Being Australian

With yet more visitors arriving from North America, somehow the discussion came around Australian history and personality traits.
There is material enough 'out there' to fill books - nay, libraries - with answers to the question of what it means to be an Australian. And I've only got 5 minutes, so here are a few suggestions instead, summarised today:

• laid-back
• hard-working
• bigoted
• relaxed
• non-judgemental
• self-deprecating
• jingoistic
• ...some I've forgotten.
  

Notice some of these appear contradictory, and of course, like any culture there are the stereotypes and there are others' perceptions of reality. Because it is a subjective issue, there is probably no reality.

I just found some others' thoughts, and one that I like and can relate to, is an attachment to the land/countryside. I'm a city-based Anglo-Saxon, so I won't claim this attachment is close to that apparently grokked by the indigenous people of Australia, or even Anglo-Saxon farmers and country people who get their hands dirty every day in dry soil. But it's there nonetheless. I sense it every time I walk into my backyard and watch gum leaves shower down over the immovable sandstone boulders at the top of the lawn...

Anyway, here are those references:
1. "Fora": The follow-on comments here are interesting, but will soon lose most outsiders as they shift into discussions of historic cricket personalities.
2."Nobody Important": Apparently an ex-pat now living in Vancouver, and the source of the 'land' reference. He/she points to other bloggers too - one is mostly pics, and to see the Australian stuff you've got jump down past the kittens!

Fabric from fish scales

Somehow discussion of eating lamb on Australia Day tangented (I know that is not a word, but it should be) into the idea of shearing fish for their scales.

I've found no references to the use of fish scales in the manufacture of fabrics. Maybe that represents an opportunity for someone to perfect and patent the idea...

I did, however, find some suggestions that fish scales are used in the manufacture of other 'fashion-related' items, lipstick in particular. Apparently scales are pearlescent, and as a result can contribute to the lustre in lipstick and nail polish, etc. Here is a reference.
I found another reference to the use of fish scales in jewelry and other decorative pieces that can be stitched onto fabric here, which is arguably closer the our original conversation about fish shearing (albeit remote)!

Wikipedia also has a reference to the John Lennon album, Shaved Fish (1975), a compilation of solo singles released in the US. According to the entry, the name is a reference to the Japanese food katsuobushi, a kind of dried fish. The latter entry has a list of uses, but all of these are food/cooking-related; none concern the manufacture of fabrics. However, I did learn that the album was originally released at around the same time as Lennon's application for US citizenship was being approved, which obviously synchronises with our other entry on citizenship tests. Spooky...

Citizenship tests

We talked about citizenship tests, in particular, questions about Don Bradman and Walter Lindrum.
A story on the sports hero questions is here, on Bloomberg.
The Australian Department of Immigration and Citizenship has an overview of the citizenship test, and advises to prepare for the test by reading the book entitled Becoming an Australian Citizen.
If you follow the links, you can take apractice test here. You get five questions only, with a choice of three answers each; it only takes a minute to do. I got 5/5, by the way...

The United States also has a citizenship test, and I found multiple sites with sample questions.
About.com lists 100 sample questions and provides the answers on the same page. Many of these seem rather repetitive. I started doing them and was getting them 95% correct, when I started running into those I couldn't answer, like Supreme Court Justices.
Here is another one, which seems to contain the same questions.
These appear to come from the US government's official Citizens and Immigration Services site, here, where they are proposed to be mounted as flash cards for the putative immigrant to use as a study aid.

priceless

Cancel your credit card..........(hilarious!)

Now some people are really stupid!!!!

Be sure and cancel your credit cards before you die. This is so priceless, and so, so easy to see happening, customer service being what it is today.

A lady died this past January, and Citibank billed her for February and March for their annual service charges on her credit card, and added late fees and interest on the monthly charge. The balance had been $0.00, now somewhere around $60.00. A family member placed a call to Citibank. Here is the exchange:

Family Member: "I am calling to tell you she died in
January."

