Always Travelling

In Australia recently there has been a lot of press about the proposed employment relations platforms the major parties will take into the next election. The two major political parties in Australia are the Australian Labor Party (ALP or commonly refered to as 'Labor') and the Liberal Party of Australia ('Liberals'). Basically, Labor is centre-left and the liberals are centre-right.

Of course there is a lot of talk on other policy positions, such as expansion of uranium mining and nuclear power generation, Australian involvement in the Middle-East, deregulation of the higher education system, and so on. However when it comes time to vote, my belief is that the majority of people vote with their wallet; that is people are most concerned about having a job (the unemployment rate), working conditions (employment relations regulations), and home mortgage repayments (via interest rates and thus the financial management of the economy overall). I've simplified things here and of course the system is much more complex and no factor is independent, but I believe the basic rule is that the majority of people will vote on the basis of other policy positions only if they perceive little difference in how they will be affected by the employment relations policy platforms proposed by either political party. The employment relations platforms are the most important.

Setting the stage for this election are continuing record low unemployment rates and relatively low inflation. Recent history has also told us that the electorate is willing to overlook very unpopular policies (creation of a consumption tax called the GST, continuing engagement in Iraq) and vote with the 'safe' party who will manage the economy well.

I'll write more in the future but for now I am running out of steam so I'll sign off here.

Note: I'm not a political science major so please feel free to critique my little theory.

Apr 13 - Western Australia’s Square Kilometre Array Radio Telescope
Apr 20 - Measuring the impact of the Romans in two thousand year old Greenland ice
Apr 27 - The biomechanics of human snoring
May 4 - Constructing Masculinity Under Abusive Conditions
May 11 - Midland's Revitalisation
May 18 - New MetroRail City Project: Light at the End of the Tunnel
May 25 - Artificial Life: When? How? Why?"

Well, having just said in the post below that I have 'cleared out' my schedule... one of the things that I have recently added to my weekly activities is to attend Curtin Corner, which is an hour long forum aimed at the cross-fertilisation of ideas through presentations across a broad range of topics (as you can see from the table above). An expert presents on their recent project or something stimulating from their field to an audience of about 20, and I find it all pretty interesting. It's not mainstream or overly popular, and it is held in the vice chancellery with wine and cheese served afterwards (to consume whilst mingling)... it's upmarket, and I like it. I've wanted to go for about half a year now, but never had/made the time for it. I've attended the last 3 weeks, including the presentation this week which was on 'the biomechanics of human snoring'. I can't say that I understood the mathematical equations but I did grasp the overall concepts. Previous weeks have been stimulating too, and what excites me about the whole thing is that each week my eyes are opened to a new topic on more than just a superficial level. I consider a broad general knowledge and a diverse array of interests as valuable in and of themselves, and indicators of intelligence and worldliness; as such I persue both vigorously and hold those who exhibit such qualities in high regard.

Although the presentations are held at 4pm on a Friday afternoon, I reckon opening up your mind to new ideas beyond your existing knowledge and experience is a great way to kick-start the weekend! Call me a nerd!

Today I submitted an assignment worth 40% of the total unit mark, and for the first time in years I am proud of what I handed in. It was a thoroughly researched, well constructed, comprehensive critique of Fairburn's cognitive behavioural theory of bulimia nervosa (for an abnormal psych class in the science half of my science-commerce double). I will be disappointed if I don't get a high distinction for this one. More importantly though, I feel great! It's incredible, I was so relaxed putting it together, I had everything mapped out, took my time, even slept in every morning this week! The key to (predicted) success was simple, preparation. Preparation, preparation, preparation.

I have for once been kind to myself and realised that change needed to happen, not just for this assignment but for uni more generally. I quit two jobs, cleared out my schedule, and gave myself time to chill out and to study like a successful student would study. You can't cut out chill out time, it finds a way into your day anyway. I was initially anxious before even putting pen to paper because I had lost confidence in my ability as a student, and as on so many previous occasions I would put myself through hell to get assignments done. Not this time. Not in the future either. Consistently great marks are what I need now, for my own confidence in my ability to achieve what I really want to achieve. Who knows, if I do get the marks I want and get the momentum up I might even go ahead and enroll in the Master of Human Resources course for the start of next year.

