Your Story : How We Play the Game of Life

As today is the 90th anniversary of the end of World War One I thought I might reflect on some things that have been on my mind.

It’s been a while since the kerfuffle about Paul Keatings comments recently regarding Gallipoli.

From the Herald Sun newspaper…

He said he has never been to Gallipoli and never will because it is nonsense to think the nation was born again or redeemed there.

On the one hand we were out to prove that ‘the British race in the antipodes had not degenerated’, yet we resented being dragooned into a war which did not threaten our own country or its people,” Mr Keating said.

Given Australian loyalties to England at the time, Keating said it was entirely understandable that Australia troops fought the Turks at Gallipoli, but the experience was shocking.

“Dragged into service by the imperial government in an ill-conceived and poorly-executed campaign, we were cut to ribbons and dispatched,” he said.

I’ve been musing for the past few days as to what Anzac Day means to Australians and why there is such an outcry to his statement.

I think most are reacting to the tradition of Anzac Day being sacred not because they have thought it through but because they are told and believe that it is something to treat as holy. A case of tradition for traditions sake.

If you take the time to consider the reality of 25 April 1915 it has to be admitted to being an abject disaster with the British using disposable Australians as cannon fodder and where over the duration of the war 61,720 died from an Australian population of 5 million. One of the greatest per capita disasters for any  country in the war.

If we want to celebrate a battle I agree with Paul Keating, in that the victory of holding back the advancing Japanese on the Kakoda Trail and the outstanding success of the Australian and New Guiniea troops there would be a far more favourable example of achievement over adversity. Or if you want to stick with Anzac Cove, lets celebrate without enemy knowledge, the withdrawal of troops as a huge success and without a single life lost. Now that’s an achievement!

The question is really “Why does Anzac Day resonate so?”

When the first and most importantly, impromptu Anzac Day dawn service was held it was not a celebration of a great battle it was a simple quite reflective remembrance of an event and loss.

The Dawn Service which I’ve been attending for about twenty years is about a loss of innocence, about a realisation that we are on our own and that war and the sacrifices made to it are folly.

I think what Anzac day has given the Australian personality, is a sense that we are on our own, which also lead  to Our Troops being identified as Australian rather than as being part of the British Imperial Forces in all conflicts after World War 1.

We don’t identify as being British any more and war is a waste of the best of our young people, not to mention the resources that the country must throw at it. Shear stupid waste! This is what Anzac Day has given us, it’s not a party but a reminder to move forward independently and to use our most precious resourses, our people, wisely.

Lest We Forget

If you have been following the news lately it’s been heating up that the Australian Government under Kevin Rudd is planing to introduce what some are referring to the Great Australian Firewall. Internet

censorship at the ISP level that simply can’t work for reasons that I respect from others far more knowledgeable than myself.

I decided that this was serious enough to act on so I’ve sent a letter to Senator Steven Conroy, Minister for Broadband, Communications and Digital Economy and to my local Federal Member who just happens to be Kevin Rudd, Prime Minister of Australia. Hey, he’s my local member so that’s who I send stuff like this to.

I remember many years ago someone in the media said that a phone complaint was worth another ten who didn’t complain and a letter was worth a hundred. Today with email and the Internet we’re lazier than ever. If an online petition is worth one, a phone call is worth ten, and email is worth 100 maybe a letter posted is worth 1000 simply because of the effort it takes and a follow up blog post for those of us who know how is additional to that and a little more value. Nothing will change if nothing is done and every little bit helps.

So I’ve done my bit towards stopping this stupidity and I’ll look to do more as I’m educated as to how.

To help you understand the issues and educate yourself check out this rave by Angry Aussie.

To read more and see what you can do to help go to No Internet Censorship for Australia and to understand what the ISP’s think go to this interview by Ben Grubb.

Also if your interested here is what I sent to Kevin Rudd and Stephen Conroy.

I understand your government is considering filtering the Internet at the Internet Service Provider level, a measure that I have grave concerns about.

I appreciate that it is important to protect our children at all times from predation and exposure to adult concepts but it’s the considered opinion of experts in this field that attempts to filter such content will only drive these concepts to other methods of propagation. These have been discovered and are well known by those interested in this field. Filtering simply will not work.

Filtering technique are hugely expensive and will force smaller ISP out of business.

Filtering leads to false positives that are flagged for reasons that will shut down huge numbers of sites from being able to interact with Australia. The percentages are small (best case is 3%) but due to the number of internet sites these are still huge numbers. This will cripple the effectiveness of the internet.

On a personal note. I am a parent of a 17 year old girl who has been using the internet for about eight years. She now has her own laptop and free access to anything on the web that she wishes to interact with. When she was younger I used filter methods on search to restrict some access. I have educated her to realize that it’s important to keep some information private and not to share with anyone. I’ve also educated her that there are somethings adult, alternative or just very odd by our community standards that she will trip across if she is not careful and that she should sometimes choose not to go some places as these are not places for her and could well disturb her.

