In fact, of the five nominees for best picture—"Milk," "Frost/Nixon," "The Reader," "Slumdog Millionaire," and "Benjamin Button"—only "Milk," a bio-pic with a thrilling sense of history and lots of jokes and sex, has the aesthetic life and human vitality that warrant its nomination.
— David Denby, New Yorker 9 Feb 09.

 

The very act of awarding prizes seems to throw Tinseltown into a state of cognitive dissonance. As Tom Shone observes in his insightful book, "Blockbuster", Hollywood spends nearly all its money and energy working out what teenagers want and cravenly giving it to them. Then, once a year, it pauses to ask: "But is it art?". It is hardly surprising that its conclusions are often so dismal.
-- The Economist, 21 Feb 09

It seems that I have haemochromatosis. It's a genetic disorder causing the body to absorb an excessive amount of iron from food. The excess iron is deposited in various joints and organs throughout the body, in particular, the liver. If it is not managed or treated, damage to the liver, heart and other organs is likely; I'm fortunate that it has been found in good time.

Haemochromatosis is tricky to diagnose as the symptoms are common to a range of problems. Its presence must be confirmed by blood test and genetic tests.

My case is a mild one, as I have just one copy of one the implicated genes. But it means as near to an iron free diet as possible for the rest of my life. No lamb, no steak, no red meat at all. Sigh.

Fortunately I like chicken and fish and soy; I could be quite happy as a vegetarian. And a low meat diet is good for my green credentials! Studies in several countries have shown a prevalence for haemochromatosis of 1 in 400 in Caucasians and as high as 1 in 80 for people of Celtic ancestry. And I'm Anglo-Celtic. Meanwhile James has a lactose intolerance from his ethnic background (no dairy food!). So cooking in our house promises to be interesting.

Leon Gettler writes for the SMH reports "Stats show old farts are taking over Facebook." I which case I must plead guilty, I suppose.

According to the latest market research, reported here some 10.4 million people aged 35 years and older have accounts on Facebook and that's up 97% on the previous year. [There are 175 million users in all.] Indeed, the 30 plus age category is now the fastest growing group on the social networking site. That raises questions about whether it will change the nature of Facebook and similar sites, whether we are going to see different types of relationships springing up. And about some of the mistakes we're going to see happen.

Bill Dyszel at PCmag.com says "If you have a professional reputation to protect, a Facebook account creates a risk. Those two are natural enemies, like eggs and bowling balls. Facebook is simply not designed as a tool for business."

But as Getler writes,

Yes, I am on Facebook and a few other social networking sites (being an old fart), and I've met some really interesting people through it. But nothing beats face to face contact. It's also a point taken up by Jerry Wilson at BusinessWeek.

"In today's fast-paced digital world, face-to-face interactions are more important than ever. While wireless culture is quite efficient, it is not always very effective. People are quick to click and send with little thought, and this leads to many problems . . . While it is easy to click and send, face-to-face interactions can have great impact. They lead to more consensual decisions and the building of trust and high-performance teams. It all begins and ends with the people. People who do not have regular and credible interactions with others are missing the potential of personal growth."

Just so.

Meanwhile Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook has tried to dampen a growing row over the ownership of user data on the social network, saying "own their information and control who they share it with." Concern grew when amended terms of service for the site deleted a provision that said users could remove their content at any time. Mr Zuckerberg said the changes were made to ensure that if a user deletes his or her account any comments or messages he or she had left on a friend's Facebook page would not also disappear. Facebook has now announced a return to our previous Terms of Use while it resolves the issues that people have raised.

The simple moral is, never write anything on a public internet sit that you wouldn't want the whole world to know.

On 4 February, after a two hour wait, the Right Revd Suheil S. Dawani, the Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem and Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem that includes Gaza, was denied entry to Gaza Strip at the Israeli EREZ security Crossing Point—along with Lutheran Bishop Mounib Younan.

The bishops were on a pastoral Visit to the Anglican Al Ahli Hospital in Gaza members of their communities, as part of delegation of five Jerusalem-based church leaders. They had been informed by the authorities that their request to enter Gaza had been granted. The stated reason for refusing entry was that they were both Palestinians.

This seemingly minor incident is an example of the petty harassment that Israel endlessly and frequently inflicts on inflicts on Palestinians. It is also offensive to Anglicans and Lutherans world wide. Yet agains, Israel's stupid and racist actions do it more harm than good.

