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.