Friday, June 30, 2006

World asks "Kofi, tea or bonox"?

Kofi Annan of Ghana is the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations.
Coffee, tea or Bonox?
Bonox, a beef extract that can be made into a drink or used as stock was launched in 1919. It became something of a household name - it used to be common for people to offer 'Coffee, tea or Bonox?' to friends. Bonox is still sold in supermarkets today.
Bonox
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bonox is a beef extract product created in 1919, currently owned by Kraft Foods, and can still be found in many supermarkets today. Used as stock in cooking, or more commonly to create a drink. The latter use was notable for making the product a household name during its early existence, for which it became common to ask "Coffee, tea or bonox" when offering guests a drink.

US concerns about national security Soviets in Iran

Karl R. Bendetsen
national security
The Justice Department and the FBI had great concerns about national security on the Pacific Sea Frontier, west of the mountain ranges, and in the southern halves of Arizona and New Mexico where there were extensive but unmonitored boundaries, with Mexico to the south, for traffic into the United States. It is still going on.
General DeWitt, as Commanding General, was responsible for the defense of the Western Sea Frontier, including Alaska. The tides of war there were almost totally adverse, with one disaster after another.
Karl R. Bendetsen
Truman
In my opinion, Mr. Truman’ s major accomplishments were many. I would say that history will record him as one of our truly great Presidents. We have had very few great ones.
Of his major achievements, I would lay emphasis on these: First, the Truman Doctrine. This constitutes a milestone in the history of the United
States. I am sure historians will agree. They will bestow great credit to President Truman for the clarity of his insight. His Truman Doctrine was launched in his vital "Aid to Greece and Turkey" speech.
Second, the ongoing application of this Doctrine came with effective intervention in Greece. A vitally important step! It took great courage! Our resources in being were slender.
Third, I would emphasize the transcendental long-range foresight in his actions vis-a-vis the Soviets in Iran. He squarely confronted the Soviets and they withdrew. Mossadegh was on the Soviet side! The Soviets at that time were even then seeking to get control of Iran’s vast reserves of oil, not because they needed it, but because they were laying away the means, the stepping-stones to the domination of Europe and Japan and eventually the United States.
Fourth, is his major accomplishment in the reconstruction of Europe, which bears the name of General Marshall--the Marshall plan.
His fifth major accomplishment was his forthright determination to propose to the United Nations that the unprovoked North Korean aggression over the 38th parallel by the Communists be repulsed in force.
Sixth, was a balanced and judicious approach, through Mr. Arnold, to antitrust law enforcement. No other President since then has equaled his courageous perception, which rose above false populist temptations, bar none. It took calm judicious action and the enlightened will to risk political attack from antitrust opportunists.
His seventh major accomplishment, which I probably should have put down first, and no one can take away from him ever, was the reversal of Mr. Dewey’ s forces in the election of 1948. He did that almost single-handed. Any man who could have reversed the tide of presumed voter sentiment to the degree that he did would have to be accorded a crown of great and singular political capacity and rare insight.

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Italian blatant dive team

'Aussies have reason to feel aggrieved'
"Aussies have been robbed the Italians cheated and the ref was conned by a blatant dive from Fabio Grosso"

Monday, June 26, 2006

Willie Nelson the music you heard growing up?

Willie Nelson Can you describe the kind of music you heard growing up?
"Well, I heard everything. We lived just across the street from two houses of Mexicans, they played their music day and night with their radio. So I was educated early in life on "south of the border" music. Most of the people that I lived and grew up with around there in Abbot [Texas] were Czechoslovakians. I learned a lot of polkas and waltzes. And from working in the fields with a lot of the black folks there, I learned a lot of blues. And working and going to church, I learned gospel. So I was pretty educated on a lot of different kinds of music while I was still pretty young."

Willie Nelson at 70 by Gene Santoro

This article can be found on the web at thenation.com
Willie Nelson at 70 by Gene Santoro
[from the November 17, 2003 issue]
On April 30, Willie Nelson turned 70, celebrating with the release of his latest greatest-hits collection. The Essential Willie Nelson (Columbia/Legacy), a two-CD set, has an intriguing 1970s-vintage cover shot that sets exactly the right tone for forty years of selective tracks. A collapsed lung, a pot bust, induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame, an ersatz acting career - Nelson is now legend enough to have songs written about him. Like Charles and Dylan, he's grown so powerful and centered in his artistry that even his lesser efforts outgun the best of others.

