Australian Fromelles Project Group

The Australian Army has a unit called The Australian Fromelles Project Group which is engaged in trying to identify the exhumed remains of WW1 Australian soldiers buried along with British soldiers in a mass grave in Pheasant Wood, Fromelles, France. The dead were buried by German troops. Recently the discovery of German Red Cross records show that 163 men and probably 16 missing Western Australians were buried there.

The Army's Fromelles Project Group recently contacted the families of the missing soldiers and have asked for DNA from families in the hope of identifying the remains and eventually giving them a proper burial. Our friend Wendy has been asked for a DNA sample and the group is forwarding a DNA kit to her. It seems that female DNA is more viable in such cases.

DNA is not going to be conclusive in many cases and the group is also relying on discovered artifacts. One piece of clothing contained a rail ticket for the Perth-Fremantle line.

Wendy's Uncle, Adolf Knable was a 22 year old teacher when he volunteered for service in WW1. He was killed in what has been called 'the most costly and futile conflict ever involving Australian troops'.

A bad feeling about this one.

A few weeks ago I had a request from a Government Welfare Officer for one of my freebie Mac computers for a young single mum with some psychological problems. She is running an online business selling hair adornments on eBay.

I made quite a few attempts to call her and finally talked with her and arranged a time to deliver and set up the computer. Today I delivered it to the place she has moved into in the Perth suburb of Gosnells. Gosnells is certainly not on our list of preferred places to live, but hey, she is not too flush with cash so I guess it is OK for her.

I drove there on the chance that she would be at home as she hasn't been answering her mobile phone. She wasn't home, but the door was answered by a humungous German Shepherd and twenty or so blowflies. The guy who opened the door told me he is a gamer and that seemed to be his principal occupation, collecting benefits and playing online games. The house is quite large and has heaps of clothes and gear on the floor. In the dining room there was a wood turning lathe which was obviously in use as lots of wood shavings were scattered around the table. I confess I didn't ask if they had just shifted in...maybe they were still settling in?

I had to put the computer gear on the floor in her bedroom. There was no desk or table.

Is this going to work? I will contact her Welfare Officer and suggest that if it is all too difficult I could collect the computer gear and give it to someone else.

Of the probably 70 plus machines I have placed, I don't have a good feeling about this one.

When trying to contact her. I have talked a couple of times to her father and mother. I sensed a level of detachment so I am thinking that there has been friction in the family. Sad, but we also know about that.

Where is the sub-editor?

In the last post I wrote about the exhumation and imminent reburial of Catholic clergy in a crypt at St Mary's Cathedral in Perth. The reporter who wrote the story made a bit of a blue when he mentioned descendants of the clergy.

I thought that there would be a few letters to the editor pointing out that Catholic Bishops and Archbishops wouldn't have descendants...but nothing.

In this morning's paper there is a full page report by the same journo telling of the exhumation (he seems to be into exhumations) of Australian soldiers from a mass grave in a French WW1 battlefield. It is a good report except for another word which sounds fine but doesn't mean what it should. The West should have a dictionary on every one of the hundreds of computers sitting on journos' desks and the sub-editor should have picked up that error. Maybe the sub-editing is outsourced to India?
Here is a definition of ignominy.

Also mate....artifacts is the way we spell it here in Aus.

BTW Joan is my sub-editor.

Here endeth this week's rant.

Ooops!

In this morning's newspaper, The West Australian, there is an interesting article about the exhumation and reburial of the remains of three archbishops who led the Catholic church in W.A. over a period of 140 years. They are to be interred in a new crypt constructed below St Mary's Cathedral.

The article describes the exhumation and artifacts found in the coffins. The author of the article is named Joseph Catanzaro who this morning, is probably a little red faced about this paragraph in the paper....
And I thought it was only medieval Popes who had descendants.

Magic Box

Car efficiency scams are as old as cars. I recall reading very old Popular Mechanics magazines from the 1940s touting fuel pills. They were even on sale in service stations in Aus in the 50s. I never tried them at the time. Even at 17 years of age I felt that they had to be a scam.

Fast forward to the 90s and on and we have two home grown scams here in Aus. Australia's hero racing driver, Peter Brock launched an Energy Polarizer, a little magic box that was to bring amazing improvements to car performance and economy. It even allowed you to run your tyres at a lower pressure. Here is a press release for the Energy Polarizer....

