My recent purchase of an Ipod and discovery of podcasts has allowed my to stay in contact with the world even in the remotest and disconnected places in the world. Two things I heard recently pricked my interest.
Viagra - Rogue Economics
It turns out that the world is awash with fake pharmaceuticals, for example, almost 90 percent of the pills sold in Nigeria are fake. Of course this generates huge amounts of money for those notorious and shady criminal gangs, so much so that the trade in fake Viagra involves more money than the global heroin trade. One wonders why the bizarre moral crusade against heroin producers, sellers and users completely ignores this larger trade, which presumably has all the same delirious effects.
I can't wait for those public service messages about how buying fake Viagra supports terrorism.
Bananas - Jungle Capitalist - Peter Chapman
Bananas as a affordable fruit have only been around for a hundred years, mass cultivation only started at the end of the 18th century when Americans went to Costa Rica to build a railway line linking the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. The intensive monoculture of a specific type of banana has created a genetic defect that makes bananas susceptible to a variety of diseases and insects. Unless a new type of disease resistant banana is found or made, the world is likely to see the end of bananas as we know them in six or seven years.
So, eat up your nanas while you can.
A travel blog for the thinking clown who has drunk a little too much of the local tap water
Loiterer wisdom (II)- Linguistics
Modern English is the Wal-Mart of languages: convenient, huge, hard to avoid, superficially friendly, and devouring all rivals in its eagerness to expand. -Mark Abley, journalist (b. 1955)
On the inside wall of a cabana in Puerto Escondido there was some graffiti that read "FUCK LES ANGLAIS" One wonders whether French has been so emasculated that the French can no long swear at the English in their own language. And whether there are a bunch of toffs sitting in some academy in Paris writing the rules of French specifically prohibiting the use of the word FUCK in French.
The Wisdom of Back Packers - pass the dooby to the left hand side
So I managed to finally extricate myself from Emery and Indira's spare room and am back on the road again, after a weekend in Michocan and a day in Mexico City... and immediately I am reminded of why I love hanging out with backpackers.
After landing in Puerto Escondido at 6 in the morning, with an eight hour overnight bus ride under my belt I managed to find my way to a youf hostel, and collapse in to bed. later in the day as I am sitting on the terrace, reading my book and enjoying the breeze I am joined by a multinational crew of young gentleman. The hot topic is dooby passing etiquette, with an American holding forth on his opinion -
100,000 dead in Burma, an earthquake in China - just keep toking
Am I too old and cynical for this crap ?
After landing in Puerto Escondido at 6 in the morning, with an eight hour overnight bus ride under my belt I managed to find my way to a youf hostel, and collapse in to bed. later in the day as I am sitting on the terrace, reading my book and enjoying the breeze I am joined by a multinational crew of young gentleman. The hot topic is dooby passing etiquette, with an American holding forth on his opinion -
Well I always pass to the left, but you know back home, if you pass it around it never comes back. But, yeah, here, usually I pass to the left, because you now, its just habit. Unless, you know, the person who rolled it is sitting on the right, in that case I would pass to the right, but usually, yeah, its to the left.His German and Australian friend, nod at this sage advice and then give their opinion.
100,000 dead in Burma, an earthquake in China - just keep toking
Am I too old and cynical for this crap ?
Futbol a la Mexicana
So enough of the touch feely metrosexual stuff - on Tuesday night I headed off to Stadium Jalisco to watch the local team Atlas play against a south american team in the Copa de Libertadores.
The game didn't start until around 9.20 and it was a warm pleasant evening, the only negative beng the stadium was only half full. As we made our way to the stadium together with the throng of fellow attendees almost all dressed in the red and black of Atlas we passed various food stands - mainly tacos, each with its particularly pungent aroma of meat frying in its own fat wafting through the crowd- and it reminded me how sterile the same scene would be in Australia.
After a tense first 30 minutes, the beer man arrived - more accurately, we hollered for the beer man and he arrived. Where else in the world can you go to a stadium and have people bring around ice cold beer - (I started to thing of the business opportunities for the MCG) Further, and perhaps more importantly, after the beerman expertly poured each of our two beers in to a large plastic cup - he charged us five bucks each.
The lack of a screen meant that the fullest attention had to be paid to all the action, and whether it is the size of the pitch or the size of the stadium I did feel much closer to the action. After Atlas scored the crowd started to get revved up a little, but it still would have been outdone by a decent MCG throng. However in the second half things got a little more interesting, the visitors scored an equaliser and you could hear a pin drop in the stadium. After not too long Atlas scored again and the crowd regained its voice, every one was on their feet, horns played at full volume came out of who knows where and there. There was so much excitement that a message came over the loud speaker saying soething along the lines of
This didn't bother the fans as the song was blasting over the loud speaker, despite the 2-2 result Atlas had won (thanks to an earlier away victory) and would advance to the next round.
