I'm now a Mozilla Firefox user.


Darren gets back from Brisbane later today.


Went down to Chicken Run at the station shops in Quakers Hill for lunch. I love their chicken. I love their chips. Easily the best in the Sydney Basin. Two-piece chicken and chips for $4.95. Beautiful.



Isn't it interesting to see the U.S. Federal Government hand out a few billion dollars to Florida in the wake of a hurricane but only give a few tens of millions of dollars in aid to tsunami stricken nations.

And then this:

Australia's generosity has been noted by the US media, with many news stations making the point that Australia's initial donation of $10million was half as much as that of the US.

US rejects stingy tag, and praises Australia, Caroline Overington. Sydney Morning Herald, December 30 2004.

Typical, isn't it. Sounds like FoxNews drivel to me. Actually it was; I stumbled across it while flicking channels. The contribution may have been half as much, but as a proportion of GDP, it's significantly higher. The US can afford to give more, yet it doesn't.

Foreign aid in general, while being woefully inadequate, is managed poorly - particularly here in Australia. You'd think that with our level of aid (currently around 0.28% of GDP, as opposed to the world standard of 0.7%), we'd make the most out of what we contribute; get more bang for our buck. Apparently that's not the case. Corporations get involved and siphon off some of that money. And it's all legal. Ridiculous.

+link: aid watch campaigns


Listening to:
Title: Drown
Artist: The Smashing Pumpkins
Album/station: Rotten Apples (2001)
Length: 4.30