Will in July 2010...

Children always seem to grow up so fast!

Here is Will coming up to 20 months...

Photos from the Bus...

I recently went Beyond the Line. It sounds much more dramatic than it really is. The Beyond the Line program is a program that introduces prospective new teachers to the joys of teaching in rural and remote schools in New South Wales.

The Beyond the Line program recently took me to Bingara via Moree and Narrabri. This photo was taken as I was sitting on the bus and in between Narrabri and Bingara. The photo is of a field of cotton just waiting to be harvested.

The Axe Effect -- Faking News...

Now, here is a story that is worth a read, true or not. It should be remembered that this story is on the same site that brought the world the news that Shahrukh Khan was going to star in the first ever gay James Bond movie (includes a movie poster).

The story appears on "Faking News" (www.fakingnews.com) and relates to a legal suit filed by an unhappy Unilever customer. Unilever is the company that makes the "Axe" range of grooming products for men. Axe or, more specifically, the 'Axe Effect' has seemingly failed dismally in helping this young 26-year-old Indian from finding a girlfriend or even scoring a single solitary date.

The crux of the case rests on false and misleading advertising which has subsequently resulted in the plaintiff suffering mental anguish at his inability to score a date despite doing everything in the manner that the advertisements show. In essence, the plaintiff liberally applies the products and goes in search of a girl (seemingly any girl) but never manages to get what he is looking for.

I am still chuckling as I write this. I have watched the ads for Axe products and those relating to the Axe Effect. Now, I would be noting that in the ads the roles are always played by beautiful people. Perhaps this suggests that the axe effect will not work for everyone. For example, if you are so unattractive (for whatever reason) that women avoid you or resist your advances, then it is unlikely that any amount of axe is going to change their mind.

There are some great pictures on the internet associated with the "Axe Effect".

There are some truly creative people out there in the world. And it is this level of creativity that restores faith in the idea that we as human beings have great capacities to think outside the box. That might seem a little out of place in this post. However, think about it, if someone can come up with the idea to sue Unilever because they used a product for false and misleading advertising because he remains without a girlfriend after seven long years of almost religious use of the Axe product, then imagine if that creativity was put to more serious endeavours...

Still shaking my head at the thought of this possibly being real :)

Tiger Woods & Elin Nordegren -- The 100 Million Dollar Divorce...

Tiger Woods is getting out of his marriage cheaply. Earlier reports that Elin Nordegren was set to agree to a USD 750 million divorce deal have apparently been far-fetched, or too good to be true for Ms. Nordegren, as it is now being reported that she is going to settle for USD 100 million.

Now, truth be told, this is still better than a poke in the eye with a burnt stick. However, it is no where near half of what the golfer is worth!

Although, it would seem that the quoted USD 100 million is the low end of the spectrum because it does not include any child support payments. I would be guessing that over the years, child support payments are going to see Tiger Woods parting with a considerable chunk of his fortune. Nevertheless, one must assume that married or not, he would presumably parted with that anyways.

I would also imagine that there are plenty of blokes out there in the real world thinking, "Tiger, WTF were you thinking?". Truth be told, my personal opinion is that, she deserves more, much more.

Hopefully, once the divorce is finalised everyone involved in this episode can move on.

The People That Matter...

Life is all about priorities. It is worth remembering what our priorities are in life, and remembering them often...here are mine!

Peterporn...

The Peterporn saga continues unabated but slowly. There is so little happening in this case, and that which does happen takes so long, that it is a wonder that anyone even cares about it. Yet, it has all the key ingredients for great gossip and as such will serve to satiate the Indonesian appetite for celebrity gossip for sometime to come.

The key is that there has been rumoured to be some 32 tapes of Ariel of Peterpan fame bedding a bevy of women, all of whom are Indonesian celebrities of various fame and stature.

I was reading recently that another tape has surface in Sulawesi of all places. It reportedly shows Ariel (aka Nazril Irham) getting down and dirty with Bunga Citra Lestari (aka BCL). This tape has been conveniently converted to the DVD format and is being sold for between IDR 50,000 and IDR 450,000 on the streets. Now, a quick survey of the internet highlights that the clip is supposedly available for download from Rapidshare and Torrentbit, among others. Unfortunately, these all require registration before a download can be initiated, I am just not that interested in downloading the clip. Besides, if it really does exist then it won't be too long before it pops up in a much easier place for download, like YouTube or on someone's blog.

The latest development, as far as I can tell, is that the police have arrested eight people for allegedly being involved in the uploading of the two confirmed videos to date, Luna Maya and Cut Tari. However, the police, by their own admission are doing it tough in the investigation phase as they have not been able to uncover the 'missing link'. This is specifically how did the videos get to those who allegedly uploaded them to the internet.

