Anzac Day

 

For the information of overseas readers, 25 April 2012 is Anzac Day in Australia and New Zealand, the national day of remembrance.  The day is named after a combined military force of those two countries, the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, which participated in the first major military action of those two countries in 1915 at Gallipoli in Turkey.  The Gallipoli campaign, although a military failure, is considered to be a significant event in the founding of the Australian nation, spirit and identity.  Anzac Day is marked by dawn services, including one at Gallipoli, by marches in capital cities and towns, and by numerous remembrance ceremonies.  It is the most sacred secular day in Australia and New Zealand, the nations honouring their war dead and thanking those surviving, from all wars.

The Battle of the Nek

 

Australians in captured Turkish trenches at Lone Pine,Gallipoli, 6 August 1915.

A few weeks ago Sue enquired as to the origin of the phrase “neck of the woods”.  The term “neck” in this context originally meant narrow strip of land but came to be applied in the US to a narrow section of woods and eventually to the area of one’s home or settlement.  Writing and thinking about necks at that time started me also wondering why the famous or, more appropriately, the infamous, Battle of The Nek was so named.  This was a WW1 battle fought by Australian troops as part of the Gallipoli campaign in Turkey. The name had always struck me as strange but I hadn’t looked into it. 

The following item was written by me at the time of writing about necks but, because it became lengthier than intended as I found the history more and more fascinating, I thought that I would save it for an Anzac Day post.

The Nek was a narrow strip of ridge with steep drops on either side, on the Gallipoli Peninsula. The word “Nek” is Afrikaans for “narrow pass”.

The Nek connected the Australian trenches on the ridge known as “Russell’s Top” with a knoll known as “Baby 700” held by the Ottoman defenders.

On 7 August 1915, two regiments of the Australian 3rd Light Horse Brigade, their horses left behind in Egypt, attacked the Turkish trenches on Baby 700.  The slaughter became known as "Godfrey's abattoir", after Major General Sir Alexander Godley, the commander of the New Zealand and Australian Division of which the 3rd Light Horse was a part.

 

A new design

 

My daughter, Acacia, has redesigned the Bytes blog layout, feeling that it was in need of an overhaul. Thanks, Acacia, well done.

That also accounts for there being no Bytes yesterday.

One of my friends, who has been a subscriber from the beginning, was unaware that there even was such a website, that Bytes consisted of the emails received each day.

Those receiving this as an email and who are interested in having a look at the home of Bytes, which bears the above banner, can do so by clicking on the following link:

http://bytesdaily.blogspot.com.au/

An easier way is to simply click on the words “Bytes Daily” on the top left of each Bytes email.  That will then take you to that day’s  post on the blog.

That will also enable you to access past Bytes in the archives and to leave a comment on the posts.

So it's goodby to the past Bytes site banner . . . 

Some thoughts on religion . . .

 

How the world was created.

“Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?”

Douglas Adams

"Consider for a moment this notion that you should respect other people’s beliefs. Where else in our discourse do we encounter this? I mean, when was the last time anyone in this room was admonished to respect another person’s beliefs about history, or biology, or physics? We do not respect people’s beliefs; we evaluate their reasons."

Sam Harris (1967- )

"Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest."

Denis Diderot (1713-1784)

"I contend we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.

Stephen F. Roberts

"Your Highness, I have no need of this hypothesis."

Pierre Laplace (1749-1827),

to Napoleon on why his works on celestial mechanics make no mention of God.

"If there were no God, it would have been necessary to invent him."

Voltaire (1694-1778)



 "We can live without religion and meditation, but we cannot survive without human affection."

Dalai Lama

"No man ever believes that the Bible means wshat he says: He is always convined that it says what he means."

-           

George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)

“You're basically killing each other to see who's got the better imaginary friend.”

Richard Jeni

“When I do good, I feel good; when I do bad, I feel bad, and that is my religion.”

Abraham Lincoln

Les Mis: Update and an Elephant

To all you Les Mis fans, especially Nadia:Filming of the Les Mis musical, starring Hugh Jackman (Valjean), Russell Crowe (Javert), Anne Hathaway (Fantine), Eddie Redmayne (Marius), Amanda Seyfried (Cossette), Samantha Barks (Eponine), Sacha Baron Cohen (Thenardier) and Helena Bonham Carter (Madam Thenardier), is continuing at the old Royal Naval College in Greenwich, London. Some photos of the cast and the sets appear below.

