Australian Icon trodden into the dust? Well . . . .

Did anyone else spot the latest news on the ABC?

"Pope Benedict has been given 15,001 pairs of shoes during a visit to Vigevano, the northern city known as Italy's shoe capital."

Apparently Imelda has nothing to worry about, because the article then goes on to say:

"A local consortium gave one pair for himself and 15,000 more pairs for the needy around the world."

The taste conscious among us will note that:

"The Pope was given burgundy-coloured loafers designed and manufactured by the Moreschi firm and made from kangaroo hide."

This colour is likely to be a 'feature' contrast with the white robes.

Will the devout will now make a giant rush for shoes made from Kangaroo hide?

We will know soon enough.

I wonder what the market gurus will do with this opportunity?

The mind boggles!

Collaborative Genealogy

I wonder whether people have had the opportunity to work on their family genealogy in a collaborative environment before?

If not, try it - it's a hoot! Then again - it's a lot of work and CAN be frustrating.

With the lovely new opportunity provided by Google's Documents and Spreadsheets facility, it is possible to create documentation that can then be shared among many different people and enable them to view, comment on and even edit the content.

Each person can contribute his/her own version of reality, hopefully with as much referential data as possible. Then, through off line discussions or indeed on line discussions through other processes including the use of Skype, or similar VOIP tools or perhaps through discussion groups provided by Yahoo, Google or other service providers, actually reach some consensus on who was related to whom and how and when and where and at the same time enable people to place their own personal stories and/or memories into a space that is then shared among many.

What I have been learning through the process of attempting the feat of helping to coordinate such work using these sorts of 'free' facilities is that there are days when everything is simply wonderful and days when it all seems to be too hard!

I guess I am reaching out to those who may well have trod this or a similar path and asking for comments or lessons learned so that I can benefit from the views of others and so not waste time and effort repeating mistakes and gain time by learning from lessons others have learned on how to do things better and/or more quickly and usefully. As well - since this is a public blog any who read the content may be able to learn how to do things or how to avoid doing things that can result in a disaster.

I would be particularly delighted if some of my readers would share with me and with others how they have made such cooperative ventures work well for them.

Cloak of Invisibility.

Well not yet - but we are hearing more from at least one scientist!

see http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200704/s1891596.htm

"Physicists figured out the complex mathematical equations for making objects invisible by bending light around them last year.

Now a group of engineers at Purdue University in Indiana have used those calculations to design a relatively simple device that ought to be able to - one day soon - make objects as big as an aeroplane simply disappear.

The design calls for tiny metal needles to be fitted into a hairbrush-shaped cone at angles and lengths that would force light to pass around the cloak. This would make everything inside the cone appear to vanish because the light would no longer reflect off it.

"It looks pretty much like fiction, I do realise, but it's completely in agreement with the laws of physics," said lead researcher Vladimir Shalaev, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Purdue.

"Ideally, if we make it real it would work exactly like Harry Potter's invisibility cloak," he said. "It's not going to be heavy because there's going to be very little metal in it."

The still-theoretical design will be published this month in the journal Nature Photonics."

Just think of the possibilities if we all had access to this new technology folks:

American to Iranian: "Hey fella, you won't see us coming when we bomb the crap out of your country!"

Iranian to American: "You are right of course, but what will you bomb?"

Back in your Box!

As featured on the ABC

"Australian companies are pushing for a fresh wave of taxation reform.

The Business Council of Australia has released a new report which shows that the overall number of taxes has increased since the GST was introduced.

The report found governments impose 56 different taxes on Australia companies, compared to just 22 taxes imposed on businesses in the United Kingdom."

I love sophisticated thinking and I especially adore emotive propaganda - especially from our "poor underprivileged" business community.

If you don't like it in Australia - go to the UK see how long you survive there with their "lower" taxation!

I would have thought that their version of GST at 17% would give you pause for a start!

Whenever you compare apples with oranges you get a really dubious result - so Business Council of Australia when you learn to do some real analysis come back and talk to us - until then BACK IN YOUR BOX!