The case theory is that someone close to Ariel 'passed' them on. Ariel's ex-wife, Sarah Amalia, has been interviewed by police, but police have not suggested that she is a suspect or in anyway involved in the dissemination of the tapes / videos. The police though have not been able to prove this missing link yet. So, it remains nothing more than a theory.

The police have also explained that their failure to move on the two women allegedly depicted in the tapes is that the police have some conflicting expert opinions to sort through before deciding on a legal basis to proceed. As is the tendency in Indonesia, the police want to ensure that the case is legally solid before proceeding. The idea being that the more solid the case is the less likely there is to be an acquittal. On a side, and completely unrelated note, perhaps the police should have thought about this idea when pursuing the Commissioners of the Corruption Eradication Commission. And, perhaps it is something that the Office of the Attorney General might want to consider in determining to end those shenanigans.

Postscript...
The Jakarta Globe are reporting that the police have "changed positions on the sex tape", no pun intended I am sure, and the eight previously arrested have had their status changed from suspects to witnesses. Sounds like things are not going so well on the investigation front.

Kretek Cigarettes, the US, and the WTO...

The Indonesian kretek export sector is destined to take a big hit as the ban imposed on flavoured tobacco products by the US kicks in. The ban is going to significantly, and adversely, effect sales and foreign reserve income from the export of clove flavoured cigarettes between Indonesia and the US.

For the Government of Indonesia, the The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act of 2009 is going to see about USD 6.5 million in foreign reserves income dry up almost instantly. Therefore, the government has determined that the US Act is in breach of US obligations under WTO agreements and is seeking WTO assistance in resolving the dispute. The essence of the Indonesian claim is that the US is illegally discriminating against Indonesian products (kretek cigarettes). The legal issues will be interesting to watch as they unravel before the WTO Dispute Settlement body in Geneva.

I am not a smoker. I would be happy if smoking was banned on a global scale. That said, I do appreciate that some people may claim to be happy smokers and content with their addiction and any harm that it might be doing to them and those around them. I also appreciate that tobacco is big business and employs a lot of people. This is most definitely the case in Indonesia where labour is cheap and labour laws are not always enforced as they have been enacted (even with the creation of a labour court). The cold hard reality is that many Indonesian workers, and mostly women, will be likely to become redundant now that the US market for clove cigarettes is to all intents and purposes closed for business.

An unfortunate consequence of the enactment of this US Act is not that smoking companies will not be making any money, but rather that this will be used to downsize and make redundant workers who can least afford to become redundant. In the big scheme of things this legislation is going to have noticeable social and economic impacts in the small communities that roll these clove cigarettes for the US market.

I am not confident that the cigarette companies or the Indonesian government will be able to mitigate the hardships that some workers will be forced to endure as a result. With a little bit of help to re-train and re-skill  many of these soon to be redundant workers could remain valuable contributors to a brighter economic future for Indonesia.

Islam -- Music and Singing, Forbidden?

On first thought, my immediate response is, "No". Having lived in Indonesia for many years I have seen many Muslims playing musical instruments, making music, and singing. In fact, each Ramadan there is a group called 'Debu' who do the rounds of the TV channels playing music and declaring their faith to the masses. Even more compelling is that Yusuf Islam, the former Cat Stevens, has realised that music is a powerful tool in getting out the message and has of more recent times returned to the gift that made him famous.

Nevertheless, it would seem that not all Muslims are on the same page when it comes to whether the faith (or Allah) condones the learning and playing of musical instruments and the making of music.

The Daily Telegraph in the UK has an article that claims Muslim students are being withdrawn from music classes in the UK because learning and making music is un-Islamic. The article claims that it is primarily Somalian  Muslims that are withdrawing their children from classes. Yet, 'primarily' suggests that this is not universally only a Somalian Muslim issue.

Music is a compulsory part of the curriculum. So, there are some issues as to whether students can withdraw from compulsory curriculum subjects on religious grounds. There has to be a mechanism for dealing with this in a mutually acceptable fashion that is respected by all involved.

Personally, I cannot see what the drama is with music. Perhaps any Muslim readers who understand about these things can enlighten me as to what the problem is with music that some Muslims are of the belief that it is forbidden.

Bingara -- Beyond the Line...

Just a few happy snappies from my time in Bingara. If you want to look it up you can, a simple Google search will do the trick. However, for those of you less inclined to do so, then it is about 1.5 hours from Moree.

The Beyond the Line program is a program run by the Department of Education and Training in New South Wales. The program is designed to encourage new teachers to take the plunge in a rural and / or remote school.

For me, there is not a lot of choice. I am on a Beyond the Line scholarship, so I am destined to go teaching in a rural or remote school.

Adios!