lifeasdaddy

The ad Gillette could have shot with Tiger

My wife and I were kicking around some alternatives to a sponsor shedding Tiger Woods during his current difficulties.

Gilette say they are going to limit his role and phase out his ads.

Instead, they could shoot an ad with Tiger that would probably be pure gold in public relations value.  With carefully managed leaks it would create anticipation and is guaranteed to go viral.

SCENE ONE:

Tiger on the tee, swinging hard at a drive, but slightly losing his balance at the end of the swing.

Tiger in voice over: YOU KNOW, PEOPLE USED TO THINK I WAS PERFECT ...

SCENE TWO:

Tiger and caddy searching for his ball in some deep rough.

Tiger in voice over: BUT IT TURNS OUT I'M NOT ...

SCENE THREE:

Tiger in a green side bunker linking up his shot, camera from behind the ball.  Closeup of his face, a picture of concentration.

Tiger in voice over: AND TRY AS I MAY TO BE PERFECT ...

Shot of Tiger swinging at the ball in bunker, ball goes up, heading direct for the pin, keeps rolling, rolling, rolling across the green and into a water hazard.  Disappointment on Tiger's face.

Tiger in voice over:  SOMETIMES I JUST DON'T MEASURE UP TO THE GOLFER I EXPECT TO BE....

SCENE FOUR:

Tiger in  green side water hazard.  Trouser legs rolled up past his knees, water up to his knees.  Tiger swings.  Water splashes up.  Mud splashes up too all over Tiger's face.

Tiger direct to camera, wiping mud from his eyes.  Tiger, "I'VE ALWAYS WANTED TO BE PERFECT. NOW WE ALL KNOW I'M NOT.  BUT I HAVE FOUND ONE THING THAT IS PERFECT ... 

SCENE FIVE:

Cut to shot of Tiger in his bathroom, towel around his waist.  Silent.  Two strokes of the razor across his face to finish his shave.

Tiger turns, smiles, holds up his Gilette next to his face and says,

AND IT'S THE SHAVE I GET FROM MY GILLETTE.

CLOSE.

Researching an Australian soldier of World War One. Part 2.

Part 1 was here.

Some of the resources we can use to learn more about Joe Cox's military career and particularly his death and commemoration are:

1.  His military record of service held at the National Archives of Australia.  As a gift to Australia, the National Archives of Australia has scanned and made available online all existing World War One service records.  Joe Cox's service record runs to 48 pages.  

His full name: Joseph Christopher Cox

Date of enlistment: 27 September 1916

Place of birth: Orange N.S.W.

Age on enlistment: 26 years, 9 months.

Height: 5 feet 10 inches tall  [ which is tall by the standards of the era ]

Weight: 176 pounds

Chest measurement: 38 - 40 & 1/2 inches

Complexion: Medium

Eyes: Grey

Hair: Brown

Religious denomination: Methodist

Distinctive Marks: scar over right big toe

Trade or calling: labourer

Next of Kin: father - Francis Cox of Dubbo, NSW; mother - 

Unit: Initially the Dubbo Depot Battaion and then the 17/22 Battalion ( which means the 17th Reinforcements of the 22nd Battalion, First Australian Imperial Force (A.I.F.)

His "Casualty Form - Active Service" 

Shows that he embarked on the troopship Argyllshire at Sydney on 30 October 1916 and disembarked at Plymouth (U.K.) on 10 January 1917.

31.3.17 - Taken on Strength in France

5.5.17 - Wounded in Action in the field

5.5.17 - Gun Shot Wound to Right Lower Extremities

17.5.17 - Embarked for England on ship Warilda.

18.5.17 - Admitted 4th Southern General Hospital, Plymouth

20.6.17 - Discharged from 4th Southern General Hospital

4.7.17 - Reported to depot at Perham(?) Downs

26.7.17 - Departed Southampton, England

31.7.17 - Arrived Havre, France

14.8.17 - Rejoined unit

18.9.17 - Missing believed Killed - Belgium

18.9.17 - Killed In Action - Belgium

"Field Service" report states

Died 18 September 1917, Killed In Action, Belgium, particulars not yet to hand.

2. Red Cross records from the First World War held at the Australian War Memorial.

  See explanation here.  See direct link to search function here.  WARNING:  These files often contain graphic descriptions of violence and killing.

