellow pods poking out of the canopy.
A friend told me about a Belgian couple who brought some local people a selection of fine European chocolates. The village Torajan's were amazed that these bitter little beans had been fashioned into something so delicious. A chocolate revolution is surely the next step for Indonesia's foodie folk, probably with some cacao smoothies along the way.
One of the largest towns in Toraja is Rantepao and this is were we met two of our coffee superheroes, Mika and Eli. Eli runs a tiny coffee roasting business and cafe with his wife, Kaana Toraya Coffee, using a perfectly eclectic range of machinery that he built himself and techniques he learnt from a Hawaiian tourist in the early 90's. Eli has made two roasters, the largest one powered by a large water wheel. A stroke of engineering genius. It is very peaceful to sit and watch it in action. The sound of flowing water and the tantalising aromas of coffee beans roasting. The equipment may look a little basic and battered in places, but the outcome is sensational and very high quality. We tried the traditional style of beans, dried leaving the husks on and also the standard washed style bean that we are familiar with, but then the bombshell came calling, Hani! Hani is a technique that I feel would be huge in the coffee shops and nooks of Europe and beyond.
The word sounds like honey and the flavour is like honey, much sweeter and fragrant than a washed bean. It is achieved by leaving the natural juices, released by the coffee berries when being picked and processed, on the coffee bean when drying (over here this is generally done on huge racks under the sun or in small quantities by the side of the road). This means that the berry is darker in colour. Dried pre-roast coffee beans are actually a yellowy green colour. These hani beans smell strongly of honey! It's magic!! Especially for a vegan!!!
Eli and his wife kindly sold us a small bag of Hani for our backpacks, we are travelling with a little cafetiere contraption that means when we get a bit remote mountain cave or deserted island hammock we can still enjoy a top cup of joe. Eli loves exporting his families organic, hand picked coffee all around the world, if you're in the business, you've got to try some Hani beans! Something truly unique. Also, you will never find a man who smiles more than Eli. Its highly infectious:)
After being immersed in the full coffee story, from bush to mug, we felt like a little sunset stroll around town. Rantepao is a dusty little place, clustered around a busy main thoroughfare. Tourism has made it's presence felt and there are a couple of biggish hotels, normally catering for large tour groups. There is an impressive protestant church beside a slightly larger bright green mosque, there is a bustling bazaar selling everything from knocked off Rip Curl t-shirts to locally grown spices and finely carved machetes. On each street corner you'll find the ubiquitous fried snack vendour, giant pans of oil bubbling away inches from frantic swathes of traffic. Pisang Goreng (Fried Bananas wrapped in a light pastry) are famous here and served in a number of ways, all sweet and tantalising. You've also got the usual piles of battered tempeh, tofu, corn fritters and sometimes chicken.
We were enjoying the energy and smiles encountered, many children and teenagers were practicing for their Independence day parades, something like a mass cheerleader-athon mixed with an army cadet march. All mini well pressed uniforms, papier machete tanks and tiara clad back flips. Many proud parents watching on beside Denis's Massage Parlour, Jane and I causing minor waves of excitement, everyone shouting "Mr, Mr, hey Mr". This is a normal reaction to tourists in Indonesia. Jane is also a Mr it seems! We have now posed for hundreds of selfies which, most of the time, is a real laugh.
It was by pure chance that we found Jak coffee, not much more than a doorway on a side street. The brilliant graffiti caught our attention. We instantly realised that it was a special little place, the decor was really cool and Mika (the main man) had the biggest, warmest smile on his face. It is not uncommon in Indonesia to find cafes with rows of jars, filled with freshly roasted beans to choose. A rare treat for sure! Mika was playing some great tunes and had painted a large picture of Jimi Hendrix on the wall. Never a bad interior design idea! The walls are lined with Mika's work, he's really a photographer moonlighting as a barista, plus the occasional antique lampshade or red phone.
Mika is very knowledgeable about most things it seems and spoke passionately about local history and culture, bringing life to it all, we learnt more in 1 hour than we did in 1 month of travel. This was the real story of Indonesia, right now, from the people creating the new waves and shapes. My Americano was mindblowing; rich and deep, made with organic beans from the East of Toraja. Maybe you think a cup of coffee cannot border on or even tickle the mindblowing. This was a coffee bomb!! The flavours and aromas were intense. Having said that, it was my fourth coffee of the afternoon and most things were a little intense. Mika picks and chooses who he buys from, keeping things fresh, organic and interesting. I have never seen someone take so much care over making a coffee. The process elevated to an art form.
