Steve’s Blog
2012 & earlier
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30/12/2012: Hope the weather is perfect so the kids can fly from Te
Anau to Supper Cove and
30/12/2012: Every so often you rediscover something: Popular Mechanics has always been full of interesting stories: HERE a review of strange bathrooms. I don't think I would enjoy most of them and particularly this see-through one, but I also wonder about being locked in those automatic ones (like the pop-up one featured here): http://www.popularmechanics.com/home/improvement/electrical-plumbing/18-strangest-bathrooms-in-the-world#slide-18
29/12/2012: Della: Party season apparently equals another demolished letterbox...oh well, snail mail is outdated anyway. Steve: Just another chore...THIS time I have some SERIOUS steel upright material! Della: And the culprits will regret the damage to their vehicle if they mess with the new model...good man! (But I am not vindictive at all...)
29/12/2012: World's MOST disgusting book cover? "And for every veggo who sniffs, 'Well, no animal died to make my salad', how much of your average lettuce or carrot farmer’s day do you reckon is spent killing, trapping, poisoning, or otherwise making life seriously unpleasant for cute little bunnies and birdies who might get to the produce before the produce gets to market?" http://www.amazon.com/Girl-Her-Pig-Recipes-Stories/dp/0062003968/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top
28/12/2012: A Xmas greeting, sort of: http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2012/12/nice-one-from-reader-peter-hall.html
28/12/2012: 'Atheist' is SUCH a strange word which would not exist at all if it were not for the sorrowful delusion of so many people - hopefully it will cease to be in the future; so too wars about other non-existent 'things'...
28/12/2012: Miranda has posted this excellent Arnott's biscuit tin image as a Xmas message - you see a lot more of this sort of thing up the bush now with the prevalence of sambar deer in our mountains: http://blogs.news.com.au/images/uploads/BushChristmasJackWaugh_thumb.jpg
27/12/2012: What a fascinating article; I HAVE noticed the 'terminator' wind, but I confess regretfully I have not been outdoors enough on warm full-moon nights to notice the moon wind: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/12/24/sailing-on-the-moon-wind/#more-76322
26/12/2012: And it's great to think (if you're a nature lover) that every year less land is having to be devoted just to feeding humanity, but as Ridley points out biofuels are destroying nature: http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/peak-farmland-is-here.aspx
26/12/2012: "2012 has been the greatest year in the history of the world. That sounds like an extravagant claim, but it is borne out by evidence. Never has there been less hunger, less disease or more prosperity. The West remains in the economic doldrums, but most developing countries are charging ahead, and people are being lifted out of poverty at the fastest rate ever recorded. The death toll inflicted by war and natural disasters is also mercifully low. We are living in a golden age."
25/12/2012: Top ten science discoveries for 2012: (as I have observed before: the world just keeps getting better and better!) We have been watching Stephen Hawking's wonderful programme lately and would, therefore probably vote for the brain-machine interface, but as an historian I am drawn to the Denisovan's DNA...: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/12/23/the-higgs-boson-takes-science-center-stage-for-2012/#more-76150
24/12/2012: A great article by Miranda about Labor's most recent proposed apology, this time to the adopted, "Today we have banished all stigma, so it is perfectly tolerable for young women to have babies to a variety of feckless men on the taxpayer tab, leaving the children vulnerable to sexual abuse, violence and neglect. This is an epidemic. ": http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/mirandadevine/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/demonising_adoption_dishonours_its_heroes/
24/12/2012: A different perspective on gun control here: http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/12/20/A-Real-Public-Opinion-Poll-8-000-People-A-Day-Join-NRA-Since-Dec-14 and here: http://moonbattery.com/?p=22852
23/12/2012: Well Santa, time to 'fess up: http://moonbattery.com/?p=22807
23/12/2012: Schapelle: Astonishing, if true: "The boogie board's weight recorded at Brisbane domestic departures, Sydney domestic arrivals and Sydney International check-in did not include the 4.2k weight of any hooch... but it did when it arrived at Denpasar." http://pickeringpost.com/article/carr-should-have-a-date-with-corby/844
22/12/2012: We have outstanding governments in the West: if a problem can be 'solved' by introducing regulations, you can be sure they have already done it before we were even aware there was a problem; conversely if a problem can be created or exacerbated by wasting money, you can be certain they have done that too!
22/12/2012: In
21/12/2012:
21/12/2012: The leaked IPCC AR5 report shows that 'Global Warming' was basically a 'Chicken Little' ploy & we can all get on with our lives (even on this LAST of all days!) NOW all we need to do is get rid of this carbon tax and the shambolic government behind it...http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323981504578179291222227104.html
20/12/2012: Swan discovers there will be no surplus. Soon he will discover Gillard is not a virgin! What a circus!
20/12/2012: The importance of string: ultralight thongs made from shoe inserts: 58 grams the pair in Size 8. Great for camp shoes, river crossings etc. Also: the Gossamer Gear Sitlight Pad @ 30 grams (apart from keeping your bum dry for lunches on wet days) will make two pairs of same with the addition of a bit of string. If your hiking shoes let you down this tip may get you out of a lot of trouble: http://www.trailquest.net/sandals.html My knots are different form Brawny’s : I pass a (doubled) loop up through the gap between the big toes and have an overhand knot under the thong. The two ends come up through each side of the thong towards the rear (as with normal thongs) and are joined to the loop with two overhand knots. To make into sandals a bit of elastic either over the top of the foot or around the heel and joined to the strings at the rear where they emerge on the top side of the thong works well and would ensure they stay on during river crossings.
16/12/2012: Zeno's boat: Zeno, as you may know was an ancient Greek
Sceptic philosopher, the inventor of many interesting paradoxes. I like this
one (with apologies TO Zeno). Suppose a man over many years repairs a boat by
replacing one plank at a time... After a long time he has replaced all the
planks: Is it the same boat? Suppose as well, that another man collects the
discarded planks of the first man and constructs a boat (albeit very
gradually - and it would not be much of a boat!). Eventually the second man
completes HIS boat. NOW, which is the original boat? Memory is like that.
What makes us individuals is our memory, but it is forever changing (like the
planks in the boat). When we are 12 we can remember many pre-school experiences.
When we are twenty, we can still remember our primary school, but our earlier
experiences have slipped. Now that we are sixty! (Can that really be true?) there is not much left of our secondary school experiences
(or even our University ones) - indeed if you are like me you probably can't
remember where you left your shoes or your car keys! Were they yours at all?
Who are you? The upshot is: are we the same person? By imprisoning someone
for the term of his natural life (whatever s/he has done) we are in effect
after a time punishing an innocent person because their memories dictate they
are no longer the person who committed that horrific crime. They no longer
remember it. Therefore, they should have been executed at the time of the
crime so that we were actually punishing the criminal and not some new person
whom they have become over time. Society gets the added benefit of being able
to use their unneeded organs to save other lives - and huge economies on the
cost of prisons. By the same token, sometimes (as happened recently) a
long-term prisoner recalls that he (it almost always is) recalls an earlier
horrific crime (Camillieri just did, for example) and someone's loved one at
last finds rest and peace. Life and death are such difficult issues. Mind you
if we were allowed to use torture and truth drugs on such proven criminals at
the time (before they were quite properly executed) we could have found out
the truth of all their previous crimes back then. Of course, many puzzling
books would not have been written about
16/12/2012: This article (http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/12/12/and-now-for-something-completely-different/#more-75600) and this book (http://www.amazon.com/Hormones-with-Harmony-ebook/dp/B00AK0LUGS/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1355320806&sr=1-1&keywords=hormones+with+harmony#reader_B00AK0LUGS) are too important to ignore: it IS for example inarguable that Vietnamese suffer only one fortieth of the prostate cancer that Europeans do AND that the key difference is DIET. (There are many other conditions - including female ones - which are equally affected by what foods we eat.
16/12/2012: IPCC AR5: who'd have thought it? NOTHING to worry about. How long before this gets buried by the alarmists: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/12/13/ipcc-ar5-draft-leaked-contains-game-changing-admission-of-enhanced-solar-forcing/
16/12/2012: A fascinating article (and please pursue it to other articles by the amazing Rob Dunn: http://www.robrdunn.com/) http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/The-Mystery-of-the-Singing-Mice.html#ixzz1Jw33OqiH
16/12/2012: "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the
security of a
15/12/2012: Gun control is too simple, we need to stamp out THESE
feelings (Macbeth Act5,Scene5): heard
no more: it is a tale
15/12/2012: Not a lot of cars are still hand made (though Land Rover Defenders spring to mind) but there IS something very beautiful about the making of this Morgan roadster, something which they have been doing since 1908: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/motoringvideo/9727841/Making-of-the-new-Morgan-Plus-8-in-two-minutes.html
14/12/2012: In a similar vein: a cart pulled by a lion, two goats and a bear: the only way to travel, scroll down: http://www.deltabluez.blogspot.com.au/2012/12/some-more-cart-photos.html
14/12/2012: A fur coat for the animal libbers amongst you: you will have to SEE this to believe it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fB0jml3iLBc&feature=player_embedded
14/12/2012: Saved 2500 kids and didn't win the Nobel Peace Prize, (but
Obama and Al Gore DID!) Phooey! Bravo Irena Sendler,
Died 12 May 2008 (aged 98) 14/12/2012: CITIZENSHIP ought NOT be a guaranteed right. Anyone's citizenship should be cancelled if they continue to BE non-citizens. The issue of whether some other country would take them or whether they should be deported is a different matter, but in many cases the answer to the second question is, 'Yes,' emphatically, 'YES!' In the past OSTRACISM was a common and deserved penalty. I see no reason why i t should not continue to be. Most criminals have surely richly earned the withdrawal of the benefits of citizenship whatever other penalty they may suffer. As for 'refugees' and immigrants who have 95%+ Centrelink dependency (and no English language skills) after 5 years' residence have long since EARNED the big kick back to where they came from!
14/12/2012: We have to stamp out this vile practice which is hardly done by suppressing the offenders' names; better to deport them and adopt out the daughter: http://bunyipitude.blogspot.com.au/2012/12/ssssshhh-better-that-we-dont-know.html
13/12/2012: The
right thing to do in a crisis: reach out a helping hand or reach for your
smart phone: there is no contest, is there - at least in
13/12/2012: AND THIS is even worse still, absolutely horrific: http://www.rehabs.com/explore/meth-before-and-after-drugs/infographic.html#.UMj6AneT9_R
13/12/2012: Even WORSE than I thought, Miranda: "PRIMARY students have a “substantial problem” in reading, with 25 per cent failing to meet the minimum standard for their age in international tests, while maths and science skills in primary and high school have stagnated over the past 16 years...In the first international test of primary students, Australian year 4 students scored the lowest of the English-speaking nations in reading, ranked 27th out of 48 countries tested, comparable to Bulgaria, Slovenia and Lithuania...Australian school spending grew 44% from 2000-09, far more than the OECD average, yet our students’ reading and maths scores plummeted over that period. They were thrashed by students in larger classes in countries which spent far less...our average class size is 23, yet in reading and science our students are one to two years behind their peers in Shanghai, where the average class size is 40, according to a report by the Grattan Institute, and we’re more than two years behind in maths": http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/mirandadevine/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/proof_our_students_are_not_being_taught_properly/
13/12/2012: Good work lass: THIS is where it starts and it ends with Jill Meagher & etc dead: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/law-order/infrared-camera-snaps-thief-stealing-underwa/story-fnat7jfp-1226533663639?sv=4aa02a7afb53d50c06250174bc0b97f2#.UMVttprZt6c.twitter
13/12/2012: AND so many sinister proposals to restrict our freedom of speech on the basis of such nonsense! http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=512532708767745&set=a.456449604376056.98921.367116489976035&type=1&theater
12/12/2012: Numerologically an auspicious day: also 15,000 days with my beloved, Della - so much cause for celebration! Della Jones "And thanks for the lovely celebratory lunch! It still doesn't sound like very much when you count in days though..." AND 30,000 days doesn't sound like a VERY long life - but it IS!
12/12/2012: Which 'rant' only inspires me to comment on the latest evidence of 'success' from the NBN programme with 15% of houses it passes taking it up! THAT was certainly worth spending $50+ billion on. Of course in time the rest of us will not have the choice of continuing with ADSL@+ (or progressing to VDSL) etc at a much more modest cost. And forget about having the telephone when there is a bushfire or like emergency. Of course disasters such as that will never happen again now that we have the social managers par excellence in charge!
12/12/2012: The
'Education Revolution' and the School (Gillard) Halls didn't do it: we are
now ranked 27th educationally. We are apparently being dragged down 'by the
tail' in the statistics. This is no surprise to me. We have been paying all
sorts of people to breed, migrate, 'educate' our
young etc for decades. We have just about completely (as a country) lost the
ability to do anything right. In education, for example toys and glitz and
smaller classes fronted by educational pygmies will not cut it. In
9/12/2012: Shearing today; incredible that we will be finished before lunch instead of going on for 4-5 days. Ah, retirement...
9/12/2012: Thank You, John. A very important talk: we ignore it at our peril: http://www.quadrant.org.au/magazine/issue/2012/12/the-importance-of-knowing-where-we-came-from
9/12/2012: Rather a lot of very careful fuel reduction burning being undertaken by our environmental custodians: would have zero effect on our CO2 emissions, no doubt: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/12/08/earth-at-night-wildfires-in-australia/#more-75457
9/12/2012:
Extraordinary Government waste: Had a visit (you probably did too) from a
sub-continental youth handing out Green largesse: energy efficient power
board/s, CFL light-globes and a chimney blocker were the goodies on offer.
All of absolutely no use to me. He seemed mystified I did not want
these 'free' goodies. I pointed out to him that we had installed CFLs in the
1990's and that we had since replaced the wretched things with much better
LEDs. Our power board had a much more energy efficient off SWITCH. We have a
pot-belly stove...Once, people could be counted on
to look after themselves. NOW manna is being forced on us by newly arrived
migrants, no less - on behalf of our nanny-state Govt. What a great country
we have built! Meanwhile in Glebe (where I once lived) an enquiry is being
held into the tragic disappearance of a little girl from a family of 13 who
have lived in
8/12/2012: DILEMMA: Do I believe in
democracy OR human rights? The democratically elected Government of
8/12/2012: As a cat lover I am glad
that 'Moggie' is not all bad. When they were eliminated recently on
8/12/2012: 100 YEARS OLD TODAY: Not me, the YINNAR GENERAL STORE - though we probably BOTH look it! Come on down, listen to the Strzelecki Stringbusters, have a sausage, socialise and browse. See you there @ 11:00am!
7/12/2012:
7/12/2012: You SHOULD read THIS article. Surely we all know by now Malthus (and his Club of Rome and greenie followers) were WRONG, WRONG, WRONG on how/why GROWTH occurs. (The population/ecological doom he predicted were a mirage). Keynesian economics is simply Malthus' heir - and is equally false! Governments continue to throw billions of dollars of precious capital away on this utterly false premise (the recent Reserve Bank interest rate cut is but the latest example of this). BUT what if the whole economic edifice on which Keynesianism was based is UTTERLY FALSE? Read Steve Kates: http://www.quadrant.org.au/blogs/qed/2012/12/how-economies-really-work
7/12/2012: Lord Monckton has been
evicted from the
7/12/2012: The Carbon Tax is certainly working: this week we had the coldest day on record in Canberra, Antarctic ice is at an historic maximum, and in India the glaciers have all grown back - pity Al Gore: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-12-03/india/35569707_1_bara-shigri-glaciers-snowfall
7/12/2012: Our anti-Semitic
Government is at it again: “Bob Carr has had
6/12/2012: Whodathought? Idiots in
8/12/2012: We bought a tray back
camper from fourwheelcampers.com in
6/12/2012: The bad news is we DO have to buy another vehicle to carry the camper around as the 110 Defender IS too short and its GVM too little. The GOOD news is we have found one and put a deposit on it. There will be MUCH retrofitting of gear from one vehicle to another: (Diff Locks including front and rear axles, secondary batteries, trays....) but eventually we WILL have safe 4WD camping holidays in disgusting LUXURY!
6/12/2012: Our solar system is SUCH an amazing place: just this week we had news of organics (if not life - NASA is still being very cautious here) on Mars, and now ICE on Mercury. Who'd have believed there is a habitable zone on a planet generally hot enough to melt lead? Beneath the seas on Titan too life MAY lurk. Out further on the growing numbers of discovered planets circling other suns, some in our neighbourhood even (ie the Centaur), who yet knows what may lurk ('Beware the Blob'): http://www.space.com/18695-water-ice-mercury-explained-infographic.html
6/12/2012: For those of you of a greener persuasion, here is Tim Flannery's company Geodynamics practicing FRACKING to produce 'clean green energy'. No doubt this is OK when you are out to 'save the world' and fleece the taxpayers of over $90 million in subsidies for impractical 'renewable' schemes but not OK when you are going to provide energy consumers with cheap, plentiful natural gas or petroleum. Of course this is brought to you by a man who predicted sea level rise of metres and then bought a seaside villa (as did Al Gore). They are such shams and shamans these green preachers: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/12/05/another-kind-of-fracking-this-produces-geothermal-energy/
5/12/2012: I also do not understand the Left's rejection of Israeli democracy and their courting of dangerous Islamists: the 'Arab Spring' and the 'caliphate' have brought some of the worst human conditions we have ever seen. Supporting such movements is surely a form of collective suicide!
5/12/2012: I do not understand the crazy 'economists' in the Reserve Bank & etc who continue to impose interest rate cuts so that the financially irresponsible can borrow more money to spend on toys and frivolities whilst savers are forced into ever riskier investments in an attempt to defend their savings.
4/12/2012: Julia Gillard has come
up with an idea to cut everyone's power bills in half. Every household in
4/12/2012: Well done Alanis!
Interesting figure here: "
4/12/2012: A growth industry: It is extraordinary that when he sang a song in his own 'language' people were so moved to tears they did not notice it was gibberish http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/who-can-it-be-now-20121126-2a25w.html
4/12/2012: Climate alarmism is SUCH
bad algebra: Let's see, 9% rise in CO2 = zero warming for 16 years, therefore
warming effect of CO2 = zero. Anything multiplied by zero is...well...zero, so
100% increase in CO2 = zero warming, and so on... Relax. Chill out folks!
Snow here today, by the way - and Della
REFUSES to go hiking at
3/12/2012: Here was Ju-Liar in 1992 helping her boyfriend Wilson steal the entire $800,000 plus of a workers' funeral fund. The money 'disappeared' and none was ever recovered. Of course SHE says 'I did nothing wrong' and we all believe her, don't we: http://michaelsmithnews.typepad.com/.a/6a0177444b0c2e970d017d3e5fd1eb970c-pi
3/12/2012: Is it possible that an article about 'yawning' can be too long - an interesting social experiment or a digression into recursion perhaps: http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/the-mystery-of-why-we-yawn.aspx
3/12/2012: More prosaic doings: I am building a set of stairs for the Defender's trayback camper so our 'Tiny' dog can more easily access it - less importantly it will assist us aging folks too. Made a prototype out of timber to see how that works (they look and work great but are too heavy). Della zipped up them with her arms folded - so they passed an important test there. Some time this morning will be devoted to converting those ideas into lightweight aluminium. Stairs are more complicated than you would think. Unfortunately I think I need to convert the 110 Defender to a 130 as the camper has too much overhang and the steering is compromised: I suspect the easiest way around this (unfortunately) is to buy another vehicle!
3/12/2012: Related but scarey news:
our Government is 'forced' to vote against
3/12/2012:Who
would have thought: asylum seekers in
2/12/2012: LIFE: Rumour has it that NASA is about to announce on Monday that Curiosity has found evidence of LIFE ON MARS! Watch this space...We are NOT alone...Do/did the Martians have a god? Is it one of the same million gods we have on Earth? Move over Orson Welles! This could be interesting...
30/11/2012: How things work: not necessarily how you think they do: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9707029/Two-thirds-of-millionaires-left-Britain-to-avoid-50p-tax-rate.html
30/11/2012: If this invention pans out I may be able to pay for the beer I drink with the electricity I am able to sell: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/urine-powered-generator-unveiled-international-exhibition-234718329.html
30/11/2012: I may need one sooner than this as mine is beginning to wear out! http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/synthetic-brains-by-2030.aspx
29/11/2012: Charming people in
28/11/2012: Burt Rutan, the engineer who brought us http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceShipOne (amongst many other aeronautical marvels) gives his take on AGW, HERE: http://rps3.com/Pages/Burt_Rutan_on_Climate_Change.htm or HERE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gm8vaH8LEV0
28/11/2012: Josh Frydenberg certainly looks and sounds like the real thing. A future PM in waiting? http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/mirandadevine/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/a_litany_of_failure/
28/11/2012: Listen up Bruce: plastic notes were introduced in 1988: the dog did NOT eat your homework; but obviously you ARE such a lying stupid shite that you really needed the help of a good CRIMINAL lawyer - and you got it!
28/11/2012: IF this does not make sense to you: Wilson explained on the 7:30 report that Blewitt buried the money (stolen c1993-5) and that it rotted and was thrown away AND that Wilson indeed DID need Ju-liar's help to fill in the forms which he used to steal the money in the first place! With friends like him...
26/11/2012: Just like the rest of
the human race our Prime Minister cannot have been in Perth on 4 Feb 1993 to
witness Ralph Blewitt's signature on the 'Power of Attorney' document (which
allowed Wilson to launder $100,000 plus of stolen AWU money into their house
in Fitzroy) AND have kept appointments in Melbourne ON THE SAME DAY. Someone
WILL have a record of her presence in the office in 25/11/2012: I have Della working on this pigeon puzzle: http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/PrintNews.aspx?PageID=383&NID=35334
25/11/2012: Interesting observation: "If you want to destroy an infantry unit, you cut it off from its neighbouring units. If you want to destroy a generation, you cut it off from previous generations," CS Lewis
25/11/2012: An answer to a question you never dared to ask: If you went outside and lay down on your back with your mouth open, how long would you have to wait until a bird pooped in it?: http://what-if.xkcd.com/11/
25/11/2012: Bravo: Johanna Quaas, an 86-year-old who has just entered the record books as the world’s oldest gymnast. Displaying astonishing balance, strength and flexibility, she performed routines on the floor and parallel bars that would put someone decades younger to shame: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2bOED5LzZw&feature=player_embedded
24/11/2012: For those of you who (irrationally) fear DEATH, an interesting article in this week's New Scientist by Shelly Kagan, 'Don't Fear the Reaper' who'proves' pretty well I thought that such fears are inappropriate (unless you happen to believe strongly in an after-life which involves imminent purgatory anyway!) http://www.scribd.com/doc/110795988/Death-Don-t-Fear-the-Reaper-Opinion-22-October-2012-New-Scientist
24/11/2012: AND, for those of you who have concluded
that the
24/11/2012: HERE is a question you may never have wanted to know the answer to, so suck eggs: Can a machine gun fired downwards produce enough lift to make itself into a jet-pack? Surprisingly, (for the Kalashnikov at least, the doyen of the Jihadist set) the answer is, 'Yes!': http://what-if.xkcd.com/21/
22/11/2012: Tony Jones attacking Shorten about the
'Wilson Affair' (last night) AND Leigh Sales interviewing Ralph Blewitt about
same. Ralph back from Indo. to give protected
witness information about the crime. Aunty has never gone there before!
Doomed Gillard, doomed. And Roxon (the nation's chief LAW officer!) says she
has INVESTIGATED the matter and that Ju-liar did no WRONG. Lots of folks will
want to see a HARD COPY of that investigation's report! She SHOULD know as
she was a 'friend' of Shorten, Gillard,
22/11/2012: A MUST READ: 10 climate myths definitively debunked: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/11/20/myths-and-facts-about-global-warming/
22/11/2012: I never cease to be amazed that there are believers in the 'supernatural'. HOW is it that there are people who do no KNOW there is NOTHING which is not NATURAL?
21/11/2012: The MISMATCH between what the models predict and what is observed has been widening. It really seems likely we are in for a protracted period of global cooling (30+ years) which WILL make it increasingly harder to feed the world's growing population - unless there is another Norman Borlag working on it: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/11/19/cooling-in-the-near-future/#more-74502 & especially THIS graaphic: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-swrAyQv92WQ/UKaQK0EtnjI/AAAAAAAAADk/QtkphzCbCog/s400/hansen.gif
20/11/2012: UTTER NONSENSE from the World Bank (& the ABC as usual) about imminent climate catastrophe: predicting a 4C warmer world by 2100 & etc, ad nauseum. If they were elongating the graph for the last 16 years the prediction would be 0C. If they were basing predictions on what has happened in the last 100 years at Cape Otway and Wilsons Prom (for example) the climate would be ANOTHER 2C COLDER than it is now. Bankers WANT TO MAKE MONEY FROM CARBON TRADING. It IS THAT simple!
20/11/2012: Makita Rechargeable Angle Grinder: this wonderful tool is available in a 3-pack from Bunnings @ $599 - also includes drill and impact driver. Have tried out the drill & the angle grinder and they are superb! Big recommend from me for Xmas present for the one you love! Mind you, I HAVE bought some Westfarmers shares so I have a vested interest in Bunnings Xmas sale - but it remains a pretty good bargain all the same!
20/11/2012: I am busily trying to convert the proceeds from the sale of the farm into income producing shares at the moment having tippy toed around on eggshells for months not doing much about it. This is a VERY stressful procedure. Each day I examine our holdings so far to see how much we have lost now! Mind you wanting to sell a small draft of excess sheep we still have and this remains even WORSE financially! A pot of gold at the end of the rainbow would be nicer!
19/11/2012: And, while I am on the topic of welding: I used to think the angle grinder was just about the best invention EVER. NOW, I own a Makita rechargeable 115mm angle grinder courtesy of Father's Day (WHAT an institution!) and Wowee! does it rock! I have cut up all the steel for the abovementioned stock crate with it, and it was a breeze. There is no way now that the DSE/Parks Vic etc will be locking me out of any public land where I wish to go - though I have noticed that usually some other public minded citizen has beaten me to it: the Moroka Creek Track where Herculean work was overthrown springs to mind...
19/11/2012: Blast! The pure sine wave inverter which I ordered from Ebay is faulty and won't work Della's 40 watt hair straightener (or even a 130 watt Dremel either). Trying to get everything in the camper set up so we can try it out, but I keep being thwarted. Oh well, back to welding a new stock crate for the Defender so we can sell some sheep. Not enough now to afford a carrier, so we have to take them to market ourselves!
18/11/2012: Whilst NOT on the subject of politics I don't know whether I posted a report on my Six Moon Designs Dyneema pack, the Swift - which I think Della gave me earlier for Xmas. It has proved wonderfully comfortable and durable. It would be hard to beat in a 428 gram pack (@$110!). I switched the waist belt for a single one as I had difficulty doing the double one up (arthritis,stoutness). I have snagged the netting side pockets on blackberries and would recommend they make them out of Dyneema too. The roll-top closure is interesting. The pack is big enough (for me) to carry everything I need for a week's hike (which it did on the Dusky Track NZ in April). I recommend too the Thermarest Women's NeoAir XLite mat @ 320 g and the Montbell UL Super Spiral Down Hugger #3 sleeping bag @ 624g which together bring the 'big three' to under 1400 grams total! Add @ 500 grams for my new Tyvek tent!
18/11/2012: I have been thinking about my Tyvek tent designs again: I believe I can now make an @ 6 foot high, zero condensation 'fire' tent for 2-4 people which will weigh under one kilo including floor and zipperless mosquito netting and which will set up against a tree or with the aid of a hiking pole/stick. Similarly I think I can make a one person design (with about 1.5 mtre head height) @ about 500 grams. It will be a few days before I have time to cut them out and make them as I have other projects. The beauty of Tyvek is: it is (relatively) fire/spark resistant (800C); it can be joined/repaired with tape; it is waterproof and breathable; it comes in 3 metre roll widths; it can withstand 160 km winds; it is cheap (30 metre roll @ $180; ie 4-5 tents per roll); it does not drape; it weighs 1.7 oz/ sq yd (50gsm); it is white and has an R-rating so reflects and retains heat well - so wonderful for a winter fire heated tent. To my mind, a tent where you cannot stand/sit out of the rain whilst being warmed by a fire is pointless. Am also working on a sub 100 gram fire heated electric generator for charging batteries or electronic gear such as eBook readers/music players. You see, not ALL my posts are about politics. Indeed, if the pollies would get their acts together, proabably none would be - there ARE more interesting things. I have no interest in making money out of these tents so will probably post the completed designs for interested folks in future. You do not need to be able to sew to make a Tyvek tent as it does not fray, can be joined with tape and works well with tarp holder tie-outs.
17/11/2012: Supposing terrorists who believed
16/11/2012: WHEN will Gillard declare a Royal
Commission into UNION corruption? When Hell freezes over! It is interesting
though isn't it that $5,000 was paid by
14/11/2012: I am NOT in favour of the rape of pre-pubescent children. Far from it. DEATH is too good for the perpetrators, in my opinion. BUT a Royal Commission WITCH HUNT into the nation's underage sexuality is surely silly at best and a waste of money: the criminal law already exists. Consider this: the age at which the average Australian first experiences sexual penetration has, for many, many years been below the legal age of consent. What that means is that the average Australian has been a victim of or a perpetrator of child sexual abuse. I DON"T think so. The definitions are ALL wrong. Everyone has a sex life of some sort. Providing that it is consensual (and post pubescent) it seems unlikely that it should concern the law or any Commission, rather than being just a private matter. Society surely should only become involved where there is harm and/or force. An example: tens of thousands of Australians have (foolishly perhaps) posted underage explicit photos of themselves on their phones etc. Bizarrely the law deems that they have committed a child sexual offence and should spend their lives on the sex offenders' register, be prevented from ever getting a job working with children & etc. The whole legal position of sexual activity clearly needs quite a tidy up which would be a much better use of society's scarce resources than a Royal Commission. Look how much good all previous Royal Commissions did! It is a nonsense.
14/11/2012: More tests for Ju-liar today. A union official admits he paid money into Julia's account for Bruce Wilson, and Slater & Gordon confirm Julia acted on the conveyancing file! Doomed, surely? http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/awu_scandal_5000_put_in_gillards_account_claims_whistleblower/
11/11/2012: THIS is rather neat:http://www.gizmag.com/clock-clock-analog-digital/24918/
09/11/2012: Amazing: Take professional photographs with your iphone: http://www.iprolens.com/
09/11/2012: When I saw that the crucial letter was missing, I wondered whether perhaps someone on the other side of politics had 'borrowed' it, perhaps to produce in the midst of an election campaign. Nice to know that at least it still exists (and WIL L see the light of day). Ju-liar IS doomed. Rudd's most recent behaviour indicates HE thinks so too : http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2012/11/the-letter-to-the-wa-corporate-affairs-commissioner-from-julia-gillard.html
09/11/2012: THIS is what has already happpened: Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-59): "A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world’s greatest civilizations has been 200 years...When the taste for physical gratifications among them has grown more rapidly than their education...the time will come when men are carried away and lose all self-restraint...It is not necessary to do violence to such a people in order to strip them of the rights they enjoy; they themselves willingly loosen their hold...they neglect their chief business which is to remain their own masters."
09/11/2012: When I look at the satellite temperature records the two things that strike me most are their relative stability AND the step change which occurred in 1998. Temperatures for the previous twenty years were steady at about -.2C below the average and SINCE then have varied around +.2C ABOVE the average. Hadcrut and other land-based temperatures have the period 1950-75 showing a cooling. The 1930's we known to have been the hottest period of the last century. There are other hotter and cooler periods futher back. I just can't SEE how THESE records can indicate ANY AGW global warming, quite the reverse. Instead, there is clearly either a major error in the satellite records (our most reliable database) or an unknown mechanism which would account for this step change (clearly NOT the STEADY increase in CO2). It MAY be that there are natural cycles of heating and cooling here too: http://www.drroyspencer.com/2012/11/uah-v5-5-global-temp-update-for-october-2012-0-33-deg-c/
09/11/2012: Who would have thought: "a
Christian...steals, rapes, and kills children?” I'm
not very keen on ANY of these religos, but the persecution of 200 million
Christians worldwide IS despicable - and particularly as it is largely done
at the behest of the religion of 'peace'. Mind you, those of you who were so ignorant of history as to think Buddhists were immune
to religious excesses must be eating your words when you see what they have
been up to in
08/11/2012: It was also MUCH hotter in 1896 than anything we have experienced post WW2: http://joannenova.com.au/2012/11/extreme-heat-in-1896-panic-stricken-people-fled-the-outback-on-special-trains-as-hundreds-die/
07/11/2012: The GOP is looking pretty good this morning. Let's see what the day brings? Maybe the world is saved from the brink after all? This doesn't mean there is nothing to be done. Inactivity and just sliding down a slippery slope have characterised Governments of both persuasions for too long - along with rampant corruption and dishonesty. Guy Fawkes may have had it right!
07/11/2012: AND there has been no ocean warming
along
07/11/2012: Ju-liar's 'Asianisation' programme certainly demands we ignore the 100 million plus people murdered by the current Chinese regime. I remember her commie student & union colleagues being able unpersuadable that there was anything wrong with Pol Pot murdering millions in Cambodia... or the North Vietnamese murdering 8 million after their takeover...and so on. I very nearly got into a stand up fight with John Halfpenny over this issue back when. LISTEN UP people, there really IS MUCH THAT IS ADMIRABLE about our English culture and traditions. The contribution of English speaking people is UNSURPASSED. Other folks have MUCH to learn from US - and THEY KNOW IT! We abandon our identity at our peril: http://www.quadrant.org.au/blogs/qed/2012/11/gillard-polishes-beijing-s-jackboots
07/11/2012: So, the sea level has been oscillating? http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/11/05/new-paper-in-grl-shows-that-a-60-year-oscillation-in-global-mean-sea-level-has-been-discovered/
06/11/2012: Not for the faint hearted: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2228551/Insano-Brazil-Worlds-tallest-scariest-water-slide-hi
06/11/2012: Question: Did Global Warming REDUCE the
impact of
06/11/2012: Most morons out there would be lucky to know the difference between their candidate and a colobus monkey - if there IS one! I have LONG observed that here in Oz leaders of both major parties have in effect just continued to commit treason against our country for most of their careers for all that what they do shows any concern for its welfare or future. The situation s likely not very different in the 'home of the free'.
06/11/2012: There once was an American thinker named Upton Sinclair whom you may like. I think he even stood for President and came close to 'upsetting the applecart'. He appeared in Robert Heinlein's first novel 'For Us the Living' and there is even a political party in NZ based on his ideas (Social Credit). People were once less polarised in their thoughts : Henry Ford was awarded the 'Order of Lenin', for example.
06/11/2012: I am glad that America spends so much on
Defence (despite -it is true- sometimes having made poor foreign policy
decisions) because I think the world would be much more dangerous if the US
returned to isolationism - as it has done in the past. One of the
consequences (then) of failing to fight a lot of small wars was that eventually
a very large war had to be fought. You might be unhappy with 'being the
world's policeman' (and particularly as it attracts so much bile) but what
are the alternatives? Oz's situation would become rapidly more dangerous for
sure: we would very suddenly have to increase the proportion of our economy
to Defence measures somewhat like
06/11/2012: Health Care: You have a long time to save up for the treatment, as I do/did for knee, heart valve or hip replacements -which is why I have been in private health insurance since I was 15! Also, I would not be counting on the Government to ever fund something for me. Apart from the fact that I don't think they should, I don't believe they can be trusted anyway: by the time that I need it they will already have spent the money on someone/thing else: one of their charming cronies probably! BUT one of the chief causes of escalating health care costs is increasing demand by increasing availabilty and affordability. Dare I say that people might also take a little more responsibility for their own health instead of expecting someone else to fix what they have deliberately and wantonly broken. If people have to pay something themselves they will be much less frivolous in their demands on the system. It is also a system which has so very many artificial controls imposed on it already such that the 'health providers' have guaranteed quotas, positions, charges etc. In a free market none of these things would happen and the costs would come down. People are SO unaccepting that death is inevitable and so deluded that they are themselves somehow very precious, and that society should spend lots of its hard-earned on them. Twaddle! People die. Everyone IS one. Get over it!
05/11/2012: I really enjoy reading Quadrant magazine as it offers many intelligent alternative perspectives. This article by Keith Windshuttle is a fine example. It is hard to estimate how much of one's world view has been manipulated by the likes of the late Hobsbawm. So many of us must have been brought up with a distorted view of the Industrial Revolution (Blake's 'dark satanic mills' & etc) and have missed the enormous boom in human wealth it brought. Is it too much to emphasize how much increasing prosperity also means increasing freedom? This is not just for the people on the top but for folks all the way down the human pyramid. Today, so much of what we read/see is dictated to us by Leftists such as the late historian. It is very hard for ordinary citizens to find their way through this vast heap of bull! http://www.quadrant.org.au/magazine/issue/2012/11/eric-hobsbawm-s-legacy
05/11/2012: Voting for Obama: Successive
conservative and socialist governments have largely gone down the same 'big
government, nanny state' path all over the West. The
04/11/2012: Hope they get THIS in tablet form pretty soon, as it sure beats dieting - though I notice that (as usual) women will be the big winners in living 50% longer if it works on people too! http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/345907/title/Fasting_hormone_helps_mice_live_longer 04/11/2012: Have to agree with THIS: http://pjmedia.com/lifestyle/2012/10/31/the-decline-and-fall-of-western-culture-in-one-photo/
04/11/2012: I KNOW I will get some brickbats for this one, but I thought it was quite funny: http://maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com/archives/20918-Easier-to-create-Eve-than-understand-her.html
04/11/2012: Lloyd Marcus's thought on the
03/11/2012: It sure was hot in 1932: we have never seen ANYTHING like it since. See here: http://www.warwickhughes.com/agri/bird%20deaths%201932.pdf
01/11/2012: Good news for 'Peeping Toms' perhaps, but seriously clever. It also makes me wonder about the future of all those dreadfully out-of-focus old photos you just can't bear to throw away: http://www.gizmag.com/image-descattering-weizmann/24737/pictures
01/11/2012: Geoff Crocker on Labor's disastrous immigration 'policy': "Is this apparent madness a cunning and deliberate ruse, a desperate move to dump as many potential voters as possible on our shores knowing that surveys indicate that as many as 80% are likely to vote Labor upon eligibility? That waiting period is four years, the same time between federal elections. "
01/11/2012: Hard to believe: there have been many
larger storms than
01/11/2012: JPL admits satellite sea level and sea ice data have been wrong: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/10/30/finally-jpl-intends-to-get-a-grasp-on-accurate-sea-level-and-ice-measurements/
01/11/2012: Julie was doing SUCH a good job in Parliament yesterday. In response Ju-Liar just continued to be a LIAR: http://media.smh.com.au/national/selections/gillard-its-personal-3758026.html
01/11/2012: Glen Doherty & Tyrone Woods: These
two guys deserve a (posthumous) bravery medal for their conduct at
30/10/2012: Good work, Alan: http://www.adnews.com.au/adnews/alan-jones-audience-unfazed-by-brand-exodus-as-ratings-soar
29/10/2012: THIS from Prof J M Cioffi of Stanford Uni: "Why deploy currently available or contemplated passive fibre systems when the existing last kilometre of copper can provide broadband gigabits per second to everyone?" Good question Prof. Maybe we should pause a little on spending $50-80 billion on the very wasteful NBN while we work out the BEST alternative: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/freeabs_all.jsp?reload=true&arnumber=4251082
28/10/2012: The Greens are, thankfully finished. What worse can you say about such a bizarre party than what it says about itself: SO ALIEN: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/palnning-day-agenda-reveals-greens-imagine-theyre-talking-to-aliens/story-e6freuy9-1226504561013
28/10/2012: Gillard CAN turn back the boats after all. Perhaps if this was done rather a lot more and if nationals from countries which the UN declares are NOT refugees were automatically returned, people might just start waiting their turn (and not risking their lives = 1,000 dead because of Ju-Liar so far!) ? http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/hijacked-ship-intercepted-asylum-seekers-sent-back-to-sri-lanka/story-e6frg6n6-1226504445357
28/10/2012: NBN thoughts: HERE is one remarkable Australian. 250 megs is already available over copper wires and 2 gigs has been demonstrated. Is there REALLY the urgency to rush into the NBN? http://jpap.org/
28/10/2012: Amazing that
28/10/2012: Some interesting tips: http://siriuslymeg.tumblr.com/post/33738057928/99-life-hacks-to-make-your-life-easier
26/10/2012: Glad my kids are all 'growed up'. It would be a nightmare having a kids' party or even just having their friends around to dinner NOW: http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/mirandadevine/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/demonising_drinking_is_wowserism_at_its_worst/
26/10/2012:Evidently women in the
26/10/2012:Most of the
26/10/2012: It's a little worse than 'The dog ate my homework'! Someone has stolen BOTH the file at Slater & Gordon AND the file at the WA Corporate Affairs which would PROVE Gillard's criminal complicity in the 'Wilson Affair' - BUT, remember this: someone still HAS them!
25/10/2012:Seriously BAD news for the NBN: what comes from betting the farm on yesterday's technology and creating neanderthal government monopolies - certainly ALL the young people want wireless anyway, so who pays for the NBN?: http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2012/10/scientists-promise-10-times-more-bandwidth-with-no-new-hardware/
Understand before the NBN announcement Telstra was going to provide fibre to node and VDSL thereafter with voters not having to throw $X billion into the ring. This would have been more than adequate for most. Would have gained us 100 megs. Even if the VDSL router in Churchill was switched on we would have about 20 megs instead of the 6-7 we have 4 km from the exchange. Faster Satellite is available at greater cost. A Rolls Royce for everyone would be nice too, but if you want it, YOU pay for it, not the taxpayer. I understand that high speed broadband IS available at many different convenient locations where people could choose to work/live. Folks can't expect everything to be brought to their door courtesy of the taxpayer. Immortality would probably be nice too, but wholly unaffordable.
I'm sure fibre IS currently better than copper and maybe there is nothing much else about either just yet (quantum entanglement IS interesting though). I notice they have worked out a heterodyning wrinkle to multiply what can go down a fibre too, just as copper transmission rates are coming up too. 250 megs is NOW available with dsl and 2 gigs has been demonstrated (http://jpap.org/). We do not have to rush. What I object to are: cost, who pays, monopoly, unnecessary and costly duplication, exclusion of future developments, junking existing infrastructure unnecessarily and prematurely - and cost, cost, cost. I know you work in the industry and no doubt know much more about it than me - but what is the point eg of disallowing broadband over EXISTING Optus and Foxtel fibre and replicating it? We get @ 7 megs @ 4+km from the exchange with ADSL2+. The best DSL is 10 times better than that. ie 40 megs. THAT would do us for quite some time. Actually we are quite content with the speed and cost of what we get as we can download ten movies overnight. We have an unlimited account with Eftel @ $70/month. The NBN doesn't go anywhere near that price or quantity AND our phone would not work in a power outage such as a bushfire!
24/10/2012: Satellites have detected these really BIG changes in Earth's gravity. There are SO many other huge natural variables (such as changes in the sun's output) which might readily explain the rather trivial changes in the weather we tiny 'atomies' notice from time to time: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/10/23/chnages-in-earths-gravity-in-relation-to-magnetic-field-measured/
O2 is what we should REALLY be worried about. Its percentage in the atmosphere wouldn't have to fall too much before OUR kind of life found it decidedly uncomfortable (especially at elevation). What is the environmentalists' response to 24/10/2012: THIS impending 'crisis': Lock up TWO molecules of oxygen for EVERY molecule of carbon FOREVER (ie CO2 sequestration). Fortunately LIFE has another way: it is called PHOTOSYNTHESIS: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/10/23/earths-great-oxidation-event/#more-72919
24/10/2012: Childless folks (eg those who cut the baby bonus) might be interested in learning what raising children is REALLY like: http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/parenting/are-you-ready-to-have-kids-after-you-read-this-maybe-not/story-fnet085v-1226500918083
23/10/2012: "Today freedom of speech is under fire by those who increasingly claim [some] people have a right not to be offended that trumps free speech. Just who has this new right and who does not (certainly white males don't seem to have it) is unclear, as well as how one can ever enforce a standard where the victim has full discretion in determining if a crime has been committed" Warren Meyer
23/10/2012: I wonder whether we will soon be gaoling 'scientists' like Flannery for failing to accurately predict 'global warming': http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2012/10/italy-jails-scientists-for-failing-to-predict-earthquake.html
23/10/2012: The future of wind power? Billions of dollars worth of dead windmills (not to mention eagles, songbirds, bats etc - & taxpayers with empty pockets and kids to feed!) DO play the first cvideo: http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2012/10/each-and-every-one-its-own-solyndra.html
22/10/2012: Spent all day yesterday (twelve hours) secretly 'shop-fitting' in my daughter Merrin and her husband, Matt's shop, Yinnar General Store . Have been worried all night that what I had done might prove disastrous, but am very happy that this morning it has all received a big 'thumbs' up'. Whoopee!
22/10/2012: It's amazing that over a century after Einstein's 'e=mc2' that some folks are still worried about 'The Energy Crisis'. Controlled nuclear fusion (not such a long way off now - twenty years?) WILL end ALL such concerns. Progress will also be made on understanding such spectacular energy phenomena as ball lightning, sprites, 'cosmic rays', neutrinos, gravity & etc. It WILL be a much better world in the future. Fear not!
22/10/2012: REMEMBER THIS: Fifty Occupiers in
22/10/2012: I AM deeply concerned about moves to impose censorship on Facebook and the electronic media
generally - which continues this morning. I was quite active in the
movement to end censorship in the 60's & 70's, so am disappointed to see
it rear its ugly head again. I may not agree with anything people say, but I
feel that they should be able to say it (though not necessarily 'in front of
the children' - ie in the appropriate place). Concerns about the sub-judice
consequences of 'outing' Jill Meagher's murderer did not seem to apply to
Martin Bryant, for example. There is pressure to remove sites which still
proclaim the latter's innocence. This is as disquieting as were efforts to
ensure he never got a fair trial in the first place were (eg by confiscating
all his property before the trial had occurred, so that he could not afford a
quality lawyer, illegally keeping him in solitary confinement for months
& etc). Whoever killed all those people at
22/10/2012: THIS IS good news. The only thing that disappoints me is that there haven't been millions of Muslims protesting against the 'insult to Islam' that her shooting represents. I understood that Islam (and most religions) specifically outlaws making war on children; http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2220862/Malala-Yousafzai-First-picture-Taliban-shooting-victim-hospital-bed-doctors-say-able-stand.html#ixzz29tt1yJqI
21/10/2012: Who else won a temporary seat on the
Security Council:
20/10/2012: Two great points by Alan Moran: "In 1901 the Commonwealth spent 3 per cent of national income. Today it taxes and spends a whopping quarter of the income that firms and individuals earn." and "The Commonwealth Government in 1901 had 258 pages of regulatory Acts. Today it has more than 100,000 pages." : http://ipa.org.au/news/2769/regulations-that-worked-in-1901-do-not-work-now
20/10/2012: Now available in Oz: Velcro on a silnylon skirt and THIS could be just about the perfect one-person touring white water canoe: http://www.oldtowncanoe.com.au/canoes/packangler.html, and now that Della needs to be paddled, THIS could be our new two-person touring canoe for flat water and moderate rapids. Can easily see us spending a leisurely couple of weeks gliding along in it on a quiet river somewhere. (Also comes in colour = green, my preference - believe it or not!): http://www.oldtowncanoe.com.au/canoes/guide147.html
20/10/2012: And, while we are on the topic of 'newspeak' Obama's description of the murder of four Americans as 'not optimal' would just about have to take the cake: Holy Cow - and we thought Ju-Liar was bad: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2219867/President-Barack-Obama-Benghazi-attack-If-4-Americans-killed-OPTIMAL.html
20/10/2012: "So there it is. If you think the vast majority of people are attracted to the opposite sex and that heterosexual human relationships are the norm, you are feeding homophobia. " The thought police have gone too far this time: http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/mirandadevine/
18/10/2012: Absolutely spot-on, Miranda: "Misogyny is the Taliban shooting a 14-year-old girl in the face because she wants to get an education, not an Opposition leader directing legitimately forceful criticism against a government": http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/mirandadevine/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/gender_card_is_a_loser/
18/10/2012: Tiger, EAT YOUR HEART OUT: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCEB9GgKoJ0&feature=player_embedded
18/10/2012: Highly selective feminism: http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/take_the_test_roxon_failed/
18/10/2012: After the second debate:
18/10/2012: The FIRST of Ju-Liar's falls? http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2012/10/juvenile-yes-beneath-me-probably-but-for-some-reason-irresistibly-funny.html
18/10/2012: Commissioner Ken Lay has referred Ju-Liar's AWU misdeeds for 'actioning'. Things could get rapidly interesting on this front: http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2012/10/my-report-to-the-chief-commissioner-of-police-in-victoria-the-response-1.html
18/10/2012: Quantum entanglement has become even weirder (no wonder Einstein thought 'God does not play...') & etc, but it is as 'real' as anything gets in the sub-atomic world even though it demonstrates faster-than-light, indeed instantaneous 'action' & scientists have now worked out how to entangle photons in time and even create entanglement with particles which no longer exist ( a great advance for quantum cryptography but just mind-boggling for the laiety!)
18/10/2012: Internet radio is SUCH a boon: we have
always had dreadful radio reception where we live (in a fold in the hills)
and had always to put up with some dreadful local station or a lot of static
from the trendies in
18/10/2012: Ju-Liar showing her 'flexible feminism': http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=yriOLtWJb9U
16/10/2012: I enjoyed THIS notice: "Psychic fair cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances"!
15/10/2012: Wasn't THIS great? GO Felix: http://www.smh.com.au/technology/sci-tech/daredevil-felix-baumgartner-breaks-sound-barrier-in-leap-from-the-edge-of-space-20121015-27liq.html
13/10/2012: Such a sweetie. She was so full of life I can't believe she is gone. Thanks for the 41 years I knew you too Dorothy. Sorry we missed your 92nd birthday yesterday.
Della: "On this day in 1920 my mother, Dorothy was born... thinking of her today with much love and some sadness, the first of her birthdays that I have spent without her in the world. Thanks to Bryn for snapping this picture of her in March this year, so happy and full of life to the end!"
13/10/2012: Interesting perspective. Glad I don't have 'Goodperson Fever': http://www.peekinthewell.net/blog/i-made-a-new-word-xxviii/
13/10/2012: What a good old gal: http://autos.aol.com/article/102-year-old-woman-still-drives-her-82-year-old-car/?ncid=txtlnkusauto00000020
13/10/2012: I like this: "This life was not given to us to be a waiting room.": http://maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com/archives/20755-The-Northeast-Kingdom.html
13/10/2012: THIS is a joke, surely? Especially after
previously awarding it to Obama (who recently lied and did nothing about a
terrorist attack on the
13/10/2012: My son, Bryn sent me this marvellous
link (with the comments 'Charlton Heston didn't kill anyone' - and 'no-one
invaded
12/10/2012: A VERY instructive piece: Why doctors die differently. Lesson to be learned; we really ARE spending too much money on the 'Health' budget. There are more important things: We all die. Get over it: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203918304577243321242833962.html
12/10/2012: For those who came in late: Is our PM a crook, Part 9 AND she has rather a lot of crooked friends: http://pickeringpost.com/article/our-prime-minister-is-a-crook-part-ix-...and-now-its-time-to-go-/677
12/10/2012: The 'real' Julia 'flirting' with Tony Abbott back then: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57AZoqKQyZQ
11/10/2012: Extraordinary: Ralph Blewitt: "But in actual fact the power of attorney was not signed by me until sometime in the week after the 13th of February, after the purchase of the house in Kerr Street." Understand this: THIS power of attorney was set up by Gillard so that her boyfriend could purchase their house with stolen funds. This was a crime. She WILL go down over this. No wonder she is trying to cause this 'misogynist' distraction. My prediction: Rudd's supporters will move against her VERY soon: http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/
11/10/2012: Lying abed this morn waiting for my beloved to wake, I was doing mental arithmetic: I calculated that on about 11 Dec this year she and I will have been together for 15,000 days - which is half a lifetime thereabouts and about 2/3rds of our lives so far. What did I do with the other third? I can't imagine - or how I survived it without her. Hoping to get to 3/4s of a lifetime. I suppose 4/5ths is too much to hope for, but we shall see. When she woke & I informed her of the results of my calculations her answer was, 'Is that all?' Shucks, she surely is wonderful!
11/10/2012: Listening to Alan Jones ranting about
shale/coal gas this am. on 2GB. Its proponents (he
says) are comparing it to another 'Bass Strait' (but it is a MUCH larger
resource than that!) but HE says
11/10/2012: More and more documentary evidence
implicating Ju-Liar in the
10/10/2012: Judgement? Julia turned debate about the suitability of Slipper to be Speaker of the House into an attack on Tony Abbott's alleged misogyny. 'Laughable'? 'Bizarre'? Are there words? http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/national/deputy-opposition-leader-julie-bishop-says-peter-slipper-cannot-remain-as-speaker/story-fndo2j43-1226491792937
10/10/2012: THIS is why we are in
10/10/2012: Bob Katter abstained from the Slipper vote. HIS take on it: "Were they just lewd banter between friends?" Disgusting, Bob.
10/10/2012: The Prime Minister IS a crook. I know you have seen it all before, but NEVER before in 'The Age'. Her judgement and morality are just reprehensible. She MUST go. Imagine those slimes Windsor and Oakeshott still propping her up! I said so at the time and I say it again: electors should be able to force a by-election if their chosen representative fails to represent them. These guys (likewise Slipper) were elected in an area where 10-20% of voters are Labor, yet they have kept this vile Government in office. We really need a change of law on this one: http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/political-news/property-links-pm-to-stolen-funds-20121009-27bnm.html
09/10/2012: Just horrifying! What an embarrassment if you love your country. A government which exists only because of this scum: Slipper, Thompson, Windsor & Oakeshott. END IT NOW!
09/10/2012: Slipper quits. Julia not far behind?
08/10/2012: The Liliputians would have loved this (or maybe not!), but should we really spend scarce research dollars working out whether someone's personality can be determined by which end of an egg they open? Curing cancer would have to come just a little ahead as a priority, surely? http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/9573822/A-persons-way-of-eating-eggs-can-predict-personality-type.html
08/10/2012: Interesting point Marcia Langton makes:
"this concept of wilderness is nothing but a new incarnation of terra
nullius". Aborigines in 1788 merely experienced what everyone else had
already had done to them: In the C12th the Crown took over
08/10/2012: Extraordinarily, courtesy of various
Labor Governments,
08/10/2012: Apparently it's OK for the Speaker of the House to be the most awful misogynist with his dreadful comments about 'unshelled mussels' & etc, but for the Labor Party it's all, 'AbottAbbottAbbott' despite his very pleasant wife and daughters' statements to the contrary, or Alan Jones's private comments despite his apologies. What a bunch of hypocrites!
06/10/2012: Maybe the Queen SHOULD be running the country instead of Gillard. Republicans please explain WHY we have to put up with importing lots of Islamic terrorists when an 86 year old grandma can see it is a VERY BAD IDEA; http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100182499/the-queen-why-couldnt-we-arrest-abu-hamza/
6/10/2012: From a trusted source I heard that Adrian Bayley (under another alias) was gaoled for raping two girls in Traralgon in the past. Possibly this was the crime he was on parole for when he killed Jill Meagher who was buried yesterday. It is SO close to home, not some faraway wicked metropolis. Who can doubt that such monsters should only ever be given ONE chance, and that the one chance should end with a dance on the end of a rope?
06/10/2012: AT LAST, a cause worth supporting: http://www.indiegogo.com/genderneutralkittenfund
06/10/2012: SO much for online petitions: This one signed variously by Mr D Duck, Ronald Ryan and Alan Jones himself gathered over 100,000 signatures, so surely Alan MUST be taken off the air: http://www.quadrant.org.au/blogs/qed/2012/10/signing-off-on-alan-jones
05/10/2012: New Scientist's 'Last Word' had an interesting account of railway tracks last week (22 Sept). It is delightful how such mundane objects can surprise: I had not thought how trains get around corners with no differential and without grinding the track to bits...but it is because train wheels are conical so that one wheel rides up the cone as the train corners. An elegant and enchanting solution which obviously occurred a long time ago, yet I had never wondered, or noticed.
05/10/2012: You MAY remember the video I posted of this interesting phenomenon last week. The film-maker has now rejected Al Gore's offer to buy the footage as some kind of 'proof' of climate change. These guys are such scammers. Good on Chris Tangey for telling him to nick off though: http://www.news.com.au/news/climate-change-campaigner-al-gore-denied-australian-firestorm-footage/story-fnehlez2-1226487549975
05/10/2012: Della was just saying to me this morning, 'What's happening with that guy who stole all the money from the hospital workers?' 'Still propping up his equally crooked mate Gillard' I said. Then I read this news item. Things may get interesting soon...http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/former-hsu-boss-michael-williamson-arrested/story-e6frg6nf-1226487855533
04/10/2012: And let me say a word about taxation: Income tax was introduced as an emergency wartime measure during the First World War. Surely it represents 'confiscation of private property without just compensation' and is forbidden by the Constitution? The monstrous growth of taxation in all its forms (including indirect taxes - eg GST & excise - both imposing such an inordinate burden on the poor) has fuelled a doubling of the proportion of the economy controlled by Government in the last 30-50 years from around 25% to 50% - mainly during the period of the 'Cold war' when we were supposedly FIGHTING COMMUNISM, though this growth of Government was surely communism by stealth. If you think that the Government has somehow the wisdom to decide how better to spend YOUR money than you do yourself, you have either had very little experience of Government or you are a fool or a rogue! Taxation also seems to me to basically be a wasted effort which serves no other useful purpose than social control and 'make-work' given that a large proportion of the taxation collected is in effect fiat (or printed) money anyway in that it involves recollecting taxation from public servants who have been employed with that money, or it has created a considerable army of accountants, lawyers, bankers, insurers and other low-life who make their living simply by counting beans, but grow none. If these 'wasteful' lives were spent instead in useful labour the increase in national productivity would easily pay for the activities currently financed by Government's taxation and inflation. More later...
04/10/2012: So, the Reserve Bank is still playing
fast and loose with our money: as if Capital was SO easy to come by - instead
of taking a lifetime of hard work and saving. At current levels the reserve
bank's rates barely (if at all) keep pace with inflation leaving savers with
NO income from their hard-earned money. On the other side of the ledger the
punters who want to further leverage their outlandish Macmansions are
encouraged to do so to the detriment of those who in the current real estate
climate can't afford housing at all and have to continue to live with their
parents and grandparents: I know several 'middle class' families of
Sydneysiders (all hard workers) who are sharing three generation housing.
HIGHER interest rates would advantage savers (including those saving for a
home) and force the outrageous price of housing downwards. It would take
probably twenty years of interest rates above 10% to force house prices down
to the more modest American level. Question: Why does it cost several TIMES
more today to create a block of land and a house than it did thirty or fifty
years ago? Where are the benefits to housing of productivity growth and
labour saving machinery? In the 1950's, 60's and early 70's a father could
afford to be the only wage earner and support a wife and two children whilst
paying off a house and car. What Happened to THAT Australian dream? Even
though WE have had reasonable income all our lives with both of us working
and contributing, we have only managed to pay off a modest house (about half
the value of a house in
02/10/2012: What nonsense is the Leftie press's hounding of Alan Jones for stating a simple fact: that John Gillard should have died of shame to have raised such a daughter, instead of getting stuck into the daughter for abetting the criminal defrauding of half a mill of AWU money - amongst her many vile misdeeds. I know little about Gillard's dad, apart from that he was clearly the type of 10 pound commie pommie we could well have done without, and that it would have been much better if he had died over fifty years ago or been sterile - given how his daughter has turned out!
02/10/2012: Never mind a law against blasphemy, let's just have STONING: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIaORknS1Dk&feature=fvwrel
01/10/2012:
01/10/2012: How dare 'believers' cry that religion is not a fair target for criticism and should be protected by LAW. BULLSHIT! If your ideas are indefensible, don't expect the law to defend them. Have a go at arguing for them yourself. Stands to reason that if they are 'beliefs' they ARE crap. If you harbour silly ideas about fairies in the garden or old men with white beards in the sky, expect to be treated as the lunatic you obviously are. Don't expect to be able to use the law to impose your stupid ideas on everyone else.