(Click on the photographs to enlarge) 

Great Hoaxes: Han van Meegeren

 

Herman Gőring’s Vermeeer:

 At the end of World War 2, the Dutch Field Security began hunting down the Dutch citizens who had collaborated with the Nazis during the German occupation of Holland. One such investigation concerned the sale of an artwork, The Woman Taken in Adultery, sometimes also called Christ and the Adulteress, painted by the 17^th century Dutch artist Vermeer, which had been sold to Reichsmarshall Hermann Gőring.  Gőring, commander of the Luftwaffe, stripped countries of their artworks and shipped them to Berlin.  The Vermeer was showcased in his villa near Berlin.  With the approach of the allied forces, he hid 6,750 pieces in a saltmine in Austria where they were discovered by US forces, the Vermeer among them. 

Gőring had purchased the Vermeer from Nazi art dealer and banker Alois Miedl in 1942 for 1.65 million guilders ($625,000 or $7 million today)

Miedl had no hesitation in advising the authorities that the newly discovered Vermeer had been sold to him by Dutch citizen Han van Meegeren.

Van Meegeren was arrested, charged with aiding and abetting the enemy and kept locked up pending trial.  As a collaborator and a plunderer of Dutch art works, part of the national heritage, he faced an extensive jail sentence.

Funny Friday

 

(Caution: risqué item follows)

By way of introduction to the first Funny Friday item, which is an oldie but a goodie, I will mention that it came up in a discussion with my son about dancing.

Notwithstanding that King David honoured the Lord by dancing (2 Samuel 6: 14-16), dancing has long had a strong sexual content.  George Bernard Shaw recognised this when he described it as “the vertical expression of a horizontal desire legalised by music.” 

Those who have read Edward Albee’s play Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf may recall the scene where Martha is dancing provocatively with Nick, while her husband George and Nick’s mousey wife, Honey, watch:

HONEY:  They're dancing like they've danced before.

GEORGE:  It's a familiar dance ... they both know it ..
MARTHA:  Don't be shy.
NICK:  I'm ...not
GEORGE [to HONEY]:  It's a very old ritual, monkey-nipples. . . old as they come.

As a digression, the roles of Martha and George in the movie version were superbly acted by Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.  The latter should have received an Oscar. 

It’s interesting, is it not, that as attitudes towards sex have become more liberal and morality has relaxed, dancing has become less sexual.  In past times when sex was less open, men and women held each other and moved together.  Today they don’t touch.

In Judaism, especially in Orthodox tradition, men and women are separated in some ceremonies and contexts, for instance in some Orthodox prayer services, weddings and bar mitzvahs. Currently, the majority of Orthodox Jews do not participate in mixed dancing.

Which leads me to the classic funny about it.

Pulitzer and World Press Photos 2012

 

Two of the most prestigious photographic awards are the annual Pulitzer Prize for Photography, begun in 1942, and the World Press Photograph of the Year, begun in 1955.  I have commenced posting the annual winners, commencing from the 1942 Pulitzer, with particulars of the photograph and the story behind it.  In doing so, I have discovered interesting facts and insights which I will share with you as I post these winning photographs from time to time.

The 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Photography has just been awarded and it is interesting to note how the subject matter of the photographs over the years has changed, to observe the changes in society’s concerns, as well as changes in the nature, style and technology of the photographs. 

Pulitzer Prize for Photography 2012:

The following winning photograph and comments are from the Sydney Morning Herald:

Slips and Viruses

 

There was no Bytes yesterday, my computer picked up some sort of virus that not only stopped me receiving or sending emails, it also prevented me opening my email site at all. 

Earlier that day I had received an email comment from Robyn in respect of the post on 16 April about rocking horse motion and forward progress: 

 

 

Otto 

I wonder if your typo in the last word of line 3 of para 1 of today's byte is a Freudian slip? 

Robyn

 

 

The word Robyn is referring to is the last word of the following sentence:

the trickle of emails from John to my son and myself has turned into a flood: queries, suggestions, advice, comments, copied documents and repeat sends of what has already been supplied by him in the pest.

