First impressions - back in the USA

After three years in Australia, I made a trip back to the USA to have Thanksgiving with my aging parents. Since Australians are prone to long holidays; my wife extended this through Christmas and travel involved five air segments as well as driving about 1300 miles (2092 km) from Miami Beach to Indianapolis.

What were my impressions, after being away so long and hearing about the US only through media? The first thing that struck me - transportation infrastructure - miles and miles of concrete and asphalt. Six and eight lane freeways (3-4 in each direction) are common; not just around cities, but linking all the cities. In colder areas, freezing, thawing, and heavy use means continual maintenance, but nearly everywhere additional lanes were being built; interchanges expanded - not just on interstate highways but suburban roads. There are a handful of cities in the US that have good public transit systems, but outside of that, the highway is king, and sprawl is an economic imperative. The miles of asphalt represent not only a huge investment, but an entire ecosystem of interrelated employment - construction workers, truck drivers, diesel mechanics, auto sales, and restaurants and hotels along every freeway interchange. Rail may be the most efficient means of moving cargo, but building highways and cars creates more jobs. There has been much talk of the self-driving car and the self-driving truck; there has been little talk of replacing asphalt with rail or some other alternative. The current thinking seems to be of continuance of independent, programmable units travelling on the existing asphalt substrate and "driving" jobs may be eliminated, but the maintenance infrastructure employment will remain intact for some time. Los Angeles is frequently cited as the first US city to be built after the private automobile became the dominant means of travel, but every major city in the US has had neighborhoods razed to accommodate high-speed travel or new suburbs built to accommodate commuting by private automobile (strange that word, and the private vehicle is only now on the verge of truly becoming an auto-mobile).

The second of my impressions, and one that I looked forward to considering the Thanksgiving holiday: food. Critics, my wife included and myself to a lesser degree, lament the widespread prevalence of processed food with added salt, sugar, or fat being the primary enticing ingredients. The typical American's health shows the effects of this. However, I grew up in a Midwest where winter fruits and vegetables consisted of carrots, cabbage, or something frozen and subsequently mushy. From that perspective, modern processed food is an improvement, and of course even better, fresh produce from around the globe. The "eat local" movement decries the waste of energy spent shipping food, a large percentage of which subsequently spoils, but in temperate winters, fresh fruits and vegetables are a modern luxury. Still, most consumption is of processed food, or restaurant fast food, with a priority for taste and convenience over nutritional value. One change I've seen, especially in the Midwest, is a proliferation of fast food chains and families (including my nearly 80 year-old parents) relying on fast food restaurants as a primary food source. In the larger picture, crop subsidies and a low minimum wage or even illegal sub-minimum wage has contributed to this inexpensive convenience, and in families with two working parents, convenience is seen as essential. As my mother's health declines, cooking is more of a challenge. The question from a health perspective: can nutrition compete with salt, sugar, and fat?

Related to the food infrastructure: health care. There is widespread discussion regarding the inefficiencies of health care in the United States. One factor becoming more apparent that is rarely part of the discussion: overcapacity. In Indianapolis (and more recently in San Francisco), competition among hospitals is spurring overbuilding and overcapacity. My perspective is that much of US healthcare operates on what might be considered a predatory model. While food sales are increased by the addition of sugar, salt, and fat, the health care system can make more money performing heart surgery or gastric bypass operations (or selling related pharmaceuticals) than it can make, under the current system, in any sort of preventive care or admonishment. It seems there will always be more money and desperation in prolonging life than in preventive care. Fertility clinics, virility, and plastic surgery are also cash cows. While much of the developed world wrestles with how to add capacity and innovation to their health care systems, the US has capacity and innovation in abundance, but most of it is geared towards cashing in on trends rather than improving overall health. Mind you, the motivation towards greater individual income is present in all systems, it just plays out differently when taxpayer funding and union working conditions are larger factors than insurance, pharmaceutical, and institutional profit.

Another topic and impressions: guns and gun violence. But there's enough in that one for a separate post.

Education schmeducation

Posted on an essay in The Conversation:

What Australia has right: the TAFE system is great for employment preparation. Except due to their clout, potential employees are required to first get a certificate in hand washing. Does this mean that "higher education" is totally an elitist institution for those who can get paid all their lives to just sit around and shoot the shit (excuse me; pontificate on the greater questions of life)?

