Not every blogger would begin a history of the 2010s with a vignette in which the oldest house in King Street is peppered with stories from the dream team Peter, Linda and the richest man in the world.

2010 is not any old year. It marks the centenary year for the Australian Taxation Office, a silver anniversary of the introduction of capital gains tax and a ten anniversary of GST (31 January 2000 to be exact - according to Phil).
Australia Post will honour our centenary with a commemorative stamp that will be circulated among our public. It will be co-designed by tax office staff and launched before November 11, 2010.
The Royal Australian Mint will honour our centenary with a circulating 20 cent coin. It will be designed by tax office staff and released in 2010.

Indeed, GST has been with us for nearly 10 years. This time ten years ago, there was talk of riots in the streets and fears of a consumer strike as prices went up and the threat of price policeman Alan Fels waving his stick. But as it turns out that was the least of our worries. Dr Ken Henry - I like to pay taxes. With them I buy civilization

Recent Survey: Taxpayers giving the rich a cheap ride: survey - Most Australians believe high-income earners do not pay enough tax, and nearly all think low- and middle-income earners pay too much

Taxation is the price we pay for civilization. A Taxing Year to Remember
Michael D'Ascenzo who is widely recognised in Australia and globally for his expertise in taxation and superannuation. (Note - Michael D'Ascenzo is not related to a Canadian actor who is known as Rainbow "Rain" Papadakis in the children's television show Naturally, Sadie.)

Michael D’Ascenzo took up his role as antipodean Commissioner of Taxation on 1 January 2006. When Michael D’Ascenzo joined the Tax Office in 1977, during the bohemian Havel’s Charter 77, he was captured by the exciting work associated with challenging the tax avoidance schemes of the late 1970s and early 1980s, particularly trust stripping and ‘bottom of the harbour’ schemes.
"This tax haven project (Wickenby) is one of the big success stories of the G20," the OECD's head of tax policy, Jeffrey Owens said. "This is not a numbers game. We have seen a real change in attitudes towards compliance."

*The Canberra Times captured a few interesting snippets about the Commish - John Hatton, AO also likes the quote from the Amerikan Oliver Wendell Holmes:

Few children nurse a desire to become that legendary figure of hate, the tax man.
And when young lawyer Michael D'Ascenzo applied to join the public service more than three decades ago, he admits he had little wish to stay at the Australian Taxation Office he now leads.
"The ATO was the first to ring back. I came here with the intention of being here for a few months until I got a better job," he said.
Yet, Mr D'Ascenzo's passion for tax issues grew and he has now been Australia's Taxation Commissioner for more than four years.
The 56-year-old, whose expertise is sought-after worldwide, has been made an Officer of the Order of Australia for his service to public administration and the tax profession throughout his career.
He says his enthusiasm for his work springs from its crucial contribution to the community. During his 33 years with the agency, the Tax Office's work has grown beyond collecting public revenue to protecting workers' futures by administering sttperannttation law and helping cut red tape for businesses.
"I like the phrase that [American jurist] Oliver Wendell Holmes usually used, that `tax is the price we pay for a civilised society' ... You really are making a great contribution to the community and to Australia." He agrees the Tax Office will always need to battle to win the community's affection. That's the light at the top of the hill. It's the aspiration we go for ... If we can take a few steps forward, then that's progress," he said. "At the end of the day, you're trying to redress thousands of years of stereotyping. while people might not boast about it, deep down, most people appreciate the work we do on behalf of the community." He said the Australia Day honour was not his award alone, but one he would share with the Tax Office and its staff.
But today's achievement clearly means a lot to the Italian-born Mr D'Ascenzo, whose pride was clear when he reflected on how much the award would have meant to his recently deceased mother. "My only regret is that my mum's not here for this moment."

• Minister Congratulates Tax Commissioner on Australia Day Award ; Italian-born Mr D'Ascenzo ; Our ABC [The Historian, Leigh Edmonds, is to capture the official history of the Tax Office recognising our past, present and future Tax Office Centenary significant memoir; Official history ; The Federal Court has dismissed an application by 3 taxpayers seeking an interlocutory injunction to restrain the Tax Office from carrying out an examination of the taxpayers under s 264 of the ITAA 1936. Daniels v Cranston [2009] FCA 1412, Federal Court, Lander J, 20 November 2009 From Bottom of the Harbour to Wickenby Tax Havens;]
• · Australia could have had a goods and services tax (GST) 20 years sooner, had John Howard had his way. GST on John Howard's agenda in 1979
10 years of GST - The trials and tribulations - Memories of Lara Dunston ; Treasury boss Ken Henry has set himself an ambitious goal: he wants to shake up how we all think about rivers and roads A New Tax System
• · · A Flood of leaks from the government about its plans for superannuation and tax reform are causing distress and confusion in the business community and among pre-retirees trying to plan long-term savings and investments. Tax reform leaks are causing concern; Ken Henry report: Contact us before we contact you.
• · · · For weeks – no, months – I have suppressed the dark thoughts. As the new year dawned, the twinges of panic became more persistent, yet I remained paralysed by doubt and guilt. With each passing day, the pressure grows more unbearable… I really must find out where the money goes ... You can help by supporting a piece of US legislation called the Energy Security Through Transparency Act, which would require oil, gas, and mining companies to publicly disclose payments made to governments. Follow the money," which shows just what happens when you buy gas every day ; The macroeconomic arguments for the GST I think were, and remain, watertight. Remember, in the 1980s as Treasurer Keating was for it before he was agin’ it as PM in the 1990s?. The GST introduced a broad-based, growing revenue stream for government and ensured that the wealthy couldn’t avoid paying tax on their (large, and growing) expenditures, even if clever accountants meant they could largely avoid paying much on their income. A particular innovation of the Australian model was to reserve GST revenue to the States, ostensibly making it available for service delivery (schools, roads, hospitals) to the communities that had paid it. We can quibble over how much in % terms each state pays and gets, the competence of the state governments as service providers, and the difficulty businesses face in complying with their collections and remittance obligations — but still I think the macroeconomic argument has proven its validity ten years on. still I think the macroeconomic argument has proven its validity ten years on.; The excise legislation is more than 100 years old as excise has been levied on a number of commodities since 1901. 1901 - that means even older than the oldest Public Accounts Committee in Australia
• · · · · Over the past ninety years the High Court has been divided in its approach to the definition of 'duties of excise'. Initially such duties were confined to taxes on the production or manufacture of goods. This definition was gradually extended to include taxes on goods imposed at any point in the distribution process. Over time the Court came to accept that exceptions should be made for taxes on alcohol, tobacco and petrol, and hence the States have been permitted to tax these goods. The plaintiffs were charged under the Business Franchise Licences (Tobacco) Act 1987 (NSW) with selling tobacco in NSW without a licence. The Act provides for a licence fee, which includes a set amount, plus an amount calculated by reference to the value of tobacco sold during the 'relevant period'. The 'relevant period' is defined as 'the month commencing 2 months before the commencement of the month in which the licence expires'. The plaintiffs argued that the licence fee imposed by the Act was an excise and hence invalid due to section 90 of the Constitution. A majority of the High Court (Brennan CJ, McHugh, Gummow and Kirby JJ) agreed. - The case that made GST possible What is an excise duty? Ha and Hammond v NSW ; The states have been urged to undertake their own Henry-style reviews of their tax systems and act on the findings, rather than blame Canberra for their economic woes States urged to review tax
• · · · · · Accountability, flexibility and transparency have become, in recent decades, the mantras of management in Australia and New Zealand as the public sector attempts to become more like the private sector. Driven by economic rationalism, by managerialism, by the election of right-of-centre governments and the movement of left-of-centre governments to the right, and by a different expectation of what governments can and should do, public administration has morphed into new public management (NPM). Governing the Government: The Paradoxical Place of the Public Accounts Committee; Back in 2002 my old Public Accounts Committee celebrated centenary and its courageous chair Andrew Tink knew how to deliver a speech ... When Lieutenant James Cook arrived at Botany Bay at the end of April 1770, he brought with him two future Parliamentary Committee witnesses who would turn out to be crucial to the British Government’s decision to settle Australia. Those future witnesses spent their short time at Botany Bay examining everything in sight and making copious contemporaneous notes of whatever caught their eye. They were of course, Joseph Banks and James Mario Matra who along with Captain Cook himself wrote in their Journals about the sandy soil, strange vegetation and even stranger animals. The Role of Parliamentary Committee Witnesses in the Foundation of Australia, Mr Andrew Tink MP

CODA - STUART WASHINGTON - blast from parliamentary past writes well. It reads like an airport spy novel: an unsolved murder in a Tokyo red-light district, exotic tax havens around the world, and thousands of defrauded investors in Britain. Add to that some $118 million tipped in to Astarra Strategic Fund by Australian investors which, almost three months after authorities blew the whistle, is still not properly accounted for. The investigation by regulators is understood to include every possibility - from the $118 million being "misplaced" to misappropriation. "misplaced" to misappropriation. Authorities were alerted in September in a letter from the Bronte Capital blogger, John Hempton, about the improbably smooth returns achieved by Astarra Strategic, which advertised itself as an investor in hedge funds.

