Cornelius Fudge and Coffee Beans
Izzie has been lurking and slinking around and generally doing nothing today. This lazy serpent got up at 11am and did the weekly washing and stuff and decided that today would be spent lurking in the lair and pulling up the weeds. The other major job coming up is the evil nasty tax return. Really must get the damned thing done soon. Don't want to be ruining the Izzie holidays with yet more procrastination - especially as there is two more assignments and stuff still due.
In spite of it being payday yesterday and a gorgeous sunny day today, Iz just did not feel too inclined to go on grand adventures. Not just because we had that silly class with Cornelius and co at 5.30pm but mainly because there will be lots of time from next Tuesday when the Iz is on House elf holidays yet again. Seemed no point in paying bus fares to go to some distant cafes when the Ministry has the very nice Kirribili cafe on campus which is not only quiet with decent and reasonably priced coffees but you can sit outside in the sunshine too. But the biggest attraction is they have lots and lots of newspapers to read. Not just the local daily and the usual Murdoch muck but "The Age" and "The Australian Financial Review" (Goblin porn) and papers from the previous day or two.
Since Iz discovered that Michael Leunig is the resident cartoonist - "The Age" is now compulsory reading - well the letters pages anyway.
It was a perfect day for the beach but we will go there tomorrow.
The first bit of interesting gossip was when Izzie's partner in crime from the enormous auditing assignment popped by and said that the results for the managerial accounting project were online. Iz had been expecting to have to wait until the actual tutorial tomorrow to get her results and was more than a bit nervous at the prospect. We needs at least 14 to keep the grade point average at over 70%.
She herself had got 17/20 and was quite happy with the result.
So Iz pottered off to the Abacus lab 30 mins before class and after much clicking and snooping finally found what she was looking for. A big fat juicy 16.4/20. Most delightful indeed. Of course a 17 would have been nicer but Iz knows for a fact that this other girl (who looks remarkably like one of the elves from Lord of the Rings)spends ooodle and oodles of time and effort on her assignments. Infinitely more than Izzie. So it was a pretty good return on investment. Much much better than that damned auditing assignment.
So Izzie was feeling rather pleased with her beans and then got another pleasant surprise when she got upstairs to be presented with a package from Cornelius Fudge's partner in crime. It had been given to them to give to the Iz on behalf of Elizabeth who is also in the class but was not here this week. Elizabeth just happens to be the one other person in this class who gives these two a run for their money and constantly challenges their copious quantities of absolute crap. A veritable Axis of Evil we are between us.
Last week the Iz gave Elizabeth a copy of the three plays of Sophocles - Never did read the other two but Antigone is the absolute favorite play of all time for the Iz and is just ever so relevant for these troubled times now that as our lecturers like to say "Things are different now"
We both seem to be from the same planet and her favorite writers are Dostoyevskii and Tolstoi. The book she gave Iz today with a little squiggle inside the cover is her favorite of all time "Anna Karenina"
Iz really must get her email address or other contact details before this course is over because such folks are most rare indeed in Dursleyville.
Izzie felt sort of bad because the book she had brought last week - got for about 50 cents at that second hand book sale. Really must think of another one to get her that she would definitely like. One of Izzie's favorite books of all time is yet another play - the one from Dorothy Sayers but Iz does not know if this Elizabeth has any interest at all in Christianity because she wouldn't like it if she didn't. There's always good old fashioned Anthony de Mello or even Michael Leunig but that is getting a bit too decadent.
Well. It did not take too long for the usual crap to hit the fan today. For some inexplicable reason, they did not gloat too much about the result of this week's election but we did get onto the topic of that other election and they were asking us who we thought would win. Izzie says she thinks George W will because the real power in an election is not held by those who cast the votes but rather by those who COUNT them.
They were disgusted as usual with the Izzie cynicism and proceeded to ask us all what we thought the two parties in the US represented. They began with the Democrats. Iz says "Big Business" Oh no they say. They represent the working class. Well folks. What can you say about such unadulterated innocence? "And what do you think the Republicans care about" Iz replies "OIL" Lots of folks were rather amused by this.
What is so so frustrating - there is only about 3 or 4 people in the class who ever say anything or who seem to ever listen to the news or read papers or stuff. No one except the Iz had any idea which big wig 'philosopher' died this week or about that nice Anglican bishop who was calling Prince Charles a public adulterer and some other guy - probably Archbishop Carnley a 'theological prostitute'.Nice term of abuse that one. Must use it some time.
But the absolute classic of the day was the little hand out of the day with the pink and fluffy MISSION STATEMENT!!! Iz looked at this thing with amusement and then seen the name of the company - Lockheed Martin. Oh my God. What the F&*^%% Is this official "Piss the Izzie off" Week or what? No way were they going to get away with this abomination. I mean - LM can get all pink and fluffy until the owls come home to roost but one would think that of all the companies on the planet - an ethics lecturer of all people would choose something somewhat more benign unless the actual intention was to bring up this very issue of big versus small picture ethics which in their case it most certainly wasn't.
