Football Fest 2104

             O.K. folks here we go again!
             World cup football or 'soccer 'as it is know here.This generates emotions which only people of steel can control effectively. Some years ago it was the Dutch who were renowned masters of the game. It was a strange era and I recall how elated, joyful and over the cheese were they whenever any continental team beat any English or Scottish side. It was football politics. Now of course the centre of football gravity has moved very firmly into the Latin camp.
             I attended many games when the boys were growing up.For years the eldest lost practically every match until the the final season when they clicked and won every game outright. Had to wait five or six years of shivering sideline presence to achieve the winners feeling.
             Even at these junior levels, emotions were close to the surface. I recall one very keen, put it that way, mother tripping up an opposing team's winger with the handle of her umbrella. She was sent packing. Another time a father waltzed onto the pitch brandishing a pistol and verbally assaulting the ref. This match was cancelled; another instance of zeal was practised by a bunch of twelve year olds  who sat the ground in rows, with headphones ,while they listened to recorded pep talks from their coach.
             We watched the last world cup in a private venue and could have sworn that the referee and commentator were absolutely and completely biased towards the other side. It was group telepathy gone hideously wrong. All us were surprised to find that in the outside world nobody else agreed.
             One of the earliest supporters of soccer in the world of the media was the SBS (Spoecial broadcasting Service) who,k over the years,  secured a comfortable niche in this market until the commercial channels woke up to the fact that maybe there was something in this game after all. The SBS is a multi lingual station , broadcasting in more that seventy languages both on radio and TV. In their early days they showed contiental wovies,, which at the time were considered 'risque' ,k definitely avant garde. Together with their love of soccer they came to be known as the "Soccer Before Sex" media station. No longer such a distiction as even the mildest of U.S. films would have our grandparents popping their false teeth in amazement.
             Australia has been placed in the "death draw" round , playing such notables as Holland, Spain and Chile. Much bravado is being displayed by the socceroos. Surprises,k however,  can and do happen in sport .It's a bit like going to bed and finding a set of badgers there..alost impossible but not beyond the realms of possibility. Let's watch and see. More long nights ahead.

Much ado about an awful lot

Not a few social commentators have remarked there is a willingness to react to adverse news or events by force. In its own way there's a resurgence of patriotism and can explain, in part , the rise in numbers of dissatisfied voters in the recent European elections. Despite the merging of national boundaries, laws and identities , cultures feel under threat. Education and travel have not changed things that much.things don't change that much. Identity is inherent in the tribal roots of human nature .
An article in one of the U.K. national Sunday papers even managed to link this loss of identity within Europe to the opening of the refurbished Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam ; a recent article in The Economist argued that many are unhappy with the EU but not sure exactly why.
Samuel Johnson once remarked that patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel. It clouds judgement and outcomes causing diplomats to fail at their calling. (That's a new "buzz" word..outcomes: we want outcomes. Outcomes also are no longer worrying  but concerning).
Senior Australian military officials have recently remarked that the annual Gallipoli remembrance ceremonies in Turkey are becoming a major side show, thereby losing significance , with a increasing number of those attending being  youthful hangers-on  of their grandfather's or great-grandfather's experiences.
Currently there's an increasing number of military parades and ceremonies, almost weekly it seems.
This might or might not be a "man thing". However the increasing influence of women whether or not in the workforce, politics or the legislature might be a counter balance. Dunno. Maybe. Golda Meir in Israel , a tough old cigarette smoking Amazon , Indira Ghandi in India and recently Margaret Thatcher serve to refute this as a convncing argument.  
 For the moment however I am safe. I can still open bottles or screw caps off jam jars but when I lose that ability my days are numbered.

Sydney the Rocks

The Rocks city side ( one of mine)

Southern end of the Harbour Bridge is popular with teenagers and young adults, particularly on a Saturday night when getting smashed seems to be the object of the exercise. It's quite a historic place with the old wool sheds and storage spaces now converted into restaurants, bars and other eating places. There's also a market which is open all day Sunday and most days during summer.
You only really get an idea of the size of the bridge from this angle..it's a massive piece of engineering.Standing beneath it is awesome.