As real football is my only point of comparison, one of the key things I noticed was that the small amount of scoring in soccer diminishes the opportunity of the crowd to participate in the game - rather than smart arse comments and the relief and excitement a long bomb from outside 50 generates, there is more of a general signing and ooohinng and ahhing going on. (Or maybe my primitive Spanish meant I missed the cleverness of the songs)
Next time we will be heading to Stadium Azteca in Mexico City for a sellout. The stadium holds 110,000 fans, and no doubt plenty of beermen too.
Thanks to Emery, Javier and Raul for another true tapatio experience
The game didn't start until around 9.20 and it was a warm pleasant evening, the only negative beng the stadium was only half full. As we made our way to the stadium together with the throng of fellow attendees almost all dressed in the red and black of Atlas we passed various food stands - mainly tacos, each with its particularly pungent aroma of meat frying in its own fat wafting through the crowd- and it reminded me how sterile the same scene would be in Australia.
After a tense first 30 minutes, the beer man arrived - more accurately, we hollered for the beer man and he arrived. Where else in the world can you go to a stadium and have people bring around ice cold beer - (I started to thing of the business opportunities for the MCG) Further, and perhaps more importantly, after the beerman expertly poured each of our two beers in to a large plastic cup - he charged us five bucks each.
The lack of a screen meant that the fullest attention had to be paid to all the action, and whether it is the size of the pitch or the size of the stadium I did feel much closer to the action. After Atlas scored the crowd started to get revved up a little, but it still would have been outdone by a decent MCG throng. However in the second half things got a little more interesting, the visitors scored an equaliser and you could hear a pin drop in the stadium. After not too long Atlas scored again and the crowd regained its voice, every one was on their feet, horns played at full volume came out of who knows where and there. There was so much excitement that a message came over the loud speaker saying soething along the lines of
Being in the upper tier myself, and being aware of the Hecho en Mexico reputation I was a little concerned. In the last minutes the visitors scored again, after a free kick, which itself had resulted in a fair bit of fisty cuffs. The crowd fell silent again, the tension rose, and everyone was glued to the attempts by Atlas to try and score in the remaining few minutes. The game then descended in to hand to hand combat - as players from both sides seemed to be picking each other off behind play. (But as usual in soccer all contact is exaggerated so there was no real damage) So the game ended with the referee surrounded by players from both sides and the cops trying to pull everyone apart.
Patrons are reminded that for there own safety those in the upper tiers should not jump up and down
This didn't bother the fans as the song was blasting over the loud speaker, despite the 2-2 result Atlas had won (thanks to an earlier away victory) and would advance to the next round.
As real football is my only point of comparison, one of the key things I noticed was that the small amount of scoring in soccer diminishes the opportunity of the crowd to participate in the game - rather than smart arse comments and the relief and excitement a long bomb from outside 50 generates, there is more of a general signing and ooohinng and ahhing going on. (Or maybe my primitive Spanish meant I missed the cleverness of the songs)
Next time we will be heading to Stadium Azteca in Mexico City for a sellout. The stadium holds 110,000 fans, and no doubt plenty of beermen too.
Thanks to Emery, Javier and Raul for another true tapatio experience
Loiterer Wisdom
The problem with love (and associated feelings for those who have logophobia) is that it makes you take things overly seriously - never more than when it has been lost.
The spontaneity, the joy and the wonder are chased out by the little, black terrier.
The seemingly unavoidable and irritatingly persistent question, will I ever feel that way again, repeatedly bludgeons the door of the mind, sending all other thoughts scurrying in to exodus
, robbing you of the taste of the world, making you excessively introspective, depressed, analysing over and over tiny vignettes of the past, even tending to the nihilistic.
And then one day, you suddenly find yourself playing with some kids who don't know how to stop laughing - to the point that you end up covered in their regurgitated chocolaty saliva. And the contagion of capricious laughter infects you, and suddenly even the morose bugger you have been for the last couple of weeks makes you laugh.
And suddenly the weight on your shoulders seems a little lighter, the dark tunnel a little shorter and the world a little tastier.