Using that search function and entering Joe Cox's service number 6063, 4 results are returned.  Two of them relating to Joe Cox.

Clicking on the 2 relevant results, they yield the same digitised record.  A five page file from the Red Cross Wounded and Missing Enquiry Bureau.

Sergeant Cooper gave this information (WARNING graphic):

"He was tall, dark, and came from N.S.W.. He came over with the 17th to 22nd as reinforcement.  He was killed with 6 others by a shell in a Dugout at Ypres, near Westhoek Ridge on 18th September, 1917.  We left that night and did not find them till three days afterwards when we went back to the same place.  I saw the remains that had been dug out; Cox's head was blown right off; we could only recognise him by his disc.  They buried them near the Dugout.  Lt. Tyles of the 22nd was in charge of the burial party.  Nothing was put on the grave at the time as far as I know.  We left the next night day."

3. Collections Search at the Australian War Memorial sometimes yields photographs or relics relating to a serviceperson.  Let's search for his service number "6063" and select from the conflict drop down menu as "First World War 1914-1918.  There are no results.

Next I tried searching for "Joseph Cox" during the First World War - again there was no result.

4. Australian Army War Diaries at the Australian War Memorial.

We know that Joe Cox was of the 17th Reinforcement for the 22nd Battalion.  At the AWM we find an index of units from all service arms here, and a brief summary of the 22nd Battalion's service here.

We learn too that 22nd Battalion was part of the 6th Brigade of the 2nd Division.  Useful facts to keep in mind if ever reading some of the larger histories of the war. 

Now to the war diaries of Joe Cox's unit.  The listing of First World War war diaries it here.  Infantry units' war diaries are here.  And the ones for the 22nd Infantry Battalion are here.

Reading the war diaries gives a very good idea of the day to day activities of Joe Cox and his fellow infantrymen.  It mentions their movements, actions and in particular detail their training.

Let's look at the one for September and see what it has to say about 18 September 1917, the day of his death.

Citation [ AWM4, 24/38/25 - September 1917 ]

 

18/9/17

PLACE: In Line WESTHOEK RIDGE - In Camps and Bivouacs as Div. Reserve.

 

Summary of Events & Information: In the line during the day. Relieved on night 18/19th by 18th Bn. A.I.F.on left portion of Bn. sector and 25th Bn. A.I.F. on right portion of Bn. sector.  Bn. moved back to HALIFAX AREA H.14.b. (Sheet 2.[?] N.W. 1/2000) Bn. occupied huts in VANCOUVER CAMP.  Casualties 1 Off. (Lieut. G. O. GREIG) 20 O.R. killed and 49 O.R.'s wounded by shell fire.

So that's it.  Joe Cox was one of 21 men of the 22nd Battalion killed by shell fire that night.

5. Collections search at the State Library of New South Wales.

The SLNSW holds an enormous amount of information about people who were born in or lived in New South Wales.  This includes a large collection of photographs of Firs World War service personnel.  It's often useful to search their collection to see if there is anything relevant there.  I searched for "Joseph Cox A.I.F." and "Private Joseph Cox" but there was no result in either case.

6. The AIF project.

The Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA) hosts The AIF Project:  "Its major activity is the construction of a database that draws on a wide range of sources to provide details on the 330,000 men and women who served overseas in the (First) Australian Imperial Force, 1914-1918."

and searching the database we find that there is a page for Joe Cox. 

It repeats much of the information we now already know, but adds the detail of his burial gravesite in Belgium and also that he is

"Commemorated in Dubbo (Old) Cemetery, New South Wales. Headstone states place of death as 'Westhoek Ridge, France [sic]'. Parents: Francis (d. 14 April 1918, aged 64; bu. Dubbo [Old] Cemetery) and Martha COX (d. 13 November 1948, aged 93; bu. Dubbo [Old] Cemetery), Dubbo, New South Wales"

7. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

Back to where we began our search for "Joe Cox - died in first war"

The Commonwealth War Grave Commission commemorates the war dead of British Commonwealth Nations. (Defining this is a bit tricky, but Australian service people from 1914 onwards are certainly included.)