01/10/2012: Unacceptable to denigrate religion. Bullshit! They should all 'fuck off'! A big hands up to Billy Connolly: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=-xwPVgRaROA
30/09/2012: Just to hammer the point: Why should the innocent die when the guilty can die for them? To me this is not just an ethical imperative but just sound commerce: Heart, lungs, liver, two kidneys = 4 lives (minimum) plus two people who can be given their sight back in one eye - plus sundry other useful bits and pieces I have missed. Four innocent lives for one guilty one seems like a deal too good to be missed to me. 400% return! You'd put your money on that! If you sometimes accidentally get the wrong offender, society is still well ahead as compared with where it is now ie spending millions each year keeping each guilty one alive whilst condemning thousands of innocents to death. And if they are not fit to harvest organs from (diseased or whatever) then surely they can still benefit society by being used for medical experimentation which would otherwise be considered too dangerous to be ethical. Such research could also end up saving the lives of thousands of innocents. Let's start on this NOW!
30/09/2012: Lest we forget about the Government's intentions to silence the Press, gut social media and control the internet: http://joannenova.com.au/wp/2012/09/tyrants-always-want-to-silence-the-critics/#more-24077
30/09/2012: Nostalgia boost for those of us brought up on 1955 Morris Minors and Triumph Bonnevilles...WARNING: You may have to spend ALL day reading the comments. Great item though; I have ordered several - they also seem to work on cheap Bunnings electrical tools: http://www3.telus.net/bc_triumph_registry/smoke.htm
30/09/2012: THIS is where the Left leads us:
Terrorists attacking
29/09/2012: Stephen Conroy (much like other Govt Ministers) is barking mad. He had this to say to major Telco management: ”If I say to everyone in this room ‘if you want to bid in our spectrum auction you’d better wear red underpants on your head’, I’ve got some news for you. You’ll be wearing them on your head.” I hope he starts them off in this endeavour by wearing his jocks on his head from now on. And you thought Caligula marrying his horse was odd?
29/09/2012: So, there WAS water on Mars: Burroughs', Bradbury's & Heinlein's stories are just a little 'out of time'. But what happened? Why IS the planet the awful desert we NOW see? AND there are some who think we should not spend money on (space) research, preferring that we waste it on giving rapists second chances, no doubt! http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/09/28/more-evidence-of-past-water-on-mars-an-old-streambed/#more-71624
29/09/2012: Sometimes I don't like to be right, but I was when I said the video showed him as 'practiced' & that it was likely this guy had offended before. The truly disgusting thing (as is so often the case) is that instead of being used for spare parts then, or simply dancing on the end of a rope, he was set free to rape and kill again. This pointless and dangerous leniency MUST END NOW: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Larry-Pickering/236991276355038 & http://bunyipitude.blogspot.com.au/ & http://aussiecriminals.com.au/2012/09/28/adrian-bayley-allegedly-raped-and-murdered-jill-meagher/& http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/troubled-past-of-murder-accused-adrian-ernest-bayley/story-e6frg6nf-1226483787739
28/09/2012: Is THAT a wedding ring on Bayley's finger? People like him, Sutcliffe, Brady etc are INCOMPREHENSIBLE...http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/man-charged-over-jill-meagher-case-20120928-26olv.html
28/09/2012: People are fascinated by glaciers (as am I every time I visit Fox and Franz Josef) and it is not a surprise to me that glaciers retreated much more quickly than in the past. I reckoned the NZ glaciers were in exactly the same spots during my visits in 1975 and 2000. The point though is that glaciers do not advance or retreat because it is colder or warmer but because it is wetter or drier. A wetyear will deposit lots of snow and ice on top of the glacier which consequently moves downhill; this ADVANCE may be more likely to happen if it is warmer and wetter - just the opposite of what the 'warmists ' would have us believe. AND those same NZ glaciers are there more or less at sea level in a temperate latitude (where it is too improbably warm for glaciers to BE) just because the West Coast is one of the WETTEST places on earth: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/09/27/surprise-glaciers-in-montana-retreated-up-to-6-times-faster-during-the-1930s-and-1940s-than-today/
28/09/2012: The way this murderous creep moved on the CCTV footage said to me, this is a PRACTICED stratagem. I hope I am wrong, but if not, there are other victims out there; other families to receive the same dreadful shock as the Meagher family. Once again I ask, Why can't Victorians have their say in a referendum on the punishment of such awful criminals? At least there is this: it is unlikely he will have a 'good time' in prison, or long survive. There are too many other men there who have daughters, wives and sweethearts, and who are NOT afraid to take the law into their OWN hands!
28/09/2012: Julia IS really stupid and/or seriously bent, a contortionist. Referring to her current ego trip in New York she spoke about 'the opportunity to sit next to each other, face to face, eye to eye'...
27/09/2012: I am opposed to retrospective
legislation, BUT if we pass a referendum on the death penalty by a 2/3rds
majority, those who have in the past committed what would have been capital
crimes NOW but who are eligible for parole under the legislation existing at
the time they committed the crime can have two choices: remain in gaol or
accept their parole under THIS condition: If they commit ANY crime after they
are freed, they become immediately eligible for the death penalty which
SHOULD have applied at the time, but did not. I remember a delightful young
student ( at
27/09/2012: Referendum on the death penalty? Do you WANT to win the next election, Ted? Give people THIS choice: If 2/3rds vote for it, which I expect, bring it back ESPECIALLY for the killer of Jill Meagher! Don't let her death be in vain: Let's make sure that it at least prevents other such deaths and ensures that young women, (or anyone) can walk our streets, at any hour without fear or danger.
27/09/2012: Vic police have arrested someone in connection with Jill. We all hold our breath...
27/09/2012: This sure is a great banana slicer. DO read the reviews: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000MSA9AQ/?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=ur2&tag=insta0c-20
27/09/2012: COME ON FOLKS! There must be dozens of people who recognise the man in the blue hoodie in the 'Meagher' video, and the other people. If you only think it looks like someone you know, RING THE COPS. They can quickly eliminate the wrong ones (weren't there) but if two people correctly identify this guy they can be kicking his door down in HALF AN HOUR. Jill MAY still be alive: http://www.news.com.au/national/missing-woman-jill-meagher-seen-on-cctv-speaking-to-man-in-blue-hoodie-before-vanishing/story-fncynjr2-1226482146903
27/09/2012: When DO we decide that the bastards who took Jill Meagher and other like scum (Julian Knight & etc ad nauseum) are fit for nothing but spare parts? Why should the innocent die for the want of a heart, lungs, liver or kidney whilst we spend millions keeping bastards like this alive in gaol? People who oppose the death penalty on the guilty are in effect in favour of the death penalty on the innocent. There are no two ways about this. And while we are at it, the organs should be harvested WITHOUT ANAESTHETIC! Let's have a referendum to change this RIGHT NOW!
27/09/2012: I once caught out our Bureau of Meteorology doing this too, ie changing the past (in the name of 'quality control'). You have to be VERY careful who you put in charge of history. Strangely enough the temperature records of the past are ALWAYS changed downwards so that those of the present (and the future) will be changed upwards. Even so, it is well-nigh impossbe to hide the fact that Australian temperatures 1860-1914 were approx 2C degrees hotter than the last century or that the 1930's were the hottest decade of the last century BY FAR. But THEY WILL TRY! ://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2012/09/nasas_rubber_ruler.html#ixzz27YZRxqIW
27/09/2012: Now HERE is a great idea (Why don't we all just stay quietly at home?): http://melbourne-leader.whereilive.com.au/news/story/dad-wants-ban-on-drunks-wandering/
27/09/2012: And while I am hot, let me say a word in favour of SMALL BUSINESS. I have been helping out a little in my daughter's shop. I note this: small local business does not have the buying power or ruthlessness to compete on every level with the big multis, but it can offer an enduring friendly local presence and sense of service they cannot hope to match. Because of small business, today's kids can still safely come into a local store which has stood on the same street corner for over a century and offered successive generations a quality shopping experience which they retain for a lifetime. It is always kids' first experience of commerce: it is impossible to replace the sense of wonder and trust they find there any more than it is possible to replace Santa Claus. Let's hear a cheer for Yinnar's 'Universal Emporium'!
27/09/2012: No wonder Pacbrands took a hit when it
moved all its iconic Ozzie brands off-shore. How can it rely on patriotic
customer loyalty when it has abandoned the country? AND Chinese made
Holeproof Explorers are not only much worse than the locally made product
they replaced but (listen up here) Aussie Disposals locally made '
26/09/2012: The intolerance of totalitarians and fanatics HAS to be opposed even though they might threaten our lives (or especially as they do!). A case in point: if you are wanting to suggest someone was 'the perfect man', you might start with Socrates, Buddha, Christ...but whoever you choose you will have to justify your choice, and answer valid criticism from those who don't agree, not simply threaten to behead them. If you say it is Mohammed for example, you will have to explain how that choice balances against the fact that he married a five year old girl and consummated that marriage when she was nine! You will also have to explain how his murdering nearly 1,000 Jews was consistent with his being 'a perfect man', & etc. I just don't think so. Mohammed was anything but 'a perfect man'. I would have to say that on the evidence of these actions it does not seem to me that he was a good man at all! Now, compare him to Socrates. No comparison at all. AND Socrates didn't have the bad taste to found a religion!
25/09/2012: NASA admits HERE that it was an 'Arctic Cyclone' which broke up the Arctic sea ice in August (NOT global warming!) which would help to explain the disparity I have already noted (ie that ANTARCTIC ice is at an all time MAXIMUM!). If we ARE to worry about climate (and NOT more important issues such as WHERE do navels - or navel fluff - come from?), we should be concerned about the world heading for another ICE AGE and actively preparing strategies to prevent mass deaths from an increasingly COLD climate (such as genetically engineering food plants/animals to produce more with less light/heat): http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery/index.html?media_id=152489941
25/09/2012: Julia Gillard IS a GENIUS: "The PM was to have told a group of New York economists that Australia’s economy is less reliant on the mining boom than is widely thought, and will predict that in the next four years, three times as many jobs will be created in healthcare, social assistance, education and training as in mining." Not to mention 'hairdressers' (name ONE) & 'telephone sanitisers'...may she soon be eaten by a giant SPACE GOAT! (With apologies to Douglas Adams!)
25/09/2012: REALLY enjoyed THIS collection of humorous protest signs: http://www.thevine.com.au/life/thoughts/30-best-protest-signs/gallery/0 'Stop bad pie charts', 'Death to all juice', 'Jesus is here, show your tits and I will judge them' 'What do we want: Time Travel. When do we want it: It's irrelevant', & etc...
24/09/2012: In
24/09/2012: Religious bigots are pushing to bring in an INTERNATIONAL law against BLASPHEMY at the UN (they MAY succeed): Listen up folks: if you insist in believing in SILLY THINGS don't expect to use the law to lock up those who note, 'The Emperor has no clothes': http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2012/sep/23/limits-on-speech-to-get-un-hearing/
24/09/2012: Salman Rushdie: “I think this is a historical mistake of the progressive left. The sense that people who say they’re offended have a right to have their offendedness assuaged.” For him, free expression ranks as “the right without which all the other rights disappear”. It is “the bedrock … If you compromise on that, you lose everything else.”
24/09/2012: Ricky Gervais: "I see atheists are fighting and killing each other again over who doesn't believe in any God the most. Oh No, Wait...that never happens"
23/09/2012: Outback
23/09/2012: AMAZING news from Mars: http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/curiosity_cat1.jpg?w=640
22/09/2012: Other folks certainly have STRANGE ways.
Yesterday,
22/09/2012:You MIGHT think (because of their name) that microwaves are really SMALL, but they are about six inches high - which is why they can't get out through the holes in the door. Chill out!
22/09/2012: DOGS have so much FUN. Also really envied the faux crocodile: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJm2srvm1f8&feature=player_embedded Swimming Machi discovers the dam
22/09/2012: Interesting poster: 'No religion is better than Islam'. Couldn't agree more, but for 'Islam' read 'ANY'! http://therealrevo.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/2012-09-21T092907Z_2_CBRE88K0N6G00_RTROPTP_2_FILM-PROTESTS.jpg
21/09/2012: THIS is FAR more disgusting than any
poor quality flick: "US Ambassador to
21/09/2012: Antarctic sea ice is well ABOVE its greatest extent (since satellite records began in 1979) whilst Arctic ice is at its lowest: The sheer QUANTITY of Antarctic ice as compared with Arctic ice is also mind boggling. HOW is this consistent with the theory of man-made global warming?http://www.nsidc.org/data/seaice_index/images/daily_images/S_stddev_timeseries.png nsidc.org
20/09/2012: Too good to be true: Pakistani man dies after inhaling fumes from burning American flags at anti-Islam film rally www.dailymail.co.uk Abdullah Ismail died after complaining of inhaling smoke from burning U.S. flags during a rally attended by 10,000 people in the Pakistan city of Lahore.
20/09/2012: Astonishing! Nature's art palette is so grand. People are always working on creative and new concepts to stretch their imaginations using the natural surroundings they live with everyday. All Natural Textiles Directory => http://www.farmerspal.com/organic-products/textiles/page/1/
19/09/2012: Went hiking with Bryn's little dog, Tiny. Expected to be out all week but unfortunately hurt my back so limped home. Here we see Tiny on her special hiking bed helping herself to some dog nuts and her caching some for later, just in case
19/09/2012: 'One man's religion IS another man's belly-laugh' (Lazarus Long, Time Enough for Love). It has ever been so. For those like me who find ALL religion AT BEST laughable and at worst indescribably wicked, Allah and Torquemada have AT BEST Death for me. Simple beheading would have been a mercy from Torquemada - and NEVER FORGET that HE was the way Christianity behaved when it last had the upper hand (AND WOULD AGAIN!) WHERE are the charges against people who make such vilifying demands or who claim 'fatwah' and 'jihad' against the likes of Sir Salman Rushdie whose 'Satanic Verses' would unilkely be published TODAY for fear of 'inflaming' (we HAVE slipped down that slope THAT far!). 'Today, Sir Salman described how multiculturalism’s “evil twin” was “moral relativism”, in which people accept actions from a “particular group for beliefs which you would condemn otherwise"…Yesterday it emerged that Iran has seized on widespread Muslim outrage over the film insulting the Prophet Mohammad to revive the death threat against Rushdie, raising the reward for killing him by $500,000.' Good Luck, Sir Salman! WHAT sort of religion of 'peace' causes a novelist to have to spend his life in hiding for fear of his life (and all his family's!)?
And REMEMBER THIS: ALL religions are MERE
inventions. There is NO MORE evidence for the historic Mohammed than there is
for the historic Christ (or Budddha, & etc). It is just as likely that
NEITHER existed or that if they did, that they espoused NONE of the views
attributed to them by their followers. There is a lesson to be learned from
the two most famous (deliberately) invented religions: Seraps and
Scientology. The Romans deliberately invented Seraps as a device to shore up
their political conquest of
19/09/2012: English IS a skill you just MIGHT need:
"in the
17/09/2012: How black can you get: "Wikileaks
founder Julian Assange has been offered an Aboriginal Nations passport in an
inner-city
16/09/2012:THIS conference
is taking place in
16/09/2012: Peter FitzSimons is spot on: "Racists have said for years, “If you don't like the way we do things here, go back to where you came from.” The net result of your actions yesterday is that – for those people specifically disgracing themselves in the CBD yesterday, not the vast bulk of Islamic Australians – much of the country now feels the same". Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/an-open-letter-20120915-25ziq.html#ixzz26ZYejX5s
16/09/2012: Disgraceful protests in
15/09/2012: THIS is what Linda Mottram thinks is OK: Ayaan Hirsi Ali's personal account, from her book Infidel, published by Free Press, 2007: http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2012/09/the-reality-of-female-genital-mutilation-grievous-bodily-harm.html
15/09/2012: No wonder if it was a little warm; perhaps it had something to do with the sun?: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/09/13/paper-demonstrates-solar-activity-was-at-a-grand-maxima-in-the-late-20th-century/#more-71007
15/09/2012: Barbara Ramjan (Is that a real name or an 'expletive deleted'?) wrote many letters to Honi Soit when she was at Sydney Uni in 1977 (often complaining about Tony Abbott when he was 19) but somehow she never mentioned the incident which she has just recalled now. Strange: http://www.thesydneyinstitute.com.au/media-watch-dog/ BUT Julia Gillard illegally conspired with Wilson and Blewett to set up a dummy Association to fleece hundreds of thousands of dollars with when she was a 35 year old lawyer - and THIS should be ignored?
15/09/2012: What is it about the Left that they
cannot distinguish evil from good: Linda Mottram, ABC 702 mornings host in
14/09/2012: I am a witness: I was NOT there in 1978 and I saw him not punch a wall!
14/09/2012: Who would have thought? http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100178585/wind-farms-cure-cancer-save-kittens-create-world-peace-says-new-wind-industry-report/
14/09/2012: Good on Bill & Melinda Gates for promoting 'golden rice' - this ban has been high on my list of greenie 'crimes against humanity' for a long time (along with their ban on DDT which has led to the deaths of over 100 million people!) This GMrice could save around 500,000 kids PER YEAR! Surely a worthy goal? http://www.climatedepot.com/a/17410/Former-Greenpeace-cofounder-Dr-Patrick-Moore-rips-Greenpeaces-Crime-Against-Humanity-for-opposing-Golden-Rice-which-can-eliminate-vitamin-A-deficiency
14/09/2012: A very fair point: 'How many British ambassadors did Christians kill after “The Life of Brian”?' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zjz16xjeBAA&feature=player_embedded
13/09/2012: Apparently Gillard is to make FURTHER cuts to Defence in her 'Xmas' mini-Budget as if having spending on Defence at ts lowest level since 1934 isn't bad enough: we are already SERIOUSLY not in any position to defend ourselves against obvious potential threats in our region. It is stupid to shovel out money willy-nilly on mad green schemes, immigration and welfare rorts etc if WE CAN'T DEFEND OURSELVES!!! We need to RAISE taxes: THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS A FREE LUNCH!!!
13/09/2012: Pity Kev & his mates killed Gaddafi.
Maybe the
12/09/2012: INCREDIBLY wasteful green dreams: http://menzieshouse.typepad.com/.a/6a012876778d82970c017d3bf508f3970c-pi
12/09/2012: Does your bullshit detector work on THIS one: "Between 2010 and 2099, climate change will cause an additional 30,000 murders, 200,000 cases of rape, 1.4 million aggravated assaults, 2.2 million simple assaults, 400,000 robberies, 3.2 million burglaries, 3.0 million cases of larceny, and 1.3 million cases of vehicle theft in the United States. " http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2111377 AMAZING what a hot afternoon makes you do...
12/09/2012: Anti-discrimination: I had forgotten
about this shocking incident: "This brought to mind the case of the
cricketer Denise Annetts, who in 1994 failed to be selected for the Test
series against
12/09/2012: MORE unintended consequences: the
eradication of feral cats on
12/09/2012: The 'Supertrawler': The fishery's catch has been halved (from the normal 20% of spawning adults pa to 10%) making this utterly sustainable. In this light I cannot see how one boat is worse than several. What IS undoubtedly worse is the increase in sovereign risk to our nation in making hasty chaotic desicions such as this. This is SO like the knee-jerk ban on live cattle exports which caused such economic chaos: eg WE lost HALF the value of our lamb crop that year because of it. Business has to have CERTAINTY: You can't just keep shifting the goal posts or you will drive ALL investment off-shore! Labor needs to DISTANCE itself MUCH further from the Greens.
12/09/2012: Syrian rebels executed another 20 Govt soldiers: You REALLY have to wonder about this 'Arab Spring' and whether ANY good can come of it: http://www.google.com.au/search?q=video+syria+execute&hl=en&safe=off&rls=com.microsoft%3Aen-US&tbm=vid&prmd=imvnsu&source=lnt&tbs=qdr%3Aw&sa=X&ei=R3tOUJa6BoSkmQWrtoGIAg&ved=0CCAQpwUoAw&bav=on.2%2Cor.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&biw=1429&bih=729&cad=h
11/09/2012: I was SO pleased that the Greens were thoroughly trashed in the recent NT election and the NSW local Council election. We can only hope that (like the Democrats) they are on their way out!
11/09/2012:You may have been hearing odd things about Stephan Lewandowsky and have missed the point, but THIS is how it works; bizarre: http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2012/08/a-truly-bad-study.html
11/09/2012:Photographers please note: http://vimeo.com/48425421
11/09/2012:SO many elephants in the room: It is astonishing (but true) that scientists had missed the FACT that total greenhouse warming is @ 10C, not 33C due to assigning erroneous reflectivity to the Earth, which means that any CHANGE to the 'greenhouse effect' from anything (eg adding more carbon dioxide) must be enormously LESS than conventionally thought (ie about 1C per doubling). The debate has mostly been about whether feedbacks would take that number up or down (down is increasingly likely) but NOT whether the number was wrong in the first place. Unfortunately for alarmists it IS and the feedbacks ARE negative - which means that there is NOTHING to worry about from CO2. Move along folks: http://joannenova.com.au/2012/09/do-greenhouse-gases-warm-the-planet-by-33c-jinan-cao-checks-the-numbers/
10/09/2012: SOME beetle (note size of man): http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/burn-06-art-car-vw-bug.jpg?w=640
'Burning Man' makes the Port Fairy Folk Festival et al look VERY tame: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/09/09/the-playa-willis-excellent-adventure/#more-70665
10/09/2012: "According to the ABS, excluding the tertiary
education sector, there were over one million state government employees in
NSW,
10/09/2012: Gina HAS done well, and DESERVES to be listened to more: "Let’s say you inherited $2600 back in 1992. Reckon you could’ve turned that into $1 million by now? According to leftists, it’s easy. This theory underpins general loser resentment at the fact that within 20 years Gina Rinehart has converted her $75 million inheritance into $29 billion. To put it another way: that inheritance represents just 0.258 per cent of Rinehart’s current estimated worth. Not bad, considering how little she started with." (Tim Blair) Recent falls in the price of iron ore has her down to 'only' $19 billion, but you get the point. Stephen Conroy (for contrast) wasn't sure whether the NBN cost of $35 billion included the $11 billion to Telstra or not (It doesn't). That's a $22 billion dollar difference, but it's not his money! More Australians like Gina and fewer like Gillard and Conroy would be a GOOD idea!
07/09/2012: I'm heartily sick of these constant blackouts! We are having a two-day one just now so I am typing this to the accompaniment of noisy petrol generators which we have the bush fires to thank for. We have had several of some hours, a few of some days and multiple of minutes over the last few years. The 'minute' ones are running at about three a week! I intend to utilise the five deep cycle batteries donated to us by John Fenech to run an inverter which will power our essentials: lights, water pump, heat pump water heater, wireless modem, laptops, TV...ie not much more than 1Kw. I will start by charging the batteries with a plug-in battery charger but will hook up some solar panels when I have a lazy grand or so, and use the battery charger as a back-up when the batteries are low. This will also help to cut the power bills, so it might even pay for itself over time.
THIS might be the unit to do it (@$489). Depends whether it can be plugged into the mains for battery charging (off-peak) and whether it is efficient enough to make a saving on the power bill (have asked the seller some questions), but if so, this might be a way for everyone to reduce their power bills now that smart meters offer off-peak prices AND one can always supplement by adding in some solar panels and/or a wind turbine. Worth a thought, especially if blackouts are a problem and if (like us) when the power goes off, so does the water pump, telephone, computers, internet, fridges, lights... http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=251104989935&fromMakeTrack=true#ht_8244wt_1186
05/09/2012: Sea Ice Beat-Ups: New Scientist has
summer Arctic sea ice at its least extent since Satellite measurement began
in 1979 and claims it is the lowest in 3 million years, yet I notice the
North-West Passage is not yet open, though Amundesen (and others) passed
through it. Simultaneously
05/09/2012: Wind farms do not reduce CO2 output at all; they only kill birds and bats: "The results showed fossil fuel generators, in the same periods when wind turbines had been operating, fluctuated their output to match demand but did not reduce their rate of coal consumption." http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/mirandadevine/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/surprise_surprise_wind_farms_do_nothing_for_the_environment_except_cause_np/
05/09/2012: Hunting about near Bruthen on Sunday with my boys (Matt & Bryn): a beautiful sunny day. Too bad the wet summers have thickened the bush up so much you can't even see the deer (though I heard lots). A beautiful sunny spring day: the wild fuschia, normally a vapid drab was a riot of scarlet bells! So many other wildflowers in bloom.
05/09/2012: Ju-Liar's 'ejucation revolution': "I was in the top class, but there were children who were what was referred to, very unkindly and all too frequently, as in veggie class. We were marked for success, they were marked for failure" at the 3:45 mark in http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-09-03/national-press-club-julia-gillard/4240430 Query: What is THE most astonishing thing about this statement? Clue: She can't have been talking about 'veggie maths'! I am tallying her post July 1 spends and promises @ $50 billion and receipts going West at nearly the same rate. This is a huge ('Veggie Maths') gulf!
04/09/2012: The Non-Aligned Summit in Teheran:
"At the opening of the conference, Khamenei made yet another feral,
anti-Semitic speech, shamelessly exhorting the world to annihilate
03/09/2012: The ideal present for a (retired) sheep farmer: (http://kartongroup.com.au/products/ram-cardboard-storage-furniture?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=18_35) - ie cardboard sheep storage: Facebook ads ARe weird!
03/09/2012: Famous philosophers can sure get it wrong: Here's Jean-Jacques Rousseau: "One half of the children who are born die before their eighth year…This is nature’s law; why contradict it?" ('Emile' 1762) He was also responsible for the 'noble savage' myth, you may remember. Lots of reasons why this prediction is wrong. A short video in an interesting contest well illustrates this (http://fb-266886.strutta.com/entry/280180) at FrackNation - Video Contest | Facebook fb-266886.strutta.com FrackNation.
01/09/2012:Do you suppose it IS true that Ju-Liar's many recent 'about-faces' represent a 'clearing of the decks' prior to holding an election and/or in anticipation of a successful Rudd challenge? Good heavens, DARE one hope they will be GONE THIS YEAR?
01/09/2012:I see Ju-Liar
has succeeded in having deleted
01/09/2012: I see that the Yinnar General Store now has the Mighty Wallet. Knowing that I am a lover of all things Tyvek, it will be no surprise to you that I have been using one of these for two years (and that it's great!). Recommendation: rush in there and get one today, (Bryn already has!) or maybe one of the zillions of other interesting gifts (eg for Father's Day)!
01/09/2012: On a more cheerful note, I am always delighted at the way 'nature' exploits any change as a positive: we have a puddle outside our bedroom window created by the device which flushes the bird poo off the roof every time it rains instead of putting it in the tank. It is a treasure, an oasis to countless birds and other critters. I have often noticed this: that some utter ugliness merely creates an opportunity. There is a 'wasteland' sand pit in Morwell which is just an apocalyptic landscape - except to plovers and osprey who find it the most wonderful breeding location! I once created an ugly slash of bulldozer track across the hillside. Visible for miles it was the object of many adverse comments. But this vertical bank was just what many snakes and lizards had been longing for. One day I observed a veritable flock (hundreds) of pardelotes emerging from nesting holes there; I think I had only ever seen a pair together elsewhere. National Parks as a tool for 'managing' nature are obviously a mistake - because of their Stalinist monolithic philosophy. What 'nature' really responds to is diversity. We should quit worrying about 'managing' nature and just get on with our business (whatever it is). Nature will benefit from the diversity of 'opportunities' created.
01/09/2012: The price of our iron ore (and other minerals) has plummeted (to less than half what they were at peak); real househole asset are falling; we are selling off the farm to the Chinese (Cubbie has just gone!); the unions are destroying Grollo in a shameful, criminal manner abetted by the Federal Government...Meanwhile that same Government announces mega-billions of unfunded new spending initiatives - does this remind you of 'Nero fiddled while Rome burned'? Next thing I expect to see Gillard marry her horse or her sister - as Caligula did!
31/08/2012: You CAN understand WHY people think like
this: More Diggers Needlessly Die: Larry Pickering: 31/08/2012: "What
the hell are we doing in that backward, barbaric country anyway? It's worth
noting that
31/08/2012: Mitt Romney's energy independence policy
IS (easily) achievable and will have VAST economic consequences (and watch
out
31/08/2012:Another 100
illegal immigrants drowned who also won't be going to
31/08/2012:The Government's latest backflip on the carbon tax is, if anything, even madder than the tax was in the first place: http://catallaxyfiles.com/2012/08/30/somersaults-and-a-belly-flop-carbon-tax-fails-on-all-counts/
31/08/2012: It might be the last day of winter but some things at least think it 's spring: this morning our attention was drawn to a jenny wren dining on a spider just outside on the bedroom window ledge where Della was beautifying herself about six inches away; suddenly a thorn-bill appeared and began to chase it up and down the verandah: nothing strange about that, I suppose; territory and all that. Then,he mounted her and they went at it with what seemed considerable eagerness until driven off by her justifiably infuriated mate, the blue wren. Such miscegenation is obviously deemed quite wrong among some denizens of the natural world at least, but not others. We await the results, if any...Meanwhile on the hill the galahs have been spectacularly dining on the onion grass which had badly infested the pasture and have practically ploughed the whole hillside. Whatever environment is obviously ideal for some. Magpies and currawongs (and countless parrots) have been drawn inexorably to the free dogfood on the verandah now that the (retired) maremma, Bianca has taken up residence tthere. This makes for quite an avaian visual (and for those who can) auditory feast aroundabouts. It has the added benefit of keeping hawks away from Della's pigeons as magpies of all kinds absolutely deplore and harrass all raptors; so I imagine the dog food on the verandah may remain long after the aged Maremma has departed...
29/08/2012:I suppose it is encouraging that there is
always a way to make money, but THIS is worrying: Unilever sees ‘return to
poverty’ in
29/08/2012: Just picture that it is Ju-Liar on the scaffold: http://maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com/uploads/gallows.jpg http://maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com/uploads/gallows.jpg maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com
28/08/2012: THIS is the solution in the http://www.coyoteblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/shower-heads.jpg
28/08/2012: A VERY reasoned response from Miranda Devine containing lengthy and enlightening quotes from Hedley Thomas. A VERY important document: http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/mirandadevine/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/media_silence_a_disgrace/ 28/08/2012: Next time you are thinking of having a noisy party, don't invite the Taliban: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/world/taliban-behead-17-party-goers-after-2-women-start-dancing/story-fnd134gw-1226459417988
28/08/2012: Next time you are thinking of having a noisy party, don't invite the Taliban: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/world/taliban-behead-17-party-goers-after-2-women-start-dancing/story-fnd134gw-1226459417988
28/08/2012: Michael Smith's revelations are
EXPLOSIVE (for example, it was illegal for Ju-Liar to set up the Association
her boyfriend
27/08/2012: Lest we forget: the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Milne Bay; we should remember that it was Aussies who there first defeated Japanese troops in open battle: http://www.awm.gov.au/units/event_345.asp
27/08/2012: Today's
27/08/2012: Alan Jones's and Phillipa Martyr's critiques of Gillards's interviews also make interesting reading: http://www.quadrant.org.au/blogs/qed The critical thing is whether Phil Coorey was RIGHT when he asserts Gillard did the conveyancing: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/pm-comes-out-swinging-over-claims-20120823-24p3s.html
26/08/2012: Maybe it's the hyphens? Otherwise how DO you explain the stupidity? How could you NOT be proud of Jacinda Baker? http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10829552
24/08/2012: So Long N.T. Goodbye Ju-liar!
24/08/2012: Aboriginal conservatives picking up 15-30% swings against the ALP: AND Bess Price looks like she may win Stuart! Great!
24/08/2012: Della Jones shared Glaucoma
A treatment available here that we can investigate. An Occasional Q&A:
Q: What can I expect from laser trabeculoplasty?
A: Selective Laser Trabeculoplasty (SLT) is a laser procedure that relieves increased eye pressure by changing the fluid outflow through the trabecular meshwork. When the fluid that normally flows out of the eye cannot drain through the trabecular meshwork, pressure inside the eye may rise. This rise in pressure could damage th e optic nerve and lead to vision loss (glaucoma). The reason for the blockage in the meshwork is unclear, but may be likened to leaves blocking a downpipe or gully trap.
The laser works by releasing local body chemicals that alter the ‘leakiness’ of the meshwork, allowing more fluid out of the eye and thereby decreasing the pressure. The particular benefit of SLT is that it may be repeated many times as there is no appreciable tissue damage.
Laser trabeculoplasty does not work in all patients, but likely benefit can often be predicted beforehand and appropriate patients selected. Patients with heavy pigmentation in the meshwork do best. The duration of effect of the laser is variable, with an average benefit of around 5 years. It may be necessary to supplement the laser with ongoing glaucoma medication, and it is generally unusual for pre-existing treatment to be able to be ceased, except in an exceptionally good response.
A laser trabeculoplasty is usually performed as an outpatient procedure. You will be given eyedrops to prepare the eye (one of which may cause a mild forehead ache). A contact lens is placed on your eye (after local anaesthetic drops) to precisely focus the laser. A laser trabeculoplasty takes only a few minutes. You may see a bright red light that is an aiming beam; the laser beam itself is invisible. You may feel a mild tingling sensation with each laser burn – there are 50-60 fine burns in a treatment, which is given over a half or sometimes a full circumference of the inside of the eye.
You will be asked to return after 30 minutes so that your pressure can be re-checked. Assuming it is normal, you will then be allowed home. There are usually no activity restrictions following the laser treatment, although you should have someone drive you home after the procedure. You will need to continue your usual glaucoma medication. The pressure is checked within a fortnight or so after the procedure, and then again at 5-6 weeks. It is not until this last visit that the success of the treatment is judged.
Complications Loss of vision after laser trabeculoplasty is rare. The main risks of the laser procedure are:
The pressure may rise after the treatment, sometimes requiring additional treatment. Significant inflammation is rare, but can occur. A second procedure or another type of surgery may be required.
Selective laser trabeculoplasty is a safe and effective procedure with few risks. While glaucoma treatments cannot restore vision already lost from glaucoma, early detection and treatment of glaucoma offers the best chance of preserving your vision.
24/08/2012:Just possibly Norway is too lenient: Brevik's sentence is approx 100 days' gaol per murder - which looks to me a little more like the punishment which might be meted out for double parking or spitting on the footpath! I go more for the hanging on a hook at the end of the street, boiling in oil, hanging drawing and quartering sort of thing for such offences, BUT I am an incurable romantic!
24/08/2012: NOT such a cunning stunt, Ju-liar: How can she claim she knew nothing about what the money was used for and ended her relationship with Wilson as soon as she found out WHEN: she DELIBERATELY performed ALL the legal work concerned WITHOUT placing it in the AWU file at Slater & Gordon; she attended the auction of the house the stolen money was used to pay or; she handled the conveyancing and cheques drawn from the dodgy
association she had helped set up; she continued her 'relationship' with
23/08/2012: What Curiosity is 'seeing' on Mars is really mind boggling. Suggest you play the Slide Show in Full Screen, here: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/multimedia/gallery-indexEvents.html
23/08/2012: When the 'Sex Discrimination Commissioner ' becomes responsible for Defence of the realm, we are REALLY in trouble: "It seems the Sex Discrimination Commissioner would rather the army fought sexists than enemy soldiers...She wants to temper the warrior culture...Face it, madam: the armed forces exist to kill people, and not improve their attitude to gender politics". http://www.smh.com.au/national/broderick-wants-adf-to-temper-its-warrior-culture-20120822-24msk.html#ixzz24JbOMdbp
22/08/2012: Move over Luke Skywalker, there now IS a flying bike: http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2012/08/finally-a-real-flying-star-wars-speeder-bike/
22/08/2012: Two interesting climate observations this morning: global cloud cover has decreased enough over the last 40 years to account for ALL observed changes in temperature (http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/08/20/spencers-cloud-hypothesis-confirmed/) AND contrary to the expectations of the 'warmists' the Southern Oceans have been cooling by -10Watts/sq metre:(http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/08/21/has-trenberths-missing-heat-been-found-southern-oceans-are-losing-heat/). Taken together with other observations (such as the inaccuracy of the thermometer record, AND the manipulation of that data), I think it is now quite likely that Earth has continued to COOL for ALL of the last century - as indicated by the temperature records of eg Cape Otway and Wilsons Prom. Interesting...
22/08/2012: REMEMBER this: ONLY back in June Ju-liar thought it was fine to be digging up dirt on the Opposition's past, but not HERS, apparently: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/sydney-news/dirt-file-author-nick-reece-hands-in-his-notice/story-fn7q4q9f-1226396027166
22/08/2012: Sadly, Phyllis Diller has died. A lot of laughs die with her: You may remember: “I once wore a peekaboo blouse. People would peek and then they’d boo.” & “I never made ‘Who’s Who,’ but I’m featured in ‘What’s That?’ ” & at 90: "I still take the pill 'cause I don't want any more grandchildren."http://www.heraldsun.com.au/entertainment/humourist-phyllis-diller-95-dies-with-a-smile-on-her-face/story-e6frf96x-1226454569582
22/08/2012: Part of Ju-Liar's transcript of
interview at Slater & Gordon is now up (more to follow). This woman has
ALWAYS been a (maybe not-so consumate) liar. REMEMBER THIS she is being
interviewed about improper (and/or illegal) legal and financial dealings
involving herself and her then (married) lover with whom she was openly
cheating on his wife - whom he went back to (good move!). I woud say it is
clear that S & G decided she was not a fit person to be a patrner in a
very left-wing law firm and either sacked her or required that she resign.
Clearly even moreso, she is not a fit person to be
an 'Honourabe' MP, and particularly a PM! Her response to all this is to
threaten and presage new restictions on the freedom of speech in
22/08/2012: THIS is what Peter Gordon says about it: "Nevertheless, the partnership was extremely unhappy with Ms Gillard considering that proper vigilance had not been observed and that (her) duties of utmost good faith to (her) partners especially as to timely disclosure had not been met...Ms Gillard elected to resign and we accepted her resignation without discussion." http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/law-firm-slater-gordons-axe-over-pm-julia-gillard/story-e6freuy9-1226454502942
21/08/2012: Ju-Liar: It just gets worse and worse: she will have to resign or be sacked: http://pickeringpost.com/article/is-the-prime-minister-a-crook-part-vii/386 Politics - Is The Prime Minister A Crook? Part VII -
The pickeringpost.com Young and naive, indeed.It appears that Nicola Roxon and Peter Van Sumbugger are the only two people left standing who are young and naive enough believe this is a Liberal Party beat-up...
20/08/2012: The swallows are back: a good dozen of them were scything the air above me this morning as I went round the lambs on the hill. I DO love their aerial agility; the quick flash of deepest blue as the sun darts off their backs as they sweep by. They always nest in the garage and make Pollocks of the cars. I WILL finish the wall and lock them out some day; then I will make ledges for them around the i nside edges of the verandahs.
They have multiplied greatly since we have been here; now we are seldom
troubled by mosquitoes. A friend used to kill his: bad karma I think - and HE
is no longer with us. I just wonder what they think of us 'stick in the
muds': lingering here when THEY have been to
20/08/2012: No more hounds! My family has been hound hunting in Oz for over a century but my back (and ears) will just not let me continue any longer with this great sport so yesterday I gave away my last four beagles to a young hunter who can make much better use of them: a very sad day.
20/08/2012: Also unsurprising is that windmills (which I find aesthetically pleasing even though they are useless and evil killing machines) actually produce MORE CO2 than what they are supposed to replace: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/08/18/mcintyres-talk-in-london-plus-the-uks-tilting-at-windmills-may-actually-increase-co2-emissions-over-natural-gas/#more-69484 and http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201213/cmselect/cmenergy/writev/517/m59.htm
20/08/2012: Two excellent plans for saving the world: 1 Using urine to absorb CO2: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/08/17/friday-funny-pissing-away-the-co2-alarm/#more-69463 and 2. Using dog poo to produce energy: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/08/19/climate-craziness-of-the-week-poo-power-from-your-dog/#more-69564 Unsurprisingly Ju-Liar has given this guy $45,000!
20/08/2012: I am old enough to remember that 'discrimination' once meant 'discernment'. When we have SOME sections of our community dreadfully over-represented ( 5-8 times!) in eg crime and welfare statistics, it is surely time to insist action be taken eg a character test rigorously applied to would-be immigrants: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/african-youth-crime-concern-20120819-24glt.html#ixzz24222Nf62
20/08/2012: SHE IS GOING DOWN! Part 6 of Larry Pickering's expose of the PM is here (https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Pickering-Post/385774778154872). His main sites have crashed partly at least due to DDOS attacks (guess where they are coming from?) Andrew Bolt also has some more on this affair this morning. Shorten, Howes Roxon & etc are also going to be drawn into this...Incredible stuff.
18/08/2012: I REALLY enjoy Matt Ridley's optimism: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/08/ff_apocalypsenot/all
17/08/2012: You think you have got it tough? Forget it. There are still over 20 million SLAVES in the world: http://www.infoplease.com/spot/slavery1.html
17/08/2012: Budding Slartibartfasts may enjoy THIS website which allows you to DESIGN planets. YES, REALLY. (cf Douglas Adams; 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy': http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slartibartfast): http://www.solarvoyager.com/tutorials.asp
17/08/2012: Sickening to hear Ju-liar in Parliament yesterday farewelling The Australian's Chief political correspondent, Matthew Franklin who had asked her a question two days ago: concerning Slater & Gordon's inability (or refusal) to disclose certain files and would she approve. The very next day he was given a 'package' and retired. Control of the Press anyone?
17/08/2012: Despite continual 'denial of service' attacks from 'hackers' Larry Pickering continues his systematic expose of Ju-Liar's criminal past in the fifth of his series 'is the PM a Criminal?' SOON she will have to go down in flames: http://lpickering.net/item/17113
17/08/2012: I cannot understand why Julian Asange's
supporters think he should not be extradited to
17/08/2012: Of course I WAS pleased to learn that the 67 illegal immigrants board the 'Parsifal' were alive (unlike nearly 1,000 who have died since Ju-liar destroyed the 'Pacific Solution', but I can't understand why they were NOT turned back to Indonesia (like those on board the 'Tampa') when they were 'recued' in Indonesian waters by a boat heading for Singapore! Huh?
16/08/2012: EXACTLY: "The two jewels in the crown of the communist’s mantra are “redistribution of wealth” and “control of the Press”. Is it too bold to supplant those two jewels with the “Carbon Tax” and the “Finkelstein Report”?": http://lpickering.net/item/16844
16/08/2012: Things we don't yet understand: Sprites:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=lETegYbiJJY
Sprites on Film: Filmed at 10,000 frames per second by
15/08/2012: This is dreadful: what doesn't the High Court understand? How much did it cost to buy the Court? Just appoint your crooked AWU mates a la the Gov-Gen. Sell up and take your assets elsewhere is my advice. THIS is what the Constitution says: "The acquisition of property on just terms from any State or person for any purpose in respect of which the Parliament has power to make laws:" Underline: 'for any purpose'!! Expletive deleted.
15/08/2012: There is hope for me yet: a brain transplant: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn22142-chimeric-birds-could-explain-how-brains-get-big.html
15/08/2012: THIS is the Central England Temperature (CET) dataset 1659-2012, the world's longest continuous thermometer record. The extent of temperature variation is NOT great @ +/- .5C and NO CAUSE FOR ALARM. It has been rapidly falling since c2000. The only two causes for alarm I can see are: it is maintained by the (Phil Jones - no relation) Hadley Centre UEA, scene of the 'Climategate' break-in AND that they admit "Since 1974 the data have been adjusted to allow for urban warming" so it could well be consistent with a century of COOLING such as is shown by the records from Cape Otway and Wilson's Prom I have often referred to in previous posts: http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/hadobs/hadcet/
15/08/2012: Larry Pickering a VERY courageous man
AND is going to bring Gillard down with his blog, AND SOON: His latest
offering:'Town Mode Fashions was owned by a Greek builder': I had wondered
that such a poorly dressed person had spent $17,000 on clothes; now we know
it was stolen AWU money spent on renovations to her house (AND Shorten - the
Governor-General's son-in-law - is deeply involved too!). Never in
15/08/2012: How the carbon tax has affected electricity prices; I make the annual average increase something like 250%: http://blogs.news.com.au/images/uploads/pricesss_thumb.jpg
15/08/2012: I am hoping the Govt loses the High Court case today concerning the extinguishment of (tobacco) brand names: practically the only two worthwhile constitutional rights we have are that the Govt can't 'establish' a religion (Govt aid to 'private' schools seems to have broken THAT one), and the Govt cannot compulsorily acquire private property without just compensation. The many laws which 'acquired' native vegetation on private land HAVE to be unconstitutional. IF the tobacco companies win today thousands of farmers MAY get the compensation owing them for their private freehold land use having been taken from them by such laws.
15/08/2012: SO, the 'Pacific Solution' without
'Temporary Protection Visas' will work? Labor: If it works, don't fix it!
Over 1,000 people dead and more new illegals arriving every fortnight than
arrived on the First Fleet is NOT GOOD POLICY! Get out of the kitchen! But as
you leave, take a look at the latest riots in
14/08/2012:I like THIS guy: "Sprouting bullshit such as 'our white skin is a result of the rape of the colonisers', they are no longer laughable and tolerable in small doses - they are promoting a view of life that just continues to perpetuate the victim mentality and does their cause no favours. When you point out to them that their identifying side of the family have continued to choose to marry white people willingly for longer than their living lifetime, and not as part of some forced assimilation program, you will be met with astonishment or indignation. " http://theblacksteamtrain.blogspot.com.au/
14/08/2012:At 13,500 pa
14/08/2012: Interesting things you can do with a 3D printer: http://www.gizmag.com/first-3d-printed-firearm/23473/
13/08/2012: Noel Pearson: this great Australian is in hospital undergoing treatment for cancer - let's hope he makes a full and speedy recovery. Read this article about him: http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/mirandadevine/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/cape_yorks_real_education_revolution/
13/08/2012: When you see how much Gillard and Wilson made off with it makes Thomson's thefts look like chicken feed: http://www.quadrant.org.au/blogs/qed/2012/08/this-is-about-taking-union-money
12/08/2012: Just playing around with this (http://www.livingto100.com/calculator) and I notice that as you get older, your life expectancy increases (which is nice - I guess you leave your ephemeral contemporaries for dead!), but it led me on to all these VERY old dudes (http://www.squidoo.com/how-to-live-to-150). The Indo woman MIGHT just be legit, but I much doubt 'Ben Abba's' 2800 yr old...
12/08/2012: Della gave me one of THESE new mats for my birthday and it's just awesome - can't wait to try it out: http://www.moontrail.com/therm-a-rest-neoair-xlite-womens.php
12/08/2012: The OTHER side of the gun control debate makes interesting reading, particularly the comments, eg"There is also other ample evidence that disarming law-abiding citizens (which implies a presumption of guilt before the fact) results in an increase of all crimes (including murder) most notably in the UK and Australia": http://junkscience.com/2012/08/10/larry-pratt-gun-control-creates-victims/#more-29602
12/08/2012: Wind turbines HAVE become very cheap on eBay so I was thinking about installing one such as THIS - maybe to help the solar panels run a small aircon on a really hot day next summer when the price per Kw/hr could be astronomical, but, maybe not: http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2012/08/every-single-time.html
11/08/2012: THIS is for me: http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2012/08/powdered-beer-and-soda-makes-roughing-it-not-so-rough/
11/08/2012: Is it any wonder Cardinal Pell has
described environmentalism as heresy? "The Archbishop of Canterbury is
writing a book in which he lambasts the government for shrinking the
State. In its current ‘shrunken’ form, the state accounts for around
half of the
11/08/2012: This is Nietzche. Fortunately we do not
have a right wing side of politics like this in
11/08/2012:It is unsurprising Ju-liar is not telling the truth about a few other things: http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/law_firm_wants_permission_to_release_its_wilson_files/
11/08/2012: "At the edge of a forest, German soldiers point their guns at rows of naked people who follow the Jewish religion. Among them are young mothers clutching their babies. The shots echo through the woods and the dead bodies fall into the ground. Down the road, while this is happening, their German army comrades are busy establishing nature walks and bird sanctuaries and planting trees. The Nazis conducted horrific experiments on children (I have seen footage so upsetting it can’t be shown on TV) but at the same time they banned medical experiments on animals. The same Nazi monsters who committed crimes of unimaginable barbarity also advocated vegetarianism, organic agriculture, forest preservation and homeopathic healthcare. How can we possibly explain this? What was the connection between the inhuman brutality of the Nazis and their gushing idealization of ‘Nature’?"http://www.martindurkin.com/blogs/nazi-greens-inconvenient-history
11/08/2012: Climate change aid money used to fund
forced sterilisation in
11/08/2012:The global carbon market was worth $176 bn in 2011, about the same as the global wheat trade, and the renewables investments added up to $243 bn in 2010. These are HUGE troughs - is it any wonder they attract pigs?
11/08/2012:'There is nothing “controversial” about
fracking. Fracking has been a common well completion practice for more than
50 years. The practice of large-scale fracking of shale formations is
somewhat more recent… But even that practice is 30 years old. Mitchell Energy
was fracking the Barnett Shale in North Texas and the Bossier Shale in
11/08/2012:The Sceptics' Olympics: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/08/10/friday-funny-climate-olympics/
11/08/2012: Some real imaginative Olympic events: though Della may have been interested in the pigeon racing she would probably have opposed the live pigeon shoot! http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2012/07/how-were-these-ever-considered-olympic-events/
Della Jones Fortunately they only held it once! I liked the duelling event with wax bullets!
11/08/2012: Matt Dennis shared: "Homeopaths do not have a physical brain, but merely 'skull water' with the memory of brains". -Robin Ince- Infinite Monkey Cage (Darren) |
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26/12/2012: And it's great to
think (if you're a nature lover) that every year less land is having to be devoted
just to feeding humanity, but as Ridley points out biofuels are destroying
nature: http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/peak-farmland-is-here.aspx
26/12/2012: "2012 has
been the greatest year in the history of the world. That sounds like an extravagant
claim, but it is borne out by evidence. Never has there been less hunger, less
disease or more prosperity. The West remains in the economic doldrums, but most
developing countries are charging ahead, and people are being lifted out of
poverty at the fastest rate ever recorded. The death toll inflicted by war and
natural disasters is also mercifully low. We are living in a golden age."
25/12/2012: Top ten science
discoveries for 2012: (as I have observed before: the world just keeps getting
better and better!) We have been watching Stephen Hawking's wonderful programme
lately and would, therefore probably vote for the brain-machine interface, but
as an historian I am drawn to the Denisovan's DNA...:
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/12/23/the-higgs-boson-takes-science-center-stage-for-2012/#more-76150
24/12/2012: A great article by
Miranda about Labor's most recent proposed apology, this time to the adopted,
"Today we have banished all stigma, so it is perfectly tolerable for young
women to have babies to a variety of feckless men on the taxpayer tab, leaving
the children vulnerable to sexual abuse, violence and neglect. This is an
epidemic. ":
http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/mirandadevine/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/demonising_adoption_dishonours_its_heroes/
24/12/2012: A different
perspective on gun control here:
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/12/20/A-Real-Public-Opinion-Poll-8-000-People-A-Day-Join-NRA-Since-Dec-14
and here: http://moonbattery.com/?p=22852
23/12/2012: Well Santa, time
to 'fess up: http://moonbattery.com/?p=22807
23/12/2012: Schapelle:
Astonishing, if true: "The boogie board's weight recorded at Brisbane
domestic departures, Sydney domestic arrivals and Sydney International check-in
did not include the 4.2k weight of any hooch... but it did when it arrived at
Denpasar."
http://pickeringpost.com/article/carr-should-have-a-date-with-corby/844
22/12/2012: We have
outstanding governments in the West: if a problem can be 'solved' by introducing
regulations, you can be sure they have already done it before we were even
aware there was a problem; conversely if a problem can be created or
exacerbated by wasting money, you can be certain they have done that too!
22/12/2012: In
21/12/2012:
21/12/2012: The leaked IPCC
AR5 report shows that 'Global Warming' was basically a 'Chicken Little' ploy
& we can all get on with our lives (even on this LAST of all days!) NOW all
we need to do is get rid of this carbon tax and the shambolic government behind
it...http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323981504578179291222227104.html
20/12/2012: Swan discovers there
will be no surplus. Soon he will discover Gillard is not a virgin! What a
circus!
20/12/2012: The importance of
string: ultralight thongs made from shoe inserts: 58 grams the pair in Size 8. Great
for camp shoes, river crossings etc. Also: the Gossamer Gear Sitlight Pad @ 30
grams (apart from keeping your bum dry for lunches on wet days) will make two
pairs of same with the addition of a bit of string. If your hiking shoes let
you down this tip may get you out of a lot of trouble:
http://www.trailquest.net/sandals.html My knots are different form Brawny’s : I
pass a (doubled) loop up through the gap between the big toes and have an
overhand knot under the thong. The two ends come up through each side of the
thong towards the rear (as with normal thongs) and are joined to the loop with
two overhand knots. To make into sandals a bit of elastic either over the top
of the foot or around the heel and joined to the strings at the rear where they
emerge on the top side of the thong works well and would ensure they stay on
during river crossings.
16/12/2012: Zeno's boat: Zeno,
as you may know was an ancient Greek Sceptic philosopher, the inventor of many
interesting paradoxes. I like this one (with apologies TO Zeno). Suppose a man
over many years repairs a boat by replacing one plank at a time... After a long
time he has replaced all the planks: Is it the same boat? Suppose as well, that
another man collects the discarded planks of the first man and constructs a
boat (albeit very gradually - and it would not be much of a boat!). Eventually
the second man completes HIS boat. NOW, which is the original boat? Memory is
like that. What makes us individuals is our memory, but it is forever changing
(like the planks in the boat). When we are 12 we can remember many pre-school
experiences. When we are twenty, we can still remember our primary school, but
our earlier experiences have slipped. Now that we are sixty! (Can that really
be true?) there is not much left of our secondary school experiences (or even
our University ones) - indeed if you are like me you probably can't remember
where you left your shoes or your car keys! Were they yours at all? Who are
you? The upshot is: are we the same person? By imprisoning someone for the term
of his natural life (whatever s/he has done) we are in effect after a time
punishing an innocent person because their memories dictate they are no longer
the person who committed that horrific crime. They no longer remember it. Therefore,
they should have been executed at the time of the crime so that we were
actually punishing the criminal and not some new person whom they have become
over time. Society gets the added benefit of being able to use their unneeded
organs to save other lives - and huge economies on the cost of prisons. By the
same token, sometimes (as happened recently) a long-term prisoner recalls that
he (it almost always is) recalls an earlier horrific crime (Camillieri just
did, for example) and someone's loved one at last finds rest and peace. Life
and death are such difficult issues. Mind you if we were allowed to use torture
and truth drugs on such proven criminals at the time (before they were quite
properly executed) we could have found out the truth of all their previous
crimes back then. Of course, many puzzling books would not have been written
about
16/12/2012: This article
(http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/12/12/and-now-for-something-completely-different/#more-75600)
and this book
(http://www.amazon.com/Hormones-with-Harmony-ebook/dp/B00AK0LUGS/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1355320806&sr=1-1&keywords=hormones+with+harmony#reader_B00AK0LUGS)
are too important to ignore: it IS for example inarguable that Vietnamese suffer
only one fortieth of the prostate cancer that Europeans do AND that the key
difference is DIET. (There are many other conditions - including female ones -
which are equally affected by what foods we eat.
16/12/2012: IPCC AR5: who'd
have thought it? NOTHING to worry about. How long before this gets buried by
the alarmists:
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/12/13/ipcc-ar5-draft-leaked-contains-game-changing-admission-of-enhanced-solar-forcing/
16/12/2012: A fascinating
article (and please pursue it to other articles by the amazing Rob Dunn:
http://www.robrdunn.com/)
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/The-Mystery-of-the-Singing-Mice.html#ixzz1Jw33OqiH
16/12/2012: "A well
regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a
15/12/2012: Gun control is too
simple, we need to stamp out THESE feelings (Macbeth Act5,Scene5):
"To-morrow, and
to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from
day to day
To the last syllable of
recorded time,
And all our yesterdays have
lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out,
out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a
poor player
That struts and frets his hour
upon the stage
And then is
heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of
sound and fury,
Signifying nothing
...I gin to be aweary of the
sun,
And wish the estate o' the
world were now undone."
15/12/2012: Not a lot of cars
are still hand made (though Land Rover Defenders spring to mind) but there IS
something very beautiful about the making of this Morgan roadster, something
which they have been doing since 1908:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/motoringvideo/9727841/Making-of-the-new-Morgan-Plus-8-in-two-minutes.html
14/12/2012: In a similar vein:
a cart pulled by a lion, two goats and a bear: the only way to travel, scroll
down: http://www.deltabluez.blogspot.com.au/2012/12/some-more-cart-photos.html
14/12/2012: A fur coat for the
animal libbers amongst you: you will have to SEE this to believe it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fB0jml3iLBc&feature=player_embedded
14/12/2012: Saved 2500 kids
and didn't win the Nobel Peace Prize, (but Obama and Al Gore DID!) Phooey!
Bravo Irena Sendler, Died 12 May 2008
(aged 98)
”During WWII, Irena, got
permission to work in the
14/12/2012: CITIZENSHIP ought
NOT be a guaranteed right. Anyone's citizenship should be cancelled if they
continue to BE non-citizens. The issue of whether some other country would take
them or whether they should be deported is a different matter, but in many
cases the answer to the second question is, 'Yes,' emphatically, 'YES!' In the
past OSTRACISM was a common and deserved penalty. I see no reason why i
t should not continue to be.
Most criminals have surely richly earned the withdrawal of the benefits of
citizenship whatever other penalty they may suffer. As for 'refugees' and
immigrants who have 95%+ Centrelink dependency (and no English language skills)
after 5 years' residence have long since EARNED the big kick back to where they
came from!
14/12/2012: We have to stamp
out this vile practice which is hardly done by suppressing the offenders'
names; better to deport them and adopt out the daughter:
http://bunyipitude.blogspot.com.au/2012/12/ssssshhh-better-that-we-dont-know.html
13/12/2012: The right thing to
do in a crisis: reach out a helping hand or reach for your smart phone: there
is no contest, is there - at least in
13/12/2012: AND THIS is even
worse still, absolutely horrific:
http://www.rehabs.com/explore/meth-before-and-after-drugs/infographic.html#.UMj6AneT9_R
13/12/2012: Even WORSE than I
thought, Miranda: "PRIMARY students have a “substantial problem” in
reading, with 25 per cent failing to meet the minimum standard for their age in
international tests, while maths and science skills in primary and high school
have stagnated over the past 16 years...In the first international test of
primary students, Australian year 4 students scored the lowest of the
English-speaking nations in reading, ranked 27th out of 48 countries tested,
comparable to Bulgaria, Slovenia and Lithuania...Australian school spending
grew 44% from 2000-09, far more than the OECD average, yet our students’
reading and maths scores plummeted over that period. They were thrashed by
students in larger classes in countries which spent far less...our average
class size is 23, yet in reading and science our students are one to two years
behind their peers in Shanghai, where the average class size is 40, according
to a report by the Grattan Institute, and we’re more than two years behind in
maths": http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/mirandadevine/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/proof_our_students_are_not_being_taught_properly/
13/12/2012: Good work lass:
THIS is where it starts and it ends with Jill Meagher & etc dead: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/law-order/infrared-camera-snaps-thief-stealing-underwa/story-fnat7jfp-1226533663639?sv=4aa02a7afb53d50c06250174bc0b97f2#.UMVttprZt6c.twitter
13/12/2012: AND so many
sinister proposals to restrict our freedom of speech on the basis of such
nonsense!
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=512532708767745&set=a.456449604376056.98921.367116489976035&type=1&theater
12/12/2012: Numerologically an
auspicious day: also 15,000 days with my beloved, Della - so much cause for celebration!
Della Jones "And thanks for the lovely celebratory lunch! It still doesn't
sound like very much when you count in days though..." AND 30,000 days
doesn't sound like a VERY long life - but it IS!
12/12/2012: Which 'rant' only
inspires me to comment on the latest evidence of 'success' from the NBN
programme with 15% of houses it passes taking it up! THAT was certainly worth
spending $50+ billion on. Of course in time the rest of us will not have the
choice of continuing with ADSL@+ (or progressing to VDSL) etc at a much more
modest cost. And forget about having the telephone when there is a bushfire or
like emergency. Of course disasters such as that will never happen again now
that we have the social managers par excellence in charge!
12/12/2012: The 'Education
Revolution' and the School (Gillard) Halls didn't do it: we are now ranked 27th
educationally. We are apparently being dragged down 'by the tail' in the
statistics. This is no surprise to me. We have been paying all sorts of people
to breed, migrate, 'educate' our young etc for decades. We have just about
completely (as a country) lost the ability to do anything right. In education,
for example toys and glitz and smaller classes fronted by educational pygmies
will not cut it. In
9/12/2012: Shearing today; incredible
that we will be finished before lunch instead of going on for 4-5 days. Ah,
retirement...