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In my wild erratic fancy visions come to me of Clancy
Gone a-droving 'down the Cooper' where the Western drovers go;
As the stock are slowly stringing, Clancy rides behind them singing,
For the drover's life has pleasures that the townsfolk never know
-Banjo Paterson (Banjo Crabbe)

The Crabbe Hole (- a place to be on Australia Day or any day ...)
Bondi Icebergs
1 Notts Av
Bondi Beach 2026 NSW
Phone: 0403 074 447


Boxing Klokan Kangaroo - Ripples Andrew Crabbe has put together a pleasant list of beachside favourites ...

Australian English, or Strine, is arguably the most international of all English dialects. It has been shaped by its Pommy parent, American television, one million of Australia's 20 million inhabitants living in foreign countries at any one time, and Australia having strong sporting relations with all other Commonwealth countries.

Just in time for Australia Day, Homer Simpson has been declared the honorary Australian of the year. Ralph magazine made the announcement to commemorate The Simpsons' 20th anniversary on the airwaves. Homer's well-known fondness for Australian specialties such as beer, barbecues and sports (watching them on TV, that is) also landed him the job of guest editor for the mag's February issue. So 21st century Bohemian Soldier Svejk (The Good Soldier Švejk (also spelled Schweik or Schwejk) also known as Homer is on Australia Day named honorary Aussie

Alone of all the races on earth, they seem to be free from the 'Grass is Greener on the other side of the fence' syndrome, and roundly proclaim that Australia is, in fact, the other side of that fence.

Ach, antipodean Rosie Williams asks herself some hard questions about Australia Day in her article, Lest We Forget, published on January 25th in On Line Opinion ...

Australia Day 2010: learn something new about Australia and then tell someone you know or meet Underdog Down Under: Can one be both European and Australian?
Last year I sat in my apartment trying to figure out what to do about Australia Day. There was a celebration in the local park, a beautiful riverside niche where I often enjoy the local cafe. Yet today I felt torn. Would the celebrations carry on around the Indigenous Australians living on what we feel are the margins of society, looking past them as though they do not exist? Had anything changed since the 2008 Apology? Was Australia Day celebrating an achievement or an invasion?

These questions troubled me and having no answers kept me away from the park. I realised that for time unknown Aboriginals had sat by that river doing pretty much what everyone was doing today: socialising, eating, living. And there the Aboriginals are - still doing exactly the same thing in the new millennium. This timeless culture lives among us yet we do not see it. With all our educational programs we are still blind. What we see as culture: nice rooms, expensive furnishings and stiff behaviour does not acknowledge the respect for nature, the rites and customs that grew up with this ancient land.
We live alongside one of the oldest cultures on earth yet know almost nothing about it So often we think of history as boring and irrelevant without realising that the history of Australia is the history of the world. Australia has a rich history dating back into the mists of time and one which we need to know
I'd be the first to say this country is a great place
But if we call it 'home' there is a few things we must face
This is a nation made from murder, the theft of land
And the denial of rights we must understand
Yeah, they call it "Black Armband" but these things are facts and it's time to
Acknowledge what's happened
Cause tomorrow songs are made from today's sounds
Today's cacophony - of course it has a background

• The country itself is the ultimate joke; the wave you body-surf into shore after a day at the beach could contain a shark or a rip-tide and, when you get back, your house could have been burnt to the ground in a bush fire. That's where the whole 'no worries' thing comes from ; [ See also Rosie's site brentonfletcher.com; Media Dragons Down Under]
• · The Crabbe Hole - Kick back and watch the parade of sun lovers at this tiny poolside cafe that cooks with flair.
Food Great ingredients shore up the well-made breakfast and lunch snacks.
Service DIY and so laid-back, it's barely there. But everything arrives quickly and with a smile.
Atmosphere Priceless postcard views and snapshots of all manner of humanity.
Value Good. About $12 a person.
Noise Low. A constant ocean and outdoor hum.
Recommended dishes Tuna sandwich, chicken sandwich, fruit bread with agave-scented ricotta, coffee
HE SPRAWLS on a bench overlooking Bondi's ocean baths, his enormous belly spilling over an almost obscene thong, arms and legs spread open to the sun.
I spot this pleasure seeker as I make my way down the ramp to the Crabbe Hole, a tiny cafe above the pools at the world-famous Bondi Icebergs Winter Swimming Club.
This beached Buddha is exactly the kind of subject that photographers from the late Max Dupain to his son, Rex, would take pictures of as they studied the relationship between ocean and human forms.
This is the view from the Crabbe Hole, which is wedged between the gym and the sauna on the deck overlooking the pools. You go through the turnstiles and the pool guys waive the entry fee if you tell them you're just coming to eat.

The baths at the southern end of Bondi Beach date from 1887 and are the home of the Bondi Icebergs club, which dates from 1929. To join, you simply have to swim three out of four Sundays every month from May to September for five years.
It's much easier to sit at the cafe, dating from 2007, when a local actor called Andrew Crabbe saw an opportunity to offer artisan-made bread, barista-grade coffee, organic juices and niche-brand ice-creams to swimmers and sun worshippers.Helen Greenwood Sydney Morning Herald Good Living; Andrew Crabbe
• · · Ripples Andrew Crabbe has put together a pleasant list of beachside favourites The menus are like family members: the same but different; Cookbooks are only one genre of food writing. Helen Greenwood runs workshops on food writing. She says there are many ways to describe food that doesn't involve saying yuk or yummy. For our 'how to write' series, Helen Greenwood spoke to the Book Show's Sarah L'Estrange about describing what you eat and what food means in literature; Bondi Crabbe;
• · · · The Taming of the Shrew By William Shakespeare Andrew Bibby, left, and Andrew Crabbe really need to rehearse their Nazi salute.

• · · · · THE FIRE RAISERS Biedermann (Andrew Crabbe); Lord/Baptista Andrew Crabbe
• · · · · · 26, As we collectively sober up from yet another Australia Day weekend it is an opportune time to reflect on the ambiguities and inadequacies of celebrating a nation's achievements and cultural diversity on a day that represents the beginning of what Indigenous academic Anne Pattel-Gray has termed The great white flood: What Is The Australian Story?
As we collectively sober up from yet another Australia Day weekend it is an
I'm a Migrant : A true short story from the experience- Josef Imrich, Glenn Clarke. wentworth stories about Josef Imrich,; icebergs; Dans of underbelly
• · · · · · · Don't have significant stories to tell, perhaps apart from the indigenous story... Australia at its heart is so racist that I don't think we can stomach it.There is a stereotype that Australian men dance like Frankenstein. Their lack of rhythm and stiff knees has many of them resembling a chicken or jack in the box bouncing from side to side. Other men just watch over the dance floor, beer in hand, as they perhaps beat their chin to the music. - This is a wonderful reminder that Australia is one of the great homes to people who crossed the world seeking freedom and opportunity ... This work reflects the joyous hope that refugees bring to Australia. The more horrible their previous life experience, the greater their hope that Australia will offer an opportunity for a life of peace and harmony.
Why is Gallipolli such a big Australian story? It’s one of Australia’s great, great, great stories, of courage and stupidity. Australian author Peter Carey; Terry McGee and I David Williamson stands alone in the world of Australian playwrights. The man is a genius who weaves good humour into his psychological explorations. (Even Shakespeare would have been impressed. ) You Know You're Australian When; Films; unspeakable aspect of the Australian migrant experience; Kenneth Slessor's Five Bells is perhaps Australia's most popular poem. Slessor started writing poetry during the great war. The anguish endured as he wrote about his friend found floating in Sydney Harbour. It was the last poem Slessor that ever wrote
• · · · · · · · Here's a bit of a tip: if you do rent, always go directly through the owner. Real estate agents treat you the same way banks do. To them you are nothing more than a ledger entry.
Owners – for the most part – treat you like a human being. All they really want is someone decent who won't trash their investment property or give them trouble. Forget the Great Australian Dream, renting sets you free ; Australian folklore since European settlement has established a folk identity of Australians as resilient people who laugh in the face of adversity, face up to great difficulties and deliberately go against authority and the establishment - reflecting a 'larrikin' spirit. The bush and the outback are also identified as characteristic of Australian life along with bushrangers, shearers and drovers.
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them. Google Books; Books on Google; Google Stories; Haiti's capital is a study in extremes

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Happy birthday Dial ...