The US has swung to the opposite extreme - promoting the notion that one should acquire a bachelors in handwashing. This means that the vast majority of bachelor graduates in the US are barely qualified to wash their hands, while Australian institutions are graduating bureaucrats who don't think their hands ever need washing.

Dentist

Beginning to wonder if my dentist is price-gouging. Since I only go every six months (not counting any emergencies), it's a long process to "shop" for a new one. I saw a different one in an emergency situation, and prefer the one I'm seeing to that one. Here's a list for a routine visit - Sydney; $AUS.

Separate charges:
• Oral exam Insurance: $24 Patient: $33 Total: $57
• Removal of calculus Ins: 50 Pat: 65 Total: 115
• Topical Fluoride Ins: 16 Pat: 29 Total: 45
• Photo record Ins: 0 Pat: 40 Total: 40
• Grand total Insurance: $91 Patient: $166 Total: $257

Video stores

Video stores have been holding out in Australia, but it looks like the future has arrived.

The screw that went 'round the world

Global trade boggles my mind. I'm on the back deck in Sydney, Australia, working on a project and realizing that I'm about to use screws that came from a hardware store (going out of business sale) in San Francisco, but were probably made in China... Meaning these screws have likely been across the Pacific twice before being put to use. And that, to me, epitomizes the state of modern global trade.

How could it possibly make sense for these screws to travel across the Pacific twice? Why, when moving to a new country, would I bring a packet of screws? As with global trade, overall it seems ridiculous, but the individual steps all make sense. The reality of the situation though is that we're all burning a lot of energy in absurd ways that could probably be eliminated, but it's easier to just keep going than to sort out what would maximize efficiency. Would / will the market sort it out? "The market" is what compelled these screws to travel twice across the Pacific! (presuming they were made in China - the insert says only "packaged in USA" meaning they were undoubtedly made elsewhere).

To explain my part of the insanity... I found out late when moving here that since my household goods were going by ship, weight did not matter. It was whatever would fit into a specific size shipping container. My future wife wanted to ship some furniture. In hindsight I could have added my motorcycle to the container. So when it came to my box of tools, of course, a packet of screws was entirely insignificant. We all know the economics that moved steel production from the US to China (it's all about cheap labor, and maybe pollution laws and cheap Australian coal); the economics that would allow me to bring a packet of screws back across are now easier to understand. The coal used to fire the steel that made those screws may have actually come from Australia.

I was surprised to find that the degree of global trade goes back as far as it does. The Balclutha is the last of great sailing ships - with a relatively modern steel hull made in 1886, Glasgow, Scotland, and now sitting at the Maritime Museum in San Francisco Bay. This graphic explains the various lives of that once-mighty ship.

Free trade?

When you hear arguments related to free trade, it's usually about protecting local laws / sovereignty (tobacco restrictions in Australia) or local jobs / labour. The truth is, only the insiders know what's truly being negotiated, and the negotiations take so long because each component is haggled and traded off.

As a consumer who has moved to Australia from the United States, what I see are many consumer goods that are not available in Australia, or that are available in a very limited range at extremely inflated prices. When the goods are made in China anyway, and the only difference is whether they're shipped to the US or shipped to Australia, then it's not about protecting jobs or laws, but purely about protecting the profit margins of a small cadre of business operators with connections to the inside track.

These business operators perpetuate the notion that things are more expensive in Australia because it's a small, remote market. I call bullshit. Shipping something from China to Australia instead of the US would not account for the absurd price difference - and Australian businesses have negotiated agreements to prevent outsiders from undercutting their profit margins. I'm a consumer who doesn't shop purely based on price - I prefer to support local business and will pay a slight premium to do so. But I have a great resistance to being fleeced by profiteers who have a lock-down on the market.

Example: Security camera from Jaycar in Australia $179
Security camera from Amazon $57 - current exchange rate = $81 CANNOT BE SHIPPED TO AUSTRALIA

Australian accent

There are Australians who lament the fact that Australian youth are losing their accents,  due to exposure to American movies and television shows.  I  have made the point that the American accent they fear is not an American regional accent,  but a sanitized and more elocuted version of English spoken by television announcers that regional Americans can understand,  and that true regional accents of the US are disappearing as well,  in favor of this bland national version that can be universally understood. 