I feel fortunate that through education I have the best filter for my daughters welfare. Herself!
The internet is no different to any other part of our society with the same mix of events happening within it. It is no more and no less dangerous than elsewhere in our lives and like all parts of our society we negotiate it, not through restriction but through education, experience and judgement. Occasionally mistakes are made which we learn from, that is our responsibility.

This action is akin to cracking an egg with a  sledge hammer. It won’t work and it will make a mess of everything.

Please do not continue forward with this concept.

Sincerely

Ian Kath
http://yourstorypodcast.com

Back in July when I was staying with the wonderful Romy she would mention from time to time that during the summer months musicians would wander the streets filling the air with exotic carnival sounds looking for donations and adding to the general festive atmosphere that is Berlin during the these months.

Well, quite a few times she brought this up but they never arrived and I started to pay out on her that they didn’t really exist and that she said this just to make Berlin sound more interesting or to encourage people to come and stay with her. The same complaint was made by many of her friends as they had never seen them either when she mentioned that they were about which added more fuel to the fire of my good natured ribbing that I was giving her.

Then one day this happened…

So now we know.

Romy is correct and the added atmosphere that they give to the streets of Berlin is something that lingers in my memory as I look back on this video of my time with her in Berlin.

Thanks again Romy

 

 Your Story Ep 26 [42:15m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Welcome To Episode 26 of Your Story.

It’s been some time since there has been a Your Story Episode, unfortunately the constraints to produce an episode while on the road travelling made it difficult to find the time required for the standard necessary to do justice to the wonderful people that I meet.

However now that I’ve returned to Australia it’s possible to finish the necessary work required to get an episode out and here it is.

Today we talk with Michael Kierans who in is a Canadian migrant living with his Czech wife in Prague, Czech Republic. He is established as a successful business owner of two cafes bars having moved from his successful life as a lawyer in Canada to Prague after the fall of Communism. Michael explains the difficulties of dealing with a different cultural and mental attitude that permeates all aspects of life in the Czech Republic from organising the necessities of running a business to the way that the government and politicians operate.

Michael explains the ever so subtle differences that he is able to be aware of now that he has been in Prague for a considerable period of time. He explains why the personality of the Czech people is the way it is, due to the long history of the Czech Lands and the impact that this history has had on the culture particularly during the communist era. Also he shows his enthiusium for this country and why there is an exciting time for the Czech Republic into the future as the next generations come through with their new and different mindset and continuation of their cultural heritages.

Impressively Michael explains what keeps him in Prague and why he loves it so much to make it his home.

His website is kava-coffee.cz

email is kava@mbox.vol.cz

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I asked a few questions that I would apprediate a quick response to if you feel inclined to help me with understanding the direction to direct Your Story. Please send you thoughts to chat@yourstorypodcast.com.

• Am I hitting the mark and what is it that interests you about Your Story?

• What is it that you like or don’t like?

• What type of personalities would you like me to find and what interests you?

• Did you enjoy my addendum episodes or would you rather I just stick to the main Your Story episodes?

Music is from iodaPROMONET

Time Machine
“The Groove That Just Won’t Stop” (mp3)
from “Life Is Expensive”
(Glow In The Dark Records)

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More On This Album

 

 Your Story Addendum Ep 16 [4:44m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Welcome To Episode 10 of Your Story Addendum.

My training post school was as an apprentice Pattern Maker. A beautiful craft of making patterns from primarily timber, to be used to produce the moulds that metal castings are made in. As I learnt the skills I developed an interest in how things are made and the manufacturing processes. So just before leaving on this trip I heard about the Whitechapel Bell Foundry from listening to This Week In London Podcast I knew that I needed to come and see it while I’m in London.

The Foundry is a modest but profound affair to me. There is a small museum and shop along with offices in the front of the old building on Whitechapel Road. Then out the back is the foundry where the bells are made, which isn’t large by foundry standards and seems to employ a dozen or so people.

But the history is staggering. They have made the two most famous bells that I know of. The Liberty Bell in the US and Big Ben here in London. They have recently made the new bell for the finally completed St Johns Anglican Cathedral in my home town of Brisbane. They are the oldest manufacturing organisation in the UK making bells for over 500 years and the history goes on and on. If you want more history here is the link to it.

For me to smell the grit and burnt sand of my trade, to see men still making things in an age old tradition and to consider the long and continuous history of a relatively modest concern was a wonderful experence  and if your into making things and manufacture I would strongly suggest that you drop in if your n the neighbourhood.

To automatically receive this podcast freely to you, click on one of the links to the left or search in iTunes for “Your Story.”

Subscribe freely in iTunes by Clicking here.
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