It may or not have been Freudian but it was a genuine typo.

Hats, Politicians and Princes

 

Last week I posted an old joke about Prince Charles and the fox hat.

 

 

It brought to mind that many years ago I came across the “Silly Hats Rule”, which holds that politicians should never be photographed wearing silly hats.  There is a related addendum which reads “or swimming costumes”.  That addendum has been consistently ignored by Oz’s Tony Abbott, leader of the Australian Liberal party, leader of the Opposition in Federal Parliament and likely Australia’s next Prime Minister.  Mr Abbott likes to compete in triathlons and swimming events and is regularly photographed in budgie smugglers.

 

 

President Kennedy may have had the Silly Hats Rule in mind when he was presented with a Texan ten gallon hat by the Forth Worth Chamber of Commerce prior to his next stop at Dallas.  Encouraged to put it on by the head of the Chamber of Commerce, he declined, saying that he would put it on in the White House on the following Monday and that they should come there to see it.  Tragically he was assassinated later that day.

 

 

There has been speculation that he declined as a rebuke to Vice President Johnson, with whom he was having difficulties, or that he didn’t wish to disturb his hair, about which he was apparently quite vain.  I believe that he was following the Silly Hats Rule.

 

 

See the presentation and Kennedy’s declining to put it on at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVHGekDVRQ0

 

 

Although the fox hat joke is an old one in relation to Prince Charles, he has never been one to shy away from wearing a variety of hats, silly and otherwise ...

Quote: Alfred a Montapert

 

“Do not confuse motion and progress. A rocking horse keeps moving but does not make any progress.” 

~ Alfred A. Montapert

The above quotation came to mind when driving to work with my oldest son, who also works in our law office.  It came to mind because we have been working together on a criminal case where sentencing of the defendant, let’s call him John, is to happen shortly. As the sentencing date has drawn nearer, the trickle of emails from John to my son and myself has turned into a flood: queries, suggestions, advice, comments, copied documents and repeat sends of what has already been supplied by him in the pest.  I appreciate that in his mind he is doing whatever he can to assist but it is a good illustration of the above quotation.

The problem with confusing motion with progress is that there is a belief that something positive is being done when, in reality, it is having the reverse effect.  Not only does it take time away from possibly more productive avenues , it also creates an environment where something that is of value might be overlooked. 

Last week I published some quotations about the Information Age, mentioning that one of the problems of the information explosion is sorting out quality and relevance from volume.  That applies equally to communications.  In the past we communicated by mail, then by telegraph, telephone, then by facsimile.  Today we communicate in much faster and more immediate ways:  email, twitter, Facebook, skype, SMS . . .  but, as our communications have become faster and cheaper, quality has been reduced by volume.  A continuing string of email exchanges takes the place of a telephone call, which in turn took the place of a letter.

Rocking horse motion can apply equally to electronic communications.

The Titanic, 100 years on

  

 

The Titanic sank 100 years ago today, on 15 April 1912.  Of the 2,223 passengers on the Titanic, only 706 survived, leaving 1,517 dead. The 100^th anniversary of the sinking has sparked numerous television specials and coincides with the re-release of the James Cameron pic, this time in 3D.  Following are some interesting facts and trivia about the ship and its sinking . . .

A repeat

Yesterday I added a late item to the Funny Friday jokes but it was posted too late to catch the emails sent to subscribers.  Here it is, for those who missed it.

The current local frenzy over the visiting boy band One Direction reminds me of a dated, but still funny, bit of humour:

A girlfriend and boyfriend walked into the girlfriend’s house. The girlfriend said to her mum, "We’re going up to my room" and the mum says, "Ok honey, you kids have fun." When they are up there the mother hears: "Baby baby baby, oh!" The mother walks to the door and asks "What the hell is going on?" The girl says, "Mum, we're just having sex." The mum says, "Oh, thank God. I thought you guys were listening to Justin Bieber."

Great Moments in Australian Politics

 

James Anthony Mulvihill (1919-2000) (above), commonly known as Tony Mulvihill, was a popular Australian politician.  Between the years 1964 and 1983, when he retired, he was a member of the Australian Senate as a Labor Senator for New South Wales.  Having started as a labourer for the railways, he worked his way up to crane driver and official with the Australian Railways Union.  He also served as Assistant Secretary of the New South Wales Labor Party from 1957. 

