Steve’s Blog
2013
See also:
NEW
This many people have visited this site:
Kintail Burn, Dusky Track,Fiordland, NZ 2012 Six Moon Designs
‘Swift’ pack @ 450 grams
LINKS: 2012 and earlier blog 2013 blog 2014 Blog
31/12/2013: Film of Douglas Mawson at Commonwealth Bay
Antarctica in the summer of 1912 (Play it and notice how large patches of land
are completely ICE FREE). Today’s team of warmie scientists are stuck in ice 75
kilometres off the mainland: http://mawsonshuts.antarctica.gov.au/cape-denison/building-the-base
31/12/2013: Charles Hoy Fort used to think we were
FISHED for (plus many other strange ideas, Atlantis, etc) but I sometimes
wonder at the sheer NUMBERS of folks (and DOGS) going missing on Facebook! I
can understand the missing lovely teenagers (someone who doesn’t have to put up
with them MIGHT surely want them – if they haven’t simply run away, as
everyone’s kids did sometime if they had any gumption - and most of us STILL want to from time to
time, surely) but the ugly old men (and women: no sexism HERE) and the REALLY
ugly dogs…WHO/WHAT could be fishing for THESE? What could their sinister
purpose BE. What possible USE could they put these folks/dogs TO? Life is
redolent with mysteries!
31/12/2013: I am mystified by the changing nature of
ABC announcers’ emphasis. Remember a few years back when every reporter on TDT
etc had to emphasize every fourth or fifth word no matter how insignificant?
ABC News Radio has now gone one better. Reporters there are now emphasizing
EVERY SINGLE WORD. It is SO VIOLENT. It is as if they are saying, ‘YOU WILL
LISTEN TO THIS!’
31/12/2013: We CAN be TOO kind (particularly to
the good folks of
30/12/2013: Looks like fun; may try it someday
(French tourist - one year in
30/12/2013: The Health Nazis are SUCH an ominous
force. In many countries (including Oz) they are succeeding in having e-cigarettes
banned (just in case they MIGHT prove dangerous – or encourage les autres!) In
just the same way they waged a vicious attack on ‘passive smoking’ which (while
it might have been annoying to some) had NO adverse health consequences at all,
as many long-term studies showed - including a huge one done by the WHO: http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100251229/passive-smoking-another-of-the-nanny-states-big-lies/ & http://reason.com/blog/2013/12/16/is-it-safe-yet-to-have-an-honest-convers
30/12/2013: NEAT mnemonic: ‘Stalactites
(ceiling) and stalagmites (ground)’. Always had trouble with that. No more.
29/12/2013: 250cc
Motorbike which weighs 57kg: http://www.fxbikes.com/bikes/
29/12/2013: A
pair of hiking pants which you can wear for 365 days and even sleep in which
weigh 75 grams and a raincoat that you can ALSO sleep in @ 123 grams. That's
REAL weight saving: http://hikelighter.com/2012/01/26/montbell-dynamo-wind-pants/ & http://hikelighter.com/2013/11/07/zpacks-rain-jacket/
29/12/2013: Have fitted a SECOND pair of heavy
duty shocks to the rear of the old Defender. That seems to have finally settled
the camper down so that it is just like driving a car NOW. Looking forward to
our next trip! Merrin & Matt are to trial it first this week.
29/12/2013: ‘The Desolation of Smaug’ gets my recommendation
of ‘Must See’. So much better (quicker and less didactic) than the first
episode. I like the way they are weaving the story into the ‘First War of the
Rings’. Smaug is SUPER!
29/12/2013: Della is the owner of a new domestic
robot for Xmas (thanks to the kids). We toyed with calling it ‘Hired Girl’
after the first one in Heinlein’s ‘The Door Into Summer’ (1957) but have
settled on ‘K9’ after ‘Doctor Who’. It IS still having some trouble negotiating
some of our monumental untidiness but (laziness) will force us to change all
this, so that the house floors will be forever spotless (except for ‘Spot’ the
dog, of course!)
28/12/2013: Does Jesus need an electric hair
curler for Xmas? Or a sky-diving voucher? Panadol? A kayak?
28/12/2013: The old grey thrush has just about
finished raising her SECOND clutch of three babes in the chink in our mud-brick
wall where she nests. She seems determined to fill our small valley with
birdsong! I was reminded yesterday afternoon that she is nonetheless a descendent
of Tyrannosaurus, when she returned to her nest with a tiny still wriggling
garden skink and managed to voice her melodious song with it still I her beak.