Google and blogger.com rock even more so now that Australian and French researchers are claiming that watching TV will increase the risk of you dying young.

iMrich (Meaning, if you own it, you have enough dough for yet another gadgetiMrich (Meaning, if you own it, you have enough dough for yet another gadget

Robert Hughes once wrote: I feel guilty when I'm not writing and when I'm writing I feel guilty I'm not writing well enough ...

Radical mazement of Memoirs Down Under
What do Mick Gatto, Roger Rogerson, Mark “Chopper” Read, Graham “Abo” Henry and Arthur “Neddy” Smith have in common? That’s right. They’re all published authors.

There is a view that these books are little more than crime pornography. I must admit to a certain fascination. In fact I possess a substantial True Crime library. “I, Mick Gatto” and Rogerson’s book will shortly be added to it.
I’m not bothered by the assertions that these books contribute to the phenomenon of the celebrity gangster. It’s just that if I were a crook, I’m not sure that penning an autobiography would be all that good for business.
The American Mafia hid its light under a bushel so effectively that until 1957 their very existence was dismissed as a nasty rumour.
At that time a particularly diligent state trooper in upstate New York noticed an unusually large number of limousines parked outside the summer residence of Italian-American, Joseph Barbaro. The trooper took down the registration numbers and discovered that all of the vehicles were registered to a John Doe of Hoboken, New Jersey.

• Underbelly [Winning awards is something every media dragon loves to do Red Carpet Treatment ; When writing first drafts you look for the rhythm and the energy. But mostly it’s a matter of feeling a way forward. On Cold Rivers and other places]
• · In recent years a large number of best-selling books have been victims' tales of suffering at the hands of adults. A whole new genre – the misery memoir – established itself. Several of these books have been contested by family members and some cases have gone to court. The most high-profile was that of Constance Briscoe, the barrister who claimed to have been viciously abused by her British Jamaican mother. The mother sued her and lost. The weight of silence is the gravity of all the unsaids, the unseens, and how they shape our lives unforgettable story of of remembering, forgetting, pretending, of becoming who you are; Franz Kafka's manuscripts are the subject of a protracted legal battle that one can only describe as, well, Kafkaesque. Kafka left his papers to Max Brod to burn them. After that the plot picks up, explains Independent Institute Senior Fellow Alvaro Vargas Llosa explains in his latest syndicated column. Brod published most of the papers, making Kafka a literary icon. After Brod fled Nazi Germany for Tel Aviv, he gave some of the remaining papers to his secretary and companion Esther Hoffe, who bequeathed them to her daughters, who then sold some and kept the rest--in what is now a smelly, damp animal shelter hardly conducive to preserving the old works. Kafka’s Ordeal
• · · Getting things done is not the same as making things happen. You can reply to emails, pay the bills, cross off the to-do’s, fulfill your obligation, repeat what you heard, go with the flow, anticipate roadblocks, aim for “good enough.” Or you can organize a community, take a risk, set ambitious goals, give more than you take, change perceptions, forge a new path, create possibility, demand excellence. Don’t worry too much about getting things done. Make things happen. NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR MEDIA DRAGONS; How Official Unemployment Stats Mislead Fuzzy unemployment math
• · · · Inside my body aches,
pain from cold rivers
Turns to lakes
Like a bonfire, flames to dust,
To give to take, Slumber dreams
To nightmare wakes
Pure love can turn to lust,
Everything turns to rust
We start to die as we are born,
Dusk comes quickly after dawn
Dawn awakes after dusk,
Everything turns to rust
Life in this world is inherently paradoxical: Everything passes and everything matters; everything turns to dust and everything is of infinite value and importance.
What I know is that everything I touch just turns to dust.
Pure love will turn to lust,. Everything turns to dust
Pure love will turn to lust,. Everything turns to dust; Trials, tragedies, triumphs
In a chapter titled, "To Be Amazed", Louv talks about a time when a rabbi, a Protestant Minister, a Catholic priest and an imam met in his living room to discuss parenting. Rabbi Martin Levin, of Congregation Beth-El, offered a wonderful description of "spirituality", quoted from a Professor Abraham Joshua Heschel.
"to be spiritual is to be constantly amazed. Our goal should be to live life in radical amazement. Heschel would encourage his students to get up in the morning and look at the world in a way that takes nothing for granted. Everything is phenomenal; everything is incredible; never treat life casually. To be spiritual is to be amazed."
When I look into the eyes of my two children, I'm sometimes reminded of a quote from Abraham Heschel: Our goal should be to live life in radical amazement. To get up in the morning and look at the world in a way that takes nothing for granted.... Everything is phenomenal; everything is incredible; never treat life casually. To be spiritual is to be filled with wonder. Indeed, nothing is trivial. There are no inconsequential moments of life. Every thought, feeling, and decision we make is an As it is written, "We live once, and then we face judgment"
Life in this world is inherently paradoxical: Everything passes and everything matters; everything turns to dust everything is of infinite value and importance.
An old chassidic tale says that every person should walk through life with two notes, one in each pocket. On one note should be the words, I am but dust and ashes; On the other note should be the words - For my sake was this world created.
Maybe it's because I am examining my 30 years in Australia my new home, my exile, my strange exisistence, but I've become more and more conscious of the fragility and glory of life. Each of us is given the choice to graciously accept the inevitable passage of time or confront life with inner protest and despair. everything passes.
• · · · · Why constitutional coffee break is important for physical and even (mental) wellbeing ;-)Office workers are being encouraged to get up and out of their chairs more often, as new research suggests too much sitting down is literally killing us. The human body was designed to move, his report concluded, which also found the increased mortality rate affected both the healthy and unfit. Offices make a stand against sitting Some companies make internal email-free time; Playscripts “consider how a company could succeed by reinventing its role as reality changes.” His method involves characters and their roles, storylines and connections, links and rules, plots and subplots. More fun than the usual approach to strategy planning! Strategy Tools for a Shifting Landscape
• · · · · · 'Banking' is a necessary public good that all Australians require access to in order to make their way in life.Establishing a People’s Bank; People in richer nations are more likely to feel enjoyment and love, and less likely to undergo pain, boredom, depression or anger. Money can buy you love

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Every path has a few puddles.

Good judgment comes from experience, and a lotta that comes from bad judgment.

Your fences need to be horse-high, pig-tight and bull-strong.

Forgive your enemies; it messes up their heads.

The best sermons are lived, not preached.

Life is simpler when you plow around the stumps\


Cold River - Memoir: His Story Remember Me? One Life. Six Words. What's Yours
Deceptively simple and surprisingly addictive, Not Quite What I Was Planning is a thousand glimpses of humanity—six words at a time.
One Life. Six Words. What's Yours?
When Hemingway famously wrote, "For Sale: baby shoes, never worn," he proved that an entire story can be told using a half dozen words. When the online storytelling magazine SMITH asked readers to submit six-word memoirs, they proved a whole, real life can be told this way too. The results are fascinating, hilarious, shocking, and moving.
From small sagas of bittersweet romance ("Found true love, married someone else") to proud achievements and stinging regrets ("After Harvard, had baby with crackhead"), these terse true tales relate the diversity of human experience in tasty bite-sized pieces. From authors Jonathan Lethem and Richard Ford to comedians Stephen Colbert and Amy Sedaris, to ordinary folks around the world, everyone has a six-word story to tell. After Harvard, had baby with crackhead

Once upon a time Ernest Hemingway was challenged to write a story using only six words. Impossible, some thought. Not for Papa, as Neal Conan explained on NPR's Talk of the Nation. The next day Hemingway produced this: For sale. Baby shoes. Never worn.

