A bit of history missed

Memorial service held for widow of 'Japan's Schindler'

I don't recall hearing about "Japan's Schindler", Chiune Sugihara, before:

Spielberg has praised Chiune as ‘‘Japan’s Schindler,’’ comparing his deeds to those of Oskar Schindler, the German factory owner in Poland who provided Jews with safe haven during World War II and was depicted in Spielberg’s film, ‘‘Schindler’s List.’’ Chiune, who was the consul general in the then Lithuanian capital of Kaunas from 1938 to 1940, is known for rescuing 6,000 Jews from the Holocaust.

Chiune repeatedly sought permission from the Japanese Foreign Ministry to issue visas for the fleeing Jews. But his request was turned down. He then issued them with transit visas on his own initiative. Records show that the recipients traveled via Siberia and Japan to eventual safety in the United States and other destinations.

There is a lengthy Wikipedia post about him. Interesting story. (Although Sugihara acted against his instructions from Japan, I didn't realise the Japanese government generally resisted the urging from Germany to take action against any Jews under its control.)

Thanks for your great sense of timing, guys

Recycle sewage 'as a last resort' | The Australian

I don't get this. I don't know exactly when the Queensland government started working on its sewage recycling plan for Brisbane water, but it certainly got a lot of attention when the water levels in the dams got well below 20% (Wivenhoe got to 15%,) and people were losing well established plants and trees in their yards from the dry. No one could say with certainty at what level the remaining dam water might be too hard to treat. There was some speculation that maybe at around 5%, the dams would be effectively empty anyway.

With that situation, I think most people accepted the government reassurances that it was a safe process, and took the use of such water in Singapore as an example of its safety.

Now the dams are up to 40%, and if we have a relatively "normal" summer, that level could well increase over the next few months. But the government still wants to kick start the system and start pumping treated water into Wivenhoe dam in February.

As this was always the plan, (unless dams had got to 100%, I suppose), why is it only now that various scientist types are starting to say that it may not be a good idea after all? And we are hearing that the Singapore experience is not really similar: most of its recycled water goes into industrial use, apparently.

The only obvious reason to start pumping the water into Wivenhoe in February is likely to be so the government can avoid an accusation that it has wasted money on a facility that was not needed. But can't the treated water now be scaled down and somehow diverted into industrial use until we really do need it to ensure a drinking supply?

This is going to be a hot issue for sometime yet, one suspects.

Saturday night cooking

Here at Opinion Dominion's dominion, it's often your writer's duty to do the Saturday night cooking. I used to usually succeed at this, but for some or other, efforts this year have not been as successful as in the past. The attempt at chicken gumbo was particularly unfortunate, but I blame the recipe book.

Anyhow, last night's effort was a new recipe that turned out pretty successful, although next time we will try a bit less chorizo, and more scallops and basil. The recipe itself is from this week's Brisbane News: (not sure if that link will last more than a week, though):

Olive oil
2 red onions, diced
1 red capsicum, diced
2 chorizo sausages, sliced into 1cm rounds
½tsp sweet paprika
4 garlic cloves, crushed
30ml red wine vinegar
1tbs brown sugar
Salt & pepper
4 basil leaves, shredded
8 scallops, roe off

Heat a splash of olive oil in a medium-sized pan. Saute onion and capsicum over a gentle heat until soft but not browned. add chorizo, paprika and garlic. Saute until chorizo is just cooked. add vinegar and sugar. Reduce heat and simmer until the sauce starts to caramelise. Season with salt and pepper and then toss through the basil. Set aside. Grill or pan-fry scallops for 2 mins on each side. Fold through capsicum sauce and serve. Serves 2.

Brisbane News has always been a very high quality free weekly, particularly in its food sections. Its website has a lot of great recipes from past editions on line.

By the way, last night's wine: Deakin Estate 2008 Sauvignon Blanc: an excellent example of why there is not often a need to spent more than $10 for a bottle of wine in Australia.

Smell the money

Dubai's beaches face a stinking problem :

For several weeks some of the emirate's fabled beaches have been covered with the stinking contents of septic tanks as Dubai suffers the consequences of its frantic and poorly controlled development.

The foul effluent, which threatens to damage Dubai's image, highlights one of the paradoxes of the emirates -- it can build the world's tallest tower and six-star hotels but has not constructed the sewage works it needs....

