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The 2004 Olympic Games are over. The Bahamas won.

Election date is October 9.

Howard had made it pretty clear the announcement would come this weekend, repeatedly refusing to give a straight answer to questions about whether Parliament would sit next week. And with the Labor Party threatening to reconvene a Senate inquiry into the “children overboard” affair, and to subpoena government staffers, it’s not surprising that Howard wanted to get his sorry arse to Yarralumla before they got the chance.

He’s a liar and a coward. Now let’s vote the evil little fucker into oblivion.

Taking a closer look at the war medals of George W. Bush.

Dr Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, the author of On Death and Dying, is dead. I hope she had a pleasant transition through the five stages – denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance.

Like a lot of my fellows, I read her famous book in those dark days when we were all facing certain death at an uncertain time. I know her ideas have borne some criticism over the years, but I dare say she helped a lot of people come to terms with the scariest reality of all.

“When I die I’m going to dance first in all the galaxies… I’m gonna play and dance and sing.” It’s hippie bullshit, I know, but good for her.

Is is just me, or does this illustration of the first day of David Hicks’ trial seem a little weird?

The Sydney Morning Herald site (from which it comes) notes that it is the work of a pool artist assigned to the trial, and has the caption:

David Hicks, centre, as his defence counsel US Marine Corps Maj Michael Mori, standing, puts his hand on Hicks’ shoulder before a military commission at Guantanamo Naval Base, August 25, 2004. Court illustration: Pool

The thing I noticed (apart from the “APPROVED” stamp) is that all the military brass sitting in judgment of Australia’s alleged Taliban fighter are faceless. No doubt this is to protect their identities, but it seems strangely fitting for this Kangaroo Court to be headed by faceless men.

The composition is fairly well-finessed, and the gentle hand of Hick’s military lawyer, Major Michael Mori, on the accused’s shoulder, combined with the well-observed distress on the faces of Hicks’ parents at the left of the scene, seems a touching counterpoint to the sterile, featureless faces of his accusers.

I do wonder why Hicks’ face is obscured. His identity is well-known and there are plenty of photographs of him going around. The figure in the drawing doesn’t really bear any resemblance to any of the photographs I’ve seen (here, for example). I don’t suppose he looks the same after three years in US military custody in any case, but the obliteration of his facial features seems odd.

Hicks has pleaded not guilty this morning to “conspiracy to commit war crimes, aiding the enemy and attempted murder”. His legal team are actively challenging the legitimacy of the military commission.

The full SMH story has more details.

Fearful of upsetting stupid students who receive school work covered in red ink, stupid teachers are switching to purple:

“If you see a whole paper of red, it looks pretty frightening,” said Sharon Carlson, a health and physical education teacher at John F. Kennedy Middle School in Northampton. “Purple stands out, but it doesn’t look as scary as red.”

Obviously, marking papers and tests with invisible ink is the way of the future. Or perhaps giving everyone an A, in order to head off lawsuits for nervous shock brought about by “scary” red marks.

A mix of red and blue, the color purple embodies red’s sense of authority but also blue’s association with serenity, making it a less negative and more constructive color for correcting student papers, color psychologists said. Purple calls attention to itself without being too aggressive. And because the color is linked to creativity and royalty, it is also more encouraging to students.

“Color psychologists”?!?! Puh-lease!

Australia continues to do well at the Olympics, and is slowly climbing up the buggery.org true medal tally – the Aussies are now in 7th place. Slovenia, Belarus and Cuba are in the lead.

Australia’s women’s eights rowing team looks set to capture the sore loser/bad sportsmanship award, after some members of the team abused and threatened rower Sally Robbins who collapsed during the final. Australia was out of medal contention at the time and did not finish after Robbins collapsed from exhaustion. Apparently her team-mates threatened to throw Robbins – who was “paralyzed with pain” into the water.

Shame, shame, shame.

Spring is in the air. The sun is staying up that little bit longer, the days are getting that little bit warmer, and the birds and bees are doing that thing they do:

I stumbled across this blossoming cherry tree and its payload of marauding bees on the way home from the hospital today.

I was at the hospital – the Alfred, in Commercial Road – on business, doing an interview with an infectious diseases doctor who has been instrumental in setting up the Australian HIV/AIDS Brain Bank. (You can read all about it in the next edition of Positive Living).

I was a little nervous about going to the Alfred – today was the first time I’d set foot in there for about ten years, but I used to know the place like the back of my hand. The Alfred was the hospital that Daren cooled his heels on several occasions before he checked out in October ‘94.

The impending tenth anniversary of Daren’s death has been on my mind a bit this year, and moving to Melbourne has only amplified that thinking. It will be tough to face the passing of that anniversary in October: Daren was the first great love of my life and, honestly, I miss him every day.

But the Alfred, I’m happy to report, felt very different and it wasn’t too hard to be there. Time heals.

Speaking of heels, I bought my wedding outfit on the weekend. And we bought wedding rings. Blimey, looks like I’m getting married.

Finally, can I briefly skite about having made the A list – at last:

Nothing like receiving an envelope with the vice-regal coronet stamped in gold to brighten your day. Pity I can’t make the do.

As promised threatened, the Olympic medal tallies are now on their own page and will be updated daily or thereabouts between now and the closing ceremony.

At the moment, Estonia, Georgia and Belarus are leading the tally, having edged out Cuba who had the early lead. Trinidad and Tobago, Croatia, Mongolia and Eritrea are all in with a chance. Australia is 9th, the USA is 47th, and China is 56th, so I must be doing something right.

I’m (cautiously) open to suggestions of other ways to fiddle the data, even if those suggestions are shameless attempts to get your country onto the top of the ladder. (But try to be reasonable; I don’t think there’s much interest in ratings “by number of maple leaves on flag” or “gross domestic sheep meat production”).

Feedback, discussion, etc is very much invited.