• What gets me up in the morning? Sum Up Your Leadership in Six Words [I'll try harder next time.; After weeks of wall-to-wall for Palin, Agassi and Carrie Prejean, it is clear our narcissistic culture is obsessed with memoirs When too many memoirs are barely enough]
• · What is history without the personal memoirs of those who were there? Those who actually experienced the events and shared their thoughts on both the events and the times the occurred in. Autobiographically speaking,; We consume memoirs in huge numbers because we need them, writes Ben Yagoda. Other lives lived help us shape our own stories
• · · Fiction Vs. Memoir; Remember Me? Memoir: A History
• · · · Elizabeth Gilbert is the embodiment of the phrase "new BFF." She gives you a hug the first time she meets you. She has a warm smile, booming laugh, and sparkly eyes that telegraph candor and empathy. Her effortlessly approachable persona, translated to the page, propelled her 2006 memoir, Eat, Pray, Love, into what she describes as a "megajumbo international bestseller." Hollywood and Oprah came calling; readers embarked on Eat, Pray, Lovepilgrimages to places mentioned in the book. In more than 30 languages, Gilbert made herself a whole lot of new Best Friends Forever. Lightning striking twice; I started my public life as a Communist but quit the party after it began supporting the British during the Quit India movement; Some find them ridiculous but I call them beautiful. They are six-word memoirs. Six-word memoirs? Yes – pithy little verbal packages that convey more than you might imagine.

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Economics Blogger and Blog Rankings by Scholarly Impact
Franklin G. Mixon Jr. (Mercer University, Department of Economics) & Kamal P. Upadhyaya (University of New Haven, Department of Economics and Finance) have published Blogometrics, Eastern Economic Journal (2010), vol. 36, pp. 1–10. Here is the abstract:
This study gathers information on a wide array of economics bloggers and blogs in order to develop a ranking of economics bloggers that is based on citations to their academic research. This ranking is used in an iterative process that next presents a ranking of economics blogs that is based on the ranking of economics bloggers, and finally a ranking of economics departments that is based on the ranking of economics blogs. The ranking of blogs included in this study is positively correlated with an external ranking based on their productivity (popularity), whereas the department ranking presented here comports quite well with department rankings in Coupé (2003) and Roessler (2004) that are developed with more traditional measures, such as the impact of the scholarship of an economics department's faculty.

Here are the Top 10 Economics Bloggers by Scholarly Impact:

1. Gary S. Becker (Chicago), Becker-Posner Blog

2. Gregory Mankiw (Harvard), Mankiw's Blog

3. Richard Posner (Chicago), Becker-Posner Blog

4. Nouriel Roubini (NYU), RGE Monitor

5. Paul A. Samuelson (MIT), Inside the Economist's Mind

6. Nicolai J. Foss (Copenhagen), Organizations & Markets

7. Justin Wolfers (Pennsylvania), Freakonomics

8. Daniel Hamermesh (Texas), Freakonomics

9. Richard B. Langlois (Connecticut), Organizations & Markets

10. Steven D. Levitt (Chicago), Freakonomics
Here are the Top 10 Economics Blogs by Scholarly

France is considering a tax on Google to support old media companiesAmazon, Google and taxes, oh my! from Don't Mess With Taxes

Will the rich flee the U.S. to fairer tax climes?

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In democracy it's your vote that counts. In feudalism it's your count that votes.

Every great idea starts with a dream. If you stand for nothing, you’ll fall for everything. I had no idea a theater publicist had coined the term, "blogosphere." Nor did I know the man behind this term was himself a blogger who didn't even like the word "blog." Ideas can be as brief as Graham's own life (he died at age 41).

In these new straightened economic times, we’re all having to work harder, knuckling down to the task at hand, and making sure we’re building a future that is sustaining and rewarding. It’s not easy. But it’s easier if you love what you’re doing, and you’re doing it all the time. Naysayers will say nay, but its actually easier than ever to devote yourself to what sustains you. All you need is a computer, and the desire to make a difference. It’s not about putting the reader at the heart of everything we do. It’s about putting ourselves at the heart of everything the reader does

Armageddon Media Dragons Eeerie deja vu - The Man Is Gone, But Long Live The Blogosphere
Most bloggers I know don’t much like the word "blog", and they have even less affection for blogosphere

Wikipedia says credit — or blame — for coining "blogosphere" goes to Brad Graham, a theater publicist and blogger in St. Louis who died this week at the age of 41. Look him up on Google and you’ll see: "Blogosphere" is his legacy.
But thank goodness, Graham was joking when he first said it — at the very birth of the form — in September 1999. He, too, didn't much like the word "blog" — "Oy! That name!" he exclaimed on his site, Bradlands. And so he worried about where this would lead us: perhaps to jokes about "falling off a blog," or worse, blogorreah

• Brad Graham [ Welcome to the Blogger's Choice Awards 2008 ; 2009 Blogger Appreciation Awards 2009]
• · Much like corporate America, PR is undergoing a sea change in how it does business. As traditional media shrinks and online/social media grows, a new breed of PR professionals is coming into its own. And although the word “integrated” is used way too often when describing the perfect campaign, it’s still a word that resonates. So what drives the perfect communications mix? People. Tweets and YouTube aside, PR is still a vocation dependent upon people and their creativity, innovative thinking and leadership. Those strengths perfectly describe the winners of PR News’ PR People Awards and the Hall of Fame inductees in this issue.
• · · Too many blogs, not enough ideas and thoughts! Nevermind, that didn't rhyme (blobs?). What I've been pondering on since I tagged Divya Uttam (and she tagged me back!) is the purpose of these so called blog memes. What is it? Could it be word of mouth marketing? Could it be search engine optimization? Or more simply, is it a form of 'innocent' link baiting? ; For those who bring unique and creative elements to their blogs. For those who incorporate art, music, creative writing, photo's, and other beautiful visual effects into their website. For those who put a unique spin on things and come up with new ideas. This award is for the artsy, the funky, the inventor, and even the rebel. Writer's Reviews Blogger Awards; This awa2rd is for those creative individuals who stand out from the crowd.
• · · · Computer Weekly’s search for the best blogs in IT is back for its second year, and this year’s competition, brought to you in association with IBM, promises to be bigger and better than before.; My friend, Jean Fischer, honored me with the Kreative Blogger Award. Thanks, Jean! iving the award to seven other bloggers, but please don't feel you must do the same Kreative Blogger Award
• · · · · Lonely Planet 2009 Travel Blogger Awards ; It turns out that older men chasing younger women contributes to human longevity and the survival of the species, according to new findings Old men chasing young women: A good thing

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After the year 2009, the New Year 2010 has in store various things for different bloggers. It is expected to be an eventful year with achievements and success in every field. This year you would achieve bigger goals and fulfill those commitments which were pending last year. Whatever work we had thought of taking up but failed to do so, should be taken up this year. We all would try to make this New Year 2010 more successful and joyful. Nothing but the strength of your convictions can keep a self-improvement promise going for at least 365 days
Happy New Year (ABBA)

DESPITE being threatened, kicked and having fireworks aimed at them on New Year's Eve, police have congratulated revellers on celebrating Sydney in style - thanks to George and Vicki; Michael and Michelle

A new year and a new set of challenges for Media Dragons Old Is New Again - Long live ...
You'll probably be able to hear the thud as most people trudge back to their first day at work of the New Year

The Romans told us just about everything we'd need to know about how they regarded new beginnings through their name for the first month of the year. They chose the name of Janus, their mythological god of the doorway.
Janus, you’ll recall, had two faces, a convenience that allowed him to look both forward and back. As 21st-century Americans, we adopt a similar approach. More than just counting down, partying and the midnight toast, it involves both a rueful glance over our shoulder and an eager look ahead.That’s what the flurry of year-end top 10 lists is all about. It fulfills our instinct to pause, evaluate and sum up.
The same can be said for our hapless habit of making New Year’s resolutions. Turning the page to a new calendar means the opportunity to rededicate oneself. It means a chance to resolve to do better.Now it’s true that some of those resolutions seem most notable for the ease and quickness with which they are broken. But they also carry a bonus benefit. They prompt us to stop and take stock. They remind us that we can do better.