I realised then that if we were the size of garden skinks we would view her
song VERY differently!
28/12/2013: More snow and ice in
27/12/2013: Do you TOO wonder what percentage of the
fawning Lefties lamenting the demise of Ford and Holden actually DRIVE an
Australian built car? I suspect if they did, we would have a vibrant and viable
automotive manufacturing industry!
27/12/2013: If this guy is right, and someone
has created malware which can communicate and spread via audio, the world has
just become a wee bit more spooky (if not dangerous). All those folks who leave
their mikes and cell phones off may be right after all: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22029434.700-can-a-computer-virus-communicate-via-your-speakers.html#.UrtJ37Qszwk
27/12/2013: Spectacular (&memorable)
Earthrise on Apollo 8, Christmas Eve, December 1968: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7hZOa_67pc
(& See: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2013/12/jim-lovell-re-enacts-1968-apollo-8-christmas-eve-broadcast.html)
26/12/2013: Received one of these knives for
Xmas. It is just brilliant: overall weight 36.5g, knife only 27.5g (US$12.27).
Blade is definitely thick enough and strong enough to split kindling though its
big brother, the ‘Zombie Acheron’ has a slightly longer blade. It would
definitely butcher a sambar deer or any other use you could put it to. Its
sheath has a lanyard hole so you can hang it around your neck and quickly
access it with one handhttp://www.kabar.com/knives/detail/38
26/12/2013: The good news is that Alan Turing, a
brilliant mathematician, (cf the film, ‘Enigma’) has been pardoned
posthumously. I have long thought this should be the case even though he WAS
convicted of ‘gross indecency,’ which was what homosexuality was (quite
properly) seen as in c1950. Even though his personal conduct was (no doubt)
disgusting, this does not mean that it should have been then (or now) illegal,
even though it should quite properly be condemned then (& now) and be
permitted/practiced only in private.
26/12/2013: If the
25/12/2013: A very decent Xmas message from
Tony: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQIm769GxaI
25/12/2013: Christmas is for EVERYONE: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/367015/mazel-tov-christians-dennis-prager & http://maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com/archives/15995-How-Christian-is-Christmas-A-brief-history-of-Christmas.html
25/12/2013: It isn’t very often that we get to
celebrate the life of one of the world’s great gun innovators such as Colt,
Mauser, Mannlicher, Purdy etc BUT today Mikhail Kalashnikov IS no more: http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2013/12/23/automatic-rifle-inventor-kalashnikov-dies-at-age-94/
24/12/2013: As mentioned in an earlier post
04/11/2013, I have ordered a heap of ‘hiking’ knives which might best be used
to split wet firewood to create dry kindling & ‘excelsior’, but yesterday
found THIS ‘Scanpan’one on sale in Aussie Disposals for $5.95! Weighing a mere
47 grams (including a VERY secure sheath) it will be hard to beat for the
purpose. It would also make an excellent kitchen or utility knife maybe as a
Xmas gift:
24/12/2013: If you are STILL in denial about JG, you
really need to get your head around the issue, because she WILL be charged.
Read this: http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2013/12/if-julia-gillard-gave-legal-advice-as-a-lawyer-to-her-clients-bruce-wilson-and-ralph-blewitt.html
and this: http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2013/12/julia-gillard-gives-legal-advice-as-a-lawyer-to-her-client-3-examples-today-here-is-the-awu-workplac.html
24/12/2013: A reminder of this fine speech by
the late Michael Crichton: http://www.pe.tamu.edu/DL_Program/graduate_seminar_series/Documents/MichaelCrichton_evironmentalism.pdf
23/12/2013: COLONISATION, not multiculturalism;
I prefer neither: http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/timblair/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/muslim_patrol/
23/12/2013: What the future holds? ‘The typical
American family has seen its real income (adjusted for inflation) fall for 5
consecutive years now, and it earns less in real terms that it did in 1989.’ We
just can’t keep BORROWING to make a living: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-12-17/if-you-have-children-you-need-see-these-numbers
23/12/2013: The ‘Pause’ continues: http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/clip_image0026.jpg
22/12/2013: Joe Bastardi:
‘Twas the week before Christmas, when all through
the news, there were reports of record cold , so many were confused;
Told global warming is why we should care, And
that the point of no return would soon be here;
The children were bombarded with tales of dread, While
visions of climate disasters were stuck in their heads;
And mamma in her Prius , and I on my bike, To
save the planet, got rid of the cars that we like. When suddenly in the data
there arose such a clatter, The earth was not warming, what could be the
matter?