G'day mate: 'Lazy' Australian accent caused by 'alcoholic slur' of heavy-drinking early settlers

Vinnies

Vinnies is 'stralian for St. Vincent's.

Watching my phone drive across town

Crap. I know exactly where my Android phone is... the recycling guy wouldn't take my bin because it had wood in it. So I ran out and removed the wood, in the process, dropping my phone from my shirt pocket into the bin. The guy wasn't happy because I slowed him down, and now I can see that my phone is in the truck on the other side of town, headed towards the recycling center. The Council is going to try to track it down; meanwhile I either buy an new phone or have none. (called Council using Skype).

Stranglehold of bureaucracy

Below is something you would never see in Australia, due to the overwhelming political influence of its TAFE (Technical And Further Education) system. While the TAFE system is very good about training non-university citizens, its political clout means that there are a huge number of jobs for which it is the gatekeeper - no one gets through the gate without first paying their dues to the TAFE system and getting a specified certificate. The Australian government likes to pretend that in a rapidly changing economy, every job category can have a TAFE certificate program up and running, and sign off participants before they engage in the given economic activity.

Meanwhile, in the United States:

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:

EDUCATION: Sufficient to perform all tasks and read and follow standard operating policies, procedures and regulatory materials.

Earthworm

Back home, we have earthworms and we have nightcrawlers - the big ones. I haven't seen many nightcrawlers in Australia, but this one was living in the bottom of a potted agave plant.

Twenty-one items, one test

I applaud the government program to screen everyone in its health care system for bowel cancer. My first thoughts though... cancer - they give you toxic chemicals and cut things out of you, and it's still a long, painful death. Why bother? Once detected, why not just die quickly and avoid the prolonged suffering? And so my first question: "Is it curable?!" And the version of that question more people probably ask: "Should I bother doing this test??"

Unfortunately, NONE of the twenty-one items included in this thoughtful government-funded package answered that question quickly and concisely. I opened it immediately to see what it was, followed by a "Oh yeah. They sent a letter saying they were going to send this." So you might say that's twenty-three items, because I'm counting envelopes and postage as an expense. So I let it sit for about a week because I'm not that enthusiastic about trying to catch feces and put it into small tubes.

Finally, after about a week, I started sorting through the twenty-one items included in the package, looking for the directions, the crucial items, AND the answer to my question: "Why bother?!" I don't recall the cover letter really giving me much motivation - I did actually read it and couldn't tell you what it said. As I'm flipping through the material, I'm thinking maybe the little booklet has the answer - yes, the little booklet I was going to read some day. And because I'm familiar with large volumes of verbiage, I looked in the index of the booklet and there it was; EIGHTH item in the table of contents: Can bowel cancer be cured? I have to flip to page five to find the answer. And there it is - not in bold font - on front of the package exclaiming "WHY YOU SHOULD BOTHER!" but three quarters down the page in text that blends with everything else that basically reads "blah, blah, blah":

Bowel cancer is one of the most curable types of cancers if found early. That is why completing the free screening test sent to you is so important.

Oh. Why didn't you tell me that? I might have done the test right away, and someone else might have actually done the test, rather than leaving it on their counter for a year or so, thinking "Too much trouble. Why bother?"

Things about Australia that seem bizarre

This course costs $5200. It's called Captive Animals, Certificate III. This is the advanced certificate - ideally you'd have Certificate II before you spend an extra $5200 to get the Certificate III. Taking care of animals in cages. As someone who grew up in the country, it seems incredibly bizarre that you would not only have to get a certificate, you'd have to pay extra money to get the advanced certificate to do something like this. I could see getting some training - but $5200 worth? For a job like this? This is not even the level of a veterinary assistant - it's just cleaning cages; feeding animals?! Yeah, diseases, hygiene, blah, blah, blah - maybe a week of material? Nobody cleaning cages is going to remember all the potential pathenogenic agents - they'll just know a) get your shots and b) don't get bitten.