• Out with the old year, and in with 2010. Today is a day for celebration and for hope of better things to come. After a rocky 2009, we all hope for a brighter year ahead – especially for our personal economies. Old year or new year? ; [There once was a planet called Earth, Then, 4.5 billion years after birth,... A poetic view of Copenhagen; Vicki and George of Gilbert and Michael and Michelle of Rawson Streets Sydney ]
• · Technology changes cap amazing decade ; Price quits over money… 100 essential websites… Fox fudges the numbers
• · · Man over manatee; Huge Iceberg Twice as Big as Hong Kong Drifting South of Australia
• · · · iTunes Picks the Best of 2009; 12 biggest controversies of 2009
• · · · · Why Are Publications Trying To Bite The Google Hand That Feeds Them?; Candace Sams's decision to report bad Amazon reviewers to the FBI is further proof why it's best not to respond publicly to your critics When authors attack ; Writing a book is hard, and often thankless. It takes years of effort. You have to fight throughout against pessimism - not just the doubts of other people, but your own as well. You probably won't make any money. And when your book actually reaches the marketplace, you can bet that some people will say mean things. What to do when your friend writes a book

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Not only is 2009, one of the single most tumultuous years for the Media Dragon, drawing to a close, but so is the first decade of a new century. Heroes rise, heroes fall. The contest goes on ...

It's 200 years since governor Lachlan Macquarie arrived in Sydney, yet the challenges he faced are remarkably similar to those haunting Premier Kristina Keneally in NSW today, argues Michael Duffy. So what lessons could she learn from the state's finest leader? The visionary we need right now
WHEN Nathan Rees was about to be replaced, he famously proclaimed his successor would be a puppet of Eddie Obeid and Joe Tripodi. But as we were reminded by last week's decision to keep Sydney's dysfunctional ferry service in public hands, there is another potential puppet master who stands above every Labor premier, and that is Unions NSW.

Sydney had its very colourful characters and corrupt police, and corruption up here was a lot worse than Melbourne

Tired of search surfing? Then take a stroll down the aisles of the Internet. Forbes.com Best of The Web

Best of the web 2009 - A winner is served Point of Difference: Winners and losers of the decade
As promised -- trumpet fanfare -- "The Winners and Losers of the Decade." Or, as I like to think of it, "The Winners and Losers of the Oughts," in deference to the zeros in each year of the decade's numbering, the zeros who were in charge and all that we ought to have done that we did not do.

Sex. Scandal. Unexplained deaths. You name it and the decade saw it all. Oh yes, there was sport too, broke barriers and went faster (on the road to stardom), higher (on the social ladder) and became stronger (financially) to create a new world order. There were many trail-blazers but Tiger Woods, despite his appetite off the field too, was easily the sportsman of the decade. As the year draws to a close, Crest presents the decade's winners and losers.

• Washington edition ; [ My top 10 productions of the year (give or take a couple) This is where critic J. Kelly Nestruck posts his review after-thoughts ; Well that was probably a year that most of you are quite keen to forget. Except if you are a banker, of course, in which case you’re probably already in Barbados nestling down with your bonus and bottle of chilled Pol Roger while preparing to whoop it up with Michael Winner. 2009, a year to remember ]
• · ; Nominations open today (December 29, 2009) for the Breaking Borders Award, a new prize created by Google and Global Voices to honor outstanding web projects initiated by individuals or groups that demonstrate courage, energy and resourcefulness in using the Internet to promote freedom of expression. The award is also supported by Thomson Reuters. Global Voices partners with Google on freedom of expression award
• · · The Great Christmas Ornament Scandal has taken a remarkable turn. A festive ball on the White House tree that features a decoupage picture of Andy Warhol's silkscreen painting of Mao Zedong turns out not to be the only decoration with hidden political meanings for President Obama. An ornament with grave implications for events in the Middle East has also shown up. A Warhol Christmas at the White House ; The Great Christmas Ornament Scandal
• · · · New data shows that the iPhone may finally have a true competitor in the Android operating system with user profiles appearing very much alike. Android and iPhone users not so different after all; Analyst: Apps the secret to Apple's tablet success ; I didn’t realize until I started compiling this blog, how much I have written in the past year. And it runs the gamut, from blogs about over eating and pop culture, to professional wrestling and other sports related topics
• · · · · Instead, they turned to Tavi Gevinson, a 13-year-old blogger and muse from the suburbs of Chicago, to star in a behind-the-scenes video about the line on the Target website. Blogger Tavi Gevinson, already an industry sensation at 13, is now working her magic for Rodarte's Target line; From Beethoven to "Bored To Death" the Play staff listed their favorite foods, films, music and more from the past year. Best of 09 ; FOR some people, the boundary between the real world and the virtual world of the internet is a slippery, and increasingly porous, one Filtering threatens freedom, but won't stop net nasties

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Sadly my brother in law, Eva's Franto passed away today and will not able to celebrate this year the fall of the wall ...

Exactly 20 years ago from today, on 9 November 1989, the Berlin Wall was torn down.

Chancellor Angela Merkel and former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev crossed a former fortified border on Monday to cheers of "Gorby! Gorby!" as a throng of grateful Germans recalled the night 20 years ago that the Berlin Wall gave way to their desire for freedom and unity. Merkel lauds Gorbachev on Berlin Wall anniversary

The wall's 1989 fall remains a miracle Putin nostalgic for days as spy in East Germany but still not craving for truth
It's 20 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall, which split not only the city, but also the world and the KGB

Russia's Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, says he feels nostalgia for the former East Germany, recalling with fondness his five years as a KGB agent in Dresden. Mr Putin said in an interview with the NTV channel on Sunday that he had good memories of his 1985-90 posting in the city that included learning German, excursions to the mountains and contacts with his East German counterparts.
I still remember this warmth and cordiality. I am very thankful for this. In this respect there is some feeling of nostalgia. feeling of nostalgia.

• Putin Putting KGB first [ I saw the fall of the Berlin Wall; The Curtain Of Silence - If there is an element of truth in the saying that blood talks louder than words ... then I swam across the Iron Curtain ; Googling on the Wall ]
• · Remarks by world leaders and dignitaries attending the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall Wall Recalling ; The fall of the Berlin Wall on 9 November 1989 transformed not only Germany, but changed the world and put an end to fears of a nuclear holocaust between the then Soviet Union and the USA. Berlin was not the only city where celebrations were held for the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall
• · · Remembering 20th anniversary of Velvet Revolution Limerick felt exotic compared to rural Wicklow when I was growing up but then I went to Czechoslovakia ; After the Wall
• · · ·There was a universal demand for independent, reliable news and information. Everyone I met despised state-controlled propaganda. They craved truth. There are lessons in this for the promotion of human rights and democracy today. Berlin Wall's Lessons For Today; The 1989 revolution has its unforgettable images, such as the fall of the Berlin Wall, and its famous figures - Lech Walesa, Vaclav Havel and Mikhail Gorbachev. The man who opened the Iron Curtain
• · · · · Hammer-wielding souvenir-hunters Berlin's love affair with freedom ; The data from Freedom in the World, the annual report on the state of global freedom published by Freedom House, give vivid evidence of the degree of change. Lessons ;
In Praise of Unsung Heroes As a wet-behind-the-ears movie reviewer I discovered an obscure book, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men (1941), by then-relatively unknown novelist James Agee. Non-fiction, utterly so, his 428-page magnus opus depicting realism was prefaced by soul-etching photographs of dirt-poor cotton tenant farmers in the Depression era as taken by award-winning Fortune photographer Walker Evans. Some there will be who have no memorial . . . But their righteousness hath not been forgotten

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Malchkeoun and Media Dragon experienced a charming country atmosphere and warm Dr Cope's hospitality at Blue Bullaburra Mountain. The mountain is an idyllic location for that getaway - and I got to read more of the great stuff Kevin Roberts writes about songs life and so much more ...
What is a story? Dr Cope tells great stories

We can all recognize a story when we see one - from "Little Red Riding Hood" to Who Moved my Cheese? While exposition is straightforward explanation, a story or "narrative" is a series of linked events that unfold over time. It has characters with their own motivations. Storytelling is an ancient practice that has been adapted to various fields and each new type of media: from books to film to the Internet. As soon as you hear someone say, "Did you hear the one about...?" or "What happened at work today?" you know you're in for a story. We all inherently tell stories. And our learners respond to them.