This time I have turned the corner for real. There is still a niggling thought in the back of my mind that if I don't have a packed schedule then I am not achieving as much as I could. But I know that to achieve at uni in my last semester and a half of undergraduate studies (and perhaps another year and a half of graduate studies) I need to unpack that schedule and lighten the load. I will add in activities once I have my confidence up and have an entrenched study routine happening.

It's 5.40pm and I'm sitting in darkness! We're not even in winter yet! Bring back daylight savings please!
(alternatively I could wake up at a normal hour and make full use of the day...).

Only two and a bit months to go!

The priest was engaging and thoughtful, the baptism with purpose yet casual. Interesting application of technology where they used a data projector with the words the congregation were to say displayed on a big screen out the front. In the old days it was one of those alluring mysterious things, that people knew exactly what to say at various times during Eucharist.

Tomorrow, my nephew Lucas gets baptised. This is obviously a momentous occasion and an important one for the family, but there are a few things I want to reflect on.

1. I don't know what denomination he'll be Christened (baptised) under - might be Anglican or Uniting Church but I think we're pretty open to whatever. Just so long as he's Christened like a normal kid here. (sarcasm)
2. I don't know who his Godparents will be or if he will have any.
3. I don't think the reasons for the baptism have really been challenged.

I'm not one to stir up trouble so I'm glad nobody in my family reads my blog (with any regularity).

It is perhaps a sad fact that I have never seen a baptism before. My family is a nuclear one in that we live on the other side of the country to my cousins, and although some of them were young enough for me to see their baptism, the distance was too much. In Western culture it is not common to get that close to your neighbours. In the same respect I have only been to one wedding in my life (in Australia, I went to 2 or 3 ceremonies in Pakistan).

Not knowing that much about the subject, I decided to go to the expert source - wikipedia. There are good articles on baptism and infant baptism. As usual when it comes to theology in Christianity, there are various disagreements and arguments on the subject. Of particular interest to me was the issue of infant baptism. I always find it fascinating and slightly ridiculous when theological arguments are based on assertions with reference to various sentences taken from here and there in the old or new testaments. There are too many reasons why this is ridiculous (this is a person opinion and although I usually am not so forthright, I can say what I like here).

Anyway, here's one such line of argument for infant baptism:

• Premise #1: Circumcision is the sign of the covenant God made with Abraham and should be received by all the members of his covenant (Gen. 17:10-11).
• Premise #2: The children of members of Abraham's covenant are themselves members of Abraham's covenant (Gen 17:7, Dt. 7:9, 30:6, 1Ch 16:15, Psa 103:17, 105:8).
• Premise #3: Christians are members of Abraham's covenant (Galatians 3:6-9 & Galatians 3:26-29; Romans 11.17-24; Rom. 4:16; Eph. 2:11-13; Eph. 3:3-6; Rom 2:28-29; 1 Peter 2:9; Gal. 6:16; Phil 3:2-3).
• Premise #4: Therefore, the children of Christians are members of Abraham's covenant (follows logically and necessarily from 2 & 3; 1 Cor. 7:14; Acts 2:38).
• Premise #5: Baptism is the New Testament form of circumcision (Col. 2:11-12).
• Conclusion: Therefore, the children of Christians should receive the sign of the covenant by being baptized (logically and necessarily from 1, 4, & 5).

My opinion: I am all for conscious informed personal choice when it comes to matters spiritual/religious, and if I were to accept Christianity as my religion I would want to be baptised again as a responsible informed adult, seeing my infant baptism as something I had no say in and as such pretty invalid as a mechanism of entering the Church of Christ. I will have no objection though if in the future my wife (we're talking about the future remember) wants our kids to be baptised before they can consciously make the decision themselves to enter the Church - I just wouldn't see it as the real thing and would thus encourage them to re-baptise as adults if they were that way inclined.

Well, that was a good experience. 2 weeks of looking after a house that wasn't mine provided me with a little holiday and with some space to think and study. Mind you, it was a bit lonely at times. Rumour has it that a 2 month stint at a place in Vic Park could be happening soon. That'd be awesome and I'd jump at the opportunity.

