Share the Christmas Cheer with all religions - exclusionists fester dangerous thought

The intense debate over the controversial alleged Christmas fatwa (which presumably include greetings, decorations and all forms of celebrations related to Christ) show that there are deep differences among the Muslims in Australia.

The causes of these differences boils down to the level of fundamentalism and interpretation of their religious texts. Further, these differences probably stem from how Australian Muslims want to be viewed by non-Muslims friends and communities. Among this moderate group, majority have denounced the radical views from the fatwa school because they do not think it is reasonable and religious to do so.

Others may have adopted a softer line so that  the heat and radar will be taken off the fatwa group or that it will not lead to a ban and deportation of extremist imans and followers. The radicals have since kept a low profile and denied the meaning of the fatwa allegedly quoted out of context.

Attempts to push the boundaries have not been abated since the violent protests in the city a few months ago. Excuse me, their disapproval for Christmas is not specifically targeted against alcoholism, sex and safety issues. The fatwa episode is just another example of religious directive which have crossed the line. Australian society at large would not accept even if this is strictly practised by a particular Muslim group because the environment is not located in the Middle East.

Whatever defenders may say or do in the hope of explaining why fatwa has even arisen through mosque sermons and modern social media such as facebook no less, that a fatwa is even suggested or considered is cause for great concern in multicultural Australia with a secular system of government.

If Hindus, Buddhists and some Muslims have no issues going along with the festivities of Christmas and New Year, why must a certain Muslim group stand out alone and be proud of it?

Majority of Australians are Christians. Sharing the joy of Christmas and reflecting on life are universal, and do not mean compulsion to becoming Christians.

Fortunately, in this instance of fatwa retraction, reason has prevailed. It is important to ensure that we keep it this way.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/immigration/fatwa-on-seasons-greetings-rejected/story-fn9hm1gu-1226542720493

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/lakemba-mosque-removes-christmas-fatwa-post-20121223-2btaj.html

Suicide of nurse who connected DJs to Princess Kate - an unexpected tragedy

Kate Middleton's nurse who took her own life has been referred more to her employment rather than her name Jacintha Saldanha. Apparently her existence  was owed more to the royalty she served.

It is indeed a tragedy of the worse kind in recent times. From middle aged on, most of us would have received surprising news of deaths from causes other than terminal illnesses. Accidents and suicides that extinguish young lives are the a lot harder to accept, more so if the victims still have many good years ahead, have families who love them dearly and dependents who have most to lose with their departure. 

While it is cruel to crucify Australian DJs who are merely "doing their job" and had no intention of killing an innocent person with their pranks, they cannot totally escape indirect blame. Neither is it cool or magnanimous to absolve the two DJs from any responsibility. 

Some people are more fragile than others. Although majority may be able to sail through trials and tribulations, a minority may have complex personal issues. Setbacks could spiral into depression and resort to extreme and drastic actions to resolve their dilemma.

It cannot be denied that the victims' weak constitution, pressure of their professional pride and society's expectations are all partly to be blamed. Unfortunately, a coincidence of external events can trigger unexpected outcomes. Just because most people have the capacity and tolerance to survive pranks, bullying and backstabbing, does not mean that these actions are excusable. 

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/a-tragedy-but-who-is-at-fault-20121208-2b29q.html

It is unlikely that the case will be pursued further than the internet debate. From the legal perspective, how would the prank gone wrong be judged fairly? 


The eggshell skull rule is a legal doctrine that says the wrongdoer takes the victim in the condition he/she finds him. There is no allowance for an already weakened state of the injured party. If a defendant negligently injures someone, the defendant is responsible for all the consequences, whether they were foreseeable or not.The rule is applied in tort and criminal cases involving a plaintiff in a vulnerable, weakened state or suffering from a medical condition.

A rebuttal to the eggshell skull rule is the crumbling skull rule. This rule argues that the harm suffered by the victim was inevitable and the defendant's acts only had a minimal effect upon the already deteriorating circumstances.

http://definitions.uslegal.com/e/eggshell-skull/

In real life, incidents cannot be measured in legal terms. Human viewpoints influenced by individuals' values and experiences would continue to shout across cyberspace. These noises are unlikely to help the victims' families. Given our short memories and inability to reconcile differences, these incidents will make a mark but sadly may not help us to avoid similar tragedies in future.