"Islam supercedes nationality" says "Most Influential Australian"

Murdoch Most Influential Australian of All Time, Bulletin Says
June 26 (Bloomberg) -- News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch has been named the most influential Australian of all time by the Bulletin, a weekly news magazine owned by James Packer's Publishing & Broadcasting Ltd.
'Islam supercedes nationality' June 26, 2006 News Corporation chairman Rupert Murdoch said today that Muslims would always identify themselves by religion before nationality, and warned that care needed to be taken to avoid a divided society.
"You have to be careful about Muslims who have a very strong, in many ways a fine, but very strong religion which supercedes any sense of nationalism wherever they go," Mr Murdoch told Channel Nine.
Mr Murdoch made the comments at a Sydney function naming him the most influential Australian of all time.
News Corp is parent company of the publisher of NEWS.com.au

Sunday, June 25, 2006

Alkatiri Horta know better

Is Jose waiting for the top job?
Mark Dodd
June 26, 2006

Kidman weds Urban not myth

Kidman weds Urban in her own special love story - Sun Jun 25, 2006 5:12 AM ET - By Paul Tait SYDNEY (Reuters) - Church bells rang to mark Oscar-winning actress Nicole Kidman's own special love story when she married country music singer Keith Urban in a traditional Catholic ceremony at a cliff-top chapel in Sydney on Sunday.

Friday, June 23, 2006

Spelling now with the Angels

TV producer Aaron Spelling dies
From: Reuters From correspondents in Los Angeles
June 24, 2006
Prolific television producer Aaron Spelling, whose shows such as Beverly Hills 90210 and Dynasty helped shape US prime-time television,died today, days after suffering a stroke, according to media reports.
He was 83.
Among Spelling's other television shows were Fantasy Island, Starsky and Hutch, Hart to Hart, Charlie's Angels, and Love Boat. He was the father of actress Tori Spelling who starred in Beverly Hills 90210.

most commonly used noun

Time's up for common noun usage
(c)AAP 2006 Friday Jun 23 19:44 AEST
Time is the most commonly used noun in the English language, a study has found. A survey by researchers at Oxford University Press revealed English speakers as a society of clock-watchers. Year features comes in at No.3 and day is fifth. Oxford University Press English Dictionaries Department project manager Catherine Soanes suggested the list also had an all work and no play flavour. "I think it does reflect the way that time is so important in our society," Ms Soanes told Australian Associated Press "It shows how much our lives are determined by work and time and things like that because we don't even have play or rest in the top 100 words." Work was No.16, week 17, government 20 and company 21. Ms Soanes also said the use of the word time in phrases like "one-time", "time after time", "last time" and "in time" had contributed to it being the most used noun." The list appears as a supplement entitled "English Uncovered" in the Revised 11th Edition of the Concise Oxford English Dictionary. It was compiled from a survey of a database called the Oxford English Corpus, which contains one billion words. The corpus includes academic journals and on-line resources, Internet chatrooms and blogs, giving a broad picture of English language usage. "It's a database of international English so it doesn't restrict it to British English," Ms Soanes said. "It's a reflection of English as a global language." The word problem was 24th on the list, while solution was nowhere to be seen, and war was No.49 but peace failed to make it into the top 100. "It's a sort of reflection of our society in some ways," Ms Soanes said. And could it be that it's a man's world? The word man was No.7, followed by child at No.12 and woman 14th. Ms Soanes said this could be explained by the fact that man was used in many common phrases such as mankind and was often used to mean people in general rather than identifying a specific gender. The 100 most commonly used words - as opposed to most commonly used nouns - were functional, such as the, be and to.

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Harry Kewell cleared of Merky Markus

World Tour: Kewell cleared
Harry Kewell has been cleared to play in Australia's final group match against Croatia because of inconsistencies in the referee's match report following the 2-0 defeat by Brazil on Sunday.