What is it going to take to toughen gun laws in the US?

Yesterday was a day of varied experiences from which there is a lot to reflect on.

In the morning I helped with setup for the AIESEC Western Australia Statecon, which is basically an induction conference for new members. The excitement was palpable and I found myself thinking back to this time last year when I was still actively involved in the organisation. Time seems to fly because I can remember it so well, but I know that so much has happened in the past year too. It would be great to be at an @ conference again meeting new people, leading a team, skolling, strategising, etc, but to be honest part of me feels a bit uneasy about getting involved in something so big again. Perhaps it is the underlying worry I have now about my ability to combine uni study and anything else that causes this feeling within me. One thing I do need to prove to myself is that I can be a great student again, like I used to be.

In the afternoon I helped a friend car shop by test driving the car she was interested in. Today she went ahead and bought this car. Over the last week have been looking at small automatic cars for her to learn how to drive in. Her method includes scanning a car lot for any 'cute' cars, by which she means colour and shape, and then getting me to check the 'other stuff' like kms, rego, rust, tires, upholstery, etc hahaha. It was great to help her out, and a great experience in itself to check out car lots and deal with salesmen. It felt like a lot of responsibility given the amount of money she was looking to spend. Going through this exercise made me think of Pascaline, as she will also need to get her license and buy her first car at some point in the future (but not for another two years probably).

At night I attended the launch of the WA chapter of the Australian Friends of Palestine Association, "Promoting Peace in Palestine". The launch was held at UWA and was attended by the Palestinian Ambassador to Australia, as well as a number of AFOPA members from around Australia. The presentations, which included a speech from the Ambassador and a documentary entitled 'Our Story', opened my eyes to the Palestinian perspective, to their plight, and brought an awareness of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to the forefront of my mind. I was moved to tears to see and feel the passion within the room - I felt very uncomfortable many times. Part of it was because I was very unaware of the reality of the situation, yet familiar with the names, the places, the wider context, etc because you hear about it all the time in the news and see it in movies. But it's always been so far removed from me, something 'out there' that was complicated and never really hit home. Last night it did hit home. It also made me want to run out and get an Israeli perspective, because I knew what I was being presented was only half the story. When I told one of my friends this, they sarcastically suggested I go read anything from News Corp. I marvel that I can suddenly become aware of something that has been out there in the news for so long, but that has always washed over me.

Yet more evidence of why it is a really bad time to be a first home buyer in Perth at the moment.
Not only are first home buyers competing with rampant property speculators who are forcing up prices higher and higher, stamp duty (which is levied by the state government) remains at exceptionally high rates despite an increase of over 100% in 18 months of the mean value of Perth properties (essentially earning the state government about 100% more in revenue than at the same time 18 months ago), and the first home buyers' grant has remained at a stagnant $7,000.

Some thoughts of mine:

1. Cut stamp duty on property purchases or crank up the first home buyers' grant to $30,000. Not only is the state government earning far more than budgeted from this duty, they are receiving record revenue through the GST.
   
2. Fast-track new land development projects. Perth can expand and expand and expand, there is nothing in the way and more land than you can poke a stick at. We need more houses quick!
   
3. The federal government has scrapped all tax on superannuation payouts accessed after 60 years of age, and opened a limited window in which people can lump up to $1million into their Super. In some cases this makes Super the best investment option available and has encouraged some to liquidate property to access their equity. However money locked away in Super cannot be leveraged and so this option may not be not attractive to those who wish to speculate through investing with debt (such as those who purchase a property using only 20% equity for instance). I believe the time is right to increase mandatory Superannuation contributions to 12% and eventually to 15% of pre-taxed pay. This 'forced saving' will cut the amount of debt investors can leverage and thus dampen property price inflation; it will cut property investment as money is already being put away for the future in the form of Superannuation; it will offer the federal government the opportunity to further reduce the unequal distribution of income through tax cuts to low and middle income earners whilst gaining a massive, growing, secure source of revenue through moderately taxing Super earnings; and it will spur the development of Australia's finance sector into a major world player (we already have the highest level of managed savings per capita in the world).

