Some remedies are worse than the disease! It is not just speed that kills, try driving from Engadine to Sutherland on the Princes Highway where a huge accident took place last week that caused delays from 6 am till 930 am. Soldiers who served in Iraq can identify with the potholes and even the radiation in the area seems to be an par with Iraq.
Last month pubs and clubs in the Cronulla area were alive with suggestions that the production at Lucas Heights of the most used nuclear medicine had been shutdown for five days because of higher than normal emmission of radioactive gas. Believe it or not, ANSTO did not blame the Sydney weather when it had taken the unusual step of publicly confirming the story via the nuclear regulator, ARPANSA, (another acronym ...ouch) telling them about a greater than usual release of radioactive form of the noble gas, xenon. Do we need to shoot the messengers every time there are facts supporting those who know too well why these gases managed to escape entrapment of charcoal filters?
Back to black potholes, though, as the almighty Staysafe Committee has an answer to the reduction of deaths on the Old South Wales roads... You guessed it ...more police on the roads that seemed to be peppered with potholes and drivers who have trouble absorbing every symbols on the side of the road. It is OK though to have drivers who never ever had undertaken defensive driving.
One does not have to be a genius to observe that today we have so many signs on our ancient roads, spaghetti junctions, that even the georgeous (sic) policewoman who recently booked me admitted that it was not too hard to miss the vandalised No Right Turn sign. Even a sinner like me should get some sympathy especially as I was just driving to the railway station to pick up the one that must be obeyed and being new to the neighbourhood ... however, being caught wearing boxer underwear (the dog ate my shorts) under the cover of darkness (8:30 pm on a balmy November night) probably did not help.
As my brother in law, ex copper, once noted revenue is the king to police executives who expect bonuses every Christmas. So the safety does not appear to be the primary motive; if it was we would make sure that we only have highly visible fluorescent (sic) signs everywhere and only those important life saving symbols on our streets rather that hundreds of sings placed in dark corners, to boot in small letters. So I am more bitter and $130 lighter. So who will not get her second hand surfboard as a pressie for Christmas? My youngest who loves anything to do with ROXY! As I see it, even if I tried I could not have hit anyone nor anyone could have hit me since the shoppping strip has another sign indicating 10 km an hour. Yes. I was actually going less than 10 km an hour! In my defensive driving school at the Czechoslovak army I was told to watch for pedestrians and potholes (especially when transporting anthrax or semtex or nuclear rods) rather than dozen of signs in 10 km zone! The sad thing is that we no longer distinguish between what is really important and what would be nice to obey! What will be my eye on next time I drive in surburban shopping strips...pedestrians? I doubt it; the basic instinct tells me to take a note of any police cars which generally stand out like sore thumbs. Moral of this story is; even if you think you are doing the right thing: such as sticking to speed limit of 10 km, there could be a multiple other signs you might not have known about...or you might have your licence at home five streets away or worst one of your tyres could have less pressure than the others...
· Svety Mikulas and Eight new deaths on NSW roads [ via SMH ]

X-rated films
Consumer Minister Jim Watson said he couldn't account for the sex shop fixation but said the new Liberal government has different plans for the inspectors.
I'm not sure why the previous government seemed so obsessed with X-rated films
· Beauro Madness [Avanova ]
· A Collection Of Pommish Political Cockups [BBC]