AN UNTARNISHED LANDSCAPE (by C J Petersen July 2010)

AN UNTARNISHED LANDSCAPE

That which is now, or ever may be,

Is not in my heart, nor am ought for to see.

But that which once was, should it e'er come once more,

May I bear witness, to marvel of and adore.

© 2010 by Christopher John Petersen

Creditcard Debitcard Skimming On The Rise

I noticed that "A Current Affair" (Australian Current Affairs Program) ran another story tonight on how thieves are gaining access to unsuspecting card-holder's bank accounts and credit card accounts. Only a few months ago the same story was aired (possibly by the same program) and within a day or so I had come up with the solution to the problem and over the next few days I had devised a way to make all ID/Credit/Debit Cards 100% secure from use by anyone else other than the rightful owner. They would be so secure that if a thief found one on the street, the thief would hand the card in to the Police or at worst just not bother to pick the card up at all.

BUT WHO REALLY CARES?

I took my concerns about the lax (bordering on non-existant) security measurers adopted by almost all merchants to a local Petrol Station to demonstrate the problem with their use of the eftpos terminals and offered my simple solution and the response I got was basically "Tell Someone Who Cares". They said "we use what is supplied by the bank" but I highly doubt they are abiding by the conditions of use.

So I decided to go and see my local Bank Manager about the same issue and also about getting more secure cards produced incorporating my security features. She listened to the basic jist of my concerns and solutions and then fobed me off asking me to put all my ideas/solutions into an Email and send it to her (as she was too busy and had to go). She (just like Barbra on TV) lives in "Bank World". And NO, she wasn't an ANZ Bank Manager.

I tried to contact A Current Affair with my solution to the problem and never even got any sort of response.

So I put it to my readers:

Would you like this problem solved?

And who would be interested in assisting me with my thief proof cards?

Teaching Standards

The person most responsible for my science teacher (Mrs Sommers) being in tears when I hooked the Bunsen burners up to the taps or supplied the rubber-bands for the rubber-band fights in the classroom was probably the most brilliant teacher of more recent times. I salute him and take off my hat to the MASTER TEACHER. What a novel idea! Teaching without needing to read books, GENIUS! I include some of his quotes below.

"The hope I have here is simply summed up: To stir your imagination, awaken your interest, arouse your curiosity, enliven your spirit - all with the purpose of bringing you to ask, as young Maxwell put it, "What's the go of it?" - or, as Kepler had it, "why things are as they are and not otherwise". Or, more simply in my own phrase, why is it so?"

Professor Julius Sumner Miller - In producing his series called "Why is it so?", was condemned and ridiculed by his peers, but loved and adored by his audience/students.

"All of a half-century ago-when I was a little boy on the farm in my native New England – I remember asking all kinds of questions. What is the Earth made of? Why is the sky blue? Why is the sunset red? How does a bird soar? Why does a brook gurgle? How does an earthworm crawl? Why is a dewdrop round? Why does corn pop? Why does a wood fire crackle? And a thousand like questions. To a few I got the answers in reading. To some I got the answers in dialogue with my Mama and my Papa and with my teachers. Some I thought out – not too well, to be sure – but I was learning to think. By this device – ever questioning – ever uncertain – I gathered up a rather massive body of knowledge."Professor Julius Sumner Miller, American science populariser, born on May 17, 1909

"The schools destroy the holy spirit of curiosity."Professor Julius Sumner Miller; interview, Simply Living magazine, Vol. 2, No 10

"I'm all for having the leaders of nations meet on the open field with a sword."Professor Julius Sumner Miller; ibid (think about it, all the leaders and only one sword)

"Enthusiasm. Without it we are dead."Professor Julius Sumner Miller

"Oh, yes! I find this place where I get the mostest light – the mostest light. The mostest. That's the superlative of 'most'. I'm reciting something of Euclid. Beautiful – you should read it!"Professor Julius Sumner Miller

"My wife engages in some imaginative adventures, and she put that together from turkey bones. Isn't that fantastic? Look at that. Look at that creature. Out – born out of her mind."Professor Julius Sumner Miller

To My Son Justin

Many things Canst one gather:
Much knowledge canst one know:
But greater things canst one not do;

Than Lovest thee, as I do so.

To My Daughter Jessica

The Earth spins and revolveth once,
They say a day is past!
and then spins thrice, and three times more,
say they then, a week is spent!
Two score of these, plus ten and two,
and then a year has gone!
But no matter what passing of time may come, I’ll never be Loving you not!