9/12/2012: Thank You, John. A
very important talk: we ignore it at our peril:
http://www.quadrant.org.au/magazine/issue/2012/12/the-importance-of-knowing-where-we-came-from
9/12/2012: Rather a lot of
very careful fuel reduction burning being undertaken by our environmental
custodians: would have zero effect on our CO2 emissions, no doubt:
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/12/08/earth-at-night-wildfires-in-australia/#more-75457
9/12/2012: Extraordinary
Government waste: Had a visit (you probably did too) from a sub-continental
youth handing out Green largesse: energy efficient power board/s, CFL light-globes
and a chimney blocker were the goodies on offer. All of absolutely no use to
me. He seemed mystified I did not want
these 'free' goodies. I pointed out to him that we had installed CFLs in the
1990's and that we had since replaced the wretched things with much better
LEDs. Our power board had a much more energy efficient off SWITCH. We have a
pot-belly stove...Once, people could be counted on to look after themselves.
NOW manna is being forced on us by newly arrived migrants, no less - on behalf
of our nanny-state Govt. What a great country we have built! Meanwhile in Glebe
(where I once lived) an enquiry is being held into the tragic disappearance of
a little girl from a family of 13 who have lived in
8/12/2012: DILEMMA: Do I
believe in democracy OR human rights? The democratically elected Government of
8/12/2012: As a cat lover I am
glad that 'Moggie' is not all bad. When they were eliminated recently on
8/12/2012: 100 YEARS OLD
TODAY: Not me, the YINNAR GENERAL STORE - though we probably BOTH look it! Come
on down, listen to the Strzelecki Stringbusters, have a sausage, socialise and
browse. See you there @ 11:00am!
7/12/2012:
7/12/2012: You SHOULD read
THIS article. Surely we all know by now Malthus (and his Club of Rome and
greenie followers) were WRONG, WRONG, WRONG on how/why GROWTH occurs. (The
population/ecological doom he predicted were a mirage). Keynesian economics is
simply Malthus' heir - and is equally false! Governments continue to throw
billions of dollars of precious capital away on this utterly false premise (the
recent Reserve Bank interest rate cut is but the latest example of this). BUT
what if the whole economic edifice on which Keynesianism was based is UTTERLY
FALSE? Read Steve Kates:
http://www.quadrant.org.au/blogs/qed/2012/12/how-economies-really-work
7/12/2012: Lord Monckton has
been evicted from the
7/12/2012: The Carbon Tax is
certainly working: this week we had the coldest day on record in Canberra,
Antarctic ice is at an historic maximum, and in India the glaciers have all
grown back - pity Al Gore: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-12-03/india/35569707_1_bara-shigri-glaciers-snowfall
7/12/2012: Our anti-Semitic
Government is at it again: “Bob Carr has had
6/12/2012: Whodathought?
Idiots in
8/12/2012: We bought a tray
back camper from fourwheelcampers.com in
6/12/2012: The bad news is we
DO have to buy another vehicle to carry the camper around as the 110 Defender
IS too short and its GVM too little. The GOOD news is we have found one and put
a deposit on it. There will be MUCH retrofitting of gear from one vehicle to
another: (Diff Locks including front and rear axles, secondary batteries, trays....)
but eventually we WILL have safe 4WD
camping holidays in disgusting LUXURY!
6/12/2012: Our solar system is
SUCH an amazing place: just this week we had news of organics (if not life -
NASA is still being very cautious here) on Mars, and now ICE on Mercury. Who'd
have believed there is a habitable zone on a planet generally hot enough to
melt lead? Beneath the seas on Titan too life MAY lurk. Out further on the
growing numbers of discovered planets circling other suns, some in our
neighbourhood even (ie the Centaur), who yet knows what may lurk ('Beware the
Blob'): http://www.space.com/18695-water-ice-mercury-explained-infographic.html
6/12/2012: For those of you of
a greener persuasion, here is Tim Flannery's company Geodynamics practicing FRACKING
to produce 'clean green energy'. No doubt this is OK when you are out to 'save
the world' and fleece the taxpayers of over $90 million in subsidies for
impractical 'renewable' schemes but not OK when you are going to provide energy
consumers with cheap, plentiful natural gas or petroleum. Of course this is
brought to you by a man who predicted sea level rise of metres and then bought
a seaside villa (as did Al Gore). They are such shams and shamans these green
preachers: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/12/05/another-kind-of-fracking-this-produces-geothermal-energy/
5/12/2012: I also do not understand the Left's rejection
of Israeli democracy and their courting of dangerous Islamists: the 'Arab Spring'
and the 'caliphate' have brought some of the worst human conditions we have
ever seen. Supporting such movements is surely a form of collective suicide!
5/12/2012: I do not understand
the crazy 'economists' in the Reserve Bank & etc who continue to impose
interest rate cuts so that the financially irresponsible can borrow more money
to spend on toys and frivolities whilst savers are forced into ever riskier
investments in an attempt to defend their savings.
4/12/2012: Julia Gillard has
come up with an idea to cut everyone's power bills in half. Every household in
4/12/2012: Well done Alanis!
Interesting figure here: "
4/12/2012: A growth industry:
It is extraordinary that when he sang a song in his own 'language' people were
so moved to tears they did not notice it was gibberish
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/who-can-it-be-now-20121126-2a25w.html
4/12/2012: Climate alarmism is
SUCH bad algebra: Let's see, 9% rise in CO2 = zero warming for 16 years,
therefore warming effect of CO2 = zero. Anything multiplied by zero
is...well...zero, so 100% increase in CO2 = zero warming, and so on... Relax.
Chill out folks! Snow here today, by the
way - and Della REFUSES to go hiking at
3/12/2012: Here was Ju-Liar in
1992 helping her boyfriend Wilson steal the entire $800,000 plus of a workers'
funeral fund. The money 'disappeared' and none was ever recovered. Of course
SHE says 'I did nothing wrong' and we all believe her, don't we:
http://michaelsmithnews.typepad.com/.a/6a0177444b0c2e970d017d3e5fd1eb970c-pi
3/12/2012: Is it possible that
an article about 'yawning' can be too long - an interesting social experiment
or a digression into recursion perhaps: http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/the-mystery-of-why-we-yawn.aspx
3/12/2012: More prosaic
doings: I am building a set of stairs for the Defender's trayback camper so our
'Tiny' dog can more easily access it - less importantly it will assist us aging
folks too. Made a prototype out of timber to see how that works (they look and
work great but are too heavy). Della zipped up them with her arms folded - so
they passed an important test there. Some time this morning will be devoted to
converting those ideas into lightweight aluminium. Stairs are more complicated
than you would think. Unfortunately I think I need to convert the 110 Defender
to a 130 as the camper has too much overhang and the steering is compromised: I
suspect the easiest way around this (unfortunately) is to buy another vehicle!
3/12/2012: Related but scarey
news: our Government is 'forced' to vote against
3/12/2012:Who would have
thought: asylum seekers in
2/12/2012: LIFE: Rumour has it
that NASA is about to announce on Monday that Curiosity has found evidence of
LIFE ON MARS! Watch this space...We are NOT alone...Do/did the Martians have a
god? Is it one of the same million gods we have on Earth? Move over Orson
Welles! This could be interesting...
30/11/2012: How things work:
not necessarily how you think they do:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9707029/Two-thirds-of-millionaires-left-Britain-to-avoid-50p-tax-rate.html
30/11/2012: If this invention
pans out I may be able to pay for the beer I drink with the electricity I am
able to sell:
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/urine-powered-generator-unveiled-international-exhibition-234718329.html
30/11/2012: I may need one
sooner than this as mine is beginning to wear out!
http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/synthetic-brains-by-2030.aspx
29/11/2012: Charming people in
28/11/2012: Burt Rutan, the
engineer who brought us http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceShipOne (amongst many
other aeronautical marvels) gives his take on AGW, HERE:
http://rps3.com/Pages/Burt_Rutan_on_Climate_Change.htm or HERE:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gm8vaH8LEV0
28/11/2012: Josh Frydenberg
certainly looks and sounds like the real thing. A future PM in waiting?
http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/mirandadevine/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/a_litany_of_failure/
28/11/2012: Listen up Bruce:
plastic notes were introduced in 1988: the dog did NOT eat your homework; but
obviously you ARE such a lying stupid shite that you really needed the help of
a good CRIMINAL lawyer - and you got it!
28/11/2012: IF this does not
make sense to you: Wilson explained on the 7:30 report that Blewitt buried the
money (stolen c1993-5) and that it rotted and was thrown away AND that Wilson
indeed DID need Ju-liar's help to fill in the forms which he used to steal the
money in the first place! With friends like him...
26/11/2012: Just like the rest
of the human race our Prime Minister cannot have been in Perth on 4 Feb 1993 to
witness Ralph Blewitt's signature on the 'Power of Attorney' document (which
allowed Wilson to launder $100,000 plus of stolen AWU money into their house in
Fitzroy) AND have kept appointments in Melbourne ON THE SAME DAY. Someone WILL
have a record of her presence in the office in
25/11/2012: I have Della
working on this pigeon puzzle:
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/PrintNews.aspx?PageID=383&NID=35334
25/11/2012: Interesting
observation: "If you want to destroy an infantry unit, you cut it off from
its neighbouring units. If you want to destroy a generation, you cut it off
from previous generations," CS Lewis
25/11/2012: An answer to a
question you never dared to ask: If you went outside and lay down on your back
with your mouth open, how long would you have to wait until a bird pooped in
it?: http://what-if.xkcd.com/11/
25/11/2012: Bravo: Johanna
Quaas, an 86-year-old who has just entered the record books as the world’s
oldest gymnast. Displaying astonishing balance, strength and flexibility, she
performed routines on the floor and parallel bars that would put someone
decades younger to shame:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2bOED5LzZw&feature=player_embedded
24/11/2012: For those of you
who (irrationally) fear DEATH, an interesting article in this week's New
Scientist by Shelly Kagan, 'Don't Fear the Reaper' who'proves' pretty well I
thought that such fears are inappropriate (unless you happen to believe
strongly in an after-life which involves imminent purgatory anyway!) http://www.scribd.com/doc/110795988/Death-Don-t-Fear-the-Reaper-Opinion-22-October-2012-New-Scientist
24/11/2012: AND, for those of
you who have concluded that the
24/11/2012: HERE is a question
you may never have wanted to know the answer to, so suck eggs: Can a machine
gun fired downwards produce enough lift to make itself into a jet-pack?
Surprisingly, (for the Kalashnikov at least, the doyen of the Jihadist set) the
answer is, 'Yes!': http://what-if.xkcd.com/21/
22/11/2012: Tony Jones
attacking Shorten about the 'Wilson Affair' (last night) AND Leigh Sales interviewing
Ralph Blewitt about same. Ralph back from Indo. to give protected witness
information about the crime. Aunty has never gone there before! Doomed Gillard,
doomed. And Roxon (the nation's chief LAW officer!) says she has INVESTIGATED
the matter and that Ju-liar did no WRONG. Lots of folks will want to see a HARD
COPY of that investigation's report! She SHOULD know as she was a 'friend' of
Shorten, Gillard,
22/11/2012: A MUST READ: 10
climate myths definitively debunked: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/11/20/myths-and-facts-about-global-warming/
22/11/2012: I never cease to
be amazed that there are believers in the 'supernatural'. HOW is it that there
are people who do no KNOW there is NOTHING which is not NATURAL?
21/11/2012: The MISMATCH
between what the models predict and what is observed has been widening. It
really seems likely we are in for a protracted period of global cooling (30+
years) which WILL make it increasingly harder to feed the world's growing
population - unless there is another Norman Borlag working on it: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/11/19/cooling-in-the-near-future/#more-74502
& especially THIS graaphic: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-swrAyQv92WQ/UKaQK0EtnjI/AAAAAAAAADk/QtkphzCbCog/s400/hansen.gif
20/11/2012: UTTER NONSENSE
from the World Bank (& the ABC as usual) about imminent climate
catastrophe: predicting a 4C warmer world by 2100 & etc, ad nauseum. If
they were elongating the graph for the last 16 years the prediction would be
0C. If they were basing predictions on what has happened in the last 100 years
at Cape Otway and Wilsons Prom (for example) the climate would be ANOTHER 2C
COLDER than it is now. Bankers WANT TO MAKE MONEY FROM CARBON TRADING. It IS
THAT simple!
20/11/2012: Makita
Rechargeable Angle Grinder: this wonderful tool is available in a 3-pack from
Bunnings @ $599 - also includes drill and impact driver. Have tried out the
drill & the angle grinder and they are superb! Big recommend from me for
Xmas present for the one you love! Mind you, I HAVE bought some Westfarmers
shares so I have a vested interest in Bunnings Xmas sale - but it remains a
pretty good bargain all the same!
20/11/2012: I am busily trying
to convert the proceeds from the sale of the farm into income producing shares
at the moment having tippy toed around on eggshells for months not doing much
about it. This is a VERY stressful procedure. Each day I examine our holdings
so far to see how much we have lost now! Mind you wanting to sell a small draft
of excess sheep we still have and this remains even WORSE financially! A pot of
gold at the end of the rainbow would be nicer!
19/11/2012: And, while I am on
the topic of welding: I used to think the angle grinder was just about the best
invention EVER. NOW, I own a Makita rechargeable 115mm angle grinder courtesy
of Father's Day (WHAT an institution!) and Wowee! does it rock! I have cut up
all the steel for the abovementioned stock crate with it, and it was a breeze.
There is no way now that the DSE/Parks Vic etc will be locking me out of any
public land where I wish to go - though I have noticed that usually some other
public minded citizen has beaten me to it: the Moroka Creek Track where
Herculean work was overthrown springs to mind...
19/11/2012: Blast! The pure
sine wave inverter which I ordered from Ebay is faulty and won't work Della's
40 watt hair straightener (or even a 130 watt Dremel either). Trying to get
everything in the camper set up so we can try it out, but I keep being thwarted.
Oh well, back to welding a new stock crate for the Defender so we can sell some
sheep. Not enough now to afford a carrier, so we have to take them to market
ourselves!
18/11/2012: Whilst NOT on the
subject of politics I don't know whether I posted a report on my Six Moon
Designs Dyneema pack, the Swift - which I think Della gave me earlier for Xmas.
It has proved wonderfully comfortable and durable. It would be hard to beat in
a 428 gram pack (@$110!). I switched the waist belt for a single one as I had
difficulty doing the double one up (arthritis,stoutness). I have snagged the
netting side pockets on blackberries and would recommend they make them out of
Dyneema too. The roll-top closure is interesting. The pack is big enough (for
me) to carry everything I need for a week's hike (which it did on the Dusky
Track NZ in April). I recommend too the Thermarest Women's NeoAir XLite mat @
320 g and the Montbell UL Super Spiral Down Hugger #3 sleeping bag @ 624g which
together bring the 'big three' to under 1400 grams total! Add @ 500 grams for
my new Tyvek tent!
18/11/2012: I have been
thinking about my Tyvek tent designs again: I believe I can now make an @ 6
foot high, zero condensation 'fire' tent for 2-4 people which will weigh under
one kilo including floor and zipperless mosquito netting and which will set up
against a tree or with the aid of a hiking pole/stick. Similarly I think I can
make a one person design (with about 1.5 mtre head height) @ about 500 grams.
It will be a few days before I have time to cut them out and make them as I
have other projects. The beauty of Tyvek is: it is (relatively) fire/spark
resistant (800C); it can be joined/repaired with tape; it is waterproof and
breathable; it comes in 3 metre roll widths; it can withstand 160 km winds; it
is cheap (30 metre roll @ $180; ie 4-5 tents per roll); it does not drape; it
weighs 1.7 oz/ sq yd (50gsm); it is white and has an R-rating so reflects and
retains heat well - so wonderful for a winter fire heated tent. To my mind, a
tent where you cannot stand/sit out of the rain whilst being warmed by a fire
is pointless. Am also working on a sub 100 gram fire heated electric generator
for charging batteries or electronic gear such as eBook readers/music players.
You see, not ALL my posts are about politics. Indeed, if the pollies would get
their acts together, proabably none would be - there ARE more interesting
things. I have no interest in making money out of these tents so will probably
post the completed designs for interested folks in future. You do not need to
be able to sew to make a Tyvek tent as it does not fray, can be joined with
tape and works well with tarp holder tie-outs.
17/11/2012: Supposing
terrorists who believed
16/11/2012: WHEN will Gillard
declare a Royal Commission into UNION corruption? When Hell freezes over! It is
interesting though isn't it that $5,000 was paid by
14/11/2012: I am NOT in favour
of the rape of pre-pubescent children. Far from it. DEATH is too good for the
perpetrators, in my opinion. BUT a Royal Commission WITCH HUNT into the
nation's underage sexuality is surely silly at best and a waste of money: the
criminal law already exists. Consider this: the age at which the average
Australian first experiences sexual penetration has, for many, many years been
below the legal age of consent. What that means is that the average Australian
has been a victim of or a perpetrator of child sexual abuse. I DON"T think
so. The definitions are ALL wrong. Everyone has a sex life of some sort.
Providing that it is consensual (and post pubescent) it seems unlikely that it
should concern the law or any Commission, rather than being just a private
matter. Society surely should only become involved where there is harm and/or
force. An example: tens of thousands of Australians have (foolishly perhaps)
posted underage explicit photos of themselves on their phones etc. Bizarrely
the law deems that they have committed a child sexual offence and should spend
their lives on the sex offenders' register, be prevented from ever getting a
job working with children & etc. The whole legal position of sexual
activity clearly needs quite a tidy up which would be a much better use of
society's scarce resources than a Royal Commission. Look how much good all
previous Royal Commissions did! It is a nonsense.
14/11/2012: More tests for
Ju-liar today. A union official admits he paid money into Julia's account for
Bruce Wilson, and Slater & Gordon confirm Julia acted on the conveyancing
file! Doomed, surely? http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/awu_scandal_5000_put_in_gillards_account_claims_whistleblower/
11/11/2012: THIS is rather
neat:http://www.gizmag.com/clock-clock-analog-digital/24918/
09/11/2012: Amazing: Take
professional photographs with your iphone: http://www.iprolens.com/
09/11/2012: When I saw that
the crucial letter was missing, I wondered whether perhaps someone on the other
side of politics had 'borrowed' it, perhaps to produce in the midst of an
election campaign. Nice to know that at least it still exists (and WIL
L see the light of day).
Ju-liar IS doomed. Rudd's most recent behaviour indicates HE thinks so too : http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2012/11/the-letter-to-the-wa-corporate-affairs-commissioner-from-julia-gillard.html
09/11/2012: THIS is what has
already happpened: Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-59): "A democracy cannot
exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters
discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From
that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most
benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always
collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The
average age of the world’s greatest civilizations has been 200 years...When the
taste for physical gratifications among them has grown more rapidly than their
education...the time will come when men are carried away and lose all
self-restraint...It is not necessary to do violence to such a people in order
to strip them of the rights they enjoy; they themselves willingly loosen their
hold...they neglect their chief business which is to remain their own masters."
09/11/2012: When I look at the
satellite temperature records the two things that strike me most are their
relative stability AND the step change which occurred in 1998. Temperatures for
the previous twenty years were steady at about -.2C below the average and SINCE
then have varied around +.2C ABOVE the average. Hadcrut and other land-based
temperatures have the period 1950-75 showing a cooling. The 1930's we known to
have been the hottest period of the last century. There are other hotter and cooler
periods futher back. I just can't SEE how THESE records can indicate ANY AGW
global warming, quite the reverse. Instead, there is clearly either a major
error in the satellite records (our most reliable database) or an unknown
mechanism which would account for this step change (clearly NOT the STEADY
increase in CO2). It MAY be that there are natural cycles of heating and
cooling here too: http://www.drroyspencer.com/2012/11/uah-v5-5-global-temp-update-for-october-2012-0-33-deg-c/
09/11/2012: Who would have
thought: "a Christian...steals, rapes, and kills children?” I'm not very
keen on ANY of these religos, but the persecution of 200 million Christians
worldwide IS despicable - and particularly as it is largely done at the behest
of the religion of 'peace'. Mind you, those of you who were so ignorant of
history as to think Buddhists were immune to religious excesses must be eating
your words when you see what they have been up to in
08/11/2012: It was also MUCH
hotter in 1896 than anything we have experienced post WW2: http://joannenova.com.au/2012/11/extreme-heat-in-1896-panic-stricken-people-fled-the-outback-on-special-trains-as-hundreds-die/
07/11/2012: The GOP is looking
pretty good this morning. Let's see what the day brings? Maybe the world is
saved from the brink after all? This doesn't mean there is nothing to be done.
Inactivity and just sliding down a slippery slope have characterised
Governments of both persuasions for too long - along with rampant corruption
and dishonesty. Guy Fawkes may have had it right!
07/11/2012: AND there has been
no ocean warming along
07/11/2012: Ju-liar's
'Asianisation' programme certainly demands we ignore the 100 million plus
people murdered by the current Chinese regime. I remember her commie student
& union colleagues being able unpersuadable that there was anything wrong
with Pol Pot murdering millions in Cambodia... or the North Vietnamese
murdering 8 million after their takeover...and so on. I very nearly got into a
stand up fight with John Halfpenny over this issue back when. LISTEN UP people,
there really IS MUCH THAT IS ADMIRABLE about our English culture and
traditions. The contribution of English speaking people is UNSURPASSED. Other
folks have MUCH to learn from US - and THEY KNOW IT! We abandon our identity at
our peril: http://www.quadrant.org.au/blogs/qed/2012/11/gillard-polishes-beijing-s-jackboots
07/11/2012: So, the sea level
has been oscillating? http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/11/05/new-paper-in-grl-shows-that-a-60-year-oscillation-in-global-mean-sea-level-has-been-discovered/
06/11/2012: Not for the faint
hearted:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2228551/Insano-Brazil-Worlds-tallest-scariest-water-slide-hi
06/11/2012: Question: Did
Global Warming REDUCE the impact of
06/11/2012: Most morons out
there would be lucky to know the difference between their candidate and a
colobus monkey - if there IS one! I have LONG observed that here in Oz leaders
of both major parties have in effect just continued to commit treason against
our country for most of their careers for all that what they do shows any
concern for its welfare or future. The situation s likely not very different in
the 'home of the free'.
06/11/2012: There once was an
American thinker named Upton Sinclair whom you may like. I think he even stood
for President and came close to 'upsetting the applecart'. He appeared in
Robert Heinlein's first novel 'For Us the Living' and there is even a political
party in NZ based on his ideas (Social Credit). People were once less polarised
in their thoughts : Henry Ford was awarded the 'Order of Lenin', for example.
06/11/2012: I am glad that
America spends so much on Defence (despite -it is true- sometimes having made
poor foreign policy decisions) because I think the world would be much more
dangerous if the US returned to isolationism - as it has done in the past. One
of the consequences (then) of failing to fight a lot of small wars was that
eventually a very large war had to be fought. You might be unhappy with 'being
the world's policeman' (and particularly as it attracts so much bile) but what
are the alternatives? Oz's situation would become rapidly more dangerous for
sure: we would very suddenly have to increase the proportion of our economy to
Defence measures somewhat like
06/11/2012: Health Care: You
have a long time to save up for the treatment, as I do/did for knee, heart
valve or hip replacements -which is why I have been in private health insurance
since I was 15! Also, I would not be counting on the Government to ever fund
something for me. Apart from the fact that I don't think they should, I don't
believe they can be trusted anyway: by the time that I need it they will
already have spent the money on someone/thing else: one of their charming
cronies probably! BUT one of the chief causes of escalating health care costs
is increasing demand by increasing availabilty and affordability. Dare I say
that people might also take a little more responsibility for their own health
instead of expecting someone else to fix what they have deliberately and
wantonly broken. If people have to pay something themselves they will be much
less frivolous in their demands on the system. It is also a system which has so
very many artificial controls imposed on it already such that the 'health
providers' have guaranteed quotas, positions, charges etc. In a free market
none of these things would happen and the costs would come down. People are SO
unaccepting that death is inevitable and so deluded that they are themselves
somehow very precious, and that society should spend lots of its hard-earned on
them. Twaddle! People die. Everyone IS one. Get over it!
05/11/2012: I really enjoy
reading Quadrant magazine as it offers many intelligent alternative
perspectives. This article by Keith Windshuttle is a fine example. It is hard
to estimate how much of one's world view has been manipulated by the likes of
the late Hobsbawm. So many of us must have been brought up with a distorted
view of the Industrial Revolution (Blake's 'dark satanic mills' & etc) and
have missed the enormous boom in human wealth it brought. Is it too much to
emphasize how much increasing prosperity also means increasing freedom? This is
not just for the people on the top but for folks all the way down the human
pyramid. Today, so much of what we read/see is dictated to us by Leftists such
as the late historian. It is very hard for ordinary citizens to find their way
through this vast heap of bull! http://www.quadrant.org.au/magazine/issue/2012/11/eric-hobsbawm-s-legacy
05/11/2012: Voting for Obama:
Successive conservative and socialist governments have largely gone down the
same 'big government, nanny state' path all over the West. The
04/11/2012: Hope they get THIS
in tablet form pretty soon, as it sure beats dieting - though I notice that (as
usual) women will be the big winners in living 50% longer if it works on people
too! http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/345907/title/Fasting_hormone_helps_mice_live_longer
04/11/2012: Have to agree with
THIS: http://pjmedia.com/lifestyle/2012/10/31/the-decline-and-fall-of-western-culture-in-one-photo/
04/11/2012: I KNOW I will get
some brickbats for this one, but I thought it was quite funny: http://maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com/archives/20918-Easier-to-create-Eve-than-understand-her.html
04/11/2012: Lloyd Marcus's
thought on the
03/11/2012: It sure was hot in
1932: we have never seen ANYTHING like it since. See here: http://www.warwickhughes.com/agri/bird%20deaths%201932.pdf
01/11/2012: Good news for
'Peeping Toms' perhaps, but seriously clever. It also makes me wonder about the
future of all those dreadfully out-of-focus old photos you just can't bear to
throw away: http://www.gizmag.com/image-descattering-weizmann/24737/pictures
01/11/2012: Geoff Crocker on
Labor's disastrous immigration 'policy': "Is this apparent madness a
cunning and deliberate ruse, a desperate move to dump as many potential voters
as possible on our shores knowing that surveys indicate that as many as 80% are
likely to vote Labor upon eligibility? That waiting period is four years, the
same time between federal elections. "
01/11/2012: Hard to believe:
there have been many larger storms than
01/11/2012: JPL admits
satellite sea level and sea ice data have been wrong: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/10/30/finally-jpl-intends-to-get-a-grasp-on-accurate-sea-level-and-ice-measurements/
01/11/2012: Julie was doing
SUCH a good job in Parliament yesterday. In response Ju-Liar just continued to
be a LIAR: http://media.smh.com.au/national/selections/gillard-its-personal-3758026.html
01/11/2012: Glen Doherty &
Tyrone Woods: These two guys deserve a (posthumous) bravery medal for their
conduct at
30/10/2012: Good work, Alan: http://www.adnews.com.au/adnews/alan-jones-audience-unfazed-by-brand-exodus-as-ratings-soar
29/10/2012: THIS from Prof J M
Cioffi of Stanford Uni: "Why deploy currently available or contemplated
passive fiber systems when the existing last kilometer of copper can provide
broadband gigabits per second to everyone?" Good question Prof. Maybe we
should pause a little on spending $50-80 billion on the very wasteful NBN while
we work out the BEST alternatve: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/freeabs_all.jsp?reload=true&arnumber=4251082
28/10/2012: The Greens are,
thankfully finished. What worse can you say about such a bizarre party than
what it says about itself: SO ALIEN: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/palnning-day-agenda-reveals-greens-imagine-theyre-talking-to-aliens/story-e6freuy9-1226504561013
28/10/2012: Gillard CAN turn
back the boats after all. Perhaps if this was done rather a lot more and if
nationals from countries which the UN declares are NOT refugees were
automatically returned, people might just start waiting their turn (and not
risking their lives = 1,000 dead because of Ju-Liar so far!) ? http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/hijacked-ship-intercepted-asylum-seekers-sent-back-to-sri-lanka/story-e6frg6n6-1226504445357
28/10/2012: NBN thoughts: HERE
is one remarkable Australian. 250 megs is already available over copper wires
and 2 gigs has been demonstrated. Is there REALLY the urgency to rush into the
NBN? http://jpap.org/
28/10/2012: Amazing that
28/10/2012: Some interesting
tips: http://siriuslymeg.tumblr.com/post/33738057928/99-life-hacks-to-make-your-life-easier
26/10/2012: Glad my kids are
all 'growed up'. It would be a nightmare having a kids' party or even just
having their friends around to dinner NOW: http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/mirandadevine/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/demonising_drinking_is_wowserism_at_its_worst/
26/10/2012:Evidently women in
the
26/10/2012:Most of the
26/10/2012: It's a little
worse than 'The dog ate my homework'! Someone has stolen BOTH the file at
Slater & Gordon AND the file at the WA Corporate Affairs which would PROVE
Gillard's criminal complicity in the 'Wilson Affair' - BUT, remember this: someone
still HAS them!
25/10/2012:Seriously BAD news
for the NBN: what comes from betting the farm on yesterday's technology and
creating neanderthal government monopolies - certainly ALL the young people
want wireless anyway, so who pays for the NBN?: http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2012/10/scientists-promise-10-times-more-bandwidth-with-no-new-hardware/
Understand before the NBN
announceent Telstra was going to provide fibre to node and VDSL thereafter with
voters not having to throw $X billion into the ring. This would have been more
than adequate for most. Would have gained us 100 megs. Even if the VDSL router
in Churchill was switched on we would have about 20 megs instead of the 6-7 we
have 4 km from the exchange. Faster Satellite is available at greater cost. A
Rolls Royce for everyone would be nice too, but if you want it, YOU pay for it,
not the taxpayer. I understand that high speed broadband IS available at many
different convenient locations where people could choose to work/live. Folks
can't expect everything to be brought to their door courtesy of the taxpayer.
Immortality would probably be nice too, but wholly unaffordable.
I'm sure fibre IS currently
better than copper and maybe there is nothing much else about either just yet
(quantum entanglement IS interesting though). I notice they have worked out a
heterodyning wrinkle to multiply what can go down a fibre too, just as copper
transmission rates are coming up too. 250 megs is NOW available with dsl and 2
gigs has been demonstarted (http://jpap.org/).
We do not have to rush. What I object to are: cost, who pays, monopoly,
unnecessary and costly duplication, exclusion of future developments, junking
existing infrastructure unnecessarily and prematurely - and cost, cost, cost. I
know you work in the industry and no doubt know much more about it than me -
but what is the point eg of disallowing broadband over EXISTING Optus and
Foxtel fibre and replicating it? We get @ 7 megs @ 4+km from the exchange with
ADSL2+. The best DSL is 10 times better than that. ie 40 megs. THAT would do us
for quite some time. Actually we are quite content with the speed and cost of
what we get as we can download ten movies overnight. We have an unlimited
account with Eftel @ $70/month. The NBN doesn't go anywhere near that price or
quantity AND our phone would not work in a power outage such as a bushfire!
24/10/2012: Satellites have
detected these really BIG changes in Earth's gravity. There are SO many other
huge natural variables (such as changes in the sun's output) which might
readily explain the rather trivial changes in the weather we tiny 'atomies'
notice from time to time: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/10/23/chnages-in-earths-gravity-in-relation-to-magnetic-field-measured/
O2 is what we should REALLY be
worried about. Its percentage in the atmosphere wouldn't have to fall too much
before OUR kind of life found it decidedly uncomfortable (especially at
elevation). What is the environmentalists' response to 24/10/2012: THIS
impending 'crisis': Lock up TWO molecules of oxygen for EVERY molecule of
carbon FOREVER (ie CO2 sequestration). Fortunately LIFE has another way: it is
called PHOTOSYNTHESIS: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/10/23/earths-great-oxidation-event/#more-72919
24/10/2012: Childless folks
(eg those who cut the baby bonus) might be interested in learning what raising
children is REALLY like: http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/parenting/are-you-ready-to-have-kids-after-you-read-this-maybe-not/story-fnet085v-1226500918083
23/10/2012: "Today
freedom of speech is under fire by those who increasingly claim [some] people
have a right not to be offended that trumps free speech. Just who has this new
right and who does not (certainly white males don't seem to have it) is
unclear, as well as how one can ever enforce a standard where the victim has
full discretion in determining if a crime has been committed" Warren Meyer
23/10/2012: I wonder whether
we will soon be gaoling 'scientists' like Flannery for failing to accurately
predict 'global warming': http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2012/10/italy-jails-scientists-for-failing-to-predict-earthquake.html
23/10/2012: The future of wind
power? Billions of dollars worth of dead windmills (not to mention eagles,
songbirds, bats etc - & taxpayers with empty pockets and kids to feed!) DO
play the first cvideo: http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2012/10/each-and-every-one-its-own-solyndra.html
22/10/2012: Spent all day
yesterday (twelve hours) secretly 'shop-fitting' in my daughter Merrin and her
husband, Matt's shop, Yinnar General Store . Have been worried all night that
what I had done might prove disastrous, but am very happy that this morning it
has all received a big 'thumbs' up'. Whoopee!
22/10/2012: It's amazing that
over a century after Einstein's 'e=mc2' that some folks are still worried about
'The Energy Crisis'. Controlled nuclear fusion (not such a long way off now -
twenty years?) WILL end ALL such concerns. Progress will also be made on
understanding such spectacular energy phenomena as ball lightning, sprites,
'cosmic rays', neutinos, gravity & etc. It WILL be a much better world in
the future. Fear not!
22/10/2012: REMEMBER THIS:
Fifty Occupiers in
22/10/2012: I AM deeply
concerned about moves to impose censorship on Facebook and the electronic media
generally - which continues this morning. I was quite active in the movement to
end censorship in the 60's & 70's, so am disappointed to see it rear its
ugly head again. I may not agree with anything people say, but I feel that they
should be able to say it (though not necessarily 'in front of the children' -
ie in the appropriate place). Concerns about the sub-judice consequences of
'outing' Jill Meagher's murderer did not seem to apply to Martin Bryant, for
example. There is pressure to remove sites which still proclaim the latter's
innocence. This is as disquieting as were efforts to ensure he never got a fair
trial in the first place were (eg by conficating all his property before the
trial had occurred, so that he could not afford a quality lawyer, illegally
keeping him in solitary confinement for months & etc). Whoever killed all
those people at
22/10/2012: THIS IS good news.
The only thing that disappoints me is that there haven't been millions of
Muslims protesting against the 'insult to Islam' that her shooting represents.
I understood that Islam (and most religions) specifically outlaws making war on
children; http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2220862/Malala-Yousafzai-First-picture-Taliban-shooting-victim-hospital-bed-doctors-say-able-stand.html#ixzz29tt1yJqI
21/10/2012: Who else won a
temporary seat on the Security Council: Arghentina and
20/10/2012: Two great points
by Alan Moran: "In 1901 the Commonwealth spent 3 per cent of national
income. Today it taxes and spends a whopping quarter of the income that firms
and individuals earn." and "The Commonwealth Government in 1901 had
258 pages of regulatory Acts. Today it has more than 100,000 pages." : http://ipa.org.au/news/2769/regulations-that-worked-in-1901-do-not-work-now
20/10/2012: Now available in
Oz: Velcro on a silnylon skirt and THIS could be just about the perfect
one-person touring whitewater canoe: http://www.oldtowncanoe.com.au/canoes/packangler.html,
and now that Della needs to be paddled, THIS could be our new two-person
touring canoe for flatwater and moderate rapids. Can easily see us spending a
leisurely couple of weeks gliding along in it on a quiet river somewhere. (Also
comes in colour = green, my preference - believe it or not!): http://www.oldtowncanoe.com.au/canoes/guide147.html
20/10/2012: And, while we are
on the topic of 'newspeak' Obama's description of the murder of four Americans
as 'not optimal' would just about have to take the cake: Holy Cow - and we
thought Ju-Liar was bad: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2219867/President-Barack-Obama-Benghazi-attack-If-4-Americans-killed-OPTIMAL.html
20/10/2012: "So there it
is. If you think the vast majority of people are attracted to the opposite sex
and that heterosexual human relationships are the norm, you are feeding
homophobia. " The thought police have gone too far this time: http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/mirandadevine/
18/10/2012: Absolutely
spot-on, Miranda: "Misogyny is the Taliban shooting a 14-year-old girl in
the face because she wants to get an education, not an Opposition leader
directing legitimately forceful criticism against a government": http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/mirandadevine/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/gender_card_is_a_loser/
18/10/2012: Tiger, EAT YOUR
HEART OUT: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCEB9GgKoJ0&feature=player_embedded
18/10/2012: Highly selective
feminism: http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/take_the_test_roxon_failed/
18/10/2012: After the second
debate:
18/10/2012: The FIRST of
Ju-Liar's falls? http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2012/10/juvenile-yes-beneath-me-probably-but-for-some-reason-irresistibly-funny.html
18/10/2012: Commissioner Ken
Lay has referred Ju-Liar's AWU misdeeds for 'actioning'. Things could get
rapidly interesting on this front: http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2012/10/my-report-to-the-chief-commissioner-of-police-in-victoria-the-response-1.html
18/10/2012: Quantum
entanglement has become even weirder (no wonder Einstein thought 'God does not
play...') & etc, but it is as 'real' as anything gets in the sub-atomic
world even though it demonstrates faster-than-light, indeed instantaneous
'action' & scientists have now worked out how to entangle photons in time
and even create entanglement with particles which no longer exist ( a great
advance for quantum cryptography but just mind-boggling for the laiety!)
18/10/2012: Internet radio is
SUCH a boon: we have always had dreadful radio reception where we live (in a fold
in the hills) and had always to put up with some dreadful local station or a
lot of static from the trendies in
18/10/2012: Ju-Liar showing
her 'flexible feminism': http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=yriOLtWJb9U
16/10/2012: I enjoyed THIS
notice: "Psychic fair cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances"!
15/10/2012: Wasn't THIS great?
GO Felix: http://www.smh.com.au/technology/sci-tech/daredevil-felix-baumgartner-breaks-sound-barrier-in-leap-from-the-edge-of-space-20121015-27liq.html
15/10/2012: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2217286/Global-warming-stopped-16-years-ago-reveals-Met-Office-report-quietly-released--chart-prove-it.html#ixzz29E78OR9H
13/10/2012: Such a sweetie.
She was so full of life I can't believe she is gone. Thanks for the 41 years I
knew you too Dorothy. Sorry we missed your 92nd birthday yesterday.
On this day in 1920 my mother,
Dorothy was born... thinking of her today with much love and some sadness, the
first of her birthdays that I have spent without her in the world. Thanks to
Bryn for snapping this picture of her in March this year, so happy and full of
life to the end!
13/10/2012: Interesting
perspective. Glad I don't have 'Goodperson Fever': http://www.peekinthewell.net/blog/i-made-a-new-word-xxviii/
13/10/2012: What a good old
gal: http://autos.aol.com/article/102-year-old-woman-still-drives-her-82-year-old-car/?ncid=txtlnkusauto00000020
13/10/2012: I like this:
"This life was not given to us to be a waiting room.": http://maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com/archives/20755-The-Northeast-Kingdom.html
13/10/2012: THIS is a joke,
surely? Especially after previously awarding it to Obama (who recently lied and
did nothing about a terrorist attack on the
13/10/2012: My son, Bryn sent
me this marvellous link (with the comments 'Charlton Heston didn't kill anyone'
- and 'no-one invaded
s underline that legal gun
owners, far from making society less safe, actually make it safer. I know (as a
boy) I was always proud to join the men going out to hunt (with their ex-army
.303's etc), just as they had gone out a handful of years before with them to
save us from the Japs. It is symptomatic of the value reversals the Left so
loves to play with now that many folk are now horrified to see someone with a
gun. It was not like this just a little while ago. I remember buying a new gun
in
12/10/2012: A VERY instructive
piece: Why doctors die differently. Lesson to be learned; we really ARE
spending too much money on the 'Health' budget. There are more imrtant things:
We all die. Get over it: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203918304577243321242833962.html
12/10/2012: For those who came
in late: Is our PM a crook, Part 9 AND she has rather a lot of crooked friends:
http://pickeringpost.com/article/our-prime-minister-is-a-crook-part-ix-...and-now-its-time-to-go-/677
12/10/2012: The 'real' Julia
'flirting' with Tony Abbott back then: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57AZoqKQyZQ
11/10/2012: Extraordinary:
Ralph Blewitt: "But in actual fact the power of attorney was not signed by
me until sometime in the week after the 13th of February, after the purchase of
the house in Kerr Street." Understand this: THIS power of attorney was set
up by Gillard so that her boyfriend could purchase their house with stolen
funds.This was a crime. She WILL go down over this. No wonder she is trying to
cause this 'misogynist' distraction. My prediction: Rudd's supporters will move
against her VERY soon: http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/
11/10/2012: Lying abed this
morn waiting for my beloved to wake, I was doing mental arithmetic: I calculated
that on about 11 Dec this year she and I will have been together for 15,000
days - which is half a lifetime thereabouts and about 2/3rds of our lives so
far. What did I do with the other third? I can't imagine - or how I survived it
without her. Hoping to get to 3/4s of a lifetime. I suppose 4/5ths is too much
to hope for, but we shall see. When she woke & I informed her of the
results of my calculations her answer was, 'Is that all?' Shucks, she surely is
wonderful!
11/10/2012: Listening to Alan
Jones ranting about shale/coal gas this am. on 2GB. Its proponents (he says)
are comparing it to another 'Bass Strait' (but it is a MUCH larger resource
than that!) but HE says
11/10/2012: More and more
documentary evidence implicating Ju-Liar in the
10/10/2012: Judgement? Julia
turned debate about the suitability of Slipper to be Speaker of the House into
an attack on Tony Abbott's alleged misogyny. 'Laughable'? 'Bizarre'? Are there
words? http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/national/deputy-opposition-leader-julie-bishop-says-peter-slipper-cannot-remain-as-speaker/story-fndo2j43-1226491792937
10/10/2012: THIS is why we are
in
10/10/2012: Bob Katter
abstained from the Slipper vote. HIS take on it: "Were they just lewd
banter between friends?" Disgusting, Bob.
10/10/2012: The Prime Minister
IS a crook. I know you have seen it all before, but NEVER before in 'The Age'.
Her judgement and morality are just reprehensible. She MUST go. Imagine those
slimes Windsor and Oakeshott still propping her up! I said so atthe time and I
say it again: electors should be able to force a by-election if their chosen
representative fails to represent them. These guys (likewise Slipper) were
elected in an area where 10-20% of voters are Labor, yet they have kept this
vile Government in office. We really need a change of law on this one: http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/political-news/property-links-pm-to-stolen-funds-20121009-27bnm.html
09/10/2012: Just horrifying!
What an embarassment if you love your country. A government which exists only
because of this scum: Slipper, Thompson, Windsor & Oakeshott. END IT NOW!
09/10/2012: Slipper quits.
Julia not far behind?
08/10/2012: The Liliputians would
have loved this (or maybe not!), but should we really spend scarce research
dollars working out whether someone's personality can be determined by which
end of an egg they open? Curing cancer would have to come just a little ahead
as a priority, surely? http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/9573822/A-persons-way-of-eating-eggs-can-predict-personality-type.html
08/10/2012: Interesting point
Marcia Langton makes: "this concept of wilderness is nothing but a new
incarnation of terra nullius". Aborigines in 1788 merely experienced what
everyone else had already had done to them: In the C12th the Crown took over
08/10/2012: Extraordinarily,
courtesy of various Labor Governments,
08/10/2012: Apparently it's OK
for the Speaker of the House to be the most awful misogynist with his dreadful
comments about 'unshelled mussels' & etc, but for the Labor Party it's all,
'AbottAbbottAbbott' despite his very pleasant wife and daughters' statements to
the contrary, or Alan Jones's private comments despite his apologies. What a
bunch of hypocrites!
06/10/2012: Maybe the Queen
SHOULD be running the country instead of Gillard. Republicans please explain
WHY we have to put up with importing lots of Islamic terrorists when an 86 year
old grandma can see it is a VERY BAD IDEA; http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100182499/the-queen-why-couldnt-we-arrest-abu-hamza/
06/10/2012: AT LAST, a cause
worth supporting: http://www.indiegogo.com/genderneutralkittenfund
06/10/2012: SO much for online
petitions: This one signed variously by Mr D Duck, Ronald Ryan and Alan Jones
himself gathered over 100,000 signatures, so surely Alan MUST be taken off the
air: http://www.quadrant.org.au/blogs/qed/2012/10/signing-off-on-alan-jones
05/10/2012: New Scientist's
'Last Word' had an interesting account of railway tracks last week (22 Sept).
It is delightful how such mundane objects can surprise: I had not thought how
trains get around corners with no differential and without grinding the track
to bits...but it is because train wheels are conical so that one wheel rides up
the cone as the train corners. An elegant and enchanting solution which
obviously occurred a long time ago, yet I had never wondered, or noticed.
05/10/2012: You MAY remember
the video I posted of this interesting phenomenon last week. The film-maker has
now rejected Al Gore's offer to buy the footage as some kind of 'proof' of
climate change. These guys are such scammers. Good on Chris Tangey for telling
him to nicck off though: http://www.news.com.au/news/climate-change-campaigner-al-gore-denied-australian-firestorm-footage/story-fnehlez2-1226487549975
05/10/2012: Della was just
saying to me this morning, 'What's happening with that guy who stole all the
money from the hospital workers?' 'Still propping up his equally crooked mate
Gillard' I said. Then I read this news item. Things may get interesting
soon...http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/former-hsu-boss-michael-williamson-arrested/story-e6frg6nf-1226487855533
04/10/2012: And let me say a
word about taxation: Income tax was introduced as an emergency wartime measure
during the First World War. Surely it represents 'confiscation of private
property without just compensation' and is forbidden by the Constitution? The
monstrous growth of taxation in all its forms (including indirect taxes - eg
GST & excise - both imposing such an inordinate burden on the poor) has
fueled a doubling of the proportion of the economy controlled by Government in
the last 30-50 years from arond 25% to 50% - mainly during the period of the
'Cold war' when we were supposedly FIGHTING COMMUNISM, though this growth of
Government was surely communism by stealth. If you think that the Government
has somehow the wisdom to decide how better to spend YOUR money than you do
yourself, you have either had very little experience of Government or you are a
fool or a rogue! Taxation also seems to me to basically be a wasted effort
which serves no other useful purpose than social control and 'make-work' given
that a large proprtion of the taxation collected is in effect fiat (or printed)
money anyway in that it involves recollecting taxation from public servants who
have been employed with that money, or it has created a considerable army of
accountants, lawyers, bankers, insurers and other low-life who make their
living simply by counting beans, but grow none. If these 'wasteful' lives were
spent instead in useful labour the increase in national productivity would
easily pay for the activities currently financed by Government's taxation and
inflation. More later...
04/10/2012: So, the Reserve
Bank is still playing fast and loose with our money: as if Capital was SO easy
to come by - instead of taking a lifetime of hard work and saving. At current
levels the reserve bank's rates barely (if at all) keep pace with inflation
leaving savers with NO income from their hard-earned money. On the other side
of the ledger the punters who want to further leverage their outlandish
Macmansions are encouraged to
do so to the detriment of those who in the current real estate climate can't
afford housing at all and have to contnue to live with their parents and
grandparents: I know several 'middle class' families of Sydneysiders (all hard
workers) who are sharing three generation housing. HIGHER interest rates would
advantage savers (icluding those saving for a home) and force the ourtrageous
price of housing downwards. It would take probably twenty years of interest
rates above 10% to force house prices down to the more modest American level.
Question: Why does it cost several TIMES more today to create a block of land
and a house than it did thirty or fifty years ago? Where are the beenfits to
housing of productivity growth and labour saving machinery? In the 1950's, 60's
and early 70's a father could afford to be the only wage earner and support a
wife and two children whilst paying off a house and car. What Happenend to THAT
Australian dream? Even though WE have had reasonable income all our lives with
both of us working and contributing, we have only managed to pay off a modest
house (about half the value of a house in
02/10/2012: What nonsense is
the Leftie press's hounding of Alan Jones for stating a simple fact: that John
Gllard should have died of shame to have raised such a daughter, instead of
getting stuck into the daughter for abetting the criminal defrauding of half a
mill of AWU money - amongst her many vile misdeeds. I know little about
Gillard's dad, apart from that he was clearly the type of 10 pound commie
pommie we could well have done without, and that it would have been much better
if he had died over fifty years ago or been sterile - given how his daughter
has turned out!
02/10/2012: Never mind a law
against blasphemy, let's just have STONING: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIaORknS1Dk&feature=fvwrel
01/10/2012:
01/10/2012: How dare
'believers' cry that religion is not a fair target for criticism and should be
protected by LAW. BULLSHIT! If your ideas are indefensible, don't expect the
law to defend them. Have a go at arguing for them yourself. Stands to reason
that if they are 'beliefs' they ARE crap. If you harbour silly ideas about
fairies in the garden or old men with white beards in the sky, expect to be
treated as the lunatic you obviously are. Don't expect to be able to use the
law to impose your stupid ideas on everyone else.
01/10/2012: Unacceptable to
denigrate religion. Bullshit! They should all 'fuck off'! A big hands up to
Billy Connolly: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=-xwPVgRaROA
30/09/2012: Just to hammer the
point: Why should the innocent die when the guilty can die for them? To me this
is not just an ethical imperative but just sound commerce: Heart, lungs, liver,
two kidneys = 4 lives (minimum) plus two people who can be given their sight
back in one eye - plus sundry other useful bits and pieces I have missed. Four
innocent lives for one guilty one seems like a deal too good to
be missed to me. 400% return!
You'd put your money on that! If you sometimes accidentally get the wrong
offender, society is still well ahead as compared with where it is now ie
spending millions each year keeping each guilty one alive whilst condemning
thousands of innocents to death. And if they are not fit to harvest organs from
(diseased or whatever) then surely they can still benefit society by being used
for medical experimentation which would otherwise be considered too dangerous
to be ethical. Such research could also end up savng the lives of thousands of
innocents. Let's start on this NOW!
30/09/2012: Lest we forget
about the Government's intentions to silence the Press, gut social media and
control the internet: http://joannenova.com.au/wp/2012/09/tyrants-always-want-to-silence-the-critics/#more-24077
30/09/2012: Nostalgia boost
for those of us brought up on 1955 Morris Minors and Triumph
Bonnevilles...WARNING: You may have to spend ALL day reading the comments.
Great item though; I have ordered several - they also seem to work on cheap
Bunnings electrical tools: http://www3.telus.net/bc_triumph_registry/smoke.htm
30/09/2012: THIS is where the
Left leads us: Terrorists attacking
29/09/2012: Stephen Conroy
(much like other Govt Ministers) is barking mad. He had this to say to major
Telco management: ”If I say to everyone in this room ‘if you want to bid in our
spectrum auction you’d better wear red underpants on your head’, I’ve got some
news for you. You’ll be wearing them on your head.” I hope he starts them off
in this endeavour by wearing his jocks on his head from now on. And you thought
Caligula marrying his horse was odd?
29/09/2012: So, there WAS
water on Mars: Burroughs', Bradbury's & Heinlein's stories are just a
little 'out of time'. But what happened? Why IS the planet the awful desert we
NOW see? AND there are some who think we should not spend money on (space)
research, preferring that we waste it on giving rapists second chances, no
doubt! http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/09/28/more-evidence-of-past-water-on-mars-an-old-streambed/#more-71624
29/09/2012: Sometimes I don't
like to be right, but I was when I said the video showed him as 'practiced'
& that it was likely this guy had offended before. The truly disgusting
thing (as is so often the case) is that instead of being used for spare parts then,
or simply dancing on the end of a rope, he was set free to rape and kill again.
This pointless and dangerous leniency MUST END NOW: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Larry-Pickering/236991276355038
& http://bunyipitude.blogspot.com.au/
& http://aussiecriminals.com.au/2012/09/28/adrian-bayley-allegedly-raped-and-murdered-jill-meagher/&
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/troubled-past-of-murder-accused-adrian-ernest-bayley/story-e6frg6nf-1226483787739
28/09/2012: Is THAT a wedding
ring on Bayley's finger? People like him, Sutcliffe, Brady etc are
INCOMPREHENSIBLE...http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/man-charged-over-jill-meagher-case-20120928-26olv.html
28/09/2012: People are
fascinated by glaciers (as am I every time I visit Fox and Franz Josef) and it
is not a surprise to me that glaciers retreated much more quickly than in the
past. I reckoned the NZ glaciers were in exactly the same spots during my
visits in 1975 and 2000. The point though is that glaciers do not advance or
retreat because it is colder or warmer but because it is wetter or drier. A
wetyear will deposit lots of snow and ice on top of the glacier which
consequently moves downhill; this ADVANCE may be more likely to happen if it is
warmer and wetter - just the opposite of what the 'warmists ' would have us
believe. AND those same NZ glaciers are there more or less at sea level in a
temperate latitude (where it is too improbably warm for glaciers to BE) just
because the West Coast is one of the WETTEST places on earth: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/09/27/surprise-glaciers-in-montana-retreated-up-to-6-times-faster-during-the-1930s-and-1940s-than-today/
28/09/2012: The way this
murdrous creep moved on the CCTV footage said to me, this is a PRACTICED
strategum. I hope I am wrong, but if not, there are other victims out there;
other families to receive the same dreadful shock as the Meagher family. Once
again I ask, Why can't Victorians have their say in a referendum on the
punishment of such awful criminals? At least there is this: it is unlikely he
will have a 'good time' in prison, or long survive. There are too many other
men there who have daughters, wives and sweethearts, and who are NOT afraid to
take the law into their OWN hands!
28/09/2012: Julia IS really
stupid and/or seriously bent, a contortionist. Referring to her current ego
trip in New York she spoke about 'the opportunity to sit next to each other,
face to face, eye to eye'...
27/09/2012: I am opposed to retrospective
legislation, BUT if we pass a referendum on the death penalty by a 2/3rds
majority, those who have in the past committed what would have been capital
crimes NOW but who are eligible for parole under the legislation exisitng at
the time they committed the crime can have two choices: remain in gaol or
accept their parole under THIS condition: If they commit ANY crime after they
are freed, they become immediately eligible for the death penalty which SHOULD
have applied at the time, but did not. I remember a delightful young student (
at
27/09/2012: Referendum on the
death penalty? Do you WANT to win the next election, Ted? Give people THIS
choice: If 2/3rds vote for it, which I expect, bring it back ESPECIALLY for the
killer of Jill Meagher! Don't let her death be in vain: Let's make sure that it
at least prevents other such deaths and ensures that young women, (or anyone)
can walk our streets, at any hour without fear or danger.
27/09/2012: Vic police have
arrested someone in connection with Jill. We all hold our breath...
27/09/2012: This sure is a
great banana slicer. DO read the reviews: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000MSA9AQ/?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=ur2&tag=insta0c-20
27/09/2012: COME ON FOLKS! There
must be dozens of people who recognise the man in the blue hoodie in the
'Meagher' video, and the other people. If you only think it looks like someone
you know, RING THE COPS. They can quickly eliminate the wrong ones (weren't
there) but if two people correctly identify this guy they can be kicking his
door down in HALF AN HOUR. Jill MAY still be alive: http://www.news.com.au/national/missing-woman-jill-meagher-seen-on-cctv-speaking-to-man-in-blue-hoodie-before-vanishing/story-fncynjr2-1226482146903
27/09/2012: When DO we decide
that the bastards who took Jill Meagher and other like scum (Julian Knight
& etc ad nauseum) are fit for nothing but spare parts? Why should the
innocent die for the want of a heart, lungs, liver or kidney whilst we spend
millions keeping bastards like this alive in gaol? People who oppose the death
penalty on the guilty are in effect in favour of the death penalty on the
innocent. There are no two ways about this. And while we are at it, the organs
should be harvested WITHOUT ANAESTHETIC! Let's have a referendum to change this
RIGHT NOW!
27/09/2012: I once caught out
our Bureau of Meteorolgy doing this too, ie changing the past (in the name of
'quality control'). You have to be VERY careful who you put in charge of
history. Strangely enough the temperature records of the past are ALWAYS
changed downwards so that those of the present (and the future) will be changed
upwards. Even so, it is well-nigh impossbe to hide the fact that Australian
temperatures 1860-1914 were approx 2C degrees hotter than the last century or
that the 1930's were the hottest decade of the last century BY FAR. But THEY
WILL TRY!
://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2012/09/nasas_rubber_ruler.html#ixzz27YZRxqIW
27/09/2012: Now HERE is a
great idea (Why don't we all just stay quietly at home?): http://melbourne-leader.whereilive.com.au/news/story/dad-wants-ban-on-drunks-wandering/
27/09/2012: And while I am
hot, let me say a word in favour of SMALL BUSINESS. I have been helping out a
little in my daughter's shop. I note this: small local business does not have
the buying power or ruthlessness to compete on every level with the big multis,
but it can offer an enduring friendly local presence and sense of service they
cannot hope to match. Because of small business, today's kids can still safely
come into a local store which has stood on the same street corner for over a
century and offered successive generations a quality shopping experience which
they retain for a lifetime. It is always kids' first experience of commerce: it
is impossible to replace the sense of wonder and trust they find there any more
than it is possible to replace Santa Claus. Let's hear a cheer for Yinnar's
'Universal Emporium'!
27/09/2012: No wonder
Pacbrands took a hit when it moved all its iconic Ozzie brands off-shore. How
can it rely on patriotic customer loyalty when it has abandoned the country?
AND Chinese made Holeproof Explorers are not only much worse than the locally
made product they replaced but (listen up here) Aussie Disposals locally made '
dback and Rossi continue to
make boots here competitiively and they are better boots than Blundstone's
Chinese imports which have a toe problem. I am in favor of trade but not THIS
trade: swapping Aussie jobs for 'cheap' imports. Swapping Chinese debt for
textile (and other) workers on the unemployment queue and Aussie kids without a
future...This is not trade, this is TREASON and Governments which back it
should be taken out and hanged like any such Quisling. We should be bringing
our Aussie products and jobs back home where they belong.
26/09/2012: The intolerance of
totalitarians and fanatics HAS to be opposed even though they might threaten
our lives (or especially as they do!). A case in point: if you are wanting to
suggest someone was 'the perfect man', you might start with Socrates, Buddha,
Christ...but whoever you choose you will have to justify your choice, and
answer valid criticism from those who don't agree, not simply threaten to
behead them. If you say it is
Mohammed fo example, you will have to explain how that choice balances against
the fact that he married a five year old girl and consummated that marriage
when she was nine! You will also have to explain how his murdering nearly 1,000
Jews was consistent with his being 'a perfect man', & etc. I just don't
think so. Mohammed was anything but 'a perfect man'. I would have to say that
on the evidence of these actions it does not seem to me that he was a good man
at all! Now, compare him to Socrates. No comparison at all. AND Socrates didn't
have the bad taste to found a religion!
25/09/2012: NASA admits HERE
that it was an 'Arctic Cyclone' which broke up the Arctic sea ice in August
(NOT global warming!) which would help to explain the disparity I have already
noted (ie that ANTARCTIC ice is at an all time MAXIMUM!). If we ARE to worry
about climate (and NOT more important issues such as WHERE do navels - or navel
fluff - come from?), we should be concerned about the world heading for another
ICE AGE and actively preparing strategies to prevent mass deaths from an
increasingly COLD climate (such as genetically engineering food plants/animals
to produce more with less light/heat): http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery/index.html?media_id=152489941
25/09/2012: Julia Gillard IS a
GENIUS: "The PM was to have told a group of New York economists that
Australia’s economy is less reliant on the mining boom than is widely thought,
and will predict that in the next four years, three times as many jobs will be
created in healthcare, social assistance, education and training as in
mining." Not to mention 'hairdressers' (name ONE) & 'telephone
sanitisers'...may she soon be eaten by a giant SPACE GOAT! (With apologies to
Douglas Adams!)
25/09/2012: REALLY enjoyed
THIS collection of humorous protest signs: http://www.thevine.com.au/life/thoughts/30-best-protest-signs/gallery/0
'Stop bad pie charts', 'Death to all juice', 'Jesus is here, show your tits and
I will judge them' 'What do we want: Time Travel. When do we want it: It's
irrelevant', & etc...
24/09/2012: In
24/09/2012: Religious bigots
are pushing to bring in an INTERNATIONAL law against BLASPHEMY at the UN (they
MAY succeed): Listen up folks: if you insist in believing in SILLY THINGS don't
expect to use the law to lock up those who note, 'The Emperor has no clothes': http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2012/sep/23/limits-on-speech-to-get-un-hearing/
24/09/2012: Salman Rushdie: “I
think this is a historical mistake of the progressive left. The sense that
people who say they’re offended have a right to have their offendedness
assuaged.” For him, free expression ranks as “the right without which all the
other rights disappear”. It is “the bedrock … If you compromise on that, you
lose everything else.”
