How hard it is to have eyes and to see only the visible?

Sometimes on days when the light is perfect and exact,

When things are real as they can possibly can be,

I ask myself slowly

Why I ever attribute

Beauty to things.

Is a flower beautiful?

Is a fruit perhaps beautiful?

No: they merely have color and form

And existence.

Beauty is the name given to something that does not exist

The name I give to things in exchange for the pleasure they give me.

It means nothing.

So why do I say of things: “They’re beautiful”?

Yes, even I, who live only to live,

Even I am not immune to the invisible lies men say

Of things.

Of things that simply exist.

How hard it is to have eyes and to see only the visible?

by Fernando Pessoa
from

The Complete Works of Alberto Caeiro

New Directions Books, 2020

First Council For Third Year

Normally my eyes glaze-over when it comes to financial statements and I sometimes joke that I'm innumerate.

However, recently I challenged myself to find a news story in this subject:

For the third consecutive year, Narrandera Shire is the first General Purpose Council in New South Wales to submit its audited financial statements.

Given there are over 120 councils, this is an accomplishment that reflects a coordinated effort.

“It’s an achievement across the whole organisation,” said George Cowan, General Manager of Narrandera Shire Council.

“Once again the Shire demonstrates its fiscal responsibility and, even more importantly, the Council’s overall financial position is reflected in the reports as sound.”

This means Council is well-equipped to meet the reasonable needs of residents into the future.

“Thank you to everyone who assisted by submitting invoices, providing information, attending to requests, etc.

"It really is a team effort and without your help this would be difficult to achieve,” wrote Bec Best, Finance Manager, in her email to staff.

The Finance team achieved a timely and unqualified audit result, with the Auditor General confirming “no significant audit issues or observations were noted during my audit of the Council’s financial statements.”

“The process is comparable to landing a Boeing 747,” said Martin Hiscox, Council’s Deputy General Manager Corporate & Community.

“The timeline is determined months in advance followed by a process of checks and hold points to ensure you arrive at the scheduled time.”

Each council in the state has four months after the end of the financial year on 30 June to submit their Financial Statements to the NSW Auditor General, and in recent years Narrandera Shire has delivered its Statements document in about half that time.

“We have very good systems, and all the members of the staff contribute to meeting the milestones at the dates established with the Auditor,” said Mr Hiscox.

“The focus from the statements demonstrates the operating result for the year and the capacity of Council to operate into the future and meet its longer-term financial obligations.”

This includes achieving all financial benchmarks, except for the “own source revenue” target of 60%.

“We have limited control over our rates and revenue; however, Council has achieved funding through other external streams, predominantly grants, which has skewed this result.”

Much of this funding contributes to maintaining roads, which are the largest category by value, at around half of all assets held by Narrandera Shire.

The Financial Statements also show the renewal/replacement of $9 million in assets, as well as construction worth $8.7 million in new assets.

“It is something of a double-edged sword. Creation of new assets leads to new obligations for operating and maintaining them,” said Mr Hiscox.

However, Council balances the expectations of the community with financial capability and extensive planning.

The audited Financial Statements will be presented to councillors at the meeting on 21 September.

During the public forum prior to that Council meeting there will be presentations from the NSW Audit Office reviewing the Financial Statements and the Audit, Risk and Improvement Committee Annual Report presented by the Committee Chairperson Mr John Batchelor.
 

Nowhere Man

Today I helped my son with his music assessment

He wanted to make a recording of The Beatles' 'Nowhere Man' and it took me about 15 minutes to find the MIDI track to make the backing track.

We recorded four takes and two became background vocals, while the lead was the last take.

Then I looked around Archive.org to find some video to accompany the song, so I could put it online.

Friends are a blessing

 

Unfortunate news

 

How I feel

 

It's not okay

R U OK? is a suicide prevention charity in Australia, encouraging all of us to notice the signs of mental health struggle in friends, family, and colleagues

I've never really understood why Australians need a marketing campaign to ask people about well-being on one specific day of the year.

This year I noticed the graphic had inserted the word "really" into the message and it seemed like an acknowledgment that the idea had become tired.

I think it can be retired in 2021 because it's not okay.

One fundamental issue with asking the question is whether a person is ready to hear an answer other than the default "I'm fine."

Are you okay with having a person unburden themselves then and there with whatever issues they have been bottling up all year?

Are you okay with hearing that someone you know has been considering self-harm?

Are you okay with looking like you need some script to relate to other people?

Living in regional Australia it's clear there's a shortage of services to address mental health concerns.

R U OK? seems to highlight the gap between people in the cities who develop these marketing campaigns and those in the country who have to make a commitment to drive somewhere to find a public health facility that actually have staff.

The past is a foreign country

Don't brine a knife to a gunfight

Breaking

Sunrise at Fivebough Swamp

Jo and I ventured out to start collecting audio recordings in anticipation of a project. 

The sounds of swan wings slapping the swamp as they take flight, deep croak of a bullfrog, growl of a mother as we pass her nest and the weird stereo effect of reed warblers distributed across the landscape.

They say

They say 

What they like 

Let them say it 

I don’t care 

Go on, love me 

It does you good

Youtube is obnoxious

"Youtube will make you watch an ad before you can see a video showing how to CPR," my son observed when I showed him this meme.

Given the conversations I've had with my kids about the advertising they see, I wouldn't be surprised if it were a promotion for alcohol that one was forced to watch before learning to save a life.

It seems outrageous that Youtube can push those adult products at my children.

Broadcasting services based within Australia have to observe the expectations of the community and alcohol advertising stopped long ago.

Then again. even the way the service has started streaming multiple ads at the start of videos seems obnoxious to me.

Youtube is the dominant platform and a small country like Australia probably has little influence on shaping their practices.

It's disappointing that the focus of our government seems to have been on maintaining market share for Rupert Murdoch.

Pick up the phone

Lockdown is hard

I hadn't understood how hard, although I have had conversations with people going through their seventh stay-at-home orders in Melbourne.

Being at home with my family has mostly been okay, aside from a few arguments over resources like the television and figuratively stepping on each other's metaphoric toes.

Recently I heard there's been a massive spike in cases of self-harm presenting at hospital emergency departments and wondered how to help.

At work on Monday I asked the Mayor if he'd consider making a short video.

We workshopped a script and what you see is mostly his fourth take.

Penguin flavoured chips

At least that's how they look, right? 

They're actually chicken flavoured but I can pretend they might be penguin, although I'd guess the latter would have a distinct taste from their diet and environment.

The TV ad for this brand is pretty wild too

Phoney noises

I don't like mobile phones

Being long-sighted and having man-hands mean that I find the interface frustrating to use.

They sound terrible too.

The ringtones might be polyphonic but the speaker still sounds like a shrill piece of plastic.

However, I recently returned to full-time work and they insisted I'd need one.

One of the IT guys couldn't believe I didn't have a phone, but I wasn't going to list the ways an iPhone had disrupted my life five years earlier -- especially since he was clearly an Android user.

The phone they gave me has been useful for the demands of checking-in at supermarkets, now that COVID-19 contact tracing is part of our lives.

And it's quicker to see if there's an email waiting for me, although I will use a computer to reply.

The phone makes strange noises at times and I haven't learned what they mean.

I've disabled a lot of the apps but some of them still seem to announce themselves.

Anyway, last week the Disquiet Junto project asked for a transformed sound and I thought I'd try to improve the ringtone of the mobile phone.

I've slowed it down and replaced the instrument with a piano that has a lot of character.

There might be a way that I could use this piece as the ringtone, but I worry that might change my relationship with the mobile phone.

I've seen how addictive these things can be.