Kouang-Tcheou

What you've never heard of it, shame on you. It was a small french leased territory just north of Hainan, like hong kong it was leased from the Chinese Government for 99 years, unlike Hong Kong it never really prospered.



Normally French Indochina stamps overprinted Kouang - Tcheou were used, however this is one of the few issues which were done in it's own right.

In 1943 Vichy France ceded Kouang-Tcheou back to China, this act however was not recognised by the Free French, however it was again ceded in 1946 to China in return for Chinese Nationalist armies leaving Northern Vietnam.

The usually excellent Mr Wang has this post

http://mrwangsaysso.blogspot.com/2007/02/small-kind-of-joy.html

I think this lack of protest is part of the problem in Singapore, by your acquiesence you approve of what was done

Connex

Connex


On Thursday 02/11/06 there was reports of the Authorised Officers using excessive force against a passenger - so Arthur Bruce who's in charge of the guys gets on 774 ABC and is made to look like a prize goose - surely they could have briefed him better especially about the 3 point hold.

Reading Connex's spin on it, you'd think people didn't listen to the radio

CTM (Werribee DVD)

CTM

I find it curious the reaction to the CTM dvd here in Melbourne. On the one hand I find what they did was wrong. On the other I think the reaction from some people on Myspace is totally wrong.

Strangely this is making me more sympathetic to the guys involved (who i wouldn't know from a bar of soap) guess it's more that I don't like seeing people picked on.

Whatever happens to these guys, they're going to need support, from both family and mates, not the sort of mates who say "Your a legend" but one's who'll say "You fucked up mate, real bad...but your still my mate..what can I do to help".

A conversation half remembered

I don’t know what it was but I overheard a conversation on the train while travelling to the folks place over Christmas…don’t ask why this popped into my head, but it has, there’s this American guy going to Christmas with a friend..and for some reason they were talking about family..the conversation went sort of like this.

AD. “My dad died a couple of years ago and jeez it caused shit when he did. Mom discovered that dad had been keeping another family over on the east coast.”

F. Shit

AD Yeah and I’ve got a brother….and get this Mom wants to meet them.

F WTF

AD Dad left them money…I don’t wanna meet this brother…he’s a mechanic in New Jersey. Shit he didn’t even go to college or stuff. I’ve got nothing in common in with him.

F weird

Struck me as weird, the tone of voice that looks down on someone who didn’t go to college or
is a mechanic, it was a peculiar conversation, that’s stuck with me, there was obviously a lot
of money involved. All in all a vicarious piece of life, mind you it’s better than sitting next to some chick talking her love life, I mean do we really need to know the sordid details. Or again hearing a couple of guys just released and heading down to St Kilda for a good time, being picked up by a couple of girls on the make.

Ahh the corruption of life…’tis good

Hao Wu

The Chinese Blogger Mr Hao Wu has been freed from detention by the Chinese Government.

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYY

ASIC and Corporate Crime

From http://tinyurl.com/r32eb
The Age 08/07/2006

ASIC chairman Jeff Lucy believes corporate crime is a serious issue that deserves tough investigation and, if the courts deem it appropriate, serious punishment.

He said the crimes of Bullen, Ficarra, Duffy and Gray cost the bank — and effectively its shareholders — more than $300 million.

Mr Lucy said he had no doubt that jail sentences sent the message that white-collar crime would not be tolerated.

"There's a number of beneficiaries of that message," he said. "There's the defendants and their families. It also sends a message to people who might be contemplating similar actions and it sends a wider message that people can have confidence in the markets."

Dare one ask how the defendants and their families are beneficiaries?

The downside of greed is good

From http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,19679590%255E661,00.html


Judge Geoff Chettle of the Victorian County Court sentenced one of the traders, David Bullen, to an effective sentence of 44 months with a minimum of 30 months to be served before he is eligible for release on good behaviour.

Judge Chettle sentenced Vince Ficarra to 28 months with a minimum of 15 months to be served before being eligible for release on good behaviour.

Ficarra, 27, of North Fitzroy, and Bullen, 34, of Eversley near Ballarat, were found guilty in May on a string of charges related to the unauthorised trading on NAB's foreign exchange options desk, that cost the bank $326 million in 2003/04.

In sentencing Bullen, Judge Chettle told the court the two traders and the rest of their team saw themselves as "invincible".

"In the corporate culture that existed, you forgot your legal responsibilities to the bank, its management and its shareholders," Judge Chettle said.

"General deterrence must be the principal sentencing consideration for crimes such as yours."

General deterrence my foot. If general deterrence worked then burglars wouldn't be burglaring, murderers wouldn't doing away with the good citizens of the town etc etc. I've got nothing against specific deterrence after all you'd think they'd learn. But general deterrence doesn't work.