24/09/2012: Ricky Gervais:
"I see atheists are fighting and killing each other again over who doesn't
believe in any God the most. Oh No, Wait...that never happens"
23/09/2012: Outback
23/09/2012: AMAZING news from
Mars: http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/curiosity_cat1.jpg?w=640
22/09/2012: Other folks
certainly have STRANGE ways. Yesterday,
22/09/2012:You MIGHT think
(because of their name) that microwaves are really SMALL, but they are about
six inches high - which is why they can't get out through the holes in the
door. Chill out!
22/09/2012: DOGS have so much
FUN. Also really envied the faux crocodile: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJm2srvm1f8&feature=player_embedded
Swimming Machi discovers the
dam
22/09/2012: Interesting
poster: 'No religion is better than Islam'. Couldn't agree more, but for
'Islam' read 'ANY'! http://therealrevo.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/2012-09-21T092907Z_2_CBRE88K0N6G00_RTROPTP_2_FILM-PROTESTS.jpg
http://therealrevo.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/2012-09-21T092907Z_2_CBRE88K0N6G00_RTROPTP_2_therealrevo.com
21/09/2012: THIS is FAR more
disgusting than any poor quality flick: "US Ambassador to
21/09/2012: Antarctic sea ice
is well ABOVE its greatest extent (since satellite records began in 1979)
whilst Arctic ice is at its lowest: The sheer QUANTITY of Antarctic ice as
compared with Arctic ice is also mind boggling. HOW is this consistent with the
theory of man-made global
warming?http://www.nsidc.org/data/seaice_index/images/daily_images/S_stddev_timeseries.png
nsidc.org
20/09/2012: Too good to be
true: Pakistani man dies after inhaling fumes from burning American flags at
anti-Islam film rally www.dailymail.co.uk
Abdullah Ismail died after complaining of inhaling smoke from burning U.S.
flags during a rally attended by 10,000 people in the Pakistan city of Lahore.
20/09/2012: Astonishing!
Nature's art palette is so grand. People are always working on creative and new
concepts to stretch their imaginations using the natural surroundings they live
with everyday. All Natural Textiles Directory => http://www.farmerspal.com/organic-products/textiles/page/1/
19/09/2012: Went hiking with
Bryn's little dog, Tiny. Expected to be out all week but unfortunately hurt my
back so limped home. Here we see Tiny on her special hiking bed helping herself
to some dog nuts and her caching some for later, just in case
19/09/2012: 'One man's
religion IS another man's belly-laugh' (Lazarus Long, Time Enough for Love). It
has ever been so. For those like me who find ALL religion AT BEST laughable and
at worst indescribably wicked, Allah and Torquemada have AT BEST Death for me.
Simple beheading would have been a mercy from Torquemada - and NEVER FORGET
that HE was the way Christianity behaved when it last had the upper hand (AND
WOULD AGAIN!) WHERE are the charges against people who make such vilifying
demands or who claim 'fatwah' and 'jihad' against the likes of Sir Salman
Rushdie whose 'Satanic Verses' would unilkely be published TODAY for fear of
'inflaming' (we HAVE slipped down that slope THAT far!). 'Today, Sir Salman
described how multiculturalism’s “evil twin” was “moral relativism”, in which
people accept actions from a “particular group for beliefs which you would
condemn otherwise"…Yesterday it emerged that Iran has seized on widespread
Muslim outrage over the film insulting the Prophet Mohammad to revive the death
threat against Rushdie, raising the reward for killing him by $500,000.' Good
Luck, Sir Salman! WHAT sort of religion of 'peace' causes a novelist to have to
spend his life in hiding for fear of his life (and all his family's!)?
And REMEMBER THIS: ALL
religions are MERE inventions. There is NO MORE evidence for the historic
Mohammed than there is for the historic Christ (or Budddha, & etc). It is
just as likely that NEITHER existed or that if they did, that they espoused
NONE of the views attributed to them by their followers. There is a lesson to
be learned from the two most famous (deliberately) invented religions: Seraps
and Scientology. The Romans deliberately invented Seraps as a device to shore
up their political conquest of
19/09/2012: English IS a skill
you just MIGHT need: "in the
17/09/2012: How black can you
get: "Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has been offered an Aboriginal
Nations passport in an inner-city
16/09/2012:THIS conference is
taking place in
16/09/2012: Peter FitzSimons
is spot on: "Racists have said for years, “If you don't like the way we do
things here, go back to where you came from.” The net result of your actions
yesterday is that – for those people specifically disgracing themselves in the
CBD yesterday, not the vast bulk of Islamic Australians – much of the country
now feels the same". Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/an-open-letter-20120915-25ziq.html#ixzz26ZYejX5s
16/09/2012: Disgraceful
protests in
15/09/2012: THIS is what Linda
Mottram thinks is OK: Ayaan Hirsi Ali's personal account, from her book
Infidel, published by Free Press, 2007: http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2012/09/the-reality-of-female-genital-mutilation-grievous-bodily-harm.html
15/09/2012: No wonder if it
was a little warm; perhaps it had something to do with the sun?: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/09/13/paper-demonstrates-solar-activity-was-at-a-grand-maxima-in-the-late-20th-century/#more-71007
15/09/2012: Barbara Ramjan (Is
that a real name or an 'expletive deleted'?) wrote many letters to Honi Soit
when she was at Sydney Uni in 1977 (often complaining about Tony Abbott when he
was 19) but somehow she never mentioned the incident which she has just
recalled now. Strange: http://www.thesydneyinstitute.com.au/media-watch-dog/
BUT Julia Gillard illegally conspired with Wilson and Blewett to set up a dummy
Association to fleece hundreds of thousands of dollars with when she was a 35
year old lawyer - and THIS should be ignored?
15/09/2012: What is it about
the Left that they cannot distinguish evil from good: Linda Mottram, ABC 702
mornings host in
14/09/2012: I am a witness: I
was NOT there in 1978 and I saw him not punch a wall!
14/09/2012: Who would have
thought? http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100178585/wind-farms-cure-cancer-save-kittens-create-world-peace-says-new-wind-industry-report/
14/09/2012: Good on Bill &
Melinda Gates for promoting 'golden rice' - this ban has been high on my list
of greenie 'crimes against humanity' for a long time (along with their ban on
DDT which has led to the deaths of over 100 million people!) This GMrice could
save around 500,000 kids PER YEAR! Surely a worthy goal? http://www.climatedepot.com/a/17410/Former-Greenpeace-cofounder-Dr-Patrick-Moore-rips-Greenpeaces-Crime-Against-Humanity-for-opposing-Golden-Rice-which-can-eliminate-vitamin-A-deficiency
14/09/2012: A very fair point:
'How many British ambassadors did Christians kill after “The Life of Brian”?' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zjz16xjeBAA&feature=player_embedded
13/09/2012: Apparently Gillard
is to make FURTHER cuts to Defence in her 'Xmas' mini-Budget as if having
spending on Defence at ts lowest level since 1934 isn't bad enough: we are
already SERIOUSLY not in any position to defend ourselves against obvious
potential threats in our region. It is stupid to shovel out money willy-nilly
on mad green schemes, immigration and welfare rorts etc if WE CAN'T DEFEND OURSELVES!!!
We need to RAISE taxes: THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS A FREE LUNCH!!!
13/09/2012: Pity Kev & his
mates killed Gaddafi. Maybe the
12/09/2012: INCREDIBLY
wasteful green dreams: http://menzieshouse.typepad.com/.a/6a012876778d82970c017d3bf508f3970c-pi
12/09/2012: Does your bullshit
detector work on THIS one: "Between 2010 and 2099, climate change will
cause an additional 30,000 murders, 200,000 cases of rape, 1.4 million
aggravated assaults, 2.2 million simple assaults, 400,000 robberies, 3.2
million burglaries, 3.0 million cases of larceny, and 1.3 million cases of vehicle
theft in the United States. " http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2111377
AMAZING what a hot afternoon makes you do...
12/09/2012:
Anti-discrimination: I had forgotten about this shocking incident: "This
brought to mind the case of the cricketer Denise Annetts, who in 1994 failed to
be selected for the Test series against
12/09/2012: MORE unintended
consequences: the eradication of feral cats on
12/09/2012: The
'Supertrawler': The fishery's catch has been halved (from the normal 20% of
spawning adults pa to 10%) making this utterly sustainable. In this light I
cannot see how one boat is worse than several. What IS undoubtedly worse is the
increase in sovereign risk to our nation in making hasty chaotic desicions such
as this. This is SO like the knee-jerk ban on live cattle exports which caused such
economic chaos: eg WE lost HALF the value of our lamb crop that year because of
it. Business has to have CERTAINTY: You can't just keep shifting the goal posts
or you will drive ALL investment off-shore! Labor needs to DISTANCE itself MUCH
further from the Greens.
12/09/2012: Syrian rebels
executed another 20 Govt soldiers: You REALLY have to wonder about this 'Arab
Spring' and whether ANY good can come of it: http://www.google.com.au/search?q=video+syria+execute&hl=en&safe=off&rls=com.microsoft%3Aen-US&tbm=vid&prmd=imvnsu&source=lnt&tbs=qdr%3Aw&sa=X&ei=R3tOUJa6BoSkmQWrtoGIAg&ved=0CCAQpwUoAw&bav=on.2%2Cor.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&biw=1429&bih=729&cad=h
11/09/2012: I was SO pleased that the Greens were thoroughly trashed in
the recent NT election and the NSW local Council election. We can only hope
that (like the Democrats) they are on their way out!
11/09/2012:You may have been hearing odd things about Stephan
Lewandowsky and have missed the point, but THIS is how it works; bizarre: http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2012/08/a-truly-bad-study.html
11/09/2012:Photographers please note: http://vimeo.com/48425421
11/09/2012:SO many elephants in the room: It is astonishing (but true)
that scientists had missed the FACT that total greenhouse warming is @ 10C, not
33C due to assigning erroneous reflectivity to the Earth, which means that any
CHANGE to the 'greenhouse effect' from anything (eg adding more carbon dioxide)
must be enormously LESS than conventionally thought (ie about 1C per doubling).
The debate has mostly been about whether feedbacks would take that number up or
down (down is increasingly likely) but NOT whether the number was wrong in the
first place. Unfortunately for alarmists it IS and the feedbacks ARE negative -
which means that there is NOTHING to worry about from CO2. Move along folks: http://joannenova.com.au/2012/09/do-greenhouse-gases-warm-the-planet-by-33c-jinan-cao-checks-the-numbers/
10/09/2012: SOME beetle (note size of man): http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/burn-06-art-car-vw-bug.jpg?w=640
'Burning
Man' makes the Port Fairy Folk Festival et al look VERY tame: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/09/09/the-playa-willis-excellent-adventure/#more-70665
10/09/2012: "According to the ABS, excluding the tertiary
education sector, there were over one million state government employees in
NSW,
10/09/2012: Gina HAS done well, and DESERVES to be listened to more:
"Let’s say you inherited $2600 back in 1992. Reckon you could’ve turned
that into $1 million by now? According to leftists, it’s easy. This theory
underpins general loser resentment at the fact that within 20 years Gina
Rinehart has converted her $75 million inheritance into $29 billion. To put it
another way: that inheritance represents just 0.258 per cent of Rinehart’s
current estimated worth. Not bad, considering how little she started
with." (Tim Blair) Recent falls in the price of iron ore has her down to
'only' $19 billion, but you get the point. Stephen Conroy (for contrast) wasn't
sure whether the NBN cost of $35 billion included the $11 billion to Telstra or
not (It doesn't). That's a $22 billion dollar difference, but it's not his
money! More Australians like Gina and fewer like Gillard and Conroy would be a
GOOD idea!
07/09/2012: I'm heartily sick of these constant blackouts! We are having
a two-day one just now so I am typing this to the accompaniment of noisy petrol
generators which we have the bush fires to thank for. We have had several of
some hours, a few of some days and multiple of minutes over the last few years.
The 'minute' ones are running at about three a week! I intend to utilise the
five deep cycle batteries donated to us by John Fenech to run an inverter which will
power our essentials: lights, water pump, heat pump water heater, wireless
modem, laptops, TV...ie not much more than 1Kw. I will start by charging the
batteries with a plug-in battery charger but will hook up some solar panels
when I have a lazy grand or so, and use the battery charger as a back-up when
the batteries are low. This will also help to cut the power bills, so it might
even pay for itself over time.
THIS might be the unit to do it (@$489). Depends whether it can be plugged into the mains for battery charging (off-peak) and whether it is efficient enough to make a saving on the power bill (have asked the seller some questions), but if so, this might be a way for everyone to reduce their power bills now that smart meters offer off-peak prices AND one can always supplement by adding in some solar panels and/or a wind turbine. Worth a thought, especially if blackouts are a problem and if (like us) when the power goes off, so does the water pump, telephone, computers, internet, fridges, lights... http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=251104989935&fromMakeTrack=true#ht_8244wt_1186
06/09/2012: Looks like that
'global warming' (supposing that it even exists) may be natural after
all: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/09/05/is-the-current-global-warming-a-natural-cycle/
06/09/2012: Just in case you
think she did nothing wrong, HERE are the things she DID wrong: http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2012/09/the-awu-scandal-things-ms-gillard-did-wrong.html
06/09/2012: “… there is no
relation known to society, of the duties of which it is more incumbent upon a
court of justice strictly to require a faithful and honourable observance, than
the relation between solicitor and client.” Lord Westbury, Tyrrell - v- Bank of
London (1862) 10HLC26
That is why it is important for a lawyer not to receive money from a client and
then engage in a sexual relationship with the client. It's a conflict of
interest. It makes it possible for all sorts of interpretations to be made and
aspersions to be cast.
06/09/2012: Don't know whether this bloke is a distant relative, but hope he is! WELL DONE Earl Jones: http://www.wlwt.com/news/local-news/news-northern-kentucky/Boone-County-homeowner-shoots-kills-intruder/-/13608792/16463942/-/item/0/-/euubk3/-/index.html
“I aimed right
for his heart,” said Jones, who served in the military from 1941 through 1946.
“I didn’t go to war for nothing. I have the right to carry a gun. That’s what I
told t...See More
06/09/2012: One thing Rex is
definitely right about: ham rolls (for breakfast) are della-icious (Extra Soft Lunch
Rolls from Safeway Churchill, great ham from Yinnar General Store).
05/09/2012: HAZELWOOD CAN STAY: Labor abandons plan to close coal-fired
power stations. Greens disgusted/disgusting. Watch real estate prices boom now!
Yippee! An election is obviously in the offing. Dust off your share
portfolio...http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/breaking-news/govts-breach-of-faith-on-power-stations/story-fn3dxiwe-1226465464984
05/09/2012: Sea Ice Beat-Ups:
New Scientist has summer Arctic sea ice at its least extent since Satellite
measurement began in 1979 and claims it is the lowest in 3 million years, yet I
notice the North-West Passage is not yet open, though Amundesen (and others)
passed through it. Simultaneously
05/09/2012: Wind farms do not
reduce CO2 output at all; they only kill birds and bats: "The results
showed fossil fuel generators, in the same periods when wind turbines had been
operating, fluctuated their output to match demand but did not reduce their
rate of coal consumption." http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/mirandadevine/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/surprise_surprise_wind_farms_do_nothing_for_the_environment_except_cause_np/
05/09/2012: Hunting about near
Bruthen on Sunday with my boys (Matt & Bryn): a beautiful sunny day. Too
bad the wet summers have thickened the bush up so much you can't even see the
deer (though I heard lots). A beautiful sunny spring day: the wild fuschia,
normally a vapid drab was a riot of scarlet bells! So many other wildflowers in
bloom.
05/09/2012: Ju-Liar's
'ejucation revolution': "I was in the top class, but there were children
who were what was referred to, very unkindly and all too frequently, as in
veggie class. We were marked for success, they were marked for failure" at
the 3:45 mark in http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-09-03/national-press-club-julia-gillard/4240430
Query: What is THE most astonishing thing about this statement? Clue: She can't
have been talking about 'veggie maths'! I am tallying her post July 1 spends
and promises @ $50 billion and receipts going West at nearly the same rate.
This is a huge ('Veggie Maths') gulf!
04/09/2012: The Non-Aligned
Summit in Teheran: "At the opening of the conference, Khamenei made yet
another feral, anti-Semitic speech, shamelessly exhorting the world to
annihilate
03/09/2012: The ideal present
for a (retired) sheep farmer: (http://kartongroup.com.au/products/ram-cardboard-storage-furniture?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=18_35)
- ie cardboard sheep storage: Facebook ads ARe weird!
03/09/2012: Famous
philosophers can sure get it wrong: Here's Jean-Jacques Rousseau: "One
half of the children who are born die before their eighth year…This is nature’s
law; why contradict it?" ('Emile' 1762) He was also responsible for the
'noble savage' myth, you may remember. Lots of reasons why this prediction is
wrong. A short video in an interesting contest well illustrates this (http://fb-266886.strutta.com/entry/280180)
at FrackNation - Video Contest | Facebook fb-266886.strutta.com FrackNation.
01/09/2012:Do you suppose it
IS true that Ju-Liar's many recent 'about-faces' represent a 'clearing of the
decks' prior to holding an election and/or in anticipation of a successful Rudd
challenge? Good heavens, DARE one hope they will be GONE THIS YEAR?
01/09/2012:I see Ju-Liar has
succeeded in having deleted
01/09/2012: I see that the
Yinnar General Store now has the Mighty Wallet. Knowing that I am a lover of
all things Tyvek, it will be no surprise to you that I have been using one of
these for two years (and that it's great!). Recommendation: rush in there and
get one today, (Bryn already has!) or maybe one of the zillions of other
interesting gifts (eg for Father's Day)!
01/09/2012: On a more cheerful
note, I am always delighted at the way 'nature' exploits any change as a
positive: we have a puddle outside our bedroom window created by the device
which flushes the bird poo off the roof every time it rains instead of putting
it in the tank. It is a treasure, an oasis to countless birds and other
critters. I have often noticed this: that some utter ugliness merely creates an
opportunity. There is a 'wasteland' sand pit in Morwell which is just an
apocalyptic landscape - except to plovers and osprey who find it the most
wonderful breeding location! I once created an ugly slash of bulldozer track
across the hillside. Visible for miles it was the object of many adverse
comments. But this vertical bank was just what many snakes and lizards had been
longing for. One day I observed a veritable flock (hundreds) of pardelotes
emerging from nesting holes there; I think I had only ever seen a pair together
elsewhere. National Parks as a tool for 'managing' nature are obviously a
mistake - because of their Stalinist monolithic philosophy. What 'nature'
really responds to is diversity. We should quit worrying about 'managing'
nature and just get on with our business (whatever it is). Nature will benefit
from the diversity of 'opportunities' created.
01/09/2012: The price of our
iron ore (and other minerals) has plummeted (to less than half what they were
at peak); real househole asset are falling; we are selling off the farm to the
Chinese (Cubbie has just gone!); the unions are destroying Grollo in a
shameful, criminal manner abetted by the Federal Government...Meanwhile that
same Government announces mega-billions of unfunded new spending initiatives -
does this remind you of 'Nero fiddled while Rome burned'? Next thing I expect
to see Gillard marry her horse or her sister - as Caligula did!
31/08/2012: You CAN understand
WHY people think like this: More Diggers Needlessly Die: Larry Pickering:
31/08/2012: "What the hell are we doing in that backward, barbaric country
anyway? It's worth noting that
31/08/2012: Mitt Romney's
energy independence policy IS (easily) achievable and will have VAST economic
consequences (and watch out
31/08/2012:Another 100 illegal
immigrants drowned who also won't be going to
31/08/2012:The Government's
latest backflip on the carbon tax is, if anything, even madder than the tax was
in the first place: http://catallaxyfiles.com/2012/08/30/somersaults-and-a-belly-flop-carbon-tax-fails-on-all-counts/
31/08/2012: It might be the
last day of winter but some things at least think it 's spring: this morning
our attention was drawn to a jenny wren dining on a spider just outside on the
bedroom window ledge where Della was beautifying herself about six inches away;
suddenly a thorn-bill appeared and began to chase it up and down the verandah:
nothing strange about that, I suppose; territory and all that. Then,he mounted
her and they went at it with what seemed considerable eagerness until driven
off by her justifiably infuriated mate, the blue wren. Such miscegenation is
obviously deemed quite wrong among some denizens of the natural world at least,
but not others. We await the results, if any...Meanwhile on the hill the galahs
have been spectacularly dining on the onion grass which had badly infested the
pasture and have practically ploughed the whole hillside. Whatever environment
is obviously ideal for some. Magpies and currawongs (and countless parrots)
have been drawn inexorably to the free dogfood on the verandah now that the
(retired) maremma, Bianca has taken up residence tthere. This makes for quite
an avaian visual (and for those who can) auditory feast aroundabouts. It has
the added benefit of keeping hawks away from Della's pigeons as magpies of all
kinds absolutely deplore and harrass all raptors; so I imagine the dog food on
the verandah may remain long after the aged Maremma has departed...
29/08/2012:I suppose it is
encouraging that there is always a way to make money, but THIS is worrying:
Unilever sees ‘return to poverty’ in
29/08/2012: Just picture that
it is Ju-Liar on the scaffold: http://maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com/uploads/gallows.jpg
http://maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com/uploads/gallows.jpg
maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com
28/08/2012: THIS is the
solution in the
http://www.coyoteblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/shower-heads.jpg
www.coyoteblog.com
28/08/2012: A VERY reasoned
response from Miranda Devine containing lengthy and enlightening quotes from
Hedley Thomas. A VERY important document: http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/mirandadevine/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/media_silence_a_disgrace/
28/08/2012: Next time you are
thinking of having a noisy party, don't invite the Taliban: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/world/taliban-behead-17-party-goers-after-2-women-start-dancing/story-fnd134gw-1226459417988
28/08/2012: Michael Smith's
revelations are EXPLOSIVE (for example, it was illegal for Ju-Liar to set up
the Association her boyfriend
27/08/2012: Lest we forget:
the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Milne Bay; we should remember that it was
Aussies who there first defeated Japanese troops in open battle: http://www.awm.gov.au/units/event_345.asp
27/08/2012: Today's
27/08/2012: Alan Jones's and
Phillipa Martyr's critiques of Gillards's interviews also make interesting
reading: http://www.quadrant.org.au/blogs/qed
The critical thing is whether Phil Coorey was RIGHT when he asserts Gillard did
the conveyancing: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/pm-comes-out-swinging-over-claims-20120823-24p3s.html
26/08/2012: Maybe it's the
hyphens? Otherwise how DO you explain the stupidity? How could you NOT be proud
of Jacinda Baker? http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10829552
24/08/2012: So Long N.T. Goodbye
Ju-liar!
24/08/2012: Aboriginal
conservatives picking up 15-30% swings against the ALP: AND Bess Price looks
like she may win Stuart! Great!
24/08/2012: Della Jones shared
Glaucoma
A treatment available here
that we can investigate.
An Occasional Q&A:
Q: What can I expect from
laser trabeculoplasty?
A: Selective Laser
Trabeculoplasty (SLT) is a laser procedure that relieves increased eye pressure
by changing the fluid outflow through the trabecular meshwork.
When the fluid that normally
flows out of the eye cannot drain through the trabecular meshwork, pressure
inside the eye may rise. This rise in pressure could damage th
e optic nerve and lead to
vision loss (glaucoma). The reason for the blockage in the meshwork is unclear,
but may be likened to leaves blocking a downpipe or gully trap.
The laser works by releasing
local body chemicals that alter the ‘leakiness’ of the meshwork, allowing more
fluid out of the eye and thereby decreasing the pressure. The particular
benefit of SLT is that it may be repeated many times as there is no appreciable
tissue damage.
Laser trabeculoplasty does not
work in all patients, but likely benefit can often be predicted beforehand and
appropriate patients selected. Patients with heavy pigmentation in the meshwork
do best. The duration of effect of the laser is variable, with an average
benefit of around 5 years. It may be necessary to supplement the laser with
ongoing glaucoma medication, and it is generally unusual for pre-existing
treatment to be able to be ceased, except in an exceptionally good response.
A laser trabeculoplasty is
usually performed as an outpatient procedure. You will be given eyedrops to
prepare the eye (one of which may cause a mild forehead ache). A contact lens
is placed on your eye (after local anaesthetic drops) to precisely focus the
laser. A laser trabeculoplasty takes only a few minutes. You may see a bright
red light that is an aiming beam; the laser beam itself is invisible. You may
feel a mild tingling sensation with each laser burn – there are 50-60 fine
burns in a treatment, which is given over a half or sometimes a full
circumference of the inside of the eye.
You will be asked to return
after 30 minutes so that your pressure can be re-checked. Assuming it is normal,
you will then be allowed home. There are usually no activity restrictions
following the laser treatment, although you should have someone drive you home
after the procedure. You will need to continue your usual glaucoma medication.
The pressure is checked within a fortnight or so after the procedure, and then
again at 5-6 weeks. It is not until this last visit that the success of the
treatment is judged.
Complications
Loss of vision after laser
trabeculoplasty is rare. The main risks of the laser procedure are:
The pressure may rise after
the treatment, sometimes requiring additional treatment.
Significant inflammation is
rare, but can occur.
A second procedure or another
type of surgery may be required.
Selective laser
trabeculoplasty is a safe and effective procedure with few risks. While
glaucoma treatments cannot restore vision already lost from glaucoma, early
detection and treatment of glaucoma offers the best chance of preserving your
vision.
24/08/2012:Just possibly
Norway is too lenient: Brevik's sentence is approx 100 days' gaol per murder -
which looks to me a little more like the punishment which might be meted out
for double parking or spitting on the footpath! I go more for the hanging on a
hook at the end of the street, boiling in oil, hanging drawing and quartering
sort of thing for such offences, BUT I am an incurable romantic!
24/08/2012: NOT such a cunning
stunt, Ju-liar: How can she claim she knew nothing about what the money was
used for and ended her relationship with Wilson as soon as she found out WHEN:
she DELIBERATELY performed ALL the legal work concerned WITHOUT placing it in
the AWU file at Slater & Gordon; she attended the auction of the house the
stolen money was used to pay or; she handled the conveyancing and cheques
drawn from the dodgy
association she had helped set up; she continued her 'relationship' with
23/08/2012: What Curiosity is
'seeing' on Mars is really mind boggling. Suggest you play the Slide Show in
Full Screen, here: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/multimedia/gallery-indexEvents.html
23/08/2012: When the 'Sex
Discrimination Commissioner ' becomes responsible for Defence of the realm, we
are REALLY in trouble: "It seems the Sex Discrimination Commissioner would
rather the army fought sexists than enemy soldiers...She wants to temper the
warrior culture...Face it, madam: the armed forces exist to kill people, and
not improve their attitude to gender politics". http://www.smh.com.au/national/broderick-wants-adf-to-temper-its-warrior-culture-20120822-24msk.html#ixzz24JbOMdbp
22/08/2012: Move over Luke
Skywalker, there now IS a flying bike: http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2012/08/finally-a-real-flying-star-wars-speeder-bike/
22/08/2012: Two interesting
climate observations this morning: global cloud cover has decreased enough over
the last 40 years to account for ALL observed changes in temperature (http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/08/20/spencers-cloud-hypothesis-confirmed/)
AND contrary to the expectations of the 'warmists' the Southern Oceans have
been cooling by -10Watts/sq
metre:(http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/08/21/has-trenberths-missing-heat-been-found-southern-oceans-are-losing-heat/).
Taken together with other observations (such as the inaccuracy of the
thermometer record, AND the manipulation of that data), I think it is now quite
likely that Earth has continued to COOL for ALL of the last century - as
indicated by the temperature records of eg Cape Otway and Wilsons Prom.
Interesting...
22/08/2012: REMEMBER this:
ONLY back in June Ju-liar thought it was fine to be digging up dirt on the
Opposition's past, but not HERS, apparently: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/sydney-news/dirt-file-author-nick-reece-hands-in-his-notice/story-fn7q4q9f-1226396027166
22/08/2012: Sadly, Phyllis
Diller has died. A lot of laughs die with her: You may remember: “I once wore a
peekaboo blouse. People would peek and then they’d boo.” & “I never made
‘Who’s Who,’ but I’m featured in ‘What’s That?’ ” & at 90: "I still
take the pill 'cause I don't want any more
grandchildren."http://www.heraldsun.com.au/entertainment/humourist-phyllis-diller-95-dies-with-a-smile-on-her-face/story-e6frf96x-1226454569582
22/08/2012: Part of Ju-Liar's transcript
of interview at Slater & Gordon is now up (more to follow). This woman has
ALWAYS been a (maybe not-so consumate) liar. REMEMBER THIS she is being
interviewed about improper (and/or illegal) legal and financial dealings
involving herself and her then (married) lover with whom she was openly
cheating on his wife - whom he went back to (good move!). I woud say it is
clear that S & G decided she was not a fit person to be a patrner in a very
left-wing law firm and either sacked her or required that she resign. Clearly
even moreso, she is not a fit person to be an 'Honourabe' MP, and particularly
a PM! Her response to all this is to threaten and presage new restictions on
the freedom of speech in
22/08/2012: THIS is what Peter Gordon says about it:
"Nevertheless, the partnership was extremely unhappy with Ms Gillard considering
that proper vigilance had not been observed and that (her) duties of utmost
good faith to (her) partners especially as
to timely disclosure had not
been met...Ms Gillard elected to resign and we accepted her resignation without
discussion." http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/law-firm-slater-gordons-axe-over-pm-julia-gillard/story-e6freuy9-1226454502942
21/08/2012: Ju-Liar: It just
gets worse and worse: she will have to resign or be sacked: http://pickeringpost.com/article/is-the-prime-minister-a-crook-part-vii/386
Politics - Is The Prime
Minister A Crook? Part VII - The
pickeringpost.com Young and
naive, indeed.It appears that Nicola Roxon and Peter Van Sumbugger are the only
two people left standing who are young and naive enough believe this is a
Liberal Party beat-up...
20/08/2012: The swallows are
back: a good dozen of them were scything the air above me this morning as I
went round the lambs on the hill. I DO love their aerial agility; the quick
flash of deepest blue as the sun darts off their backs as they sweep by. They
always nest in the garage and make Pollocks of the cars. I WILL finish the wall
and lock them out some day; then I will make ledges for them around the i
nside edges of the verandahs.
They have multiplied greatly since we have been here; now we are seldom
troubled by mosquitoes. A friend used to kill his: bad karma I think - and HE
is no longer with us. I just wonder what they think of us 'stick in the muds':
lingering here when THEY have been to
20/08/2012: No more hounds! My
family has been hound hunting in Oz for over a century but my back (and ears)
will just not let me continue any longer with this great sport so yesterday I
gave away my last four beagles to a young hunter who can make much better use
of them: a very sad day.
20/08/2012: Also unsurprising
is that windmills (which I find aesthetically pleasing even though they are
useless and evil killing machines) actually produce MORE CO2 than what they are
supposed to replace: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/08/18/mcintyres-talk-in-london-plus-the-uks-tilting-at-windmills-may-actually-increase-co2-emissions-over-natural-gas/#more-69484
and http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201213/cmselect/cmenergy/writev/517/m59.htm
20/08/2012: Two excellent
plans for saving the world: 1 Using urine to absorb CO2: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/08/17/friday-funny-pissing-away-the-co2-alarm/#more-69463
and 2. Using dog poo to produce energy: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/08/19/climate-craziness-of-the-week-poo-power-from-your-dog/#more-69564
Unsurprisingly Ju-Liar has given this guy $45,000!
20/08/2012: I am old enough to
remember that 'discrimination' once meant 'discernment'. When we have SOME
sections of our community dreadfully over-represented ( 5-8 times!) in eg crime
and welfare statistics, it is surely time to insist action be taken eg a
character test rigorously applied to would-be immigrants: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/african-youth-crime-concern-20120819-24glt.html#ixzz24222Nf62
20/08/2012: SHE IS GOING DOWN!
Part 6 of Larry Pickering's expose of the PM is here (https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Pickering-Post/385774778154872).
His main sites have crashed partly at least due to DDOS attacks (guess where
they are coming from?) Andrew Bolt also has some more on this affair this
morning. Shorten, Howes Roxon & etc are also going to be drawn into
this...Incredible stuff.
18/08/2012: I REALLY enjoy
Matt Ridley's optimism: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/08/ff_apocalypsenot/all
17/08/2012: You think you have
got it tough? Forget it. There are still over 20 million SLAVES in the world: http://www.infoplease.com/spot/slavery1.html
17/08/2012: Budding
Slartibartfasts may enjoy THIS website which allows you to DESIGN planets. YES,
REALLY. (cf Douglas Adams; 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy': http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slartibartfast):
http://www.solarvoyager.com/tutorials.asp
17/08/2012: Sickening to hear
Ju-liar in Parliament yesterday farewelling The Australian's Chief political
correspondent, Matthew Franklin who had asked her a question two days ago:
concerning Slater & Gordon's inability (or refusal) to disclose certain
files and would she approve. The very next day he was given a 'package' and
retired. Control of the Press anyone?
17/08/2012: Despite continual
'denial of service' attacks from 'hackers' Larry Pickering continues his
systematic expose of Ju-Liar's criminal past in the fifth of his series 'is the
PM a Criminal?' SOON she will have to go down in flames: http://lpickering.net/item/17113
17/08/2012: I cannot
understand why Julian Asange's supporters think he should not be extradited to
17/08/2012: Of course I WAS
pleased to learn that the 67 illegal immigrants board the 'Parsifal' were alive
(unlike nearly 1,000 who have died since Ju-liar destroyed the 'Pacific
Solution', but I can't understand why they were NOT turned back to Indonesia
(like those on board the 'Tampa') when they were 'recued' in Indonesian waters
by a boat heading for Singapore! Huh?
16/08/2012: EXACTLY: "The
two jewels in the crown of the communist’s mantra are “redistribution of
wealth” and “control of the Press”. Is it too bold to supplant those two jewels
with the “Carbon Tax” and the “Finkelstein Report”?": http://lpickering.net/item/16844
16/08/2012: Things we don't
yet understand: Sprites: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=lETegYbiJJY
Sprites on Film: Filmed at 10,000 frames per second by
15/08/2012: This is dreadful:
what doesn't the High Court understand? How much did it cost to buy the Court?
Just appoint your crooked AWU mates a la the Gov-Gen. Sell up and take your
assets elsewhere is my advice. THIS is what the Constitution says: "The
acquisition of property on just terms from any State or person for any purpose
in respect of which the Parliament has power to make laws:" Underline:
'for any purpose'!! Expletive deleted.
15/08/2012: There is hope for
me yet: a brain transplant: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn22142-chimeric-birds-could-explain-how-brains-get-big.html
15/08/2012: THIS is the
Central England Temperature (CET) dataset 1659-2012, the world's longest
continuous thermometer record. The extent of temperature variation is NOT great
@ +/- .5C and NO CAUSE FOR ALARM. It has been rapidly falling since c2000. The
only two causes for alarm I can see are: it is maintained by the (Phil Jones -
no relation) Hadley Centre UEA, scene of the 'Climategate' break-in AND that
they admit "Since 1974 the data have been adjusted to allow for urban
warming" so it could well be consistent with a century of COOLING such as
is shown by the records from Cape Otway and Wilson's Prom I have often referred
to in previous posts: http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/hadobs/hadcet/
15/08/2012: Larry Pickering a
VERY courageous man AND is going to bring Gillard down with his blog, AND SOON:
His latest offering:'Town Mode Fashions was owned by a Greek builder': I had
wondered that such a poorly dressed person had spent $17,000 on clothes; now we
know it was stolen AWU money spent on renovations to her house (AND Shorten -
the Governor-General's son-in-law - is deeply involved too!). Never in
15/08/2012: How the carbon tax
has affected electricity prices; I make the annual average increase something
like 250%: http://blogs.news.com.au/images/uploads/pricesss_thumb.jpg
15/08/2012: I am hoping the
Govt loses the High Court case today concerning the extinguishment of (tobacco)
brand names: practically the only two worthwhile constitutional rights we have
are that the Govt can't 'establish' a religion (Govt aid to 'private' schools
seems to have broken THAT one), and the Govt cannot compulsorily acquire
private property without just compensation. The many laws which 'acquired'
native vegetation on private land HAVE to be unconstitutional. IF the tobacco
companies win today thousands of farmers MAY get the compensation owing them
for their private freehold land use having been taken from them by such laws.
15/08/2012: SO, the 'Pacific
Solution' without 'Temporary Protection Visas' will work? Labor: If it works,
don't fix it! Over 1,000 people dead and more new illegals arriving every
fortnight than arrived on the First Fleet is NOT GOOD POLICY! Get out of the
kitchen! But as you leave, take a look at the latest riots in
14/08/2012:I like THIS guy:
"Sprouting bullshit such as 'our white skin is a result of the rape of the
colonisers', they are no longer laughable and tolerable in small doses - they
are promoting a view of life that just continues to perpetuate the victim
mentality and does their cause no favours. When you point out to them that
their identifying side of the family have continued to choose to marry white
people willingly for longer than their living lifetime, and not as part of some
forced assimilation program, you will be met with astonishment or indignation.
" http://theblacksteamtrain.blogspot.com.au/
14/08/2012:At 13,500 pa
14/08/2012: Interesting things
you can do with a 3D printer: http://www.gizmag.com/first-3d-printed-firearm/23473/
13/08/2012: Noel Pearson: this
great Australian is in hospital undergoing treatment for cancer - let's hope he
makes a full and speedy recovery. Read this article about him: http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/mirandadevine/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/cape_yorks_real_education_revolution/
13/08/2012: When you see how
much Gillard and Wilson made off with it makes Thomson's thefts look like
chicken feed: http://www.quadrant.org.au/blogs/qed/2012/08/this-is-about-taking-union-money
12/08/2012: Just playing
around with this (http://www.livingto100.com/calculator)
and I notice that as you get older, your life expectancy increases (which is
nice - I guess you leave your ephemeral contemporaries for dead!), but it led
me on to all these VERY old dudes (http://www.squidoo.com/how-to-live-to-150). The
Indo woman MIGHT just be legit, but I much doubt 'Ben Abba's' 2800 yr old...
12/08/2012: Della gave me one
of THESE new mats for my birthday and it's just awesome - can't wait to try it
out: http://www.moontrail.com/therm-a-rest-neoair-xlite-womens.php
12/08/2012: The OTHER side of
the gun control debate makes interesting reading, particularly the comments,
eg"There is also other ample evidence that disarming law-abiding citizens
(which implies a presumption of guilt before the fact) results in an increase
of all crimes (including murder) most notably in the
12/08/2012: Wind turbines HAVE
become very cheap on eBay so I was thinking about installing one such as THIS -
maybe to help the solar panels run a small aircon on a really hot day next
summer when the price per Kw/hr could be astronomical, but, maybe not: http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2012/08/every-single-time.html
11/08/2012: THIS is for me: http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2012/08/powdered-beer-and-soda-makes-roughing-it-not-so-rough/
11/08/2012: Is it any wonder
Cardinal Pell has described environmentalism as heresy? "The Archbishop of
Canterbury is writing a book in which he lambasts the government for shrinking
the State. In its current ‘shrunken’
form, the state accounts for around half of the
11/08/2012: This is Nietzche.
Fortunately we do not have a right wing side of politics like this in
11/08/2012:It is unsurprising
Ju-liar is not telling the truth about a few other things: http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/law_firm_wants_permission_to_release_its_wilson_files/
11/08/2012: "At the edge
of a forest, German soldiers point their guns at rows of naked people who
follow the Jewish religion. Among them are young mothers clutching their
babies. The shots echo through the woods and the dead bodies fall into the
ground. Down the road, while this is happening, their German army comrades are
busy establishing nature walks and bird sanctuaries and planting trees. The
Nazis conducted horrific experiments on children (I have seen footage so
upsetting it can’t be shown on TV) but at the same time they banned medical
experiments on animals. The same Nazi monsters who committed crimes of
unimaginable barbarity also advocated vegetarianism, organic agriculture,
forest preservation and homeopathic healthcare. How can we possibly explain
this? What was the connection between the inhuman brutality of the Nazis and
their gushing idealization of
‘Nature’?"http://www.martindurkin.com/blogs/nazi-greens-inconvenient-history
11/08/2012: Climate change aid
money used to fund forced sterilisation in
11/08/2012:The global carbon
market was worth $176 bn in 2011, about the same as the global wheat trade, and
the renewables investments added up to $243 bn in 2010. These are HUGE troughs
- is it any wonder they attract pigs?
11/08/2012:'There is nothing
“controversial” about fracking. Fracking has been a common well completion
practice for more than 50 years. The practice of large-scale fracking of shale
formations is somewhat more recent… But even that practice is 30 years old.
Mitchell Energy was fracking the Barnett Shale in North Texas and the Bossier
Shale in
11/08/2012:The Sceptics'
Olympics: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/08/10/friday-funny-climate-olympics/
11/08/2012: Some real
imaginative Olympic events: though Della may have been interested in the pigeon
racing she would probably have opposed the live pigeon shoot! http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2012/07/how-were-these-ever-considered-olympic-events/
Della Jones Fortunately they
only held it once! I liked the duelling event with wax bullets!
11/08/2012: Matt Dennis
shared: "Homeopaths do not have a physical brain, but merely 'skull water'
with the memory of brains". -Robin Ince- Infinite Monkey Cage (Darren)
10/08/2012: Thanks for the
thoughtful birthday wishes and other positive comments folks. It MORE than
makes up for the odd bigot who has 'unfriended' me: as I see it they are
missing out on a lot of fun!
10/08/2012: You have to
seriously worry about the level of Defence spending when you read a story like
THIS - and if you can't defend your country how long is it before you don't
have a country TO defend? http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/defence/asylum-demands-breaking-navy-fleet-as-patrol-boats-crack-up/story-e6frg8yo-1226447133244
10/08/2012: I was hoping we
would win gold in the 'Married Three-Legged race, the 'Closed Sack Race', the
'Blindfold Egg and Spoon Race'...but apparenty all these interesting events
have been dropped! How come they still have the 'Butterfly', the 'Long
Jump', the 'Discus', the 'Pole
Vault'...if it's not MEANT to be silly? It ALL looks pretty silly to me - and
SO like a Barnum and Bailey Freak Show - which I thought had been banned, see: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0022913/
Freaks 1932: Directed by Tod
Browning. With Wallace Ford, Leila Hyams, Olga Baclanova, Roscoe Ates. A
circus' beautiful trapeze artist agrees to marry the leader of side-show
performers, but his deformed friends discover she is only marrying him for his
inheritance.
10/08/2012: This is a VERY interesting point and
underlines just how recently the State has come to monopolise all manner of
things (even Defence - did you know that during the American Revolutionary War
most of the British soldiers were raised and paid for by private
subscription?); Peter Phelps argues here that the State has no business AT ALL
in our bedrooms. There are many other State functions which we take for granted
as fundamentally Government responsibility but which might well operate better
if they were privatised: I have mentioned money before, for example... Peter
Phelps: www.thepunch.com.au/articles/to-end-the-gay-marriage-debate-privatise-matrimony/
10/08/2012: Maybe try reading one of Ayn Rand's books, eg
'Capitalism, the Unknown Ideal' which is interesting. The 1949 Gary Cooper
movie 'The Fountainhead' is very interesting also for its demolition of the
myth that there was once a time when men were the bosses (as is also his
earlier movie Casanova Brown - and any Mae West film for that matter) and for
some solid philosophical underpinnings. You can download them & there are
many sources of Ayn Rand ebooks: I use
Kickass & The Pirate Bay and the VPN Ipredator, myself.
09/08/2012: The 'projected'
NBN takeup till the end of next year is lesss than 10% with expected
multi-billion dollar cost blow-outs. Meanwhile currently it has 4,000 users
paying just $2 million pa. though the NBN has spent billions getting them. As
this level of spending ($40/month) would get them less than a basic ADSL2+
level of service on the NBN, I suspect these people are old age pensioners who
didn't know any better, but who will find out. Unfortunately, soon it will
become compulsory - or you just use your smart phone. What a disaster!
09/08/2012: The wolves are
circling on Gillard and Wilson - and not before time!
09/08/2012: I just don't
believe it: THIS is a complaint: "Men were also continuously and
unnecessarily sexist, waiting for me to walk through doors and leave the
elevator before them. " by a journalism
work-experience student: http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/timblair/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/it_was_just_so_heteronormative/
Where are we AT
when politeness and kindness are seen as EVIL?
08/08/2012: There is a new kind
of 'safe' fracking: greenies may have to give up on their opposition yet, but
don't hold your breath: http://www.gizmag.com/dry-extraction-fracking/23513/
08/08/2012:MARS:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/multimedia/pia16005.html
08/08/2012: It was 'false
advertising' anyway. They would have known SOME of their guests weren't
'drovers': http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/national/mining-boom-sex-worker-wins-anti-discrimination-case/story-fndo2j43-1226444881828
08/08/2012: 'White aborigines'
creaming off money intended to end aborigine disadvantage IS disgusting - as is
the racism involved. Listen to what Bess Price has to say; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWveLI-MK9Y&feature=player_embedded
08/08/2012: Before you think
about Bob Brown's efforts at James Price Point, whale calving grounds, dinosaur
footprints, silly walking mice & etc, you really should read this woman's
letter: http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/greens_vs_aborigines/
08/08/2012: I'm afraid the
Olympics reminds me of Monty Python's 'Ministry of Silly Walks': no doubt those
who 'won gold' at the butterfly, the hurdles or the 'hop,step
and jump' will find this quite unpatriotic: Here is John Cleese: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wippooDL6WE
Monty Python - The silly walk
Della Jones Love it!
John Cleese is so much more entertaining than the Olympics in my view!
You just did not
stay up all night to watch
08/08/2012: WA Energy Minister
Peter Collier should be ashamed that he said Julia Gillard has "the
credibility of a cane toad" when she clearly does NOT. This reminds me of
the occasion when all agreed when a politician jogged memories by declaiming
'I'm a country member"!
07/08/2012: JUST WOW: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/multimedia/msl5.html
AND http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/news/msl20120806b.html
NASA - Curiosity's Early Views
of Mars
This image shows one of the
first views from NASA's Curiosity rover, which landed on Mars the evening of
Aug. 5 PDT (early morning hours Aug. 6 EDT). It was taken through a
"fisheye" wide-angle lens on one of the rover's Hazard-Avoidance
cameras. These engineering cameras are located at the rover's ...
07/08/2012: I like the way
this girl was very happy to win a 'mere' bronze AND had the good sense to slap
a drunken yobbo who threw a beer bottle at Usain Bolt: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/london-olympics/man-arrested-after-throwing-bottle-onto-track-at-start-of-100m-final/story-fn9dirj0-1226443678969
07/08/2012: GO Bess Price!
Hope you win Stuart. http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/the_rise_of_the_aboriginal_conservative/ and brickbats to THIS guy for his comment about her: Chris Graham,
SBS Living Black’s Facebook page:'" … WHEN grubs like Bess Price sit there
on national television and say “Sorry, I didn’t think you were Aboriginal.
You look like a whitefella to me”. How you can sit and pretend that that’s not
hurtful, or won’t evoke a reaction is staggering.'
07/08/2012: What a happy
country
06/08/2012:Wheels editor Bill
Thomas: "Yes, excessive speed is dangerous. But who makes these arbitrary
judgments about safe limits, and what gives state governments the right to
enforce them in an oppressive manner … ? Australian motorists face relentless
attack by speed cameras, all justified by the Great Speed Lie. The result?
Millions in the government coffers. This bullying is carried out by public
servants supposedly elected to look after us." Couldn't agree more!
06/08/2012:'Buddhist' sexism
and intolerance: '“People are crazy,” said Razia Jan, founder of a girls’
school outside
“Every day, you hear that
somebody’s thrown acid at a girl’s face ... or they poison their water.”
There were at least 185 documented
attacks on schools and hospitals in
06/08/2012:LOSING badly:
"
06/08/2012:Apparently the
Attorney-General thinks you need 'permission' to call Julia Gillard an 'old
cow'. This is sinister 'Big Brother' thinking - and also deeply offensive to
our bovine citizens to whom the PM is deeply sensitive - as the ban on live
cattle exports showed: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/national/pm-compared-to-cow-by-cattle-chief/story-fndo2j43-1226442663527
06/08/2012: Good luck
Curiosity: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/index.html
AEST 3:30 pm: and
WELL DONE Curiosity!
05/08/2012: Socialism is just
SO pathetic: I am constantly reminded of this, eg when I see the Government
shovelling out further gargantuan slabs of largesse to 'the deserving poor' -
as Alfred Dolittle explains in 'Pygmalion'. The ubiquitous 'deserving poor,'
who plead our assistance when their houses burn down - having spent their
instalments on Jim Bean and Peter Jacksons, who cry out for free dentistry
having previously eaten the supermarket out of Mars bars and Coca Cola, who are
homeless having demolished the rental accommodation provided for them by the
State - or foolish (now skint) private investors...POOR folk! Oh, save me the
platitudes! WHY is it too much to ask that people stand on their own two feet -
and that the State spends our purloined money on imperatives such as the
defence of the realm?
05/08/2012: A conflation has
developed between 'scatology' and 'eschatology' - BOTH now coming to involve
the interpretation of fewmets (normally a harmless passtime of us hunters). NOW
CO2, formally the very stuff of life (or life's fertiliser - here the
relationship with 'manure' becomes clearer) is 'pollution' (or what was
formally associated more with the image of dead dogs and human faeces wafting
down nearby rivers, or having to cut the air with a knife and fork before it
could be breathed; ie what was long since banished by C19th town planners!).
This 'pollution' automatically and naturally presages the 'final days' - and we
should all pray to the great green God Gaia for salvation and redemption.
Please place any idle billions in the collection plate as you pass by in the
name of 'carbon tax' and other latter day hagiographic manifestations!
05/08/2012: I
just love time machines: a piece of unfortunately much decayed video of my late
uncle Basil's 70th birthday celebrations filmed in 1990 just before his tragic
early death has come into my hands (and will soon be shared with all interested
parties). It is just wonderful to suddenly see soo many much younger versions
of ourselves: THERE is for example my 8 year old daughter Irralee flitting on
and off the screen. I often now gaze longingly out the window at the garden
where my vanished children once played - no, not deceased; just grown up and
living their own lives: no doubt you are seeing some of their last night's
antics below at the celebrations of (unbelievably) Bryn's 27th birthday - what
already nearly half way to Basil's 1990 festivities? How can it be?
04/08/2012: Just
try to keep in mind that this guy usually uses his trucks to assist the
fracking industry, so surely he DESERVED this: his truck illegally commandeered
by the Federal police to smuggle drugs and his driver shot dead AND of course
NO compensation. DOWN with fracking. UP with Government. Think so?: http://www.qando.net/?p=13480
04/08/2012: Unless it is soon
abolished (as all such green police nonsense should be) no doubt OUR EPA will
follow the
04/08/2012: Just to balance
the views of those who see each crazed killer as a reason to further restrict
lawful ownership of guns: Christian Woman Shoots Killer of teens: http://www.stripersonline.com/t/560038/christian-woman-shoots-killer-of-teens
AND Gun carrying man ends stabbing spree at Salt Lake grocery store: http://www.abc4.com/content/about_4/bios/story/conceal-and-carry-stabbing-salt-lake-city-smiths/NDNrL1gxeE2rsRhrWCM9dQ.cspx
04/08/2012: Clover
03/08/2012: 2300 km in 3 days
and sighted ONE drilling rig! At this rate
03/08/2012: Home Safe: after
2300km in three days to attend a first cousin's funeral in Maitland (at the
cemetery which also contains our great-grandparents and our great great great
grandfather!) We HAVE some interest in the future of this country NOW, surely?
It WAS amazing to catch up with a cohort of relatives which (was it just days
or months ago?) we played together with as children; some alas, now tottering
or leaning on sticks: it is indeed true: WE ARE HERE FOR A GOOD TIME, NOT A
LONG TIME!
03/08/2012:
hat sees it as a complete
no-brainer, that the first stop after a Government not looking after Defence is
that you don't have a country TO defend:
http://blogs.news.com.au/images/uploads/tanks_thumb.jpg
01/08/2012: Matt Dennis
shared: This is one of your time travellers right? More pics : www.parmoi.net
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=445963202114456&set=a.422989434411833.97345.114348978609215&type=1&relevant_count=1
Della Jones How can
you tell?
Steve Jones: He IS incognito
actually, and I like it that you can JUST make out the handle of his duck
umbrella which he needs to do all his fancy singularity tricks. The OTHER
people on the train ARE interestig too: I notice a clean-shaven version of your
good self sans fish tattoo, Kerri and Jack Cleaver and Bree McDevitt. Bryn IS
there in his 'Chocolat' tee, his ONLY concession to the spirit of dress-up OR
time travel! ANY suggestions as to who was seated behind Bryn on this magical
outing to Solaris IV?
Matt Dennis I think
he has a big yellow dildo hanging from his staff...
30/07/2012: You CAN think
Facebook is very clever when you glance to the right and see that it wants you
to 'Walk the Hollyford Track' - how des it know? And then you realise it wants
to introduce you to cute Russian nymphets or cure your haemorrhoids or sell you
a glass umbrella or....and you realise, Facebook IS only an idiot!
30/07/2012: THIS headline DOES
give you pause to reflect: MORE IN A FORTNIGHT THAN CAME WITH THE FIRST FLEET.
I am reminded that Della's ancestors were on that fleet, one was BORN on it,
(it was) an event which used to be deemed the seminal event in Australia's
history; THE foundation of our great nation...what sort of nation are we
founding with this last fornight's arrival of a rag-tag of mainly ex-terrorists
from Sri Lanka and Afghanistan? I shudder to think we will soon find out: http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/more_in_a_fortnight_than_came_with_the_first_fleet/
30/07/2012: If I seem to be in
a sombre mood this morning, it might be for this reason: I used to be perplexed
at sundry 'elderly' rels etc who from about 60 on seemed to mainly be
preoccupied with preparations for their own demise...BUT the deaths in a couple
of recent weeks of not one but TWO first cousins certainly makes one reflect on
'time's winged chariot hurrying near'...
30/07/2012: Ziggy Switkowski,
former head of Telstra and Kodak, makes an analogy: "… large-scale
Australian manufacturing has lost ground internationally over the past two
decades, emphasising the magnitude of the productivity challenge and the rise
of China....It’s hard to enforce tough goals on a complacent community, unaware
of overseas trends, with a false sense of superiority over other nation’s
problems
. In many industries, our
global competitors have improved much faster than we have. Mining is the best
example of a globally exposed industry, but we hear concerns about our high
labour costs, complex and hostile regulation, policy mishaps, inadequate
infrastructure, even sovereign risk. Should mining investment move abroad, that
would be a bad outcome symptomatic of a distracted nation with the wrong
priorities. As our trade-exposed industries fall away, our economy concentrates
around domestic service providers for whom the survival instinct to be
efficient, innovative and growth-oriented, at gold medal levels, is weak. And
because of our mining boom-endowed lifestyle, the commitment to excellence has
been dulled".
29/07/2012: As I have said
before (and to paraphrase Thoreau) I 'lead a life of NOISY desparation,' but I
cannot BUT admire those who have MUCH more pluck: the Roberts-Smiths and
Donaldsons richly deserve their VC's and other accolades, but I am seriously
MUCH more impressed by the quiet bravery displayed by many I love who face
blindness or death almost 'with a song in their heart' or rather like the
character in Macbeth who is so admired because 'nothing in his life became him
so much as the leaving of it'...s/he 'cast it aside as if it were the merest trifle'
(or words to that effect - sorry Shakespeare!). Two, a mother and daughter whom
you will be familiar with, come to mind in this quite astonishing bravery, but
so also does my late stepfather Alf Bieman who showed such enormous fortitude
and character in starving himself to death over six weeks against all efforts
to force feed him
28/07/2012: Saw lots of old
moose sign along the Seaforth in my latest trip there in April. The moose
remain alive and well!
27/07/2012: Speak louder and
clearer, God: It may surprise those who understand the depth of my atheistic
faith to learn that God infrequently 'talks' to me. I am not honoured with
miniatures of Jesus in my nasal mucosa or portraits of Mother Theresa in my
burnt toast, alas, but twice in widely separated incidents when I have hit my
fingernail with a hammer, the resulting blackening has formed itself into
letters, not just any etters but CAPITAL LETTERS - hence, inevitably Godspeak!
I think one of the letters was a 'B' and one and 'H'. I would have preferred
that they were 'B' and 'S' as it would have been nice if this compulsive
destroyer of millions of small children in earthquakes, plagues and tsunamis
was indicating to me his non-existence. I will stick with the former anyway,
which I took to indicate two things: First that it was the Jewish God speaking
as there were no vowels. This is nice for the Old Testament folk. Second, that
I needed to 'BELIEVE HARDER'. I would have to really practice this a lot before
I was convinced I think, especially in the face of those millions of Godmade
tiny corpses, but who knows?
26/07/2012: Just
astonishing! Gillard has acceded to Milne's requests that Treasury costing of
Greens' policies (paid for already by the taxpayer) NOT be released, yet those
of Labor and Liberal WILL be. How many free rides do we have to give the Loonie
Left? (You see what I meant in my previous post about denying the Govt money:
they WILL only waste it!)
26/07/2012:
Amazing that (now) both
This latest boat was
North of Bali! Amazing...
26/07/2012: Easy come, easy
go': all agree is tautologously identified with welfare recipients, heir/esses
and lotto winners; ie no-one values what they have not earned. Governments
display this propensity in absolute excess: they should be denied ALL funding!
26/07/2012:
Further to the perfidious prejustice against mythical beasts: (and I quote
Charles Kingsley here: ' No-one can say water babies do not exist as no-one has
ever see them not existing'): 'unicornus' sightings have declined in direct
proportion to that of virgins.
26/07/2012: An
accolade I would avoid: 'richly deserved modesty' - but I think I recently met
someone who suited it to a 'tee'!
Mithril Welsh
Ponies: One I like is 'they have delusions of adequacy'.
Steve Jones Pronoia
is VERY prevalent too!
25/07/2012: Every mother
should have one: a garbage can which moves quickly to catch rubbish thrown in
its general direction: http://www.gizmag.com/smart-trashbox/23439/
24/07/2012:
There seems to be a law against discrimination towards everything else: I think
it is time to end the discrimination against mythical creatures!
24/07/2012:
EXTRAORDINARY things people do: this guy intends to parachute from 120,000 feet
and break the sound barrier during free-fall on the way down. Good luck with
that: http://www.gizmag.com/stratos-stratospheric-skydive-succeeds/23447/
24/07/2012: If
CO2 FOLLOWS temperature by a few hundred years as has been frequently shown (eg
below), might not the current 'increase' in CO2 be a CONSEQUENCE of the
well-established 'Medieval Warm Period' and have nothing AT ALL to do with
C20th activities? http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/07/23/new-research-in-antarctica-shows-co2-follows-temperature-by-a-few-hundred-years-at-most/
24/07/2012: The
'usual suspect' nutters are 'fracking mad' all over Facebook with their
'enlightened ' opposition to applications for exploration licences from a
number of mining companies who wish to test some of the region's mineral
potential. Leaving aside the likes of Western Mining's huge gold exploration
leases in Gippsland, the focus seems to be opposition to the expansion of black
and brown coal resources and natural gas. Again aside from the obvious
consequence that their development would make Vic energy independent for
probably centuries to come, what these people reject is the investment and
returns that such mining would have for the region for at least the next fifty
years. Why they reject the mere prospect of prosperity is completely beyond me!
24/07/2012: Mind
you, I think the Rudd family have their probems too. (We will momentarily
ignore the vast defrauding of the Commonwealth Kev and Theresa pulled off with
their employment agency): I am referring to Kevin's crie de coeur that when
young he once or twice had to sleep in a Combi van; now his brother Greg claims
he once had to burn his underpants in a cave to stay warm - hope he paid the
carbon tax on them!