...the city still has no main drainage system, hence the need for tankers to collect the contents of septic tanks and transport the waste to the emirate's only sewage treatment works at Al-Awir, out in open desert.

The problem is that the tanker drivers have to wait for hours in the heat to get into the sewage works, hence the temptation to dump it into the sea, or just in the middle of the desert.

Oddly, Dubai is not the only rich Arab city that lags in investing in decent waste disposal:

The Jeddah Municipality has signed three contracts worth SR95 million on Saturday with specialized companies to clean up the “Musk Lake,” an open, seeping body of raw sewage east of Jeddah, according to Ibraheem Kutubkhana, deputy mayor for constructions and projects....

More than 800 tanker trucks dump raw sewage into the lake daily. Most of Jeddah’s sewage is handled by on-site septic systems that require fleets of trucks to periodically empty.

The city also dumps untreated sewage directly into the Red Sea because the infrastructure is inadequate to handle the amount of waste produced by residents.

"Musk Lake" might be an open cesspit, but it looks like a fairly pretty one. The reason for some urgency in cleaning up it might have something to do with this:

...a breach in the sand dam, which is blocking the lake, that could lead to massive flooding in the eastern parts of the city.

The Bride of the Red Sea wants to avoid getting her feet wet.

China slowdown

Chinese economy shows signs of fizzling - International Herald Tribune

According to the article:

Economists expect the economy to expand at an annualized rate of as little as 5.8 percent in the fourth quarter this year, down from nearly 11.2 percent in 2007.

Analysts worry that a sharp downturn could undermine the already weakening investment climate and impair some of China's biggest banks, which have bankrolled much of the boom. The Chinese government is said to worry that if economic growth slows to 8 percent or less, not enough jobs will be created in a country that is rapidly urbanizing, and that could lead to social unrest.

Not auguring well

The five most infamous Rahm Emanuel moments | FP Passport

Foreign Policy provides a list of notorious Rahm Emanuel stories, none of them terribly encouraging for people who thought that Obama was planning on doing politics differently.

Even worse, though, is the suggestion that John Kerry may end up as Secretary of State (!)

UPDATE: Slate has a handy guide as to who Obama should not select for his cabinet, and they agree with me about Kerry:

The 2004 election demonstrated that nobody likes him. That isn't disqualifying for a senator, but it is for a diplomat.

UPDATE 2: I see that Fred Barnes on Fox said on the weekend that he initially thought Emanuel's appointment was bad, but he has since changed his mind. Obviously, as I take most of my political cues from Fox, I may have to change my mind too!

More pre-election news that we should have known about

ELECTION 08

Can I get a job with that newspaper?

Just a little weird: no, actually very strange

Barack Obama asked gay bishop Gene Robinson what it was like to be 'first' -Times Online:

Barack Obama sought out controversial gay bishop Gene Robinson not just once but three times during his campaign to become President of the United States, The Times can reveal....

Bishop Robinson... said that Mr Obama’s campaign team had sought him last year and he had the “honour” of three private conversations with the future president of the United States last May and June.

“The first words out of his mouth were: ‘Well you’re certainly causing a lot of trouble’, My response to him was: ‘Well that makes two of us'.”

He said that Mr Obama had indicated his support for equal civil rights for gay and lesbian people and described the election as a “religious experience”.

This is very strange, isn't it, to be seeking out this particular "leader"? I assume abortion wasn't high on the list of topics to discuss.

But the other significant bit is the talk of the election being a "religious experience". I'll get the DVD recorder ready and waiting to see how the likes of Jon Stewart and Bill Maher now riff on how scary it is to have a President elect who seems to see religious significance in his role.

And pigs might be spotted flying over Hollywood too.

Unimportant news

The 'Desperate Housewife' look comes to Washington - Americas, World - The Independent

Don't care what she wears: she still looks kinda intimidating to me.

Let the tears flow, Ellen

U-turn as Californians vote to ban gay marriage - World - smh.com.au

I'll be very disappointed if she doesn't cry.