"An Energy Polarizer transmits a high energy mainly generated by the vehicle to which it is attached.
This high energy field - A.B.A. Energy - causes all molecules in it's sphere of influence to be aligned or polarized to the direction of the high energy transmission, and are held in a linked or aligned state.
These molecules are subject to a vibratory rate dictated by the Polarizer.
The printed circuitry in a Polarizer causes a multiplicity of frequencies to be transmitted, affecting each molecule and allowing that molecules and it's environment to absorb specific vibration levels including noises, vibrations resonance and impact harshness which are always present in any vehicle and also to dampen out the effects of imperfect manufacture of vehicle components.

The overall effect on a motor car is to absorb road shocks more completely and quietly, to reduce overall vehicle noises - both inside and outside - to achieve greater efficiency of the power train and steering systems, improving the engine and suspension performance and to create a more pleasant environment for the driver and passenger.

Certain frequencies have not been "tuned out" as they are necessary for increased road safety.

The energy transmitted from the "Energy Polarizer" always flows to that area most effected. That means a major problem area still remains a problem, and the energy is effectively wasted on that area since the overall vehicle is deprived and consequently is less enhanced. So a correctly manufactured and maintained vehicle will always be superior to one that is not, but all vehicles benefit from the fitment of an Energy Polarizer.

It should be noted a vehicle which normal requires high octane leaded fuel is then able to operate on low octane (92) unleaded fuel, without any ill effects whatsoever, when an Energy Polarizer is fitted.

Tyre pressures must be lowered to maximise the effect of an Energy Polarizer. Recommended tyre pressure:-

Later, FirePower was a fuel tank pill and the floating of the company lost lots of Australian investors (read: suckers) around $100M. Neither worked, but I am unsure if the 'inventors' of both 'scams' didn't actually believe in their product.

When I wrote in the last post about the winner of the Melbourne cup being whipped by the jockey after the horse went over the line,I wondered if I was the only person who noticed it on TV. The RSPCA also noticed it and has been on his case and the Jockey's whatever club has suspended him (after the racing round is over).

Windows 7 has been released with its biggest innovation being a taskbar where the user can drop applications into and open them from there.....just like Mac's Dock which has been part of every OS10 since 2001.

W.A. Islamic Council

The Melbourne Cup is over. To my uninterested eye, it seems that fashion once again was the winner over the horses.

Who won? Well it depends who is reporting it. Initial headlines trumpeted “Shocking’ as the winner. Shocking is a horse. Then there is this quote from the Jockey.. 'Ive finally won the Melbourne Cup and the dream has come true'.

Then later in the day we watched trainer Mark Kavanagh tell us how shocked he was that he won the Melbourne cup. I guess we could call it a team effort.

I saw the final few seconds of the race on TV and noticed that once the horse (and the jockey) got over the finishing line, jockey Corey Brown gave the nag one more slash with his whip. I never found a Corey that I liked amongst my many students before I retired.

Rahim Ghauri, the boss of the W.A. Islamic Council wrote to the West Australian newspaper a couple of days ago complaining how Muslims are discriminated against in Western Australia. Amongst other things, he mentioned the lack of Halal food in public hospitals.

The next day’s paper spawned lots of letters from non Muslims telling him, in a most illogical manner, that Islamic countries wouldn’t serve us bacon if we had to go to a hospital there. A few also told him he could go back where he came from. I know, that without the experience of having been admitted to a hospital in an Islamic state that I could happily eat Halal food.

I understand why, but cannot condone, the silence of Muslim Clerics about the senseless murder of their own in the name of God.

Melbourne Cup

Saturday was Halloween. We had a couple of groups of pleasant kids visit and they were rewarded for their dress-up efforts.

Tomorrow is the running of the Melbourne Cup. Australia shuts down for the race and food and drink. Tomorrow night there will be the usual footage of drunk young fillies (the girls) staggering around with spikes in hand.

We both enjoyed Cup day when we were working, but haven't given it much thought since retiring. The most publicity has been around a successful trainer named Bart Cummings. Bart is in his 80s and sports a wonderful set of eyebrows. Such eyebrows have traditionally been the prerogative of Australian Prime Ministers.


And now a racehorse story.

A bloke towing a horsefloat is exceeding the speed limit on the new highway to Bunbury when pulled over by a cop. 'Any excuse for speeding' asks the cop. "I have to get these horses down to Bunbury for the races' explains our man.
The cop looks in the back and says 'There aren't any horses in here mate!' 'Oh damn, they've given me the scratched horses again!' says the punter.