24/07/2012:
Unintended consequences? Gay Marriage: '“She’s just like an easy-bake oven
except with no legal rights to the cupcake,” the surrogate-mother broker tells
Bryan and David'. Delightful: http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/mirandadevine/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/the_cheapest_wombs/
23/07/2012:The 'Gillard Papers' available here (http://www.quadrant.org.au/blogs/qed/2012/07/alan-jones-interviews-michael-smith)
and the Bunyip's take on the goings-on at
23/07/2012:Sad
news: "A famous example of this is the rendering of one term as “virgins”
instead of “raisins”. According to Luxenberg, the word usually translated as
“virgins” or “dark-eyed maidens” is best understood as referring to “white
raisins” of “crystal clarity”, meaning that the promised delights awaiting
martyrs in Paradise are more culinary that carnal—a finding that may be
deflating for prospective suicide bombers." NEITHER Christ nor Mohammed
may be any more real then the Spaghetti Monster. Oh Dear: http://www.quadrant.org.au/magazine/issue/2012/7-8/the-revisionist-case-that-muhammad-did-not-exist
23/07/2012: WHY
can't I buy one of these in 240 volts? SO much waste heat goes up the chimney -
though much less for us than those poor (Greens mandated) folks who don't/can't
have a chimney damper (still available on eBay from the
23/07/2012: SUCH
a lovely 'family' - or, maybe I'm mistaken about this, but WOULD these terrible
events happen if such folks HAD a 'normal' family, or is this sort of thing a
symptom of the breakdown of such institutions as MARRIAGE and FATHERHOOD? http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/cousin-of-man-accused-over-kelly-death-also-faces-murder-charge-20120722-22ib9.html#ixzz21OAt8jaE
21/07/2012: I
find it hard to decide WHICH Green scheme is MOST EVIL: Is it the mandated
BURNING of human food when so many are still starving (cf 10% Ethanol) , the
wholesale destruction of the remaining tropical forests to GROW 'Biofuels'
(palm oil plantations), support for useless windfarms which kill innumerable
birds and bats, opposition to shale and coal seam gas and nuclear power which
could produce safe, cheap fuel for humanitiy for millennia...the list goes
on...
21/07/2012: Are
we drowning in rules and regulations? You betcha. Watch this brief
illustration: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lePrBUHihKI&feature=player_embedded
21/07/2012:
Early Oz explorers Sturt and Mitchell recorded temperatures of 53.9C in the
early C19th - much higher than anything in the C20th or yet this century.
Global warming anyone? http://joannenova.com.au/2012/07/charles-sturts-time-so-hot-that-thermometers-exploded-was-australias-hottest-day-in-1828-53-9c/#more-22045
21/07/2012:
Specsavers: this is not an ad but an experience: these people's products,
service and price are wonderful: eg they do a free visual field test and
retinal photography so that none of their customers will EVER have Della's
experience of going blind undetected whilst in their care; I have NEVER before
had a pair of glasses which ars SO clear; I did not know I was supposed to be
able to see distance through multifocals (never have been able to before) or
that there are three qualities of these available. AND they charge the same
amount for TWO pairs of glasses as others do for ONE! TRY them.
21/07/2012:
Again, in defence of MARRIAGE, can society really afford the vast social
plagues which have and do follow from trashing this and other central
traditions and institutions? http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1566637090?ie=UTF8&tag=wwwviolentkicom&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1566637090
Marriage and Caste in
A generation ago Americans
undertook a revolutionary experiment to redefine marriage. The results of this
experiment separating marriage from childrearing are in, and they are bad news
for children and for the country as a whole. The family upheaval has hit
African-Americans especially hard.
21/07/2012: DO
LISTEN to Alan Jones and Michael Smith discussing Gillard's complicity in the
huge
20/07/2012:
Greenie-cuddly DSE just can't be serious about fining these kids $32,000 for
playing on a dead whale: I remember years ago hunting foxes out of a dead whale
at
19/07/2012:
These anti-nuclear folks are astonishing: the Fukushima evacuation apparently
killed twice as many people as the worst-case nuclear contamination would have;
no-one at all was killed by nuclear contamination in the event; now a fanciful
'anti' with an appalling track record thinks maybe 1300 folks will die in the
future - including presumably those who die laughing at his credulity!
Meanwhile bananas have more radiation than anyone is likely to get from a
nuclear power plant! http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/C935/
19/07/2012: The
Hobbit - just downloaded and watched the preview: can't wait till Dec 14th!
18/07/2012: And
the other half is almost certainly faulty or badly sited weather stations or
Urban Heat Island effects - the other side of which is substantial cooling at
such places as
18/07/2012: Campbell,
Barry and Ted deciding to sack a myriad of 'environmental' officers,
'renewables' people and artsy folk...reminds me of Douglas Adams jettisoning
all the telephone sanitizers and account executives on the 'B Ark' - may they
all be eaten by a giant space goat and trouble us no more; See: http://www.geoffwilkins.net/fragments/Adams.htm
18/07/2012: I
notice Bob Brown wants Tas wind farms shut down until they stop killing
wedge-tailed eagles (and other birds) but isn't this just the renewable energy
we were supposed to be having?
17/07/2012: How
many lives could have been saved? A 24 year ban on self administered HIV tests
is lifted in the
17/07/2012: Interesting
to see what people ARE in gaol for: http://www.coyoteblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/drugs-500x445.jpg
http://www.coyoteblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/drugs-500x445.jpg
17/07/2012:
Obama has by now killed 'thousands' with drones (even American citizens) and in
countries
16/07/2012:
STRANGE that such records should have been overlooked. Perhaps we have been
sold a pup: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/07/14/newly-found-weather-records-show-1930s-as-being-far-worse-than-the-present-for-extreme-weather/
16/07/2012:
Miranda is right. Surely we do not need the death of another Thomas Kelly, the
18 year old king-hit by a stranger last week whilst walking down the street at
10:00pm holding hands with his grlfiend and talking on his mobile to tell us we
need a Rudy Giulianii solution here: http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/mirandadevine/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/the_real_crime_in_kings_cross_is_police_inaction/
16/07/2012:
"The children are our future. That's the problem". A VERY thoughtful
piece by Mark Steyn here doubting the inevitability of progress and especially
contrasting the new and old Islam. A must read: http://www.ocregister.com/opinion/young-363612-muslim-world.html
15/07/2012:Indeed: "If stupid plants are eating all the carbon
dioxide, why the hell are we paying a tax for creating the stuff?" http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/timblair/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/plants_kick_it_up_a_notch/
15/07/2012: Electricity
savings: We installed timers and switches everywhere we could. We also replaced
our old (LPG) water heater (which had died) with a new Quantum plug in (375
watt!) heat pump which is much more suitable than solar in
15/07/2012: LED light
bulbs: we have been trying out some of these and are VERY pleased: The Osram
13watt/50 watt equivalent @650 lumens from Bunnings and a 13watt/85 watt @ 850
lumen model from ledlightingaustralia.net.au. The second IS defiinitely
brighter and indicates things to come, eg Osram have flagged a 23watt/1600
lumen model for next year. We have used an old bayonet double globe adaptor to
have two 650's in the kitchen. These are definitely as bright as the 48 watt
Nelson CFL they replaced and give a nicer light. Given that the CFL was
supposed to be the equivalent of a 250 watt incandescent, we can see just how
far LEDs have come. By the same token in many places we have replaced a 48 watt
Nelson with one of the 850's and find the light actually much better. These
LEDs give a much more HUMAN light than the CFLs. They are a bit pricey still at
@$30ea but if they live up to their life expectancy (Osram indicate 25 YEARS on
the pack) and we know the CFLs were lucky to last ONE year - and their light
output even less, then they will be well worth the price. Savings in
electricity will pay for the globes in a year or so anyway and it is all gain from
then on. We have put some Bunnings 5 watt LED downlights over the kitchen
benches and these are also very nice. They are a direct replacement of halogen
downlight bulbs.
13/07/2012: Remember
Jackie Howe, the greatest shearer of them all who on 10 October 1892 shore 321
sheep in seven hours and 40 minutes at the Alice Down station in Queensland
WITH HAND SHEARS: http://www.facebook.com/JackieHoweFestivalOfTheGoldenShears
13/07/2012:
"Remember ‘Global Warming is killing the frogs?’ – turned out to be fungus
spread by biologists. ‘Global Warming is killing the bees!’ – parasites.
‘Global Warming is killing the bats!’ – fungus. Now, ‘Global Warming is killing
the coral!’ – virus": http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/07/12/viruses-linked-to-coral-bleaching/#more-67318
13/07/2012: Surely we
ARE changing too fast if the native born are now beginning to be the MINORITY: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/english-may-be-minority-language-as-migrants-now-in-the-majority/story-e6freuy9-1226424855220
English may be minority
language as migrants now in the majority
IT has always been a cultural
melting pot but new data reveals
13/07/2012: Whales must
surely have bred up enormously since the moratorium on whaling (which I
actively supported at the time) was introduced 40+ years ago. It seems likely
that some whale species (eg the Minke) are now in sufficient numbers that
sustainable harvesting CAN resume. Declines in some whale species (eg Blues)
continued AFTER the ban was introduced because of continued illegal whaling (especially
by the
13/07/2012: Net
anthropogenic changes to atmospheric CO2 percentages is surely dependent on the
ratio between anthropogenic oxidation as compared with reduction reactions:
Agriculture and refining for example are surely huge net reduction reactions.
Has anyone actually calculated whether there IS a NET anthropogenic effect on
CO2 - leaving aside what might happen to it after it is produced and whether it
has ANY effect on the climate anyway?
12/07/2012: Bad news
for dentists. I wonder will the anti-fluoride lobby jump on this one too? Mind
you if we add this we can remove the fluoride as unnecessary: http://gizmodo.com/5924447/scientists-find-molecule-that-will-make-your-teeth-cavityproof?popular=true
11/07/2012: Some good
news for the pear-shaped at last: http://gizmodo.com/5924696/being-obese-is-better-than-being-underweight?popular=true
11/07/2012: Don't try
THIS at home (including interesting personal anecdote): http://gizmodo.com/5924522/what-really-happens-when-you-get-sucked-out-of-an-airlock
11/07/2012: Global
warming? New study shows last 2,000 years of global cooling: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/07/09/this-is-what-global-cooling-really-looks-like/
11/07/2012: More
effective teaching, NOT more money: Miranda's answer to Gonski & ATU ads.
When will people LEARN socialism doesn't work?: http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/mirandadevine/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/a_dishonest_campaign_condemns_a_generation/
10/07/2012: More
adventures in time: http://cockeyed.com/personal/time_machine/time_machine_telegram.html#update
10/07/2012: Recent
success at Cern re the Higgs boson leads me to speculate that it can only be a
finite number of technological steps before such a team could generate a
'singularity' ie ANOTHER 'Big Bang' and so kick start a NEW universe (Alas for
ours however)! Supposing that they did this, would this make such wo/men GODS?
Now suppose that this happened some little time ago - such as 14-15 billion
years ago...'in a galaxy far away'...Alas for atheism! Some of these wo/men may
even be bearded! It just gets worse and worse...
09/07/2012: One for Della
to make: an authentic feather pinwheel (lots of stray materials around here!).
Lots of other interesting stuff at Cockeyed: http://cockeyed.com/incredible/pinwheel/pinwheel.shtml
09/07/2012: A 'must
have' watch: http://www.gizmag.com/hublot-antikythera-mechanism-first-computer-watch/20517/
Hublot painstakingly recreates
a mysterious, 2,100-year-old clockwork relic - but why?
09/07/2012: With
apologies to Tennnyson, an interesting poem: http://www.quadrant.org.au/blogs/doomed-planet/2012/07/black-carbon-dioxide-sunday
09/07/2012: Not quite
what Lionel Murphy intended by mandating easy divorce in Oz, but what countries
(eg Egypt & ad nauseum) will get under Sharia law following the Arab
Spring: http://www.smh.com.au/world/we-cannot-forgive-her-god-tells-us-to-finish-her-video-shows-public-execution-of-woman-22-in-afghanistan-after-adultery-allegations-20120709-21pzy.html#ixzz204aBQa47
09/07/2012: THIS is SO
true and is a gift to every would be commie/totalitarian/etc:
08/07/2012:A VERY instructive article about how the electricity system
actually works by two reknowned experts; (important fact: NO NEW BASE Load
generator has been built in
08/07/2012:The REAL consequences of Mabo: VERY instructive: http://www.quadrant.org.au/magazine/issue/2012/7-8/keith-windschuttle
08/07/2012: Two things
strike me most about the UAH Satellite world temperature record (the only
accurate measure we have): firstly how LITTLE the world's temperature has
varied over the last 30+ years (ie +/- .2C degrees!) and secondly the
step-change which clearly occurred with the giant El Nino of 1998 which
obviously cannot have been of anthropogenic origin (unless it is an artifact of
the instruments or methodology) just because it was SO sudden (ie there can
have been NO precursor cause - CO2 increases have been, in contrast
incremental): http://www.drroyspencer.com/wp-content/uploads/UAH_LT_1979_thru_June_2012.png
07/07/2012:Mike, the headless chicken; Somehow reminds me of the
current Govt: http://www.retronaut.co/2011/07/mike-the-headless-chicken/
Mike the Headless chicken
07/07/2012:Just a
reminder: Retronaut is GREAT fun. eg: Is THIS Princess
Leia: http://www.retronaut.co/2012/07/marilyn-monroe-as-1957/
Marilyn Monroe as…, 1957
... Images of Marilyn by
Richard Avedon Source: Wicked Halo
07/07/2012: Gina has an
important point here. There are LOTS of other countries which have resources
and if we aren't careful investors will go there and not come back. That is why
a team of mining execs from Oz were killed in a plane crash in
06/07/2012: Perhaps the
world IS going to end: at very least there have been numerous outbreaks of
cannibalism: earlier this year I opined I would be avoiding public transport
after a man killed and began to eat a fellow passenger on a Greyhound bus. I
now have reason to avoid homosexual encounters and homelessness after the
latest Canadian
(Luka Rocco Magnotta) and
American (Rudy Eugene) incidents. They have such interesting names, these
cannibals - as do their victims Jun Li & Ronald Poppo! Meanwhile in
06/07/2012: The Age
continues to bite the hand that feeds it: first it attacked major advertiser
Harvey Norman for felling sustainable Australian trees to make its furniture
(SHAME!); now it spurns David Jones and advocates 'Buy Nothing New This Month'
- a lunacy which had already infected Sydney's nutty bikepath-driven mayor
Clover Moore...where will it all end? Meanwhile
06/07/2012: Now that
Ju-Liar has averted the end of the world with her carbon tax, thought you might
enjoy this Peter Cook/Rowan Atkinson apocalypse skit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hJQ18S6aag&feature=player_embedded
05/07/2012: So Julian
Knight is not to be released in the 'foreseeable future'. Hoping this means
NEVER! Personally I would not regret his being chained to a rock in Hades and
having his liver pecked out daily by eagles - as was the much less deserved
fate of primal human benefactor, Prometheus.
05/07/2012: OCCUPY knew
how to fix all the problems of the world, but they failed to produce a simple
cookbook. This is SO symptomatic of the idiotic Left: http://porkandgin.com/issues/the-occupy-food-story/
05/07/2012: It is
interesting to see Che now protesting about things nuclear when he had THIS to
say in 1962: "The victory of socialism is well worth millions of atomic
victims" when he wanted Kruschev to nuke
05/07/2012: Next time
HIT HIM WHILE HE'S DOWN, Sophie! Just LOVE her facial reactions. I too am
horrified by the sort of creatures who crawl out from under rocks these days:
ttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDwO7wuEin4&feature=player_embedded
GetUP Defends Sophie
Mirabella's Reaction to Simon Sheikh's collapse on Q&A
Simon Sheikh collapses on
Q&A, WHEN GetUp director Simon Sheikh collapsed on live television, it was
the reaction of Liberal MP Sophie Mirabella that got the...
05/07/2012: Cardsharp
2: AMAZING knife: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFA3ev8w-YE&feature=player_embedded
Iain Sinclair Cardsharp 2
knife unboxing review
05/07/2012: Clover
04/07/2012: Pollies
vote themselves $50K extra per year: Ju-Liar now 'worth' $500,000pa. Don't
think so. How obscene.
04/07/2012: US CO2
emissions may hit 1990 levels THIS year because of the shale gas revolution and
WITHOUT a carbon tax! How about that: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/07/02/us-co2-emissions-may-drop-to-1990-levels-this-year/
04/07/2012: Meanwhile,
scientists are about to announce they HAVE discovered the Higgs Boson or 'God
Particle' as some averr it. Loud Hurrahs: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/world/science-close-to-higgs-discovery/story-fnd134gw-1226415165553
04/07/2012: TWO Days
after Ju-Liar introduces OUR carbon tax, New Zealand DITCHES theirs as simply
unaffordable: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10816999
04/07/2012: Independence
Day: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created
equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,
that among these are Life,
04/07/2012:Alan Jones
commented on Campbell Newman's initiation of a new enquiry into the Heiner
matter involving the pedophilic rape of a girl/s in youth detention in Qld
which was SHREDDED by Kevin Rudd. This issue may prove even more disastrous for
Labor than Ju-Liar's affair with Craig Emerson or her
04/07/2012:Just two
days after the carbon and mining tax...What a coup Ju-Liar's meeting with the
Indo Pres was: What Aussies overwhelmingly want IS this boost in Moslem
immigrants from Indonesia, OR would they prefer to see that people assimilate
first! GO Ju-Liar!
04/07/2012: If you
can't even sell it to the Greens you are REALLY lost in the wilderness: 'The Lowy
Institute 2012 Poll has found “considerable opposition” with “the majority
(63%) of Australians against the government’s legislation introducing a fixed
price on carbon...Even 38% of Australians who say they always or sometimes vote
for the Green Party are in favour of removing the legislation. ' - Miranda
Devine Telegraph 30/06/2012
01/07/2012: GIZMAG!
THIS is a GREAT site. HERE is an example. I recommend a peek: http://www.gizmag.com/enerplex-solar-charger-for-iphone/23044/
01/07/2012: Happy
C-Day. At least we won't have to remember to turn out the lights as we depart
the sinking ship! Maybe THIS would be a just reward for Ju-Liar: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Mi9hP0F1HUc
Elizabeth Clark at the stake
In 1645 the inquisitor Matteo
Hopkins ordered the execution of Elizabeth Clark at the stake, because she was
a witch. Many innocent women were burned alive a...
01/07/2012:
"Ineptocracy (in-ep-toc’-ra-cy) – A system of government where the least
capable to lead are elected by the least capable of producing, and where the
members of society least likely to sustain themselves or succeed, are rewarded
with goods and services paid for by the confiscated wealth of a diminishing
number of producers." Could this be
01/07/2012:
30/06/2012: The
'Pacific Solution' certainly worked: arrivals are up hugely. It is astonishing
that the 'pull' is enough to make people risk their lives (nearly 1,000 are now
DEAD!) when the 'push' (or
http://blogs.news.com.au/images/uploads/asylum_graf_1.jpg
blogs.news.com.au
29/06/2012:Man catches
fish, fish catches man, dog saves man. The result: a record alligator gar: http://www.grindtv.com/outdoor/blog/33939/texas+fisherman+prevails+in+epic+battle+with+enormous+alligator+gar/
Whether Brent Crawford has
captured the world's largest alligator gar will never be known -- his scale
bottomed out emphatically at 300 pounds and he filleted the prehistoric-looking
fish after attempting to obtain its weight. But this much is clear: The gar
Crawford landed while bow-fishing recent...
29/06/2012:Vote HERE: I unashamedly go for the Hannibal Lekter look
myself: http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/timblair/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/face_the_voters/
29/06/2012:It is not
just Della with her dangerous crochet hooks who may be a dangerous terrorist.
Now 8 year olds with Nerf guns are airport vigilante targets. Somehow also, I
always get explosives tested and have to wait patiently for various intimate or
intrusive procedures whilst numerous towel heads stream past unheeded! http://www.dailyadvertiser.com.au/news/local/news/general/toy-an-offensive-weapon-airport/2604239.aspx
29/06/2012:Labor IS
finished.! In inner city suburban Glebe once home to four Labor branches and
over one thousand members recently they could not even field a quorum of SEVEN
members to reform the branch: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-06-27/alp-in-strife-at-local-level/4095100?section=nsw
29/06/2012:Sadly, the Wankel engine IS no more: http://jalopnik.com/5921410/the-last-mazda-wankel-engine-has-been-built
29/06/2012:
'C-Day': the demonisation of TWO previously innocuous words, but 'G-Day': Grrr!
Is it possible there is ANYONE who hates that woman? Nah!
29/06/2012:Back from
four days' hiking in Wonnangatta-Moroka with a young American acquaintance.
Moroka river flooded and difficult to cross but weather beautiful. Probably
sub-zero of a night but warm and comfy thanks to my Tyvek tarps. Many beautiful
encounters with wild deer including watching does and fawns play. Had a very
bad 3 metre fall off a slippery log into a rocky streambed flat onto my back
which unexpectedly and serendipitously produced no injury - indeed my back
feels much bettter this morning! May have to try that again! Or maybe not!
Indeed I think I shall avoid log crossings for all time.
29/06/2012: In the 6
years of the 'Pacific Solution' there were 1100 illegal immigrant boat
arrivals. By the time of the election of the Rudd Governement there were 4
people in detention. Since then 20,000+ illegal boat people have arrived (over
half on Ju-liar's watch) and there are now 5,000+ people in detention. THIS is
a solution? Is it that we even WANT these people? The boat which recently sank
contained NOTHING but Sri Lankan MEN coming from a country which the UNHCR says
has no grounds for granting refugee status! The other major source country is
25/06/2012:Della Jones:
Stage 1a of major house-finishing project nearing completion! Steve built me a
massive and much needed shelf unit for the kitchen, and between trips to
Gosford relating to Mum's death, and a couple of overseas house guests, it is
finally sort of finished and I got to fill it up with stuff today. Thanks, oh
great and talented husband! (who is enjoying a much-deserved camping trip up
the bush with latest house-guest). Now to move different stuff into the
cupboards vacated by new-shelf stuff, and then on to staining the lounge-room
side of the structure. At least it is too wet and cold to hanker after the
garden!
22/06/2012: For
contrast Ju-Liar hanging with the mung beans at
http://blogs.news.com.au/images/uploads/juliario.jpg
blogs.news.com.au
22/06/2012: Move over
Ms Gillard: http://www.rightwingnews.com/special/the-20-hottest-conservative-women-in-the-new-media-2012-edition/,
the winner: http://blogs.news.com.au/images/uploads/femprotect.jpg
http://blogs.news.com.au/images/uploads/femprotect.jpg
blogs.news.com.au
22/06/2012: The fact
that Julia continues to lure and kill illegal refugees fails to hide the fact
that ALL 200 of the Sri Lankan passengers on the latest sinking boat were male
- now, aside from the fact that the UNHCR says NO Sri Lankans ARE refugees,
what sort of a man abandons his women and children to save himself anyway - AND
do we want that sort of person in Australia?
21/06/2012: World's
tallest tree: who would have believed that this 154 metre mountain ash felled
at Healesville in 1872 was 40 metres taller than the largest Californian
redwood ever recorded: http://baddevelopers.nfshost.com/Docs/talltrees.htm
21/06/2012: I think it
is pretty weird to have the final draft of a conference's outcome at the
beginning but this IS RIO +20 and the UN version of democracy - and what a lot
of platitudes and greenie pap it is. I particularly hate the ubiquitous use of
the word 'sustainable' which has even tested Gaia's founder Lovelock now. HERE
is the document: http://www.cfact.tv/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Rio+20-Pre-conference-final-draft-The-Future-We-Want.pdf
21/06/2012: GO
Philippa Martyr: 'I see Gina Rinehart raising an invisible two fingers to the
Gillard government, the ABC, and indeed an entire host of people who I wouldn’t
cross the street for if my life depended on it' http://www.quadrant.org.au/blogs/qed/2012/06/one-woman-army
21/06/2012: The right
of non-criminals to bear arms to protect themselves has brought down crime
everywhere else. Time to try it here: http://junkscience.com/2012/06/20/emily-miller-gun-ownership-up-crime-down/#more-25373
Emily Miller: Gun ownership
up, crime down
19/06/2012: What
a great father and daughter 'shot': http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/london-olympics/father-and-daughter-hayley-and-david-chapman-packing-their-pistols-for-olympics/story-fn9dirj0-1226399241167
Father and daughter
Hayley and David Chapman packing their pistols for Olympics
HAYLEY Chapman
knows one thing when she competes in
19/06/2012:
Ain't the Net great: there are even several sites dedicated solely to
oxymorons: I particularly liked 'adult male': http://www.oxymoronlist.com/
19/06/2012:
The Bunyip IS back, AND with a vengeance: http://bunyipitude.blogspot.com.au/2012/06/marieke-hardy-that-little-blossom-in.html:
Bunyipitude:
Editorial Excellence
bunyipitude.blogspot.com
19/06/2012:
Poor Hosni. Poor Muammar. God is just SO cruel! There ought to be a law...
19/06/2012:
Just SO tacky...everyone posting about earthquakes on Facebook...Surely whether
the earth moved for you is an intimate personal matter...some things just
should not be shared! Having said which: all OK here. Mind you Della perched on
top of a ladder painting her new kitchen shelves (Yes at 8:55pm!) was NOT in
the best earthquake preparedness position!
19/06/2012:
Sgt Pepper: Photoshop is SO much easier than this. You would think it had been
cut and pasted, but not so. Hitler, you will notice just missed out: http://twistedsifter.sifter.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/the_beatles_sgt_pepper_album_cover_hitler.jpg
http://twistedsifter.sifter.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/the_beatles_sgt_pepper_album_c
twistedsifter.sifter.netdna-cdn.com
19/06/2012:
THIS may even beat the woman yesterday who was impregnated by a squid: http://achewood.com/index.php?date=10022002
19/06/2012:
How MANY vegies had just such a sad encounter with a duck? http://achewood.com/index.php?date=01232006
Achewood § January
23, 2006
achewood.com
19/06/2012:
Just an observation but if all the newspapers die...how will I light the fire
every winter's day? Oh forgot, the carbon tax will take care of that need
eventually and we can look forward to the lovely COLD!
19/06/2012:Excitement
here at Jeeralang creates (as usual) a race to see who can get home first and
post on Facebook. Hauled out of bed dreadfully early this am (BEFORE 8:00am
eek!) to unbog a neighbour's school bus with the faithful Landie.
19/06/2012:What
a pity! Surely we need more like him? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-18455068
19/06/2012:
18/06/2012:
When will our 'greens' get Lovelock's message? First he ditches global warming,
then endorses fracking. Of course it COULD be early onset Alzheimers or he
could have come to his senses! http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/06/15/gaia-scientist-james-lovelock-endorses-fracking/
18/06/2012:
Bizarre jubilation about
18/06/2012:
Bad news for trendy lefties: The Age is about to die! Imagine if the ABC was
made to live up to its 'balance' charter as well: where WOULD these
teacher-preacher folks et al go then for their daily dose of nonsense? IMAGINE
them being dragged kicking and screaming to a sense of perspective! Imagaine
them being forced to understand (even embrace!) capitalism. Oh, Woe!
18/06/2012:
Best news for the last four days: Woman impreganted by squid whilst eating
calamari; German 'forest' boy found to be fraud missing for three whole days
from his home in Holland; Galapagos turtles split up after 115 years; 'kindness
of America' author shot in a drive-by: what a heartbreak old world you are!
18/06/2012:
Horror sixteen hour trip back from Gosford yesterday with a huge load on the
Defender. Excessive play in the steering box had us constantly tacking right
and left like a windjammer in a storm! Happy to wake up alive this am. First
agenda item today: order new steering box!
Della Jones Even
worse, I had to stay awake all 16 hours so that I could witness our last
moments if we careered headlong into a semi.
14/06/2012: Law
Dome ice core data shows global cooling over the last century or so (just what
you can see from the
12/06/2012:
Things seem to be just SO much better in
12/06/2012:
'I left MY baby in the middle of a busy road and a car ran over it, but it
wasn't My fault'...Personally, I prefer the dingo theory as they are just SO
cute and cuddly!
12/06/2012:
'Life will find a way'...Uni of Colorado scientists have found archaean
bacteria in the Atacama desert whose functions seem to predate photosynthesis
and so give a hint of how the world may have once looked. These little guys
could survive on Mars so perhaps some of their cousins still do: http://www.colorado.edu/news/releases/2012/06/08/cu-boulder-led-team-finds-microbes-extreme-environment-south-american
11/06/2012: This
morning's ABC news was full of a new study showing 1/10th of a degree warming
of the ocean over the last 50 years (no doubt soon to be consigned to the same
dustbin as Gergis's fraudulent paper of last week). One SALIENT point: watch
the error bars - the 1/10th of a degree will come with an error variation of
+/- eg 1C, meaning that the alleged warming is imaginary.
11/06/2012: A
series of three essays on Australian 'massacres' which seems to me to be
balanced and excellent. In particular it should be noted that any murder was
always punishable by death in colonial
10/06/2012:
Merchants of Despair: Radical Environmentalists, Criminal Pseudo-Scientists, and
the Fatal Cult of Antihumanism. THIS looks like a really good read (Review
& excepts here: http://www.amazon.com/Merchants-Despair-Environmentalists-Pseudo-Scientists-ebook/dp/B007PTM3MW)
- and you can download the ebook here for $14.95 (http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/merchants-of-despair-robert-zubrin/1102507586)
Merchants of
Despair: Radical Environmentalists, Criminal Pseudo-Scientists, and the Fatal
Cult of A
There was a time
when humanity looked in the mirror and saw something precious, worth protecting
and fighting for—indeed, worth liberating. But now, we are beset on all sides
by propaganda promoting a radically different viewpoint. According to this
idea, human beings are a cancer upo...
10/06/2012:
Perverse Incentives (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perverse_incentive)
and Unintended Consequences ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unintended_consequences)
are just about as much fun as was 'The Book of Heroic Failures' (http://ebookee.org/The-Book-of-Heroic-Failures-The-Official-Handbook-of-the-Not-Terribly-Good-Club-of-Great-Britain-By-Stephen-Pile_751453.html)
9/06/2012: Half
forgotten horrors: Stalin's 'Road to Nowhere': http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18116112
Joseph Stalin's
deadly railway to nowhere
In the Russian
Arctic north lies buried a disused railway built by prisoners of Joseph
Stalin's gulags and never used - but it could now be revived.
9/06/2012: More
Chesterton. Many others to read here but I DID like this one: http://www.cse.dmu.ac.uk/~mward/gkc/books/elegy.html
8/06/2012:The
Horrible History of Jones: GK Chesterton WAS marvellous. Recall this old
favourite and how prescient it was: http://www.cse.dmu.ac.uk/~mward/gkc/books/Jones.html
8/06/2012: Crazy
stuff. Olympic athletes sanctioned for posing with guns. Maybe sanction this
lady too: http://treeofmamre.wordpress.com/2012/06/01/one-tough-chick/
One Tough Chick
treeofmamre.wordpress.com
I love the look of
determination on her face. Who can resist a woman who knows how to handle a
machine gun? (H/t @reedtome)
7/06/2012: MORE Ray
Bradbury - I particularly liked that over the years editors had censored out 75
sections of Fahrenheit 451, a book after all, all about the evils of
censorship. What a world! http://www.menzieshouse.com.au/2012/06/rip-ray-bradbury.html
7/06/2012: Topher
is just GREAT. Watch this video before it is TOO LATE! http://theforbiddenhistory.com/
The Forbidden
History |
theforbiddenhistory.com
In episode #1 of
the ‘Forbidden History’ trilogy Topher takes a stand on freedom of speech, using
some of history’s most unpopular people to show that free speech is worth it,
no matter what the price.
7/06/2012: Two
photos which really underine the unifying importance of the monarchy: Note the
absence of French flags in Bastille place celebrating the election of a
socialist President compared to the dominance of the Union Jack at the Queen's
jubilee. Do we always have much to celebrate from bringing large numbers of
people to our country who want nothing but to celebrate THEIR difference? http://asv.org.au/downloads/Transit%20of%20Venus%206%20Jun%202012%20factsheet.pdf
http://asv.org.au/downloads/Transit%20of%20Venus%206%20Jun%202012%20factsheet.pdf
asv.org.au
7/06/2012: Could
not agree more: rocks ARE endangered: “A rock can take millions of years to
form, but it only takes a second for someone to skip a smooth pebble into a
lake, and then it is gone.” Dr. Kaiser said. “Perhaps these thoughtless
rock-skippers don’t care if they leave our planet completely devoid of rocks,
but what about our children? Don’t they deserve the chance to hold a rock and toss
it up and down a few times?” http://www.theonion.com/articles/geologists-we-may-be-slowly-running-out-of-rocks,17341/
7/06/2012: If you
missed that Transit of Venus yesterday (the sun came out for US just in time)
check out this HD video of it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=4Z9rM8ChTjY
The SUN is just AWESOME
NASA | SDO's
Ultra-high Definition View of 2012 Venus Transit
Launched on Feb.
11, 2010, the Solar Dynamics Observatory, or SDO, is the most advanced spacecraft
ever designed to study the sun. During its five-year missi...
7/06/2012: OUR
Bureau of Meteorology does this too but have a look at the SCALE of the faking.
For example the warmist NOAA has DECREASED the average 1934 temperature of
7/06/2012: Sadly,
Ray Bradbury has died at 91. A note to our Arts Council (which seems only to
have been able to promote rubbish) "He wrote Fahrenheit 451 at the UCLA
library, on typewriters that rented for 10c a half hour. He said he carried a
sack full of dimes to the library and completed the book in nine days, at a
cost of $9.80." http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/author-ray-bradbury-dies-at-91/...See
More
6/06/2012: Transit
of Venus: You CAN see it right now if you project an image of the sun onto a
white sheet of paper with your binoculars or telescope . DO NOT look at the
sun. You have until 2:45pm today only. It will not happen again until 2117AD.
Enjoy! http://asv.org.au/downloads/Transit%20of%20Venus%206%20Jun%202012%20factsheet.pdf
5/06/2012: RATHER
damp overnight. Planned trips for today will have to be curtailed: a month's
rain in ONE day: Whoops!
5/06/2012: Coming
soon: Della's pigeon's WILL spy on you. Beware: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pigeon_photography
5/06/2012: What a
cunning chair: http://www.treehugger.com/eco-friendly-furniture/zig-zag-chair-made-out-just-three-pieces-plywood.html
Zig Zag Chair Is
Made Out of Just Three Pieces of Plywood
A very clever way
of making plywood bend: A whole lot of cuts.
5/06/2012: Neat idea:
Tetris-like stacking + LEGOish shelves: modular minimalist furniture (and easy
to make your own) . Pity books are now so passe: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysXRXQoVIN8&feature=player_embedded
Tetris-like
stacking + LEGOish shelves: modular minimalist furniture
BrickBox are
modular shelves/boxes that can be stacked like bricks- or LEGOS- and fit into
any sized apartment, even in tough spots like under the stairs. St...
3/06/2012: Could
they have got it wrong AGAIN: http://junkscience.com/2012/06/01/hockey-schtick-new-paper-contradicts-a-tenet-of-global-warming-theory-2/#more-24165
Hockey Schtick: New
paper contradicts a tenet of global warming theory
junkscience.com A
paper published today in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics finds that clouds
located in the stratosphere over the poles act to cool the stratosphere by
adiabatic cooling, which is the cooling of ...
3/06/2012: GO
3/06/2012:
Capitalism IS fascinating. In
3/06/2012: What a
great week: we have had severed spinal cords repaired and MS cured (in lab
animals) and the successful launch of the Dragon Space vehicle. Wow! GO Elon
Musk!
3/06/2012: Aw,
shucks: cat lover persecuted, poor old dear: http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/valleyfever/2012/05/abc15_news-hounds_confront_81-.php
3/06/2012: I think
Willis Eschenbach is just brilliant. Here he shows that observed variations in
temperature CAN be explained by just natural variations in solar output and
albedo (the reflectivity of the Earth). There is NO room at all for a CO2
effect. Surprise, surprise : http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/05/31/a-longer-look-at-climate-sensitivity/
2/06/2012: What a
great country - if only Oz was like this: http://dailycaller.com/the-dc-social-reader-gun-giveway/
1/06/2012: Good
news: Congress rejects UN takeover of the interenet: http://phys.org/news/2012-05-internet.html
31/05/2012:AND please don't show Della ANY of these gardens or we will
never leave home: http://www.rhs.org.uk/shows-events/rhs-chelsea-flower-show/2012
31/05/2012:Della MUST
have these: when will this woman's insatiable appetite ever end? http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/20224725/#
SOLVINDEN
Solar-powered, bird - IKEA
www.ikea.com IKEA - SOLVINDEN,
Solar-powered, bird, No costs for electricity; the solar panel converts
sunlight to energy.Easy to use; no cables or plugs are needed.Place the bird
clips wherever you want to enjoy the light.
31/05/2012: The 'Anarchist
Federation International Revolutionary Front' ARE actually shooting scientists
studying nuclear and nanotechnology (no hollow threats for them. HERE is what
they think: "Science in centuries past promised us a golden age, but it is
pushing us towards self-destruction and total slavery...With this action of
ours, we return to you a tiny part of the suffering that you, man of science,
are pouring into this world"_ 'Oh happy living things...'
30/05/2012: AND you
thought you had seen everything: FLYING SQUID: http://www.treehugger.com/natural-sciences/photographic-evidence-proves-that-squid-can-fly.html
30/05/2012: Now
HERE is a seriously bad idea: giving control of the internet to the UN. Want to
bet whether Ju-liar will back this one? The New World Order (which I thought
was probably a double oxymoron) may be closer than we thought: http://junkscience.com/2012/05/29/editorial-giving-the-internet-to-the-u-n/
28/05/2012: Please
read these recollections of being a POW in
28/05/2012: Further
evidence that H2O feedback IS negative and that therefore we need NOT worry
about CO2. VERY elegant: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/05/26/clive-best-gives-evidence-for-negative-water-feedback-in-earths-climate-system-using-the-faint-sun-paradox/#more-64327
27/05/2012: THIS is
so much better than foisting his mercury filled light bulbs on us! Flannery
will insist that our dead loved ones tooth fillings be compulsorily removed
with pliers! Wow! http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/timblair/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/cheaper_than_his_usual_solutions/
26/05/2012:
Revisiting Nakba Day I again find it completely NOT the moral equivalent of
Anzac Day, and am frankly disgusted by this woman's speech.
26/05/2012: THIS
man, Norman Borlaug is responsible for saving the lives of over a billion
people. If the climate becomes colder as was predicted in the 1970's (&
some current predictions, see eg: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/05/25/the-cia-documents-the-global-cooling-research-of-the-1970s/#more-64229)
we will need SEVERAL of his kind to prevent catastrophe. Remember this, the
Little Ice Age killed something like 1/3rd of
25/05/2012: Empire
Day yesterday and I missed it - no fireworks either: Oh, the decline of the
West...
24/05/2012: THIS is
enough to put you off public transport (or immigration?): http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2148554/Man-beheaded-cannibalised-fellow-passenger-Greyhound-bus-thought-attacking-alien.html
24/05/2012: From
the New York Times: Correction: In an earlier version of this article, the
example involving “Midnight in
24/05/2012: New
Scientist's Last Word had an interesting item on butterflies this week which I
thought I would share. Instead I found this page which proved even more
interesting: http://www.last-word.com/search/result/hash/d39ff85b278fad11896fd76bacb597c5/order/relevance/go/1.html
23/05/2012: I'm
sure there are many lovely places on Earth but is there ANYONE more revolting
than Charley Boorman? SO well named!
23/05/2012:
Definitely don't put your money into green energy. You have been warned. A 75%
fall in just two years? Wow: http://hockeyschtick.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/worldwide-crash-of-green-energy.html
Transit of
Venus on 5/6 June. Get out your welding masks. There will not be another this century.
22/05/2012: Thomson
should have been a science fiction writer. His allegations that he is the
victim of a criminal genius are just preposterous (leaving aside the fact that
his fingerprintss and DNA will be on the cathouses' credit card receipts): http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/thomson_speaks/
22/05/2012: Another
delusion gone: I had always believed rhubarb had to be cooked (as it was
poisonous) but apparently you CAN eat raw rhubarb stalks: http://maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com/archives/14293-Fun-with-Rhubarb.html
22/05/2012: If you
think Thomson HAS to go, listen to THIS. Start at about 3:50. The allegation is
that Gillard was complicit in the theft of $400,000+ from the AWU - AND AWU
boss Paul Howes has just stated at the ACTU Congress 'we need to hunt them
down' (4:20): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaPrsALPPKQ&feature=player_embedded
Like · · May 22 at
9:11am ·
Steve Jones
21/05/2012:
Astonishing photo of annular eclipse: http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/2012_annular_eclipse_stacey_watts.jpg
http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/2012_annular_eclipse_stacey_watts.jpg
wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com
20/05/2012:
20/05/2012: Lateral
thinking has been around a long time. Here is an idea from 1910. Lots of other
interesting things here: http://www.popularmechanics.com/home/skills/know-your-stuff-the-110-best-diy-tips-ever#slide-43
20/05/2012: Lest we
forget: the rush to embrace
19/05/2012: This is
a very thoughtful paper and goes to the heart of how we might help genuine
aborigines or indeed people in need. Clearly the current system is not working:
http://www.quadrant.org.au/blogs/bennelong-papers/2012/02/who-is-an-aborigine
18/05/2012: The
FUTURE of 'renewable' energy - down 90% in value: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/05/17/the-global-renewable-energy-index-is-crashing/
18/05/2012: Unsung
heroes: RIP Flight Sergeant Dennis Copping: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/aviation/9256879/WWII-fighter-plane-hailed-the-aviation-equivalent-of-Tutankhamuns-Tomb-found-preserved-in-the-Sahara.html
18/05/2012: And
HERE are some other such porcine manifestations, yet we dare not call them
'illegal immigants' as it may cause offence. Do we really WANT these people or
would we rather spend the millions of dollars wasted on them perhaps on medical
research or some other worthwhile cause? http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/national/rejected-refugees-get-back-on-boats-for-another-go/story-e6freuzr-1226359362035
18/05/2012: OUR
taxes at work: You have to click on a few links to get your head around this,
but ultimately it adds up to this: if you build a trough, pigs WILL come.
Unbelievable, but true: http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/timblair/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/dinka_dollars/
17/05/2012: One of
Della's favourite paintings is Hieronymus Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights
c1500AD (See here: http://www.penwith.co.uk/artofeurope/bosch_garden_earthly_delights.jpg)
I have just discovered Arcimboldo another Renaissance artist, who is also VERY
interesting (See here: https://www.google.com/search?q=arcimboldo&hl=en&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=K120T9jLPKuWiQfRjoWLAw&sqi=2&ved=0CHUQsAQ&biw=1014&bih=612)
http://www.penwith.co.uk/artofeurope/bosch_garden_earthly_delights.jpg
17/05/2012:Anita Heiss's 'stolen generations orthodoxy' ('Am I Black
Enough For You') encounteres some serious doubts (as is the case with others of
Bolt's accusers - at least some of whom appear to have NO aboriginal ancestry
at all): http://www.quadrant.org.au/blogs/connor/2012/04/anita-heiss-where-i-began
17/05/2012: Now a
car for folks who will believe anything (eg perpetual motion); not only that
but he picked up a chick with it! Not bad going for a wind-powered car. If
politicians were to use it in reverse it may work with the hot air they
generate spinning the fan out of control: http://news.sky.com/home/world-news/article/16228695
16/05/2012: Are we
running out of oil? Hardly: http://cnsnews.com/news/article/gao-recoverable-oil-colorado-utah-wyoming-about-equal-entire-world-s-proven-oil
16/05/2012: More
people need to have Mark Steyn and Geert Wilders' courage, and please note:
"Mr. Wilders is so far out on the far-right extreme fringe that his party
is the third biggest in parliament. Indeed, the present Dutch government
governs only through the support of Wilders’ Party for Freedom." http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/299725/spirit-geert-wilders-mark-steyn#
16/05/2012: Don't
think I have ever seen a real Anzac day March with signs advocating
'killing'...http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/timblair/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/nakba_biscuits/
16/05/2012:You
could watch '
16/05/2012:I rather
think Michael Smith is NOT going to give up on exposing Craig Thomson (or Julia
Gillard a la Kernohan) as crooks. He is an ex police detective and has an
interesting point to make about the forensics of the imprinted credit card
receipts. Listen here: http://www.2gb.com/index2.php?option=com_newsmanager&task=view&id=12767
15/05/2012: If you
want Thomson OUT of Parliament (and an election NOW) consider
signing THIS petition: http://www.thomsonresign.com/
14/05/2012: THIS is
where our money goes instead of spending it on Defence, roads etc. Can't figure
out how so few of us were dependent back in 1962 (then 28% Now 71%). Figures
are for the
14/05/2012: Over-regulation
is rife. Milton Friedman had this to say about THIS type of nonsense: "The
justification offered is always the same: to protect the consumer. However, the
reason is demonstrated by observing who lobbies at the state legislature for the
imposition or strengthening of licensure. The lobbyists are invariably
representatives of the occupation in question rather than of the customers.
True enough, plumbers presumably know better than anyone else what their
customers need to be protected against. However, it is hard to regard
altruistic concern for their customers as the primary motive behind their
determined efforts to get legal power to decide who may be a plumber."
Data here is from the
14/05/2012: I like
these two photos of 'carbon pollution' especially the one of the little girl
whose asthma is triggered by the pure steam from a nucler power plant:
http://www.coyoteblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/artwork-satire-cartoonist-pawel-kuczynski-polish-14-500x354.jpg
& http://www.coyoteblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/air_pollution.jpg
13/05/2012: Gay
marriage: Maybe not such a vote winner after all: http://catallaxyfiles.com/2012/05/11/romney-50-obama-43/
13/05/2012: Excuse
all the posts PLEASE. Somehow I had my settings so NONE of my friends could see
ANY of my posts since about March 3. I THINK I have just solved this problem.
You have to be VERY careful not to click on the icon next to the word
"Post" when you are posting.
13/05/2012: Excuse
all the posts PLEASE. Somehow I had my settings so NONE of my friends could see
ANY of my posts since about March 3. I THINK I have just solved this problem.
You have to be VERY careful not to click on the icon next to the word
"Post" when you are posting.
13/05/2012: We said
a very sad farewell on Thurs to Della's dear mum, Dorothy Crozier, born
Shoreditch London 1920. Such a tiny bright cheerful loving woman. She is sorely
missed by all. She was the last of her generation in both my and Della's
family. Such an amazing group of people - if I ever feel that life has dealt us
a bad hand, I think of how they fared through the Great Depression, the Blitz
& WW2 and yet always came up smiling & with a song in their hearts.
Vale and farewell.
13/05/2012: I'm
sure the girls who work in brothels are so keen to GIVE away their services
they just don't bother to check the photo ID of clients paying by credit card,
even when they take the trouble to write down the driver's licence number! Yeah
Sure! Kick this piece of slime out of parliament and bring on an election
people: http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/thomsons_cunning_foes/
& http://www.2ue.com.au/blogs/2ue-blog/mp-authorized-escort-agency-payment/20110801-1i7m6.html
12/05/2012: It IS
astonishing that the whole 'global warming supposition' is based on only ONE
TREE, this one, 'Yamal 06': http://climateaudit.org/2009/09/30/yamal-the-forest-and-the-trees/
12/05/2012:
Apparently amongst Global Warmists, THIS constitutes a death threat: John
Coochey: "while at the evening meal (of poor quality) comments moved to
eating game meat and I was approached by the Commissioner for the Environment
ACT, Dr Maxine Cooper who recognized me as someone involved in the kangaroo
culling program in the ACT. She politely asked if she could sit at the vacant seat
next to me and as...See More
12/05/2012: Believe
it or not: Peter Costello: "Over his first four budgets, Mr Swan has
averaged deficits of a little over $43 billion per year. He tells us that his
next four budgets, if he were to deliver them, would average surpluses of $4
billion per year"
12/05/2012: And so
is THIS a disgrace: "Graham Kraehe, who retired from the Reserve Bank
board in February and is the chairman of BlueScope Steel, has warned that the
budget ”really takes us down the European path of redistributing the cake
rather than increasing its size”… GO Ju-liar, GO!
12/05/2012: THIS is
not just a disgrace but our greatest imminent danger: "AUSTRALIA'S defence
budget has been cut to pre-World War II levels, with spending for 2012-13
falling to below 1.6 per cent of gross domestic product, a level unmatched
since the 1930s." http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/military-spending-slumps-to-1930s-level/story-e6frg74x-1226352458112
4/05/2012: The
perfect crime? http://www.phillyburbs.com/my_town/newtown/man-exposes-himself-at-association-for-the-blind/article_9afb4322-14bf-5272-9d6e-1d5e74f80f0d.html
4/05/2012: Food for
thought: "You have to wonder what the RBA knows that we don’t. Since it
must know as a matter of theory that lower rates do not encourage growth but
are instead a reflection of an excess supply of savings, it can only be
thinking that the Australian economy is very weak and private investment is
expected to fall away. Either that, or we have found some hitherto unknown
source of saving that can be tapped by those who wish to invest. Or maybe,
worst of all, the RBA Board is under new Keynesian management and believes this
is the way to stimulate growth". Steve Kates How DO you hang onto your
savings in times like this?
4/05/2012: If you
think as I do that our descendents may never figure out the reason why we
needed most of the laws we have now got, THIS is interesting. Somehow the
Commonwealth got by with passing 1,000 or less pages of laws right up until c30
years ago, but NOW we 'need' 7,000+ pages per year. This is insanity: http://ipa.org.au/library/publication/1207807254_document_berg_regulation.pdf
5/05/2012:
Definitely NOT a defence of fascism but a devastating condemnation of the
left's fellow travellers: "Conventional wisdom does not regard Communism
with the same abhorrence as fascism, even though if you want to be an
accountant about it and add up the skulls of the dead, you will find that the
Communists murdered many more people than the fascists did, began murdering
before fascists came to power and carried on murdering after the fascists had
gone. Yet few can bring themselves to see fascism and Communism as moral
equivalents". Nick Cohen
4/05/2012:
Delingpole in quadrant today: "In
4/05/2012: What a
great idea, Ju-liar: crippling our Defence to help pay for massive Govt waste
(National Debt incurred since 2007 = $235 billion = $100+ milion PER DAY).
Surely Defence of the realm is the PRIMARY Govt duty and EVERYTHING else should
be jettisoned first - otherwise you end up not having a country?
4/05/2012: So brave
(and sad) and you thought you had been dealt a bum hand? 'My Final Goodbye' by
Shaun Wilson-Miller (17): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAaEw_EB7Ws&feature=player_embedded
4/05/2012: As a
retired farmer I am NOT amused by the occupy movement's attempts to reinvent
agricuture. These folks have a serious reality problem: http://pjmedia.com/zombie/2012/04/29/meet-the-new-farm-same-as-the-old-farm/?singlepage=true
3/05/2012: HERE is
the view from the toilet at Supper Cove (as earlier promised), the best toilet
view in the world, perhaps. My laziness is once again rewarded: Steve Hutcheson
has already posted it! Many thanks.
3/05/2012: GO
Like · · May 3 at
1:17pm ·
Steve Jones
3/05/2012: THIS is
bigger than the HSU scandal. Vast amounts of union member super funds are being
sunk into wind farms (NOT to generate electricity - which they won't) but to
generate Governement largesse (which they will so long as the union dominated
Labor Party control the Government). Those members ARE going to lose their
shirts when there is a change of Government and the pig troughs are removed: http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/more_subsidies_than_power/
2/05/2012: IS AGW
crap? THIS is about as good as it gets (http://joannenova.com.au/2012/01/dr-david-evans-the-skeptics-case/).
If you want it in video, try this: http://joannenova.com.au/2012/01/dr-david-evans-the-skeptics-case/
2/05/2012: Just
astonishing how much money Governments have been printing in the last decade or
so. The total of US dollars for example have TRIPLED since c2010! You REALLY
have to worry about where to put your savings. If you leave it in the bank it
will be wiped out by the power of the printing press. If you buy shares the
crash that this inflation will cause will also wipe its value. Real estate?
Going rapidly DOWN right now: http://joannenova.com.au/2012/05/murdoch-tweets-about-money-printing-and-inflation-reality-wont-be-far-behind/#more-21577
2/05/2012: I notice
one of those who started the whole sorry scam, Gaia inventor James Lovelock has
recanted his global warming faith. Hopefully this is the beginning of the end
and that the world will come to its senses on this issue very soon: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/04/30/consensus-argument-proves-climate-science-is-political/
1/05/2012:
Who could have known? Not only do they produce no electricity AND kill birds
and bats, they also push UP temperature. Wow! http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/9234715/Wind-farms-can-cause-climate-change-finds-new-study.html
28/04/2012: I
have been hiking in Fiordland NZ for ten days and have now returned 'bowed but
unbeaten.' Met some great young people on the trail (and some not-so-great) and
saw, as usual quite a lot of evidence for the continuing existence of moose
there. I will post a photo of the best toilet view in the world (Supper Cove)
when I figure out how!
28/04/2012:
My cousin, Dick Jones actually MAKES these suckers. He should avoid putting any
AI into them. Think what would happen if they became self-aware! Move over Hal:
http://twistedsifter.com/2012/04/bagger-288-worlds-largest-land-vehicle/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Twistedsifter+%28TwistedSifter+%29
28/04/2012:
Bizarre things kids will do, but who would wonder when you see the bizarre things
adults will do (war, for example); http://shine.yahoo.com/parenting/teens-turn-hand-sanitizer-drunk-183000750.html·
28/04/2012:
PLEASE watch this video BEFORE it is too late, and for '
"If I wanted
27/04/2012:
The surface area of a sphere is 4pir2 which makes the surface area of the
earth about 510 million square kilometres. Divided by 6 billion people gives
about 8 hectares or 20 acres per person.
28/04/2012:
Steve Jones That's a square about 280 metres on each side - and two thirds of
the total area is ocean! Not a lot of room to move. We can be thankful for the
invention of the city - so long as I don't have to live there!
14/04/2012: Dr Roy
Spencr has been hard at work untangling the arcane temperature records of the
Hadley ad NOAA. He shows ALL of he supposed warming of the last c50 years to
have been an artifact. Surely this completely demolishes any correlation
between C02 and temperature as a causative agent ( and hence all the climate
models). When will this AGW nonsense end and with it the carbon tax and the
domination of the media/political system by trendy lefties trying to peddle
snake oil?
14/04/2012: Bob
Brown's resignation: the beginning of the end for the Greens. I certainly hope
so. What an enormously destructive force Brown has been. May his presumably
imminent death (from Aids/cancer?) be prolonged and painful. I wonder have the
aliens called him?
11/04/2012:
Attended my last aunt's funeral in Barrington NSW on Wednesday (11th). Sheila
Mary (
8/04/2012: Bravo
Keith Windshuttle: on the Government's (Finkelstein's) recommendations to end
free speech in Oz: "While ever I am editor, Quadrant would not recognise
the News Media Council’s authority, we would not observe its restrictions, and
we would not obey its instructions, whatever the price." http://www.quadrant.org.au/magazine/issue/2012/4/keith-windschuttle
8/04/2012: A new
study indicates there has been no man-mad global warming for a century! Who
knew? http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/climate_study_er_what_man_made_warming/
8/04/2012: Four
lovely days up the Wonnangatta track clearing and blackberry spraying. Two guys
had decided to camp in one of my spots and use all my firewood. Apparently they
think I am a public servant as they did not replace it even when asked. The
things you see when you HAVE got a gun!
4/04/2012:
'The lady's not for turning' - just wish Ju-liar WAS a little more like
the great 'Iron Lady'. HERE she explains how there is 'no such thing as public
money' (many other links to excerpts from her famous speeches). Well worth a
few minutes of your time: http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=xvz8tg4MVpA
5/04/2012:
Found: the natural explanation of whatever warming occurred in the 2nd half of
the C20th: solar caused cloud cover variation. So, now the party's over. When
will the warmists admit they were wrong and that we do not need economy
destroying 'carbon mitigation' schemes? http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/04/04/spencers-posited-1-2-cloud-cover-variation-found/#more-60743
4/04/2012:
News Flash: The Australian Navy intercepted three boatloads of people off the
North West coast of
4/04/2012:
Once folks had to work for a living: fascinating photographs of
Black and white pictures capture the lives of Londoners in the 1800s
These fascinating black and white pictures taken by photographer John Thompson
show what life was life in the 1800s when photography was in its infancy.
4/04/2012:
Prof Kari Marie Norgaard would like to see climate sceptics 'treated'. THIS is
the kind of thing she sees as Uni education: 'tribal and environmental health,
race and environment, gender and environment, climate change denial, emotions and
social movements.' This kind of crap is the good stuff which has replaced the
study of Ancient Greek & Latin, not to mention Physics and (Nuclear)
Engineering at our universities. Sadly, she is far from alone. Have a look at
the bizarre offerings at your local tertiary institution: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/04/02/rewriting-history-treatment-of-sceptics-disappears-from-university-of-oregon-press-statement/
4/04/2012:
"Try being an atheist, childless, single woman as prime
minister" - Julia Gillard. Frankly I would prefer YOU did not, but WHAT
has happened to Mathieson?
3/04/2012: The
opening 1996 graphic says it all really, but it is nice to see Prof Roy Spencer
( a real climate scientist) hammering the point home: nearly all the observed
C20th warming was down to the Urban Heat Island effect: the thermometers at
Cape Otway, Wilson's Prom & etc HAVE been telling the truth: there has been
NO WARMING, so why put up with a carbon tax: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/03/30/spencer-shows-compelling-evidence-of-uhi-in-crutem3-data/
3/04/2012: The
concept of natural 'balance' or 'harmony' was always a silly, unsupported
quasi-religious concept - I always preferred Shakespeare's 'nature red in tooth
and claw' personally. BUT it IS encouraging to see this study showing that
without intervention natural systems decline - much like the pausity we see in
'old growth' forests as compared with the profligacy we observe in secondary
regrowth: http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/balance-of-nature.aspx
31/03/2012:
The manufacture of Aboriginal culture: a very thoughtful piece in Quadrant: http://www.quadrant.org.au/magazine/issue/2012/3/keith-windschuttle
31/03/2012:
Fine, if you don't mind the cost: $568 billion capital cost, $336/MWh cost of
electricity and $290/tonne CO2 abatement cost. The Greens' Renewable Energy
Policy. BUT NO reliable electricity. That's right, after spending all that
money there will be times when there is NO electricity. Great! When will this
lunacy end? http://www.warwickhughes.com/blog/?p=1339
31/03/2012:
'The Voluntary Human Extinction Movement' - you must know some people to
whom you could send a free membership! Seriously, this is a real movement which
even gives out free 'endangered species' condoms. Wow! How crazy can these
leftie-greenies get? http://www.vhemt.org/
30/03/2012: There
really is NO LIMIT to the largesse that can be provided by the State from our
pockets: http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/disabled-deserve-sex-rights/story-e6frea83-1226310720177
30/03/2012: I have ordered
a gross of these. May need some help pressing all the buttons, but the need is
dire: http://www.altereglow.co.uk/_images/_products_0/195_180_l.jpg
http://www.altereglow.co.uk/_images/_products_0/195_180_l.jpg
30/03/2012: I just
LOVE this website. This guy has smashed every loonie idea of the last 50 years:
Remember: acid rain, bisphenol,
30/03/2012:
The trouble with making paper from hemp is that is it vastly too expensive both
economically and environmentally. If it were to take the place of paper from
trees it would have to be grown (annually) on land which is largely unsuitable
for food production because minimum soil disturbance is desirable for
environmental reasons (hemp cultivation in such areas would involve vast
disturbances several ...See More
29/03/2012: THIS is
the most extraordinary post and is surely a wake-up call for the decline
in
'free speech' in
Australia: http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/i_cannot_say_what_i_cannot_say_and_why_i_cannot/
Presumably Andrew was only trying to say something like what 'aboriginal'
writer Anthony Dillon was saying here: http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/3915412.html
29/03/2012: PLEASE
take a look at the (last column) Annual Mean Temperatures for Cape Otway
Lighthouse Vic here. Scrolling down you will surely notice that for the LONG period
c1860-1900 the figure is Always 18C-19C+, but for the period c 1914-2011 it is
always 16C-17C+.
29/03/2012: This is
a COOLING of 2C in a pretty remote area of
29/03/2012:
'War of the Worlds' begins' just like this. VERY strange dust cloud
spotted on Mars: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/03/28/mystery-cloud-spotted-on-mars-by-amateur-astronomer/#more-60286
28/03/2012: Has
28/03/2012:
Boring perhaps, important: YES! More proof the Medieval Warm Period WAS global,
ie that the world's temperature 1.000 years ago was @ 2C HOTTER than NOW!
Clearly this EVIDENCE is NOT consistent with the theory of (Anthropogenic)
Global Warming so ONE has to be wrong. Guess which one: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/03/22/more-evidence-the-medieval-warm-period-was-global/
27/03/2012:
THIS is how the President's would-be son behaved, first king hitting Zimmerman
then slamming his head into the ground. Obama's statement is SO reminiscent of
Ju-liar's racial incitement on Australia Day. I find it no wonder that
Zimmerman shot him particularly as he was inside a 'secure' gated suburban area
presumably illegally. We have a policy here at Jeeralang somewhat similar:
'Trespassers will be shot, survivors will be prosecuted': http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2012-03-26/news/os-trayvon-martin-zimmerman-account-20120326_1_miami-schools-civil-rights-punch
26/03/2012:
This IS Bob Brown 'arguing' for a world government (read 'green tyranny').
