Karaoke protest turned down

Posted to Monash Weekly (2/7/2012) on 2/7/2012 9:43 PM
Commenting on "Karaoke protest turned down"
http://www.monashweekly.com.au/news/local/news/general/karaoke-protest-turned-down/2609503.aspx

The city shopping precinct is not very large compared with some suburbs. Having three karaoke bars seems far from excessive. I am not proud to live in a municipality which is second highest in contributing towards gambling loss, or in a state claiming the highest binge drinking record. With another 'entertainment' site where alcohol is served till 3am (should read as 1 am), the city is doomed, even if it is not mentioned in the Aztec doomsday calendar.

Asians in Monash

Posted to Letters to Editor, Monash Weekly on 2/7/2012 at 9:00 PM (Not yet published by Newspaper)
Title: "Asians in Monash"
http://www.monashweekly.com.au/content/letterstotheeditor/

Some of the 2011 Census data has been released. The make up of Monash leads to my following observation and raise some questions.

Asian population is definitely on the increase in the City of Monash. It is of interest to me to find out what attracts them to come to the City? What is the City going to do about the changing demographics in terms of their needs and wants, promotion of social integration, discouraging Tower of Babel building, etc.

Unfortunately, there is lack of proportional representation of Asians in the Council. I sincerely encourage all Asians to take an active role in Council matters, stand as candidates for the forthcoming Council election and be counted.

With such high Asian background population, predominantly from very competitive ethnic origins such as Chinese and Indian, also explains why City of Monash enjoy high employment rate.

Will ratepayers at City of Monash learn from Queensland state election?

Posted to Letters to Editor, Monash Weekly on 25/3/2012 at 4:50 PM (Not published by Newspaper)
Title: Will ratepayers at City of Monash learn from Queensland state election?

The number of Labor Councillors in the City of Monash is 9 out of the total of 11. I am deeply concerned about local council being used as a training ground of future state and federal politicians for candidates backed by political parties with financial and other resources. This deprives other non-politically aligned candidates the opportunity to contribute towards the good of the City and the ratepayers.

This may sound like the voice of a sour grape, but then this is a statement of fact. It is unlikely for quality and genuine independents to sacrifice their time and livelihood (including money) to campaign for a position, only to find out there is Buckley’s chance to even get back their deposit money, unless there is a level playing field. Those who have burning desire to contribute will likely pack up their boxing gloves after a number of attempts.

Better resourced and influential candidates have running mates; some are even dummies who do not supply contact details to the electoral office. The purpose of having these dummies that are unlikely to win is to preference their votes to their mates to boost the count. Unfortunately, the existing preferential voting system and non-contact disclosure cannot be amended.

Some decisions made by the City executives are just being rubber stamped by the Councillors. The Council meetings can be described as more than courteous. There are insufficient scrutiny and accountability. To name a few, these include annual rate increase, council expenses including Councillors', use of technology and most laughably the curtain at Clayton pool.

While many items seem transparent, nonsensical transparency is worth as much as the nonsense itself. It is important for ratepayers to learn more about the candidates before casting their votes this October council election. The City’s future – rate collection, development, open space, traffic management, business mix, social harmony, community health services, etc. must be discussion topics and subject to more vigorous scrutiny.

Will ratepayers at City of Monash learn from Queensland state election held on 24/3/2012?

Fed up over Monash Uni campus crawl

Posted to Monash Weekly (19/3/2012) on 23/3/2012 at 2:44 PM (Not published by Newspaper)
Commenting on "Fed up over Monash Uni campus crawl"
http://www.monashweekly.com.au/article.aspx?id=2491899

Let' see, public transport services will drop in patronage, no new vehicles required, university campus size will shrink, lectures can be recorded and delivered repeatedly rendering lecturers redundant, no employment in university for future graduates, etc.

The futurist gurus predicted in the 60's have finally realised that with advancement in computer technology we would have more leisure time - playing on iPad, doing nothing constructive.

It's like online shopping, the down side is loss of employment. Unfortunately service industry will prosper if other industries can bring home the bacon.

Chinese New Year Celebration 2012 at Kingsway, City of Monash

Posted to Monash Weekly on 7/2/2012
Title: Chinese New Year Celebration 2012

Compare with previous years, the attendance was much lower. Even close to 1 pm, Kingsway was not packed. Some stalls were not open for business, and the queues at the food stalls were short and not as "deep". Conspicuously missing were the popular DVD stalls, but there were two "traders" selling DVDs in the pavement.

The very hot weather could have turned a lot of the people away. It could possibly due to this being the last Chinese New Year (CNY) celebration around Melbourne - CNY celebration fatigue.

Beads of sweat rolled down my face, and the day was hot! I played safe to have my lunch at a Grand Tofu cafe/restaurant, which I hoped the food hygiene standards were better observed.

The ground outside the Monash Library seemed to be the real cultural hub. Chinese Association of Victoria conducted several activities including lantern painting, origami making, calligraphy demonstration, and the good old tradition of solving the classical riddles written on strips of paper hung from the tent "ceiling". Other Chinese schools and associations were there as well. This patch was a lot more crowded than the food stalls.

I took a few photos of the non-Chinese dance performance on stage. The dancers wore red - the only thing that was close to Chinese tradition!

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2834859783541.2123412.1020578094&type=3&l=0f8b69dada

It was very difficult to "shoot" the lion in action because there was hardly any room to move about, let alone trying to get to the front of the crowd to capture the lion's movement close to the ground. I don't have a good camera, and cannot capture the action well at high speed.

The Lion went from shop-to-shop. It moved about on the ground, leapt in the air, lifted high to get the red packet containing money tied together with a complete lettuce to a beam above the pavement. The Lion "drank" a bottle of beer, and was likely exceeded .05. Its tail moved about like a real drunkard; it also rolled on the ground and "laughed" - well it did open its mouth flap wide.

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2834912664863.2123414.1020578094&type=3&l=8af6596af4

Suddenly, the Water Dragon arrived in the City of Monash in its true form, brought along buckets of rain. Astrologically speaking, Lunar New Year began on 23/1/2012, but the Year of the Dragon actually started on 4/2/2012. This year is the Year of the Water Dragon, and it is a Black Dragon.

http://www.facebook.com/notes/sin-fong-chan-the-teacher/lesson-on-chinese-new-year-and-the-year-of-dragon/196474710450530

By now, Kingsway was deserted, and one could roll a bowling ball down the street without knocking down any pedestrian. The street was wet, and the Dragon leader asked his team members to stay put in the pavement until the rain stopped.

There were activities in the Century Walk, including the Vietnamese spring roll demonstration. I got in just at the right time; I had the last piece of spring roll from the demonstrator!

Depressed sales drove some of the more “dynamic” stallholders go round taking orders from anyone and everyone they could approach, and delivered them freshly cooked from the stalls. Eat your heart out online ordering, this is human-base customer service.

I had enough for the afternoon, and left at 4:45 pm. The sun was still hiding behind the clouds, and for more than an hour. I wanted to return to Kingsway for more fun and action, but I suffered from CYN celebration constipation! And so, I leave the reporting to someone else who attended the later part of the celebration.

Until next time, have a wonderful year. May the Dragon bring you lots and lots of water or its equivalence – wealth!