Re: What cheezes me off... I once threw a TV of a 3-storey balcony at the hotel we were staying at during a conference. I was aiming for a BMW. I thought it would make a duel statement about the vulgarity of the mass media, and the crassness of greed - but I missed. However the explosive repercussion in the confined hotel carpark got the desired response. The cops were knocking on the door in under 5-mins - which kind of makes one wonder how we have come to value the nature of materialism - and when I asked them (through my red-wine addled tongue) how long it would have taken them to get here if the call had of been for an assault on a human, rather than a TV. They seemed a little off guard with my forthrightness, and merely just asked that I pay ($450) for the damage, or accompany them to the station. Luckily I had access to a cheque book (thanks boss), and the matter was quickly dealt with save for the sweeping up. Ahhh, the follies of an anarchist youth. I have a TV at home now, it lives in a cupboard and only goes on if there is something I really want to see - like a good doco. Friends keep their old B&W covered with a sheet, and when their kids saw it turned on for the first time they freaked. They were then living a pretty isolated community. I'm no longer an advocate for smashing TVs - bit like trying to burn books, really. But if ever I get the opportunity, I always like to remind those who frequent my humble abode as to why I keep mine locked in a cupboard. It's a tool, and the greatest act of self-liberation you can perform is to pull the plug on it when its job is done. Today I'm glad I missed the BMW, otherwise I may still have been working in some mind-numbing job trying to pay the stupid thing off, rather than boring you with my old campaign stories. Marko.
Re: What cheezes me off... People who recklessly burn off in the name of fire control ... Each evening our valley and it's endless views of "Scenic Rim" mountains are replaced by thick smoke. It hangs around for the night and we now have one of the worst rates of asthma in the region. Why - because people are "burning off" under the guise of fire control. Yes, they occasionally do burn an area where, depending on your beliefs, the action could be off assistance for fire control. But the majority of our "fires" seem to be the burning of a little pasture paddock here and there - nothing that could not have it's load reduced by grazing/water control ... that is IF it is even a fire risk. So why do they do it? Yes, they get little green shoots of grass afterwards, but they also loose the diversity in their pastures, mess with carbon/organic matter in the soil and kill off it's microbiology, not to mention the loss of habitat. Or are we missing something? It drives us crazy and may be the clincher to not settling here long term. We're looking to put an organic "eco retreat" - read secluded sustainable hideaways - on this land, but are seriously questioning who would want to come and spend their evenings blanketed in thick suffocating smoke, with none of the spectacular views the region is so proud of. Granted, I am not a great believer in burning off ... but this highlights how short-sighted and out of touch people can be with their land, and air ... let alone the tourists they talk of trying to attract to the region. gggrrrrrr, Heidi