So Iz retorts ever so sweetly in her best Dolores voice "It's a bit rich of a company that manufactures WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION to be all concerned about ethics" "Like - it's morally wrong to steal the company's paper clips but perfectly acceptable to blow the hell out of other people"
And then they reply "Oh so do you think weapons are bad? You do know there was a case last year where a student came to the university of Melbourne with a gun and shot and killed two students and a teacher....Do you think it is not right for others in the class not to defend themselves?" (Er...what sort of logic is that - it's the guy with the gun who is the problem here. They seem to be following the "What if an Iraqi raped your daughter " line of logic.
Iz replied to the effect. Well he was the one with the gun and would you like it if every single student here came to your class with knives and Uzi machine guns. (implying that instead of disagreeing verbally with your stupid statements we would just mow the shit out of you) How would you feel?. Izzie for one is glad that we don't yet live in a society like that. Oh God. It would have been so much fun if Elizabeth had been here. She definitely would have known just who our little friends in Lockheed are and we would have got a bit more mileage out of their pathetic waffling gobbleydegook.Iz wonders if they actually knew just what sort of business Lockheed is in. They certainly didn't seem to care and Iz can be damned sure they expected none of us would know or care either.
At one stage they asked us for an example of a personal situation involving moral choices. Iz decided to let some one else have a go for a change. This girl came up with the scenario of choosing between getting a real job or staying on to do an honours degree! Woooowww. Hard one that is. After much discussion, Iz of course decided to liven things up a bit. Now what if you didn't have to worry about money during your honours year because you have been offered an all expenses paid scholarship by Philip Morris.
Oh this was most entertaining. Turns out Rothmans had offered the University funding for that very purpose. Iz asked if they were offering to fund the School of Public Health;) No - it was something to do with business and public relations. But the best is yet to come. The University did turn down the funding because as the Iz put it "Research designed to make their company look good will make the university look bad" Even if the money had no strings attached whatsoever - it would not appear that way to the outside world. Well that was the argument of some committee or other formed to make such decisions. Our dearest Cornelius tells us that he would have approved of the funding as it is a legitimate company selling a perfectly legal product. But he got outvoted and was a bit disappointed at the outcome. After all - it would have been a win win situation for everyone!
So there you have the measure of the man.
On a related topic, all employees here have 9% of their gross income paid into superannuation funds. Izzie's fund like most gives you a choice of cash, shares or a mixture. Iz chose the Eco-pool which for a long time had been getting lower returns than the main fund. But Izzie does not mind. No Monsanto, Lockheed, Rothmans or South East Asian sweatshop is ever ever going to get a cent off the Izzie as a consumer or investor. In a free enterprise system - the cash register is the ballot box. We cannot complain about the lack of ethics of certain companies if we then invest in them simply because they produce those magical high shareholder returns.
In spite of it being payday yesterday and a gorgeous sunny day today, Iz just did not feel too inclined to go on grand adventures. Not just because we had that silly class with Cornelius and co at 5.30pm but mainly because there will be lots of time from next Tuesday when the Iz is on House elf holidays yet again. Seemed no point in paying bus fares to go to some distant cafes when the Ministry has the very nice Kirribili cafe on campus which is not only quiet with decent and reasonably priced coffees but you can sit outside in the sunshine too. But the biggest attraction is they have lots and lots of newspapers to read. Not just the local daily and the usual Murdoch muck but "The Age" and "The Australian Financial Review" (Goblin porn) and papers from the previous day or two.
Since Iz discovered that Michael Leunig is the resident cartoonist - "The Age" is now compulsory reading - well the letters pages anyway.
It was a perfect day for the beach but we will go there tomorrow.
The first bit of interesting gossip was when Izzie's partner in crime from the enormous auditing assignment popped by and said that the results for the managerial accounting project were online. Iz had been expecting to have to wait until the actual tutorial tomorrow to get her results and was more than a bit nervous at the prospect. We needs at least 14 to keep the grade point average at over 70%.
She herself had got 17/20 and was quite happy with the result.
So Iz pottered off to the Abacus lab 30 mins before class and after much clicking and snooping finally found what she was looking for. A big fat juicy 16.4/20. Most delightful indeed. Of course a 17 would have been nicer but Iz knows for a fact that this other girl (who looks remarkably like one of the elves from Lord of the Rings)spends ooodle and oodles of time and effort on her assignments. Infinitely more than Izzie. So it was a pretty good return on investment. Much much better than that damned auditing assignment.
So Izzie was feeling rather pleased with her beans and then got another pleasant surprise when she got upstairs to be presented with a package from Cornelius Fudge's partner in crime. It had been given to them to give to the Iz on behalf of Elizabeth who is also in the class but was not here this week. Elizabeth just happens to be the one other person in this class who gives these two a run for their money and constantly challenges their copious quantities of absolute crap. A veritable Axis of Evil we are between us.