High Court Says Prisoners Have Right to Vote
So every once in a while I feel the legaleagle in me trying to get out and I begin wondering what is happening on the legal landscape in Oz - that's what 10 years at law skool does to you. (The best way to keep in touch is Radio National's Law Report www.abc.net.au/rn/lawreport) Since I haven't paid back any of my HECS yet, in an attempt to share some of the knowledge that I gained courtesy of the public purse, I thought I might share some legaleagle things with one and all.
It is not every day that you read about the High Court of Australia upholding fundamental rights - like the right to vote. So it was with some glee that I read about the HCA decision in August last year.
As a little background, in 2006 the Howard Government passed legislation which prevented all the perps in the slammer from voting. That meant that around 25,000 people who were serving sentences less than two years would lose the right to vote.
A female prisoner in Victoria challenged the law as unconstitutional, in that it denied the provision of the Constitution which required the parliament to be elected directly by the people.
Interestingly, the High Court agreed with the argument, and for the first time in a long time upheld what is an implied right. (All the more striking considering the pretty much the whole Court has been appointed by Honest John) The High Court however upheld the prohibition on prisoners serving more than 3 years.
George Williams, one of those Contsitutional Law professor-know-it-alls described the decision as land mark, “Never in our history have we had a vindication of our right to vote. This is the first someone has actually won the right to vote in the High Court’’
Could this be a sign of a High Court willing to use a more creative interpretation of the Constitution - returning to the high water years of the Mason High Court in the 80's and 90's or was the Court just as pissed at Howard as the rest of the country and wanted to have its say too.
Interesting the QC who ran the case was no other than Ron Merkel, a former Federal Court judge who handed down the Rubibi Native Title Determination that I had the privilege of attending in Broome back in 2006.
The sad part of this story is that the applicant was an Aboriginal, who FYI are incarcerated at 13 times the rate of non-Aboriginals in Oz. First an apology then a bit of action.
It is not every day that you read about the High Court of Australia upholding fundamental rights - like the right to vote. So it was with some glee that I read about the HCA decision in August last year.
As a little background, in 2006 the Howard Government passed legislation which prevented all the perps in the slammer from voting. That meant that around 25,000 people who were serving sentences less than two years would lose the right to vote.
A female prisoner in Victoria challenged the law as unconstitutional, in that it denied the provision of the Constitution which required the parliament to be elected directly by the people.
Interestingly, the High Court agreed with the argument, and for the first time in a long time upheld what is an implied right. (All the more striking considering the pretty much the whole Court has been appointed by Honest John) The High Court however upheld the prohibition on prisoners serving more than 3 years.
George Williams, one of those Contsitutional Law professor-know-it-alls described the decision as land mark, “Never in our history have we had a vindication of our right to vote. This is the first someone has actually won the right to vote in the High Court’’
Could this be a sign of a High Court willing to use a more creative interpretation of the Constitution - returning to the high water years of the Mason High Court in the 80's and 90's or was the Court just as pissed at Howard as the rest of the country and wanted to have its say too.
Interesting the QC who ran the case was no other than Ron Merkel, a former Federal Court judge who handed down the Rubibi Native Title Determination that I had the privilege of attending in Broome back in 2006.
The sad part of this story is that the applicant was an Aboriginal, who FYI are incarcerated at 13 times the rate of non-Aboriginals in Oz. First an apology then a bit of action.
Cheque this out
Check (no pun intended) out this news item on the BBC (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7380637.stm)
How would you work out the change ? And if the account holder had given permission what would have happened
How would you work out the change ? And if the account holder had given permission what would have happened
Texan tries to cash $360bn cheque
 The 10 zeros proved to be a stumbling block |
A man in the US state of Texas has been arrested for allegedly trying to cash a cheque for $360bn (£182bn).
Charles Ray Fuller had said he wanted to start a record business, authorities in the state said.
The 21-year-old's attempt to cash the money in a bank in Fort Worth failed when staff spotted the 10 zeros on the personal cheque.
Mr Fuller was arrested on a charge of forgery and was released on bail of $3,750 (£1,900).
$1m scams
The man from North Texas said he had been given the cheque by his girlfriend's mother.
The bank said it had contacted the account owner and had been told she had not given Mr Fuller permission to either take or cash the cheque.
Fort Worth police said Mr Fuller also faced charges of unlawfully carrying a weapon and possessing cannabis.
Officers said a small amount of cannabis and a .25-calibre pistol were found in his pocket.
In October last year a man in the city of Pittsburgh was arrested after he handed over a counterfeit $1m bill to a cashier at a supermarket and asked for change.
Three years earlier a woman was arrested after trying to use a fake $1m bill at a supermarket in Georgia.
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