I have a "Load and Go" card from the post office. It works like a debit card. You can put money on to it at any post office and then use it wherever you would use a Visa card within Downunder. There is a different sort of "Load and Go" for use overseas.
It is a good idea. It is a cheap alternative to a credit card if you only need to do a couple of transactions a month or you don't want a business to have your bank details.You can put just enough on to pay the bill or buy something.
Or rather, it should be a good idea. My card got "blocked" yesterday. It got "blocked" for the second time.
No, it was not my fault. I went online to try and check to see that the balance was what I thought it should be. I typed in all the necessary information very carefully...and was told that it was wrong.
Now I was extremely careful. I didn't think I had done the wrong thing but there is always the possibility. You cannot read the dots and check so...I did it again. The same result came up.
I knew if I tried again the card with the same result the card would be blocked. So I changed the password, received the requisite e-mail, and then tried again - twice. Still "wrong".
Now, at this point, I have gone into the security and given the computer at the other end the "word" that only I know - and it is not a word that anyone else would know because I made it up. I think about it. I have nothing to lose. I change the access number as well and receive the requisite e-mail.
Then, ultra carefully - hesitating over each letter and number as I type them in I try again. I tried twice. At the end of the second time I was "blocked".
By then I had actually tried to access my details not three but six times. And yes, I had typed in the correct details - more than once.
There is, I think, something else wrong. I will have to contact them later this morning.
I am not impressed. It reminds me of why I do not use a credit card on line. I remember the horror tale of my friend R who had a call from the bank. Had she, they wanted to know, just bought a car in Singapore?
Of course she had not. She had not been anywhere near Singapore for several years.
Her credit card was stopped. It was stopped in the middle of a holiday weekend. Frantic phone calls ensued and she was at the bank when it opened on the Tuesday morning.
The Senior Cat once had to borrow some money from a friend. They were at a conference together and the teller-machine swallowed the Senior Cat's card and refused to give him any money. He had to go into the bank the following morning too. It was his good fortune that he had other ID and a friend willing to see he could eat something.
I don't like this "card" business. I know it is the way the world is going but sometimes, just sometimes, it doesn't work!
Thursday, 30 April 2015
Wednesday, 29 April 2015
Recalling an ambassador
is a political statement.
The Australian Embassy in Jakarta will remain open - unless Indonesia decides otherwise. But recalling the Ambassador is intended to send a strong political message to Indonesia that Australia is unhappy with the state sanctioned murder of two Australian citizens.
I need to say two things here. One is that I find drug trafficking abhorrent and worthy of severe punishment. The other is that I am totally and utterly opposed to the death penalty. The first offence does not justify the latter. Nothing justifies the latter offence. Taking someone's life, even when they have taken the lives of others, amounts to murder. It makes those who use the death penalty no better than those who kill for other reasons. Indeed, in some ways they are worse.
Indonesia is out of step with almost every other country in the world in imposing the death penalty. They compound the problem by seeking "clemency" for their own citizens facing that penalty in other countries. It is an entirely unacceptable double standard.
Australia provides considerable foreign aid to Indonesia. It comes as straight out aid from the foreign aid budget and, more indirectly, in many other ways. Australia also trades with Indonesia - something that benefits Indonesia more than it benefits Australia.
For years Australia has treated Indonesia with kid gloves. Oh yes, be so careful of that very big Muslim country next door. Australia needs to be very careful not to upset them.
Indonesia is a very wealthy country. It has incredible natural resources. It has man power. The problem is that almost all the wealth is controlled by a tiny portion of the population. Most people are poor. They will remain poor because, even with all the aid that flows in, entrenched power and corruption will ensure that the wealth is not shared.
Sukumaran and Chan might well have stayed incarcerated in Indonesia if massive bribes had been paid. Why those bribes were not paid is a mystery and likely to remain so. (Equally it is certain that bribes were paid in the case of Schapelle Corby and that she was fortunate to be released on parole before President Widodo came to power.) The two men were executed because of another sort of corruption - the corruption that keeps a weak President Widodo in power.
Indonesia is a political mess but a mess other countries are prepared to prop up in the belief that the alternatives might be far worse.