Last week the Iz gave Elizabeth a copy of the three plays of Sophocles - Never did read the other two but Antigone is the absolute favorite play of all time for the Iz and is just ever so relevant for these troubled times now that as our lecturers like to say "Things are different now"
We both seem to be from the same planet and her favorite writers are Dostoyevskii and Tolstoi. The book she gave Iz today with a little squiggle inside the cover is her favorite of all time "Anna Karenina"
Iz really must get her email address or other contact details before this course is over because such folks are most rare indeed in Dursleyville.
Izzie felt sort of bad because the book she had brought last week - got for about 50 cents at that second hand book sale. Really must think of another one to get her that she would definitely like. One of Izzie's favorite books of all time is yet another play - the one from Dorothy Sayers but Iz does not know if this Elizabeth has any interest at all in Christianity because she wouldn't like it if she didn't. There's always good old fashioned Anthony de Mello or even Michael Leunig but that is getting a bit too decadent.
Well. It did not take too long for the usual crap to hit the fan today. For some inexplicable reason, they did not gloat too much about the result of this week's election but we did get onto the topic of that other election and they were asking us who we thought would win. Izzie says she thinks George W will because the real power in an election is not held by those who cast the votes but rather by those who COUNT them.
They were disgusted as usual with the Izzie cynicism and proceeded to ask us all what we thought the two parties in the US represented. They began with the Democrats. Iz says "Big Business" Oh no they say. They represent the working class. Well folks. What can you say about such unadulterated innocence? "And what do you think the Republicans care about" Iz replies "OIL" Lots of folks were rather amused by this.
What is so so frustrating - there is only about 3 or 4 people in the class who ever say anything or who seem to ever listen to the news or read papers or stuff. No one except the Iz had any idea which big wig 'philosopher' died this week or about that nice Anglican bishop who was calling Prince Charles a public adulterer and some other guy - probably Archbishop Carnley a 'theological prostitute'.Nice term of abuse that one. Must use it some time.
But the absolute classic of the day was the little hand out of the day with the pink and fluffy MISSION STATEMENT!!! Iz looked at this thing with amusement and then seen the name of the company - Lockheed Martin. Oh my God. What the F&*^%% Is this official "Piss the Izzie off" Week or what? No way were they going to get away with this abomination. I mean - LM can get all pink and fluffy until the owls come home to roost but one would think that of all the companies on the planet - an ethics lecturer of all people would choose something somewhat more benign unless the actual intention was to bring up this very issue of big versus small picture ethics which in their case it most certainly wasn't.
So Iz retorts ever so sweetly in her best Dolores voice "It's a bit rich of a company that manufactures WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION to be all concerned about ethics" "Like - it's morally wrong to steal the company's paper clips but perfectly acceptable to blow the hell out of other people"
And then they reply "Oh so do you think weapons are bad? You do know there was a case last year where a student came to the university of Melbourne with a gun and shot and killed two students and a teacher....Do you think it is not right for others in the class not to defend themselves?" (Er...what sort of logic is that - it's the guy with the gun who is the problem here. They seem to be following the "What if an Iraqi raped your daughter " line of logic.
Iz replied to the effect. Well he was the one with the gun and would you like it if every single student here came to your class with knives and Uzi machine guns. (implying that instead of disagreeing verbally with your stupid statements we would just mow the shit out of you) How would you feel?. Izzie for one is glad that we don't yet live in a society like that. Oh God. It would have been so much fun if Elizabeth had been here. She definitely would have known just who our little friends in Lockheed are and we would have got a bit more mileage out of their pathetic waffling gobbleydegook.Iz wonders if they actually knew just what sort of business Lockheed is in. They certainly didn't seem to care and Iz can be damned sure they expected none of us would know or care either.
At one stage they asked us for an example of a personal situation involving moral choices. Iz decided to let some one else have a go for a change. This girl came up with the scenario of choosing between getting a real job or staying on to do an honours degree! Woooowww. Hard one that is. After much discussion, Iz of course decided to liven things up a bit. Now what if you didn't have to worry about money during your honours year because you have been offered an all expenses paid scholarship by Philip Morris.
Oh this was most entertaining. Turns out Rothmans had offered the University funding for that very purpose. Iz asked if they were offering to fund the School of Public Health;) No - it was something to do with business and public relations. But the best is yet to come. The University did turn down the funding because as the Iz put it "Research designed to make their company look good will make the university look bad" Even if the money had no strings attached whatsoever - it would not appear that way to the outside world. Well that was the argument of some committee or other formed to make such decisions. Our dearest Cornelius tells us that he would have approved of the funding as it is a legitimate company selling a perfectly legal product. But he got outvoted and was a bit disappointed at the outcome. After all - it would have been a win win situation for everyone!
So there you have the measure of the man.
On a related topic, all employees here have 9% of their gross income paid into superannuation funds. Izzie's fund like most gives you a choice of cash, shares or a mixture. Iz chose the Eco-pool which for a long time had been getting lower returns than the main fund. But Izzie does not mind. No Monsanto, Lockheed, Rothmans or South East Asian sweatshop is ever ever going to get a cent off the Izzie as a consumer or investor. In a free enterprise system - the cash register is the ballot box. We cannot complain about the lack of ethics of certain companies if we then invest in them simply because they produce those magical high shareholder returns.