Monday, June 19, 2006

FIFA don’t be Kewell to a heart’s that’s true

Socceroos star faces ban
From: AAP By Guy Hand and Doug Conway in Munich, Germany
June 20, 2006
Reuters

Charged ... This exchange could cost Kewell dearly / Reuters SOCCEROO Harry Kewell could be banned for Australia's next World Cup match after FIFA launched an official investigation into his verbal tirade against German referee Markus Merk.

Lodhi convicted of three terror charges

Lodhi convicted of three terror charges
From: AAP
June 19, 2006

Result due to a FIFA in the night? Roos not allowed to win?

World Cup: Brazil deft but not dazzling
By Camille Powell The Washington Post
Credit Australia, which held a world ranking of 42nd at the start of the World Cup, with frustrating the Brazilians with their well-organized and physical defense.
But the questions.
Result due to a FIFA in the night?
Roos not allowed to win?

Sunday, June 18, 2006

Sikh decision on Christian rings

Sikh bracelets, but no Christian rings at school bans pupils from wearing 'purity rings' By Elizabeth Day (Filed: 18/06/2006)

Rather jealousy and backbiting and backstabbing

Adjusting to the ins and outs of the anchor chair
Dan Rather says he's ending his long run at CBS, although he had hoped for a new role. By Matea Gold, LA Times Staff Writer
June 16, 2006

Friday, June 16, 2006

all values equal - neither tolerant nor just

Cultures are not all equal
Christopher Pearson
June 17, 2006
Mandating tolerance as a civic virtue leads not only to cultural relativism but to a more general moral relativism. Knight alluded to the problem in her speech and returned to the theme in an opinion piece she wrote with a colleague, Carol Collins, which appeared in The Australian on Friday.

"We must be wary, though, of moral relativism," they argued. "A society of individuals who believe that all beliefs, all values, have equal legitimacy, for whom anything goes, is neither tolerant nor just."

"..Aussies brought bravery to a whole new level." Tommy Franks

Bravery no longer a secret
Caroline Overington June 17, 2006
As US commander Tommy Franks told reporters after the fight: "I'm not sure it will ever be fully declassified, but it literally brings tears to my eyes. The Aussies brought bravery to a whole new level."

$US2.3 trillion on foreign aid

Exposing the myth of Third World aid - Michael Duffy - June 17, 2006
In the past 50 years, we have spent $US2.3 trillion on foreign aid, to disturbingly little effect.
William Easterly is a professor of economics at New York University. He used to be a believer: for 16 years he was a research economist at the World Bank and worked extensively in Africa, Latin America and Russia. What changed his attitude was the growing amount of research showing the failures of aid, described in his book The White Man's Burden (Penguin in the US, not published in Australia).
Easterly says the $US2.3 trillion hasn't achieved what it should have. This is because much of it has been given as part of a never-ending series of internationally planned and co-ordinated "big plans". He believes the alternative would be to encourage more market-oriented activities among the poor themselves.

Panzerdivision British prophets unhonoured

The Relief of Tobruk
The German 50-millimetre and ‘88’ were indeed much better as anti-tank guns than their British counterparts; but the British could also boast of technical advantages. The essential difference was not of equipment, but of method. The Germans were favoured by a tactical doctrine, inspired by British prophets unhonoured in their own country, which had been refined by years of close study and experiment. The main instrument of this was the Panzerdivision, a powerful and versatile organisation of tank crews, gunners, engineers and infantry all trained to work in close harmony, and it had no parallel in the British Army, a fact so clouded by terminology that it was seldom perceived. British tanks there were, of course, and armoured battalions and brigades assembled in one or two armoured divisions with mobile guns and infantry; but the theoretical foundations were insecure, tactical doctrine varied from unit to unit, and damaging heresies flourished.

Spiteful homophobia Stanhope Teddy Kennedy

Count yourself lucky and stop tinkering with marriage
Frank Devine
June 16, 2006
Spiteful accusations of homophobia and poofter-bashing by Australian advocates of same-sex marriage are sung in the same discordant key as Kennedy's broadband allocations of bigotry.

Thursday, June 15, 2006

Bob Brownnose out of joint

Greens leader Bob Brown criticised the Prime Minister and the Attorney-General and talked about his own circumstances.

urban planning - the new rules

Plot to destroy a sacred site: the backyard - Bernard Salt
June 15, 2006 - Families, and other social groups, need to conform to the new rules of urban planning.