Indonesia may well respond to the current action by withdrawing their Ambassador to Australia. They will almost certainly respond by withdrawing support for the border protection measures - and the state sanctioned people smugglers will be back in business.
Nobody is going to win. I have just one word of advice. Don't go to Bali for any reason at all - no matter how attractive the holiday prices, how exotic the location or how beautiful the beach.
The Australian Embassy in Jakarta will remain open - unless Indonesia decides otherwise. But recalling the Ambassador is intended to send a strong political message to Indonesia that Australia is unhappy with the state sanctioned murder of two Australian citizens.
I need to say two things here. One is that I find drug trafficking abhorrent and worthy of severe punishment. The other is that I am totally and utterly opposed to the death penalty. The first offence does not justify the latter. Nothing justifies the latter offence. Taking someone's life, even when they have taken the lives of others, amounts to murder. It makes those who use the death penalty no better than those who kill for other reasons. Indeed, in some ways they are worse.
Indonesia is out of step with almost every other country in the world in imposing the death penalty. They compound the problem by seeking "clemency" for their own citizens facing that penalty in other countries. It is an entirely unacceptable double standard.
Australia provides considerable foreign aid to Indonesia. It comes as straight out aid from the foreign aid budget and, more indirectly, in many other ways. Australia also trades with Indonesia - something that benefits Indonesia more than it benefits Australia.
For years Australia has treated Indonesia with kid gloves. Oh yes, be so careful of that very big Muslim country next door. Australia needs to be very careful not to upset them.
Indonesia is a very wealthy country. It has incredible natural resources. It has man power. The problem is that almost all the wealth is controlled by a tiny portion of the population. Most people are poor. They will remain poor because, even with all the aid that flows in, entrenched power and corruption will ensure that the wealth is not shared.
Sukumaran and Chan might well have stayed incarcerated in Indonesia if massive bribes had been paid. Why those bribes were not paid is a mystery and likely to remain so. (Equally it is certain that bribes were paid in the case of Schapelle Corby and that she was fortunate to be released on parole before President Widodo came to power.) The two men were executed because of another sort of corruption - the corruption that keeps a weak President Widodo in power.
Indonesia is a political mess but a mess other countries are prepared to prop up in the belief that the alternatives might be far worse.
Indonesia may well respond to the current action by withdrawing their Ambassador to Australia. They will almost certainly respond by withdrawing support for the border protection measures - and the state sanctioned people smugglers will be back in business.
Nobody is going to win. I have just one word of advice. Don't go to Bali for any reason at all - no matter how attractive the holiday prices, how exotic the location or how beautiful the beach.
Tuesday, 28 April 2015
Nepalese medicine
was the topic of a two part documentary the Senior Cat and I saw last year.
We watch almost no television and we miss the wonderful Global Village programme that was used to air this documentary. Trying to remember the details is frustrating.
The documentary looked at "amchi"- also the name of the shamans who use it - a form of traditional herbal medicine. It is used in the western area of Nepal and is not, as many people like to believe, superstitious nonsense. It is firmly rooted (if I may use that term) in tradition that has been found to be or is believed to be effective.
Of course there are spiritual practices which go with it but the plants which are used do have pharmacological effects. (Yes, they do us cannabis sativa but they do not abuse it in the way that some in the west do.)
The spiritual practices which go with the use of these plants are also interesting. They require a belief in the efficacy of the use of the plants. If you do not believe then the healing properties of the plants will not be as effective. It is a common idea in traditional medicine of course.
T - the doctor I have been talking about - has had to learn something about traditional medicine. When he goes there he works with the village amchi. It is part of the reason for his success. He has been willing to listen and learn from a man who knows the villagers well. T also needs his help in a place which has only the most basic of operating equipment.
The village amchi looks after almost a thousand people in the village and the surrounding area. He also has to collect the plants and make the medicines. He now has an apprentice but it will be some years before that young man is considered fit to work alone.
Here we call and make an appointment to go and see our GP. We grumble about having to go there and wait. We grumble when the doctor is late. We grumble at the price of filling the prescription. We grumble when we are not almost instantly better.