Judge for yourself whether this man is SANE:
" Fellow
Earthians,
Never before has
the Universe unfolded such a flower as our collective human intelligence, so
far as we know.
Nor has such a
one-and-only brilliance in the Universe stood at the brink of extinction, so
far as we know.
We people of the
Earth exist because our potential was there in the Big Bang, 13.7 billion years
ago, as the Universe exploded into being.
So far, it seems
like we are the lone thinkers in this vast, expanding Universe. However, recent
astronomy tells us that there are trillions of other planets circling Sunlike
stars in the immensity of the Universe, millions of them friendly to life. So
why has no one from elsewhere in the Cosmos contacted us?
Surely some
people-like animals have evolved elsewhere. Surely we are not, in this crowded
reality of countless other similar planets, the only thinking beings to have turned
up. Most unlikely! So why isn’t life out there contacting us? Why aren’t the
intergalactic phones ringing?
Here is one
sobering possibility for our isolation: maybe life has often evolved to
intelligence on other planets with biospheres and every time that intelligence,
when it became able to alter its environment, did so with catastrophic
consequences. Maybe we have had many predecessors in the Cosmos but all have
brought about their own downfall.
That’s why they are not communicating with Earth. They have extincted
themselves.
Let us here in
So let us resolve
that there should be established for the prevalence and happiness of humankind
a representative assembly, a global parliament, for the people of the Earth,
based on the principle of one person one vote one value; and to enable this
outcome that it should be a bicameral parliament with its house of review,
having equal representation elected from every nation."
26/03/2012:
"Those whom the gods would destroy, they first make green" - Anthony
Watts. Of course a little bit of lying doesn't help either. Newspoll @ 43-57
today which would leave federal Labor with about enough members to fill a
mini-bus - certainly less than the all-time record for how many people you can
fit in a telephone booth, or how many elephants you can fit in a Mini -Minor!
Bring it on!
25/03/2012:
Goodbye Anna, & Go, Go Ju-liar. Bring it on!
24/03/2012:
Cheer Up! The title speaks for itself: http://www.rd.com/best-of-america/cheer-up-17-reasons-its-a-great-time-to-be-alive/
23/03/2012:
A thoughtful piece here about another mad dog shot dead. Of course we should
moderate our thinking by remembering that
20/03/2012:
Astonishing but true: Rudd & Gilard have spent half a BILLION dollars of OUR
money on consusltants since they took office. Money well spent?
NOOOO!http://www.canberratimes.com.au/national/yes-please-minister--labor-spends-billions-on-advice-20120319-1vg4v.html#ixzz1pbr04oep
19/03/2012:
Whoops! Please forgive my posting about this man's film about Joseph Kony: http://www.news.com.au/world/kony-2012-film-maker-jason-russell-released-from-mental-ward/story-e6frfkyi-1226302345885
KONY island: Inside
the weird world of Jason Russell
THE Prime Minister
of Uganda has weighed into KONY 2012 controversy as new video footage emerged
of one the charity's co-founders breaking down in public.
16/03/2012:
An audit of Australia's Bureua of Meteorology's temperature records reveals
shocking inaccuracy enough to account for up to .4C of the supposed increase
since 1900. Add to that their deliberate avoidance of the record of a much
warmer period (than any other) in the years 1850-1900 and we can see that the
whole 'evidence' of global warming is a fraud: http://joannenova.com.au/2012/03/australian-temperature-records-shoddy-inaccurate-unreliable-surprise/#more-20817
16/03/2012:
"Greenies and other anti gunners, politicians and all government bureaucrats
beieve it's essential to be politically correct. But to my mind, political
correctness is deluding yourself into believing you can pick up a dog turd by
the clean end" Sporting Shooter, April 2012. Yay!
15/03/2012:
Peter Costello re Bob Carr's appointment): "It avoids the time-wasting
activity of spending time with voters... In total, 24 of the current 76
senators were first appointed by way of a casual vacancy". This is SURE
democracy in action. Add to that the obscenity which sees the Senators (eg
Brown & Milne) from
15/03/2012:
"I love
a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping
plains,
Of ragged mountain
ranges,
Of droughts and
flooding rains." 'My Country, Dorothea Mackellar.
Below, you can see
the 'droughts and flooding rains' in the Murray-Darling, but where IS the
climate change?http://blogs.news.com.au/images/uploads/bigdry_thumb.jpg
http://blogs.news.com.au/images/uploads/bigdry_thumb.jpg
blogs.news.com.au
15/03/2012:
If 'renewables' (eg wind and solar) are so sound economically, they need no
subsidies. Conversely if nuclear power is so uneconomic, there is no need to
ban it!
15/03/2012:
Colonel Townsend Whelen: "The 30-06 is never a mistake." Inventor of
the Whelen 'Forester' Tent (You should make one out of Tyvek), Col Whelen could
every time score six hits on a man-sized target at 200 yards in ten seconds
with a bolt action 30-06 rifle. This is a feat which almost no-one else has
ever been able to emulate.
14/03/2012:
The human genome contains many genes from elsewhere (eg from viruses). This
article shows how this may relate to MS - and how keeping cats CAN make you
crazy - and how to cure it! http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/blurring-line-between-genetic-and-infectious-disease
14/03/2012:
If you have sometimes wondered who was PUBLIC ENEMY NUMBER ONE, it was THIS
guy. The name 'George Vernon Hudson' needs to go down in infamy. If he wasn't
already dead, we would need to make him dead: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/09/daylight-savings-time-history-george-vernon-hudson_n_1333378.html?ref=science
14/03/2012:
'CO2 enhanced person with
future cat-like optimal climate engineered overlord!' I LIKE this story. CO2's
role in making more food available to feed the hungry (and the recently
deceased Norman Borlaug's role in that story) needs to be more widely understood: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/03/13/food-fight-co2-makes-us-fatter/
13/03/2012: Martin
Durkin has posted his second critique of the Green movement today. Definitely
worth a read: http://www.martindurkin.com/blogs/greens-warning-history-volume-two
12/03/2012: Henry
David Thoreau, 'Walden': "The mass of men lead lives of quiet
desperation," but I... I lead a life of: NOISY desparation!
12/03/2012:
"Most men are needlessly poor
all of their lives because they think they must have such a house as their
neighbors have."
Henry David Thoreau, 'Walden - one of my favourite books.
12/03/2012: If you
enjoyed Martin Durkin's thoughts on the privatisation of money, you should
really read these thoughts on how fancifully many view pre capitalist, feudal
society. It is interesting that (as in all things) scarcity increases value, so
that The Black Death by making labour(ers) scarce, (more than somewhat
hideously) thus increased their value, and so worked towards setting them free.
Many 'environmentalists' of today have said to me that they think that a large
proportion of humanity (but not themselves) should cease to be (for the good of
the environment, you see - it IS AMAZING how wicked people can be!), but what
would be the effect on the value of human beings if they were made suddenly
much scarcer? The price of slaves would obviously rise to the point that the
average person could scarcely afford one any more!: http://www.martindurkin.com/blogs/greens-warning-history-volume-one
12/03/2012:
PRIVATISE THE DOLLAR: "Well, three hundred years ago nobody would have
believed that government would ever give up its control over religion, so
perhaps in three hundred years we can see that government will be prepared to
give up its control over money." Friedrich A. Hayek 1977 in an article
advocating the privatisation of money here: http://mises.org/daily/3204 Martin
Durkin makes the same point here: http://www.martindurkin.com/blogs/time-privatise-money-future-civilisation-depends-it
Before I read these articles I must confess I had thought little about how THE
BIGGEST TAX is the Government's continual devaluation of money (by printing
more of it) for short-term 'worthy' purposes. Since the 1970's over 90% of the
value of the dollar has been wiped out in this way! The Government's monopoly
over money produces a power over our lives (and particularly our savings and
financial plans) which we WOULD NOT vote for if we had a choice! Think about
it!
12/03/2012: Lord
Monckton: “We shall lose the West unless we can restore the use of reason to
pre-eminence in our institutions of what was once learning. It was the age of
reason that built the West and made it prosperous and free. .."
in an excellent critique of the climate orthodoxy, here: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/03/10/moncktons-schenectady-showdown/#more-58770
12/03/2012: Relief:
This morning Cola, Ncep & other long-range models have blocking highs
pushing the three rainfall systems a week away further South, so hopefuly the
land will have some chance of draining. Nonetheless I still think NOW is the
time to build up the levees. There is so much water already in the
Murray-Darling that another major rainfall event could bring unprecedented
disaster.
10/03/2012: We
REALLY enjoyed 'The Iron Lady'. What a gal! Remember when she said this:
"To me, consensus seems to be the process of abandoning all beliefs, principles,
values and policies. So it is something in which no one believes and to which
no one objects." and this: "Socialists cry “Power to the people”, and
raise the clenched fist as they say it. We all know what they really mean—power
over people, power to the State." & this: "My policies are based
not on some economics theory, but on things I and millions like me were brought
up with: an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay; live within your means;
put by a nest egg for a rainy day; pay your bills on time; support the
police." & this: "I, personally, have always voted for the death
penalty because I believe that people who go out prepared to take the lives of
other people forfeit their own right to live. I believe that the death penalty
should be used only very rarely, but I believe that no-one should go out
certain that no matter how cruel, how vicious, how hideous their murder, they
themselves will not suffer the death penalty."
10/03/2012: How
Times Change: Sir Robert Menzies 'The Forgotten People' Speech 1942: “The great
vice of democracy is that for a generation we have been busy getting ourselves
on to the list of beneficiaries and removing ourselves from the list of
contributors, as if somewhere there was somebody else’s wealth and somebody else’s
effort on which we could thrive.” quoted by Cassandra Wilkinson in the
Australian today . Her conclusion: "One day the mines will be empty and
our descendants will rightly curse us if we have misused our national bounty to
abdicate our responsibility to be industrious, self-reliant and
ambitious." WELL SAID!
10/03/2012: I
REPEAT: looks like there are huge floods on the way the week after next. Check
out: http://www.oscilmet.com.au/?fuseaction=loops.cola&modelID=4&modelType=18
If I am wrong Cola & I will just look silly. If no
preparations are made and this rain DOES come it will be a disaster!
10/03/2012: It's
amazing how OUR Weather Bureau can't give us accurate forecasts (eg esp. of
rainfall) even a day or two ahead but OTHERS CAN! Have a look at Cola Weather
on the efarming site and the NOAA 16 day precipitation forecast and the 28 day
precipitation forecasts at efarming and see that we are not out of danger of
flooding yet. Not by a LONG way! Sinister music plays. Play THIS graphic and BE
ALARMED: http://www.oscilmet.com.au/?fuseaction=loops.cola&modelID=4&modelType=18
Also see: http://www.efarming.com.au/Weather/links/section/1/category/52.html,
http://ready.arl.noaa.gov/READYcmet.php,
http://www.accuweather.com/en/au/melbourne/26216/daily-weather-forecast/26216
The NOAA site is a bit tedious. You have to work out your lat. and long. and
input it as a decimal, but if it predicts a 10 day high a week ahead somewhere
in the world you can pretty much count on a good holiday. For example I have
now been to Fiordland NZ (the 2nd wettest place on Earth) three times in a row
for over a week each time and have not needed to put on my raincoat. See if OUR
Weather Bureau can do that! Curiously, despte their failutre to predict the
weather for tomorrow (or next week) our Bureau thinks it can accurately predict
the climate 100 years out. What nonsense!
9/03/2012: I also
like the sentiment in THIS poem:
" …
Come, my friends,
'Tis not too late
to seek a newer world.
Push off, and
sitting well in order smite
The sounding
furrows; for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the
sunset, and the baths
Of all the western
stars, until I die."
From Tennyson's
'Ulysses'. I don't know whether this IS what happened to Odysseus or whether it
is Tennyson's invention (& not Homer's), but it is a good idea anyway.
Better than poor old Jason resting against the hulk of the Argo in his dotage
and being struck dead by the falling figurehead!
9/03/2012: " With a host of furious fancies
Whereof I am commander,
With a burning spear and a horse of air,
To the wilderness I wander.
By a knight of ghostes and
shadowes
I summon'd am to tourney
Ten leagues beyond the wild world's end.
Methinks it is no journey. "
From Tom o'Bedlam's song: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_o%27_Bedlam (Did
Shakespeare write this? I wonder...)
9/03/2012: Still
hoping Sarah Palin (or ANYONE - perhaps even Jeb Bush?) will come along and
save the Republicans. It's like they WANT Obama to win. The world economy just
won't stand another four disastrous Obama-led years! It's even worse than
another 17 months of Ju-liar!
9/03/2012: So,
windpower is at least ten times more expensive than gas. How long will it be
before the greenies get right behind fracking and shale gas - or perhaps even
nuclear power? Don't hold your breath: it may be needed to drive the wind
turbine on windless days: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/billions-blown-away-on-wind-power-says-british-study/story-fn59niix-1226294168155
9/03/2012: New
research indicates that 'widlife corridors' benefit mostly foxes and feral
cats. Surprise. Surprise. It's where I have been placing my fox baits for over
twenty years, usually killing over 400 foxes per annum! No wonder Ju-liar is
set to spend $1 billion of your hard-earned carbon tax on them. Those whose
property is compulsorily acquired for the benefit of said foxes etc will no
doubt be utterly overjoyed! http://bunyipitude.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/corridors-of-power.html
9/03/2012: (Merrin
Dennis) Sounds bloody ridiculous. Then these environmentalists will be wanting
to go on nature walks along the corridors. They are the sorts of people who
will see one of your sheep on your land that's been attacked by a fox and they
will call the RSPCA for animal cruelty.
9/03/2012: Surely
'environmentalists' can't actually WALK? In half a century of hunting I have
NEVER run into one in the bush. I always keep a loaded gun though - just in
case!
8/03/2012: "Every politically controlled educational system
will inculcate the doctrine of state supremacy sooner or later. . . . Once that
doctrine has been accepted, it becomes an almost superhuman task to break the
stranglehold of the political power over the life of the citizen. It has had
his body, property and mind in its clutches from infancy. An octopus would
sooner release its prey. A tax-supported, compulsory educational system is the
complete model of the totalitarian state." Isabel Paterson, The God of the
Machine (1943). An interesting point and one which our lefist teachers and
journalists labor (sic) to cement. However, the more you insist on a thing, the
more you create the desire to rebel. Enquiry (and enterprise) are not YET
vanished from the earth.
8/03/2012: “Eating, once a relatively
uncomplicated activity, has become laden with ethical and moral meaning...Eating
should be seen as pleasure and not penance; something that brings happiness and
joy rather than anxiety. Lovers of food, (and haters
of busy-bodies) will enjoy this insightful article: http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php/site/reviewofbooks_article/12154/
8/03/2012: I'm sorry for the folks who have
drowned, but nonetheless maybe the worst aspect of all this rainfall we've been
having is that not ONE SINGLE new dam has been built in Australia in the last
30-something years (ie something like the average age of Australians living
today - so half of us have never seen a dam built) and ALL that water is just
running to the sea. Meanwhile eg since Warragamba was built
8/03/2012: The Government's efforts to control
the media (in a way that Communist China would surely applaud) MUST be
resisted. Already we have the absurd situation where we cannot SEE an image of
an 'asylum seeker' - which is what we have to call them now that the term
'illegal immigrant' has been banned! I am NOT making this up. And don't get me
started on what you can say about a Christian or a Jew with impunty (and maybe
get a laugh in response) whereas if we were 'culturally insensitive' enough to
say the same about a Moslem you would not only be greeted by the full force of
the law but also the full force of the LAWLESS. How many are now dead (and how
many graves desecrated) because of an unfortunate mistake in disposal of some
old, damaged Korans in
8/03/2012: I KNOW there are nice people in
Africa (though no doubt the folks who presumably murdered our dear friend
Andrew McEwen-Coplans in
8/03/2012: Yumi Stynes deservedly earned some
criticism for her insensitive treatment of Ben Roberts-Smith but she is NOT the
Minister of Defence. Smith deserves to be sacked over his mishandling of the
Skype affiar in which he has virtually ruined the career of an excellent
officer Commodore Kafer. After six enquiries the Commodore has been reinstated
without even an apology.
Bryn Jones You probably should have used the
full name for the minister of defense as I got confused. Speaking about Ben
Roberts Smith in the first sentence then saying Smith should be sacked in the
second...it did make me read your post more carefully though and google it.
8/03/2012: A very valid point, but too late to
change it now that you have commented on it. Defence Minister Smith's conduct
throughout this 'Skype Affair' shows HE is not suitable Prime Ministerial
material - but along comes Bob Carr to the rescue. Watch this space!
6/03/2012: While the Dow Jones has recovered,
the ASX200 is 1,675.5 points or 28.25% below its 16th May 2008 closing price.
How many billions destroyed by this Government does this 28% represent? The
following graphic shows why: http://menzieshouse.typepad.com/.a/6a012876778d82970c01630270cf06970d-800wi
5/03/2012: Article 19 from the UN’s Universal
Declaration of Human Rights:
"Everyone has the right to freedom of
opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without
interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any
media and regardless of frontiers."
But how much longer?
5/03/2012: Meanwhile, the need to upgrade your
family's personal security grows apace since the Government won't keep these
people out even though DFAT warned they would not assimilate before they were
accepted. Andrews and Rudd both agreed they would be kept out, but Rudd went
back on his word - who would have thought? Four other men await trial over the
same gang rape in a country town (
Giggling rapists get three years for attacking
young country mum
5/03/2012: Finkelstein has found that the Herald
Sun, the Telegraph and the Australian are biased against 'climate change' and
need a Media Council to censor and direct them on the right path. This is only
an example. He also finds that anything which gets 40 hits a day (probably our
sheep website and many people's Facebook pages) should also be controlled. This
whole thing is a dangerous attack on freedom of speech - and must be rigorously
opposed.
5/03/2012: Great idea, BUT: "To the
nearest whole number, the percentage of the world’s energy that comes from wind
turbines today is: zero" - http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/beginning-end-wind
5/03/2012: Every so often a breath of
completely fresh air: This time from Dr Robert Brown Physics Dept Duke
University. Dr Brown shows us (indubitably) just how impossible it is to know
eg the average temperature of his suburban half acre block of land which
displays at any time a 10F degrees variation. OF COURSE this means that all statements
about the average temperature of the Earth (or how it is changing) are complete
crap. You need to read this, and then reconsider it every time someone tries to
spook you about the weather (or tries to put their hand in your pocket about it
- as with the Carbon Tax): http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/03/04/global-annualized-temperature-full-of-snip-up-to-their-eyebrows/#more-58338
5/03/2012: I must be a bit slow on the uptake:
I am ALWAYS the 999.999th visitor. Never the first. Does anyone else have this
problem?
4/03/2012: "How soon can you get
over here? It's a surprise for my wife." Dutch mobile euthanasia units to
make house calls: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/01/dutch-mobile-euthanasia-units
4/03/2012: How far can totalitarianism go?
4/03/2012: Have spent nearly 12 hours over the
last two days sitting around in hospital emergency waiting rooms because of a
strange visual disturbance I had which must have been a type of migraine and
not a stroke or a detaching retina for which I am grateful. A boring but
instructive experience.
4/03/2012: My new pack arrived (the Six Moon
Designs 'Swift' - 450 grams) and it looks good. Improved its load transfer with
22 grams of carbon fibre arrow shafts, instead of their proprietary 'hoop
stay'. Am using my Neoair pad in the pad pocket which is very comfortable.
Looking forward to trying it our for a few days to see whether it is as good in
the field as it is in the loungeroom!
4/03/2012: Farewell
2/03/2012: Wow! Will this ever be a boon when
it becomes available - and though I HATE needles, I'd be willing to bet I'll be
down at the clinic pretty regularly for a check-up: http://israel21c.org/health/new-blood-test-offers-early-cancer-detection?utm_source=Newsletter+2%2F29%2F2012&utm_campaign=March+1+2012+&utm_medium=email
2/03/2012: The 'completely untrue' becomes the
'completely true': Bob Carr IS Foreign Minister. Stephen Smith wil LOVE that -
& what will Robert McClelland do - force a by-election, I wonder? THIS is
how Nasrudin created TRUTH. He advised the King to question everyone who enters
the city. If he tells the truth he may enter; if he lies he must be hanged. It
was done. Next day Nasrudin went to enter the city. When questioned he
answered, 'I am on my way to be hanged!' Ju-liar should be hanged.
2/03/2012: Three weeks ago
2/03/2012: "I get it. Lying and stealing
and misleading are OK so long as they help advance a good cause. What else is
acceptable? Old fashioned burglary? Arson? Car bombs? Where is the line?"
I have remarked on Donna Laframboise's good sense before, but this analysis of
Gleick's crime and his defence by AGW 'scientists' is compelling reading; http://nofrakkingconsensus.com/2012/02/28/where-do-gleicks-apologists-draw-the-line/
2/03/2012: Bettina Arndt once again shows
herself a singular voice for sanity here arguing that there is no place in our
Universities for 'sciences' such as homeopathy, iridology, reflexology etc ad
nauseum. I feel that there is no place for 'Environmental Science' either.
Meanwhile many Unis have axed the study of Latin and Ancient Greek which might
have taught us something about 'the best that has been thought and said'. It IS
a mad world; http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/opinion/universities-are-no-place-for-quack-medicine/story-e6frgd0x-1226286606262
2/03/2012: Another serious example of a decline
in moral values: these
2/03/2012: IS NOTHING SACRED? Just cannot
believe Yumi Stynes and George Negus attempting to ridicule Victoria Cross
winner Ben Roberts-Smith. You would have to be a complete idiot to fail to
appreciate that our real heroes are just THE most remarkable people.
1/03/2012: A fascinating article by Ian Stewart
author of '17 Equations That Changed My Life' exploring the importance of
equations to the modern world. If asked the question I would have thought
immediatley of Einstein's 'e=mc2', (& Pythagoras) but after reading Ian's
article I see what is so important about James Clerk Maxwell's work, and many
other things: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21328516.600-seven-equations-that-rule-your-world.html?full=true
1/03/2012: Good news for men (at last!)! The Y
chromosome doesn't look to be headed for extinction (as previously predicted)
anytime soon: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17127617
1/03/2012: Here is an astonishing post: note
esp. the attribution of the CO2 scare to the nuclear industry:
The Gas of Life
By Jim Goodridge – former
California State Climatologist
Photosynthesis simply stated is 6CO2 + 6H2O +
photons = C6H12O6+6O2.
It is suggested by the relative abundances of
atmospheric CO2 and O2,
That CO2 is a quite active material and it is
always in short supply.
Plant growth is basically the chemical reaction
of storing solar energy.
Chemical reactions generally double with an
increase of 10°F.
Rising temperatures cause CO2 to boil out of
ocean water.
Rising temperature and CO2 concentration both
stimulate plant growth.
Our atmosphere originally contained about 30
percent CO2.
The era of chlorophyll dominance is referred to
as the Great Oxidation.
This happened 2.5 billion years ago. The
ocean’s dissolved iron.
Rusted out, producing our planets iron ore
deposits and releasing oxygen.
Chlorophyll is still the mechanism controlling
the CO2 and O2 abundance.
All life forms basically originated by a
photosynthesis process.
Chemically our hemoglobin and chlorophyll are
quite similar.
Suggesting a common origin, that is supported
by common DNA code.
Where as animals do not photosynthesize, their
plant foods do.
Beef, chicken or fish feed off photosynthetic
products.
It is mainly trace minerals that supplement
photo-source.
CO2 is literally the gas of life for all macro
life forms we encounter.
The existence of extremophiles suggests very
early non-solar energy sources.
Demonizing CO2 started with the plan for
peaceful use of atomic bombs.
The big dream in 1946 that was that atomic
energy would be so cheap,
That electricity would never again need to be
metered.
The attribution of increased CO2 to fossil fuel
burning was born here.
Atomic energy advocates wanted to save Earth
from runaway GH heating like Venus.
A conservation ethic developed to conserve the
finite petroleum for the future and
Anti-pollution and anti-growth advocates added
voices to the anti- CO2 theme.
All earthly macro life forms are
photosynthically derived from CO2,
Either directly or indirectly by chlorophyll
that absorbs solar photons.
We are not here not at the whim of a deity but
by evolution of CO2 derivatives.
1/03/2012: Political correctness for
some...Every time I go through airport security I get waved aside for
explosives screening whilst those of a rather more obviously risky ethnicity
walk through unimpeded every time, but it would clearly be dangerous for me to
comment on it - as children's author David Jones of 'Fireman Sam' fame found
out recently. The world has gone mad: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/travel/news/fireman-sam-creater-under-fire-for-racist-remark-at-airport/story-fn32891l-1226282466468
1/03/2012: It IS interesting that the
Department of Sustainability, Parks Victoria etc recommend that you do not feed
the animals as they may become dependent and unable to fend for themselves.
Departments such as Welfare Services, Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islanders,
Immigration etc don't seem to share this view! Who is right, I wonder?
1/03/2012: When I was a teenager, Defence used
to be the biggest item in the Federal Budget. Now Welfare takes up the lion's
share. Soon we will have nothing left to defend.
29/2/2012: Ju-liar again! This woman (I use the
term loosely) is unbelievable. It is beyond belief Bob Carr is lying, so who
is? http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/pm-denies-being-pressured-over-bob-carr-foreign-affairs-offer/story-fn59niix-1226285013437
29/2/12: I hope this doesn't force me to a
re-evaluation of my view that 'The Book of Mormon' is complete bunkum, but the
discovery that EUROPEANS colonised
29/2/12: Heat pump hot water services (we
have one, a Quantum brand - but did NOT apply for the subsidy) are practically
the ONLY substantial way of cutting down electricity use - and carbon dioxide
output too, if you like - but I note that a decline in DEMAND for electricity
would also lead to a FALL in its price). Naturally the Government's support for
so-called 'Green' jobs necessitates that it drop the solar subsidy for hot
water. These folks are unbelievable!
29/2/12: I notice Tony Abbot was re-elected
Liberal leader UNANIMOUSLY on September 9 2011 after taking them to within a
hair's breadth of Government!
29/2/12: As I have said before, Della has
become quite bird-brained, BUT we have been watching 'Life of Birds'
(Attenborough) and it was just SUPERB. Download it now, if you haven't yet seen
it.
29/2/12: It's an oldie but it's a goodie; the
birds are superb & some of the photographs defy belief. Also enjoyed lately
Ray Mears 'Wild Britain'. I have enjoyed everything by this guy: particularly
his Survival & Northern Wilderness ones. This guy is the thinking person's
Bear Grylls & then some. Among other skills he has is that he used to train
SAS in survival. Rather like 'Bush Tucker Man' only better.
29/2/12: THESE are the jobs Labor created.
Wow. Such productivity: "Since the election of Rudd in November 2007,
public administration, education, and health sector jobs have accounted for
nearly six out of 10 of the 760,000 jobs created, instead of the longer-term
two out of 10. This is why unemployment is not running at 7 per cent." http://afr.com/p/opinion/labor_votes_leaking_away_GDPOP0lPqL9318TQWsoHhN
29/2/12: And think how an extra 500,000 such
workers must really build national productivity! May they be swallowed by a
giant space goat as happened in 'The Hitchhiker's Guide...'To addd insult to
injury Ju-liar has also just granted them a completely unaffordable and
unnecessary 40% pay increase - whilst the rest of us 'eat cake'! Go Ju-liar!
29/2/12: Matt Dennis: Afraid of being buried
alive? Don't worry, you'll be fine! Short Sharp Science: World's deepest land
animal discovered www.newscientist.com
The deepest-dwelling land animal in the world has been
found almost 2 kilometres underground. Fittingly, its home is Krubera-Voronja,
the world's deepest cave, whose bottommost point is 2191 metres below its
mouth.The cave is located near the Black Sea in Abkhazia, a breakaway
29/2/12: 'Life will find a way' -
29/2/12: This harks back to an earlier post I
made about the Crown Land Act confiscating public land from us- a process which
has become even worse under the guise of 'National Parks' and 'Forest Management
Plans'. I noticed when I was canoeing on the weekend that a whole new host of
signs proclaiming 'Special Protection Zone' had sprung up in our fire
devastated 'wilderness.' It is the same with 'rights'. These are NOT something
which the state endows but something it takes away - and increasingly so. Here
is Mark Steyn's take: "When it comes to human rights, I go back to 1215
and Magna Carta — or, to give it its full name, Magna Carta Libertatum. My
italics: I don’t think they had them back in 1215. But they understood that
“libertatum” is the word that matters. Back then, “human rights” were rights of
humans, of individuals — and restraints upon the king: They’re the rights that
matter: limitations upon kingly power. Eight centuries later, we have entirely
inverted the principle: “Rights” are now gifts that a benign king graciously
showers upon his subjects — the right to “free” health care, to affordable
housing...the right “to receive free compulsory education.” Got that? You have
the human right to be forced to do something by the government". See: The
Perversion of Rights: http://www.nationalreview.com/blogs/print/291919
29/2/12: Ex NSW Premier Bob Carr has been
approached to fill Arbib's vacant Senate seat and has allegedly demanded
Foreign Affairs as payment. The plot thickens. Prime Minister Carr next month?
I wonder...
29/2/12: Gorton anyway...It just seemed
incredible Arbib resigned 'for family reasons' on the same day...and we were
given to understand in the past that Arbib was behind Gillard's 2010
accession...
29/2/12: This gets even sillier: Bob Carr as
Foreign Minister was apparently just another one of Ju-liar's silly ideas LAST
week. This guy would get us out of Anzus in a hurry if he didn't provoke a war
WITH the
28/2/12: I like Steve McIntyre's comment on
the Heartland 'Fakegate' at Climate Audit. If the AGWers can't do better than
this, they should fold their tents and quietly slink away: "Bottom
(wearing the head of an ass): Nay, I can gleek upon occasion.
Titania: Thou art as wise as thou art
beautiful." (A Midsummer Night's Dream). Doubters might like to read: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/02/26/the-skeptics-case/
28/2/12: T.S. Eliot, 'The Wasteland':
"IV. DEATH BY WATER
Phlebas the Phoenician, a fortnight dead,
Forgot the cry of gulls, and the deep seas
swell
And the profit and loss.
A current under sea
Picked his bones in whispers. As he rose and
fell
He passed the stages of his age and youth
Entering the whirlpool.
Gentile or Jew
O you who turn the wheel and look to windward,
Consider Phlebas, who was once handsome and
tall as you.
For 'Phlebas', read K.R.Rudd?
27/2/12: Better the liar they know, the
Ju-liar in August 2010, remember this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMVc0IbtyAQ&feature=player_embedded
27/2/12: Della reminds me that it is 10:00am
and time to get on with the serious business of life...meanwhile in Canberra a
heap of 'faceless' men and women meet and will decide to to bring us the worst
Government in our history - whichever way it goes...
27/2/12: What a thoughtful article offering
such great hope for the future; I must admit I had not ever thought of most
progress in that way: http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/dematerialising-and-deflating-future
27/2/12: Some great quotes (below) and some
of my favourites:
Skepticism is the first step toward truth.
–Denis Diderot
Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but
certainty is absurd. –Voltaire
Education is when you read the fine print.
Experience is what you get if you don’t. –Pete Seeger
Some people are like Slinkies. Not really good
for anything but they bring a smile to your face when pushed down the stairs.
–Anonymous
I suffered from chronic hypochondria for years.
Eventually I went to a naturopath and was cured with a course of broad-spectrum
placebos. –M. Cullen
Faith is believing what you know ain’t so.
–Mark Twain
So you’re offended. So fucking what? –Stephen
Fry (talking about religious objections to free speech)...
27/2/12: Two days away by myself white-water
canoeing on the
29/2/12: Two days later I feel better than I
have for a month. More wilderness trips are obviously what the doctor ordered!
25/2/12: I think I like Bertrand Russell's
new Tenth Commandment best, ie "Do not feel envious of the happiness of
those who live in a fool's paradise, for only a fool will think that it is
happiness." The other nine are just as fresh today as they were in 1951.
What a great mind he was! http://www.panarchy.org/russell/decalogue.1951.html
Like · · February 25 at 6:27am
25/2/12: I notice NSW police have finally
started to make property raids as part of their investigation of the 'Craig
Thompson affair'. Only a matter of time before investigation of the out and out
crookedness sadly riddling so much of the trade union movement knocks on
Ju-liar's door too. Imagine her thinking she could get away forever from her
part in a one million dollar defrauding of the AWU as indicated in the Kernohan
Declaration. Then, of course Kevin and Therese were investigated (but never
charged) over their company's defrauding the Commonwealth by issuing
instructions to their employees to falsely claim when people on their books
gained employment for which the company had not been responsible. They have
made millions out of this company. Howard was too polite (Is that the right
word?) to insist Federal Police continue with its investigation of them. So
much corruption in public life. It should definitely merit the death penalty.
The public have a right to expect that their public figures and public service
ARE beyond reproach - instead of being a bunch of petty crooks!
25/2/12: Another 12 killed in
24/2/12:
This is what happens to you if you rescue a drowning raccoon - and good
riddance to you. WARNING; this has nothing to do with Gillard OR Rudd. This is
TODAY'S news: http://www.azfamily.com/news/Bullhead-City-man-arrested-for-keeping-a-raccoon-140187493.html
24/2/12:
This is what tax reform means to the Left: vote for me and I will take other
people's money off them and give it to you. This must stop: http://maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com/uploads/CDA-2012-index-dependence-govt-chart-1_732-552x1024.jpg
24/2/12:
Alan Turing (also hero of the film 'Enigma') was SO ahead of his time. One of
his mathematical theories has just been proved over 50 years since his
unfortunate death: http://www.physorg.com/news/2012-02-alan-turing-1950s-tiger-stripe.html &
also see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Turing
Persecution of minorities is NOT such a great idea, neither is the tyranny of
the majority.
24/2/12:
Thinking it would be a really good weekend to canoe the
24/2/12:
Just a slight problem with Tesla's new electric car. If the battery goes flat
it will cost $40,000 for a new battery. A wind-up car might be more sensible -
but when ever has there been any common sense in all this greenie nonsense?
24/2/12:
Instituted after a deranged anti-feminist Moslem shot dead 14 women in
24/2/12:
Best take yet on Labor's fiasco from Terry MaCrann in the Herald Sun today:
" If Gillard is still Prime Minister after next week, it'll be a case of
the turkeys voting for Christmas." Love it!
24/2/12:
Isn't this just great: a beautiful plant not seen for 30,000 years! Wonder what
they WILL find in
And
remember how the greenies used to have those ads on TV saying, "Extinction
is forever?"
24/2/12:
Religous people have been getting stuck into Richard Dawkins this week. I agree
with Matt Ridley's comment: "For the religious to lecture the secular on
tolerance is rich." When religion triumphs we have societies like
Torquemada's
24/2/12:
Personally, I think believing in the existence of things which are not there IS
a form of insanity (however mild it might be in any particular case) and that
delusions are a very dangerous basis for policy. Any conclusion derived from a
falsehood has NO validity, which is what leads the mad and the religious on to
such excesses as they frequently exhibit when given carte blanche.
23/2/12:
If
23/2/12:
I won't hold my breath (that's more of a Ju-liar tactic anyway), but I really
hope that dreadful woman is gone next week - otherwise there simply won't be an
opposition to the Liberals after the next election; and though I will probably
vote for them (in the absence of someone more congenial - and Katter's
Australia Party IS looking interesting), it is not in the interest of a healthy
democracy for there to basically be NO choice.
23/2/12:
Lennon Bros Circus (
22/2/12:
And here is a weight-loss programme you can definitely sign me up for at only
$US4,950: http://www.gozerog.com/
22/2/12:
Much discussion lately about the worrying decline in educational standards
measured in
22/2/12:
My old ultralight pack (330 grams) is beginning to shred so I thought I would
try one of these (at 450 grams) - probably suit as carry-on luggage too. A good
buy at about A$150 delivered: http://www.sixmoondesigns.com/packs/Swift.html My
choice for the other two of the 'big three' are the Thermarest Neoair Regular
(370 grams) mat and the Montbell Ultralight Super Stretch Down Hugger #3 (@ 30
degrees F) sleeping bag at just over 500 grams. Ron Moak has an interesting
shelter/raincoat too, the
22/2/12:
An important new paper finds NO CLIMATE CHANGE in
21/2/12:
Beware of 'couch surfing', young man: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/story/2012/02/19/quebec-beauce-joyride-couch-sled-van.html?cmp=rss
21/2/12:
Miranda is SO right in her criticisms of how far
21/2/12:
Rudd/Gillard? To reiterate Ayn Rand (a refugee from communism herself): 'There
is only so far I can go choosing the lesser of two evils.' If they can't find
ANYONE better they should exit the kitchen and the potty!
21/2/12:
Disgusting behaviour from these dreadful Labor hacks: Gillard and Bryce
chatting through the minute's silence at
21/2/12:
A truck carrying printer ink tipped over near here causing a loss of seven
trillion dollars. It would have been twice that if the (deceased) driver had
been a manufacturer of lithium battery packs!
20/2/12:
An excellent paper by Prof Parkinson in support of marriage, (such a good idea)
noting that the alternative (such as we have now) is economically and socially
unsustainable and that eg 'Action therefore needs to be taken...to support the
goal of promoting safe, stable, and nurturing relationships between children and
adults and to eliminate perverse incentives to choose family forms that may not
be optimal as a context for raising children' and noting that 'The costs of
family instability are not just borne by individuals. They are to a very
significant extent borne by taxpayers, who provide income support for many
parents and their children, pay substantial administrative costs in ensuring
income transfers through the child support system, and bear more of the costs
of caring for the elderly than would be necessary if a greater number of
marital and quasi-marital relationships remained intact' That last point is so
often overlooked; I also like the use of the adjective, 'perverse'. Quite so: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1992740
20/2/12:
Farewell John Fairfax, one of the C20th's most astonishing people: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/us/john-fairfax-who-rowed-across-oceans-dies-at-74.html?_r=3&pagewanted=all
20/2/12:
REALLY scarey stuff: 'US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta has warned the US will
stop Iran’s fascist regime from building a nuclear bomb, and he reportedly
thinks Israel could strike as soon as April'. Very worried that little bombs
give birth to bigger bombs and so on ad infinitum...It MAY seem merely amusing
that a would-be bomber last week only managed to blow his own legs off, but the
prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran (or what may be necessary to prevent it) is
far from amusing. Deeply worrying - unlike trivial concerns such as fluoride,
radiation from mobile phones,
We
successfully banned chemical and biological warfare weapons after WW1 and they
have largely not been used since. I can't imagine why we have been unable to
ban nuclear. Reagan made a very good start but little has happened since. He
may prove to have been the greatest President ever, unlikely as that may appear
to many:
Apart
from getting rid of half the nuclear weapons (AND communism in
20/2/12:
The world really needs to bite the bullet on unsustainable debt, take the pain
and move on - as Iceland has: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/meantime-iceland-winning?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+zerohedge%2Ffeed+%28zero+hedge+-+on+a+long+enough+timeline%2C+the+survival+rate+for+everyone+drops+to+zero%29
19/2/12:
THIS is global warming? At down to -15C,
19/2/12:
Lovers of Shakespeare's 'Ju-lius Caesar' will be eagerly awaiting the events of
the 15th March: 'Beware the Ides of March' Ju-liar! (Note for the non
'arty-farty': the 'Ides of March' is the Spring(Autumn) equinox an
astronomically propitious event which Shakespeare has Caesar's assassination,
by his FRIENDS - YES! linked to). Anna Blair's spectacular demise is timed to
occur a little over a week later. The Labor biplane is sure spiraling down in flames!
Go Snoopy!
19/2/12:
This guy is great:
"The
Free Market Is a Bathroom Scale
The
free market is the greatest repository of our freedoms. Economic freedom is the
freedom we exercise most often and to the greatest extent. Freedom of speech is
important—if you have anything to say. I've checked the Internet; nobody does.
Freedom of belief is important—if you believe in anything. I've watched reality
TV and I can't believe it. Freedom of assembly is important—if you're going to
an assembly. Most people are going to the mall. And, at the mall, they exercise
economic freedom.
The
free market is not a creed or an ideology that political conservatives,
libertarians, and Ayn Rand acolytes want Americans to take on faith. The free
market is simply a measurement. The free market tells us what people are
willing to pay for a given thing at a given moment. That's all the free market
does. The free market is a bathroom scale. We may not like what we see when we
step on the bathroom scale, but we can't pass a law making ourselves weigh 165.
Liberals and leftists think we can.
The
free market gives us only one piece of information, but it's important
information. We ignore it at our peril, the way the leaders of the old Soviet
bloc did. They lost the cold war not just because of troops or tanks or Star
Wars missile shields. Even Reagan and Thatcher couldn't win the cold war by
themselves. They needed allies. And the allies were Bulgarian blue jeans. The
Soviets lost the cold war because of Bulgarian blue jeans. The free market was
attempting to inform the Kremlin that Bulgarian blue jeans didn't fit, were
ugly and ill-made, and nobody wanted them at any price. People wouldn't wear
Bulgarian blue jeans—literally not to save their lives. But the Kremlin didn't
listen. And the Berlin Wall came down".
P.
J. O'Rourke. Excerpt(s) from Don't Vote It Just Encourages the Bastards
19/2/12:
Also deeply concerned about the carbon footprint of prawn cocktails. May even
have to eat more. Prawn Laksa for tea tonight anyone? http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/timblair/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/carbon_cocktail/
Della
Jones: Thanks for the great chicken laksa for tea - prawn would have been even
better, but the freezer contents would not co-operate. Must remember to shop
more regularly for high carbon footprint foods, not to mention high
carbohydrate and high sugar ones.
18/2/12:
This is just the sort of financial stimulus Rudd-Gillard Swan applied to the
'GFC: " I can prove that shooting convenience-store clerks stimulates the
economy. Jobs are created in the high-paying domestic manufacturing sector at
gun and ammunition factories. Additional emergency medical technicians,
security guards, health care providers, and morticians are hired. The
unemployment rate is lowered ...See More
18/2/12:
'Conservative politicians should never say to voters, "We can lower your
taxes." Conservative politicians should say to voters, "You can raise
our spending. You, the electorate can, if you choose, have an infinite number
of elaborate and expensive government programs. But we, the government, will
have to pay for those programs. We have three ways to pay.
"We
can inflate the currency, destroying your ability to plan for the future,
wrecking the nation's culture of thrift and common sense, and giving free reign
to scallywags to borrow money for worthless scams and pay it back ten cents on
the dollar.
"We
can raise taxes. If the taxes are levied across the board, money will be taken
from everyone's pocket, the economy will stagnate, and the poorest and least
advantaged will be harmed the most. If the taxes are levied only on the
wealthy, money will be taken from wealthy people's pockets hampering their
capacity to make loans and investments, the economy will stagnate, and the
poorest and the least advantaged will be harmed the most.
"And
we can borrow, building up a massive national debt. This will cause all of the
above things to happen plus it will fund Red Chinese nuclear submarines that
will be popping up in San Francisco Bay to get some decent Szechuan
takeout."': P. J. O'Rourke. Excerpt(s) from Don't Vote It Just Encourages
the Bastards
18/2/12:
Ronald Reagan: "The ten most dangerous words in the English language are,
`I'm from the federal government and I'm here to help.'" What a great
President he was!
18/2/12:
Just doesn't seem right somehow; Venus was more of an armful than this : http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music-arts/art-classical-nudes-photoshopped-skinnier-gallery-1.1021831?pmSlide=14
18/2/12:
The amazing 'Skidboot' - this is sure some dog: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2BfzUIBy9A&feature=player_embedded
17/2/12:
Yet another example of outstanding human bravery: 'This man, refusing to give
the Nazi salute, apparently died in captivity or was killed in 1944': http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2012/02/i-wonder.html
17/2/12:
For contrast THIS example of human dependency. Unbelievable: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/9084053/Obese-woman-demanding-50-hours-care-a-week-went-to-pop-concert.html
17/2/12:
But socialism is NOT the lesser of two evils. Something you should really know
more about: Here's how the incredibly brave folks of Xiaogang village defied
Chairman Mao and won, proving (for all time, surely) that socialism is a lie.
Hopefully they can sometime soon bring down his successors: http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2012/02/the-secret-agreement-that-revolutionized-china.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+marginalrevolution%2Ffeed+%28Marginal+Revolution%29
17/2/12:
Quote of the century: Ayn Rand 1981: 'There is only so far I can go choosing
the lesser of two evils'.
17/2/12:
When it's your own household budget it's easy enough to see when your spending
is completely out of control; why is it so hard to see when it is the
Government's? http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2012/02/whats-the-difference.html
16/2/12:
Just in case you are short on things to worry about: what would happen if there
was a REALLY big solar flare such as occurred in 1859: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/02/14/homeland-security-takes-on-the-carrington-event/
16/2/12:
Della's ancestors all come from Shoreditch in
16/2/12:
As you may have realised from our silence, Della and I have been away for a
week touring
16/2/12:
Valentine's day has now come and gone without a comment from me, but it seems
to me that THIS unusual marriage of convenience in
8/2/12:
Party's over folks!
8/2/12:
Given that unemployment has nearly doubled under Labor (and debt has exploded)
it is hardly comforting that Treasury modeling shows unemployment is set to
keep on rising until 2050 under the carbon tax: http://catallaxyfiles.com/2012/02/06/whats-in-tatters/
8/2/12:
Stunning pictures from space; When you look at all the lights on this video and
consider that those spots are EXACTLY where the thermometers are and that
humans just happen to like being warm as well as being able to see, you must
surely conclude that most perceived AGW has to be just the urban heat effect: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=KDEmtWLwMOM
8/2/12:
Some mysteries remain unsolved. The 'new' Kaspar Hauser in Germany IS still
unidentified (http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/world/german-forest-boy-mystery-deepens-as-police-conclude-he-hasnt-lived-in-the-wild/story-e6frf7lf-1226163317824) and the
original case also remains unsolved (If he really DID stage his own murder, it
wasn't the smartest thing to do): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaspar_Hauser
8/2/12:
'And then there were none...' Florence Green, the last veteran of World War 1
has died. This means I have lost a bet I made at High School when I said that
some would still be around at the centenary of the start of WW1 in 1914 due to
increasing longevity and based on the extreme old age of some of the veterans
of earlier wars still alive then. Will there still be veterans of WW2 alive in
2039? Hope I am still around to see!
7/2/12:
Well, the 'Blob' did not get them but they HAVE succeeded in drilling into
7/2/12:
No Need to Panic About Global Warming. These world leading scientists assure us
not to worry, so why worry? http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204301404577171531838421366.html?mod=djemEdito
7/2/12:
Willis has SUCH a great mind! I found this preliminary examination of the
'Argo' buoys fascinating. Who would have thought maye we have wasted a few
billion dollars on these things only to find that the data they return is junk?
Who indeed? But it seems currents and wind mean they clump and give no data at
all for several critical areas, so we have really only the satellite data to
tell whether the ocean is warming or cooling. Back to the drawing board! http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/02/06/where-in-the-world-is-argo/#more-56032
7/2/12:
“That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most
important of all the lessons history has to teach.”- Aldous Huxley
7/2/12:
What is it with
7/2/12:
Bread cats? Well, this is slightly better than the previous 'cats in bottles'
craze but is still downright silly. Whether it is also sillier than Ju-liar's
80 new climate commissioners is a moot point now that coral growth has become
'unsustainably' too great because of warming, or whether it is silllier than
THIS green scheme (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2093979/Students-step-rivers-urine-green-bathrooms-plan-turns-high-school-yellow--cost-500-000-fix.html). It
IS a crazy world: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2094738/Has-internet-completely-lost-Dressing-cats-BREAD-latest-web-craze.html
6/2/12:
Seems like Labor's troops are finally getting restive and are actively
contemplating a return to Kevin Rudd. What an enormous improvement THAT would
be? These people HAVE to go! Bring on an election as soon as possible. Come on
Federal Police, charge Slipper and Thomson - and while you are about it Gillard
and Rudd! It is just disgusting having the country dominated by such outright crooks!
5/2/12:
Don't think I have had some kind of 'green conversion' though: Greens are still
the greatest mass murderers the planet has ever seen. The ban on DDT has
allowed malaria to be the single greatest killer disease in the history of the
planet. Here is an article in the prestigious medical journal 'The Lancet'
showing that the UN (dominated by such folks) has seriously underestimated
annual deaths from this killer disease - the true number is 1.24 million people
per year! This disease was eliminated from the
5/2/12:
Never thought I would agree with 'Friends of the Earth' about anything but it
seems that finally folks are waking up to the enormous scam and evil
perpetrated by the Bio-fuels industry. Not only are they destroying vast
swathes of natural habitat, particularly tropical rain forest eg in
4/2/12:
Russian scientists missing at
4/2/12:
Here is a very useless skill done brilliantly, talking backwards. Kids are just
great:: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4O0ubiIYYYY&feature=player_embedded#!
3/2/12:
It's all downhill from here: Global temperature is down a tenth of a degree in
January, having FALLEN .8 of a degree since 1998. FALLEN! That's right That is
a larger fall in a little over a decade than the supposed 'warming' of the
entire 20th century. The science certainly IS settled: http://www.drroyspencer.com/2012/02/uah-global-temperature-update-for-january-2012-0-09-deg-c/
3/2/12:
Both of the slimes propping up Gillard seem overly fond of whorehouses. Here are
some of Slipper's taxpayer funded cab fares to satisfy such lusts. Can you
think of some genuine parliamentary business (which we should pay an MP for)
for visiting Kings Cross so often late at night? http://www.finance.gov.au/foi/disclosure-log/2011/20110301_cabcharge.html
2/2/12:
You have to HOPE that the AGW crowd is right and this guy is wrong: Habibullo
Ismailovich Abdussamatov, head of the space research laboratory at Pulkovo
Observatory, writes in Applied Physics Research: "In the nearest future we
will observe a transition (between global warming and global cooling) period of
unstable climate changes with the global temperature fluctuating around its maximum
value reached in 1998-2005. After the maximum of solar cycle 24, from
approximately 2014 we can expect the start of the next bicentennial cycle of
deep cooling with a Little Ice Age in 2055±11": http://ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/apr/article/view/14754
2/2/12:
Former Labor Minister Gary Johns is very brave to say what Andrew Bolt was
prosecuted for saying "One suspects that recognition is a need of
fair-skinned Aborigines. It is an existential problem for them. Those who have
chosen to live through an Aboriginal identity want official confirmation of
that choice. Such Aborigines, however, use the plight of those Aborigines who
have not so much chosen an identity as responded to a huge number of incentives
to remain on welfare...It is time to fold the tent on the Aboriginal preferment
industry and complete the job of 1967, which was to integrate Aborigines into
society on equal terms" : http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/johns_on_choosing_racial_identity/
2/2/12:
Do you sometimes wonder how great tits move? Here is an entertaining video
showing how - and full of wonderful surprises. I DARE you to look: http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/nstv/2012/01/look-ma-no-wings-secret-of-great-tit-flight-revealed.html
2/2/12:
It will be interesting to see how the AGW's model this: Japanese sea level
see-saw "Sea level around
2/2/12:
Here's as neat a description of the human propensity to keep trying to force
round pegs into square holes as I have seen: '...someone who having invented a
hammer, sees everything as a nail' in a review of 'Design in Nature' by Adrian
Bejan in New Scientist 21 Jan. The book may well be crap!
2/2/12
12:20am: I suspect there are bottles of
champagne further than which one ought not go. The morrow will ascertain the
truth or otherwise of this proposition. Meanwhile: Cheers & sweet dreams!
1/2/12: After 235 days settlement finally occurred.
The purchasers from Hell finally coughed up though it took some heavy legal
persuasion. Money is now in the bank. We are no longer farmers, just hobbyists.
Loud cheers!
1/2/12: Over five orders of magnitude too weak to
break chemical bonds (and possibly cause cancer)! Hadn't really considered how
silly THIS scare story was. Forget about your mobile phone turning you into a
two-headed troll anytime soon: http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2012/01/the-media-and-cancer-risks.html
1/2/12: Can't wait to get out there and hunt a giant
panda - or maybe even someday - a mammoth? http://mjperry.blogspot.com.au/2012/01/how-to-save-endangered-species-hunt.html
1/2/12: NOTHING could be sillier than the RABBIT
OLYMPICS. Really? Nothing? Decide for yourself: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthpicturegalleries/9047716/Rabbit-Olympics.html
1/2/12: Tomorrow is 'THE BIG DAY'. We hope. Watch this
space tomorrow afternoon to see if it all works out!
31/1/12: Your taxes at work. I actually liked Paul
Robeson in the 1937 'King Solomon's Mines' but I doubt I would like any of the
films (follow the link for more) that Tim Blair points out we have already
funded. Boy, a film about the world paper plane making competition will go down
big at the box office. Maybe if he offered to take his trousers off? http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/timblair/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/at_the_tax_funded_movies/
31/1/12: Best ever movie one-liner? Maybe: Watching
King Solomon's Mines (1937) starring Paul Robeson. Picture this: surrounded by
thousands of murderous cannibals baying for blood, one of our heroes says:
'Would it do any good if I whipped off me trousers?' You WILL have to watch the
movie to see that this is perfectly true. Of course the alternative course of
action: conjuring up an awesome eclipse of the sun proves more efficacious, BUT
the thought was there! If only we could all have such foresight when caught in
a tight spot. Something to be learned there...
31/1/12: Very interesting crowd-sourced remake of Star
Wars in 15 second episodes: http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2012/01/easily-the-most-awesome-thing-i-have-seen-for-a-while.html
31/1/12: Why can't the Americans find a candidate with
a normal name? What is it with: 'Newt', 'Mitt', 'Barack'...? What's wrong with
'Ju-liar' for example?...Cancel that question!
31/1/12: Now we know that my mother had: "the
chief mutation that causes blue eyes...a single letter change, from A to G, at
the 26,039,213rd position on chromosome 15, within a gene called HERC2"
and that it was originally caused (probably) by Vitamin D deficiency (which
curiously for a farmer) I still have. How our genes make us! http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/where-blue-eyes-came
31/1/12: Tim Blair has a good point here. It IS
astonishing how so many in Government, in the Press etc just didn't seem able to
use normal means of communication about what Tony Abbott actually said. The NBN
will sure improve this! http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/timblair/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/heard_but_unsaid/
30/1/12: It may be impossible NOT to read this
article: http://www.cracked.com/blog/the-7-most-agonizing-sex-injuries-record/
30/1/12:
Extraordinary: "Of the 3237 asylum-seekers who admitted to flying to
30/1/12:
On SBS last night, a real mind stretcher: Race and Intelligence: Science's Last
Taboo by Somali born English journalist Rageh Omaar. The good news conclusion
was that black Americans ARE closing the 15 point IQ gap between themselves and
white Americans by .15 points per year, so that in 100 years it will presumably
be gone.
30/1/12:
Two very valid points: 1. Cronulla race rioters were punished by the courts
& 2. The proposed 'aboriginal' referendum is now dead. And the lesson for
Gillard: 'a lie too far! http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/the_difference_with_cronulla/
29/1/12: 'Confessions of a
Greenpeace Dropout' by Patrick Moore (not the astronomer - also a great guy).
This guy founded Greenpeace but left it after 15 years when it was taken over
by communists and loonies (as it and every other environment group is today).
Although I doubt I agree with everything he says (or anyone else!), WHAT he
says is just TOO important to ignore. Have a little read inside, here: http://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Greenpeace-Dropout-Sensible-Environmentalist/dp/0986480827#reader_B004X2I6ZM Here's
a sample: "Since I left Greenpeace, its members, and the majority of the
movement have adopted policy after policy that reflects their antihuman bias,
illustrates their rejection of science and technology and actually increases
the risk of harm to people and the environment. They oppose forestry even
though it provides our most abundant renewable resource. They have zero
tolerance for genetically modified food crops, even though this technology
reduces pesticide use and improves nutrition for people who suffer from
malnutrition. They continue to oppose nuclear energy, even though it is the
best technology to replace fossil fuels and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
They campaign against hydroelectric projects despite the fact that hydro is by
far the most abundant renewable source of electricity. And they support the
vicious and misguided campaign against salmon farming, an industry that
produces more than a million tons of heart-friendly food every year"
29/1/12:
'According to scientists, some women can store sperm for years. Your mom finds
that a little hard to swallow': http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/26/females-store-sperm-for-years_n_1234005.html?icid=maing-grid7|main5|dl4|sec3_lnk3&pLid=130670
29/1/12:
Remember Streptomycin which (almost) eliminated pandemic TB in the 1950's. Now
in
28/1/12:
The elephant in the room: Surely stirring up a race riot is un-Prime
Ministerial conduct of the sort that Wilkie says will lead him to withdraw support;
and can there really be any doubt that the whole sorry affair was orchestrated
with Gillard's knowledge? See: http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/i_do_not_believe_gillard_and_did_not_hear_her_say_sorry/ and http://bunyipitude.blogspot.com/2012/01/gillards-white-rabbit.html The
Kernohan Stat Dec implicating her in major theft/fraud is here: http://networkedblogs.com/mjQtZ
28/1/12: I noticed the 'embassy activists' burning our
dear flag for which many of their and our ancestors fought. I understood this
was a criminal offence. I'm sure it would be if I were to publically burn an
'aboriginal' flag.
28/1/12:
The putative 'energy shortage' is definitely over. 'Super Fracking' IS coming: http://mjperry.blogspot.com/2012/01/with-new-super-fracking-advances-shale.html
28/1/12:
'Water behaving badly.' Ice is moving South @ 20 miles per hour instead of its
'usual' 3 miles per hour as it envelopes Alaska in this early cold start to
2012. I agree with Willis that the best place for ice is in your cold drink,
not covering your house ten feet deep. Those who wish for an Ice Age instead of
something like the medieval balmy weather are just barking mad: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/01/27/alaska-on-the-rocks/#more-55531
27/1/12:
Just LOVE PJ O'Rourke, eg: "But poor people don’t have a lot of
pleasures. Sure, they have more sex than progressive elites. But somehow, for
poor people, the sex always ends up in illegitimate children or HIV or some bum
of a boyfriend instead of leading to, as it does for elites, a Reichian release
of primordial cosmic energy or the wonderful self-fulfillment and midlife
reawakening of a new divorce. And, yes, the poor have drugs and alcohol, but
these bring them nothing but grief. They’re not at all like the subtle and
refined delights of a 300-bottle wine cellar or the therapeutic relief from
Zoloft, Lexapro, Elavil, Ambien, Halcion, Xanax, beta blockers, Levitra, and
Cialis." http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/they-hate-poor-people_617428.html
27/1/12:
David Archibald uses solar cycles which have a very high predictive skill to
forecast a drop in world temperature of nearly 5C over the next 20 years. I
hope he is wrong, but I suspect his predictions will be closer to reality than
the IPCC's: http://joannenova.com.au/2012/01/global-cooling-coming-archibald-uses-solar-and-surface-data-to-predict-4-9c-fall/#more-19909
27/1/12: I AM surprised it has taken the CSIRO so long
to discover this new (heaviest) element 'Governmentium'. I think many of us
have stubbed our toes on it or banged our heads into it over the years: http://joannenova.com.au/2012/01/new-element-governmentium-heaviest-known-and-paradoxically-increasing/
/1/12:
Time to check out your winter woollies: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/01/25/first-estimate-of-solar-cycle-25-amplitudesmallest-in-over-300-years/
27/1/12:
A great post by climatologist David Evans here on how the IPCC got it all
completely wrong: http://joannenova.com.au/2012/01/dr-david-evans-the-skeptics-case/ but
the graphic says it all really: http://jonova.s3.amazonaws.com/guest/evans-david/hansen-1988-a-b-c-scenarios-600.gif
27/1/12:
One happy dog: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YmXdeRXqv8&feature=player_embedded
27/1/12:
My Country Read by Dorothea McKellar: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86TKK81EwJ4&feature=player_embedded
27/1/12:
More disgraceful behaviour by 'aboriginal' Australians yesterday in
26/1/12: Long grass has a lot to do with it: The score
for the season is today: Snakes 2, Dogs 1. The old beagle, Benson was found
this morning calmly consuming the black snake who had killed his friend the old
bloodhound Suzy having previously killed his friend the old beagle Snoopy.
Revenge at last!
26/1/12:
I like our flag and do NOT wish it changed. I like that it so represents our
history; In the corner the great Union flag symbolising the coming together of
the disparate peoples of the British Isles as one nation and beow it the
Southern Cross under which we all live in this Great South Land, 'Terra
Australis' or simply 'Australia' as the indefatigable explorer Matthew
Flinders, the first to circmnavigate it first called it. The 'coming together
and becoming one people' is very important. Just as my maternal grandparents
proved that the Irish and the English could live together and my paternal
grandparents that the English and French could live together, Della's parents
showed that the English and Scots could too. These were people who had warred
for centuries. Somewhere in there they also proved that people of different
faiths eg Protestant and Catholic could also become one. Newcomers and
oldcomers to our shores should strive to make greater efforts to live together
in respect and harmony. It is just not good enough if some people of Moslem
faith or African or Aboriginal race for example do not desire to live together
as one people. Neither clearly can they 'go back where they came from' any more
than any of us can. We come from here, this Commonwealth of Australia, and must
live here in peace.