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

tactical FM radio of US Army World War II combat armies

Tactical advantages
FM crystal-controlled sets elevated radio usage, making FM radio the equivalent of wire telephone communications — reliable, easy to use, usually easy to understand. Then, upon applying FM radio to radio-relay techniques, the inherently short range of VHF FM was extended, in 30-mile hops, to whatever distance circuits might be desired. This was done by relays of truck-mounted equipment, able to provide in a matter of hours long-distance, highly reliable multichannel circuits — much faster, much easier and less costly than erecting miles of wire lines.

Furthermore, all this superlative radio communications could be, and eventually was, interconnected into wire-line systems. As a result, wire and radio became married; their circuits were integrated, providing high-quality communications irrespective of whether signals traveled by wire or by radio, and alternatively over links of each.

The tactical FM radio of American armies became the envy of all nations in World War II combat — in tank warfare and in amphibious assaults, too, where the Navy and Marines eagerly sought the FM sets and relay, and also for ship-to-shore use. FM radio relay, AN/TRC-l, -3 and 4 (commonly called antrac in Europe and VHF in the Pacific), alone kept communications operating all the way forward during Gen. George Patton's 3d Army dash deep into France in 1944 after the St. Lo breakout.

The fast long-distance penetrations of the tank forces operated on a shoestring for days — the shoestring was the slender but vital radio-relay circuits which BG E.F. Hammond, Patton's signal officer, provided by employing 28 radio-relay truck units. These antracs and their operators kept Patton's headquarters, "Lucky Forward," in complete communications throughout the daily giant strides of Third Army combat forces.

In tactical combat, armored-force and artillery operators (also infantrymen using the walkie-talkie SCR-300) could talk and clearly hear over their FM sets, which remained free of the static and interference that bedeviled the other combatants' AM radios.

One American veteran of Siegfried Line combat wrote, "I know the fighting would have lasted longer if we hadn't had FM on our side. We were able to shoot fast and effectively because we could get information quickly and accurately by voice on FM."

He added, "FM saved lives and won battles because it speeded our communications and enabled us to move more quickly than the Germans, who had to depend upon AM."

Likewise, Col. Grant Williams, signal office of 1st U.S. Army, commented, "I feel every soldier who lived through the war with an armored unit owes a debt he does not even realize to General Colton." For it was Colton who had made the risky decision to commit Army tactical radio to FM and crystal control at a time when there was uncertainty if effective FM radio could be mass produced, if quartz crystal could be found in sufficient quantity, and if precise fabrication of the frequency-control crystal units could be converted to mass production.

2nd Signal Brigade 3348th Signal Service Group

History of 2nd Signal Brigade Statement of Service
Constituted 24 October 1944 in the Army of the United States as Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, 3348th Signal Service Group, and activated in France.
Inactivated 13 March 1946 in France.
Activated 9 May 1946 at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey.
Redesignated 14 March 1947 as Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, 2nd Signal Service Group.
Allotted 1 March 1949 to the Regular Army.
Reorganized and redesignated 16 December 1949 as Headquarters, 2nd Signal Service Group.
Reorganized and redesignated 25 March 1953 as Headquarters, 2nd Signal Group.
Inactivated 4 April 1955 at Camp Gordon, Georgia.
Redesignated 27 April 1961 as Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, 2nd Signal Group.
Activated 21 June 1961 at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
Inactivated 27 October 1971 at Fort Lewis, Washington.
Activated 1 June 1974 in Germany.
Redesignated 1 October 1979 as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Signal Brigade.
Campaign Participation Credit
World War II
European-African-Middle Eastern Theater
Vietnam

