You Tarzan, Me Jane

That's it. It's 39 hours until I hop onto a plane to the Borneo and then another day until I go do god knows what. The suspense is killing me. I've almost tied up everything that needs to be tied up back here. Tonight is the one last shebang with the fam and last night was the meeting up with the girlfriends (+1 boy). I've packed most of my stuff and they seem to fit into my 2 bags.

At this stage, all I have left is more questions rattling around my head. Questions about life, about what will happen, about how I'll react, etc. The most important question right now, I think, is

Where the fuck can I buy shoelaces?

Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii

Omg I am loving this article. It's hilarious. From BBC: Nz judge orders 'odd' name change:

A judge in New Zealand made a young girl a ward of court so that she could change the name she hated - Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii.

Judge Rob Murfitt said that the name embarrassed the nine-year-old and could expose her to teasing.

He attacked a trend of giving children bizarre names, citing several examples.

Officials had blocked Sex Fruit, Keenan Got Lucy and Yeah Detroit, he said, but Number 16 Bus Shelter, Violence and Midnight Chardonnay had been allowed.

One mother wanted to name her child O.crnia using text language, but was later persuaded to use Oceania, he said.

"The court is profoundly concerned about the very poor judgment which this child's parents have shown in choosing this name," Judge Murfitt wrote.

"It makes a fool of the child and sets her up with a social disability and handicap, unnecessarily."

Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii's name has now been changed and the custody case resolved, court officials said.

New Zealand does not allow names that would cause offence or that are longer than 100 characters, Registrar-General Brian Clarke said.

Officials often tried to talk parents out of particularly unusual choices that could embarrass their offspring, the Associated Press news agency quoted him as saying.

Allowed: Violence; Number 16 Bus Shelter; Midnight Chardonnay; Benson and Hedges (twins)

Blocked: Yeah Detroit; Stallion; Twisty Poi; Keenan Got Lucy; Sex Fruit; Fat Boy; Cinderella Beauty Blossom; Fish and Chips (twins)

But that's not all. The comments are awesome:

My unusual name hasn't affected me at all; in fact, it has helped me make friends and improve my confidence, especially since leaving school.

Russell Sprout, London, UK

What kind of parents would name their child after a bus shelter? I could only understand it if they had been trying for a baby for years without success and then, out of the blue, octuplets came along.
And as for the twins called Benson & Hedges, does that mean they not allowed in any enclosed public space?

Jonathan, Leicester

I hated my parents for what they named me up until I was a teenager, but then I just became comfortable with it. I suppose it was just bad for me as my sister was called Judy.

Ftango Molasses, London England

I have been teased mercilessly from childhood to my adult years...you won't believe the amount of times people have burst out laughing right in my face when they ask my name..

Craig Gogay, London, UK

I have had my future kids names picked out for the last 5 years: Spoon Marie, Toaster Thadious, and Grayson Basin Mason...maybe I should have 4 now that Tullulah Does The Hula From Hawaii has become free!

Cassie, Cardiff

I changed my name by deed poll to Jenna Dana Bananarama Rater. I'm now the Jenna Rater!

Jenna Dana Bananarama Rater, Cardiff, Wales

No-one ever considered that the child might like the quirkiness of their name. Nothing has ever held back my development or progress in the world. I'm now working in the catering trade and everyone calls me Eggy. I don't see the problem!

Egnorwiddle Waldstrom , London, UK

My friends call me Manny!

Mangled Brown Fence-Post, London

I went to school with a boy called Justin Kayce.

Chris Morton, Plymouth, UK

Loves it.

The Six Sins of Greenwashing

Again, while browsing CNN, I discovered Principal Voices, which is a "stimulating discussion on the major challenges facing the world today". Regardless of what it sounds like, the page is actually quite interesting. For example, I found TerraChoice's Six Sins of Greenwashing.

Greenwashing, according to Terrachoice, is "the act of misleading consumers regarding the environmental practices of a company or the environmental benefits of a product or service." It comes with a 15-page study on products that purport to be environmentally-friendly, but are actually not that green.

For your convenience, here's a summary provided by Terrachoice:

1. Sin of the Hidden Trade-Off

e.g. paper (including household tissue, paper towel and copy paper): "Okay, this product comes from a sustainably harvested forest, but what are the impacts of its milling and transportation? Is the manufacturer also trying to reduce those impacts?" Emphasizing one environmental issue isn’t a problem (indeed, it often makes for better communications). The problem arises when hiding a trade-off between environmental issues.

