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Many Australians often have a weak or non-existent aspiration of the letter "t", so that it often sounds like a "d"; not that there's anything wrong with that, i don't subscribe to the idea that there is only one sort of proper English vocabulary nor pronunciation. However, i have noticed that almost always this aspiration is much more fully and distinctly pronounced when we say the word "beautiful". My little theory is that people want the word "beautiful" to be beautiful; and that there is an unconscious belief that it should be pronounced in what we used to be taught was proper English pronunciation.

i'm from Sydney originally & i still live in New South Wales; however, for a long time i've been thinking it would be a great idea to move Australia Day. Now i read in the Herald (No apology for Rudd's national day about-face Kelly Burke, SMH, January 25, 2009) that

... the National Indigenous Times has criticised the Labor Government for failing to honour a promise made in the ALP's national platform before the 2007 election, a promise to implement recommendations made in a 2000 Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation report that included "changing the date of Australia Day to a date that includes all Australians".

Wait, what? Was this a "non-core promise"? I understand that politics is the art of the possible, and that it was important for Australia and the world that we had a change in Federal government; i appreciate that some significant, real changes have been made; but this seems to be a government that is more interested in spinning than consulting. I know consultation is a bit hard, you have to listen & then actually think about what you have heard; but listen up! The web filtering idea (setting aside issues of free speech) will not work.

The current Australia Day is "Invasion Day" to many indigenous Australians, this in a country that still has no treaty with traditional owners, unlike other comparable Commonwealth countries (& the US). Furthermore the foundation of the colony of NSW is irrelevant for MOST of the country. Our third Queensland born Prime Minister should understood this.

So when should we move Australia Day to? When was the Commonwealth of Australia founded? Make Australia Day 1 January, and have a two day holiday; you know it makes sense.

Biochar may at last get a toe hold in at the UN Climate Change Convention in Poznan, Poland. I'm on a mailing list at the International Biochar Initiative (IBI), they're taking part at the conference. Micronesia is submitting biochar at the UN conference as a “fast-start” strategy; this is significant since this could be adopted before 2012.

Biochar, also known as agrichar, solves a number of problems at once; cheaply with a win-win-win output.

1. derive syngas and charcoal from many sorts of plant or other organic material
2. powder the charcoal and add to soil, helps plant growth & vitality
3. historical examples from South America demonstrate 1000 year storage of carbon
4. syngas provides all the heating energy for the process, plus a small excess
5. syngas is a suitable fuel for cars and trucks
6. fairly low-tech, very well proven technology, low capital cost, distributable, currently commercially available.

that's what we've got to do in the jaws of economic downturn and global warming, put the money towards solving more than one problem at once. It's nice to see that the incoming administration—'cause we don't have to say just "Obama" any more he has a cabinet of strength in the style of Lincoln— doing this, putting money towards making federal buildings more energy efficient. What does this do?

1. reduces energy requirements to ameliorate global warming
2. low capital cost, start by working with existing infrastructure
3. saves money in the long term
4. labour intensive so it helps with unemployment

War on Warming!

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(1) Copyright © 2008. The Sydney Morning Herald.

(2) Copyright © 2008 The New York Times Company

Steel Willed Woman

Steel willed woman
My love's Liege
Lifted that siege
Of silence, and relieved
The assaults of lovelorn lonely nights

Knights of Wing-ed helms
Laid the foundations of that liberation
Salted that Catholic pool in preparation
With hard-arsed carborundum
With no time for fools

Grind me, grind me, grind me down
Knock off my rough apexes, arrises
As they arise
And then reprise, reprise, reprise
Hit me, hit me, heat me, hard

No safety word
I bard again
My friend
Before
You were
My steel willed one