From the category archives:
I have been really pleased with the password management system ‘Roboform’ which creates and remembers new and random passwords for my different websites and logins.
In an age of internet fraud and identity theft I feel much more secure knowing I can have this random system that remembers in an encrypted manner all my passwords.
I really recommend you check this out here
{ 0 comments }
In an article on population growth in Crikey.com, Charles Berger from the Australian Conservation Foundation gave the following statistics (and yes I know … lies, damn lies &…) about population growth and carbon usage which certainly give pause for thought and consideration about just how sustainable our current lifestyles are.
He was talking about figures by that Prime Minister of ancient history, Kevin Rudd, set for reducing Australian pollution levels by 60% of 2000 levels by 2050. This figure is based on the current Australian population of 21 million.
Now if the Australian population stabilises around the 27 million mark by 2050, this would mean that we need a per capita reduction of around the 72% mark. However, if our population were to increase to 36 million by 2050, this would mean a per capita decrease of 79% to meet that same goal.
This does mean that in a high-growth population scenario, carbon-intensive activities will become considerably more expensive.
Another topic in his essay is on water use. he cites the example of the Victorian government setting a target of 155 litres per person per day water usage for Melbourne residents. If Melbourne were to grow from its current population of 3.8 million to 5 million, to maintain this total amount of water usage for the Melbourne basin would mean Melburnians would have to decrease their water usage to 118 litres per head per day and further reductions needed as population grew. That certainly cuts out my long showers.
The article certainly paints a picture of a world where many of our everyday lifestyle options and habits will need to change and it should make us ponder our lifestyle choices, so many of which we take for granted.
{ 0 comments }
Population and sustainability are much more than local political sloganeering. These are huge global issues that we will all be facing in the coming years.
a review of a new book by Australian science journalist and author Julian Cribb called “The Coming Famine” with the subtitle ‘The global food crisis and what we can do to avoid it” is published here in a review in the New York Times.
The argument presented here is certainly ‘food for thought’ for our bloated first world bellies and while it provides an eerie Orwellian picture of one hand, it does provide pictures of hope for a sustainable global future
{ 0 comments }
Recently the British government’s chief drug advisor, professor David Nutt has has argued that alcohol and cigarettes are more dangerous than cannabis, LSD and ectasy, based on scientific evidence. In his argument, he claims that all drugs, regardless of their legal status should be ranked by a “harm” index. On this index he puts alcohol fifth behind cocaine, heroin, barbituates and methadone. He places tobacco ninth ahead of cannabis, LSD and ecstasy. He claimed that the legality/illegalityof a substance was an artificial separation which decreases the public’s ability to be better informed of the risks they are taking.
A prominent scientist with a valueable argument in an area that needs enlightened debate.
The interesting postscript to this is that, following his comments, he was sacked from his position by the British Home Office.
I wonder of this will gag the debate or give it further fuel
{ 0 comments }
Stern states that meat is a wasteful use of water and creates a lot of greenhouse gases, methane causing 23 times more greenhouse gases than carbon dioxide. He believes that the price of meat and other foods that generate a lot of greenhous gases will become more expensive and that people will increasingly ask about the carbon content of their food.
What is there to say in the face of such irrefutable change but bring on the waygu….. and quickly!!!!
{ 2 comments }
Both my inner osteopath and the lover of dance was awestruck, as usual, by the beautiful grace and movement of the Bangarra dancers, watching their 20 year gala performance on Saturday night. It was a trip down memory lane watching some of those magical pieces from the last 20 years being performed. Congratulations to Stephen Page and all the creative team at Bangarra for their inspiration and stories to us.
{ 0 comments }
Not at all the Marx Brothers but rather a grand night with a grand opera directed by our own doyen of the arts Graeme Murphy. The opening night watching Opera Australia’s “Aida” felt like being washed over by wave after wave of great sound, colour and movement. Briiliant to see some of those classic Murphy moves out of Sydney Dance… watch especially for some of the great chorus moments before the second interval.
{ 0 comments }
People often ask me how I got into osteopathy or for how long I have been in practice. I have been pondering these questions lately, as one does from time to time, though it does make me seem somewhat ‘older’ than I really want to be.
Recently I made a video with my colleagues from Sydney Osteopathic Medicine about how we all got into osteopathic practice. It was fun to sit and tape our stories. See my blog ‘Video killed the radio star’…..It made me think about starting up both of my clinics at Bondi Junction and in Sydney CBD; so here is a bit more of my story:
While working in the area of prenatal care and teaching anatomy and healthcare to trainee childbirth educators, I was introduced to a wonderful acupuncturist and practitioner of traditional medicine, Elyane Brightlight, who had moved from the Village Healing and Growth Centre, a large group practice in Paddington, to her own smaller clinic in Bondi Junction. I was, at this time practicing from a home based clinic in Kensington, from rooms in North Sydney and working out of the Sydney Dance Company studios at the Wharf in Hickson Road in The Rocks. The temptation to have one base in Bondi Junction, which I considered to be the heart of the east and the heartland of Osteopathy here in Sydney, was one that became a delightful reality very quickly.
So I moved into the Good Spring Centre at Bondi Junction with the colorful and talented Elyane and began a long and fruitful professional relationship with a wonderful colleague who continues to inspire me today, so many years down the track….. and my osteopathic practice at Bondi Junction was born.
We worked together for about six years at this clinic in Hollywood Avenue before I purchased my first clinic and together, we moved up to the eagles eyrie of Harley Place Health just along the road on the corner of Hollywood and Oxford…. I still today love giving out that descriptor…. overlooking the magic of the Junction, across to the city skyline and down through to Double Bay, our ever changing Slessorian harbour and beyond to the hills of the north shore. On a fine afternoon you can see the glistening dome of the Bahai temple at Mona Vale from our clinic. This is a view that, to this day, I do not tire of.
We have collaborated on many different aspects of clinical practice over the years and taught from our respective expertise in the area of prenatal care and childbirth along with other areas of clinical knowledge. Years later some of my work was published in a small book for consumers by Wellbeing magazine and Elyane went on to publish her first book in this area called ‘Natural Childcare’.
In addition to working in the very exciting and life-changing area of childbirth, I also developed my Bondi Junction practice in the area of dance and performance injuries. Working in the arts and being involved on the edges of the creative arena has been an inspiring experience and has presented me with some wonderful opportunities to make my small contribution to the creative process, both as an osteopath and then diversifying into other areas within the arts. This has provided me with many extremely fulfilling and enlivening experiences and people many of whom today I am fortunate to continue to have in my life. Twenty years down the track I am as inspired and in awe of the creative process of the human body-mind and its capabilities as I was all those years ago when I first was introduced to the osteopathic concept.
{ 0 comments }