Citibank : "The account was never closed and the late fees and charges still apply."

Family Member: "Maybe, you should turn it over to collections."

Citibank : "Since it is two months past due , it already has been."

Family Member : So, what will they do when they find out she is dead?"

Citibank: "Either report her account to frauds division or report her to the credit bureau, maybe both!"

Family Member : "Do you think God will be mad at her?" (I really liked this part!!!!)

Citibank: "Excuse me?"

Family Member: "Did you just get what I was telling you - the part about her being dead?"

Citibank : "Sir, you'll have to speak to my supervisor." (Duh!)

Supervisor gets on the phone:

Family Member : "I'm calling to tell you, she died in January."

Citibank : "The account was never closed and late fees and charges still apply." (This must be a phrase taught by the bank!)

Family Member : "You mean you want to collect from her estate?"

Citibank : (Stammer) "Are you her lawyer?"

Family Member: "No, I'm her great nephew." (Lawyer info given)

Citibank: "Could you fax us a certificate of death?"

Family Member : "Sure." (Fax number is given )

After they get the fax:

Citibank : "Our system just isn't setup for death. I don't know
what more I can do to help."

Family Member : "Well, if you figure it out, great! If not, you could
just keep billing her. I don't think she will care."

Citibank: "Well, the late fees and charges do still apply. "( What is wrong with these people?!?)

Family Member : "Would you like her new billing address?"

Citibank : "That might help."

Family Member : " Odessa Memorial Cemetery , Highway 129, Plot Number 69."

Citibank : "Sir, that's a cemetery!"

Family Member: "What do you do with dead people on your planet???



(Priceless!!)

Worst jobs in science

This discussion followed a conversation about TV shows you can get on cable TV (like Dirtiest Jobs).
Again, from Mark:

Worst jobs in science… Going since 2003.
Latest (2007): http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2007-06/worst-jobs-science-2007#

Earliest (2003):
http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2003-09/worst-jobs-science-2003

Some of the other years are missing, but there are Slashdot discussions about 2004:
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/11/21/2051223&tid=14


Number 1 for 2007 is the Hazmat Diver, with the tagline "They swim in sewerage. Enough said". The start of the description includes this story:

...A guy had driven his truck into the waste lagoon and drowned. Not only was it full of urine and liquid pig feces, the farmer had dumped all the needles used to inject the pigs with antibiotics and hormones in there. Someone had to recover the body, and the task fell to commercial hazmat divers....

More on mortgages and finance...

...from Mark, yesterday:

First, on a serious note, about whether the bank can come after you for more than your mortgaged house is worth, Mark has this, about the US situation:

A mortgage for a house that’s worth less than the loan is “deficient”, and the lender may you be able to get a “deficiency judgement” to chase your other assets. Whether they can depends on the loan you signed and can also depend on the state you’re in, in the US. (Some states are “anti-deficiency”, others aren’t.)

A quote from http://calculatedrisk.blogspot.com/2007/12/1-trillion-in-mortgage-losses.html:

If the borrower walks away and mails in the keys (Fleckenstein's "jingle mail"), the lender is stuck with the collateral. However, if the California borrower refinanced, then the lender has recourse, and can pursue a judicial foreclosure (as opposed to a trustee's sale), and seek a deficiency judgment.

The lender can enforce that deficiency judgment by attaching other assets, or by garnishing the borrower's wages. Historically lenders rarely pursued (or enforced) deficiency judgments, but that could change if many middle class borrowers, with solid jobs and assets, resort to jingle mail.

I’ve also seen the jargon “recourse loan” in this context but I’m not sure if this is the same meaning as being able to seek a deficiency judgement.