UPDATE: an interesting side note to the Proposition 8 issue is that many, many Hollywood celebrities donated money to fight against it (including, sad to say, my directorial hero Mr Spielberg. It's funny how much of a gay rights supporter he is, yet off the top of my head I can't recall any of his movies featuring as much as one gay character.) But one prominent figure who did not donate was Rosie O'Donnell. This has caused some people to be less than charitable towards her (from the previous link):

i've lost completel respect for rosie, not that i've really had any for her to begin with. not opening her fat hyprocritcal mouth probably helped the no on 8 cause... lol.

The LA Times gives a good summary of the whole Proposition 8 story, which basically is one of gay activists never accepting the majority opinion of the electorate.

Sad

Bestselling author Michael Crichton dies

How sad. I reckon about every second book was an entertaining (and educational) read, but with an output like his, that was still a high success rate.

I certainly always looked forward to seeing what topic he was going to deal with in his next book.

This'll be interesting

Well, the great mystery of how things will pan out under President Obama begins.

It's hard to see how some of his over-the-top supporters could not end up being disappointed. (One suspects much of Europe will end up the same way.)

And does this election make it more or less likely that Israel will do something about Iran?

All will be revealed in due course...

UPDATE - miscellaneous further comments:

* Not many people have been saying it yet, but the popular vote for McCain was higher than many polls predicted, and actually not too bad given the financial crisis. Surely that alone must have shaved at least one or two percent from his popular vote.

* I've made the point elsewhere, but if I were a Democrat, I would be a little worried that such widespread success in both the legislative and the executive arms of government (and the likely liberal lean of the judiciary in future appointments) is going to make it near impossible for them to disclaim responsibility for anything that goes wrong. Truly, if anything gets broke now, they own it.

* Am I the only one who thought Obama seemed a little too dour in his victory speech ? I genuinely don't understand the accolades given to him as a orator. He's competent, but I really think you've got to be "of the left" to be overly impressed. To make a comparison, the oratory of John F Kennedy also dealt with lofty and idealist themes, and did genuinely impress; but at that time, the fate of Western democracy was by no means assured. Speaking of freedom, self sacrifice, human rights and dignity really had some significance to the entire world.

Obama-talk, on the other hand, is just internal politics - complaining about division, promising solutions to difficult and near intractable problems without any detail at all - dressed up in emotional generalities.

* Nevertheless, this post at Tigerhawk sums up well, I think, the generally magnanimous attitude that most of the right wing commentators take towards the Obama win. They do recognise the significance of the symbolism of a black man being president. It is a million miles from the bitterness, accusations and overwrought emotion the left were threatening if they didn't get their way.

* This post at Bryan Appleyard's blog makes a good comparison:

Obama is a hope candidate, and like all hope candidates (Blair being our most recent), he is doomed from the start by absurd expectations and by his own limitations.

* The other "glass half full" way of looking at it is that Democrats and Bush critics generally have bitched and moaned about the job being done by a US president who really has had the most extraordinary challenges to face. Now with an emphatic win, they've got the keys to the car and (one can only hope) might at least develop a bit of humility and realistic appreciation for the difficulties and imperfect nature of all governments.

UPDATE 2: Currency Lad's post this morning about the hypocrisy of the Democrats as "unifiers" makes the point more eloquently than I can.

Now she tells me

Annie Proulx no longer at home on the range - Los Angeles Times

Annie Proulx, author of Brokeback Mountain, presumably did not foresee this consequence:

"I wish I'd never written it," Proulx says...

Not because of the people of Saratoga, a town she doesn't think much of. Not even because the word "brokeback" has been misappropriated, as in, "Hey, you're not goin' brokeback on me, are you?"

It's all the manuscripts, screenplays and letters sent to her by men who rewrite or serialize her story, adding new characters, endings and even successive generations.

"These cover letters," she complains, "always begin with the sentence 'I'm not gay, but . . . ' They think that just because they are men, they understand men better than I do.

Elsewhere, she has given more detail:

She lamented that "remedial writers" are constantly sending "ghastly manuscripts and pornish rewrites of the story to me, expecting me to reply with praise and applause for 'fixing' the story..

Damn. What do I do now with my screenplay that deals with how Tim Blair and Mark Steyn accidentally meet up with Ennis and Andrew Sullivan, while all are moosehunting in the backwoods of New Hampshire, and, you know, one thing leads to another...

