Thoughts Mindesque - Gareth - General

Sydney War Grave? Not Sure If I Understand

nospam@example.com (Gareth) — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 09:54:56 -0700

The discovery of the HMAS Sydney wreck has brought claims that it is a war grave and should not be disturbed. Yet, the Titanic wreck was explored and artefacts recovered. Is there a reason for believing that a civilian grave ship is fair game but military one sunk during a war is sacrosanct? Is the loss of civilian lives less of a tragedy than the loss of servicemens' lives?

There are people with existing military connections to WW2 who will insist that their own brand of reverence ought to be honoured by the rest of society. One hundred years from now the sentiments of those people will no longer be heard. Meanwhile, the wreck rots at the bottom of the ocean. A valuable opportunity to obtain information and artefacts for the benefit of future generations will have been lost.

I am not advocating wholesale plunder of the wreck. But if a picture can paint a thousand words an object can relate a million. If we truly want future humans to remember the cost in lives that brought freedom to the world, preserving the proof and displaying it in fashions by which they can learn from it is the best way.

Oh, Yes! We Have No Bananas

nospam@example.com (Gareth) — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 01:23:10 -0700

Oh, Yes! We Have No Bananas. But what we do have are these solid gold, diamond studded, bent yellow things over here for a dollar each. That 's around $9 a kilogram. Feeling hungry?
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Di And Dodi: Let's Conspire To Be Open Minded

nospam@example.com (Gareth) — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 22:35:34 -0700

Dodi's dad thinks Di and his son were deliberately done in. It's easy to dismiss that suggestion with a claim that he is just a silly old bugger grieving for his dead child. There are some pretty good reasons for not doing that. Clearly, the lovers' death must be regarded as an accident. But if there is one thing that modern, educated minds ought to know by now it is that much of life is not as it seems on the surface. The higher you climb up the ladder of money and influence the more intricate and determined the background machinations become.
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Britney-bashing Is A Bit Off

nospam@example.com (Gareth) — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 10:31:06 -0700

The wild thrashing about of Britney Spears in recent times brings home a surprising fact about pop divas in the modern world. Their increased vulnerability as mothers brings them no protection against being thrashed by the media. In fact, it makes them sitting ducks.
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Perspective On The Share Collapse

nospam@example.com (Gareth) — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 21:22:41 -0700

As the share market performs an amazing triple-turn high dive, financial advisers are still standing at the top of the tower, screaming "don't panic. This is absurd!" We never hear them yell "don't get excited. This is absurd!" when share prices shoot for the stars. Surely the highs and lows are equally absurd. I cannot quite see why a price-to-earnings ratio of, say, twenty-to-one on a stock is justified as a high, yet a collapse down to thirteen-to-one is absurd. There are lots of arguments supporting high prices, the main one being that a stock is worth as much as people are prepared to pay for it. Fine, but when the price crashes, ditto.

Being Single-Again Can Be Fun But Attitude Is Everything

nospam@example.com (Gareth) — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 15:11:00 -0700

Being single again can be a massively rewarding experience. For me, an unexpected divorce at the age of forty-two led me to eventually create and manage one of the biggest face-to-face singles networks in the world, Going Places With Gareth. The network is based in Adelaide, South Australia. After five years, around five thousand people had become involved to some degree.
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A Woman's Phone Number - From Her Lips Only

nospam@example.com (Gareth) — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 15:11:00 -0700

In my role running a large singles social network I receive many requests for telephone numbers of both men and women. Some members evidently decide that they have nothing to lose by trying me out. They are wrong. Depending on how they ask, they can become branded in my eyes as ethically-challenged opportunists, not to be trusted too far.
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Roadside Memorials, Skid Marks and Hard Realities.

nospam@example.com (Gareth) — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 15:11:00 -0700

I'm no genius, but I dreamt up the idea of road accident markers many years before they were used by the police or the public. In the mid seventies I conceived the idea of painting a huge red circle at the spot on a road where someone was killed.

Roadside memorials are very common nowadays. Whether or not they help to reduce accidents I don't really know. What I never imagined was skid marks being traced and highlighted by the police, and what a previously untold tale they now tell!
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