2. Sin of No Proof

e.g. Personal care products (such as shampoos and conditioners) that claim not to have been tested on animals, but offer no evidence or certification of this claim. Company websites, third-party certifiers, and toll-free phone numbers are easy and effective means of delivering proof.

3. Sin of Vagueness

e.g. Garden insecticides promoted as "chemical-free." In fact, nothing is free of chemicals. Water is a chemical. All plants, animals, and humans are made of chemicals as are all of our products. If the marketing claim doesn’t explain itself ("here’s what we mean by ‘eco’ …"), the claim is vague and meaningless. Similarly, watch for other popular vague green terms: "non-toxic", "all-natural", "environmentally-friendly", and "earth-friendly."

4. Sin of Irrelevance

e.g. CFC-free oven cleaners, CFC free shaving gels, CFC-free window cleaners, CFC-disinfectants. Could all of the other products in this category make the same claim? The most common example is easy to detect: Don’t be impressed by CFC-free! Ask if the claim is important and relevant to the product. (If a light bulb claimed water efficiency benefits you should be suspicious.) Comparison-shop (and ask the competitive vendors)

5. Sin of Fibbing

e.g. Shampoos that claims to be "certified organic", but for which our research could find no such certification. When I check up on it, is the claim true? The most frequent examples in this study were false uses of third-party certifications. Thankfully, these are easy to confirm. Legitimate third-party certifiers – EcoLogoCM, Chlorine Free Products Association (CFPA), Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), Green Guard, Green Sea (for example) – all maintain publicly available lists of certified products. Some even maintain fraud advisories for products that are falsely claiming certification.

6. Sin of the Lesser of Two Evils

e.g. Organic tobacco. "Green" insecticides and herbicides.
Is the claim trying to make consumers feel ‘green’ about a product category that is of questionable environmental benefit? Consumers concerned about the pollution associated with cigarettes would be better served by quitting smoking than by buying organic cigarettes.

Similarly, consumers concerned about the human health and environmental risks of excessive use of lawn chemicals might create a bigger environmental benefit by reducing their use than by looking for greener alternatives.

If you would like to download the 15-page report (or the convenient wallet-sized card for you to print out and keep), please go to http://www.terrachoice.com/Home/Six%20Sins%20of%20Greenwashing/The%20Six%20Sins.

When we had it good

So for no good reason, I was browsing CNN when I came across this. From CNN: Black and shopping in America:

(CNN) -- For Atlanta native Leah Wells, it's the humiliation she remembers most.

Not long ago, Wells sent me a note and forwarded a letter she had just mailed to Glenn Murphy, chairman and CEO of Gap Inc. The letter detailed what happened when Wells and two girlfriends decided to ditch the gym during an office lunch break and do some "power-shopping" instead. The three young women, all in their 20s and all black, ended up detained for shoplifting.

Sad to say, but it's a common refrain from black people in this country. All of us know someone who has, or have ourselves, been stopped for no apparent reason while driving or been searched for fitting a description.

It happened to my brother Orestes. A Harvard medical student at the time, he was visiting a friend in Brooklyn, New York, when he was stopped and searched by officers late one night. He "fit the profile" of a robbery suspect. They dumped his belongings in the street and made him lie face-down. What infuriated him was that no apology ever followed when it became clear the cops got it wrong. It seemed no one felt that one was owed. My brother was seething when he told me the story. It happens all the time.

And it happens across the geographic and socioeconomic spectrum: rich, poor and in between. What surprised me most often during our production of "Black in America" were the universal stories of blacks followed or profiled. It was shocking to me.

So many parents told me of sitting down with their sons starting at 12 years old to tell them what to do if pulled over by the police so as not to get shot. I don't imagine many white parents even think such a conversation is necessary with their teenage sons.

What's the impact of that on America? What's the impact of that on young black kids who don't see themselves in mainstream media associated with academic achievement, success, hard work? It's hard to know, but it cannot be good.

I'm the product of a white father who's Australian and a black mother who's Cuban. They married in the United States in 1958 but had to leave their neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland, because interracial marriage was illegal in that state. By the time my little brother Orestes was born in 1967 -- the sixth O'Brien child -- the Supreme Court finally changed the law and lifted the ban on interracial marriage. When I tell that story in speeches, older folks in the audience nod their heads while younger ones gasp. It was illegal for my parents to marry, and it wasn't all that long ago.

We're a multi-racial nation that has, quite fortunately, never had to go through this. While some might say we're racist against non-Malays, there has never been such prejudice that makes interracial marriages illegal, or that results in racial profiling. Let's be happy that we've never had to go through that.