First Signal Brigade was activated on April 1, 1966

The History of the First Signal Brigade
The First Signal Brigade was activated on April 1, 1966, in the Republic of Vietnam. Its mission was one of the most complicated ever given to any signal unit in the history of warfare: to originate, install, operate, and maintain an incredible, complex communication system that fused tactical and strategic communications in Southeast Asia into a single, unified command. The creation of the brigade brought together three signal groups already in Southeast Asia along with other units into a single unified command, except those organic to field forces and divisions. The mission in Southeast Asia meant providing communications to forces scattered over more than 60,000 square miles of torrid jungle, mountain ranges and coastal lowland - much of which was under-populated and enemy-infested. One of the innovations that circumvented the difficult terrain and enemy situation was the introduction of an extensive, tropospheric scatter radio relay system, which provides numerous communications channels over distances of several hundred miles between sites. Other firsts include, first use of satellite communications in a combat zone and first use of automatic, digital message and data switches. At its peak, the brigade had more than 21,000 soldiers, with six signal groups, 22 signal battalions, and a large number of specialized communications agencies. This made it, at that time, the largest single brigade in the U.S. Army. The stand-down of 1st Signal Brigade was almost as significant as its buildup. Caught by the U.S. reduction-in-forces that affected our pullout from Southeast Asia, 1st Signal Brigade reduced its strength from 21,000 in 1968 to less than 1,300 by November 1972.
The departure of American forces from the Republic of Vietnam was accompanied by a decline in communications facilities needed to support them. Whole signal sites, from delicate communications gear to the buildings that housed them, had to be dismantled, packed and shipped to destinations around the world. More than $50 million worth of communications equipment and facilities were recovered between 1970 and 1972.

5th Signal Command (Theater), headquartered on Wiesbaden Army Airfield

History of 5th Signal Command
5th Signal Command (Theater), headquartered on Wiesbaden Army Airfield, provides forward-based deployable command and control communications supporting theater, joint, and combined forces. This support leverages the Global Information Grid (GIG) to enable extension and reachback capabilities for the Combatant Commander, European Command.
U.S. Army, Europe (USAREUR) and Seventh Army provides operational control for the Command, which consists of 2nd and 7th Signal Brigades. Its commanding general also serves as the deputy chief of staff, G-6 (chief information officer) for USAREUR and Seventh Army.
Headquarters, 5th Signal Command was constituted in the Regular Army and activated in Germany on July 1, 1974. The Command traces its original heritage to the U.S. Army Signal Command, Europe, organized under USAREUR General Order dated March 20, 1958, which consolidated military communications in the European Theater. It consisted of the 4th and 516th Signal Groups and 102nd Signal Battalion supporting Army Group, Central Europe; North Atlantic Treaty Organization; USAREUR; and other elements in Europe as directed.
The organization expanded from 1961 to 1964, adding 22nd and 106th Signal Groups, with theater responsibilities extending from Belgium, through France and Germany, to Italy. A group of sub-commands evolved from USSTRATCOM, the first of which was STRATCOM-Europe, established July 1, 1964, in Schwetzingen, Germany.
The collapse of communism, dismantlement of the Soviet empire, and disintegration of the Soviet Union introduced a new international world and prompted an Army-wide drawdown. This resulted in changes to military policy during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Base closures accompanied troop drawdown. The closure of the Worms Military Community brought the Command to its current home at Funari Barracks in Mannheim in September 1996. The closure of Karlsruhe Military Community required 7th Signal Brigade and assigned units to relocate to Sullivan and Taylor Barracks, also in Mannheim. The commanding general of 5th Signal Command became the senior mission commander for the Mannheim military community.
Since the 1990s, 5th Signal Command’s subordinate units have maintained a consistently high operational tempo. During Desert Shield and Desert Storm, the Command deployed elements of 7th Signal Brigade to the Persian Gulf. In July 1991, the 7th Signal Brigade supported the humanitarian relief and protection efforts for the Kurds during Operation Provide Comfort.
From 1996 to 1998, 7th Signal Brigade deployed to Hungary and Bosnia, in support of Operation Joint Endeavor providing humanitarian efforts in Bosnia- Herzegovina and Croatia. Later in 1999, elements of the Brigade deployed to Albania in support of Task Force Hawk and to Kosovo in support of Task Force Falcon. 2nd Signal Brigade provided major satellite platforms to sustain the operational base in USAREUR during each of these missions.
Since September 11th, 2001, 5th Signal Command’s role as USAREUR’s communication arm has become even more critical in the effort to support the Warfighter. With the increasing demand for bandwidth and diversity across the USAREUR footprint, 5th Signal Command initiated an intense effort in 2003 to develop the infrastructure with fiber optic connectivity throughout Europe and to begin elimination of the legacy microwave infrastructure.
In support of the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), 5th Signal Command provides deployable communications packages from 2nd Signal Brigade for fort-to-port operations to support deployment and redeployment operations throughout Europe.
Additionally, 5th Signal Command deployed significant tactical capabilities in support of GWOT. 7th Signal Brigade deployed in February 2003 into Turkey and later southern Iraq in support of 4th Infantry Division and the 173rd Airborne Division’s invasion into northern Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF 1). Through the years, 5th Signal Command has served the United States Army with distinction in a broad range of peacetime, stability, and contingency operations, including: Partnership for Peace; numerous operational and humanitarian missions; and the Global War on Terrorism. The Soldiers, Civilians and Family Members of 5th Signal Command continue to espouse its motto, “Dragon Warriors, Any Mission, Anywhere!”