The warming stopped, as quick as a flash,
Leaving proponents in sack-cloth, bathing in ash For far too common was
new-fallen snow More than forecasted, temperatures 0 or below,
And , what to my wondering eyes should appear, But an
uptick in sea ice, and even more polar bears,
With a little old driver, called the PDO, I knew in a
moment it had to be so Howling like beagles fearing the shame, AGW pushers
called skeptics many names;
“Now, Denier! now, madman! now neanderthal
,you’re lying! You’re an idiot ! your stupid, know nothing, we’re frying!
To the top of the chart ! breaking through the
temperature wall! The warmings out of control, its frying us all!”
As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane
fly, This is the worst drought ever, global warming is why,
So up to the IPCC the climate pushers flew, With a
gravy train of grants, and politics too.
Make economies pay, we need no proof Just keep saying
temperatures are going through the roof
With the media complicit, my head was turning around,
To see the global temperature level off and then come down.
The warming had stopped, in their mouth was
their foot, Exposing the scam, and the making off with the loot.
Readjusting temperatures, from many years back
Peddling disinformation to the media pack.
At conferences they would drink and make merry! While
the deceit grew in a way, that made it quite scary
For the tide it had turned , there was cold that would
show, You cant say its warmer, if there’s too much snow;
The cold that was showing, led to chattering of
teeth, As the cycle came full circle, not unlike a wreath;
The face of global warming, had become a subject
smelly, Their position as “solid” as a bowlful of jelly.
Hockey sticks broken, sea ice on the increase, I
laughed when I heard their excuses not cease.
Events we all knew were something ahead were
twisted into worst ever, something to dread;
How dare mother nature destroy AGW’s lifes work, These
deniers are as nasty as a Miley Cyrus Twerk,
But the data is there and everyone knows The temperatures
leveled off while co2 rose So when in the wire, you hear the cold wind whistle,
The AGW agenda is ready for dismissal
So let me exclaim, as this fades out of sight,
“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night.”
22/12/2013: Waterproof split-toe socks: you
would THINK the Japanese (& others) who wear nothing but thongs would have
long since invented them, but it seems they do NOT exist! However, I have
modified my ultralight thongs into ultralight adjustable ‘thandels’ (@ 61 grams
per pair) so that I can wear them with my seal skin waterproof socks making
them into a useful pair of waterproof hut booties with very tough soles. The
commercial alternative are these at 1.7 oz per pair. Their down socks sound
great too: https://goosefeetgear.com/products/2-waterproof-over-booties
22/12/2013: First the BAD NEWS: ‘
21/12/2013: A REALLY GREAT speech! No wonder
this guy was our longest serving Prime Minister: http://australianpolitics.com/political-parties/liberal/the-forgotten-people-robert-menzies-1942-speech
21/12/2013: A SELF-WINDING watch! How I used to
lust for such a treasure when I was a kid. I finally snagged one a couple of
years ago for $200 and was over the moon. Quartz watches for some reason make
me itchy and I haven’t seen a wind-up one for some time. This guy has Seiko
self-winders on eBay from $65 + $18 delivery. You just HAVE to treat yourself: http://www.ebay.com/bhp/mens-seiko-watch-self-winding
21/12/2013: Just in case you might want to treat
yourself TWICE, there ARE still manual winding watches, like this beauty for
$12: http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Golden-Skeleton-Analog-Mens-Mechanical-Wrist-Manual-Winding-Band-Watch-S01-/380779708781?pt=Wristwatches&hash=item58a83d416d
20/12/2013: ‘14-year-old Gabi
Stricker-Phelps…the only Australian child adopted by a non-relative last year
through the NSW Department of Family and Community Services. The only child
allowed to escape a lifetime of neglect and abuse.’ Political correctness and
‘Stolen Generation’ myth-making GONE MAD. When ARE we going to SAVE THE
CHILDREN? http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/mirandadevine/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/we_can/
20/12/2013: Interesting paper: ‘This solar “de
Vries cycle” together with the AMO/PDO determine practically completely the
global climate of the past ( Fig. 4 ). This rules out any significant influence