On return to his Jerusalem office, Bishop Dawani said:

I deeply regret the decision by those at the EREZ Crossing Point to deny me, a recognized Anglican Bishop of the Church in Jerusalem with pastoral responsibilities in Gaza, this important pastoral opportunity during the present quiet in the Cease Fire, to visit my diocesan Al Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City. The Hospital has been carrying a great responsibility for the diocese in providing high quality healthcare to the Gaza communities for over a Century of exemplary medical and humanitarian services.

During this Gaza Conflict, our hospital and the dedicated heroic staff provided urgent emergency, in patient, and outpatient care to many hundreds of civilians, children women and men, tragically caught in the fray of the military operations. The staff ministered to the wounded, injured and the dying under great conditions of stress. Their devotion and work was admirable in the highest tradition of medical ethics and Christian compassion. The purpose of my visit to Gaza, along with my colleagues, the Heads of Churches, was to pastorally affirm such outstanding services rendered, and be the pastor that I am to our people.

... I deeply regret such a denial of entry, on whatever grounds so stated, by the authorities. Gaza remains a portion of my diocese in the administration of my pastoral duties and responsibilities as a Bishop of the Church for the care of my staff and people. The denial of entry to myself and Bishop Mounib Younan, a close colleague who has been a collegial and active partner in the ministry which began between our two Churches Lutherans and Anglicans since 1841, is reprehensible. I say this, because it reflects badly on those in authority at these crossing points, and which the international community had demanded be open to humanitarian endeavors—and most certainly pastoral care is an important factor in such services.

In spite of this denial of entry today, I will try, and try again to reach our Hospital and people in Gaza to provide the pastoral care as well as the necessary review and supervision of our Hospital, as both its Chairman and President. My intention here is to care for our people and staff and to insure a continued impeccable healthcare and other related services rendered to the community.

As Anglicans the Bishop continued, a faith community across 130 countries, and as caring Christians, the third largest Christian family, and within our collegial interfaith family partnership here in this Diocese of Jerusalem that serves five countries, we have had a rich tradition of devoted and selfless non-sectarian service to all those in need, and certainly in critical areas of healthcare and education.

Regardless of what happened today at EREZ, I will continue the work of Peace and Reconciliation during this difficult time that we face. And as I have always said, we must keep Faith and Hope alive against all odds as we work in earnest for a just peace and security for all Palestinians and Israelis alike. I remain committed to a two State Solution that will bring reconciliation and harmony. A solution that brings betterment for all of our communities in Israel and Palestine, to enjoy the blessings of a far better quality of life that they justly deserve with the attendant economic and social opportunities to build the foundation, the fabric of an enduring equitable society.

I find it hard to comprehend that so many people should have died in the Victorian bushfires this week. Property damage is nearly inevitable, but surely the human carnage is preventable. The Vitoria Government has promise a Royal Commission of enquiry, and so it should. Meanwhile, Frank Campbell, former Australian editor of Wildfire, attempts some answers in The Age today (10 Feb 09).

"Australian bushfire strategy is in ruins", he says. The official advice is that people leave early or stay and defend their homes. But the conditions were too extreme for people to 'stay and defend', with high temperatures and gale-force winds. Nor was the usual advice to stay indoors until the fire front had passed safe in sucvh conditions. Still worse was too try and escape by care when it was too late.

"Every 10 or 20 years there is a bushfire disaster. This isn't going to change. South-eastern Australia is perhaps the worst fire vortex in the world and we have to improve bushfire policy."

What is to be done, according to Campbell?

1. Potentially catastrophic fire days must be distinguished from lesser threats. "The key advice for a catastrophic fire day should be: be ready to leave home when new fires start, if not before.
2. The fire services should have specific strategies for each level of risk.
3. Communication with the public has to be greatly improved.
4. Too much is expected of volunteers.
5. Greatly improve methds to deter, detect and aprehend arsonists.

"Authorities who don't learn from history repeat it at our peril," Campbell concludes.

The Economist, quotes Kevin Tolhurst, a fire ecologist at the University of Melbourne, as saying "that the authorities had learned much from Ash Wednesday in terms of improvements to co-ordination and communication. The difference this time, though, was the higher temperatures in preceding weeks which killed off even the hardiest vegetation, providing more dry fuel and allowing the inferno to spread much faster."

Some are linking Australia’s prolonged drought and heatwave to climate change. Ross Garnaut, in his climate change report said there had been a "general increase" in the Forest Fire Danger Index across south-east Australia in the 34 years up to 2007. Recent projections, he said, suggested that fire seasons would start earlier, end later and be more intense.