We can search their records to find the exact resting place of Joe Cox.  His CWGC record is here. A certificate of the record can be printed thus:

 

In Memory of  Private JOSEPH CHRISTOPHER COX 6063, 22nd Bn., Australian Infantry, A.I.F. who died age 28 on 18 September 1917 Son of Martha Cox, of Dubbo, New South Wales, and the late Francis Cox. Born at Orange, New South Wales. Remembered with honour HOOGE CRATER CEMETERY Commemorated in perpetuity by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission

And here is an aerial view of the cemetery:

View Larger Mapp>

Lest we forget.

Did Flickr scoop the Washington Post and the New York Times on the Obama-McChrystal meeting?

Early today I saw at Flickr's Whitehouse Photostream that President Obama had a meeting with Army General Stanley McChrystal, the Commander of U.S. Forces in Afghanistan.

I was just checking Google news a short time ago and the story from the New York Times about this secret (or at least previously unannounced) meeting has the Google News time stamp " 8 hours ago" and the Washington Post story has the Google News time stamp " 6 hours ago".

The Flickr entry for the photograph is not precisely time stamped, but as I'm writing this now, the first comment below the photograph is time stamped 23 hours ago.

Now, I don't know how accurate the Google News time stamping is in relation to when the story actually appears on the home newspapers website.

And I don't know if the story was offcially embargoed (perhaps for war or Presidential security reasons); and if it was embargoed will the news outlets be a tad upset that the pics were posted on Flickr way before their stories made it to the internet?

ADDED:  There is this comment below the photograph time stamped "12 hours ago"

which states "Saw this pic on ABC news this evening!"

So I think more likely than not that the Google News site time stamping is a problem.  More input from Google News afficionados needed.

Just saying.  A few unanswered questions.

ADDED:  There's this comment below the photograph on Flickr which is timestamped "12 hours ago":  "I just saw this pic on ABC news!"

Which leads me to think that either there is a wide error in the Google News time stamping, or the two grand newspapers of the USA's fourth estate are lagging so far behind TV news (and Flickr) it is not funny.

Google Wave. Not just vaporware.

What if email were invented today, instead of 40 years ago?  How would it work?  This is Google's attempt to answer that question.

This will be the next big thing.  Google are going to make it open source, and want to enlist the help of developers.

Website here.

Video demo here.  

This far, it has been develped in Sydney, Australia.

Older people look like being more immune to swine flu.

Due to exposure to long-ago active strains for influenza throughout the 20th century, it looks like people born before 1957 have some immunity to the swine flu virus.

New York Times story here.

"The image above of the newly identified H1N1 influenza virus were taken in the CDC Influenza Laboratory"

The images below of the newly identified H1N1 influenza virus were taken in the CDC Influenza Laboratory

Here is the World Health Organization's swine flu page (in English).

"26 May 2009 -- As of 06:00 GMT, 26 May 2009, 46 countries have officially reported 12 954 cases of influenza A(H1N1) infection, including 92 deaths."

Here is the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) H1N1 page.

Here is the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing's page on swine flu.

Oskar Schindler's list is in Sydney.

Last week I saw a piece of history.

In the midst of the Nazi steamroller, and himself a Nazi, Oskar Schindler showed that true heroes do exist. 

Schindler sheltered more than 1000 Jews via the cover of his factory in Poland between 1939 and 1945; using bribery and contacts in the Nazi regieme - he saved their lives.  To be on his list of enamel factory workers was to be given a chance at life when the alternative was likely death in a camp.

Light first shone on the story of Oskar Schindler and the list of his factory workers when Thomas Keneally wrote his book Schindler's Ark (Schindler's List in the USA market) which won the Booker Prize in 1982 and gained a much broader audience via the 1993 film Schindler's List.

In early 1945, as the Soviet Army began to edge across Poland, the Nazis permitted  Schindler to move his factory workers to Brněnec (then Brünnlitz) in what is now the Czech Republic.  He compiled a list of his workers who were required to transfer to the new location for submission to the government in 1945.

 

The original lists were submitted to the government as required, and no originals have been discovered since.  A few carbon copies of the list are believed to exist in the world, and one was recently rediscovered by Dr. Olwen Pryke amongst Tom Keneally's literary papers at the State Librry of New South Wales.  It was found by Dr. Pryke whilst she was examining six boxes of papers relating to Keneally's book.  The papers were acquired by the library in 1996, but nobody had recognised the significance of the flimsy pices of yellowing paper.