26/1/12:
"The only thing the world has a genuine shortage of is honest and
competent people in government." Interesting perspective on the issues of
population, growth and resources by David Middleton, here: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/01/25/the-simon-erlich-wager-at-seven-billion-people/#more-55285
26/1/12:
On this day in 1778 Della's great great great grandfather Private Lawrence
Richards Plymouth Marines on board Prince of Wales arrived Sydney Cove with his
wife Mary and son Samuel (born on the voyage thus maybe the first Australian).
They were the first settlers on Norfolk Island and later had land at
28/1/12:
Like many Australians (including many of an indigenous heritage), I have an
uncle who fell at Fromelles (still lost), one at Tobruk & the disastrous
landing on Sumatra, one in the bombers in the Battle of Britain, I have a photo
of my grandfather in his Boer War uniform....the list goes on. Many ancestors
who fought in peace and in war to make this country a freer and better place,
as I hope I have too. It is inexcusable that people seek to diminish the great
history of the English speaking peoples (of all races and faiths) who have
contributed well above their weight to the progress of civilsation over many
centuries. Their opponents should try to explain what sort of world they think
it might have been without their efforts.
28/1/12:
There exist Australians of all heritages who behave inexcusably as to insisting
on special treatment either for their (perceived) race or any other's 'race'
(or who behave badly in a heap of other ways). The bad behaviour must stop. I'm
sure that all of us (except the extremely one eyed) have friends or relatives who
have a different heritage to themselves. This should do nothing more than make
life interesting and diverse. We are all in this society (this life) together.
Insistence that difference matters more than similarity is just wrong and
counter-productive. Laws, rights, duties, priveleges must be the same for all,
however. As an example of that I think it is long past time we had no 'special'
rules for aboriginal people (or anyone else who insists on being identified as
a member of some 'special' race, group or religion). People need to get on
together, stand on their own two feet, support themselves, understand that
'there is no such thing as a free lunch' and be happy to have this engraved on
their tombstone: 'They ate what was set before them'.
24/1/12:
Fuel Saving: over the next few years car manufacturers will reduce fuel
consumption by up to 1/3rd by reducing friction loss. This is a BIG number: http://www.spacemart.com/reports/One_third_of_car_fuel_consumption_is_due_to_friction_loss_999.html
23/1/12:
Not only is Barbie unislamic, but bras are too! It is hard not to have some
sympathy with the absurdly named terrorist organisation Al Shabaab in its
desire to have 'Breast Inspectors' to check this out. They will have no trouble
filling vacancies for that job! Surely it is in the interest of
multi-culturalism that we implement this in
23/1/12:
Though I still can't imagine what the mechanism is that holds the sex ratio at
almost precisely 50:50 I agree that it IS disquieting that in some places the
ratio has become 150:100 in favour of males. If you like girls (and who
doesn't?) this is seriously bad news especially for Chinese men: http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/distorting-human-sex-ratio
23/1/12:
A very thoughtful piece about what should/does happen during a disaster
including some reflection on whether in an age of feminism women should get a
seat on the bus. Incidentally I believe the regiment involved in the '
22/1/12:
A big improvement to bull-fighting: Flaming-horned bull fatally gores man in
22/1/12:
Another undesirable refugee costs us a fortune: http://bunyipitude.blogspot.com/2012/01/aint-multiculturalism-just-grand.html
21/1/12:
Breath like a dragon. Very dangerous but astonishing cuisine cooked in liquid
nitrogen! I did not believe this, but watch the video. It's true: http://www.themercury.com.au/article/2012/01/20/293861_todays-news.html
21/1/12: Some of us may never die - but I doubt it
will be me! This is wonderful news: longevity in mice has been doubled, even
tripled with stem cell treatment. Would be good if the religo's would give up
on their plan for us to all hurry to the after-life and allow a little more
stem cell experimentation: http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Fountain-youth-Young-stem-cells-35214.S.87884017
21/1/12: The last of the 'Wind-Talkers' (2003) dies:
http://www.neptunuslex.com/2012/01/19/last-man/
20/1/12: Where we are right now:
http://moonbattery.com/ship-over-waterfall.jpg
20/1/12: I'm sure this would be a politically
incorrect joke here too here the native born are increasingly outnumbered by
the newly enfranchised late arrivals. An interesting site too with a great
name: http://moonbattery.com/?p=7058
20/1/12: Poor Nemo! New Scientists's silliest AGW
paper yet: CO2 will make Nemo drunk and fall prey to nasty sharks. Who would
have believed those nasty sharks would a. be immune to its supposed toxic
effects and b. want to eat dear little Nemo? It IS a hard, cruel world out
there on the reef: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn21355-carbon-dioxide-encourages-risky-behaviour-in-clownfish.html
20/1/12: THESE are the boat people we would be
heartless to reject. They represent the tip of a huge iceberg of fraudulent
refugees. Meanwhile no doubt real refugees die without the hope of respite:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/18/afghanistan-people-smugglers-taliban-europe
20/1/12: Barbie dolls are un-Islamic! Who would have
known? No doubt un-Christian too! God, I hate religion! Jesus shit! Bloody,
Damn! Barbies are unreal. Yeah! http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2012/01/barbie_dolls_are_un-islamic_-_who_knew.html
19/1/12: Some of us have the Midas touch and some have
the Crapus touch, an old friend, Ian Milvain much missed, used to say...
19/1/12: Elon Musk; this guy IS a real genius. I watch
with awe and interest his SpaceX missions: http://blogs.laweekly.com/informer/2011/12/elon_musk_spacex_space_flight_space_station.php
19/1/12: Piss on the Taliban? Sure can! I think
Congressman Allen West is quite right: http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100130485/war-is-hell-get-over-it/
18/1/12: Hands up for a free internet! Wikipedia:SOPA
initiative/Take action - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia en.wikipedia.org
18/1/12: Tata's air car might be a good buy in 2012
too with fuel prices on the rise/: http://www.caradvice.com.au/141944/tata-motors-mini-cat-air-car-to-debut-in-2012/
18/1/12: Really good news if it proves to be true.
Apart from extravagant cost, storage has always been the ultimate failure of
renewable energy. Eos claims to have solved the problem using the humble
zinc-air battery in rechargeable form: http://www.eosenergystorage.com/technology
17/1/12: HERE is a really cute creature for those who
thought that tentacles were the exclusive preserve of octopodes, gillards etc:
The star-nosed mole; I kid you not: http://laughingsquid.com/the-peculiar-star-nosed-mole-has-tentacles-on-its-face/
17/1/12: 'According to
17/1/12: Is the empty self-esteem fad fading or is
Ju-liar iving proof that more criticism at an early age (or retrospective
abortion) is justified? Feeling good about oneself should only come from doing
right things and from doing hard things. Even so, we all deserve plenty of
criticism and nobody deserves to think that they are wonderful:
http://www.stuartschneiderman.blogspot.com/2012/01/empty-praise.html
16/1/12: Nacreous Clouds over
16/1/12: THIS is what happens to you if you do not
show sincere enough emotion in
16/1/12: Girls: it doesn't get any better than this;
how to conceal a firearm when wearing a dress: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=jAEM9knVZgY#!
15/1/12: People
ask us retired people what we do to make our days interesting. The other day
Della and I went into town to shop. When we came out, there was a cop writing
out a parking ticket. We went up to him and I said, 'Come on, man, how about
giving a senior citizen a break?' He ignored us and continued writing the
ticket. I called him an "asshole". He glared at me and started
writing another ticket for having worn-out tires. So Della called him a
"shit head". He finished the second ticket and put it on the windshield
with the first.Then he started writing more tickets. This went on for about 20
minutes. The more we abused him, the more tickets he wrote. Just then our train
was due, and we got on it and went home. We always look for cars with Green
stickers. We try to have a little fun each day now that we're retired. It's
important at our age.
15/1/12: I've often been asked, 'What do you old folks
do now that you're retired?' Well, I'm fortunate to have a chemical engineering
background, and one of the things I enjoy most is converting beer, wine and
spirits into urine. Then I piss on a photo of Ju-liar! I do it every day and I
really enjoy it."
15/1/12: Wouldn't it be great if kids were more like
this one instead of being trained to be greenies: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQHAWZtplSw&feature=player_embedded#!
How to Make: An Under-ice Snare Pole for Beaver and Otter www.youtube.com To use this set for otter
just replace the green poplar bait with fish.
15/1/12: You can see from this article (http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/slow-cooling-our-interglacial)
and particularly this graph why many are concerned about a coming ice age: http://www.murdoconline.net/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/gisp2-ice-core-temperatures.jpg
15/1/12: There is always something new we didn't know
or consider: Researchers have discovered a new type of atmospheric particle the
'Criegee biradical' (naturally produced by plants) whose effect is to cool the
planet and which is clearly not yet in any of the standard atmospheric models: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/01/13/the-cool-particle/#more-54728
15/1/12: 'Phobos Grunt' is SUCH a great name
for a piece of space junk which MAY fall on your head: http://uk.news.yahoo.com/spacecraft-could-crash-land-m4-corridor-031131344.html
15/1/12: A brilliant real life Rube Goldberg device
here. No hamsters were harmed in the making of ths film: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=GOMIBdM6N7Q
Other great Rube Goldberg devices here: http://www.rubegoldberg.com/?page=home
14/1/12: Remember THIS: MORE good news for smokers.
Let's hope this isn't a fake too, guys: This comes on top of a cure for lung
cancer meaning it is now safer to smoke than not to smoke - Hey, did I get that
right?I like that the French are smoking Ozzie fags while we are smoking
'green' durries. This is taking environmentalism too far! http://news.yahoo.com/nicotine-could-ward-off-memory-loss-study-132541640.html
14/1/12: MIND you super intelligent AGW lizards may be
less of a threat than last week's leading fear story: AGW mutant man-killing
sharks out to exterminate us all: http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100126796/could-climate-change-create-deadly-mutant-sharks-which-kill-us-all/
14/1/12: The makers of 'Equal' the coffee sweetener
people have clearly redesigned their container so that it slips out of your
hand and into the cup thereby using up a whole package. They have no doubt had
a huge boost in sales. Great lateral thinking folks. Well done.
14/1/12: Winegate: http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/winegate_scr.jpg
14/1/12: Silliest AGW story yet? AGW makes lizards
super intelligent. Let's hope they get smart enough to doubt it! http://io9.com/5875545/global-warming-might-make-lizards-super+intelligent
14/1/12: The bad news: red wine consumption alone may
not cause me to live to be 357. Better keep it and the coffee up just in case.
Who would have believed a scientist would have faked THIS data - or the AGW
data. What IS the world coming to: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/240222.php
13/1/12: Despite the fact that coral islands rise as
sea level rises (Understanding coral reefs #101), if you build a trough, you
will get pigs, but $800,000 pigs? Wow: http://catallaxyfiles.com/2012/01/11/say-no-more-2/
13/1/12: Real world economics versus economic fantasy:
http://catallaxyfiles.com/2012/01/12/alchian-allen-theorem-at-work/
13/1/12: If you have been worrying about the AGW's
stand out claim (in case it actually gets colder) that CO2 will increase ocean
acidification, this recent study from the Scripps Institute shows that ocean Ph
varies enormously more than the worst doomsayers' predictions. So you can
forget that one too folks and just get back to getting on with your lives! http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/noise-versus-signal
13/1/12: Ronald Reagan was right about something else.
At the time I thought when he said acid rain was caused by trees it was a slip
of the tongue. NOW the science has settled that indeed the trees are to blame.
Nature remains as mysterious as ever: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/01/11/new-study-confirms-that-nature-is-responsible-for-90-of-the-earths-atmospheric-acidity/
12/1/12: This is Professor Nir Shaviv an
Israeli/American physics professor, carrying out research in the fields of
astrophysics and climate science explaining how wrong the IPCC's predictions to
date (since 1990) have been. It is laughable to expect they will get any better
which makes equally laughable Oz's bizarre (and expensive) efforts to do
something about this non-problem: http://www.sciencebits.com/IPCC_nowarming
12/1/12: 'No forestry. No mining. No oil. No
gas. No more hydro-electric dams. It’s practically the Australian Greens’
policy platform' , but this is from Canadian Minister of Natural Resources Joe
Oliver: http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/timblair/
12/1/12: You probably know this shortcut but I didn't:
To magnify the screen: hold down the control button then roll the wheel on your
mouse. (Thanks to Stephanie de Sykes)
Coldest start to summer on record. Coldest January day
on record. What will happen when the carbon tax actually begins in July? Stop
you fools, we will all freeze to death!
11/1/12: Enjoy (Edward) Bear Grylls? Perhaps you would
enjoy the guy who taught him and lots of other soldiers about
woodcraft/survival. You can view his new series here online: http://www.raymears.com/blog/watch-wild-britain-with-ray-mears-series-2-online/2853/
12/1/12: This is a very wordy and turgid article, but
its main point: that there is a 90%+ probability of Earth's temperature
returning to a stable point AT LEAST 5C colder than now is inarguable. We MUST
plan for THIS. As I see it nuclear power is the only way forward: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/01/09/strange-new-attractors-strong-evidence-against-both-positive-feedback-and-catastrophe/#more-54515
11/1/12: A few years ago I remember we had a 28C day
in July (nice 'Indian Summer' day). Today we are having an 11C day in mid
January (not so welcome unless you are of the apres ski set). THIS is global
warming?
11/1/12: Welcome to the C21st! Our son tells us that
his new Sony ebook reader is just about the best present ever. We agree, having
been a whole year ahead of the younger generation in this. Thank goodness also
that he is literate...
11/1/12: Fred Hoyle was right (see my earlier post)
according to another new study: greenhouse gases may delay the next ice age. As
it would result in the death of most of earth's creatures (including humanity)
you would think greenies might want to AVOID an ice age, but alas, these people
are more evil than can be imagined. 'Bring it on' is what THEY think.
Unbelievable: http://www.popsci.com.au/science/human-co2-emissions-could-avert-the-next-ice-age-study-says
11/1/12: PLEASE Ju-liar, don't use any part of my
taxes to retrieve the trio of whalie pirates. Just have them put overboard in a
leaky dinghy with your good self and a rusty carving knife would suit me
Why can't they catch a lift on their own ship the Sea
Shepherd which is right there?
9/1/12: I love it that Swifts Creek has twice as many
guns as people. I am just surprised that there aren't ten times as many. Let
there be many more towns like that!
9/1/12: Just a sample of Steyn's 2011, a must read:
"When William Beveridge laid out his blueprint for the British welfare
regime in 1942, his goal was the "abolition of want" to be
accomplished by "co-operation between the State and the individual."
In attempting to insulate the citizenry from life’s vicissitudes, Sir William
succeeded beyond his wildest dreams. As I write in my book: "Want has been
all ...See More
9/1/12: Totally agree with Tim Blair on this one:
"Based on this photograph alone, the Japanese ought to imprison them
indefinitely. That level of smug has got to be toxic." What DO these
people think ought to be the consequences of piracy anyway? Besides, Tiddles
and I really love that chunk of whale steak on the Barbie. Pesky things are
everywhere now, especially in shopping centres! http://www.theage.com.au/environment/whale-watch/whaling-protesters-held-20120108-1pq9u.html
9/1/12: Fascinating article by the late astronomer
Fred Hoyle on the causes of ice ages - and how to avoid them. Keep pouring out
all those greenhouse gases or we will all soon freeze: http://abob.libs.uga.edu/bobk/ccc/ce120799.html
8/1/12: FRAUD has been the biggest growth industry of
the last decade or two, both large scale economic fraud such as Enron and the
sub-prime 'GFC' ( & no-one has been brought to book!) and environmental
fraud such as is exposed by the 'Climategate' emails, 'pushing' of hideously
expensive 'alternative energy', the myth of 'peak oil', the demonisation of
nuclear power (to the extent that Oz has not traine...See More
8/1/12: Helga's Bar - a must read to what went wrong
with the economy: http://catallaxyfiles.com/2012/01/06/dummies-guide-to-what-went-wrong-in-europe-and-the-usa/
7/1/12: Whatever happened to VDSL2? Eftel long since
installed its MSAN nodes in most local exchanges which allowed this technology
to be provided. This would have provided broadband peeds of 100megs per second
over your phone line if you were within about 1.6km of the exchange. My guess
is that Julia's decision to go with the horribly expensive NBN meant that we
could not have this cheaper technology which would deliver the same or better
speeds at a fraction of the cost. Here in the country where we will never have
the NBN we will now probably never have fast broadband! There even exists a
demonstrated copper delivered speed of 2 gigs per second! http://broadbandnext.com.au/introducing_vdsl2.cms
6/1/12: Vale Ronald Searle (and St Trinians &
Molesworth) at 91. Thanks for a million good laughs: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jan/03/ronald-searle?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487
6/1/12: Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle is probably the
world's greatest sniper with 160 confirmed kills, some taken more than a mile
away! This is awesome (whatever else you might think about it). I see he
favours a .300
5/1/12: Peak Oil - not anytime soon: It is interesting
that for the whole of my life the years of available petroleum just keeps
increasing. Forty years ago there were maybe 30 years of available resource;
now there are forty-five years - and that's not counting 'unconventional' oil:
tar sands, shale and coal gas, coal to oil conversion & etc. The world just
keeps on getting better; who can doubt it? : http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/12/13/the-rp-ratio/
4/1/12: 39C this time yesterday and 17C today. THIS is
Victorian weather BUT climate scientists reckon they can discern a .5C change
in temperature over a century! Those guys are crazy!
3/1/12: Gun permit holders are only 1/20th as likely
to commit an offence as the general population. Why doesn't this surprise me? http://reason.com/blog/2011/12/27/scare-story-about-carry-permit-holders-s
3/1/12: Relative stability indicates that there exists
thermostatic-type feedback mechanisms whether we understand them or not. For example
the relative stability of the 50:50 ratio of males to females is unlikely to be
down to God however much I am puzzled to explain it. I am happy to enjoy it!
Similarly the enormous stability of the temperature record as evidenced by
satellite records (eg UAH) indicates a wondrous thermostatic effect even though
we might not understand yet exactly how it works. Again, just enjoy! I
understand that sperm can be separated into male/female, but how does nature do
this in such a way that on average half of all births (approx) are
(delightfully) girls?
1/1/12: In 1800 there were 3 cities in the world with
populations over 1 million. Now there are 442! THIS represents THE major
transformation of human life. We cannot hope to understand what makes the
average human tick unless we understand their circumstances. Having lived in a
city (reluctantly) for less than 10% of my life I admit to a deep ignorace.
29/12/11: More crocodile tears from
29/12/11: Will CO2 harm the sea? Don't think so. See
the picture of Coral Reef at
29/12/11: Apparently we long since lost the right to
CHOOSE what sorts of immigrants we want, now we can no longer even see them.
Australian television stations may no longer show images of asylum seekers
arriving by boat. This new censorship of the media has to STOP. I think that it
might be reasonable we might want to preserve our national character by for eg
choosing the vast majority of immigrants be from a European or English speaking
background: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-12-28/acmas-asylum-seeker-rules-dubbed-censorship/3749874
28/12/11: This appears to be some weird Bobbitt
fantasy, but it is instead recently implicated in reef destruction. What is it?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/58246614@N00/220135963
28/12/11: Xmas arrived a day late here this year:
Santa IS getting old! Got ONE excellent wife and THREE excellent kids (as usual
- but probably undeserved).
28/12/11: Hard Drive Won't Open? Could be you have to
change its drive letter: Control Panel-System and Security-Administrative
Tools-Computer Management-Disc Management-Right Click-Change the Letter. Have
had this problem a number of times and thought it was a faulty hard drive. Hard
to believe the solution was buried so deep inside Windows!
26/12/11: Amazing: By now I guess everyone is familiar
with the notion of virtual (and real) particles appearing and disappearing in a
vacuum as posited by quantum theory. Seems to me this is very like Fred Hoyle's
long abandoned 'steady state' theory, but whatever - the truly weird thing is
that quantum theory calculations show the vacuum as containing infinite energy.
As you can actually measure electical current in a vacuum even though any
particular piece of vacuum has no net electrical energy, it seems to me that
this is potentially an infinite energy source. So much to be discovered yet...
26/12/11: Amazing Life's delusions: I had always
thought ALL the helium in the universe came from nuclear fusion (and I have
consequentially worried about our trivial wasting of such an irreplaceable
resource - which i still am) & that it was a total mystery how it came to
be in those US gas wells. Thank godness (!) for Wikipedia! It is also produced
by radioactive decay of uranium and thorium. Their alpha particles being the
nucleus of helium atoms, they just grab an electron from wherever, and there
you are. How many such delusions colour your world view...
26/12/11: Amazing If only Santa (or even one of his
elves) would quietly fix all your computer problems while you sleep...
24/12/11: Amazing This Malcolm Naden story is going to
make SUCH a great movie: http://www.news.com.au/national/police-warn-bush-fugitive-malcolm-naden-is-on-the-hunt-for-firepower/story-e6frfkvr-1226229795537
24/12/11: Watch these greenies plotting to fabricate
evidence and defraud the public. There is no limit to such people's wickedness:
http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2011/12/environmentalist-stick-up.html
24/12/11: This new power approved in the
24/12/11:
24/12/11: Vale Bruce Ruxton. Never forget Bruce (at
20) was one of the first Aussies to observe the terrible effects of the
Sandakan Death Marches and help bury the dead. Such crimes must not be
forgotten.
23/12/11: I particularly liked Willis's last paragraph
(see my previous post): 'Cultural sustainability is mental onanism'! Yay!
23/12/11: Go Willis! I have to admit that as well as
'renewable', 'sustainable' is one of my major current hate words. I just hate
thoughtless sloganeering: NOTHING is sustainable (or if you are talking REAL
'nothing', it is NOT sustainable (aka 'nature deplores a vacuum' = amazing how
virtual particles simply appear in the quantum world!): http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/12/22/nothing-is-sustainable/
23/12/11: Ju-liar has murdered over 500 asylum seekers
now. How many more must die before Labor admits the 'Pacific solution' worked
and reintroduces it and temporary protection visas?
23/12/11: These folks have a few neat free programmes
for speeding up your PC. You just wouldn't believe how many gigs (Yes!) of
rubbish was still lurking on mine until I ran their cclean: http://www.piriform.com/products
23/12/11: Tim Flannery just can't be wrong again? A
warmer climate will reduce mosquitoes and their associated diseases. Oh my.
Clearly the warmists simply did not want to know what a major problem malaria
was in Scadinavian countries, Russia etc before DDT: http://www.nature.com/news/global-warming-wilts-malaria-1.9695
23/12/11: Cry or die? The horror show of the Korean
totalitarianism is just too frightening to watch, yet so many on the left (and
the greens) are still either apologists or advocates of this type of centrally
planned, controlled society. Brown and Gillard's current 'media' enquiry' is
just a case in point.
22/12/11: Must have for Xmas? Look at this new torch:
788 lumens from a single 3.7V battery! Twice the best torch of last Xmas!
Things just keep on getting better. My favourite pocket torch is the Fenix LD01
which takes a single AAA and outputs 85 lumens. If you (carefully) screw off
the lens cover (it is Loktited on) it makes a great hiking lantern at 16 grams
(and about 5 grams per day!) Only $50 too!): http://www.ledtorches.com.au/hi-performance-torches/thrunite-catapult-v3-788-lumens-led-torch/prod_236.html
22/12/11: On Channel Seven's Natural Mysteries:
"MAN-EATING LIONS. Look inside the natural mysteries behind unusual events
in the animal kingdom. Tonight, we look into why
22/12/11: The Big Oz quits the solar power industry.
Strange. Do they know something Bob and Ju-liar don't? Not profitable. Weird.
Who would have thought? http://www.nationalreview.com/planet-gore/286371/bp-exits-solar-industry-greg-pollowitz
22/12/11: This is the biggest 'fudge' yet ( 8 times!):
"CERES (Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System) instrument (Loeb et
al., 2009), which finds a measured 5-year-mean imbalance of 6.5 W/m2 (Loeb et
al., 2009). Because this result is implausible, instrumentation calibration
factors were introduced to reduce the imbalance to the imbalance suggested by
climate models, 0.85 W/m2" If you don't like the figures, simply change
them! http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/12/20/hansens-arrested-development/#more-53430
21/12/11: I read somewhere that every cup of coffee
and glass of red wine adds several hours to one's life. I have been able to
calculate therefore that I will live for 357 & 1/2 years and rising!
20/12/11: Interesting phenomenon during lawnmower
rescue: I had left the petrol line disconnected and turned off, but the tap was
obviously weeping. It was a hot day and I was amazed to see that a 50 cent
piece of pink ice had formed on the end of the pipe. (latent heat of
evaporation & latent heat of fusion)...Alexander the Great used to make ice
cream in the Persian desert by this method but it was the first time I had ever
observed it. Nature IS amazing!
It makes me realise that the urban myth of the man
freezing to death on the
20/12/11: Kim Jong WAS ill but is now WELL (and truly
dead!) -and good riddance. Maybe now the millions in
19/12/11: Rant of the day: why I hate 'renewables'.
This is the sacred cow which is destroying the earth and starving millions. It
must stop. First: alcohol and bio-diesel do not produce more energy than they
consume. Second; they do not save more CO2 than they produce. Third: they are
resulting in a huge deforestation and destruction of wiildlife worldwide for NO
net gain. Fourth: As for example 40% of the
19/12/11: A belated vale for Christopher Hitchens; we
can ill afford to lose such incisive thinkers. As an example of his work, try
'God is not Great' a classic denunciation of that dreadful blight, religion.
You can find a summary here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_Is_Not_Great
and you can look inside it here: http://www.amazon.com/God-Not-Great-Religion-Everything/dp/0446579807#reader_0446579807
19/12/11: Also lamenting the loss of great Czech
leader Vaclav Havel who did so much to peacefully destroy the tyranny of
communism (though there remains much work to be done - particularly in
18/12/11: Comet Lovejoy (love that name!) survives its
close encounter with the sun. Check out this awesome video of the sun. Wowee! http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=X2Yqp-veSpI
18/12/11: It is 'Save the Lawnmowers Day' here today
as I finish rebuilding our two ancient Greenfields. Then' let the 'War on
Grass' begin! I just love how I can buy every part of the Greenfields and their
Briggs and Stratton engines (likewise my Land Rovers) so that they are in
effect immortal - this is how things ought to be! I love simple technology you
can fix.
18/12/11: 'How Green Was My Valley' (1941). Am
I just getting old and sentimental or is this maybe the greatest film of all
time? I particularly like the strong female leads - anything really which puts
the lie to Germaine's attempted rewriting of history. Long before she thought
of it I grew up in a family surrounded by women who clearly had no idea they
were 'the second sex'.
17/12/11: Stayed up late last night to watch a rerun
of 'Wake in Fright' on ABC2. What a great film! How our culture has diminished
over 40 years. Where now is the iconic red-blooded, hard drinking, matey,
homophobic Oz male? I could't agree more with the film's theme: 'if you don't
like it John Grant, go shoot yourself'! Move over 'Red Dog!
17/12/11: The news is full this morning with the
plight of the endangered (Is there any other kind?) yellow bellied glider. I am
also concerned about the slippery pea fowl, the bloated rock gillard, Thomson's
slime mould, etc, etc...
17/12/11: Get out your winter woolies: This new paper
by eminent Norwegian scientists shows a .95 correlation between temperature and
solar behaviour. In comparison CO2 correlation has no skill. "We predict
an annual mean temperature decrease for
16/12/11: Ex Tim Blair: Surprise, suprise: The latest
graduate employment statistics:
Mining engineering graduates fared the best with 98.2
per cent employed by May …
So who’s doing the worst?
Visual and performing arts were the least successful
in gaining work within four months with just more than half, or 52.3 per cent,
in a job by May.
16/12/11: It IS the season to be joyful, but careful
where you light up that tree: http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/timblair/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/it_might_cause_gifts/
16/12/11: This is a follow-up to my post that Della
(indeed all women) should be kept well away from bananas and other elongated
vegetables. This book 'Be Bold With Bananas' rather proves the point I think: http://bookriot.com/2011/11/30/when-used-books-attack-banana-edition/
16/12/11: A harbinger of the coming
16/12/11: A recent article by Gina Rinehart (Oz's
richest woman) should make you realise both how wrong and how economically
wrong all this AGW stuff is: http://joannenova.com.au/2011/12/influential-people-are-getting-the-message-gina-rinehart-explains-the-science-of-climate-change/
16/12/11: I see the international carbon price has hit
a low of $8 today. This does not look like good news for Ju-liar's 'free
market' solution carbon tax @ $23 with a floor of $15!
15/12/11: More on whales: When we lived at Tarwin we
once hunted a house-sized dead whale on the shore of the inlet with hounds. We
put foxhounds and bloodhounds right INSIDE the whale and shot nearly twenty
foxes, some of which even came out the blowhole. Whether they were vixens
making the traditional cry, 'Thar she blows' accurate I don't remember. The
sound, sight and smell were amazing, especially the great booming voices of the
bloodhounds from deep inside the whale. Oh, for a camera back then. Skinning
foxes is noisesome enough at the best of times, but these foxes were really
rank. I then learned why a whaling station was known as a 'trying' works. Their
smell must have been unbelievable.
15/12/11: Other great inventions: the (1) Themarest
Neo air (regular 370g) shown made into a chair using the (2) Big Agnes Cyclone
Chair (150g) in the photo: 'Tyvek wigwam'! All that is needed to make this
scene perfect is Bacardi 151 (and Della, of course!)
15/12/11: The faux & real pack raft & the
Tyvek wigwam
15/12/11: There was a dead whale on the beach near
here recently which has given us quite an appetite for whale meat now
(delicious!) but it is SO hard for me to go out in my little pack raft with a
sharp stick to catch one (which I feel as an indigenous Australian -ie born
here - should be my right), so it is good news that scientists are now able to
grow meat in test tubes so that soon I will be able to enjoy guilt free koala,
panda, platypus, human etc with my Sav Blanc. Not that I suffer much more from
guilt than Cpt Ahab anyway... Cheers.
15/12/11: Steve Jones Bring it on! We once made
hamburgers out of garden worms (which were tasty) but they just do not compare
with afterbirth sausages, the only (currently) legal form of cannibalism, now
that the 'German solution' (aka Armin Meiwes) seems to be out - spoilsports!
15/12/11: Another great invention of the C21st (apart
from the faux packraft) is the truncated tetrahedron Tyvek 'wigwam' again more
or less a Jones original. This is just the best shelter/tent ever. Have now
spent SO many nights warm and dry in front of an open fire in this wonderful
shelter. Room for two and lots of gear to sleep, sit, stand (or for 4-5 to sit
and yarn) in front of a warm fire in the rain & can be easily built for
less than $50 and will weigh less than 1 kg, including groundsheet. It is
beautiful to boot and sounds great in the rain. 'The miracles of science'.
15/12/11: Further to my post about 'crepuscular
birdsong' we are able to report that birds are slowly returning to the
Wonnangatta (but it is - what? - four years since the fire/s and there are
still so few of them). My earlier observation that the fire selectively spared
birds which nested in hollow trees or river bank holes is I think confirmed -
to Della's delight there are lots of grey thrushes (or 'Cho Cho Wee' birds as
she prefers to call them).
15/12/11: Well, we have tried our faux packraft
against our Alpacka raft on a four hour Grade 2+ section of the Wonnangatta
River on an overnight trip (during which we saw 9 deer!) and apart from some
slight abrasion to the lamination of the poly tarp (nappy) the $40 raft stood
up splendidly. I found a 33 millimetre metric coarse nut which I was able to
cut thread with to extend and create a double paddle which also worked well.
The Gaffer tape held up, but I think tarp clips would work better. I can
definitely recommend this expedient as an intro to packrafting.
13/12/11: This is amazing, somewhat like the 'virgin
birth' I would have thought. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/court-sees-an-aborgine-with-white-parents/story-fn59niix-1226219436990
Matt Dennis The Court should have identified his
primary race/culture as "Complete Asshole". Why use race for personal
gain when you can just use a child!
13/12/11: And while on the topic of bushmen...Malcolm
Naden IS doing very well, isn't he? Michener or Mailer would make a blockbuster
out of his story: a modern-day rival for Jimmy Blacksmith, Jacky Jacky &
etc. Of course if the police were to get out of sight of their cars they would
be lost!
13/12/11: A friend thinks that reports of 'black
pumas' etc may well be 'thylaceo leo,' the marsupial lion (there being no large
black cats anywhere in the world only spotted ones) but this is a VERY long
bow, though it would be nice. In 50+ years in the bush I have never even seen a
large cat spoor (or fewmet) though I have seen several striped foxes and two
striped dingos (yes, black and gold) and curiously two giant echidnas (such as
they have in New Guinea - here in Southern Victoria) and one very strange
looking dog.
12/12/11: You CAN have beauty AND brains (though
unfortunately you can also have neither)! Interesting Bio of Hedy Lamarr 'the
most beautuful woman in the world' shows her role in developing eg the
technology behind the mobile phone: http://www.amazon.com/Hedys-Folly-Breakthrough-Inventions-Beautiful/dp/0385534388
12/12/11: Why Be Warm? Interesting article in NS
explains that at 37C very few fungi survive and that this survival feature may
have driven us to become hot-blooded. Certainly need a bit more warm weather
before we can stop spraying our tomatoes etc for fungi this year.
12/12/11: Crepuscular birdsong why? Interesting to see
this question answered in the latest New Scientist: it is because there is a
temperature inversion then and sounds transmit better. Hope to live long enough
to hear it again in our silent bushfire-ravaged forests.
12/12/11: Let's put off a decision for 10 years (or
more) at
11/12/11: I have just discovered that Thomas Crapper
did NOT invent the flush toilet (but did invent the ballcock and improve the
flush toilet - it appears to be still true that he has become 'eponymous' like
Lord Sandwich, Bessie Bloomer, Lord Cardigan & etc. This honour goes to Sir
John Harington in 1596, though I note the use of hydraulic processes to flush
human waste away as early as the 31st Century BC in the Orkneys - so not just
the birthplace of that wonderful poet George Mackay Brown: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flush_toilet
& http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/arts/writingscotland/writers/george_mackay_brown/quotes.shtml
11/12/11: Don't know whether 'You can't teach an old
dog new tricks,' but (probably due to the continuing wet weather) our two old
terriers have decided that they should dry their wet bellies etc on the
bathroom mats (much to Della's displeasure!). Not to be outdone, the very
ancient cat has worked out how to open the magnetic dog door from the outside.
It hooks its claws under the door and opens it outwards then slips quietly in!
11/12/11: Two amusing 'unintended consequences' of
green salvation: exploding windmills and exploding electic cars. How good can
it get? http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/12/08/windsplode-in-scotland/
& http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/12/09/volt-problems-may-have-been-deferred-by-nhtsa-to-protect-fragility-of-volt-sales-foia-demands-launched/
11/12/11: You should read Lord Monckton's post about
the doings in
10/12/11: For those who didn't read my previous post
in full, here are two of the madder decisions from
10/12/11: A thoughtful piece: the illegal immigrant
situation is certainly well and truly broken. Is it time we withdrew from this
outdated UN convention: http://www.menzieshouse.com.au/2011/12/it-starts-as-a-trickle-and-ends-up-in-a-flood.html
10/12/11: Unbelievable greenie gibberish from
10/12/11: 20 great green scares: http://www.ipa.org.au/publications/1964/a-history-of-scientific-alarms
10/12/11: Unless Chinese trees are different from
those studied by Briffa et al, these Chinese tree records completely destroy
the myth of global warming: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/12/07/in-china-there-are-no-hockey-sticks/
10/12/11: Supercentenarian Jeanne Calmert did even
better: 122 years and 164 days! Soon however everyone will live that long: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeanne_Calment
10/12/11: Well done Florence Green, the last surviving
World War 1 veteran: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_Green
9/12/11: I would vote for a constitutional amendment
to remove THIS phrase but NOT for the inclusion of some other power: Section
51(xxvi) of the Constitution is the "race power" that allows the
Commonwealth to legislate in regard to "any race for whom it is deemed necessary
to make special laws".
9/12/11: Further to 'interesting' murderers, don't
know whether you caught up with this: the 'new' body they found in Belnaglo
about a year ago, first announced to be a woman (GO NSW police) and now found
to be a man, was made so by a nephew of
9/12/11: guy has got it right. No more bananas or
cucumbers for Della. This old body just can't take any more. May become a
Moslem if this is how it's going to be: http://bikyamasr.com/50403/islamic-cleric-bans-women-from-touching-bananas-cucumbers-for-sexual-resemblance/
9/12/11: Have a look at who's at
9/12/11: Further to the origin of the Universe
thing...Here is Heraclitus c C5th BC: "(The Universe) did none of gods or men
make, but it always was and is and shall be: an everlasting fire, kindling in
measures and going out in measures." How right IS that?
9/12/11: GO Malcolm Naden! If a little thing like
three murders didn't stand in the way of Ned Kelly being a hero why should two
count against you? Six years on the run. Well done. And in traditional
bushranger country. Here is the heir of Ben Hall, Moonlight, Jimmy Blacksmith
etc. There is a blockbuster film in this. Come on Spielberg.
9/12/11: The problem I see with the theory of the
'multiverse' is that surely it would only be a PART of the universe - else what
does 'universe' mean?
8/12/11: Am trying Ainsley Harriott's Southern Cajun
Gumbo Cup of Soup for breakfast. Yum! Some people ask what food I take hiking.
This is too hard a question for ONE post but here's a tip which also works well
for a snack or lunch. Combine a sachet of 2 minute noodles sans flavour sachet
witha cup of soup. My favourite is Continental Asian Laksa
8/12/11: Small things DO make a difference. Yesterday's
triumphs: Stemetil Yay! Am feeling MUCH better now. Then received some 8mm
domes for my hearing aids which are so much more comfortable and work so much
better than the 10mm ones prescribed by the crooked, cruel audiologists. Life
is SO much better since I became my own audiologist.
8/12/11: THIS was Gillard's 'take' on 'gay rights' way
back when. Add this to her long litany of lies. Then think about the Kernohan
Stat Dec which she has Draconianly suppressed which showed her being involved
in a million dollar fraud: 'Not fit to shovel shit upon a
8/12/11: I get a sponsored ad this morning that
states, 'I'd rather be hiking'. You betcha!
8/12/11: Police are busy this morning hunting '
7/12/11: New Scientist editorials are usually greenie gibberish
(a tautology?) but the current one is a blast! First the faster than light
neutrino (confirmed); second the surprising finding that mesons decay faster
than anti-mesons (the God squad will be onto this one double quick!) and third:
impending experimental evidence of the multiverse. Mind blowing! http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21228403.200-neutrinos-and-multiverses-a-new-cosmology-beckons.html
7/12/11: I am sure the meson thing is just because we
live in a universe where this happens. No-one probably lives in the other type
of universe, so it is NOT a matter of intelligent design, OK?
7/12/11: Steve Jones Sorry I have that the wrong way
round: if mesons decayed faster than anti-mesons we wouldn't be here.
7/12/11: Science fiction becoming science fact:
scientists have worked out how to put electronic displays in contact lenses: http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/onepercent/2011/11/electronic-contact-lens-displa.html
7/12/11: Steve Jones I am hoping they will also work
out soon how to cure Della's glaucoma: I have been harassing the specialist on
this issue truth be told!
7/12/11: Here are some interesting photos of
submarines at the North Pole at various times. Unfortunately there are no
photos from the 1920's when the pole was often ice free, and of course none
from the period before the Industrial Revolution (strangely enough!) Still, you
can let go that weird idea that the world is wildly warming... http://www.john-daly.com/polar/arctic.htm
7/12/11: There is a 'new' tomato called a 'kumato' apparently
originally from the
7/12/11: Many pictures of 'Walmartians' are doing the
rounds (Google it) - my personal favourite is the woman who tucks her boobs
into the tops of her trousers! Whenever Della and I visit our local shopping
centre (Midvalley, Morwell) we often ask each other, 'Is it Ugy. Fat Stupid Day
here?' - and all that eating done on the public purse! How could you expect
such people to work! Perhaps the public purse is overly large too. How easy it
is to boil a frog! Did you know as recently as during the American War of
Independence even armies were funded by private citizens.
7/12/11: Both sides of politics here have a rather
naive faith in being saved by
7/12/11: Cooking oil fire: really important lesson.
Who would have thought it could so easily be turned into something like a
nuclear explosion? Only 34 seconds, please watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZGzbd0IvUE
7/12/11: The unbalanced Dr Meniere is back to trouble
me again this morning after an absence of two years. I remember being puzzled
when my father explained that saying drunks were going home 'by rail' did not
mean them catching the train, but clutching the fence rail to maintain their
balance. I do not enjoy that method of locomotion, nor the nausea which goes
with it. Hopefully he will return to his home in
7/12/11: Thank goodness for 'Stemetil' which has made
me feel at least half human (many will think that's about as good as it gets)
and at least prevented upchucking. And I DO mean 'goodness' for it is human
goodness which has created this drug and ...See More
7/12/11: On this morning's news: The language of
freedom's thieves: "The Government will close a loophole which
allows"...In this case having a drink whilst driving even though every car
comes with ready-made drink holders (those of us who drive older cars have
always had to provide our own). This confiscation of our liberties happens
several times a year now. I urge you to protest at least THIS one...The Crown
usurped this 'right' to make laws many centuries ago just as it STOLE the publc
lands in the C12th making them 'Crown' lands and thereby forbidding the public
to be on them without permission, to gather wood or food, camp, fish, hunt etc.
7/12/11: Most awesome video. Some people ARe just mad:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEu42L0ufBY&feature=player_embedded
6/12/11: Best gadget we have bought in the last year a
5" Bebook reader but you can now get the new Sony 6" model for about
the same weight @ 160g but it won't fit in your shirt pocket. It does not
require you to pirate books but it sure makes reading a lot cheaper if you do.
Best App: utorrent.
6/12/11: Global warming may have stopped for the next
50 years: http://www.scmp.com/portal/site/SCMP/menuitem.2af62ecb329d3d7733492d9253a0a0a0/?vgnextoid=8ef931369d404310VgnVCM100000360a0a0aRCRD&ss=china&s=news
4/12/11: Re-reading Robert Heinlein. Liked him as a
boy and still like him as an old man - likewise Peter S Beagle.
4/12/11: Interesting comment by former Labor Minister
Gary Johns in the Australian 24/11:
"Sorry, but someone has to call it as it is. The
way home for Aborigines is simple; it is the same journey that every professor
of indigenous studies has made but is too curmudgeonly to admit.
Get an education and make your own way in the world,
just like every other citizen. Welcome to our world".
4/12/11: The 'Arab Spring' is rapidly turning into a
'winter of discontent', first in
4/12/11: A really thoughtful (if long-winded) piece by
Professor Robert G. Brown of
4/12/11: Chinese imports vs quality products: You can
buy ANY part from even the oldest Greenfield Mower (or Land Rover car) and
every Briggs and Stratton engine - and the people who make and sell them
operate under civilised wage rates and conditions. And consider this for
'environmental sustainability' 90% of every Land Rover ever built are still
being driven. I am really annoyed that Blundstone, Holeproof etc etc have moved
to
3/12/11: 1/3 of the population on welfare now! Of
course some of this is caused by successive Governments allowing cheap imports
and increased debt to squeaze out local jobs. I look at the price of an Oz
Greenfield (better) mower versus an import. Nowhere in the cost of the cheaper
and worse import is the figure for the increased debt and unemployment which went
to make it cheaper, nor the slave labour wages paid in the source country.
3/12/11: I predict that the cost of the welfare system
will within a generation lead to the end of democracy in Australia, either
because we run out of people willing to placidly 'pay the piper' or because
there is so litttle money left to fund Defence that we will be a walkover to
those who see our wealth as a bauble worth risking all for.
3/12/11: The tax system IS disgusting. On the one hand
the indirect tax system taxes the poorest at the highest rate through the GST
and excise for example. On the other hand it is NOT a good idea that the
poorest pay NO tax. Everyone is entitled to feel that they contributed to
society. It is only appropriate that those who have benefitted most from
society pay proportionately more. For the recipients of Government largesse to
pay nothing reduces them to the status of beggars.
3/12/11: Seems like those who last wanted 'marriage
equality' and those who want it now and who are recipients of Government
largesse might like to declare their relationship status to Centrelink! Not
many have, though they clamor loudly for 'bread and circuses'.
3/12/11: The trouble with 'Equality' is there is never
an equality between who pays and who benefits. The benefit ALWAYS flows from
the hard-working and productive to the 'magic pudding' brigade. To mix some
metaphors: it is wonderful to be able to vote for 'bread and circuses' but
someone must 'pay the piper' and this won't happen if you 'kill the goose who
laid the golden egg' because you want Kentucky Fried Goose.
3/12/11: Another broken promise: 'There will be no
change to the Marriage Act under a Government I lead'!
3/12/11: It is the subversion of 'representative democracy'
by political parties (particularly Labor) who lock the elected representatives
into voting the Party line instead of voting as their electorate would wish
that is the main problem - and the...See More
3/12/11: Heavens: The Guardian‘s Andrew Brown:
'Turning off lightbulbs is important. To turn off the light when you leave a
room is an act of piety just as much as lighting a candle in church. It has no
measurable effect on the crisis at all in itself. It doesn’t even have a
notable effect on your own electricity bill, and if it ever does, the world
economy will be in a dreadful mess. But it is a token of seriousness. It is, if
you like, a gesture of faith'.
3/12/11: Paul Kelly: 'Eurozone unemployment is 10.3
per cent and rising. In
2/12/11: This blight recalls the great C18th US
chestnut blight which erased the Eastern forests, and may be a harbinger:
Someone has imported a deadly Myrtle disease which is spreading. You may know
that Aboriginal mismanagement created a forest which is now 98% Myrtaceia. We
must urgently plant anything else everywhere or we will have a vast ecological
disaster. The koalas of which we have many here, are clearly doomed.
2/12/11: 'The Great Dying of the Trees'. Here
in Gippsland 000's of kilometres of (especially) cypress hedges (many a century
old) are dying almost as rapidly as wildfire. It is a great tragedy for the
many small critters who will miss a home. Alas, many will not be replaced
either. We had a quote recently to remove and burn two dozen @ $13K! Wet feet
or a disease? Im not sure. Seems to be spreading to other trees too.
2/12/11: Further to the great deepfried Elton John
marriage equality with ducks saga: a solicitor friend once defended a client
who had sex with his own poultry in the main street of Cessnock. ("Unfit
to plead Your Honour"). He indignantly insisted that it was a hen ('Do you
think I'm queer?'). How times change. Soon such things will be compulsory! I
recall that the same client was frequently nabbed for public sex with his
delightfully named girlfriend, 'Suitcase'. What a town!
2/12/11: My sponsored girlfriend ad has now been
joined by an ad asking 'Do you love beagles?' This is more than somewhat
confusing. I DO actually LIKE beagles but not in that way. Nor do I advocate
'marriage equality' between beagles and humans. I do not agree with Leviticus
that the ass who sleeps with a man (being the innocent party) should be put to
death either. Nor do I think necessarily that we should return to the Tudor
punishment for homosexuality (ie boiling in oil!) though there are cases where
it has something to recommend it, eg I do not like Elton John...
2/12/11: Does Elton John also have sex with ducks? How
unsanitary! i hope the ducks consent. Still, this has to stop. Get the pot on
the fire. Here we go. Fried Elton. Sorry, boiled John.
2/12/11: I'm going to buy five of these and save 100%
on fuel for my car. GO Green! http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=O8BA1y3ChAs
2/12/11: Second thoughts: I may buy a hundred of them
and save so much I can sell fuel to my friends!
2/12/11: I begin to think Rossi's ECat device will
prove something similar!
1/12/11: My CMC demo account is now up 10% in a week.
If only I had borrowed a million dollars this time last week, but then no
doublt it would have gone down 20% or I might have commtted suicide when it was
down 5% last Friday...Easy come, easy...
1/12/11: I have posted my idea about the home made
packraft ( and some of my other adventures) here: http://packrafting.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=1767
1/12/11: Try packrafting on the cheap. Instead of $800
try buying eg an Intex from Clark Rubber for $40. You reinforce the
floor/outside tubes with several poly tarps. These can be taped with
Polyethylene tape used for greenhouses or Norton Gaffer may work. The oars
which come with it can be made into a double paddle whose length can be
increased by cutting a thread on one end with a metal pipe fitting.
1/12/11: Not as bad as the exploding kids of 10:10,
but very troubling nonetheless. These issues are best left to adults to worry
about whilst kids can just get on with enjoying being kids. Whatever happened
to an untroubled childhood? http://www.wherewillsantalive.ca/
1/12/11: The US stockmarket did something very
interesting overnight and I awoke to see that the CMC demo account I started
last Thursday (which was down 5% on Friday) is now UP 6%. If only it was real
money! Last few years we weren't making 6% pa out of farming even after working
7 days a week!
1/12/11: While I was typing the last post I glanced
across and noticed Facebook had chosen a Sponsored Ad which said 'Meet Your
Girlfriend' and that it had a rather blurry photo of Della as a 17 year old -
how DID they know?
1/12/11: Della Jones Pretty sure I don't want to see
that picture. It's like being told you remind people of someone else...somehow
it is confronting to realise that your own image of self bears no comparison to
the way others see you...
1/12/11: My little sponsored lover seems to have gone
now, replaced by ads for anti wrinkle cream and devices to promote prostate
health etc as usual. However she WAS pretty hot, and so are you!
1/12/11: As we approach Della's birthday on Sunday I
reflect that we have now been together for 40 wonderful years, though it seems
like no time at all. I look forward to every new day with her. Thank you Della.
29/11/11: An update on the stockmarket 'game'. Though
I was down 5% on Friday, I find I am up 2% this morning as the Oz market
opened. Don't know how I will cope with the stress of these swings when we are
playing with real money when the farm finally settles...Recommend a CMC Demo
account for learning about such things though.
29/11/11: The 'serendipity' lawnmower requires a bit
of work but should be mowing by the end of the day. Found you can buy a brand
new Briggs and Stratton 15.5hp engine on eBay for $850 or a clone for about
$450 so can't eally understand why people are throwing away their old owers and
buying new ones for $6,000!
29/11/11: Found some photos yesterday of my great aunt
(my father's father's sister) who died the year I was born. Previously I had
found a photo of her mother on an old glass plate negative. Both gave ample
evidence of where the Jones good looks came from!
26/11/11: This is a really neat boat: a kayak made
from willow and poly tarp: http://www.shelter-systems.com/kayak.html
27/11/11: I am thinking one might be able to make this
or a coracle with withes (other than willow) a tarp and some cable ties which I
could leave in a drum at one of my hunting camps upriver so that I could float
downstream if I wanted/needed to. Ju...See More
26/11/11: Fortunately this is PRETEND money but I have
been playing a simulation of share trading with CMC markets as a sort of
practice for when we have some real money when the farm actually setlles as we
will have to do something to make an income. Obviously I picked a bad time to
invest as I am down about 5% in the last week. Sometime soon the market is
bound to hit bottom and then should be a good time to invest...
26/11/11: Serendipity (the old name for
25/11/11: Further to my John L Daly link. The 1841 sea
level mark was likely made by one of Della (nee Crozier) Jones's ancestors: Cpt
Crozier of the 'Erebus' who named and sailed the Ross sea (still a very
difficult feat) & is commemorated in
The 1841 sea level benchmark (centre) on the `Isle of
the Dead',
25/11/11: This graph IS amazing given the 'consensus' on
salt intake. Who would have thought that the current recommendation of
1500mg/day is as bad for you as 8000 and that the 'safest' level is 4-500! Feel
free to sprinkle a little on your hot chips. Enjoy! http://junkscience.com/2011/11/22/food-nannies-killer-salt-recommendation/
25/11/11: Sad news that Zbigniew Jaworowski has died.
There is an excellent interview with him here: http://www.21stcenturysciencetech.com/Articles_2010/Jaworowski_interview.pdf
24/11/11: I was really pleased to see this wonderful posthumous
email from Oz's late John L Daly on why tree ring data is bosh. (http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/11/23/john-l-dalys-message-to-mike-mann-and-the-team/)
If you go to John's site you will see the famous photo from the Isle of the
Dead showing that sea level rise is bunk too. Why can't the bad die young? http://www.john-daly.com/
24/11/11: Is the Climategate hacker hiding the
remaining 220,000 emails behind a password in order to spook 'the group' into
fessing up, resigning, bolting? It's all over fellas! Forget AGW, carbon
trading, fat cheques for telling lies etc. The world is NOT playing your
game...
23/11/11: Climategate #2: possible even worse than the
first one! Meanwhile...Japan,
19/11/11: 'Itsy-bitsy' guy dies twice. We have
had a chook and a lamb over the years who both did this too. When it happens to
a man it often leads to centuries of religious violence - even though Jesus is
buried in
18/11/11: You could imagine Della and I doing this
Grade 5 water in our Alpacka raft but the truth is water a little more gentle
than this. Don't try this sort of thing in any other brand of pack raft though:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pvMIXSTnNY&feature=player_embedded
19/11/11: We have the 'Fiord Explorer' which is a bit
heavy but takes two. I took it down the
19/11/11: Anthony Watts says this graph changed him
from being a believer to a sceptic. I can see why. It is very hard to believe
CO2 would be warming some counties differently. The urban heat island is
another matter. Imagine: that is ALL this whole thing is about: http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/goodridge_1996_ca-uhi_county.jpg
19/11/11: A foreshortened trip up the Wonnangatta with
Della who developed a bad chest infection. Fortunately I had brought along the
'Alpacka' raft so we 'enjoyed' a rather bumpy and crowded ride downriver to our
car. Saw nine deer in the four hours walking in. We were to go another six
hours up river, so we will be back. http://www.alpackaraft.com/
19/11/11: Not yet time to trade her in though. We'll
try again. I have this really lovely campsite about six hours walk (for me)
from my car which I really want her to spend a few days at (thought it would be
this trip - followed by a relaxing raft d...See More
18/11/11: There really IS a see through toaster. Get
one for your love for Xmas (approx A$395!) http://www.magimix.com.au/kettlestoasters.php
15/11/11: An interesting post. Hadn't considered CO2
can't go over 522ppm because of its interaction with the oceans no matter what.
If so the resulting temperature increase can't be more than 1C ever as we have
already had about 40% of that doubling which only produced at most .5C? Nothing
to worry about. Move
on...http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/11/13/the-fate-of-all-carbon/
13/11/11: While I was over at the Coyote's blog I
admired this petition and wondered could we get one similar gong for our trendy
Ranga masters and mistresses here: https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petitions#!/petition/we-demand-vapid-condescending-meaningless-politically-safe-response-petition/gCZfn86x
13/11/11: Personally I like Sarah Palin for President.
This speech was a beauty: http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2011/11/crony-capitalism.html
13/11/11: I liked this cool gadget: http://www.coated.com/helmet-hummingbird-feeder/
& wonder whether it comes with an adapter kit to watch blowflies!. This may
also be useful: http://www.reevoo.com/decidewhattobuy/2009/11/gadget-watch-transparent-toaster/
13/11/11: Can't believe we didn't finish shearing
until 10:35pm last night. With less than 200 sheep now (and falling!) at least
it was only one day, but can't believe the shearer didn't arrive until 3:00pm.
Back to the pesky thistles today.
13/11/11: Oh No! It has begun raining and I must sadly
abandon spraying thistles. What will I do?
13/11/11: Noisy dickhead: http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/13958630
10/11/11: Weird stuff: celeb cook Stephanie Alexander
reckoned in yesterday's Herald Sun families shoud aim to eat together once a
week! That's right . Surely there is something seriously wrong if you don't
share a meal with your family at least once a day! This society is sure
spiralling downhill.
9/11/11: Wow! Take a look at these other pix from JPL.
Mind blowing: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/
9/11/11: Enough to make one a nimby ( = 'not in my
back yard'). So glad this mother missed: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/video/index.cfm?id=1032
9/11/11: A new book by Michael Crichton. Who would
have thought? This man is spectacularly productive even when dead: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0053JJLLC/ref=pe_174190_21715130_nrn_title
9/11/11: This may seem a very unusual recommendation
from an atheist but this programme was actually very interesting. 'Know thy
enemy' anyway even if not 'Love thy enemy'! Expires in five days: http://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/video/2164354598/The-Bible-A-History-Ep-1-Creation
9/11/11: I think this Finklestein media enquiry is
just about the most evil and ominous thing that has ever happened in this
country (worse even than the carbon tax!). Will I soon have to seek a permt to
have or express an opinion? I have already been disallowed a comment on a blog
because of the Moderator's fear of prosecution (post Bolt) yet I was saying
nothing which wouldn't be a majority view! Soon we will have to be very careful
what we say here.
9/11/11: Another 3 hour stint yesterday at the
dentist. I am rapidly becoming a cyborg - I have so many new artificial tooth
bits. My teeth just keep breaking - the joys of getting older!
7/11/11: Chop lots of firewood. Next year looks to be
the coldest in a century: http://joannenova.com.au/2011/10/a-monster-la-nina-in-the-making/
I found these four essays by Martin Durkin eminently
readable and entertaining. I especially liked his defence of suburbia, his
take-down of nimbyism and his expose of the anti-capitalist hysteria of the
'intelligentsia' - and why it exists. Enjoy. http://www.martindurkin.com/
Hit (and killed) yet another magpie. I hate that as I
really like magpies. What are they doing on the road anyway - other than
cleaning up the remains of earlier magpies? Or is it like whale strandings?
Strange behaviour for supposedly brainy fishy folks! Does anyone know whether
the ultrasonic alarm things will frighten them or other critters off the road
or is it just another scam like frightening tigers away from where there aren't
tigers?
What is it with bikers.? They are amazing connoiseurs.
I pass oodles of them standing around in fast-food carparks admiring each
other's bikes. I look and see: just bikes. I can see they must spend more time
polishing all that chrome than riding the bikes. Perhaps they should spend some
time cleaning the wife's stove, BUT do they have wives? Or they could spend
some time washing their hair...
The sexier side of the Occupy movement. I wonder are
chicks 1 & 3 time travellers? http://hotchicksofoccupywallstreet.tumblr.com/
This is the Bureau of Met's records for our oldest
continuous remote station in
Another interesting 'hockey stick' style fudge: The
last 95 years of ice cores show much the same level of CO2 as is found in the
atmosphere today - and so are discarded as unreliable. But we should believe
the levels in the 'older' ice cores! What? If there has been no appreciable
change in CO2 how can it have caused any climate change? But more imporantly
why are we having a carbon tax to control it?
This is the satellite record of temperature change
since 1979. As you can see the temperature today is 1/10th of a degree warmer
than the average. The highest it has been was 3/4 a degree warmer and the
lowest 2/3 a degree colder. This is hardly runaway global warming: http://www.drroyspencer.com/wp-content/uploads/UAH_LT_1979_thru_October_2011.png
An important point ( and I LOVE my SUV): http://www.forbes.com/sites/warrenmeyer/2011/10/20/update-fisker-karma-electric-car-gets-worse-mileage-than-an-suv/
Message from the Wife of an Oil Rig Worker; how true: http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/archives/018232.htm
The Occupy Movement? "See if you can spot the
disparity between this young woman’s chosen visual image and her desired
profession": http://pjmedia.com/eddriscoll/2011/11/01/time-stands-still/
Unbelievable: "An able-bodied man paid by the
government of the United States to lie in a giant crib, wetting his diaper week
in week out, is almost too poignant an emblem of the republic at twilight...At
a million-dollar San Francisco fundraiser today, President Obama warned his
recession-battered supporters that if he loses the 2012 election it could
herald a new, painful era of self-reliance in America." http://www.ocregister.com/opinion/awareness-324288-day-giant.html
"It's hard to see what (
A great talk by Matt Ridley. A must read if you want
to understand the nature of this ominous scam: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/11/01/thank-you-matt-ridley/#more-50468
If you are deaf like me you might like to buy your new
Siemens hearing aids for US$3200/pr instead of A$11K. I bought a tuning device
and programme for US$700 and now hear better than I ever have. Can't believe
how much of a rip-off Oz audiologists are. Try: http://www.thehearingcompany.com/
Watched 'Dune' again last night. Still a great movie
but has been mucked about by adding in a weird cartoon section at the beginning
and they have left out the very disturbing Harkonnen heart plug scenes.
Apparently these are no longer available anywhere. Such censorship challenges
one's very memory of reality.