There the amchi will often go to the home of the person after a message has been taken to him. People will wait unless there has been an accident and urgent assistance is required. They do not, so I am told, grumble. The medicine is given to them and they pay what they can later - and sometimes not at all. They know that recovery takes time - and thinking positively.
Our approach to our health is quite different. T says he is a better doctor for having to learn to work in other ways.
Perhaps the rest of us can learn something from it as well.
We watch almost no television and we miss the wonderful Global Village programme that was used to air this documentary. Trying to remember the details is frustrating.
The documentary looked at "amchi"- also the name of the shamans who use it - a form of traditional herbal medicine. It is used in the western area of Nepal and is not, as many people like to believe, superstitious nonsense. It is firmly rooted (if I may use that term) in tradition that has been found to be or is believed to be effective.
Of course there are spiritual practices which go with it but the plants which are used do have pharmacological effects. (Yes, they do us cannabis sativa but they do not abuse it in the way that some in the west do.)
The spiritual practices which go with the use of these plants are also interesting. They require a belief in the efficacy of the use of the plants. If you do not believe then the healing properties of the plants will not be as effective. It is a common idea in traditional medicine of course.
T - the doctor I have been talking about - has had to learn something about traditional medicine. When he goes there he works with the village amchi. It is part of the reason for his success. He has been willing to listen and learn from a man who knows the villagers well. T also needs his help in a place which has only the most basic of operating equipment.
The village amchi looks after almost a thousand people in the village and the surrounding area. He also has to collect the plants and make the medicines. He now has an apprentice but it will be some years before that young man is considered fit to work alone.
Here we call and make an appointment to go and see our GP. We grumble about having to go there and wait. We grumble when the doctor is late. We grumble at the price of filling the prescription. We grumble when we are not almost instantly better.
There the amchi will often go to the home of the person after a message has been taken to him. People will wait unless there has been an accident and urgent assistance is required. They do not, so I am told, grumble. The medicine is given to them and they pay what they can later - and sometimes not at all. They know that recovery takes time - and thinking positively.
Our approach to our health is quite different. T says he is a better doctor for having to learn to work in other ways.
Perhaps the rest of us can learn something from it as well.
Monday, 27 April 2015
My apologies to those who
were expecting a blog post earlier today. I was overwhelmed with work. I am now surfacing to say that the doctor I wrote about yesterday left me a direct message on Twitter to say that he and his guide were on their way through the valleys to their destination.
Normally he would travel by "road". You can, apparently, go a considerable distance by a road of sorts before you have to abandon vehicles and complete the journey on foot.
This time he could not go quite that far but a helicopter took them up into the valleys and left him as close as they could safely get. It was barely daylight, dangerous but essential flying has been taking place whenever possible.
T says it is a scene of utter devastation and that they will need far more help than they are getting. At present Kathmandu and Pokhara are getting far more help than the surrounding areas. There is very little food and the limited water supplies have been disrupted.
T has been warned that survivors from surrounding villages will start to arrive when news reaches them that he is on his way. It's dangerous. People, like people anywhere, want their injured treated first.
Nepal's economy depends on tourism. There are political issues the most in the outside world are barely aware of or wish to know about. An entire culture could collapse without help.
If that happens then we will all have lost something.
Normally he would travel by "road". You can, apparently, go a considerable distance by a road of sorts before you have to abandon vehicles and complete the journey on foot.
This time he could not go quite that far but a helicopter took them up into the valleys and left him as close as they could safely get. It was barely daylight, dangerous but essential flying has been taking place whenever possible.
T says it is a scene of utter devastation and that they will need far more help than they are getting. At present Kathmandu and Pokhara are getting far more help than the surrounding areas. There is very little food and the limited water supplies have been disrupted.
T has been warned that survivors from surrounding villages will start to arrive when news reaches them that he is on his way. It's dangerous. People, like people anywhere, want their injured treated first.
Nepal's economy depends on tourism. There are political issues the most in the outside world are barely aware of or wish to know about. An entire culture could collapse without help.
If that happens then we will all have lost something.
Sunday, 26 April 2015
Nepal, a doctor and a hospital
I was planning to write something else this morning but the physical world gave me a jolt - another earthquake in Nepal.