Writing typically has been viewed as a soft skill that would be nice to improve, but not worth the time or money to invest in training. Most companies are more likely to invest in training for sales, project management, budgeting, or other skills that are easier to link to the bottom line. You, as learning professionals, are responsible for employee performance at your company or your clients company, so it is imperative that you pay attention to the overall writing quality of its employees. Managers at various levels and would-be managers can ruin their opportunities for advancement if they continually write documents that are unclear, riddled with grammatical mistakes, and offensive to their subordinates or clients.

You need to convey to people at all levels of the organization that writing clearly demonstrates that they can

* clearly understand the problem or situation

* see how it affects the big picture of the organization

* recommend logical, easy-to-follow next steps

* explain who should do what going forward

* empathize with subordinates, supervisors, and peers.

Life in a slow lane: I was so much older then, I’m younger than that now

Slow Food http://www.project10tothe100.com/ideas.html
Kris Kristofferson is one of the greatest all-time poets and songwriters and has lived a life full of hope, dreams, principles and values. “From Here to Forever” was written for his kids and I’d recommended it for parents and grandparents everywhere. “Fill your heart for the morning, tomorrow you still got a long way to grow, and the love that you’re dreaming will guide you and live like a song in your soul.” And finally, “Darling, take all the time that you’re given, be all you know you can be, and if you need a reason for living, do it for love and for me a reason for living, do it for love and for me

Ideas are the currency of the future and can come from anywhere, and Google probably know this more than anyone right now! To help celebrate their 10th birthday, Google invited people to submit their ideas to help make the world a better place for everyone with their special Project 10 to the 100th

150,000 ideas were sent in from people living in 172 countries, speaking 25 different languages. There were eight different categories that ideas: community, energy, environment through to health, education, shelter and opportunity, and not to forget the “everything else” basket. The same people who submitted ideas were then invited to vote on the best ones that should receive the $10 million that Google are going to invest and which should be announced soon.

You can see the full range of ideas. Some of the finalist ideas were:
support efforts to increase young Africans' access to quality education by creating "cyber schools";

• [TV will never die, YouTube will never kill it. YouTube (or its future manifestations) will never die either, will never die either ; Under common law In Australia all employers have a duty of care for the health and safety of their staff; not only physical but also mental health and safety Being powerful has more to do with who you are as a person and less about having money ]
•• The world of management is being reshaped by dramatic changes in the way the world of work and society is organised. Surviving the global financial crunch was tough enough. As businesses move back from the brink, though, the underlying challenges of generating innovation and growth must be tackled anew25 forces transforming the world; Before you start down the path to self-improvement, you need to set clear goals. This requires determining what you will be like once you have implemented the changes that you are seeking. Ask yourself some questions: How will 1 be able to measure whether or not I really have changed? How will others around me see the change? How will I feel, sound, and act differently from how I am perceived today? The more specific the goals are that you set, the better your chance to accurately measure the changes. Leap of faith
••• Each year brings different challenges for us especially of we read Jamais Cascio. For nearly the past fifteen years, I've been working as a futurist. My job has been to provide people with insights into emerging trends and issues, to allow them to do their jobs better. I've done this work for big companies and government agencies (usually under the Very Professional sounding title of strategic foresight), and for TV writers and game companies. It's quite an enjoyable job, as it allows me to indulge my easily-distracted curiosity about the world.You too can forecast the future! ; Web sites and organizations devoted explicitly to thinking about future possibilities can also be of great Value; A recent Stanford University study found that people who are "regularly bombarded" with multiple streams of electronic information and media have more problems with their memory, and have a harder time paying attention and switching from one task to another Multitasking may be hurting your brain
•••• Nosy Norwegians ; When it comes to organised crime, Australian governments have said much and achieved littleSunlight is the best disinfectant …

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Calling all NSW Parliamentary Library staff from the good old days when Dr Cope was in charge (1962 - 1991), when going to Stack meant an encounter with the lovely Arthur, to the bindery with Wally and Brian, when we tried to stay awake as Richard enthused about gov. pubs as part of our initiation, when internal memos were as simple as 'Missing Foodstuffs overnight', when Neville Wran told me at one Christmas party that 'The Library was the most efficient service in Parliament', when Franca and Greig conversed in Italian, when David, Greig and Brian Vaughan had their tete a tetes (what were they talking about ?), when we had our own Brazilian cowboy on staff and when Dr Cope donned his white Cocktail jacket we knew it was party time - and that's what it's time to do - to party...well at least to get together and share our memories.... (Ring 02 92302111)


[ Image by Don McPhedran taken at the NSW Parliamentary Library circa 14 days and 5 years after MD birthday Title Russell Cope, New South Wales Parliamentary Librarian 1962-, at his desk Date of Work - 02 May 1963 ]

As the friendliest and considerate President in my time in NSW Parliament, Johno Johnson, noted: In 1991 Dr Russell Cope, the Parliamentary Librarian, concluded 40 years of meritorious service Dr Cope is one of those living treasures that few institutions have



The publications of Dr Russell Cope in New South Wales began to shape an ethos of excellence in parliamentary librarianship at the beginning of the decade, and helped alert and unite practitioners Australasian Parliamentary Libraries - History

Everybody's Free to Play in the Bear Pit or a Sandpit Strangers in the House
You did not have to be mad or CW to survive at NSW Parliament House but it helped ;-) Time and again we've seen strange examples of parliamentary bureaucracy. My former boss, Dr R.L. Cope, has worked in the parliamentary environment for 40 years and provides this amazing summary of parliamentary culture. Culture of a Parliamentary Bureaucracy - Can fiction be fact? A Note

Russell Cope might not qualify as The noblest Roman of them all!", but he
certainly will rank as one of the outstanding librarians that this country has produced, and undoubtedly the doyen of Parliamentary librarians of this generation . We often hear the throw-away line "You are a Gentleman and a Scholar" offered as a frivolous, but sincere expression of appreciation, to a person who would probably have difficulty in satisfying either criterion . In the case of Dr Cope, both meanings are entirely applicable : those of us who have had the pleasure and privilege to be associated with him, are thankful of the
opportunity of sharing a small part of the stage of Parliamentary librarianship which he has graced for nearly thirty years, and
can attest to the undeniable fact that Russell Cope is both a scholar, and a gentleman.
Annual Reports
A library’s approach to online government information
Mr Speaker informed the House of the retirement of Dr Russell Leslie David Cope from the position of Parliamentary Librarian on 21 July 1991, and made the following remarks. "With the indulgence of the House I wish to make a few remarks about Dr Cope in recognition of his service. Russell Cope joined the staff of the Parliamentary Library on 1 March 1949 some 4 months short of his 18th birthday. His 41 years of loyalty to the Library places him in the vanguard of service to this Parliament. Even more remarkable is that the last 29 years of his service has been as only the seventh Parliamentary Librarian since 1856.
During the time he has worked in the Parliamentary Library, Russell has seen the Library staff grow in size from 10 to, currently, 33. This increase in staff reflects the ever increasing demands that Members and others have placed on the Parliamentary Library. Dr Cope has also been at the forefront of evolving new services to meet those ever changing needs. A part of those new services have been dramatically illustrated in relative recent times with the move of the Library to its current modern premises and the introduction of associated modern technology.
1990 provided the crowning glory to Dr Cope's career with the very successful sesquicentenary celebrations of the Parliamentary Library.
I am sure all Honourable Members will join in with my grateful and personal thanks to Dr Cope for his distinguished service to this Parliament and acknowledgment of the help provided by the Library as a whole. I also wish to convey to Dr Cope the best wishes of the House for an equally long and well deserved retirement."
Mr Greiner moved, That Mr Speaker's remarks with reference to Dr Russell Leslie David Cope on his retirement from the position of Parliamentary Librarian be entered in the Votes and Proceedings.Dr Cope

