New taste (for me) and M’s travels

New taste

Coaching finishing a bit late last night I went to a tiny Uigur restaurant — a real hole in the wall — near the Entertainment Centre. They asked me if I wanted mild or spicy; I opted for mild — which was quite spicy enough for me. (Depends how much you like chilli.)

Update on gay marriage, Marcel, Jim, Rabbit and David Smith…

Marcel has posted a follow-up. (See also here.) It contains a dreadful pun… Carefully argued, though. Again I anticipate more discussion.

Very serious note: yesterday Thomas posted Today’s news, one item concerning someone he had been in primary school with: Reward offered for missing Matthew. See also Help Find Matt. Not looking good, that, and it does seem it may be a reminder of the dark side of homophobia.

Related, but lighter: I see in SX News (Sydney) a write-up of the 12th annual Gay Parade at the Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro.

Other…

1. Go to English/ESL — and more today if you enjoy Shakespeare. And YouTube. It’s in the “and more” department really.

2. I see The Rabbit has garnered some serious support for his views on marriage. David Smith was in my Year 10 of 1996 and is now doing a Political Science doctorate in Michigan. UPDATE: Jim Belshaw is intrigued by The Rabbit’s idea as you will see on Let’s take the law out of marriage. I await further developments.

3. I had that postponed blood test today… Two hours. Afterwards I discovered a lovely new coffee shop on Crown Street.

4. Antony will be pleased to know I am watching the wormed version of the Treasurers’ Debate on Nine. Thomas has live blogged it. He must have better typing skills than I have…

Surry Hills mysteries and drama

The Rabbit’s plant sits forlornly on its shelf in the Juice and Java Lounge at the moment, because — and there is no sign why — J&J failed to open for business this morning! Life on Elizabeth Street has barely survived…

The Edge Cafe on the corner of Elizabeth and Belvoir thus has been doing a roaring trade this morning, though the coffee is not nearly as good. However, young somewhat queeny person who is good with his crema art  — if not quite as good as those on the left — confused me, because he used to work at J&J but as of this morning works at The Edge. Oh the things we Surry Hills folk have to worry about!

Wonder what has happened though? Should I mount a rescue mission for The Rabbit’s plant?

Next morning

Mystery solved. J&J opened this morning. Apparently the coffee machine had failed and couldn’t be fixed until last night.

Racism and racists and The Plonker’s latest foot-in-mouth attack

I have been giving much thought to Jim Belshaw’s post Race and racism in Australia. He is quite right to say that pseudoscientific racism, the kind that was official policy in Nazi Germany and more widely accepted elsewhere in the not too distant past than we now find comfortable to admit, is probably a minority position in Australia. Jim prefers the word “prejudice”, the term “racist” having become a generic term of abuse that shuts down discussion. This is certainly worth considering. I will let Jim explain, but do read all his post:

…By global standards, we live in a remarkably open, pluralist, tolerant, polycultural society. We have transformed ourselves as a country and a people. Yet based on our own reporting of ourselves, an outsider could be forgiven for thinking that this is a place were racial bigotry runs rampant.

Mr Andrews is not known for his ability to handle things in a sensible and tactful fashion. Yet when I look at the facts, the ones who introduced and then followed up the race issue were the media and commentators more broadly. They created the problem.

There are a small number of genuine old style racists in the Australian community who do try to take advantage of this type of event. They did so in Tamworth following the controversy. As happened with Tamworth, they will fail.

My day: hot, a bit frustrating

…but I managed to give M some long range tech help in Buenos Aires…*

Yes it is really hot in Sydney today: only 27 inside, but at least 35C outside. Windy. Bad bush fire weather.

No Rabbit yet. 😦 I doubt he will come now, but no message either for or against that idea. Anyway, Juice & Java are shutting up shop for the day… Hope he’s OK. Of course out where he is the day would have been even more horrendous.