Let's read the paper, eh?


Final push to get rail users back on track, Sydney Morning Herald, September 28.

Whatever happened to the days when the NSWGR ran those cheap, dinky little railmotors all over the state?


Real baby bonus found: a rising birthrate to keep us younger, Sydney Morning Herald, September 28.

So apparently Australia's declining birthrate is turning around, which is good. What's better is that the increase in mothers doesn't appear to be in bogans or teenage kids only after the Federal Government's baby bonus. Score!


Breastfed babes know when enough is enough, Sydney Morning Herald, September 28.

Breastfed kids are less likely to become obese. I can see an upcoming episode of A Current Affair or Today Tonight: "Bottle feeding mothers making our kids fat and bludging on the dole while dodgily repairing washing machines".


Recycle effluent: green group, Sydney Morning Herald, September 28.

To turn seawater into potable water, one must remove dissolved salt and other minor impurities, yes? To turn effluent into potable water, one must remove dissolved salts (and not just the sodium chloride variety), dissolved and suspended organic compounds, nitrogenous and metabolic wastes, pharmaceuicals and other toxic compounds that have been disposed of in sewage, et cetera, which occur in very much higher concentrations than in sea water. Essentially, almost the exact same or even more extensive procedures would be needed to obtain the same quality of potable water from effluent as from desalination and an equivalent or greater amount of energy would be consumed in the process.

And reports that these people want recycled effluent from the treatment plants in western Sydney piped directly into Prospect Reservoir scares me. People are worried about accidents at relatively safe nuclear power plants, what about accidents at water treatment plants?


ALP buries Hawke's nuclear waste revolution, Sydney Morning Herald, September 28.

Hey, it already comes out of the ground here, readily decaying on its own. Why not stick it back in the ground from whence it came? And make money for us, twofold - when it comes out of the ground, and when it goes back in?

Heh, and gosh I love Hawkie, in that silly grandpa kind of way.


Beazley sidesteps and Gillard runs away with the ball, Sydney Morning Herald, September 28.

Julia Gillard can be my prime minister any day.


Petrol profit details go on web, Sydney Morning Herald, September 28.

Oil refiners are businesses so, illegal practices like collusion aside, shouldn't they be able to set their own profit margins and charge what ever they feel? It's up to the consumer to vote with their feet and wallets to keep them accountable. It's our own demand and our own fault that the oil companies have us by the balls. We've got to reduce our dependence on petrol, walk more, or get the bus, anything. We can't forever be suckling at the teat of the bowser.


What goes up will keep it up, Ross Gittins. Sydney Morning Herald, September 28.

"If only more Australians had a better grasp on the laws of supply and demand", Ross Gittins says, "they'd understand the paradox that the rising price of petrol (and, of course, oil) offers the best prospect of preventing, delaying or limiting further price rises". Of course, the only thing that some Australians seem to grasp are the immediate effects on their own hip pockets, and will put all other concerns important to Australian society behind it. Disgraceful.


School reports need more detail than a few words on a billboard, Jenny Allum. Sydney Morning Herald, September 28.

One thing that the Libs don't understand is that schools are more than just places where academic subjects are merely taught. Education is not a commodity to be bought and sold for the lowest price. It's not a matter of putting money in and measuring what you get out of it at the end. They are communities in and of themselves and as such deserve as much support as they need. If they're doing poorly, supply the financial and social capital to remediate the problems. Schools and education are not just a means to an end, they're also the ends in themselves.


The gender divide as seen through the shower curtain, Sydney Morning Herald, September 28.

Wait a second. I face away from the showerhead. And I take ten minutes. Bah, according the shower people, I'm not a man!


Youth leaders set their ideals in motion, The Age, September 28.

Even a mock Parliament with young idealistic kids in the place of politicians won't vote for gay marriage. Well there you go.


Letters, Sydney Morning Herald, September 28.

Can David Ashton of Orange (Letters, September 26) answer this: why should I, as a relatively high income earner, contribute more to society because I have worked hard and got where I am today? Does that mean I should pay more for hospitals and schools even though I use them as much or even less than someone who doesn't work or doesn't earn as much as me?

If there is more money left at the end of the financial year, give it to the people who put it there: the payers of high tax.

A. Perry Quakers Hill

This is one of the attitudes that really gets my goat. Taxation is meant to be the redistribution of resources from those more fortunate to those who are less fortunate, in order to lift society as a whole. Taxation, and surpluses thereupon, shouldn't be and isn't about raising the fortunes of the few, nor about what one does or doesn't get out of their tax dollars. Anything left over should be invested back into society.


Listening to:
Title: Slippy
Artist: Goodshirt
Album/station: Good (2002)
Length: 3.23