You have probably not heard about Torajan coffee, primarily because large corporations from Japan and China buy it all up and make it into generic rubbish. This obviously means that prices are low and farmers suffer. There is no fair trade in these parts. Mika is fighting the good fight himself and attempting to showcase what Toraja can really do, saying "NO coffee mafia please!" We loved his passion which sparked off in all kinds of directions. He even had signs (see below).
Mika and his friends also bake some amazing cakes; stout brownies, chocolate croissants. The local crowd are loving to experiment with new styles of cooking. Anyone fancy a croissant sandwich? This is anti-Starclucks world, local people taking control of their produce and making something bespoke and high quality (and a few bucks) with bags of good ethics and integrity.
Jak Koffie is a slightly surreal experience really (in a good way), it's like steeping through a hip portal, you feel like you've been transported to Soho, London or Gothica, Barcelona. That is until you step outside and are nearly taken out by a twelve year old on a motorbike eating a fried banana. Mika is like Indonesia's answer to a fully caffeinated, cheery Che Guevara and I wish him my wholehearted best and hope we'll soon see the amazing coffee's of Toraja in more Western shops and cafes.
If you're in Toraja, Jak cafe is a must. An a urban chic oasis in the endless steaming jungles of Sulawesi. You've also got to try Hani coffee, a totally new coffee drinking experience. Rantepao is a great place to sample the old and new faces of Indonesia as they mingle and take flight. The only negative that we've encountered in Indonesia is a short visa and it's now leave. Selamat Tinggal!
Jak has no website yet but you can find more info and contact details here.


text:
Checkout Lane: Don't get burned when buying firewood
Firewood is in abundant supply this winter, which is good news for consumers who want to stock up for their fireplaces. But they still should be cautious about the kinds of wood that they purchase. The types of firewood that are recommended for fireplaces are kiln-dried and seasoned.
For any type of wood to burn, its moisture level has to be below 25 percent, said Maggie Oldfield, co-owner of Thayer Nursery in Milton, Mass.
Thayer sells kiln-dried firewood, which means the wood is baked in a kiln for three days at about 200 degrees to get rid of the moisture, Oldfield said.
"Less water in the wood means you have less smoke, so your fire burns more slowly and your wood is lasting longer," Oldfield said.
Thayer Nursery sells 128 cubic feet, or a full cord of wood, for $499, and 64 cubic feet, or a half cord, for $399, excluding delivery charges. It doesn't charge for delivery in Milton and sells firewood through April.
Seasoned wood is cheaper because it air dries for about a year until it reduces its moisture content, said Chris Glynn, owner of Glynn Tree Experts in Hanover, Mass.
He sells a full cord for $295 and a half cord for $200 for deliveries within 15 miles of Hanover.
"Last year there was a shortage," he said. "But this year we've got a real good supply. We probably have about 400 or 500 cord left."
Both kiln-dried and seasoned firewood should be stored in a covered area, Glynn said.
Consumers should know where the seller stores the wood before they purchase it, he said.
"You should look into whether it is stored on pavement or on dirt," he said. "We keep our stuff on pavement, so nobody can complain about getting dirt along with their wood."
Glynn also advises consumers to ensure that the wood is either maple or oak, but not pine. "Pine does burn faster and it's loaded in sap, which creates creosote," he said. "That gets in the smoke and can cause a chimney fire."
Sara Castellanos may be reached firstname.lastname@example.com.
Firewood-buying tips
Massachusetts state law requires that, except when dealing with packaged firewood or whole logs, sellers of firewood are required to sell in terms of cubic feet. A "cord" of firewood equals 128 cubic feet when closely stacked.
Buy fully seasoned firewood or split your wood at least six months before use. Keep wood off the ground and covered with plastic, allowing air to circulate freely.
Request the right type of wood. Hard woods, such as maple, oak and cherry, burn longer and cleaner than soft woods, like pine, aspen, and poplar. Soft woods tend to create more creosote in the chimney; if you do not eliminate the creosote regularly, it can become a fire hazard.
Get a receipt. If the firewood is sold and delivered to your house, the seller of the firewood is required to provide a receipt including the seller's contact information, sale date, type and quantity of wood purchased, and the purchase price.