I don’t know what applies in Australia…

Second, on a less serious note, "The Long Johns", on the sub-prime crisis: YouTube link here.
...And on the UK banking crisis: YouTube link here.

affordable homes and mortgage conditions

This is just one piece of information about our discussion of the affordability of Australian houses. The average Australian household income is $91,300. From an article by Tom Cole in the Australian http://www.theage.com.au/news/tim-colebatch/home-sweet-dream/2007/02/12/1171128895298.html

Hawk-Eye ball-tracking technology

After a weekend of some remarkable tennis matches in the Australian Open, conversation turned to Hawk-Eye technology and similar techniques used in cricket.
Some of this discussion was a repeat of a conversation that Len and I had in the first week he was here (this year), following which he found this blog entry by someone claiming to have worked on the development of the Hawk-Eye system. He (or she?) makes some interesting points about the error(s) inherent in the system and the assumptions of the ball being spherical and hard when it hits the ground on or near the line.

I'm inclined to agree with Maverick's point (the fifth comment on that post), despite the original author's retort, that it doesn't really matter if Hawk-Eye is accepted as imperfect or not, if there is objective data that can show that it is statistically more accurate than human judgments. The reply that the Hawk-Eye error 'is biased and therefore that makes it worse' (paraphrased) seems to be suggesting that a higher proportion of 'called-in' balls (like the Federer-Nadal case cited) should actually be 'called-out', because they model the ball touch-point as a circle at the full diameter of the normal ball.

But, I don't buy this. If Hawk-Eye modelled the touch-point as a full-diameter circle, that's what you'd see. In fact, what you see in the Hawk-Eye replays is an ellipse (ie., they clearly do model ball compression, taking into account the trajectory in their calculations).
You can check out the Wikipedia entry, where it suggests that the average error of Hawk-Eye is about 3.6mm, or 5% of the ball diameter. The Wikipedia entry author makes the point that this is approximately equivalent to the fluff on the ball. Or even better, the Hawk-Eye website itself, where you can find this document explaining the controversial line call - the sequence of 10 pics at the end is particularly interesting in this context.
So Hawkeye isn't perfect. But, on average, overall, it's better than people for the particularly close line calls.

Colonels, captains, commanders and commodores

Paul B. and Len had a discussion earlier in the week on military rankings, and what-compared-to-what between the army and the navy, etc.

Paul found the answers here, for the US services, at least:
http://www.easternct.edu/personal/faculty/pocock/ranks.htm

I'm not sure I understand the difference between commissioned officers (lieutenants, captains, majors, generals, etc.), and non-commissioned officers (corporals and sergeants).
But, all the rankings are there lined up, so that one can see Lieutenant Colonel in the army is equivalent to a navy Commander, and 'outranks' a navy Lieutenant Commander.

So here's a follow-up question: Do ranks apply across services (ie., can a navy Captain order around an army Major?)

Cane Toads

A continuing topic stretching from last year has been cane toads. Some interesting aspects of the discussion. Cane toads were imported to Australia from Hawaii but are native to Central and South America. See the Wikipedia article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cane_toads

Udo told the story of the ranger on his tour of Fraser Island who collects and freezes the toads. They can stay frozen for up to 48 hours and still survive.

Mark told the story of dissecting cane toads in school where one flipped over during the dissection and tried to get away.

Len circulated a video http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5804307040679427652
about cane toads.

Mark said that some toads have grown longer legs so they can move faster but this has led to hip problems.

Football and Hells Angels

Udo and I were talking about the current soccer competition, featuring Sydney FC vs. Melbourne Victory on Sunday, which he is going to.
The competition is the Hyundai A-League, and it features only 8 teams - 1 from NZ, 1 each from the capitals of Vic, SA, WA, QLD, and 3 from NSW.
There certainly is a finals round, including 'play-offs': This weekend is round 21, the last round before the finals series. The top four teams play two legs of semi-finals (one "major" and one "minor" semi, depending on relative rankings in the points table). There is a Preliminary Final, then the Grand Final is played on Feb 24, between the winner of the prelim final and the winner of the major semi-final.