From the earliest, long before becoming a Senator, he campaigned for better conditions for migrants and their integration into Australian society, and for preservation of the environment.  His passionate attempts for a “green belt” around Sydney resulted in waterways, beaches and parks being excluded from encroaching private ownership by affluent landowners, a cause later taken up by persons such as Jack Mundey. 

On 14 December 1982, Tony Mulvihill addressed the Senate during an Adjournment Debate, the following extract being from Hansard.  The speech is also quoted in Barry Cohen’s book From Whitlam to Winston.  Although it is lengthy, it is well worth the read.

Funny Friday

 

Today, some politically incorrect Italian humour . . .

A bus stops and two Italian men get on. They sit down and engage in an animated conversation. The lady sitting behind them ignores them at first, but her attention is galvanized when she hears one of the men say the following:

"Emma come first. Den I come. Den two asses come together. I come once-a-more. Two asses, they come together again. I come again and pee twice. Then I come one lasta time."

"You foul-mouthed sex obsessed swine," retorted the lady indignantly.

"In this country ... we don't speak aloud in public places about our sex lives ..”

"Hey, coola down lady," said the man. "Who talkin' abouta sexa? I'm a justa tellin' my frienda how to spella 'Mississippi'."

A Mafia Godfather finds out that his bookkeeper, Guido, has cheated him out of $10,000,000. His bookkeeper is deaf. That was the reason he got the job in the first place. It was assumed that Guido would hear nothing so he would not have to testify in court.

When the Godfather goes to confront Guido about his missing $10 million, he takes along his lawyer who knows sign language. The Godfather tells the lawyer, "Ask him where's the money? The lawyer, using sign language, asks Guido, "where's the money?" Guido signs back, "I don't know what you are talking about." The lawyer tells the Godfather, "He says he doesn't know what you are talking about"

The Godfather pulls out a pistol, puts it to Guido's temple and says, "Ask him again!" The lawyer signs to Guido, "He'll kill you if you don't tell him." Guido signs back, "OK.! You win! The money is in a brown briefcase, buried behind the shed at my cousin Bruno's house."

The Godfather asks the lawyer, "What did he say?"

The lawyer replies, "He says you don't have the balls to pull the trigger."

Attorneys

 

Recently I was speaking with a friend and client who has been resident in the US for quite a few years.  On a visit to Oz, she was following up on signing the acceptance of her appointment as an attorney under her father’s Power of Attorney.  For those not in the know, a Power of Attorney is a legal document by which a person appoints another, the Attorney, to manage the person’s legal and financial affairs.

There seemed to be some confusion when I explained her role as an Attorney under the Power of Attorney, her confusion and concern stemming from the fact that she had no legal qualifications.  Eventually we worked out that she was applying the American meaning of attorney as a lawyer, not as the person appointed under a Power of Attorney.

Back when I first became a solicitor Powers of Attorney were big, cumbersome documents with lots of long paragraphs and no punctuation except for the full stop at the end.  The document commenced with the words

“Know All Men by These Presents that I, [name], of [address] Send Greetings. 

Whereas ...”

The word dates from about 1300 from the Old French “atorner”, meaning to turn to or assign to. The past participle, “atorne”, was used as a noun for someone appointed, in much the same way as “appointee”.  From there the meaning became someone appointed to act as someone else’s agent, one appointed to represent another’s interests. 

Ultimately the term came to mean a legal agent, someone appointed to act for another in business or legal affairs, usually for payment.  In that context the person so appointed was commonly known as a “private attorney” or an “attorney in fact”. 

In contrast, an “attorney at law”, also known as a “public attorney”, was a qualified legal agent in the courts of Common Law who prepared the cases for the barristers.  Those barristers then pleaded the cases in the courts. 

 

 

The attorney was therefore the equivalent of the modern day solicitor, the Judicature Act of 1873 abolishing the position of attorney and merging it with solicitor.  The term “solicitor” had always been the title for those lawyers who practised in the courts of equity.

 

 

Attorneys were not highly regarded, as evidenced by Boswell’s 1791 quoting of Samuel Johnson:

". . . he did not care to speak ill of any man behind his back, but he believed the gentleman was an attorney."