Interesting

BBC NEWS | Americas | US Elections 2008 | Who will win the electoral college?

This page at the BBC has a good little doo-dah on it that allows you to move a slider to see how the state electoral colleges have voted over the last 60 years.

It's pretty interesting to see how comprehensive some past election wins have been.

Possible headlines for the near future

Arugula shares soar!

Canada closes border with US: "PM: Go back to your homes, celebrities"

Ellen in hospital with dehydration *

Bullwinkle breathes easier as Palin relocates

Kennedy had "Camelot" - Obama establishes commission to find hum-able tune on Broadway

Andrew Sullivan jailed for stalking Trig - Tried to get hair for DNA testing

* slightly oblique reference to the amount of tears predicted to be shed by Ellen DeGeneres if Proposition 8, banning gay marriage, gets up.

Bet you didn't know this...

Snake bite is a 'neglected tropical disease' - New Scientist:

Snakes kill more people than either dengue fever or skin cancer, according to a new worldwide estimate.

See an interactive map of the areas affected

Cobras, vipers, black mambas and other venomous snakes take between 20,000 and 94,000 lives each year, and bite another 421,000 to 1,841,000 people.

Memories of John Kerry

Just thought I would double check on what John Kerry was saying about the number of US troops in Iraq in 2004:

John Kerry set a three-part test for removing U.S. troops from Iraq if he is elected president, while warning that President Bush might commence a more rapid draw-down this fall to improve his re-election prospects.

The three conditions, Mr. Kerry said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, are "to measure the level of stability" in Iraq, "to measure the outlook for the stability to hold" and "to measure the ability ... of their security forces" to defend Iraq. Until each condition is satisfied, he added, "I will provide for the world's need not to have a failed state in Iraq."

Mr. Kerry's remarks, two weeks before he accepts the nomination of a Democratic Party with deep misgivings about the war, indicate the Massachusetts senator isn't preparing to spell out a timetable for rapid withdrawal of the roughly 140,000 U.S. troops now in Iraq. To the contrary, he suggested that Mr. Bush was more likely to do so, saying "I've heard [it] said by many people" that the White House might be gearing up to withdraw troops before the November election.

Incurably waffle-y, wasn't he?

It's a surprising twist of fate that McCain has not been able to make political mileage out of being proved right on Iraq. Still, the world is fickle, and recessions help no one in power when they arrive.

Yes, still more about Ross & Brand

Dominic Lawson writing in the Independent on the Jonathan Ross/Russell Brand incident, writes about a problem for one type of modern comedian:

....this is where the need of comedians to be seen to tackle taboos has been pushed beyond reason by an increasing absence of boundaries to break. When the whole idea of privacy in sexual matters is seen as hopelessly old-fashioned inhibition, how far must an "edgy" comedian think he needs to go in order to startle his young audience into gasps of incredulous laughter? The answer is: a very, very long way indeed – and yet without any restraint, where is the tension that has always tempered true comedy?

These thoughts came to me on my return to the rail services in England, and hearing a young woman talking loudly in her mobile telephone to some lover about her recent examination for a sexually transmitted disease. The other English people in the carriage seemed unsurprised by this casually revolting monologue; but there was a French couple sitting opposite – their Parisian fastidiousness evident in appearance alone – who gazed in palpable astonishment at this unselfconscious exercise in personal debasement.

I would hazard that neither Russell Brand nor Jonathan Ross would have found this episode surprising, entrenched as they are in what is sometimes laughingly known as "youth culture"

I would argue that there is not an inherent need for comedy to "break boundaries", but still Lawson's point about the increasing crudity of the target youth audience seems accurate.

If Sarah had said that...

Michelle Malkin notes a very recent ramble from "heartbeat away" Joe Biden, that really makes you wonder about how nervous we all might feel if ever he became president.

As one commenter says: "And to think some are worried that Palin could be #2…."

As bad as that?

Election Predictions: Pundits Weigh In

Out of a long list of political pundits listed above (including Karl Rove!) only one - Fred Barnes of the Weekly Standard and Fox News - predicts a John McCain win. (And a pretty narrow one at that.)

What's more amusing is how in the comments that follow, quite a few Obama fans see Rove's opinion as being all part of the evil plot to convince Democrats that they don't have to bother voting.