fitzroyalty

Update 21 December 2008: I have just learned that sadly Paprika Hussar closed on 1 December 2008.

What do you do when the day has turned to shit and people you thought you could trust turn out to two-faced back-stabbing hypocrits? Have a good meal, get drunk and plan revenge. Thankfully, all is possible due to the excellent food, wine and service available at the Hungarian restaurant Paprika Hussar.

I’ve been meaning to try them since they opened, and seeing the recent episode on Hungarian food on SBS’s Food Safari reminded me to make a booking. I started with the delicious special, chicken paprika, with tender pieces of chicken in a savoury sauce served with nokedli. My girlfriend chose the stuffed cabbage leaves that contained veal and rice. Both were excellent.

We also wanted Hungarian wine and chose Bull’s Blood, a blend of pinot noir, a semi-sweet shiraz, and two other Hungarian varieties I can’t remember. It was relatively light but dry and a perfect partner to the food.

Desert was essential. My girlfriend selected the Gundel pancakes stuffed with walnut cream and sultanas and doused in chocolate sauce and rum, then flambeed, which the Age raved about. I went for the cherry strudel, which was tart and sweet and divine. The other Age review did not do it justice – the strudel is amazing.

Desert was complemented by a light sweet port and, as typical of the amazing service, a free shot of walnut liquor. We will definitely return, as I must try the most enormous schnitzels I have ever seen. Paprika Hussar is a wonderful restaurant that will charm you.

I believe in the total separation of church and state. This includes:

• no religious instruction or visits by religious proponents to public schools
• no reference to religious beliefs in state functions or events (such as the prayers during the opening of state and federal parliaments). The views of Australian political parties to this practice are here
• the removal of all religious holidays from the calendar of the Australian secular state

I propose that instead of the state sanctioning the holy days of only one declining religion (Christianity), it should instead create a system where citizens receive the right to take a number of holidays per year at the time of their choosing. Perhaps 3-5 days in lieu of religious public holidays could be made part of all employment contracts and other regulations.

Instead of Christmas and Easter being state holidays they should become private events like the holy days of other religions. Citizens could nominate the days important to them, depending on their religious beliefs, well in advance so as not to disadvantage employers.

In the multicultural, multifaith Australian community it is illogical to give Christianity greater state recognition than other religions. It discriminates against other faiths. It also enforces Christian holidays on non-Christians, who represent the majority of the population.

There is a clear utility to this scheme for employers and employees.

For employers, this would spread leave more widely throughout the calendar, and potentially provide the opportunity to keep their offices open over Christmas, staffed by non-Christian employees. Imagine the value in being able to continue doing business with non-Christian countries, especially in the Asian region, with important trade partners Japan and China (where Christmas is not a public holiday).

For employees and citizens, the benefit is also clear – they can take days off work to celebrate or observe those days that are important to them, based on their religious beliefs or cultural values.

Chinese Australians could more easily celebrate the lunar new year. Orthodox Christians could observe according to the Julian Calendar. Atheists like me can simply take a slightly longer holiday by combining these public holiday in lieu days with our annual leave. Everyone’s a winner.

Secular humanists should try harder to engender social change to remove the oppression and limitations of the past. We should think of the needs of the population of the future, which is likely to be more diverse and less religious than it is at present.

I demand the freedom to live my life my way. Through this policy ideas I offer all citizens the same freedom, which is an improvement on the circumstances many people currently experience.

It would take a brave government to consider these ideas. Cultural inertia is strong, as is conservative prejudice against non-Christians and the secular humanist way of life.

I rang my bank more than a week ago and asked them to send me some important, time sensitive information. They were very helpful, and suggested that if it did not arrive within 5 business days to call them again. After waiting 8 business days, I did so. They promised to send it again, but warned that I may have to go into a branch if I do not recieve it in time.

The reason why I have not received the mail is because Australia Post management are a bunch of traitorous parasitic leaches who are destroying the integrity and credibility of the postal service we as Australian citizens and tax payers have relied on for many years.

Since Australia Post closed the Fitzroy mail delivery centre I have mysteriously recevied less mail, and what I do receive is days late, often as a result of haveing been delivered to various neighbours, who eventually put it in my letterbox or leave it wedged in my security screen door in my block of flats

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Earlier this month the Wall St Journal, Techcrunch and many other publishers reported on the mysterious cutting of undersea communications cables, which resulted in severe internet disruptions. The cause of the cuts is reported to be sabotage, perhaps by trained sharks with lasers on their heads.

What none of them mentioned (it took commenters on the Techcrunch article to reveal it) was that the shark concept is based on the ideas of the fictional character Dr Evil in the Austin Powers movies. He desires “frickin’ sharks with frickin’ laser beams attached to their frickin’ heads.”

The cable story is serious but the Dr Evil connection demonstrates that some journalists were having fun at the expense of some clueless editors. I’m sure Dr Evil is not amused, not least because he is not given the appropriate credit for his ideas…