There's not a lot of good news coming out of... well... anywhere today.

I'm spending today doing little jobs that have been annoying me for a long time, and as a result of this, I've had a lot of time to check the internet every half hour for an update on Mumbai, Thailand, aeroplane crashes, and the other, actual, news items that have replaced "MADONNA'S DIVORCE SHOCK".

Days like today bring out the worst in the media (for example a description on CNN of the "scene of mayhem", over a picture of a woman on a mobile phone, or, say, an article in The Age online today with - I presume - a copy editor's comments all through it) and it brings out the worst in people (some of the comments being posted on websites today are sickening). So there is a lot to be repulsed by.

And there is no antidote to it, and nor should there be. Things like this happen all the time and we don't know about most of it because there weren't four Australians involved. The power of the media is amazing, though, isn't it, because it does ink a few images onto your mind, and you carry them with you, while you post letters and write emails and do the odd jobs you were supposed to do months ago.

You carry them with you and you think about how one thing stands between you and these horrible events: dumb luck.

I hope these things end soon, and I hope I have the commitment to keep myself informed through news outlets like The Real News during the times when my local and national newspapers are obsessing about a chef from England who swears a lot and may or may not have been shagging somebody who is not his wife.