I once caught a sailing boat cruise from just behind those buildings. It was interesting but slow, slow,slow. It must have been both frustrating and a pleasure to travel in days of yore; like the difference between modern airliners and the old airships. The captain was fascinating enigma. Couldn't work out if he or she was a he or she. Long hair, long purple fingernails (polished) made it hard to determine gender while the uniform and voice was a unisex camouflage

To get back to the Rocks, as the area is known, of course it is not only the place where people go to let their hair down; there are a number of expensive hotels and shops that lure disembarking passengers who interrupt their world wide cruises.
Anyway..just a piece of blog as I will not be able to devote as much time as I would like to this exercise for the next couple of days.
It's like everything else when you are at your busiest a whole lot of work , new work, drops on your desk and off you go, like a blue-arsed fly. Often wondered why blue-arsed flies are so busy. Anybody enlighten me?
Write soon..

Getting to Know You

My Lord and Master

It's come to a coup.
Another one, the latest instalment in a long battle between supporters of ousted former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra,  after months of protest seeking to oust her government. and opponents backed by the royalist establishment. With a population of some 65 million people , the problems in Thailand are political, economic and cultural. The unrest in the country has been simmering for almost a decade if not more.
India, on the other hand, appears to be a bastion of democracy.With a population that dwarfs that of Thailand the new Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi holds sway, for the moment at least , over 1.27 billion souls.

In both countries poverty in rural areas is marked and the difference between the middle class and rural dwellers is as wide as ever if not widening.
(Radio news stations, barely fifteen years ago referred to rural residents as "peasants" .Hopefull this is no longer the case. There would have been an outcry causing George Brandis , yes, he of the call to all bigots, to blush,  had Australian farmers been referred to as peasants) !Stone the crows!

In Thailand , resentment at the corruption and protection of the inner circle of those in power has been at the root of the current  ongoing unrest  with economic and cultural inequities following closely behind, While there is violence in India it is for the moment localised and not directed at the government as such. There was however a surge of emotion and anger at the recent cases of rape and violence against lone women.

While the West seems to be struggling with the excesses of the Church , becoming even more secular and pragmatic, religion still plays and important role in the Asiatic countries where democracy lurches and gropes for success. The appeal and power of religion appears to cause immense problems for many Muslim countries but less so for Asian Muslim nations.

It appears that the current bogeyman is power and corruption, even in China where steps to prosecute bent officials have been increased. The GFC (Great Financial Con) had at its roots the excessive power and corruption of many financial institutions and individuals. In the aftermath many were spared or even assisted because of their perceived importance  It seems that the old adage that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely is very much still in vogue.

Interesting to note that recent reports have put Vladimir Putin's personal wealth at something in excess of $30 million. Perhaps Kim Jong-un,Supreme Leader, might take note although he could  be perfectly happy with his popular haircut ( he suffers from a fear of barbers) , raising unicorns or kidnapping a South Korean film director to direct a North Korean Godzilla epic. Our dear leader also took part in the direction.

Panda-ing to the U.S

Bear Hug

It's been a bit of a quiet time for China.

After the Malaysian Air disaster, focus has been on the Ukraine, Russia and Crimea. Attention is once more turning to the adolescent superpower.

There are accusations flying around re Chinese military officials hacking into U.S companies'
computer systems and the subsequent theft of sensitive material. The Australian press is also keen to tag along..advancing similar claims..a sort of keeping up with the Joneses. I'd like to add more on this trait but have been criticised for being too long winded with this blog  (not from a reader )  so I'll keep it short.

Of course there is little doubt that espionage is a tit for tat business. I don't imagine the U.S. is not as pure as the driven slush when it comes to espionage  or cyber spying.

It was of course a frightful thing to happen, the disappearance of the Malaysian Airlines Boeing with more that 200 people on board. It might well be one of those mysteries that last for years although the current salvage team are confident something will be found within the year. Here , the Chinese were also actively involved and their ships scoured the ocean for days. Unfortunately  a few seamen call Ping  fell overboard and their retrieval caused not a little confusion with news reporters Apparently a number of Pings were located and retrieved.

It's an awful and sad business for all those involved, while there has been a fair amount of skull-duggery mainly to cover up gross errors and inefficiencies by those authorities responsible. A messy affair with the pilots' reputation being torn to shreds in their absence.

To conclude while on the subject of things Chinese , here is a photo taken by my son while he was working in Shanghai.
Luv it!