Stack the wood and measure it before using any. Determine the volume by multiplying the length, width and height – and compare that to what was represented to you on the invoice issued by the firewood seller.
Source: Better Business Bureau


text:
When I read the prompt "Refraction" over at the Daily Post, my initial response was "huh?" and I quickly had to google it! Do you know what it means? Wikipedia to the rescue with an explanation. I'm educated, and continue to love to learn, so getting stumped by a word is sometimes a nice surprise!
I loved the water droplet images that I saw, but don't have any of those shots in my archives. And I don't have a macro lens (yet!) so I couldn't just whip one up, although it is on my wish list (feel free to help a girl out and contribute towards it here!) 🙂
I remembered the image I had in my archives of a cake stand and paints in the background, but I wasn't totally feeling it. So, I decided to do the next best thing to the water droplet images and use jars and glasses of water to distort a background. This isn't mind blowing creatively, but it was fun to squeeze in a little photo fun in the middle of a crazy busy day! My favorite part is the pinwheel-ish look and yellow "button" in one of the glasses of water! Pretty cool, huh?!
I have to admit that being able to quickly whip up an idea and stage a photo like this has come from having photography be top of mind on a daily basis. How's that? Definitely a big influence is being part of Katrina Kennedy's Capture Your 365 community. Have you checked it out yet?
I'll be joining Katrina on Sunday, October 19th (later today!), to chat LIVE at the Worldwide Photo Walk After Party! Join us as we'll chat about our photo walk experiences and how a photo walk can improve your photography! We'll even have a private Flickr group to share photos for discussion during the live event! Get details and register here!
As always, thanks for stopping by. Have a joyful, creative, blessing filled day! And if you haven't signed-up for the Clicky Chick Creates email list yet, whatcha waiting for? You'll get "7 Must-Have Kid Birthday Photos" printable photo tips as my thank you!
Live creatively!
E Q U I P M E N T U S E D (Affiliate Links)
Canon 60D
Tamron 18-270mm f/3.5-6.3
Check out all my camera bag goodies here!
PS. I'm sharing this post with the Daily Post weekly photo challenge: Refraction! Check out other refractive photos. And if you still want more photo yumminess, check out my previous photo challenge entries here!


text:
Image: STEVE KAGAN, M.D.
Asthma is an eminently controllable illness. Indeed, for most sufferers, control is so effective that it amounts to a virtual cure. But asthma is not curable in the same way as, say, a bacterial pneumonia; it never entirely goes away. Also, no one cure would ever suffice. It is becoming increasingly clear that there many types of asthma--and they differ greatly in their presentation and genesis. For example, asthma that presents as a chronic cough, the "cough variant of asthma," appears to be very different from the life-threatening variety, which results in extreme respiratory failure and sometimes death.
Nevertheless, the sine qua non of asthma--as we understand it today--is the increased sensitivity of the airways to many different agents. These agents include respiratory viruses (common cold virus), pollutants (ozone and cigarette smoke), airborne allergens (animal dander, pollens and molds) and exercise, especially in a cold and dry environment. These agents, called triggers, induce an inflammatory reaction in the airways that, in turn, results in the common symptoms of cough, wheezing, increased mucus production and shortness of breath. Successful control of asthma entails controlling the inflammation in the airways and reversing the symptoms before they get out of hand.
The greatest advances in controlling asthma may be the change in physicians' attitudes toward using preventive medications, as well as attempts to make home rescue plans more aggressive and self-sufficient. The availability of selective and potent medications has made such changes possible. By avoiding known triggers in the environment, such as cigarette smoke, dust mites, roach antigens and dander from warm-blooded pets like cats and dogs, patients can help minimize airway inflammation. Also, newer, tighter and more energy-efficient homes, forced-air heating and wall-to-wall carpeting all contribute to higher levels of indoor triggers.
Another effective strategy for preventing inflammation is the use of certain medications either daily during a season (for most individuals with asthma, it is the fall season), during multiple seasons or year-round. One class of these medications stabilizes the mast cell, (large cells filled with potent inflammation-inducing chemicals called leukotrienes), which line the respiratory tract and play a central role in allergy-induced asthma. These mast cell-stabilizing inhalants include Cromolyn and Nedocromyl. Cromolyn is of particular interest as it is derived from the plant Ammi Visnaga, long used by American Indians as an herbal remedy for colic.