It's not just the temperature records which have been
'fudged' to 'prove' global warming, but the CO2 records too. CO2 has been
higher than it is at present several times durong the last 200 years including
once during my lifetime. More info and links here: http://www.warwickhughes.com/icecore/
Problem is the 'Fair Work Act' a poor substitute for
'Work Choices'. What alternative did Joyce have: let Qantas go broke by caving
in to union dinosaur claims and tactics? Union action was costing the company
more than $15 million per day!
"News (Murdoch)... publishes 32 per cent
of all Australia’s newspapers...News’s share of circulation - as distinct from
ownership - is 68 per cent in the capital cities and 77 per cent of the Sunday
market. There is a very simple way for Fairfax (or the ABC!)...to cut News
Ltd’s share of the circulation. It is to offer papers that more readers want to
buy" - Bolt. Fair point. But Brown & Gillard want CONTROL! Ominous.
More time travellers:
1905:http://www.everseradio.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Mohawk-Time-Traveler.jpg,
1863: http://www.everseradio.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/basiago_at_gettysburg_nov_1918633.jpg,
C19th John Travolta: http://www.rte.ie/ten/2011/1030/travoltajo.html.
I have met many time travellers from the past eg those clearly from the 1950's,
1970's hippies & etc. It must be real!
Time travellers caught on film? Why can we only
remember the past? Here: http://www.howtobearetronaut.com/2010/10/time-traveler-in-1928-chaplin-film/
and Here: http://www.howtobearetronaut.com/2010/04/photograph-of-a-time-traveler/
YOU be the judge...
T.B. Macaulay (1800-59): "We cannot absolutely
prove that those are in error who tell us that society has reached a turning
point, that we have seen our best days. But so said all before us, and with
just as much apparent reason ... On what principle is it that, when we see
nothing but improvement behind us, we are to expect nothing but deterioration
before us"
If I ever said, "There ain't no justice'
('Tanj!), I was wrong, and THIS is it: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/10/30/record-snowfall-for-climate-action-day-in-new-york/#more-50334
Maybe you are thinking of an interesting Xmas pesent
for your beloved. Maybe consider a Browning Lever Action ('BLR Lightning')
rifle in 'take-down' format (ie it splits into halves to stow in your pack).
Della bought me one for my 60th. Perhaps I should have got it in Winchester
Magnum instead of .308 but I AM very happy with it.
One problem with the BEST data was how it ignored the
last ten years as you can see here: http://www.drroyspencer.com/wp-content/uploads/UAH_LT_1979_thru_September_2011.png
and as Judith Curry says here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2055191/Scientists-said-climate-change-sceptics-proved-wrong-accused-hiding-truth-colleague.html
The other problem though is it shows just the same warming in the 19thC without
CO2 as it does in the 20thC!
Fix a boat problem? Fix a live export problem? Fix a
problem with
My tiny beloved will be home any minute from her
trying crafty weekend & I must make her an amazing mushroom and lamb
ragout. She can have the leftover Red Thai Curry chicken (with lots of water
chestnuts!) I made for tea last night for lunch tomorrow. How lucky can you
get?
Steve Jones Unfortunately turns out she doesn't much
like the red wine sauce flavour, though I did. Leftovers anyone? Perhaps I will
try her on my famous Prawn Laksa tonight?
Della Jones It was good, only the sauce wasn't to my
taste! Can't wait for prawn laksa though - love it!
Steve Jones She obviously REALLY like the Laksa
though. She has since had it for leftovers twice!
Great one Bunnings who have these great flat-pack
shelving units (3'x6'x18") which take ten 50 litre lidded boxes for $89ea.
We are finally tidying up our house/garage/sheds etc and may be able to find
things eventually - or at least before the huge heaps of junk cascade down and
crush us!
You can read the full text of Archbishop Pell's
interesting lecture on 'climate change' here. It is more than worth a read: http://thegwpf.org/images/stories/gwpf-reports/pell-2011_annual_gwpf_lecture.pdf
Cold Fusion #2: If this is NOT a scam, it is probably
the biggest news on the energy front EVER: http://www.e-catworld.com/what-is-the-e-cat/
& http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/10/28/test-of-rossis-1-mw-e-cat-fusion-system-apparently-successful/
Too hard basket? http://flowingdata.com/2011/10/28/best-statistics-question-ever/
Amazing photos of nuclear bombs being detonated.
Awesomely beautiful horror. Thousands were let off, yet we survived (so far!): http://www.howtobearetronaut.com/2011/05/nuclear-bomb-tests/
Check out the 1920's wristwatch GPS and many other
neat things at: http://www.howtobearetronaut.com/2011/10/plus-fours-routefinder-1920s/
Another 35mm of rain overnight! After @ 14 years of
drought Gippsland has certainly relearned how to rain THIS year.
People should reject all the hype implicit in the
Hubbert Peak Theory under whatever guise and maybe take some heed from Julian
Simon as eg @: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/5.02/ffsimon_pr.html
I see that GG are going to be offering the Murmur in
Dyneema in a couple of months @ 12 ounces. This might be well worth holding out
for if you are contemplating a tough lightweight pack for Xmas/New Year: http://gossamergear.com/packs/murmur-hyperlight-backpack.html
I enjoyed this girl's blog - the lateral thinking
involved in THIS post will save me at least 3 grams! Wow! However it is still a
useful example of how collective intelligence continues to make the world a
better place. The Super Cat stove pictured I have already commented on and
continue to recommend.
Cardinal Pell's observations about AGW. Though I am
not a Christian I long ago appreciated his identification of the anti-human
nature of the Green faith as HERESY: many of these folks would see billions
dead to 'save' the planet (from imaginary dangers!): http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/opinion/be-prudent-with-climate-claims/story-e6frgd0x-1226177730473
Went to
Astonishing? "By 2001...a chicken reached the
weight at which it would be killed in one-third of the time and after eating one-third
of the food compared with the 1957 breed...represents...reduction in waste and
in the..land devoted to growing feed per chicken" http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/genetics-bigger-chickens
This is a VERY important book. eg: It observes
"journalists are very different from the rest of us—they are more liberal
(Left)...according to surveys, in a typical presidential election, Washington
correspondents vote about 93-7 for the Democrat, while the rest of us vote
about 50-50 for the two candidates" & "if media bias didn't exist
then John McCain would have defeated Barack Obama 56-42 instead of losing
53-46" http://www.amazon.com/dp/0312555938/?tag=powlin-20#reader_0312555938
BEST: If rural and remote sites show cooling it is
pretty certain the world HAS cooled. The Climategate team are still at it at
'The Scam from Snowy River' - this is a very
thoughtful piece and goes to show what liars and economic illiterates Greens
are: http://www.quadrant.org.au/blogs/doomed-planet/2011/10/the-scam-from-snowy-river
As I have observed before, Donna Laframboise IS
fabulous. If you can't afford the $5 at least read the bit that's posted here.
You may never have read something this important: http://www.amazon.com/Delinquent-Teenager-Mistaken-Climate-ebook/dp/B005UEVB8Q/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1318551567&sr=8-4#reader_B005UEVB8Q
The Delinquent Teenager Who Was Mistaken for the World's Top Climate Expert www.amazon.com
"Blooming brilliant. Devastating" -
Matt Ridley, author of The Rational Optimist "...shines a hard light on
the rotten heart of the IPCC" - Richard Tol, Professor of the Economics of
Climate Change and convening lead author of the IPCC "...you need t...
One more fascinating weirdo bites the dust. When WILL
it be Ju-liar's turn? At least he died with a golden gun in his hand. What
style! Also liked his final words, "What DO you want?" Cheerio
Muammar: http://www.youtube.com/verify_controversy?next_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DjNmzB6o2rRQ%26feature%3Dplayer_embedded
Muammar Gaddafi dead www.youtube.com
Della Jones I loved the golden gun touch - can see
that catching on!
I favour Craig Thomson myself. They probably CAN get worse!
p://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/timblair/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/rudd_the_irreversible/
http://bunyipitude.blogspot.com/2011/10/also-weddings-and-bar-mitzvahs.html Bunyipitude: ....Also Weddings And
Bar Mitzvahs bunyipitude.blogspot.com
I reckon these aboriginal smoking services and dancing
routines need to be expanded - like the use of nulla-nullas in parliamentary
question time to settle disputes. Regarding the fees structure for experienced
and non experienced native dancers, Professor how will I be able to spot the
difference? ...
Had a fun trip to the
In the context of the Bolt case, these articles are
really worth a read. I was particularly interested to learn about the origins
of Daisy Corunna, Sally Morgan's grandmother most likely a Melanesian woman
from her photograph. Also how VERY few people could possibly BE 'stolen
generation': https://www.quadrant.org.au/blogs/history-wars/2010/05/pocket-windschuttle-goes-viral
May have read everything you ever wanted about RF
Scott but this article WAS interesting. Just the contrast between how Amundsen
was enjoying himself whilst Scott was killing himself and his men...Wow! http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21128320.200-scotts-biographer-british-polar-hero-was-incompetent.html?page=2
These are the sorts of places we will have to buy our
carbon permits from. Great to be 'saving the world' and murdering people in the
3rd world: http://joannenova.com.au/2011/10/map-the-climate-change-scare-machine-the-perpetual-self-feeding-cycle-of-alarm/
Add this item to the discovery that Mars, Jupiter etc
have been experiencing 'global warming'. Presumably the output from all those
fridges to keep beer cool in temperatures hot enough to melt lead are dooming
the Venusians to melanoma etc too: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/10/07/ozone-layer-discovered-on-venus/#more-48799
This looks like a promising technology. A few shares
in this start-up might be a good idea: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/10/07/turning-co2-into-fuel/#more-48805
The 'science (really) IS settled': Anthony Watts just
managed to sign his DOG up as ONE: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/10/07/friday-funny-the-newest-member-of-the-union-of-concerned-scientists/
Red Dog: "It’s adorable: you’ll laugh, you’ll
cry, you’ll vote Liberal in the next election. It’s what Red Dog would have
wanted …" Go see it, it's great: http://www.quadrant.org.au/blogs/qed/2011/08/red-dog
"Crossing the floor is the stuff of which
parliamentary heroes are made," Fred Chaney (1994) & is what we MUST
have to stop the carbon tax, but it is a BIG IF (nonetheless I have written to
every Labor MP about just that several times. Suggest you do so too before it
is too late): http://www.quadrant.org.au/blogs/qed/2011/09/crossing-the-floor
Good dog, Sarbi. Welcome home & enjoy your
retirement. Well deserved: http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/mirandadevine/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/sarbis_saga_is_a_barking_good_read/
Some very interesting thoughts on those who chose
their aboriginal identity. Some of these folks are obviously misappropriating
funds intended for others. I would rather see 'benefits' allocated according to
need rather than 'race'. Two follow-up links are interesting too: http://www.quadrant.org.au/blogs/qed/2011/10/the-question-of-aboriginality:
Donna Laframboise is ONE clever woman. I think she
will bring the whole IPCC crashing down - and a good thing too! http://nofrakkingconsensus.com/
Like · · October 5, 2011 at 7:12pm
Steve Jones
This looks like a very useful and durable light pack.
A bit of closed cell foam (eg Gossamer Gear's Sitlight pad) and maybe a Big
Agnes Cyclone chair as a frame and you are away. 15 ounces (430 grams) is
pretty good! Would work as carry on luggage too: http://www.sixmoondesigns.com/packs/Swift.html
Note to Ted & ...It does not surprise me that
private operators can better manage public assets. Big bucks to be saved here
and we can get rid of some self-opinionated bossy-boots as well: http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2011/09/2011-conference-on-private-management-of-public-parks.html
Anwar al-Awlaki was probably NOT a nce man but this
new policy of political assassinations rather than capture and trial is
disquieting to say the least: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/al-qaeda/8800346/Anwar-al-Awlaki-Drone-kills-US-born-preacher-who-inspired-lone-wolf-terrorists.html
This is THE most important consideration when
considering a carbon tax: the effect of CO2 (if any) is too miniscule to worry
about: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/10/04/the-1-solution/#more-48667
"For...ten years, false
doctrines...nurtured the illusions of the working classes. They are...convinced
that the state is obliged to provide bread, work, and education to all.
The...government has...promise(d) to do so; it will...be obliged to increase
taxes...to keep this promise, and in spite of this it will not keep it...How
much disillusionment is in store...It would have been so simple and so just to
ease their burden by decreasing taxes...they cannot see that (it) consists in
taking away ten to give back eight, not to mention the true freedom that will
be destroyed". Bastiat 1848
It is just bullshit. Most of Bolt's accusers are blue
eyed like me and I do not claim that 12.5% Aboriginal ancestry makes me an
Aboriginal and neither should they. Help should go to people because of their
circumstances not because of their race/religion etc. Some of his accusers are
obviously fakes. Some 'aboriginals' are gaining benefits based on a supposed
1/64th Aboriginality!
If the 'science was settled' Gore and others would not
have to fake it as occurred here: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/09/28/video-analysis-and-scene-replication-suggests-that-al-gores-climate-reality-project-fabricated-their-climate-101-video-simple-experiment/#more-47926
The IPCC is not trustworthy and acts mainly to
advocate the 'religion' of green groups such as Greenpeace and the World
Wildlife Fund whom many of us were gulled into supporting in the past before we
learned just how evil they were: http://nofrakkingconsensus.com/2011/09/23/how-the-wwf-infiltrated-the-ipcc-–-part-1/
Though I don't agree with this man's religion OR that
of his accusers (or anyone else's) , I really don't think he should be executed
for his beliefs: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/christian-pastor-in-iran-faces-execution-for-apostasy/story-e6frf7jx-1226151114178
Bolt decision: The Racial Vilification Act and other
barriers to free speech must be scrapped. No-one reading Bolt's articles should
have concluded he was exhorting hatred based on race. To point out the
absurdity of people's reverse apartheid identification with minor parts of
their geneaology ought not to be illegal. I am one-eighth French - it would be
absurd for me to identify AS French. Della is half-English, half-Scottish, but
she IS Australian.
I hadn't noticed this, but it IS true. Many
interesting things have disappeared from Michael Crichton's website. Some can
be found here including 'Alens Cause Global Warming' and his testimony to the
Senate, a must-read critique of how science should be done: http://nofrakkingconsensus.com/2011/02/10/michael-crichtons-legacy/
4G today at 40megs/sec. What's the bet it will be 100
before the NBN is even built?
I think this obscene carbon tax farrago IS
true:http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/22/world/africa/in-scramble-for-land-oxfam-says-ugandans-were-pushed-out.html?_r=3&scp=3&sq=uganda&st=cse
and http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/sep/22/uganda-farmer-land-gave-me-everything?newsfeed=true
"First they came for the communists, and I
didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a communist. Then they came for the trade
unionists, and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a trade unionist. Then they
came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they
came for me, and there was no one left to speak out." http://www.4liberty.org.uk/2011/09/20/and-then-they-came-for-the-drinkers/#
Incredible! Ju-liar would not even allow Dr Jensen MHR
Tangney to TABLE papers critical of the theory of Anthropogenic Global Warming.
Dr Jensen is the only Phd in Federal Parliament. This is how we create truth.
Dr Goebbels would have been delighted: http://joannenova.com.au/2011/09/labor-censors-dennis-jensen-denies-peer-reviewed-science/#more-17301
Wowee! Do you think Ju-liar and Bob will go this far? http://www.prisonplanet.com/armed-troops-burn-down-homes-kill-children-to-evict-ugandans-in-name-of-global-warming.html
Shale gas is EVERYWHERE. This is just ONE find (ex
Delingpole). "An area in northwest
What a couple: "Dolores Hope died on Monday at
the age of 102, eight years after her similarly centenarian spouse. He lived
long enough to weary of the womanizing and she lived long enough to re-start
the career she put on hold for half a century, making a couple of fine albums
in the 1990s": http://www.steynonline.com/4514/comedy-inc
Interesting: "The "solar constant" (as
measured by CERES) is approximately 340.5 wm-2...the difference between the
annual max and annual min is about 23 wm-2, or about 5 times the 3.8 wm-2
anticipated from doubled CO2..." Steve McIntyre http://climateaudit.org/ so how COULD CO2
warm the planet MORE than the solar effect? THINK!
Wow! Time travel here we come? http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/particles-seen-to-travel-faster-than-light/story-e6frf7jx-1226144211736
American physicist Steven Weinberg. "In the
ordinary moral universe the good will do the best they can, the worst will do
the worst they can, but if you want to make good people do wicked things,
you’ll need religion"
Only one cause for pessimism amongst the optimism:
"The world now devotes 5 per cent of its grain crop into making motor
fuel, in the mistaken belief that this somehow cuts carbon emissions. It does
not: it displaces just 0.6 per cent of the world's oil use, uses just about as
much oil in cultivation, and encourages the destruction of rain forest,
releasing greenhouse gases. And it starves people." Read all: http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/room-all
Is Bert Rutan the greatest living human? http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/us-desert-spaceship-factory-completed/story-e6frf7jx-1226142266905
THIS is is VERY important (esp. when our Pollies are
voting on the Carbon Tax): "…the cloud radiative cooling effect through
reflection of short wave radiation is found to dominate over the long wave heating
effect, resulting in a net cooling of the climate system of −21 Wm−2."
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/09/20/new-peer-reviewed-paper-clouds-have-large-negative-feedback-cooling-effect-on-earths-radiation-budget/
Should not have let this pass without comment, but our
Govt should have made a fuss too: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Choules.
Our (and the world's) last soldier of WW1 &WW2. Now only Florence Green
remains nearly a century after the beginning of 'The Great War'!
Claude Choules - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org
Claude Stanley Choules (pronounced /ˈʃuːlz/;[2]
3 March 1901 – 5 May 2011) was the last World War I combat veteran in the
world,[3] and was the last military witness to the scuttling of the German
fleet in Scapa Flow. He was also the last veteran to have served in both world
wars, and the last seama...
More Coyote: I get grief... for supporting a basic,
no-frills government safety net. However...Folks in this country use the
European rioting as a sort of threat to warn us that we need to continue to be
profligate in government spending or else face the same kind of riots here. I
come to the opposite conclusion — if people are going to riot when the charity
they receive has to be reduced, isn’t that a reason not to get them hooked on
the charity in the first place?
Warren Meyer is ABSOLUTELY RIGHT. People have @ 0%
understanding of significant correlation: "And note how thin the fit is in
both — basically drawing a line through a cloud. Neither of these likely has an
R-squared higher than about .05" but they WILL decide to change the world:
http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2011/09/i-dont-think-this-is-settled.html
The wonders of science: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/china-clones-castrated-quake-hero-pig/story-e6frf7k6-1226140307778
Hiking Fishermen: This is good: http://penfishingrods.com/shop/product_details.php?category_id=13&item_id=126
and so is this: http://www.moontrail.com/accessrs/a-misc/handline.html
Time. Just finished watching Greg Peck's 'David &
Bathsheba' set 3000 yrs ago.Just less than 50 of my lifetimes. When I started
teaching class sizes were 50, so just one lifetime of the class I taught in
1970! How little or how much can/have people changed? I WOULD like to see a
film of Plato's 'Crito', a depiction of the very best of men.
Under Mllk Wood - Dylan Thomas. Did you love it as I
did? Just reminded also of George Mackay Brown esp. his Ikey poems, possibly
the best poet of the 2nd half of the 20th century. Proof you can come from a
small place, (an Orcadian, what?)maybe achieve little conventionally and yet be
as great as Shakespeare.
Titanium Goat's links make very interesting reading: http://www.titaniumgoat.com/links.html
Back from the bush after seeing MANY deer. Four
beautiful days of fine weather and camping out. On the last day I walked out
from the
A latter-day Kaspar Hauser or anyway an interesting
mystery: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/teen-lived-in-german-woods-for-5-years/story-e6frf7jx-1226139953978
Goodbye Ju-liar: http://www.news.com.au/national/police-will-investigate-inappropriate-practices-in-the-health-services-union/story-e6frfkvr-1226135080900#ixzz1Xiw256xz
More on the CERN Cloud experiments. Seems like
Anthropogenic Global Warming IS toast: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904537404576554750502443800.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop
A Must Watch: George W Bush makes one of the world's
great speeches in honour of the dead heroes and heroines on board Flight 93:
9/11/2001: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=8Ck2FO7Dmxk
So much more THE President than Obama http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=8Ck2FO7Dmxk
www.youtube.com
Wake up
Beware Bryn Jones: THIS could happen to you: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/drunk-moose-found-stuck-in-tree/story-e6frf7jx-1226132726139
And beware again Bryn: THIS could happen to you: http://i.huffpost.com/gadgets/slideshows/22303/slide_22303_271041_large.jpg?1315609925251
I AM pleased with myself: the Defender is running like
a watch. NOW to get up the bush with it for a few days...
The trouble with MANY boat people is that they are
economic 'refugees' just jumping the queue ahead of genuine refugees. Take a
look at these three in their designer jeans on their way here from
This is an interesting twist on an old idea: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news?useAbsoluteURL=true
Well done Phil Jones of CRU for managing to produce a
'hockey stick' uptick in the Central England Temperature Record which otherwise
just shows normal warming since the Little Ice Age. It MAY just be the change
of paint and to automated reading c1882: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/09/05/cet-vs-meto-a-problem-with-temperature/
Improbable but true. Life will find a way: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/09/06/uranium-munching-microbes/#more-46729
Just checking the 'Malaria Clock' again. http://junksciencearchive.com/malaria_clock.html
By this morning 105,862,020 people had died due to the Green's ban on DDT. Just
in case you were ever likely to doubt that these people represent the single
greatest evil ever to inhabit the planet. And now they want a Carbon Tax...
Twp pieces of GOOD news this morning. The first
courtesy of Stephanie De-Sykes: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/8733645/Miracle-technique-cures-grandfather-of-cancer.html
and the second from Matt Ridley: http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/draco-among-viruses
Things DO just keep getting better.
And NOW there is THIS. When will this Governement ever
learn? I would have thought that 'new' Australians might reasonably learn to
fit in with 'old' Australians: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/ethnic-mix-thrown-into-curriculum/story-e6freuy9-1226129249094
The Grog Party. I'm all for it. Kevin Eleven? http://jonova.s3.amazonaws.com/politics/protest/grog-party.gif
I have read that Julia has spent $239 million on the
'Malaysian Solution' enough to give every family in Yinnar $1 million. Which
would you rather? Let's hear it for Yinnar!
'There will be no change of leader under a
government I lead.' Soon. By the weekend? By the end of the week? Certainly be
the end of September? Please! Will she cry? I hope so. Do crocodiles cry? Will
it be Rudd, Smith or Crean? My preference is Smith - but he might actually WIN
an election, so surely the ALP will not chose him! Rudd actually deserves a
second chance though, but does Crean? Creans can't figure you have to walk
downhill to get out of the snow. Decisions, decisions...
I have written ten letters to all the Labor MP's over
the last two months 'encouraging' them to rethink their leadership and course
of action. If they chose to ignore me and millions like me they deserve to be
relegated to the dustbin of his...See More
Whilst everyone knows I agree with Oscar Wilde that I
'hope to live to see the last priest strangled with the guts of the last king',
I am disquieted by these two news items: http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/mirandadevine/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/the_pc_brigade_kills_off_jesus_christ/
and http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/mirandadevine/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/the_not_very_multicultural_council/
If an Emperor runs an Empire, and a King runs a
Kingdom, who runs a Country?
Very interesting ice core results. No wonder Mann in
the Climategate emails said they must 'hide the decline': http://saynocarbontaxaustralia.blogspot.com/2011/08/oh-no-julia-latest-ice-core.html
This guy is quite right. Julia's muzzling of News
Limited is sinister: http://www.menzieshouse.com.au/2011/08/our-great-democracy-under-siege-from-within.html
I would also like answers to these Mike Smith questions: http://www.2ue.com.au/blogs/2ue-blog/qas-between-smith-and-the-pm/20110831-1jl3g.html
Replacing a cracked head on the Defender. I really do
not enjoy working on cars but the money I save would only have to be earned
doing something I like even less or working with people I would rather avoid. A
cynical view of life I know. At least I can stop any time I want and socialise
with Della. Can't beat that. When the car is fixed it may even take me
somewhere I really want to go.
Back in 2001 Victorian MP Leigh made these allegations
(and tabled Stat Decs to back them up) against: Gillard, Shorten, Smith, Wilson
etc and called for a police enquiry. Nothing was done. http://tex.parliament.vic.gov.au/bin/texhtmlt?form=jVicHansard.dumpall&db=hansard91&dodraft=0&house=ASSEMBLY&speech=10321&activity=Grievances&title=AWU%3A+funds&date1=28&date2=February&date3=2001&query=true+and+%28+data+contains+%27julia%27+and+data+contains+%27gillard%27+%29
Some good news: a safe way to store hydrogen so it may
be used as automotive/aeroplane etc fuel: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/08/30/fuel-cells-get-the-dynamite-treatment/#more-46328
This affair will either be the end of Gillard and many
Labor figures or the end of a free press in Oz. News Limited was clearly
threatened successfully by the PM - as Bolt's column today indicates.You can
still read the full Kernohan Stat Dec here: http://iput.it/62ad99 or http://saynocarbontaxaustralia.blogspot.com/2011/08/exclusive-robert-kernohan-stat-dec.html
It is clear that Gillard WAS implicated in the theft of $1 million from the AWU
AND benefitted financially.
Kernohan would go to gaol if his Stat Dec wasn't true.
The fact that Gillard's response is to try to shut down the media reporting it
rather than take action against Kernohan tells me that he is the truth teller -
we already know Gillard is a liar.
THIS is what will bring Gillard down:"What the
lawyers would not allow to be reported was the fact that Gillard shared a home
in Fitzroy bought by
Regarding the union credit card affair, at least
there's one good thing to come out of it for Labor: they have been able to
deliver a shovel on time and at no apparent cost to the taxpayer." Carl
Ripphausen, Erina, NSW: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/last-post-august-29/story-fn558imw-1226123997398
I like this insult: "Thou infectious
malmsey-nosed death-token!" taken from: http://www.pangloss.com/seidel/Shaker/ a
Shakespearean insult generator. There are many other fascinating things on
Seidel's website: http://seidel.cust.he.net/Shakespearean
Insulter www.pangloss.com
The idea that someone would make a knitting machine
out of Lego is strange enough, but that it also seems to
work...http://strangepictures.net/2011/04/15/weird-lego-knitting-machine/
This is a really interesting review (from the world's
greatest physicist) of one of the world's greatest economist's book. The true
cost of various scenarios is too important to ignore. I particularly liked the
low-cost carbon-eating trees: http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2008/jun/12/the-question-of-global-warming/?page=1
It may have been this woman: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/lifestyle/the-other-side/russian-womans-erotic-dancing-forces-flight-to-turn-back/story-e6frfhk6-1226123245891
Most extraordinary health warning: "But it's
worth remembering that having bigger breasts will make you an easier target for
your enemies," following this bizarre incident (Ouch!): http://www.heraldsun.com.au/lifestyle/the-other-side/london-womans-breast-implant-popped-during-game-of-paintball/story-e6frfhk6-1226122219563
A very interesting post: On a clear summer day, when
the surface temperature is 20 °C the atmosphere is below freezing at all
altitudes above 2 km. That is, 70% of the air above is colder than a block of
ice...Meteorologists tell us that this block of ice overhead warms the
ground" How's that?: http://judithcurry.com/2011/08/13/slaying-the-greenhouse-dragon-part-iv/#more-4545
We have been busily casting around for something to make
money out of now that we will no longer be farmers. Successive Governments have
made it VERY difficult to make enough to even keep ahead of inflation let alone
get a decent living...Rental property is maybe 2% above inflation. The share
market is darn scarey. Hope we find something.
Craig Thomson, Bruce Wilson & Bob Kernohan will
bring Gillard down within weeks. Watch and enjoy.
"As Australia lost another soldier, killed
by the Taliban in Afghanistan, the Queensland Premier’s Literary Awards
shortlisted the memoirs of David Hicks, who trained with the Taliban" -
from Andrew Bolt today. What a reflection this is on the Left's inability to
tell right from wrong.
Bizarre consequence of opposition to pesticides? http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/10/us-crawling-asthma-idUSTRE75952L20110610
Crawling culprit seen in urban kids' asthma
www.reuters.com
"...the Craig Thomson effect. This bloke
is damaging the Labor brand every day he hangs around the parliament like a bad
smell in a lift"...Interesting comments from Graham Richardson: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/opinion/thomson-is-the-pms-ticking-time-bomb/story-e6frgd0x-1226122396641
The Carbon tax will 'drive innovation'? "When
Henry Ford invented the mass-produced automobile, he didn't need a horse tax to
do it. When Thomas Edison invented the light bulb, he didn't need a tax on
whale oil to do that..." http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/carbon-debate-has-just-begun/story-e6frg6zo-1226111937932
"The world population has multiplied six times
since 1800, yet on average we live twice as long and, in real terms, earn nine
times more money"... More 'rational optimism' from Janet Albrechtsen: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/why-rational-optimism-beats-ephemeral-happiness/story-fn6nj4ny-1226079508120
As a father I too deplore fatherlessness and the vast
welfare industry which subsidises and promotes it, but also its consequences.
Collectively it cannot fail to have poor outcomes just as our bizarre apartheid
policies must also end in disaster. Here is a fine essay on fatherlessness: http://www.melaniephillips.com/goodbye-to-the-enlightenment
A big cheer for Kathy Jackson from The Health Services
Union in helping to bring down this awful Government: Craig Thomson WILL be
investigated AND charged, then there will be a by-election unless he steps off
the edge of 'The Gap' first, which would be even more preferable. He could hold
hands with Gillard as they jumped. THAT would be nice...
As even small children can tell, it IS the sun after
all which warms the earth, not mankind's insignificant (3% contribution) to
CO2. This may mark the death knell for the 'warmists': http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/08/24/breaking-news-cern-experiment-confirms-cosmic-rays-influence-climate-change/
And I don't think anyone really knows how to help
everyone. I don't even know what's best for me. Take my uncertainty about
what's best for me and multiply that by every combination of the over 300
million people in the
Oh to be a Libyan! I woke this morning to Gadaffi gone
but Ju-liar still here - despite their both having had the same couturier and
hairdresser for some years - and policy advisers! 'There ain't no justice'!
Beware unintended consequences 101: I am not at all
surprised by this: http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/bin-line-sales-double-nation-average-after-plastic-bag-ban/story-e6frea6u-1226119243127
Here is a very readable paper by Professor William
Happer Professor of Physics at
"90 percent of people...don't know how to
use CTRL/Command + F to find a word in a document or web page!" I was one
of them. A very useful tool. Try it.
Craig Thomson, Gillard's pimp. Why is this man still a
member of Parliament & why have the ALP rewarded his conduct with
megabucks? HE paid the prostitutes, here is the proof: http://catallaxyfiles.com/2011/08/18/from-hansard-august-17-2011/
Aliens will destroy us: most bizarre reason for
passing a carbon tax. Go Ju-liar! http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/aug/18/aliens-destroy-humanity-protect-civilisations?CMP=twt_gu
Martin Durkin has a new blog. This is one of his first
posts and it is SO spot on: http://www.martindurkin.com/blogs/real-global-warming-consensus-or-why-intellectuals-hate-capitalism
One year ago today Julia's promise: 'There will not be
a carbon tax..." 75 years ago today the last public hanging in the
Poor Della: yesterday while doing exercises for her
dislocated shoulder she put her back out. The chiro put it back in but it is
still stiff & sore. This morning she got stuck in the bath whilst showering
and I'm so deaf I couldn't hear her calling. What crocks we are! She must be
worth three 19 year olds as a trade in though!
1st control our cars, then our houses, now our power
consumption. Just to make this quite clear: I DID NOT VOTE FOR THESE IDIOTS.
Did you? http://www.news.com.au/money/money-matters/power-cuts-by-remote/story-e6frfmd9-1226114484088#ixzz1V40Gs1OF
Household power switched off by remote
www.news.com.au
This is why we worry about the closing of Hazelwood
and all of 'the great green dream'. What happened to
If we are allowed to have cars AT ALL after 2015 when the
new carbon tax rules come in, perhaps they will have meters like these being
installed in
Portable Power - Fascinating gadget though a bit
heavy: http://www.npowerpeg.com/index.php/npower-peg/specifications
Who would have believed a hiking/running shoe which
weighs less than 200 grams? http://www.inov-8.com/Products.asp?PG=PG1&L=26
and these people have a river crossing shoe which weighs 53 grams: http://www.sprintaquatics.com/prodinfo.asp?number=901
Just to lighten up a bit, you might want to bookmark
this one. Knots are very handy and this site shows how to tie them easily.
There MAY be a hangman's noose there as well, which could be handy in this
political climate: http://www.animatedknots.com/
Enough of 'global warming', here comes 'global
cooling' and it is REALLY something to worry about: http://joannenova.com.au/2011/08/david-archibalds-speech-plus-protests-coming-up/#more-15878
One gram of thorium replaces 30,000 litres of petrol.
How about a car run on thorium? http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/08/13/hey-how-much-thorium-you-got-under-the-hood/#more-44970
Can we petition the Governor-General to have this
awful Government's mandate withdrawn so Tony Abbott can call an election? Can
we force a by-election in Dobell? We just HAVE to be rid of these dreadful
people. NOW.
Curse Dillard! Not only will she take away our cars,
now she will slash our house values. Our1 foot thick mud-brick walls rate as no
insulation despite being the warmest house we have ever known. There goes
another $50K - after tripling electricity & etc: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/ipad/green-sting-a-threat-to-home-values/story-fn6bfkm6-1226114050783
Revealing read about Ju-liar's past: I had thought
that the notion of 'Watermelons' ie green outside, red inside was coined by the
right, but it was invented by the Left itself to describe its own subversion: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/commentary/the-real-julia-is-true-to-her-socialist-forum-past/story-e6frgd0x-1226113361553
Should you become interested in lightweight hiking,
try this site: http://jolly-green-giant.blogspot.com/
Several posts in a row without mentioning climate
change, how about that? Just wish it was off the agenda forever and we could
talk about something really interesting eg 'No-one can say waterbabies do not
exist as no-one has ever seen one not existing' - Charles Kingsley.
Species are not immutable ie all macropods are one,
& etc. Amazing how many hominids we bred with in the past and after so many
hundreds of thousands of years of separation. Read 'Our Hybrid Origins': http://stirling-westrup-tt.blogspot.com/2011/07/tt-ns-2823-patchwork-people-our-hybrid.html
Ultimate Logic. I remember being intrigued by infinity
when I was four. An interest I still have (in metaphysics, ontology & etc).
George Cantor was wonderful. An infinity of
infinities...http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21128231.400-ultimate-logic-to-infinity-and-beyond.html
An eventful day. A huge tree crashed across the road near
our driveway at midnight taking out the power lines and trapping us at home
until this afternoon. There were many other trees and landslips all up and down
the road too. Some pretty wild weather we have been having.
You might like top try this: http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2011/08/imitating-escher.html
If you are having trouble understanding the current
financial crisis, read this (but at least scroll down to the Jones' family
budget near the end): http://joannenova.com.au/2011/08/the-money-you-earn-it-they-print-it-welcome-to-the-world-of-corruption/#more-16479
Is this weather or climate change? Watch out
Just can't understand the opposition to all things
nuclear, eg fusion of thorium reactors: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/08/09/further-on-thorium/#more-44796
The future for Ju-Liar's carbon schemes: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/08/09/death-of-a-carbon-salesman-chicago-climate-exchange/
Nancy Wake - the White Mouse - has died AFTER
witnessing Hitler's early atrocities, Nancy Wake vowed to fight him any way she
could.
My experience is this is the world's best sleeping bag
(@544 grams) - and you can just about wrestle a bear in it! http://www.moontrail.com/mont-bell-ul-spiral-down-hugger-3-reg.php
Where do carbon dioxide emissions come from? 97% from
natural sources. Who would have thought so? http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/where-do-carbon-dioxide-emissions-come-1
This new hiking mat @ 425 grams and R4.4 and US66.95
from Amazon looks great: http://pacoutdoor.com/sleeping-pads/view/peak-elite-ac-womens
Useful primer on the evils of Greenpeace. Patrick
Moore (its founder's) experiences should perhaps be compulsory
reading...http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100098864/greenpeace-give-me-a-child-until-he-is-seven/
http://joannenova.com.au/2011/08/blockbuster-planetary-temperature-controls-co2-levels-not-humans/
Professor Murry Salby is Chair of Climate Science at
From my previous post: Dynamite: "Despite the
fact that the average station records 77 years of the temperature history, 30%
of the stations still manage to end up with a cooling trend. The warming at a
given place is 0.75 plus minus 2.35 °C per century...(ie) The "error of
the measurement" of the warming trend is 3 times larger than the
result!...The temperature changes either fail to be global or they fail to be
warming. There is no global warming."
30% of surface stations show global cooling! This
paper is difficult to read but its conclusion is interesting: http://thegwpf.org/the-climate-record/3542-hadcrut3-30-of-stations-recorded-a-cooling-trend-in-their-whole-history.html
Cold fusion IS back. This may become the win-win
solution to our energy needs. If this is a scam it is a very good one: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/08/04/andrea-rossis-e-cat-fusion-device-on-target/#more-44578
They have also found it on the moon, now Mars: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/08/04/nasa-may-have-found-water-on-mars/
It is interesting that coal fired power plants have
become 30% more efficient since we built our last one 30 years ago and that we
could actually exceed our 5% 2020 emissions target by simply building new ones:
http://joannenova.com.au/global-warming/
CO2 is NOT a danger. It is SIMPLE ARITHMETIC. If world
temp rose .5C in the C20th & CO2 rose 100ppm to 380ppm or 36%, a further
64% to 560ppm equals .88C. Much warmer in the Middle Ages without CO2. The .5C
probably never happened and if it did was not caused by CO2, so NO doom ahead
from CO2. Not worth spending a cent on.
A MUST READ: GREAT article by Janet Albrechtsen about
Free Speech in today's Australian: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/commentary/stop-the-mad-march-of-political-correctness/story-e6frgd0x-1226106958791
Back early from three days' hunting/hiking in
Wonnangatta-Moroka due to sore toes (Have to do more research into boots) and
accidentally taking the three-quarter length Neoair mat which was a bit harsh
on my bad back. However saw lots of deer, some of whom visited me during the
night.
Very keen to see NASA's 'Stereo Behind' solar
satellite's photographs of comet Elenin - as I'm sure are you all. What a GREAT
name for a satellite - I wonder that they didn't call it 'Gillard'!
Just watched an old Mae West Movie, 'Klondike Annie'.
What a treasure she was: 'Is that a gun in your pocket, or are you just glad to
see me?', 'The curve is more powerful than the sword', 'When I'm good I'm very,
very good, but when I'm bad, I'm better'...http://www.mindspring.com/~hsstern/maewest/mw_quote.htm
An interesting new paper from Dr Roy Spencer a leading
climate scientist shows earth loses much more heat than climate models
forecast: http://www.drroyspencer.com/2011/07/our-refutation-of-dessler-2010-is-accepted-for-publication/
It MAY be possible in the future to store solarenergy
(See news from MIT). It just isn't yet, so attempts to mandate solar/wind etc
are presumptuous at best : http://www.solardaily.com/reports/New_way_to_store_sun_heat_999.html
Our last truckload of ewes left for NSW this morning.
A very bittersweet moment. But now for some fun in retirement. For a start, off
to the Wonnangatta for a few days on Saturday. Yippee!
And this is what the Greek mess looks like - and they
invented maths? http://www.vanityfair.com/business/features/2010/10/greeks-bearing-bonds-201010
I really enjoy Professor Bunyip. I particularly liked
his comparison today of two fag ends in the toilet to Julia Gillard and
Christine Nixon. May he live forever. http://bunyipitude.blogspot.com/
The SMH and other tree huggers differ in this from Jim
Corbett. They think that you should put out Whiskers for it or even bell a
man-eating leopard instead of shooting the bastard! Look at this: http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/timblair/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/victim_or_aggressor/
Bjorn Lomborg on Ju-liar's new ad campaign. Frauds
peddling a fraud. When will this nightmare ever end? http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/commentary/bootleggers-hijack-climate-change-debate/story-e6frgd0x-1226099304031
Attended Lord Monckton's talk in Traralgon tonight.
Inspirational. We must defeat this carbon tax and the Left/Greens generally.
You can find much of what he said here: http://jonova.s3.amazonaws.com/monckton/climate-freedom-hancock-background.pdf
Only a little over a week until the
The future of 3D printing. The world just keeps
getting better and better: http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/print-your-own-organs
Della wants a pair of these rare singing bird pistols,
but she is out of luck! http://www.wimp.com/birdpistols/
Apparently Greenpeace terrorist destroyed a trial GM
CSIRO crop recently. The aim of such research is to produce more and better
food which surely has unquestionable human benefits. We could get there by
conventional breeding, but much more slowly. These people are becoming
dangerously insane.
Just heard on the radio Julia is visiting Hazelwood today!
The woman is mad! Liked Andrew Bolt's blog on her today but can't wait till
September myself. Begone vile hag! http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/gone_by_september/:
This graphic shows why the
Also particularly liked this lady giving Gillard what
for. More, please: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/07/13/give-this-lady-an-order-of-australia-medal/#more-43405
Liked James Delingpole's post, particularly his
suggested punishment for "Bob Brown: sentenced to swim the length of the
Strange but true: "Treasury’s...modelling...shows
...Australian polluters will be spending $57 billion a year on clean energy
projects in other countries by 2050 to meet our own pollution abatement
targets....that Australia’s own domestic carbon emissions would be 545 million
tonnes a year by 2050 - only 30 million tonnes less than what is produced
now".( Bolt 14/7)
And now we learn that after throwing away $11 billion
to close Telstra's perfectly good network we will also throw away another $3
billion to close one quarter of Vic's electricity at Hazelwood with nothing to
replace it - and this money was not part of the 'Clean Energy Agreement', nor
is it budgeted for.
If parrots like Alex can learn to speak English
intelligently, how come supposedly more intelligent humans can't learn to speak
parrot?
It's not just a tax. This is part of the 'Clean Energy
Agreement' too p53: "NATIONAL ENERGY SAVINGS INITIATIVE ...Create an
incentive or a requirement...in both low income homes... which reduce peak
electricity demand". Sounds like rationing to me. Are you in favour? Get
real! This is on top of mandating mini cars for all!
Did Ju-liar tell you this: $382 million to be spent on
new carbon bureaucrats over the next three years. We SURE want that: http://catallaxyfiles.com/2011/07/12/rise-of-the-carbonocrats/
Closer and closer to 2 August and still no resolution
of
The latest newspoll has 60% opposed to the carbon tax.
Interestingly the generation which has been most indoctrinated about the matter
18-34 year olds are most opposed at 62%. A VERY hard tax to sell. http://resources.news.com.au/files/2011/07/12/1226092/719393-aus-news-file-federal-newspoll-110712.pdf
Surprised no-one has picked up on p54 of the 'Clean
Energy Agreement' where they will ban cars big enough to tow a caravan &
SUV's from 2015.
What sort of judgement does it show that you decide
you will try to sell a 'global warming tax' in the middle of winter - & the
coldest winter in over 20 years to boot?
Another day playing in the mud. Bogged and unbogged
the tractor yesterday. And attended yet another friend's funeral. We are just
loving this global warming winter. Getting the second and last load of sheep
ready to go to NSW next week. At least we won't have to pay a carbon tax on
them. May get a chance to go hunting next week.
Ju-liar represents the Limbo Rock of opinion polls:
'How low can Labor go? Won a bet of on under 30% last week, now I'm betting
under 25%. Reminds me also of Dr Strangelove riding the nuke down to universal
destruction!
Seems Rudd & Gillard etc may not be winning in
Have your say. Here is a list of every Commonwealth
Government's Parliamentarian's emails: file://localhost/C:/Users/steve/Downloads/Desktop/Politician's%20Email%20list.mht
Watch Richard Lindzen Prof of Atmospheric Physics MIT
on Ju-liar's scheme: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BB6iQT6BD_g
In 2050 we are supposed to get by with 10% of the
energy per capita we used in 2000 a mid 19th century level at best and it will
not effect the climate one bit. This is barking mad! Go, Ju-liar. Go. Go to
hell!
"Socialism eventually runs out of other people’s
money," Margaret Thatcher."For a nation to try to tax itself into
prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket trying to lift himself up by the
handle". Winston Churchill
Don't understand economics? Read this. I specially
liked: "for someone to grow wealthy in a free market economy, they must be
providing something that others value more..." http://www.fundanomics.org/chapter_first_pages.htm
FUNDANOMICS: The Free Market, Simplified (basic
economics book)
www.fundanomics.org
Basic economics book FUNDANOMICS: The Free Market
Simplified, by bestselling author Roy W. Spencer
Gobelki Tepe: This 11,000+ year old temple is utterly
mind boggling. Just how old is human civilisation? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Göbekli_Tepe
The last shuttle: a sad day: http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/final_shuttle_launch.jpg
And from James Delingpole interesting comments on the
FACT that there has been no warming since 1998, so why a carbon tax?: http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100095506/there-has-been-no-global-warming-since-1998/
More evidence that industrial society and modern
agriculture create more wilderness and more wildlife: http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/eating-your-greenery-and-having-it-too
'A debunking of the left’s global warming
agenda, from Roy W. Spencer, former NASA climatologist and climate expert': http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/07/07/a-mini-movie-in-blackboard-form-why-the-lefts-global-warming-agenda-is-wrong/#more-42882
Poser: If climate change IS NATURAL, whether the world
is heating/cooling, would it be sane to reduce our energy resources &
therefore ablity to deal with it: we MAY need a lot more heaters and
greenhouses or a lot more air conditioners in the future...Of course greens are
NOT sane.
Because they stay inside air conditioned walls AGW
activists deny the sun has any warming effect. Other folks worry about the
coming solar minimum: http://www.eike-klima-energie.eu/uploads/media/Moerner_Science_environm_sea_level_3_11_Paper_534.pdf
Lindzen (arguably the world's pre-eminent atmospheric
physicist) & Choi 2009 & 2011 have shown climate sensitivity to be MUCH
less than IPCC's predictions, indeed probably negative, which means any warming
from a doubling of CO2 has to be less than 1C and we have already had over half
the effect and NO warming. A carbon tax is simply mad & bad.
This seems to indicate Hoyle & Wickramasinghe may
have been right about an extraterrestrial origin of life on earth; even if not,
there really ARE some amazing creatures: http://richarddawkins.net/articles/627555-tardigrades-water-bears-in-space
Amazing, to have worked out the colour of this perfect
120 million year old bird which lived 60 million years before the end of the
dinosaurs! http://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2011/07/01/ancient-bird-pigments-identified/
I was surprised how many of these I had read. An
interesting list for those who love lists: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jun/14/100-greatest-non-fiction-books?INTCMP=SRCH
'Self interest can and does include concern for
others.'From the Catallaxy Files: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2009820/Elk-safety-Zoo-keepers-stunned-moose-rescues-drowning-marmot-watery-death.html
For those with a passion for bullshit: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21028160.200-a-field-guide-to-bullshit.html?print=true&full=true
Absolutely the best title for a learned article: http://richarddawkins.net/articles/641892-time-travel-sex-bad-for-sea-monkeys
Deeply disturbing comment on the world economy. Really
liked the last comment on NBN shares. Don't think I will be buying any either: http://www.smh.com.au/business/global-train-wreck-coming-20110630-1gszi.html#ixzz1QoBRloTW
And, just in case you doubt evolution, this is how
quick it can be: multi cellualrity evolving in just weeks, just like the
Cichlid fish in
'Unsung Elements' in last week's New Scientist
or at this site. What interesting properties some things
have:http://www.swissmetalassets.com/thirteen-exotic-elements-we-cant-live-without.php?url=thirteen-exotic-elements-we-cant-live-without.php
Greens control the Senate from today - the beginning
of the end for Oz! Oh, my unlucky country!
Bloody Ju-liar! Thanks to the totally inappropriate
ban on live cattle exports, livestock has taken a plunge - lambs have dropped
$80 a head; Elders is bleeding to death, and we and 000's of others are likely
to take an awful loss on the sale of our flock. Oh the crazy left...
A very good take on Islam. Well done Mo, and well done
'The Amazing Race': http://www.heraldsun.com.au/opinion/different-teams-much-common-ground/story-e6frfhqf-1226081636309
Before you support Julia's carbon tax you should read
this petition signed by 31,487 scientists opposing it (and particularly the
'Summary of Peer Reviewed Research' 12 pages html therein) at http://www.petitionproject.org/index.php
When we were in NZ in May bananas were $2-3 per kg and
were small and delicious - just like they haven't been here for 20 years.
Whatever happened to free trade? As farmers we have certainly never received
any such subsidy for selling lambs.
I also really like the Coyote Blog. This guy Warren
Meyer is really interesting. Here is an example worth reading: http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2011/06/power-imbalance-the-difference-between-liberal-and-libertarian-philosophy.html
This 'Edge' site is truly wonderful. Please explore
it. Here is another one I liked from philosopher, Daniel Dennett. It reminds me
that for years I was a professional philosopher too: http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/dysonf07/dysonf07_index.html
Nobel prize winner Freeman Dyson is arguably the
greatest living physicist and one of the most spectacularly brilliant minds to
ever grace this planet. Take some time to read what he has to say here: http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/dysonf07/dysonf07_index.html
The Perfect gifts? Blizzard sleeping bag and jacket eg
from: http://ps-med.com/products/detail.php?p=12
and Aerovest: http://www.amazon.com/Aerovest-Survival-Emergency-Insulator-Inflatable/dp/B000Z960LO
Looks like our sheep are going to live in NSW. Good
price too.
Whoops! Exceeded our download limit and internet is
speed restricted today. Boy dial up IS slow. Will be fixed tomorrow. The price
of internet piracy, but it sure is worth it!
This is interesting. Have also wondered about the
potential of shape memory alloys eg Nitinol, and the possible use of Stirling
Cycle engines to both heat and power the house: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/06/22/new-multiferroic-alloy-creates-electricity-from-waste-heat/#more-42091
Bogged twice in the paddock yesterday in the Land
Rover Defender despite BF Goodrich and twin diff locks. nearly bogged the
tractor getting it out. It is just SO wet, and the MUD, oh!
Such a nightmare at the moment trying to place several
hundred sheep elsewhere at very short notice and in the wettest winter in living
memory. They are due to lamb early August so must be gone mid July.
World's smartest
bird? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYk-wE18BTo
"Aliens Cause Global Warming" by Michael
Crichton: http://www.tsaugust.org/images/Lecture_by_Crichton_at_Caltech.pdf
The cost of gene sequencing has fallen 99% in a
decade; this is so much faster than the computer revolution. My prediction:
another decade (or two) will see genetic technology eliminate most diseases,
maybe even old age and death.
Greens are the worst mass murderers the planet has
ever seen. Add these deaths to the 100's of millions deaths from malaria that
the greens are also responsible for. AND they also want to destroy the world
economy. http://joannenova.com.au/2011/06/killing-people-with-concern-biofuels-lead-to-nearly-200000-deaths-est-in-2010/
Here is the real world version of the game 'Risk' -
really interesting: http://www.mapsofwar.com/ind/imperial-history.html
Who would have guessed there had been THIS many atomic
bombs detonated (not that I am much in favour of them) and that there are still
several billion healthy people on Earth: http://www.howtobearetronaut.com/2011/06/nuclear-detonation-1945-1998/
It WAS much warmer in the recent past than the IPCC
predicts for this century, warmth produced by natural forcings stronger than
any CO2 effect (as is also the current decade long cooling). We should forget
AGW, reject the carbon tax and get on with our lives. See: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/06/01/greenland-and-agw/#more-40812
Steve Jones Organic farming would nowhere near pass
the 'precautionary principle'. If it was new, it WOULD be banned as it is
responsible for so many false claims, deaths and environmental destruction. I
do not understand the author's point about inserting e coli into corn - of
course you could but it would be deadly
The Stone Age did not end because we ran out of
stones!
Those who think we will still be shovelling coal in
100 years will be dismayed that Steve Bramwell of Uni Coillege London has made
and stored magnetic monopoles. There exist vast forces which we cannot as yet
either detect or control, but we will...
More people died of organic, local e coli than at
Our main farm seems to be sold. Are we about to begin
a new era in our lives? Seems likely...
Food irradiation (banned by the Greens in the EU and
elsewhere) would have saved the 33 killed by the recent e coli outbreak - and
countless others elsewhere/when. Similarly banned GM food would save millions
annually.
Organic bean sprouts kill 33,
Buddha on the other hand did not believe in an after
life (sensible), but taught that happiness can be achieved by overcoming
desire. He did not mean the obscene lust for underage or one's own children -
as encouraged by other religions, I think.
For some other reasons for hating environmentalists
visit 'Green Hell' or read the book review: http://www.amazon.com/Green-Hell-Environmentalists-Plan-Control/dp/1596985852/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top
Here are some pretty good reasons for hating
environmentalists: http://georgereismansblog.blogspot.com/2008/02/nature-of-environmentalism.html
The Holy Prophet Mohammed married Aisha when she was
6-years-old and consummated his marriage with her when she was 9. FYI, he was
54 years old at the time". (http://rwdb.blogspot.com/)
But the Bible says everyone is descended from
Have had to deal with so many suffering sheep with
flystrike I just can't believe anyone thinks mulesing is crueller than the
sheep blowfly.
Just back from four great days hunting/hiking in the
Wonnangatta-Moroka with my son-in-law, Matt Dennis. Now have six camps there in
lovely spots complete with shelters and other gear which works well. Saw lots
of deer but Matt was too kind to shoot a stag.
'Renewable' - another buzz word which bites its
own bum.
Why renewables keep running out | The Rational
Optimist…
www.rationaloptimist.com
When we first came to Gippsland in 1983 we were warned
it would be like this: 'If it isn't raining it's dripping off the trees'.
Hasn't been like that since 1996, but it sure is lately. We also notice that
the snow that AGWs warned would be long gone by now is still here and with a
vengeance. Have fun, snow bunnies!
This guy is
seriously funny. A must read: http://www.27bslash6.com/index.html
If you are shopping at Modern Outpost maybe you should
get one of these too: http://www.modernoutpost.com/shop/tools/172-ice-companion.html
Time now to start on our winter fires - only 9C at
lunchtime today! I want this neat gadget for our wood heater: http://www.modernoutpost.com/shop/tableware/498-ecofan-802-airplus.html
Back from our 10 days mainly in Fiordland NZ marred
somewhat by Della dislocating her shoulder in a fall from a rock. This led to
the best helicopter ride ever, not enjoyed as much as it might have been
however.
A woman from up the road rolled her car down our hill
and died this afternoon. I could do nothing for her. It has been a really
horrible day. My optimism is somewhat dimmed. We are off to Fiordland for ten
days in the morning. Hopefully we will feel better then.
Life IS so good: http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/sunny-side
Such a lot of work sorting sheep for sale and joining.
Have been at it for days now with days still to go. Still, the wool has gone to
market already and soon the lambs will go too so we MAY have enough money to
take a look at Fiordland in April.
If true, this is really interesting: http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/how_bad_are_low_levels_of_radiation_really/
Nuclear fatalities last ten years: 7
Wind farm fatalities last ten years: 44.
In those ten years nuclear provided thirty times the
energy of wind. Nuclear has been around 200 times safer than wind. http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100079664/did-climate-change-cause-the-japanese-earthquake/
Transport deaths: shipping: 100's of 000s, road:
millions, air: 000's. The solution = ban transport. But wait: billions are
transported safely, value of transport = trillions. Risk of death per person
annually = nearly zero. One must always look at the cost/benefit.
Deaths from 3 Mile Island = 0,
Read Della's version of our
'King of the Wilderness' by Christobel
Mattingley a life of Denys King of Melaleuca is a very worthwhile read for
those of us interested in wilderness places. His life is also a triumph of the
human spirit. Try it. (Text Melb 2001)
Just returned from South West Track
The track is also very dangerous in places and has
undisclosed traps which you could only escape by retreating, but up to 6 days'
retreat would see you well out of food. For example, at
At South caper Rivulet the crossing was chest deep and
intermittently swept by 2 metre waves. If I had not carried 45 metres of 2mm
Spectra cord breaking strain 400 kg I would never have got Della or Kerri
across. Also nowhere to emergency camp and nowhere for a helicopter to land. I
would not recommend this track to anyone. Further there were fe
The track crosses interminable button grass swamps
which are really desolate and uninspiring. Most of the remainder of the time
you are pushing through narrow tunnels of 3 metre high sword grass. For some
reason the track goes straight up wherever it can to crests rather than
saddles. These sections are watercourses in the con
It walks on the side of ridges whenever it could have
stuck to the tops of same. When there might be a view it walks on the lee side
of sandhills etc so there is no view of the sea (which was sometimes really
beautiful).I thought it would be much easier than the Dusky Track in Fiordland where
I was cautious of taking Della, but in fact it was much worse -
and without the spectacular beauty or the opportunity
to camp in dry huts of a night.Instead we camped in very wet bush and drank
water which was darker than strong tea and often tasted yuck.The campsites are
few and far between, particularly on the Ironbound range which took us 13.5
hours of steady walking to cross. I am really sorry I didn't go to the Dusky
again. Next time.
Just back from a week's walk on the South Coast Track
in Tas - fortunately still alive. Mostly a horrid experience (see Della Jones's
comments). Important points: NEVER listen to PR. Always carry a long length of
stout cord. I had 45 metres of 2mm Spectra which probably saved our lives.
Two great days canoeing/hunting on the
Very interesting article here about 'disenthralling'.
I reckon at least half of my life has been about such unlearning: http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/how-unlearn-pessimism
Have finished the shearing at last for this year. Very
late because of the wet weather which had also caused the worst blow fly
problem anyone can remember. We lost about ten sheep horribly despite our best
efforts. Must be awful for the Merino guys. Just cannot believe PETA's
opposition to mulesing. So ignorant and so wrong.
Spent much of the day 'crutching' fly struck sheep.
Probably amongst the world's worst jobs. This humid weather has made this a
really bad maggoty season. Can't imagine why PETA etc can be in favour of blow
flies and opposed to mulesing. The blow fly is my number one most unpopilar
imported pest.
Spent New Year canoeing-hiking in the
Wonnangatta-Moroka wilderness, the most remote spot in Vic. Could be half way
round the world in the time it took to get where I was. Beautiful serene
wilderness slowly recovering from wildfire. Saw many deer but they are out of
season.
Great New Years message here, a must read: http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/reasons-be-cheerful
You should also try this. It is an enchanting working
stove you can make in minutes. Hours of fun and entertainment: http://www.garlington.biz/Ray/YACCS/
Recently I had a Tyvek tent floor and Sea to Summit
Ultrasil drybags leak through ( a wet sleeping bag is not much fun!) and Tyvek
is twice as waterproof as silnylon. I think this guy has the solution (his
Supercat stove is also excellent: http://jwbasecamp.com/Articles/Silnylon1/index.html
A Treatment for Silnylon Floors jwbasecamp.com
A note from the author: Silicone impregnated nylon
("silnylon") is one of the most interesting of the high technology
fabrics that's been introduced to the outdoor products industry over the past
several years. So interesting, in fact (at least to me), that I'm currently
working
Della & I and Kerri Cleaver are planning to walk
the
For those interested in lightweight hiking these links
are great: http://www.titaniumgoat.com/links.html
I already go away for a week carrying less than 10kg including food and booze.
About half that for a weekend. Most enjoyable.
More optimism: watch the last 200 years of progress
and dream about the future: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbkSRLYSojo&feature=player_embedded:
Hans Rosling's 200 Countries, 200 Years, 4 Minutes -
The Joy of Stats - BBC Four gdata.youtube.com
More about this programme: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wgq0l
Hans Rosling's famous lectures combine enormous quantities of public data with
a sport's commentator's style to reveal the story of the world's past, present
and future development. Now he explores stats in a way he has never done
Sick of trendie doom and gloom? This guy is really
good. Have a browse of his writing and blog at: http://www.rationaloptimist.com/
Saw lots of deer though no good stags and had a good
time really. An interesting test of myself and various gear. Learned a lot.
Many things I can improve. Finally swam out and am home safe.
Lots of rain came in. The rivers were in flood, went
up nearly 2 metres and home was on the wrong side. Also discovered that the
seam sealer tape on ultrasil dry bags deteriorates - my sleeping bag and all my
gear was saturated wading through chest high water. Spent a rather
uncomfortable night getting dry.
Hope to get away up the bush for a few days tomorrow -
eat your heart out!
Why couldn't we just go with Telstra's fibre to node
and VDSL2 (for free) at the same speed or why we have to scrap half the
existing broadband and duplicate it and so forth...We can download a movie in
19 minutes with ADSL2+ and get 120 gigs for $50 per month. This is good enough.
We don't want/need to spend more especially as Gillard etc plan to abolish P2P
anyway so there will be nothing to download!