I have a strong dislike of 'old money' - the inherited wealth of established upper-class families. Before I say more I'm going to draw a distinction between moderate amounts of money and assets of maybe up to a million dollars worth (that's a bit more than the average house with a view) being passed on from older generations to younger, and dynastic stuffy old money that was made generations past. Everyone needs a little bit of capital to get going initially - that's the whole basis of microcredit - and it is decent for older generations to want a better life for future generations by passing on wealth, but I call it foul when obscene amounts of money are inherited by people who did nothing for it except being born into the right family. It seems very unfair to society in general. The money stays locked up in shares and just ticks over, accumulating into ever bigger amounts and adding to the ever growing inequality in the distribution of wealth worldwide. Meanwhile the current dynastic generation enjoy the good life, typically without an ounce of the drive and purpose of their forefathers. Of course, there are exceptions to the rule, and I have a friend who was does not fit the stereotype I'm talking about and who is in line for hundreds of millions of dollars. The fact she is so down to earth is a real credit to her parents.

I admire the Gates' decision to donate almost all their assets to tackling the world's major problems, but I believe this is the only way to go when one has accumulated such massive wealth. Absolutely nobody deserves to inherit large amounts of money and nobody should pass on such amounts either (even in single digit millions). By all means invest in your child's education, send them to the best schools and get them to travel the world, but do not cripple their ambition by giving them too much. Bill Gates said something like, "Give them enough to do anything, but not enough to do nothing", and I fully subscribe to that notion. They will benefit from your networks and your name all their life without you leaving them a large inheritance.

The below passage is from a recent Financial Times article. Jeff Sachs is referring to the amount of money needed, where properly invested, to lift Africa out of poverty.

“There are 950 billionaires whose wealth is estimated at $3.5 trillion [$3,500bn]. An annual 5 per cent ‘foundation’ payout would be $175bn per year – that would do it. Then we don’t need the G8 but 950 people on the Forbes list,” said Mr Sachs.

By passing on enough money so as to provide their children with a plethora of opportunities in life but not so much as to kill their drive and ambition, the rich (and not just the current 950 billionaires) could simultaneously stimulate massive aid and investment in health and education, such as the world has never seen. This would provide a much brighter future for everyone.

I drive home from studying all day at the house I'm currently minding, arrive home and open my car door to the wonderful smell of backyard barbeques in my street. I can smell sausages and steaks from my front lawn. Then I open the front door to my house and am hit by the delightful and saliva inducing smell of a lamb roast in the oven, with roast potato, pumpkin, carrots, and onions as well. Hmmmm I love Sunday night family dinners!

I was asked yesterday if I'd like to house sit a place in Melville for the next 2 weeks, and of course I said yes! I was recommended to strangers (a married couple with young kids who are friends of a friend) and met them today at their place, and after a tour of the house and a chat, they handed over the keys and a set of instructions with contact details and said "seeya later"! Although only 8 mins drive from my place, I'm excited about the change of scenery, the fact it is something different, and the opportunity to take some time out and really nail some study. It'll be like a little escape from day-to-day life.

There seems to be a whole community of people who go on holidays and want someone to live on their property and take care of the gardens/pets whilst they're away. Although I picked up this stint by luck via word-of-mouth, there are a number of websites matching homeowners to sitters (eg 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) and from the brief look I've had there appears to be three types of homeowner advertising; those who can't afford to put their pets in a kennel, those who can't abide the thought of their pets being in a kennel, and those who want the added security of someone looking after their place especially if the holiday is an extended one.

This is something that can really be taken advantage of by young people. If you can manage to get a bit of a network going and get a good reputation, you could dramatically reduce the amount of money you pay in rent (if you don't get locked into a contract), and I think the opportunity to live in fully furnished houses in different places every now and then is awesome! This place has a big outdoor patio/deck for entertaining, a spa, and a big widescreen tv for entertaining. Of course the onus is then on you to not be stupid and chuck a party, to be responsible and look after things etc. But the owners told me they are fine with me having a few friends over for dinner and a wine, utilising the BBQ and spa etc. I reckon this is a great deal and will be looking into this in the future too.