An exciting new class of oral medications, called leukotriene modifiers, neutralize the actions of leukotrienes. This class of medication is the first new class to become available for asthma management in the past 20 years and holds great promise. It includes Zafirlukast, Pranlukast and Zileuton. The most effective preventive medications for asthma belong to the family of corticosteroids. These inhaled medications are delivered either via pressurized canisters or dry powder dispensers and include Beclamethasone, Triamcinolone, Flunisolide, Budesonide and Fluticasone. Their widespread use is the single most important reason for the improved control of asthma in recent decades. Because these medications are applied directly to the surface of the airways through inhalation--and so do not affect other parts of the body as they might if taken orally--their side effects are minimized.
Another attitudinal advance in managing asthma has been the early and aggressive use of symptom relief medications, including Beta-2 receptor stimulants and short courses of oral steroids, as a part of the home rescue therapy. This form of therapy has the additional advantage of making patients and caregivers self-sufficient and confident in handling an acute episode of asthma. This type of self-sufficiency is essential in the successful control of any chronic illness. And the good news on this front is that a second class of Beta-2 medications (essentially more selective optical isomers of their parent medications) has just become available.
The past few years have also seen a concerted effort by the National Institutes of Health, especially the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, and other agencies to educate physicians in the best ways to manage asthma. Community education programs, support groups and the Internet have played a major role in providing useful information to parents of asthmatic children and patients alike.
In summary, the therapeutic and attitudinal advances in managing asthma have been very substantial in the past 15 to 20 years, resulting in more effective and safer ways of controlling it. Although a cure is not on the horizon, nearly complete control is well within reach.


text:
This Keto Breakfast Burrito Gets Extra Gut-Friendly With Powdered Bone Broth
I believe that how you start your day is a really good indicator of how you will live your life, so why not start with a breakfast that will leave you feeling energized, focused, and satiated for hours?
One of my favorite ways to dial up the nutrition and satisfaction in the morning is with an outrageously delicious, keto-friendly breakfast burrito that's incredibly easy to make—and packs an unexpected secret ingredient: bone broth.
I'm already a big fan of starting my day with eggs and greens, but this recipe takes things to a whole new level. It came together as my boyfriend was experimenting in the kitchen, and it turns up the volume on a regular omelet by adding in some microbiome-friendly, all-star ingredients.
Essentially, you just whisk up some eggs with powdered bone broth and cook them into a flat tortilla shape in a skillet. Then, pile on your favorite toppings—I love greens, sauerkraut, avocado, nutritional yeast, and nut cheese—and roll it all up into a grain-free, totally keto-friendly breakfast burrito.
Whether you're keto or not, it's a delicious and nourishing way to start your day.
Keto-Friendly Breakfast Burrito Featuring Bone Broth
Main ingredients
- 2 pastured eggs
- 1 serving chicken bone broth (I prefer to use already spiced savory bone broth powder, but you can also use plain bone broth powder and add your own spices)
- Pinch of sea salt
- Pinch of black pepper
- 1 tsp. ghee
Filling ingredients
- ¼ avocado
- handful of arugula or other greens
- 1 tbsp. sauerkraut (my favorite for this recipe is beet sauerkraut)
- Optional: 1 tbsp. soft nut cheese, 2 shakes of hot sauce or chili flakes, a shake of nutritional yeast
- Heat a medium-size skillet with ghee.
- Whisk eggs with bone broth, salt, and pepper.
- Pour the egg-bone broth mixture into the pan and cook on low heat until cooked through (no need to flip).
- Place the cooked egg "tortilla" onto a large plate and add the filling ingredients.
- Roll it all up and eat it like a burrito!
Ksenia Avdulova is a public speaker, founder of the award-nominated digital platform Breakfast Criminals, and host of Woke & Wired podcast, focusing on expanded consciousness and entrepreneurship in the digital age. She was named "35 Under 35 In Wellness" by Wanderlust and "The Fashion World's Most In-Demand Breakfast Chef" by MyRecipes, a brand of the Meredith Corporation. Avdulova shares the power of rituals, mindful nourishment and conscious social media.


text:
In what will almost surely be the nastiest campaign ad of the political season, a pro-Obama super PAC basically accuses Mitt Romney and Bain Capital of causing a woman's death.