Nepal is a beautiful country trying hard to remain independent. Please help them.
I know a doctor who spends some time there every year. He is one of the few foreigners the government there actually welcomes back into the country time and time again. You see, he saved some lives and he didn't ask to be paid for it.
The first time he did it was accidental. He had gone to Nepal out of curiosity.
Being T he had not gone to Nepal on holiday but as part of a medical team. A member of the Nepalese community met him, discovered a connection, and asked him whether he could do something similar in another part of the country.
Being T he "wandered in" to see what he could do. And, being T, he did things.
The local community built a tiny hospital for him. It is not a fancy sort of western hospital but it is much better than anything they had before - and now there is a room for T to sleep in when he goes. He goes for a month each year. He operates under the most difficult of conditions. He doesn't always save lives but he does save some. He has trained local medical staff in some western techniques but he respects their traditions as well - indeed he has high praise for much of what they do.
No, wait a moment - they had those things. Their hospital has been damaged. They sent T a message, relaying it across the valleys. Please can he come? They need him desperately. They are trying to repair the hospital so he can use it.
So late last night T contacted me to tell me that his colleagues are covering for him. They have put together the things he thinks he will need. He is being flown up there by the authorities as I type this and they will take him as far as they can. After that, it will be a journey largely on foot as there has been so much damage. He should be there tomorrow and he will stay for at least a week.
Communication with the outside world is limited so we e-mailed one another multiple times over the hours before he left. Yes, he's got his communication system working the way he thinks he wants it to work. He speaks some Nepalese now but sometimes medical words elude him.
And this time he will again sleep in the house of the grandson of a man who guided his grandfather out of India during World War II.
He says he owes it to them to help.
Nepal is a beautiful country trying hard to remain independent. Please help them.
I know a doctor who spends some time there every year. He is one of the few foreigners the government there actually welcomes back into the country time and time again. You see, he saved some lives and he didn't ask to be paid for it.
The first time he did it was accidental. He had gone to Nepal out of curiosity.
Being T he had not gone to Nepal on holiday but as part of a medical team. A member of the Nepalese community met him, discovered a connection, and asked him whether he could do something similar in another part of the country.
Being T he "wandered in" to see what he could do. And, being T, he did things.
The local community built a tiny hospital for him. It is not a fancy sort of western hospital but it is much better than anything they had before - and now there is a room for T to sleep in when he goes. He goes for a month each year. He operates under the most difficult of conditions. He doesn't always save lives but he does save some. He has trained local medical staff in some western techniques but he respects their traditions as well - indeed he has high praise for much of what they do.
No, wait a moment - they had those things. Their hospital has been damaged. They sent T a message, relaying it across the valleys. Please can he come? They need him desperately. They are trying to repair the hospital so he can use it.
So late last night T contacted me to tell me that his colleagues are covering for him. They have put together the things he thinks he will need. He is being flown up there by the authorities as I type this and they will take him as far as they can. After that, it will be a journey largely on foot as there has been so much damage. He should be there tomorrow and he will stay for at least a week.
Communication with the outside world is limited so we e-mailed one another multiple times over the hours before he left. Yes, he's got his communication system working the way he thinks he wants it to work. He speaks some Nepalese now but sometimes medical words elude him.
And this time he will again sleep in the house of the grandson of a man who guided his grandfather out of India during World War II.
He says he owes it to them to help.
Saturday, 25 April 2015
ANZAC Day 2015
The air is still
The hills sleep lightly
The trees watch
Water weep across the sand
I have left you one small stone
It came from the place
Behind the house
Where the creek's tears ran dry
Friday, 24 April 2015
The "Aboriginal Provisional Government"
which lacks any recognised status is apparently issuing "passports" and Callum Clayton-Dixon, the chairman of the group, tried to use his to re-enter Australia. He was eventually allowed to re-enter the country when immigration authorities decided that he was an Australian citizen. He claims he used his "Aboriginal" passport by default.
There are claims the passports have also been "recognised" by countries like "Libya" but claims that they have been recognised in Scandinavia and Canada are a little trickier than that.