I'd love to house sit in other countries - the cost of accommodation is the real limiting factor once round trip airfares have been paid. Staying with friends is a good option but there is only so long that you can do that without being a burden, and adding house sitting to the mix as well as things like couchsurfing (ie, dropping in on kind strangers) and hostels would add to the experience and would make the budget go further.

Well this is a new development... despite the presence of legislation in Australia to prohibit spam via SMS, I received such a message today to my mobile. Here is the message, spelling and grammar mistakes included:

Interestingly, although the message came from a number I'd not previously entered into my phone book with a corresponding name, it displayed as from 'SCANDIC S.S' in my inbox, rather than displaying just the number as would normally happen.

I imagine there could be a whole different business model attached to SMS spam. Firstly, SMS costs real money payable to real telcos, so sending millions of SMS would firstly need a correspondingly large payoff, and secondly would draw attention to the spammers activities. Email address harvesting via replies in response to the above SMS probably wouldn't be enough to make the endeavour worthwhile on its own, but perhaps associated scams could be lucrative. I have heard about prank callers who call and immediately hang up on thousands of mobile phones in a systematic way, and when a victim returns the call to see who rang they unsuspectingly are hit with massive call fees of hundreds of dollars per minute. Although an SMS such as the one above looks plain dodgy, perhaps to some naive people they could look trustworthy enough to get drawn into some other transaction.

I hope it's the last one I receive.

I was in the early stages of what has become a beautiful relationship... and I'm happier than ever...

Tomorrow I start submitting applications for 2008 graduate positions at the major multinationals around town... I don't know whether I'll still be in Australia to accept any offers but the window in which to apply draws to a close for most in mid-April, meaning that applying without knowing for sure what you want to do is a reality. There is a mid-year application period for some companies but not all.

What a great way to spend your mid-semester break. Zzzzzzzzz......

Just back from another trip to Laverton, my fifth now (3 in the second half of last year, 2 within the last month). This time around, the experience wasn't as immediately impacting on me - it didn't pack the punch of earlier trips. I suppose I am familiar with the outback rural setting now, I know the layout of the town, and recognise the kids. I didn't have that feeling you have when travelling... that things are different and you're ready for anything. That's a natural thing to happen once you've been anywhere a few times, but I think this time it's a bit illusionary as deep down I know that Laverton has so much to offer and that I've just scratched the surface. Like the layers of an onion... still, perhaps that thrill-seeking adrenalin junkie traveller in me wanted that feeling to be present again. The challenge then in this sort of situation is to step up and perform at the next level; for one, ensure that as a leader my group of volunteers have a great time and get to experience as much as possible over the course of the weekend, and secondly, keep my eyes open and proactively look for new experiences and opportunities that might not have been readily apparent at first.

Callum the community development officer was great and we spent most of the weekend in his company - we were picked up by him from the airstrip at Anglo and he cooked for us on Friday night;  on Saturday: kiddy gym in morning, down at The Great Beyond before lunch, at the pool in the afternoon, and we (well, my group member Rico mostly - great cook!) cooked for him; on Sunday: he took us out, along with a visiting journalist, for some sightseeing and photos in the morning, we managed to find some of the local kids and open the youth centre in the afternoon, and then kick the footy aroud on the oval afterward before everyone lay down in exhaustion. We (Rico) then cooked again.

I didn't take my camera around much but I did take a few pics this trip. Here's my Laverton collection on flickr.

Labels: laverton, pics

Wiktionary - travel

to travel (third-person singular simple present travels, present participle travelling (Commonwealth), traveling (American), simple past travelled (Commonwealth), traveled (American), past participle travelled (Commonwealth), traveled (American))

1. (intransitive) To be on a journey , often for pleasure or business and with luggage; to go from one place to another.

   I like to travel.

2. (intransitive) To pass from here to there; to move or transmit; to go from one place to another.

   Soundwaves can travel through water.

3. (intransitive, basketball) To move illegally by walking or running without dribbling the ball.
4. (transitive) To travel throughout (a place).

   I've travelled the world.