Respect for Authoritarians

When your reputation is more important than the reality of who you are and what's really happening...  Australian private schools seem to have a lot in common with the Catholic Church.

http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/royal-commission-cranbrook-headmaster-knew-about-child-sex-abuse-allegations-20150909-gjia4h.html

Fauna

Something about this sentence delights me:  Considering that the entire Australian fauna seems to have gone to school on the short bus,  even Neanderthal-class hunters would have caused a mass extinction.  Denisovians in Wallacea?

Tracking citizens

The US and Australia have a very different approach to identity and citizen tracking. In some ways, the system in the US promotes the activities it supposedly prevents.

In Australia, you have to verify your identity to obtain a cell phone number. The government isn't specifically tracking people, but requires telecommunications companies to retain two years of data, in case law enforcement does need the data. And of course with national health care, the government has access to everyone's health information - even addresses are linked to identity in this system.

In the US, on the other hand, because people are paranoid about the government tracking people, there is a paranoia about identity cards, databases, and the government being able to follow people. Anyone can get a cell phone number using whatever name they like. There are many different databases (most have been hacked by now). The social security number is used as a de facto national identity (making identity theft an amateur occupation). Health information has for the past 10+ years been used to deny people insurance coverage (new laws prohibit this, but everyone is still wary). And of course, we all know that in the absence of other means, the government has developed methods for recording every phone conversation.

And I'm wondering - have Australia's databases not been hacked (except by Rupert Murdoch), or have they just managed to not get the breaches in the news?

Have things changed?

I'd like to tag the guy in the tall hat with the names of a couple of Australian politicians, as well as a handful of people I've met who are associated with the university.

Bottom of the labor ladder

Taiwan is considered a developed nation, so it's surprising that jobs that would go to Mexicans in the US are taken by Taiwanese in Australia. --not exclusively -- there are young people from many nations who are on "working holiday" visas, and it's big business here. But at a hiring seminar, the person doing screening said there are many Taiwanese ex-military working in Australian housekeeping jobs. Meatworks whistleblower Amy Chang facing sacking from Teys Cargill abattoir after helping injured worker

Barnaby Joyce still defensive

Barnaby Joyce is still trying to defend himself in a recent editorial. Who has made a joke of Australia's biosecurity? Barnaby Joyce. The world now knows that those with private jets weren't being subjected to sniffer dogs and bag inspection. Or, at least they weren't until Barnaby Joyce needed to defend that two dogs got through. A dog wouldn't be able to smell another dog? Come on, Barnaby - someone wasn't doing their job. But instead of admitting there was a security breach, your answer is to jump on the world stage and threaten the death sentence for two Yorkshire terriers? Nice diversion, but yes, as they say, something about closing the stable door after the horse has bolted?

Your message about biosecurity might be taken a little more seriously if you'd just admit that someone screwed up and stop trying to defend your ridiculous bluster that the offending terriers needed to be put to death. - Barnaby Joyce: why I let fly at Johnny Depp

Aboriginal anti-hero

Not bad for a white fella? I got a "Distinction" on my Contemporary Indigenous Health and Wellbeing essay. But there is something that was never quite explained in the class. "WARNING: use caution viewing this film, as it may contain images or voices of dead persons."

I asked. I got an answer: the deceased needs to get on with their journey. When you use their name, you are calling them back. It is a sign of respect to not call them back and disturb their spirit by using their name.

Yet a big part of the class was learning about - "naming", if you will, deceased Aboriginal "heroes". In my mind, I developed an elaborate mental construct of a culture that didn't have heroes. What is a hero after all? It's making someone larger than human; it's the pinnacle of a hierarchical society - becoming a hero. In the hero culture, notable historical figures are no longer human, but shining, flawless creatures. I imagined a culture where there were no heroes, no hierarchy; only humans, with the elders representing the cultural wisdom - as humans, not heroes. And I imagined that the class needed to name Aboriginal "heroes" because white people needed the "hero version" to respect Aboriginal culture; they couldn't just respect people for being people. I imagined a culture where no matter how impressive or large someone was in life, once dead, they pass into the realm of The Dreaming, and the dreaming is everyone and everything; not just reserved for heroes. History books are filled with heroes; The Dreaming is the reflective moment in everyone's mind.

I imagined the strange irony of white culture posting images of Aboriginal "heroes" everywhere, as an attempt to generate respect, but at the same time, disrespecting by calling the deceased back from their journey.