I pay tribute to one of Parliament's most valuable and faithful officers. I am not talking about a Speaker, Premier or some other elected representative, nor am I speaking about a long-serving Chamber officer who has helped guide proceedings for decades. Instead I pay tribute to one whose work rarely attracts the limelight focused on the rest of us; someone who, throughout a 35-year career here, has supported the work of members on behalf of those we represent and—more importantly, in my view—has worked to ensure that our parliamentary system and its history are better understood by the wider community and succeeding generations. David Clune
In 2009 Greig Tillotson has announced his retirement effective at the end of July. Greig has worked within the NSW Parliamentary Library for over 30 years and became
Librarian in 2006. Greig Tillotson



I am grateful for crossing paths with dynamic people like my boss at the parliamentary library Dr Cope

• The New South Wales Parliamentary Library is the oldest of Australia's nine parliamentary libraries, and is also one of the oldest official libraries in the country. Established by the administrative action of the Legislative Council in 1840, it became a Joint Parliamentary Library with the introduction of responsible government in 1856. The Library's functions were further specified by Joint Resolutions in 1862 and 1968. But in 2009 it has no website NSW Parliamentary Library once a rooster now a feather duster; [There is a climate of corruption in NSW Knowledge is the mother of wisdom and virtue; Ghosts roaming NSW Parliament: John Hatton was something of a burr under the saddle of New South Wales politics; Librarian admits he was paid by US bookseller NSW Parliamentary Attendant circa 1980-1981, a bloke who took my BH neighbour Sonia Todd, and his Strictly Ballroom, to Bratislava circa 1986. My spies tell me that Buz as always disobeyed the communist authorities on and off the stage ;-) Mark Anthony Luhrmann; Librarian Mark D'Arney killed himself after blowing the whistle on the discount sale of 3000 historic books from the State Parliament's library Death of a whistleblower; Thou canst not die. Here thou art more than safe. Where every book is thy epitaph In memoriam, Mark D'Arney, Librarian ]

CODA: The crowning glory of the former NSW Parliamentary Library, now called the Jubilee Room, is the ornate stained glass lantern, one of the best examples of stained glass in Sydney. It too was restored in the 1980s with the rest of the room and the old sections of the Parliament. The words around the central medallion echo the room's origins as a library: "Knowledge is the mother of wisdom and virtue".

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Earlier this month one of the oldest of blog hosting programmes, Blogger, celebrated its 10th anniversary. According to the BBC, Blogger claims to have more than 300 million active readers and enough words to fill about 3.2 million books like Cold River

First Real Blogger, St. Francisof Assisi wrote: Lord make me an instrument of thy peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow Love. Where there is injury, Pardon. Where there is error, Truth. Where there is discord, Harmony. Where there is doubt, Faith. Where there is despair, Hope. Where is darkness, Light. Where there is sorrow, Joy.

There was much storytelling but it was the ocean that brought out the energy ... today with friends like Gina, John and Rich there always seems to be more joy than sorrow no matter how angry the sea or world is ...


(john wilton TM at the iceberg 26-10-09 AD)

... and so it began back at Darling Point true connections, true emotions, true friends!

Hope Over Fear Materialistic happiness causes emotional misery
Even In Latvia, blogging has become part of the air on the poetic internet. The blogosphere seems to burst with emotions, something rarely witnessed before

As the sun breaks the dawn of a new day, he floats on a white cloud amidst an azure sky. He is draped in an elegant silver robe, his obsidian hair fluttering seductively in the cool breeze of the early morning. His gold flecked brown eyes, glimmering like a pair of gemstones, as the breaking sun crosses their path. His smooth, always tanned flesh contrasted beautifully within the silver robe and against the bright cerulean sky. His arms rise and stretch out to me, his rose-colored lips move to speak, but I always awake before I can hear the words he wants to say. I have dreamt this scene everyday for almost two years. Everyday that is, except today.

I usually awaken with a smile on my face, but sadness in my heart. Smiling, because I have dreamt of him once again, sadness, for never hearing the words he wishes to speak.

But this morning, I awakened with a smile on my face and gladness in my heart. For this morning I heard his words.

“You must live for yourself now, for only through your life will my memory be kept alive. I will be waiting here for you, but you have a long life to live. Honor my memory and live your life to the fullest. I will always love you, but you must accept the love others offer, for my love is contained within theirs”

And with that I awakened this morning. A smile on my face and weight lifted from my soul.

For I now know that he would not want me to be alone any longer. And on this day, I awakened with someone to share breakfast with for the first time in two years. With a smile on my face, and gladness in my heart, I awoke to greet a beautiful day.

• A Daily Dream: Everything ended in a mere exclamation mark! [Bridging the ideological divide in the American Catholic Church. Exiting St Patrick's Cathedral into the damp heat of New York in September, I try to see if I can single out Rocco Palmo from among the tourists lounging under the scaffolding, grateful for a shady seat on the cathedral steps We are always missing the other half; For boys, sugar and spice aren't nice Writing
about difficult truths; Great Indian Wedding (GIW)]

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British banks have just five working days to show they have "got it". On Saturday, they must submit to the regulator – the FSA – their planned bonus awards, widely estimated to total £6bn. Prince Andrew may have said in an interview that he regards this sum as "minute in the scheme of things", but, as the economy still falters and unemployment rises, it was clear last night that the banks will grant themselves their billions in an increasingly hostile atmosphere Stop the fat-cat bonuses! George Soros turns on the bankers

In an economic crisis like this, billionaires like George Soros can't just sit idly by
Chrystia Freeland, US managing editor, interviewed George Soros, the fund manager, about the state of the world economy, relations between the US and China, his investment performance and regulating bankers’ compensation. This is a transcript of that interview.

In an economic crisis like this, billionaires like George Soros can't just sit idly by Those earnings are not the achievement of risk-takers ... These are gifts, hidden gifts, from the government. Soros said there was a need to regulate payments to employees, even if that meant banks found it difficult to retain talented risk-takers...
That would push the risk-takers who are good at taking risks out of Goldman Sachs into hedge funds, where they actually belong, because hedge funds take risks with their own capital, not with deposits and not with government guarantees.
Soros also said he believed the decline of the U.S. dollar would be limited by its tie to the Chinese currency. "As long as the renminbi is tied to the dollar, I don't see how the decline in the dollar can go too far.
There is a general lack of confidence in currencies and a move away from currencies into real assets ... There is a push in gold, there's a strength in oil and that is a flight from currencies.
Soros said the rally in the U.S. stock market would continue for the rest of the year, but warned that the hope of a rapid recovery in the U.S. is misplaced.

• Transcript: George Soros interview; [George Soros – one of the riches men in the world, the convicted insider trader, the man who single handedly brought down one of the biggest bank in Hungary, the man who back’s far left groups like MoveOn, the man who bragged that he bought the 2008 presidential and congressional elections – and heart throb of MSNBC, is mouthing off again – and this time about Wall Street Profits in the Financial Times. Soros gifts’ from the state; Google soros; George Soros Shares Latest Insights on Economics and Politics]
• • Former Czechoslovak and Czech president Vaclav Havel will become an honorary citizen of Bratislava Havel & Blava ;Vaclev Havel To President Klaus: Don't Hurt Our Reputation = Vaclav Havel, man of words and unshakable determination, had a question Havel, Still a Man of Morals and Mischief

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Gitka, the Slavic Vatican chef, Andrej and more than 120,000 people packed a field outside the Czech city of Brno on Sunday for an open air mass by Pope Benedict XVI who is on a high profile visit on the 20th anniversary of the fall of communism. Pope Benedict has wrapped up a three-day visit to the Czech Republic where he used an outdoor mass to urge young people to remain faithful to world needs God-fearing people prepared to Czech patron saint, St Wenceslas; Pope Benedict

Change the World? Why Not Courage and Heart of Dreams
KEVIN relied on a number of mentors in my life. To bring things full circle, here’s a guest post from Cameron Gallagher, a young man I’ve started mentoring, on challenge, courage and dreams...