Tom Keneally was reunited once again with his manuscript and papers relating to his book at the State Libraryof New South Wales, and is shown here with the rediscoverer, Dr. Olwen Pryke.

 

(above) Dr. Olwen Pryke and Thomas Keneally discuss the copy of Schindler's List arrayed on the table in front of them.  ML MSS 6154/6

(photograph courtesy of the State Library of New South Wales)

The  List is on display at the Nelson Meers Foundation Heritage Collection in the State Library of New South Wales. It is accompanied in the display by the original manuscript of Keneally's book.  Until November 2009.

You can also see it online here.

 

Mac Gregory to lead Melbourne's ANZAC Day march tomorrow.

My friend Mackenzie Gregory has been accorded the honour of leading the march in Melbourne tomorrow.

News stories here and here.

Mac blogs here.

Dr. Mohammad Khatami interviewed by Father Dave

My friend Father Dave Smith somehow managed to interview Dr. Mohammad Khatami, the former President of Iran during the latter's recent Australian visit.

There is plenty of content, but one of the things Mr. Khatani says (in English translation) is "Judaism is a great religion" in the context of an ecumenical question from Father Dave.

..

Australian Federal Police response to Sydney Airport Incident.

As I mentioned, official excuses and blame shifting is going on over the bikie brawl which left one dead at Sydney Airport last Sunday.

I've just come across  yesterday's national media release from the Australian Federal Police about the incident.  It is so funny, so slippery, and so  evasively bureaucratic that for your amusement and amazement I reprint it in full here:

AFP response to Sydney Airport incident

Monday, 23 March 2009

The Australian Federal Police is working closely with the New South Wales police in response to the alleged murder which occurred at Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport on the afternoon of Sunday 22 March.

The AFP then undertook the secondary role of assisting New South Wales Policing by providing cordon and containment support at multiple crime scenes.

The Unified Policing Model staffing numbers deployed at Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport are to the agreed level and New South Wales Police has provided the agreed complement of officers within this arrangement.

Policing numbers at airports are determined after negotiation between the AFP and all State and Territory Police that are appropriate for policing needs within the aviation environment.

These numbers are agreed numbers through COAG.

The AFP had a full complement of staff rostered on shift at the time of the incident and all AFP members were subsequently deployed in response to this incident.

At the time of the incident there were 22 AFP members on duty.

The policing response from AFP and New South Wales Police was commensurate with, or better than, a policing response that would have occurred in the wider community.

A comprehensive police response was on the scene within minutes of notification.

The investigation is being conducted by the New South Wales Police pursuant to the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) governing the operation of the Unified Policing Model at Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport.

Under those arrangements, the AFP's role is to provide an initial response followed by assistance to the New South Wales Police which has lead responsibility for the investigation of alleged offences of this type.

This is a matter now before the courts.

The AFP presence at Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport is one of several layers of security including closed circuit television cameras. Although not the responsibility for monitoring the closed circuit television camera network, the AFP responded swiftly when alerted to the incidents which were occurring.

Despite the comprehensive AFP response, the AFP is reviewing the incident in conjunction with law enforcement and aviation industry partners.

Media enquiries:
AFP Media (Canberra): (02) 6275 7100

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An easy, strightforward and enforceable legislative solution to the bikie gang problem.

Last Sunday afternoon there was a brawl between members of two rival bikie gangs at Sydney Airport. One of them was bashed to death on the land side of the security gates.

Amongst officials there has been much attempting to shift the blame and denial of the seriousness of the implications of the event (here, here, here and here).  There have also been calls for legislation to make such gangs illegal if they are found to be criminal enterprises or groups, much the same as legislation to that end in South Australia.

My solution is much simpler.

Ban the sale and possession of any motorbike with an engine capacity larger than 250 cubic centimetres within the borders of the State of New South Wales.

The NSW State government can institute a fair buy back policy to compensate owners of craft larger than that.  The State Government can offset some of the cost by reselling the craft thus acquired interstate and overseas.

The result will be that no bikie gang member will ride a motorcycle on the roads of New South Wales because it would be too shameful to be seen riding a small motorcycle.  So they will go elsewhere if they want to remain a member of a bikie gang.