Red Lantern : Vietnamese Modern Australian

Red Lantern has been popularised by Australians' obsession with Masterchef and TV pro home cooking shows where Luke Nguyen has been one of the anchor mentors for a couple of years now.

The restaurant is more upmarket than 99% of family run Vietnamese eateries and offer some interesting and less common dishes on a typical pho noodles shop. Expect to pay a bit more than the economical combination rice and noodles but since all the dishes on the menu are for sharing, the end result is a great dining experience at fairly reasonable prices.

Vegetarian spring rolls with really spicy fish dipping sauce with pickles!
Fried to perfection - piping hot, crispy crepe, juicy filling, but not burnt (unlike some fast food Viet places)

"Aunty 5 rice cakes" is a southern Chinese home or street food. Firm yet soft, crispy on the inside and goes well with the sweet pork, pork floss, prawn toppings and daikon and shallot dressing.

Kingfish is perfectly cooked with subtly blended spicy tangy fish sauce and mixed minty Vietnamese spices. However the meat of the large fish is inherently coarse and dry. It's the choice of fish rather than the culinary skills of the chef that is in question.

Grammar is no longer taught as a discipline despite retaining an insignificant place in the curriculum. That is not to say that all teachers in majority of schools are not teaching grammar at all.  However, by and large, the place that grammar occupies has certainly been relegated to the back room.

These days, high school children are slack in using their tenses and plurals. The door is open for convenience albeit it cannot be considered creativity.

You could tell from the compromises markers of essays have to make, trying to gloss over bad language so long as the idea and content is there. 

Even so-called commendable and published works online contain ungrammatical and incomplete sentences that do not clearly convey information or the writer's intention. It really makes you wonder how bad the rest are. 

There's a general belief that pictures speak volumes in place of words. Photos may be useful to substantiate and highlight a point, but it is not an excuse to make up for lack of proficiency.

Vocabulary inventiveness is another new ball game. Words that are popularised by the social media and abbreviations which are coded,  are not found in the Oxford dictionary. OMG! 

Perhaps, the younger ones are more eloquent and street wise. Listen closely. Even in spoken language, the habit of using "like" is annoyingly American and juvenile. 

Worse, some believe it is just fine. We could have fun trying to do some guesswork and let things take its natural course. 

Don't get me wrong. The middle and older generation are not insisting that grammar be taught in the old-fashioned and boring way where the teacher is strict and sometimes inflexible, and even wielded a cane in one hand pacing around the classroom.  

Neither are seniors claiming that we have perfected and mastered grammar. At least we are given the tools and encouragement to have a go and aim high. A weak foundation will likely result in a structurally unsound building. Effort and time spent learning go to waste.    

Troubled Australians need help and need to help themselves

Australian professionals and aid workers are doing admirable work for the less fortunate overseas but are not given due assistance when local conditions threaten their personal safety. It is time they rethink the idealism of state protection and move to safer places before political situation deteriorates and make it untenable to live there or leave.

While domestic offices in the bureaucracy are typically bloated (until recent cost cutting and streamlining), foreign offices have always been short staff and stretched. When there was relative calm in the world, it was possible to get by. However, with the Middle East thrown into turmoil in recent years, and the increasing hostility towards Australians for its involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan, DFAT resources are strained and unable to cope with quick reaction and protect Australians overseas from physical harm. It's not that Bob Carr is an ineffective Foreign Minister. Times have changed and government has to be well prepared for current and future challenges faced by Australians. There are many more Melinda Taylor out there who need Australia's help.

http://www.lowyinstitute.org/news-and-media/hot-topic/trouble-overseas-how-much-help-enough

The Iron Chef - Cabramatta : diverse and versatile

Famous for yum cha - dim sum offerings, the Iron Chef has done well with Sichuan (central China) hot and spicy cuisine during the special promotion. Kitchen and stage performers were specially flown in for the month long celebration of the moon festival. 

In the face of more competition with the opening of similar restaurants which offer seafood and Cantonese cuisine, it is no wonder that even the renowned Iron Chef must innovate and reinvent its image and expand its repertoire to capture more customers from a saturated market. 