Gay marriage unhappy ending

The love we dare not let wed
Gay marriage is likely to become yet another social experiment we will live to regret, writes Janet Albrechtsen June 14, 2006

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Bush meets Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki

Bush makes surprise visit to Iraq
Tue Jun 13, 2006 9:35am ET
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush made a surprise visit to Iraq on Tuesday and met new Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.
The White House said he would be on the ground for more than five hours and would also meet U.S. troops. The visit comes six days after a U.S. air strike killed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq.
Bush and his aides had earlier been expected to hold a video conference with Maliki and his cabinet and urge them not to squander the chance to assert their authority.

Monday, June 12, 2006

"battle to conquer tyranny"

Alexander Downer: Carry on the battle to conquer tyranny
From Iraq to Solomon Islands, Australians have a special duty to help extend the blessings of liberty and democracy across the world, argues the Foreign Minister
June 13, 2006

"Zarqawi's death part of a good day's work"

Christopher Hitchens: Zarqawi's death part of a good day's work
To say we have removed an enemy of humanity is no exaggeration
June 12, 2006

Sunday, June 11, 2006

urban village

Our new neighbourhoods can't be built on nostalgia
The good old days were good, but we shouldn't try to recreate them, writes Bernard Salt
Marketers have to tune in to the tribe vibe
Town planners the village idiots
When boomers split, a new class is born
Bernard Salt
The Australian 9 March 2006 Bernard Salt
Being seen to consult everyone has become far more important than actually doing it
The town-planning community talks a lot about inclusiveness: modern society is a broad church and we must consult and engage all members equally.
But even more important than actually consulting everyone is being seen to consult everyone. I reckon that town planners just love the power kick of conducting meetings, workshops and community consultations where they can strut their stuff before an audience. Town planners raise issues, negotiate outcomes, set priorities and establish agendas. They razzle-dazzle mums and dads with their oh-so-smooth talk of overlays and the consultative process. The Average Joe or Jo just doesn't stand a chance when going head-to-head with a fully grown town planner.
Now perhaps I am being paranoid but I think that some planners have evolved into that big brother that George Orwell warned us about. Have you ever tried to argue a contrary case with a town planner?
Consider for example their latest cause celebre, the "urban village".
I have advice for cynical, free-market supporting property developers everywhere. When you submit that development application for broad-hectare sub-division, do not label the project common suburbia. No, no, no. Call it an "urban village". The same goes for apartment projects in the centre of town: this is not another tower block, this is an urban village. OK, so it's a "vertical urban village". OK, OK it's a "sustainable vertical urban village"
You see town planners really are a very simple life-form. They have evolved over millions of years nurtured only by the sound of a selected bunch of phrases and terms. A modem town planner cannot digest a term like "suburbia"; it makes them feel ill. But when it comes to terms like "urban village", it's ecstasy.
The entire race of town planners seems to have this idealistic vision of an urban society in which residents know their neighbour and happily chat with their local butcher. Here is an urban Utopia where everyone "feels" part of a warm, caring and - bless their town-planning souls - loving community.
Here is a place that replicates the social structure of an 18th century English village, dropped smack bang in the centre of Sydney.
How can anyone argue against the virginal purity of an urban village as a town planning concept?
Well I can and do argue a contrary case.
The lifestyle of some residents in modern cities does not support the logic for urban villages. There are some admittedly recalcitrant, people who like the anonymity of the big city. Odd as it may seem, these people feel no need to chat with neighbours, or with butchers. These people get all of the social interaction and personal validation they need from social networks operating at their workplace.
Residence and workplace in ye olde English villages were one and the same: there was but a short stroll between thatched cottage and village common. It was in everyone's interests to get along with their neighbour, their butcher, their baker.
But many households in today's inner cities are comprised of singles or couples who work full time. They do not have rosy-cheeked children longing to wander off to chat with the village smithy under a spreading chestnut tree. I think that most residents of Melbourne's Southbank and Sydney's Pyrmont would have busy work-based lives.
But this apartment-based lifestyle is also confrontingly devoid of the home-based social interaction that planners have prescribed in their urban villages where "everyone knows your name".
I would like to put forward the following heretical idea. The town planning community seems to be universal in espousal of the philosophy that all cities should accommodate a diverse range of communities. Well, how about provisioning for a community that does not want to be part of a community? Is that allowed? Or should we just be planning for communities that behave in a way that planners approve of? I think that the CBD fringe should make a modest provision for an urban landscape that is devoid of any sense of community. The type of people likely to live in such places would regard their apartment as a bolthole, a reprieve, a sanctuary, from workaday life. This is the New-York notion that "I socialise at work and I merely launder and sleep at home - and if I am lucky occasionally I might not even sleep at home".
Urban landscapes designed to minimise human contact would present streets without corner shops and without civic meeting places. Streets would be harsh and Manhattanesque with no place for neighbours to gather to indulge in wanton eye contact, let alone idle chat. These streets would look a lot like a hotel corridor: functional places facilitating easy access to private spaces.
The last thing residents of non-communities want is a dutiful chat with the neighbour when they arrive home after a long day at work. They do not want to know the name of their butcher; but more importantly, they do not want their butcher to know their name.
I know these views are confronting to many town planners who think everyone is socially isolated and could do with a jolly good dose of neighbourly love and village affection. But if our communities really are as inclusive as is proposed, then surely even these non-conformist views should be provisioned for? I therefore look forward to town planners planning for some communities "that just want to be left alone".