It turns out my imagined culture was not quite right. I consulted with the spirits of my culture - Wikipedia - and they told me that after a couple of years, you can name the deceased. That the restriction on naming is not just about calling the deceased back from their journey, but it's also about the pain of the living, and to help the living get on with their journey out of sorry business. After a few years, the pain is not as intense, and the deceased are settled in The Dreaming, and the cycle goes on.

Is that right? Is the Bible right? Everybody's got their own interpretation and there are countless branches of religion. Hey, Wikipedia also says in Aboriginal culture, I don't have to talk to my mother-in-law?!

Barnaby Joyce, redux

I always wonder if I'm stating the obvious.  But Barnaby Joyce has sparked my imagination, so there's more...  The incident illustrates so many issues.

First: the true face of nationalism in the modern world.  People in
Australia have dogs for pets.  People in the US,  France,  and any
number of other developed nations not only have dogs for pets,  but also
nearly the exact same level of veterinary care for those dogs.  Any
international traveler,  even from an undeveloped country,  if they can
afford to bring their dog on an airplane,  likely has a high level of
veterinary oversight of that dog. Yet most nations likely have more
streamlined procedures for bulk shipping of carcasses than individual live
pets that have likely received a higher level of veterinary oversight.  Every
nation likes to pretend it's guarding its borders against foreign
pestilence,  but likely only has spot checks for the high volume of
commercial traffic in plants and animals.  Sure,  shippers get certified
or inspected.  Sure,  corruption and shortcuts exist in every country. 
Except on Barnaby Joyce's watch!*

*except private planes

The petty bureaucrat gets his moment in the spotlight. In this moment,
the unspoken hero guarding borders and keeping Australia safe from
pestilence becomes MORE POWERFUL THAN THE SEXIEST MAN ON EARTH. Just ask
him!  He can put these animals to death!  It's the law!  Power often
makes people,  especially men,  more sexy than their physical bodies
might suggest. But even though Barnaby Joyce is strutting his power and Australian might to the world, he would never be corrupted that way.  Nor would he
consider that the department of agriculture might potentially make some
really good income operating a high end quarantine "spa"  for pampered
jet-setting pets. Nope -  they must be put to death.  Because Australia
must set an example -  not just for the world of Johnny Depp fans who
may be tempted to smuggle small lap dogs,  but for poor asylum seekers
as well.  Pistol and Boo weren't even offered the Nauru or Papua New
Guinea option,  and if Barnaby Joyce were in charge of immigration, 
Australia could cut millions from its asylum seeker offshore prisons.*  Just think of the tax savings?!

*Australia's Guantanamo

Pistol & Boo buggered off...

Nothing against Mr. Depp, but I would bet that Pistol and Boo are healthier than he is.  Although Mr. Joyce is entirely correct, he might have been a bit more diplomatic in his approach.  He doesn't portray the effort to keep a nation free from invasive pests in as positive light as the matter deserves.  Instead, like many self-important Australians, he wears the anti-American chip proudly on his shoulder.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssIoi7r_u-Q

Nice for Cyclists

Sydney has a small stretch of bicycle lanes like this, but for much fo the suburbs it's a cycling hell of honking cars. Raised bike lanes

Tomato - precious commodity?!

In Australia, numerous meals come with "chips", or as we refer to them in the US, french fries. The problem is THEY DON'T GIVE YOU KETCHUP!!! You have to pay extra for condiments at a horrendously inflated price. Someone who works in a restaurant argued, "well why should non-consumers be forced to subsidize the cost of this?" For one thing, I've never been in a restaurant that charges for salt, pepper, sugar, or cream. For another, the PRICE IS RIDICULOUS. The person argued that those little packs are expensive. Fifty cents each?! Give me a break. The best answer I can come up with, if the restaurants are being overcharged, is that Master Foods seems to have a monopoly on ketchup pack distribution in Australia. I'm no fan of McDonald's, but it's one of the few places in Australia that give you complimentary ketchup. Or tomato sauce, as they refer to it locally, and often it's just that - not the appropriately spiced blend that it is in the US. This article only tells 1/2 the story!

Wars and Holidays

The United States has Veterans Day, Memorial Day, and Independence Day. Veterans Day is celebrated as Armistice Day elsewhere (end of WWI). Memorial Day was formerly Decoration Day to commemorate the dead soldiers on both sides of the Civil War. Independence Day is the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence from Britain.