Double cooked pork - 3/4 fried in oil, and returned to finish off with spicy sauce with garlic, shallot and leek

Two flavoured / dishes of coral trout :
(1) stir fried with snow peas in light sauce and ginger garlic chive toppings - above picture
(2) steam fish with soy and sesame sauce + shallot greens and coriander garnish

Kung-po (gong bao) meaning palace treasure is the basic and key foundation to spicy Sichuan cuisine.
Compared to most make belief and adulterated versions available in most restaurants in the city and suburbs of Australian towns (forget about the country), this is perhaps closest to the original and authentic. It is a bit short of chilli hot, overpowered by peppery taste. But still good.

Postscript: Our good first impression was cracked (not shattered) with subsequent visits during the busy weekend. The staff were grumpy and the kitchen could not cope, sending out food that is lukewarm and dishes that have not been properly cooked.

Education too slow in responding to globalisation? Australia joins developed world in escalating outsourcing skilled labour overseas - retrenchments and net job creation

There is always a silver lining to negative news provided we vigorously address problems and plan for the future. 


Get used to it: sending jobs overseas is the way of the future
http://www.theage.com.au/national/get-used-to-it-sending-jobs-overseas-is-the-way-of-the-future-20121009-27bfh.html


Outsourcing has become a dirty word, threatening to cut more jobs of locals as companies seek lower cost of labour and production overseas. Rather than resisting and putting up artificial blocks, which won't work  anyway, we should go with the flow. Trade restrictions and doing nothing would only weigh us down and put us further behind the competitors.  

Having said the hard truth, outsourcing has gained a momentum of its own. The question is how to ride the storm and survive, if not thrive well. It is a challenge for the state to set the right direction and actually putting money where its mouth is and getting things done. Or else we are doomed. But looking at the way education and health budget is being slashed, procrastination and bickering over unimportant issues, the picture is more gloom than most politicians would like to believe. 

Retrenchments have splashed ruthlessly across corporate human resources lately and putting stress not only to those made redundant and their families, but co-workers who are fortunate enough not to be laid off, but left to do the extra jobs of the less fortunate who have been made redundant. The cull and more to come has left deep psychological scars on everyone and 

The well-connected and those armed with current, relevant and highly sought after skills have nothing to fear. Most are able to get another position in a related field or industry, often in the ex-employer's competitor firm. 

However, as the high performing developing countries with huge economies such as India and China move up the skills and value added ladder, the number and spectrum of jobs they are capable of performing as well as Australians increase as well. 

Quote : Occupations most at risk include those in information technology, administration, and jobs in finance and insurance and the professional, scientific and technical services sectors.

Indeed, I was taken aback when I realised that some IT and accounting staff processing our requests and orders are based overseas, contactable only by email (which they normally respond within minutes barring time zone difference), and whom we would unlikely to ever meet face-to-face. So it won't be surprising that even scientific trials that require long hours including weekend work, can be moved offshore. 

The bottomline for most companies is to get the job accomplished at the least possible cost. The issue is that Australian labour is getting too expensive (to catch up with rising cost of living and aspirations) taking into account extra hours and weekend penalty rates, leave allowance, labour protection laws, workers' compensation and taxes, and a long list of regulatory compliance requirements, which are still unheard of or de-emphasised in most developing countries. 

So, where does that leave the majority of the redundant workers? professional nursing or basic home carer for the old age and autistic kids. However, for a middle-ager making a career switch to a highly demanding (both physical strength and mental alertness), it is less than ideal for both the worker and the client.  

The young and fit would be better off become skilled tradesmen who are in perpetually short in supply and could pick and choose the type of work to do and when to turn up. This sounds familiar to most households who need small jobs done. Such jobs are difficult to outsource and safe as long as most Australians remain not so handy and technically incompetent. 

Australia's education score for high school and universities ranking remain dismally poor compared to US, UK and now Asian schools. Those who complain about competitiveness in local education system should take a look at the level of proficiency that counterparts offshore have attained in Math, Science and languages. The local curriculum is slow in adapting well to current needs and keep up with the fast-changing world. The skills gap can only get more skewed. Concerned more with niceties and political correctness instead of facing up to difficult tasks, majority of our school leavers and graduates can only hope to rest their laurels in gaining local recognition.