Amid the death and destruction, the sheer size, speed and power of bush fires can be fearsome, as shown in these pictures by The Age of the Victorian fires.

The Economist rightly describes Kim Jong-Il's latest posturings as a "hissy fit"

In the court of King Kim

If his spooks in Seoul dare tell him the truth, then North Korea's dictator, Kim Jong Il, knows that all his threats against South Korea and its president, Lee Myung-bak, have made little impression. Since his inauguration a year ago, Mr Lee has made it clear that he will engage properly with the North only when it really begins to dismantle its nuclear capability.

The stand has infuriated Mr Kim. For months he has abused the South Korean government. He has threatened it with "all-out confrontation". [. . . ] In a televised discussion, Mr Lee dismissed the threats as "not new". Ordinary South Koreans seem equally impassive, although South Korea's navy takes seriously the possibility of another clash in the Yellow Sea-the last, deadly, one was in 2002. [. . . ]

Mr Kim's bluster is probably intended more for an American audience than a South Korean one-as well as for his own people. After an illness last year, the 66-year-old may want to show his grip on the country. Rallying North Korea's army to his side by (verbally) attacking South Korea is an old trick of Mr Kim's. [. . .] Like any thrower of hissy fits, the North can switch on the charm, too. At a banquet in Pyongyang last month for a big Chinese Communist Party cheese, Mr Kim assured his guest that he was making efforts to denuclearise the Korean peninsula. [. . .]

The [South Korean] president promises massive aid and investment, with the aim of raising North Korean income per head to $3,000 a year within a decade, if only the North gives up its atom bombs. As Mr Lee sees it, the ball is firmly in Mr Kim's court.

Meanwhile, as the Washington Post (9 Feb 09) comments, the attention-getting behavior of North Korea (preparing to launch another of its long-rage like a Taepodong-2 missiles in violation of UN resolutions)

. . . may look infantile, but from the North's point of view it is quite logical. Time and again in the past decade, dictator Kim Jong Il has manufactured a crisis by testing missiles or a nuclear weapon, taking steps to produce bomb-grade plutonium, or expelling international inspectors. In most instances he has been rewarded with diplomatic attention and bribes of food and energy from South Korea, the United States, China and other nations, in exchange for reversing or freezing the actions. The Bush administration took office eight years ago declaring it would not condone such payoffs. It meekly ended, in October, by bribing Mr. Kim to reverse steps toward resuming plutonium reprocessing.

The mess inherited by the Obama administration is considerably worse than that encountered by President Bush. North Korea recently declared that it has weaponized its entire declared stock of plutonium, which if true means it has five or six nuclear weapons. In theory, the Bush administration won Mr. Kim's commitment to give up this stockpile in a step-by-step process in exchange for economic and diplomatic favors. In practice, Pyongyang's behavior never changed: while reneging or heating on its own commitments, it used brinkmanship to extract concession after concession from Washington. . . . If there's one lesson to be learned [by President Obama] from the past decade, it's that rewarding the North's provocations will only ensure more of them — and that while that strategy works, the regime will not take genuine steps toward disarmament.

I have only now learned of the death of Richard Holland in May last year at the age of 89. He was founder and senior minister of the Waverley Christian Fellowship (now City Life Church) and my church pastor for twenty years before I moved from Melbourne to Canberra in 1986. Richard was like an uncle to me and, with my parents, a spiritual mentor and counsellor. He taught me much, of the Bible especially. When I was seriously ill, he supported and encouraged. When I had well recovered, he entrusted me with church work and ministry. Mark Conner, a successor of Richard as Senior Minister, writes that Richard lived a full life and that "Richard lived his life in the light of eternity." That is true. Richard loved God and loved God's people. I cannot think of single person he didn't like. I honour him and give thanks for his life of love and service.

I watched part of the match, as no. 1 tennis player Rafael Nadal defeated Roger Federer 7-5, 3-6, 7-6, 3-6, 6-2 to become Australian open singles champion, in a contest that lasted four hours and 23 minutes. But I went to bed long before the match ended. I'm ignorant of the finer points of tennis, but the endurance and stamina of the players is astonishing—especially Nadal, who had played another 5-setter in his semi-final. I cannot think of another sport that pits just two players against each other in such a long, gladiatorial, contest. (Except the looser lives to fight another day.) Do Mr Nadal's long locks give him the look of a gladiator? And as a left-handed player, he has more muscle on the left side.