In my last five years in the US, it seemed that these three holidays had psychologically merged into similar generic "support our troops" flag-waving holidays. Of course the predominant message in the American media is HOLIDAY SALE!!! But the "serious" sentiment was moving towards stripping these holidays of their original meaning and shifting the focus towards a generic "support our troops". Veterans Day and Memorial Day were especially more prone to this generic merging than Independence Day, which seems to have become referred to more as "July Fourth" or the "July Fourth Holiday" than Independence Day; more about BBQ and less about England. Of course, flag-waving (and retail sales) predominate on all three occasions. There have been some really good articles published about how the general American public has become removed from the hardship of war and of realities faced by soldiers - hence increased mythologizing and praise for these increasingly rare participants.

And so with this perspective, I encounter the 100th Anniversary ANZAC Day, and attempt to get an immigrant's perspective on Australia's two major holidays - ANZAC Day and Australia Day. As an American, both of these holidays were unknown to me. As the curmudgeon that I am, the more I see, the more I put them into the same category as the strangely merged American "support our troops" triumvirate, which is to say, Celebrations of Empire.

ANZAC Day is an especially odd celebration of nationalism in the face of its citizenry being fed into what was a meat grinder at Gallipoli. Australia Day is taking on the same sickly tinge that has added pallor to Columbus Day in the United States. Australia Day and Columbus Day both more realistically commemorate a meeting of civilizations where the original inhabitants did not fare well (inadvertently introduced diseases killing more than actual warfare).

Although all Australian holidays can be seen as occasions for extended alcohol consumption, I give the Australians more credit than the Americans at least in terms of maintaining the storyline of their holidays, and a larger focus on meaning. Even if that meaning is blatant, nationalistic propaganda, and has sometimes not-so-subtle overtones of white supremacy. Here and there, Americans acknowledge that the national theme is all about an elusive (to most) get-rich-quick scheme (the pursuit of happiness). But there's a great American pretense that all holidays are celebrating some historical event, rather than what they really are, which is the larger agenda to promote consumerism.

Succulents

Since I've moved to Sydney, it seems I've had bad timing. Trivial, yes, but this is the best timing I've had for anything I've done here - got some succulent starts potted before the big rainstorm hit.

Coconut water

Thought I was getting coconut water, but maybe coconut water with cane sugar? And I got most of the sugar in the first three sips (oops). Great Vietnamese chicken sandwich (locally referred to as "roll"). Unfortunately, I didn't write down the name of the shop, but I've eaten there three times now. From Google Maps, looks like about 18 Quay Street, Sydney, but their streetview doesn't show the current sign. The sandwich was $5.50, the drink $3.50 - which is more than I usually spend for lunch; I often go without the drink.

Tut tut... Looks like rain!

Two days of umbrella crushing wind and rain! Yesterday I sat indoors thinking of how miserable it looked. Today I put in some contact lenses, put on appropriate clothing, and was invigorated by the brisk weather. The best part - I shared an Olympic swimming pool with only two other people. This garbage can (locally referred to as rubbish bin) just happened to be conveniently located in a spot where wind whipped around a large building.

What's an Aboriginal person look like?

This photo exhibit, which I saw in 2013, was my first exposure and realization that Australian Aboriginal people were not of the stereotypical portrayal. I've more recently learned that 75% of Aboriginal people live in the urban or suburban areas. The popular portrayal seems to be based more on very remote villages, where, like Native Americans, disparate groups were placed either near ancestral lands, or far away for convenience, as their land was taken over by mining or other interests. Black on White: our stories

Steam heat

New steam heat radiator. In a couple of months I'll be living somewhere that has heat! How is winter in Sydney? It's like San Francisco winter, minus that week when it snows on Mt. Tam.

Easter insanity

Easter in Australia means a Friday and Monday holiday. And in Sydney, Thursday is usually a "shopping" night - which is to say the stores usually close at around 6pm, but on Thursdays, they stay open until 9pm. So I foolishly went shopping this Thursday evening. Craazy. Grocery chain Woolworth's had most of the bread gone when I was shopping around 7:30pm. In some areas shelves were empty, lots of people circulating and boxes stacked in the aisles. Meanwhile, on the overhead were announcements that fish, deli meats, flowers, and milk products were all going 1/2 price to move them out before the store closed for four days.