To say you will have the boundaries of what is courageous for you pushed will be an understatement. Sometimes you won't find the courage, and that too, will hurt. Sometimes, a lot.

But with each challenge, you will grow stronger. And you will learn, as I am learning, that the reward of living life in a world where everything remains forever possible is a reward far greater than any material prize could ever be.

So now I must live up to the seed I have sown, and the very idea of trying to do that terrifies me. The 99 percent is already telling me I'll fail and stuff it all up. However, in reality, that just means I have another opportunity to prove those voices wrong.
So, my question to you is this;
Are you ready to Change the World?
Because you are only one choice away.

• If Obama's well-chosen inspirational language improves the climate of negotiation in long-standing disputes, this is an achievement in itself. Mentoring; [Let us remember that rivers and water underpins everything. There has been increasing debate about censorship in its many guises in recent times; everything from what constitutes pornography to what people should be allowed to wear. There are deep fundamental issues here that do deserve to be talked about and acknowledged. These issues ultimately boil down to questions of freedom of expression and openness to ideas; any ideas. These twin concepts are a cornerstone of vibrant democracy, which is why being precise about the meanings of the words used in the discussion is important. Classifying censorship: the shadow without end; Serena Williams, Kanye West and Joe Wilson all recently made seemingly unscripted outbursts: their apologies won't erase their incivility.A lot of sorry, buts ...; The Richest People In America. Forbes magazine. 1 October 2009. America's super rich are getting poorer. For only the fifth time since 1982, the collective net worth of The Forbes 400, the annual tally of the nation's richest people, has declined, falling $300 billion in the past 12 months from $1.57 trillion to $1.27 trillion. My Amerikan Families Again - Richest People In America]
• · A message of hope led Lucienne Simon to pursue an exhibit depicting the Great Depression; Hope and optimism are not the same. 'Hope is humble, trustful, vulnerable. Optimism is arrogant, brash, complacent. Hope has known the pang of suffering and the chill of despair. A spiritual moment - a vibe you can't articulate
• · · A mega-wealthy ex-pat Kiwi has been unwittingly caught up in an alleged $500-million-plus fraud with claims top Russian government ministers were involved Any suggestion that Renaissance was involved in a 2006 tax fraud is wholly false ; Tax Evaders Face Choice: Pay or Pray
• · · · Richard Murphy is a founder of the Tax Justice Network and director of Tax Research LLP. An expert on tax policy, he writes a daily blog which provides regular news on his activities and opinions at So refreshing to see someone telling the truth A leading adviser on research and development tax credits has leapt to the defence of HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), claiming its officers are right to crack down on those trying to exploit the system. Peter Denison-Pender, managing director of Alma Consulting, refuted claims made by accountancy Grant Thornton earlier this month that tax inspectors were being unfairly tough with companies seeking R&D tax credits. HMRC is not the bad guy here. All they are doing is clamping down on production masquerading as research. Good for him. Bad for GT. And how good to see someone saying that cheating and then blaming HMRC is unacceptable Perhaps there are ethics out there, after all, in amongst the self promotion; Oscar Wilde would have regarded our modern Corporations Law not only as uneatable, but also indigestible and incomprehensible ...
There is no dispute; it is unlovely and unloved. Complex, ungainly, internally inconsistent, conceptually troubled; the Corporations Act 2001(CA 2001) is a mishmash of old law, ad hoc amendments, provisions pulled willy-nilly from different legal systems, statements which are not law at all, ideological posturing, and
drafting styles that swing wildly from the colloquial to the technical. Despite massive efforts at law reform in the last fifteen years, and continuous tweaking, the CA 2001 remains, as Sir Anthony Mason found it, indigestible and incomprehensible All in it together Unlovely and Unloved: Corporate Law Reform's Progeny
• · · · · QUEENSLAND'S politicians have been warned to explain how they spend their massive secret allowances or risk facing a British-style MP expenses scandal MPs' allowances should be revealed: Information Commissioner; ; You’re going to purge tax havens, Prime Minister? But Britain is the biggest tax haven of them all ; Parliamentary expenses

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JOHN Hatton must be feeling a sense of déjà vu these days.. The murder of lender of last resort Michael McGurk and the revelations the company he kept reached all the way into State Parliament would have had a familiar ring to the anti-corruption campaigner, whose tell-all biography is being prepared for the presses. Having fought for a more transparent system of government for much of his 22 years in politics, this latest episode in what seems to be a never-ending story of undue influence and murky dealings would have come as no surprise Life story of corruption fighter timely for NSW

Life story of corruption fighter timely for NSW Anti-corruption crusader highlights political woes
What kind of people would meet furtively on a Saturday morning hundreds of kilometres from home, charter a houseboat, and motor to a secluded cove where, under cover of darkness, they make plans to change the course of public administration in Australia? The Cold War may be over, James Bond may have hung up his Walther PPK, but espionage of a different sort is alive if unwell - the business of spying on the bureaucracy from within, and revealing its secrets. And the nine people who set sail on the good ship Luxury Sirius on Lake Macquarie the other weekend were well aware of the extreme prejudice that can result.
Among them were men (and one woman) who had been sacked or turned into non-people, made to idle out their working lives at desks with no telephone or paperwork, whose families had been split up by arbitrary transfers, who had been driven to the brink of insanity by ritual humiliation from the people they sought to expose.
"Honest public officials are the major potential source of the information needed to reduce public maladministration and misconduct," said one man who ought to know - Tony Fitzgerald, whose devastating report cut a swathe through corrupt police, the judiciary and Parliament and laid the institutional foundations for what is now virtually a new State of Queensland. But whistle-blowing comes at a price ...

A nobody who became a national treasure, John Hatton was in Parliament as an independent for 22 years and helped set up a number of anti-corruption inquiries, including the New South Wales Police Royal Commission in 1994. He says that the lack of accountability and responsibility in politics since then has only become worse. There's a huge cross-section of people of all political persuasions who are absolutely disgusted and expressing anger about the secrecy, the lying, the cheating, the abuse of process ... 'we didn't know, we're taking no responsibility.

• Against the machines; [In local government a confidential meeting is a conflict in terms. The smart money will always find out In the face of improper pressure inaction is corruption; John Hatton on Wiki; It took up 451 hearing days, heard from 902 public witnesses and cost an estimated $64 million. Malcolm Brown reports on the Wood royal commission, 10 years on Holding judgement]
• · There was no holding back for former independent State Member for the South Coast John Hatton when he agreed to have a biography written about him HATTON TELLS ALL - Biography of former MP John Hatton will shake some skeletons out of the closet; Blog about newsagents
• · · NSW's tortuous road to reform; New rules allowing multi-storey development on Jervis Bay have pushed the retired anti-police corruption MP John Hatton back into crusading mode Old crusader fights tide of high-rise; Juanita Nielsen was a stylish Potts Point/Kings Cross heiress and local publisher murdered in July 1975. It is generally assumed it was criminal elements doing the bidding of high density urban developer interests reacting to her crusading for the bohemian heritage character of her suburb Juanita Nielsen, suburban news publisher foul murder 30 years ago
• · · · The fictional tale probably sounds pretty familiar, if a little exaggerated. Politics takes comedic spin in 'In the Loop'; US president Barack Obama says he feels 'humbled' after being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Nobel President: Obama's 'unclenched fist' won the prize; Google on Obama and Nobel prize
• · · · · I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these, you did for me Morality, What? Where?; The orthodoxy that often does the rounds is that religions are the well springs of our moral compass and that that the diminution of religious adherence leads to a moral vacuum. This leads ineluctably to the sense that religions have a moral monopoly and that we are lost without faith. But the argument that I wish to promote in this blog is that there reverse is true O Glorious Prejudice; Arianna Huffington seems very well connected in every sense of the phrase, be it in high society or in her online offspring, the Huffington Post. But can she hold on to her maverick approach and her instinct to 'bring people together'? The queen of the digital water cooler