That being said, I think that such a society is developing as large numbers of migrants come across our porous borders, and crime rates skyrocket. How many of us see Indonesian or Indian men and assume that they're very poor and might rob us? I walk a little faster when I do at night. Just yesterday, I was on my way home and I saw a police car pulled over talking to what appeared to be three Indonesian/Malay pedestrians. The pedestrians were apparently showing the police some papers. Immigration papers?

Are we in danger of becoming racists?

Wheels

From The Star: State exco members will use newly-purchased Mercedes cars:

KUALA TERENGGANU: Terengganu executive councillors will go ahead and use the newly-purchased Mercedes E200 Kompressors although a Treasury condition says members of the administration can only use Proton Perdana executive cars.

Mentri Besar Datuk Ahmad Said said the government would stand by its decision to use the Mercedes as official cars for exco members and other state government officials.

However, Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Shahrir Abdul Samad said Terengganu could have misunderstood the condition imposed by the Treasury regarding the type of cars it could purchase.

“There is a clause by the Treasury that members of the administration can only use the Proton Perdana executive cars,” said Shahrir in Putrajaya yesterday.“Even Cabinet stated that there were no changes to the conditions imposed by the Treasury that those in the administration, like me, can only have the Proton Perdana,” he said, adding that locally-assembled cars were meant for those who were not in the administration.

Later yesterday, Ahmad said the state government was willing to auction off all the 14 Mercedes E200 Kompressors if the Federal Government scrapped the use of the German-made cars.

“We will do it on condition that the Federal Government bears the maintenance cost of the national car fleet.

“If they (Government) tell us to dispose of the Mercedes cars we will do so, but the state government cannot go on absorbing the high cost of maintaining the Proton Perdana cars,” he said.

This was subsequently followed by The Star: No warranty claims on Perdana since October 2004:

PETALING JAYA: No warranty claims have been made since October 2004 on the Proton Perdana V6 that the Terengganu Government claimed to have spent more than RM100,000 to repair.

Sigh. Such is the nature of Malaysian politics. The politicians are restricted to buying the nationally made car that hasn't changed in 10 years, so the politicians go and get permission to buy imported luxury cars.

What a Fun Day

Best news day ever?

Today's fun. All these news items. And then I find http://www.800Notes.com. The reason I found it was because I kept getting calls from +1 678 918 4962 and I googled it, which gave me an answer.

This place is awesome. Lets you find out who's been calling you and stuff, and has all kinds of useful tips. Mostly for Americans, but some apply regardless of location, so it's all good. Also tells you about hoaxes.

I love the internet.

The Ministry of Explanation

I love this. I've just stumbled upon this Ministry, which apparently is the oldest existing Ministry in Malaysia. It's called the Ministry of Explanation. I'm serious. I'm not kidding. It's been in existence since after the Japanese Occupation in 12 September 1945. It's original name was the Publicity and Publications Unit. It's function is to market information related to the government's basis, philosophy and vision so that the community understands, incorporates and supports it.

Essentially, it is the government's PR ministry. They're not doing a very good job if you ask me.

About the Ministry: http://pmr.penerangan.gov.my/section.cfm?id=16&MainSection=16
The Ministry's homepage: http://pmr.penerangan.gov.my/index.cfm?action=jpp.htm

BBC: Shark 'kills swimming kangaroo'

This is old, but it was just so awesome I just had to put it up. From BBC: Shark 'kills swimming kangaroo':

A kangaroo met an unlikely death after it bounded into the surf in southern Australia and was mauled by a shark, according to eyewitnesses.

Daniel Hurst, who says he saw the incident while out walking his dogs, was accused of being drunk or on drugs after he told the story to friends.

But the emergence of a second witness and the discovery of mangled kangaroo remains appear to confirm his story.

Experts say kangaroos will take to the sea only if they are ill or in danger.

Mr Hurst said he was walking along Torquay beach in Victoria when he saw the marsupial behind scrubland next to the dunes.

"It just headed down towards the water and in it went," he told Australia's ABC News.

"There's a bit of a rip in that area so... the kangaroo could have been dragged out, but I could still see its head, and that's when the shark leapt out of the water on its side.

"The kangaroo disappeared after that. I stayed around for a while, just very interested, and hoping the shark jumped again, but it never eventuated."

Ha. Awesome. It's like a bad slasher movie. And of course the South Australian man is immediately accused of being on drugs or drunk. It just makes sense.