Where the livin' is easy?

For too many years,  before I got my Clinical Laboratory License in California,  I bounced back and forth between Indiana and California.  It seemed easier to get half-way decent employment in Indiana,  whereas in California,  the wages never quite met the living expenses. The pay wasn't great in Indiana either,  but the lower cost of living made it a living wage.

Now,  it seems I'm poised to bounce back to California.  Sydney might be a decent enough place if you had the income to meet the cost of living.  But lacking that,  it's like the rat race anywhere desirable,  with a crowd of people competing to catch the bottom rung of the ladder.

Trivial monstrosities

Socks. Bought a variety for Christmas; not that thrilled. Tried to go back to what I like in the US - Gold Toe. Doesn't ship to Australia. Looking online, top advertisement is eBay. A huge number of socks being sold as "gold toe" that aren't Gold Toe brand. And then there's this kind of stuff:
Men’s Gold Toe Socks 4 pairs Brand New With Tags Size 10-13
AU $16.47

+AU $90.02 postage

Permission, Currency, and Identity Crisis: a tale of technology amuck in Sydney

(l-r: UTS locker card, City of Sydney Swimming Pool pass, UTS ID card, Transport NSW transit pass, Australian $2 coin)

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. --Arthur C. Clarke.

The greatest enemy of technology is poorly implemented technology. --Me.

One fine morning, I decided to go to the swimming pool, which is downtown near where I go to school. Rather than paying two dollars for a locker at the pool, I've paid for a locker at school, which is a few blocks away. The idea of course is to stash valuables in the locker and only take what I need to the pool.

I take the light rail, which accepts the MyMulti card, even though their system is only set up for the new Opal card (UTS hasn't groomed their database yet to selectively give the transit agency verification data on students). A conductor manually stamps a date on the MyMulti card, and subsequent conductors sight the date to tell if the card is expired (seriously). If passengers have an Opal card, the conductor runs a detector over the smart card to see if the fare was actually paid. Trains and buses all have machines that imprint the magnetic stripe on the MyMulti card, but the newer light rail was set up for Opal, a system that will eventually be in all the transit.

I get to school and use my school ID card to get into the lounge area where the lockers are. I use my locker smart card to unlock the locker. As I'm exiting the building, I realize I'll need my student ID to get back into the lounge, so I go back to the locker and get it.

Outside, I realize they've torn down the parking garage and walkway I usually take to the pool. I imagine it's a long walk around this mega-construction project, so I decide to go back to my locker, pick up my MyMulti card, and take the train back to the pool. When I come back out, I ask someone who tells me there's a passageway through the construction zone, so I didn't need to go back and get the transit card.

I use the City of Sydney 360 Pool Pass to get into the pool. I go swimming. Afterward, as I'm rinsing off in the shower, on the floor I spy... a two dollar coin - exactly what would have saved me a number of convolutions to this story.

Political theater

Slightly over two years in Australia, I am now in my second round of very obvious political theater related to the position of prime minister. In what seems to an American as a bizarre exercise in governmental dysfunction, if the popularity of the prime minister is flagging, the leadership position can be replaced by someone from within the ruling party. The part that seems crazy is that it all seems to be driven by rumors fomented by the press.

The opposition, of course, is continuously nagging that the leader is inadequate and wrong-headed. This seems rather standard for democracy, this constant, petulant sniping. Rather than a dignified debate, there are always dire warnings of imminent doom if one or the other party has their way. What is different in Australia is that at some point the press starts pointing to polls that the prime minister has lost face with the public, and then the rumors start that the party is considering replacing them. The press starts making the rounds of other prominent party members who might step up into the leadership position. Since admitting to any aspiration would mean they are traitorous bastards, everyone denies discord and claims allegiance. The press keeps up their hounding, and party members keep up their denial, until at some point there is such noise in the media that the party is forced to meet and definitively quash or confirm that it's time to switch horses in the middle of the river.

Then the opposition says, "Look! How can you rely on a party that switches horses in the middle of the river?" An election is called, and the Queen wins, because she is regally above this gaggle of buffoons.

