The Neglected Ocean

Someone just pointed out to me that Perth, Western Australia, is an Indian Ocean seaport. Heck, so is Adelaide, capital of South Australia. In fact the Indian Ocean stretches from 20°E to 146°55'E, which makes its westernmost port probably Port Elizabeth in South Africa.

Most of human trade and civilisation over the span of our history has traversed this neglected ocean. Egypt's only ocean access is to the Indian Ocean, and the Arabian peninsula is almost entirely surrounded by it. Few know how large the Chinese presence here used to be, still is, and continues to be. There perhaps more than 50,000 Chinese (mostly Cantonese) on Madagascar, and another 35,000 on Mauritius. Singapore is an Indian Ocean city.

This is why geography is both romantic and important. These are the huge stories hidden in plain sight. Or plain sites.

Whose World? What Cup? (Day 13a)

It's half-time, as Germany battle it out with Ghana and Serbia grapple with Australia. No goals have been scored. To be honest, all four sides are looking nervy and lacking in assurance.

That puts me in mind of the steady compression of time. All the first 45 minutes of each of the two matches has done is force the action into the next 45 minutes or so. If things remain as they are until the very end, then Ghana will top the group and Germany will follow them. If Germany score a last-minute goal, then Ghana will be runner-up — unless somehow the other match has gone to 1-1. It is all very... fraught.

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Özil scored for Germany to set up a tense last few minutes. Serbia had to draw, and looked like it. Then Australia scored two, the Serbs pulled one back — and had an appeal against Tim Cahill for handball turned down. A handy man, that. 2-1 to the Socceroos, and both they and the Serbs fly home. Ghana scrapes through, and Germany top their group. Business as usual.

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In the next round, Germany will face England. This time, I think they will try the ground assault, not the air raid.

Whose World? What Cup? (Day 13)

Tonight is going to be entertaining. In Group C, England, the USA, and Algeria all need to win to have a chance at progression; Slovenia need a draw but face a desperate England side who have looked to be worth about 5% of their nominal market value. The amusing thing is that the sides that win will certainly get through.

This is similar to Group D, where Ghana need a draw against Germany but the Germans need to win to book their place. Meanwhile Serbia meet Australia, with the Serbs needing a draw but Australia needing a win to have any chance. Nobody is safe, but Ghana is safest; they would have to collapse against Germany and Australia would have to win big against Serbia.

I am also amused by the presence of two former Yugoslav territories and three former British colonies. Then again, the odds of a former British colony turning up in any given random sampling of the world's nations are very high.

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At half-time, I am glad to see that England have shown more life than in their previous two matches combined. John Terry is still a graceless fellow with no sense of movement, though. But England lead 1-0.

Meanwhile, the cousins across the Atlantic should be leading 3-0 against Slovenia. I have no idea why they aren't.

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At full-time, the cousins have somehow conspired to both qualify for the next round. 1-0 in both matches. Tsk.

Whose World? What Cup? (Day 09)

Having just watched the Netherlands subvert Japan's industry with a 1-0 win (the Dutch were Sneijder but the Japanese were busier), I am thinking that they and perhaps Argentina about the only so-called 'major footballing nation' that are really playing up to the tag. Or at least, obtaining results that fit the tag. Brazil will probably work out that way too, after their next match. But who knows?

It's now Australia 1 Ghana 0 on 15 minutes or so. If Australia retain that lead, every team will have won one game and Germany will be table-toppers on goal difference in Group D, possibly ending up facing the USA in the next round. But again, in this particular World Cup, who knows?

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Who knows, indeed! A red card and straight dismissal for Australia's only striker, Harry Kewell. Handballing on the line in front of goal, and Ghana's Gyan has equalized from the penalty. It looked as though Lucas Neill was also asking for a red card for barging an opposing player down in the penalty box. It's all up in the air.

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And it remained so. 1-1, and Germany, despite losing to Serbia, still top their group.

Down Under

I was reading this interesting report on schooling in Australia, from about 20 years ago. Educational researcher Peter Kell summarises it thus:

Curriculum planning was linked to financial cycles, while the initial concerns about genuine educational qualities shifted to concerns about auditing school performance, thereby making the participation of community and teachers very difficult. The cycle of financially-driven curriculum planning intensified teachers' work, proving to be onerous and time-consuming and revealing the serious lack of adequate resources to meet the government's political and economic objectives. Further, teachers were not assisted by other government policies designed to restructure and destructure workplace entitlements and industrial relations by aligning these with the 'international standards' framed by neoliberal globalism.

My first response to this was, "Surely this piece of writing can be re-shaped into shorter sentences? The jargon level must be reduced."

My second response to this was, "Wow, sounds like life was bad for a whole bunch of people."