ANZAC Day

It's ANZAC Day in Australia and New Zealand, to remember those killed during the Gallipoli campaign in World War One, and since then in different wars.

It was a key element in the national psyche for Australia, the first time (except against Germans in New Guinea in late 1914) that Australians had fought as AUSTRALIANS, not as troops from New South Wales or South Australia, etc.

Shrinking Flint?

Flint, Michigan - home of Michael Moore and a town with a once-vibrant auto industry - is confronted by abandoned homes and a shrinking population. So they are talking about "demolishing entire blocks and even whole neighborhoods" to avoid the blight of vacant lots.

Interesting concept. Quite a few American cities are facing this sort of dilemma - and not all in the Rust Belt since Little Rock is one of the cities setting up "land banks."

It's Dusty, Cough Cough

Yesterday Canberra was hit with a dust storm. Persistent high winds from the west brought clouds of red dust in from hundreds of miles away. It was not very pleasant. I was walking to a meeting mid-afternoon when the winds were probably around 40 mph/65 kph, and the dust was in my eyes and teeth.

Not the worst I've seen - one we had in Mongolia was way worse. But still not pleasant.

Click here if you want to see a slide show of some photos from the dust storm.

Another New Bad Idea Coming to an Internet Near You

A web site that features reviews of people - not as musicians or professors or doctors, but as a plain old person? This surely won't end well.

Internet columnist Julia Allison, quoted in the ABC story, had it right: "(T)he fact is, the Internet is a place for ad hominem attacks. That's bad, but that's the truth."

And what do you know? If you go to PersonRatings right now, you will see on its front page that Julia Allison is rated 1.80 stars, out of 5.

So I guess I better only say good things about PersonRatings, and hope that nobody goes on-line to call me a poop-head or accuse me of cheating at poker or chastise me for poor taste in neck-ties or criticize my habit of burning toast.