boys, 10 and 6, drive to see gran

Children drive Gran’s car 85km to Moree

12 June 2006

Two children have been re-united with their grandparents after the boys drove the family car 85km south along the Newell Highway yesterday.

Moree Police were contacted by a number of truck-drivers about 12.30pm reporting that two children appeared to be driving a red Holden Commodore station wagon south along the highway.

A Highway Patrol car was despatched to investigate and about 35km north of Moree police spotted the car and indicated for the driver to pull over, which he did.

When police approached the vehicle a 10-year-old boy and his six-year-old brother got out of the car.

They told police they wanted to visit their grandfather in Moree and had taken their grandmother’s car and driven south from Boggabilla.

Police drove grandma’s car back to Moree and the children were returned to their grandparents.

Thursday, June 08, 2006

"Zarqawi's gone, may he rot in hell"

Zarqawi victim's brother: "may he rot in hell"
Thu Jun 8, 2006 10:22 AM BST
LONDON (Reuters) - The brother of Ken Bigley, the engineer beheaded by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's group, said the militant leader should rot in hell.
"The man was an animal and he deserved what he got. And may he rot in hell," Paul Bigley told Channel Four television.
Zarqawi's followers captured Ken Bigley, held him for weeks and filmed his beheading in 2004. Bigley's death traumatised his native Liverpool and his body has not been recovered.
Iraq announced on Thursday that U.S. forces had killed Zarqawi in an air strike.
"He's gone. The world has rid themselves of a very bad person. So he thinks he's going to paradise? I'm convinced the man is in hell," Paul Bigley said.

Friday, June 02, 2006

11th armored division malmedy

The 11th Armored Division had regrouped during the night of 30 December with the ...

Thursday, June 01, 2006

"..motor cars are far from a blight.."

"Our new neighbourhoods can't be built on nostalgia
The good old days were good, but we shouldn't try to recreate them, writes Bernard Salt June 01, 2006
On the basis of this thinking motor cars are far from a blight on modern cities. They are important facilitators of social connection between members of the new neighbourhoods.
Accordingly, there is no need for angst over any apparent social isolation resulting from the loss of old neighbourhoods.
This is because old neighbourhoods have been replaced by stronger, more robust models of social interaction which are based on common interest rather than on common geography."