Viewers are supposed to hold Romney responsible because the woman's husband lost his job, and the resulting lack of insurance prevented her from getting health care in time to stop her cancer.
The ad has been debunked for several reasons, including the fact that the woman apparently had her own job with her own insurance for two years after her husband lost his job and her cancer wasn't even discovered until seven years after Romney left Bain, but let's set those issues aside, assume all the facts are true, and contemplate what it means if we apply the same standard of accountability to the Obama Administration.
Here's a simple chain of reasoning.
1. There's a well-established relationship between a nation's prosperity and the lifespan of its people (see Figures 1 and 2 in my 1992 article in the Journal of Regulation and Social Cost).
2. Obama's policies have dampened growth in the United States (according to data from the Congressional Budget Office and the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank, actual GDP (in today's dollars) is $836.6 billion below potential GDP).
3. Based on these two simple facts, we can conclude that the foregone growth is causing needless premature deaths.
But how many deaths are being caused? Do we have to make a wild guess?
It turns out that there's a considerable amount of academic research on this topic. It doesn't make for exciting reading, unless you like learning about concepts such as "usable income" and "value of a statistical life." Or how about "valuation of statistical mortality risk" and "implicit income gains."
But the academics find ways of measuring the relationship between economic performance and mortality.
To make sure we're being fair, we'll first look at the research compiled by Cass Sunstein, who served as President Obama's Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. Writing back in 1997, he compiled 11 studies from the late 1980s and early 1990s that estimated that a premature death was caused when income fell by some amount between $1.8 million and $12.4 million (roughly between $3.3 million and $22.9 million in today's dollars).
There's also a very thorough study by Ralph Keeney of the University of Southern California. He found that an additional fatality was linked to income losses (adjusted to today's dollars) of between $8.42 million and $23.59 million.
Looking over much of this research, it appears that $14 million is a reasonable middle-ground estimate of how much foregone income is associated with a needless death.
Now let's do some simple math to get an estimate of the total number of preventable deaths caused by the economy's sub-par performance during Obama's reign. Going by the lofty standards of Priorities USA super PAC, we'll call this number the "Obamanomics Death Toll."
So let's divide $836.6 billion (our earlier estimate of foregone growth) by $14 million and we get an estimate that Obama's policies have caused 59,757 deaths.
I wouldn't put much faith in my back-of-the-envelope calculations. Experts in the field doubtlessly could point out several methodological mistakes, so I have no idea if the weak economy has caused 10,000 premature deaths or ten times that amount.
But I can say with complete certainty that if you took all the experts and gave them a month to work on the answer, the final number would be far higher than Romney's supposed death toll.
And I'm also quite confident that my analysis – however inadequate – is far more defensible than the garbage from the pro-Obama super PAC.
Now let's be serious. It's ridiculous to hold Romney personally responsible for the unfortunate death of the woman mentioned in the super PAC commercial. And it's also absurd to hold Obama personally responsible for the 59,757 people who may have prematurely died because of the weak economy.
Wouldn't it be nice if we could actually have an open and honest debate about real issues, such as entitlement reform? Or how best to fix our corrupt tax system?
P.S. If you want to heap scorn on people who genuinely are responsible for deaths, think of the 62 million butchered by the dictators of the Soviet Union and the 76 million killed by the communist tyrants in China.
Gee, isn't communism just wonderful? Something to think about the next time you see some jackass with a Che Guevara t-shirt.


text:
Happy New Year readers – I hope you enjoyed your festivities and are raring to go with your new year's writing resolutions. And I am here to help!
I will shortly be working through and updating both my list of publishers accepting unsolicited manuscripts and my list of UK children's agents, making sure that you get the correct information you need to submit. I'll be deleting any markets that no longer look at unagented work or, in the case of new markets, haven't developed as promised – but don't worry, there'll be a few new opportunities going in too.
I will also be continuing to offer my new critique service, giving you the chance to get an extra pair of eyes on your manuscript before sending it off into the big wide world. Alternatively if you have something that keeps being rejected and are wondering why, perhaps I can help? I have adjusted the prices slightly as the feedback I am giving is a lot longer than originally planned, but I hope you'll agree it's still excellent value for money and I have had some lovely comments from my first customers.
Finally as usual I will be looking out for new writing opportunities and reporting back from any useful writing events I attend. So let's make 2017 the year you get published!