I also note that Callum Clayton-Dixon has a name that would not instantly be recognised as "Aboriginal". His physical appearance suggests he has a mixed heritage.
I wonder what made him do all of this. Does he feel so strongly about the indigenous part of his heritage that he is willing to give up everything else and even risk breaking the law? Does he genuinely believe that he is doing the right thing and that there will one day be an "Aboriginal Government"? Does he genuinely believe that there is widespread support for such a thing? How does he believe it would work?
Or is he simply seeking publicity and power for himself? Is he, in a different sort of way, a Belle Gibson or Helen Demidenko or the man several streets away from here who acts out a sort of Walter Mitty existence?
Belle Gibson had signed a contract with Penguin before many people became aware that she was lying about having had brain cancer. She had made a great deal of money out of desperate people. She knew she was lying and her actions disgust me. I had a cousin who died of a brain cancer. It was an appalling journey and the best of modern medicine could not save her. That someone like Belle Gibson could add to the misery and distress felt by her and her family is something that makes me angry, very angry.
Helen Demidenko, who wrote "The hand that signed the paper", was highly disrespectful of victims of the Holocaust but she was quickly found out - although again she managed to fool a group of literary judges. I don't think she has managed to get anything published since and she may not even be writing. She now works for a rather whacky "independent" senator in Canberra - one who is not averse to similar tricks.
Our local Walter Mitty type character does less harm. He just lives in his own world. He is often kind and generous and willing to help others. You just need to go along with which ever character he has decided to be for the day.
I wonder what makes people do those things? I know I sometimes have a bit of fun in my "cat" persona. I wrote a letter to the editor once from the supposed point of view of the cat at the end of the street. It was published and it caused a great deal of amusement - as I intended. I was well aware though that it was just a bit of fun, that I am not a cat. Everyone else knew that it was a bit of fun too. Clayton-Dixon and Gibson are not doing it for the fun of it and neither are other people who do similar things. So, where's the fun? What do they get out of it?
Would anyone like to offer an explanation?
There are claims the passports have also been "recognised" by countries like "Libya" but claims that they have been recognised in Scandinavia and Canada are a little trickier than that.
I also note that Callum Clayton-Dixon has a name that would not instantly be recognised as "Aboriginal". His physical appearance suggests he has a mixed heritage.
I wonder what made him do all of this. Does he feel so strongly about the indigenous part of his heritage that he is willing to give up everything else and even risk breaking the law? Does he genuinely believe that he is doing the right thing and that there will one day be an "Aboriginal Government"? Does he genuinely believe that there is widespread support for such a thing? How does he believe it would work?
Or is he simply seeking publicity and power for himself? Is he, in a different sort of way, a Belle Gibson or Helen Demidenko or the man several streets away from here who acts out a sort of Walter Mitty existence?
Belle Gibson had signed a contract with Penguin before many people became aware that she was lying about having had brain cancer. She had made a great deal of money out of desperate people. She knew she was lying and her actions disgust me. I had a cousin who died of a brain cancer. It was an appalling journey and the best of modern medicine could not save her. That someone like Belle Gibson could add to the misery and distress felt by her and her family is something that makes me angry, very angry.
Helen Demidenko, who wrote "The hand that signed the paper", was highly disrespectful of victims of the Holocaust but she was quickly found out - although again she managed to fool a group of literary judges. I don't think she has managed to get anything published since and she may not even be writing. She now works for a rather whacky "independent" senator in Canberra - one who is not averse to similar tricks.
Our local Walter Mitty type character does less harm. He just lives in his own world. He is often kind and generous and willing to help others. You just need to go along with which ever character he has decided to be for the day.
I wonder what makes people do those things? I know I sometimes have a bit of fun in my "cat" persona. I wrote a letter to the editor once from the supposed point of view of the cat at the end of the street. It was published and it caused a great deal of amusement - as I intended. I was well aware though that it was just a bit of fun, that I am not a cat. Everyone else knew that it was a bit of fun too. Clayton-Dixon and Gibson are not doing it for the fun of it and neither are other people who do similar things. So, where's the fun? What do they get out of it?
Would anyone like to offer an explanation?
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