NewStart and financial assistance for business start-ups are costly and merely serve as a bridging measure to help Australian families. Most distressing is the recent cut in funding for TAFE courses deemed less essential and important. Inevitably, more will fall beneath the cracks and modern day borderline poverty may worsen. This may just be the beginning of a downward spiral. 

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/opinion/political-news/single-parents-fear-newstart-will-set-them-back-20121009-27bas.html

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/tafe-cuts-advice-to-be-kept-secret-20120922-26dud.html

We need more than temporary stop-gaps which will stave off discontent and political inconveniences. But for a nation to remain economically viable in the long run requires better economic planning and proactive education policies. 

Afterthought : I have since written an update of the pain outsourcing threatens to affect each and everyone of us. 

http://ausletters.blogspot.com.au/2013/05/outsourcing-at-irrational-scale-to.html

Moidart Garden - Edridge Park Road, Bowral

This fairly well known nursery/garden was surprisingly difficult to locate. A hunt it was, but whether it can be considered a treasure is arguable.  

http://www.highlandsnsw.com.au/gardens/moidart/index.html

Without a street number, the search was an uphill task to start with. To add more obstacles on the course, Moidart was erroneously marked on the internet maps. Fortunately, the map from Mittagong information centre was more accurate and offered a fall back position after a few rounds of wild goose chase. 

The only sign was inconspicuous and could not lead the driver into the long road before reaching the nursery garden gate.  The entrance fee is $7 is not very expensive. However, there aren't that many thriving and wide varieties of flowers. Perhaps spring comes late in the highlands.  

* All photos are Copyright Reserved. 
Photographer's permission required for download and referencing on another site. 

If one is driving from Sydney or Melbourne and don't mind travelling another hour or more, Canberra was would be a feast for the eyes. 

http://ausletters.blogspot.com.au/2008/11/canberra-floraide-show.html

Leura (Blue Mountains) gardens hopping is another option for visitors who enjoy colourful spring blossoms.  

http://ausletters.blogspot.com.au/2009/10/leura-garden-festival-spring-flowers-in.html

Berrima - Southern Highlands - stepped in history, crafts and cuisines

Rustic, quaint and charming small town Berrima is a different world from the affluent Bowral 20 km apart. 

         Bakeries, confectioneries and restaurants lined up from the beginning of town marked by Oxley Street


The Stone Room Tapas and Bar

Though the place was not full, the staff seemed very busy. There was probably some spillover from the award winning Eschalot Restaurant across the road which was fully booked. 

                                                   Spinach & ricotta empanadas

                                                  Mussels in garlic and white wine sauce

                                            Seafood paella - uneven and soggy at the bottom

                                         
                                     Mushroom fried with garlic - similar rendition of chopped parsley

Hungry patrons may find the wait too long to endure, as did one couple, who quietly left after 10 minutes of failing to get the wait staff's attention to take orders. 

While the food quelled hunger pangs and pleased the palate initially, it lacked the superfluous flavours of Spanish cuisine and was overly seasoned with salt. Be prepared to drink lots of water after the meal. 

Historic Buildings

On the other side of the Old Hume Highway, are the correction centre and court houses, built from sandstone in the 1800s.

Glass Galore - Centrepiece, Serving platter, side dish, wall flower and more

A poorer and less glamorous cousin of crystal, hand-made and mouth-blown glass is no less charming. Creative craftsmen can transform simple glass into works of arts. It's an ancient skill that collectors and modest admirers never get tired of. 

Swedish : Kosta Boda - stunning and heavy weight

Italian floral platter and bowl

 

Villeroy and Boch mosaic colours

Maltese art glass is expensive but exudes an exquisite aura

 

Japanese inspired local artwork?

An American artist's masterpiece

Seriously, is it safe to shop for glass online? I suppose insurance will cover breakage and loss. But it's difficult to argue against imperfections of handmade products. You'd want to buy something you have scrutinized, felt and held in your hands. 

Shopping for Fabrics - Spring Interiors Makeover

Discard the dark sombre colours this spring? Some winter textiles on sale are suitable for spring, summer and autumn. Women shoppers tend to grab more than they need. Men are indifferent. Anything that is practical, not ugly and time-saving. 

The exotica - get ready to party! 

Paisley is classic

 The cottage garden - complementary contrasts