This, of course, is not to say that America has devised a much better system, with its fixed terms. Rather than voting no confidence, switching leaders, and then calling an election, Americans are stuck for a full term with the slippery used car salesmen who have charmed their votes. And since they're there for the duration, gridlock ensues for the remainder of the obstinate members' time in office.

Maybe some day I should take a political science class.

Found in a used book shop

Australia Museum, Aztecs, and mites

I revisited Sydney's Australia Museum yesterday, since rain was predicted for the entire day and for now I get a student discount. The exhibits all seemed the same as in my thorough visit about three years ago, except, of course for the traveling Aztec exhibit. The Aztecs, Mayans, and Incas have always been a bit muddled in my mind; all having been advanced civilizations practicing human sacrifice. So the exhibit was a good refresher:

• Mayans - of course - they have the peninsula named after them.
• Incas - South America, Machu Picchu and the Andes make this one the easiest to remember
• Aztecs? hmm... ok, there's the vague one. Mexico City. MesoAmerica... they got the turf to the west; both north and south of the Mayans. It's a moving border, with the rise and fall of alliances.

So Aztecs... connection with Australia? I was a bit saddened that the exhibit made no mention of the most amazing movie Apocalypto, by Australian Mel Gibson. Maybe they didn't mention the movie because a quick search reveals it was supposed to be about Mayans, but the rituals depicted were more Aztec? Some references call it racist? And while the museum did mention that sacrificed bodies were rolled down the giant steps of the temple, maybe the movie's graphic depiction of heads rolling seemed more sensational than academic. I've been to other exhibits (hmmm... Mayan or Aztec?), so I knew a bit about their means of ensuring social order and population control (elaborate ritual wars and human sacrifices). But I did learn something new! Apparently, the priests would wear the flayed skin of those who were sacrificed - until the skin rotted and fell off of their bodies! That's one that defies the imagination. And I don't recall seeing it in the movie! I am trying to imagine wearing a maggot-infested body suit.

Regarding the other exhibits, the birds and insects seemed a bit tired, but I was prompted to consider the the role of mites in the world. Class: Arachnida Subclass: Acari / Acarina. One of the early facts I learned is that Australia has a tick whose bite can cause paralysis and even death. The exhibit was not very helpful in exploring this topic, but it did make me wonder. Normally, one would think that a species can't be exterminated without having some greater effect on the ecosystem. But what about ticks and mites? Is there really any wonderful creature that relies only on ticks and mites for their survival? Or could we potentially wipe out an entire subclass, to great relief, and have no other impact on the ecosystem as a whole? Of course, we now know that to accomplish this task, the use of something like DDT, with much broader effects would be entirely inappropriate. But maybe a biological agent that only affects the Acari subclass? Once it was wiped out, we'd probably find some incredible unknown role that Acari play.

And the birds... The Birds! How could an entire room full of stuffed birds be brought to life while still retaining the historic nobility of their wood and glass cases? Interactivity! Discrete little panels adjacent to each wood case - press a button by their name, hear their call. The entire room would be a joyous cacophony!

Intemperate

Today I was accused of taking an "intemperate swat" at someone. This "intemperate swat" was totally via email - he was replying to my email. All I could think was what a beautiful phrase. Ah, to be British. But let me add, it's not easy being a vulgar American here.

Spiders!! ...or maybe not.

Creepy... I've come to terms with the spiders here in Australia - they're not really as bad as some of the horror pictures that have gone around the internet (millions of them after a flood, large ones eating birds - though I did see a lizard caught in a spider web). But today I felt something itchy on my chest. I go to scratch it and CRUNCH. But... what was it?! There's only a gooey black mess under my fingernail, about 1/4 the size of a pencil eraser. Am I feeling twitchy now? Tingling in my limbs? ok - an hour later, I'm still alive. Oh - and one other time I had a necrotic spot on my leg that was probably a small spider in my clothes. Fortunately, the spot healed rather than grew. Will small doses make me immune? Or will small doses affect my speaking ability, causing me to have a strange accent?

Drink and walk?

ok... Australia has frequent roadblocks to catch "drink drivers". They have a certification system for bartenders with strict rules about serving people who are already drunk. So now... what?! Evidence that Australians take their drinking seriously (in one way or another). ...no, I wasn't drunk when I took this photo - dim light; no flash on cell phone.