After some discussion of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club (HAMC) yesterday, Len and I independently discovered that hellsangels.com.au apparently leads to a squatter advertising site, while hellsangels.com leads to a site in French, that could be associated with the 'real' HAMC, but at first site might not be. A closer study indicates that this is indeed the official and sanctioned site of the HAMC Paris Charter.
The global HQ has a rather unassuming site at http://www.hells-angels.com (note the hyphen).
There is some interesting history to be discovered here, dispelling myths about putative connections with the 303rd airforce squadron since WWII. I like the FAQ answer on why they are "Hells Angels" and not "Hell's Angels" (note apostrophe; although some, if they dared, could be asking why aren't they called "Hells' Angels"...).
I also like the FAQ answers concerning joining/starting your own local charter of HAMC - no doubt they get a lot of enquiries from wannabes. The answers are put quite diplomatically but boil down to, 'if you have to ask, then we're not for you'! (Or, could be read even more diplomatically as 'if you have to ask, then you're not ready for us yet'.)

Liquor licensing in NSW

The question arose about licensed restaurants (ie., that sell alcohol) vs. BYO restaurants in Sydney - does a BYO-only restaurant need to have some kind of liquor license?

According to the NSW Office of Liquor, Gaming and Racing, the answer is no. But, the business must get approval from its local council. Business owners are also encouraged to have their staff formally trained on the responsible serving of alcohol, but are not obliged to. For licensed restaurants, the course is mandatory for serving staff.

There are new laws coming in for NSW, which are expected to take effect in the second half of 2008. Currently there is a $15K 'Dine or Drink' license, which is prohibitive for small operators, and will be abolished. There will be a new type of license called 'on-premises', for restaurants, theatres, etc., where the primary purpose of the business is not about serving alcohol (ie., a bar or pub). This fee will only be a small processing fee (ie., probably a few hundred$). For the small bar whose primary business purpose is to serve alcohol, but doesn't serve meals or sell takeaway alcohol, they will be able to get a "general bar" license for $500.
New liquor licensing: http://www.olgr.nsw.gov.au/legislation_liquor_reform.asp

Controversy at Macquarie University

We were trying to recall the circumstances of the Macquarie University controversy over artworks and the vice chancellor. The story was reported in the Sydney Morning Herald here, Feb 8, 2007. Basically, the issue was bigger than artworks, and included leave entitlements, credit card expenses, board appointments, and other governance issues.

But the incident will be remembered primarily because of the artworks scandal, in which Dianne Yerbury, the former VC of Macquarie is alleged to have "mingled" art owned by the University with her own collection. Professor Steven Schwartz was apparently the administrator who led the crusade against Yerbury, after succeeding her as V-C and presumably discovering the irregularities.

This is an important if controversial piece of the University's history, but you won't find anything about it on the University's website - in their news or press releases section. Indeed, there is no real recognition of it in Wikipedia, except a brief one-line reference to the SMH article above, which is how I found it.

Wikipedia, and the University press releases section, do acknowledge a more recent controversy 'though, concerning the management and governance of student funds collected by the former student union organisation. As a result of fraud allegations and other issues, this organisation was disbanded and reformed in a different model in the middle of 2007.

Has anyone won more than one Nobel Prize?

A quick look over the list of Nobel laureates at Wikipedia does not reveal anything obvious: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nobel_laureates

But, the real place to look is the source: the Nobel Prize website itself. In fact, there have been four individuals who have won two Nobel Prizes:
J. Bardeen
M. Curie
L. Pauling (good pick, Len!)
F. Sanger.

Also, the ICRC organisation (whatever that is) has won four times and the UNHCR twice.

Also interesting is the overall performance of the Curie family: M.Curie twice, her husband Pierre, daughter Irene Joliot-Curie, and son-in-law Federic Joloit (Irene's husband) once each.

Which island is bigger, Tasmania or Taiwan?

• Tasmania has an estimated population of 493,300 as of June 2007 and an area of 68,401 square kilometers [1].

• Taiwan has an estimated population of 22.9 million as of 2005 and an area of 35,801 square kilometers [2].

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tasmania
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiwan