Although no-one’s made the point explicitly, Shane Warne must be exhibit A in the case for multiple intelligences

Hi everybody, I’m back in Oz today and back blogging. Before I settle back in, I’ll give my impressions of Montreal. In economic terms, it was hard to figure out. On the one hand there were lots of fairly derelict-looking buildings and many not-so-derelict ones had “A Louer” (“To Let”) signs. On the other hand, there was new construction going on all over the place. Similarly, while there was a general air of prosperity, particular in the CBD, beggars and homeless people were considerably more evident than in DC. I’m not clear whether this is reflects a dual economy, or the early stages of recovery from a prolonged slump, or just the hazards of the random snapshot approach.

The city is overwhelmingly francophone and has apparently become significantly more so in recent decades owing to the language policies of the Parti Quebecois. However, at least in shops and so on, everyone switched to fluent English as soon as they’d heard a sample of my French.

I’m on my annual visit to America. Although I’m literally inside the Beltway as I type this, I might as well be back in Brisbane as far as contact with the centres of power are concerned. (Actually, except at the very top, most of the powerful seem to live outside the Beltway, and commute). So I’ll just give some general impressions of how my slice of America seems on this visit:

1. Friendly. I made good friends when I lived here nearly 15 years ago and have kept them. In my experience, America is a really friendly place. Of the Australian cities I’ve lived in, only Brisbane has been friendlier (YMMV).

2. Fat. Even on the shortest of visits the prevalence of severe obesity is striking. Australia is said to be catching up on this respect, but on my unscientific sample we’ve got a long way to go.

3. Philanthropic. Visiting the Washington Mall and the National Gallery of Art, it’s striking that the building and all the paintings in it were donated. And of course admission is free, all in striking contrast with Australia. As Tim Dunlop observed to me when we had lunch (in person!), philanthropy has its limitations. It’s much better at providing ‘club goods’ enjoyed by the relatively well off than it is at transferring resources between social classes. I may post more on this some time

4. Fading flush of prosperity. The effects of the big boom are still evident but are fading. Beggars had disappeared from the streets last time I visited, but are now coming back, though still in small numbers compared to the early 90s. At the University of Maryland, where I’m visiting, spending cuts of the kind familiar to Australian academics are being imposed for the first time in years, but buildings commissioned during the boom are still going up.

Lots of bloggers are joining the trend to add some appearance of corporeal substance to their posts in the form of a sidebar photo, often with surprising results. For a possible alternative to my current photo, you can look here.

According to this Age Poll 3 per cent of Victorians do not support an AFL team. Presumably most of these are recent arrivals from foreign countries, such as Sydney, but the remaining heretics must be a tough-minded breed.

Preface to repost A commentator on my previous post accused me of being anti-fun. I’m reposting this to show I’m pro-fun, as long as other people’s fun doesn’t threaten to kill me.

Original post 11/11/02

Tim Blair, as usual, defends his right to play with dangerous toys, like guns and fast cars, devoting a comprehensive fisking to a piece by Hugh McKay about speeding. I didn’t find McKay’s article that interesting when I first read it, but judging by Tim’s response, it hit the target.

On libertarian grounds, I’ve been planning to suggest some sort of theme park, analogous to smoking rooms and safe injecting rooms, where lovers of guns and dangerous driving could act out their Grand Theft Auto fantasies without endangering the rest of us.

But I was wondering – where could such a park be located? Then it struck me that large parts of the US are like that already, except for all the ordinary decent people trying to live there. I don’t suppose it would be too hard to persuade most of the population of, say, South-East Washington DC, to move somewhere nicer, leaving the gangsters and drug dealers behind. The park would be there, ready-made, for Tim and friends to enjoy.

The economic viability of the park would be greatly supplemented by reality TV. I, for one, would happily sign up for pay-TV just to watch this.

Update I missed it, but Tim has indeed blogged again on this very topic, with the headline Government good. Drivers bad Certainly if the drivers I encounter on a daily basis are a fair sample, the second part of Tim’s headline rings true

At the weekend, we unpacked the last box, and moved the last load of stuff between home and office. It’s almost six months to the day since we moved to Brisbane, and I can now declare the move complete. In my experience, six months is a bit better than average. I don’t plan to test my moving skills again any time soon, though. Brisbane is definitely the place for me.

PS: Talking of moves, I see that Tim Blair has made the move to MT. Well done!

Observa has sent me a further instalment of his story of his family’s brush with paedophilia. As he observes “it has been a difficult task for me to write about an emotive issue, when I am largely a facts and figures technocrat.” I agree with Observa’s comment in the Monday Message Board that:

“My view is that society needs to discard its sense of taboo on the subject of paedophilia and separate fact from fiction. The outcomes for individuals are too important to be swept under the carpet.”

This is obviously a difficult issue, and the comments about it have lacked the dogmatic certitude that characterizes a lot of blogging (including a fair bit of mine, I admit). I’ve collected the entire thread into a single post, which you can read below.
Read More »

The war has fogged my vision to the extent that I missed an important post on the central focus of civilisation, namely coffee. Gummo Trotsky selects “Latte” for his word of the day and writes

I think we can forego the Macquarie Dictionary link on this one – we all know what latte is. It’s what the out of touch inner city elites drink to wash down their lunch-time foccaccias or croques-monsieur while their less pretentious suburban cousins are happy to settle for a cappucino and a toasted sanger.

If this item from yesterday’s Age is any indication, there’s a lot of people in the out-of-touch inner city elite. And the numbers are growing. According to a survey by BIS Shrapnel, latte consumption grew by 50% over two years with 225 million dollars worth of lattes sold last year. Assuming that the retail price of a cafe latte is $2.50, that’s a total of 90 million cafe lattes.

Gummo follows up with some extrapolations suggesting that in a few years, latte drinkers will be in the majority.

I would view this prospect with horror, but I think it will not come to pass. Latte is the Cold Duck of the 21st century, and like Cold Duck will be shaken off with a shudder as people realise what real coffee is about.

I had to be a bit mysterious about my visit to Canberra, as my big news was subject to an embargo. I’ve been awarded a Federation Fellowship, which is one of the biggest awards going for Australian academics ( you can read more here if you’re interested). The award ceremony was yesterday and involved a hastily-arranged flying visit to Canberra. I’ll be working on one of my abiding research interests – the management of the Murray-Darling Basin – along with a continuation of interests in uncertainty and sustainability.

It wasn’t exactly an auspicious day for such an event – the war began a few hours before the awards – but the problems I’m working on will be around long after Saddam has been forgotten.

PS: Along with the award comes a very nice lapel pin – free of charge!