of CO2 on the climate. The latter is not surprising in view of the small amount
of CO2 in the atmosphere and its weak infrared absorption cross section.’ http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/12/17/solar-amo-pdo-cycles-combined-reproduce-the-global-climate-of-the-past/#more-99397
See also: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/12/16/whither-went-the-warmer-weather/
20/12/2013: Courtesy of an old friend, this
interesting video; you have to wait until @ 2:45 but it is worth it. Our
jumping jacks can expect this treatment soon: http://digg.com/video/what-you-get-when-you-pour-molten-aluminum-into-an-ant-hill
19/12/2013: DD-WRT: For every problem, there is
a solution. A bit difficult for the novice perhaps – and I haven’t tried this
yet – but we do (all) have just such problems with our routers (eg our internet
radio, streaming video wirelessly from one device to another etc), and it would
be nice to think this would solve those issues. When I am game I will try it
and let you know… http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2013/12/huge-improvement-for-my-router-with-dd-wrt.html
19/12/2013: Herbicides DO make thistles look SO
sad; I almost feel sorry for the cursed things: the ten year drought compounded
the weed problem (too much bare ground) but we are slowly getting on top of
them again. This year our spraying efforts have been delayed by too much rain –
not that I’m complaining: there has been plenty of sheep feed so far – you
almost wish you had a thousand ewes…but not quite, somehow!
18/12/2013: I am quite pleased with my latest
‘invention’ a self-cleaning pet water bowl. As you can see a timer empties the
bowl (as often as desired) and it refills with a float valve (you could add a
tap or another timer here to better regulate it). I have used a ¾” ‘
18/12/2013: This guy’s ultralight stove set-ups
are astonishing. Imagine a wood stove which weighs 32 grams! Or a Titanium
version of the ‘Bushbuddy’ (http://bushbuddy.ca/)
that weighs only 78 grams! For the real ultralighter, there is a 2-fuel pot and
stove combo that weighs 45 grams! http://www.suluk46.com/products.html
Comparable products are Trail Design’s Ti Tri (http://www.traildesigns.com/stoves/caldera-ti-tri)
and Evernew’s DX (http://www.evernewamerica.com/EBY257.htm)
18/12/2013: The Fawcett expeditions: watched an
interesting doco an SBS about Col Percy Fawcett which mentioned the astonishing
substance ‘Terra Preta’ which has been discovered (partly) as a result of his
(fatal) efforts (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terra_preta
See also: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cja6bV95l-Q
for a recipe). Taken together with this guy’s insights into fungi (http://discovermagazine.com/2013/julyaug/13-mushrooms-clean-up-oil-spills-nuclear-meltdowns-and-human-health#.Uq-GjbQszwk
& see also: http://blog.ted.com/2008/05/06/paul_stamets/)
I think Tony’s alternative carbon ‘solution’ IS the right one. If we can
massively increase carbon in soils in these ways we can vastly increase
agricultural (and natural) outputs – which is surely a win-win strategy?
17/12/2013: Watched the movie/documentary, ‘The
Last Trapper’ (2004) tonight. Well worth a look. It certainly reminds me of why
I still push for multi-day wilderness hiking trips – if you have never done
such a thing, you should. (Put it on your bucket list! At least!). We are
planning several days hiking out of Supper Cove, Dusky Sound, Fiordland, NZ
sometime Feb/March (http://www.doc.govt.nz/Documents/parks-and-recreation/tracks-and-walks/southland/dusky-track-brochure.pdf)
Have been there before (lots of times) but am still drawn back to the
wilderness, the beauty, the solitude, the challenge… We will probably do some
camping out in our Zpacks Solo-plus (http://www.zpacks.com/shelter/hexamid_plus.shtml)
‘tent’ this time, not just staying in huts…
17/12/2013: Now HERE is a great idea for our car
industry (and a wonder no-one thought of this before!) – let’s NATIONALISE it
so we can roll out a heap of (compulsory) Trabanths, Ladas etc to replace your
shiny new Toyotas, Nissans, etc: http://www.menzieshouse.com.au/2013/12/socialists-want-holden-to-be-nationalised-to-create-green-jobs.html
17/12/2013: Mind you, it MIGHT be a good idea
for the Federal Government to buy Land Rover and move it to one of the now
defunct car factories in
16/12/2013: Yesterday we shore, drenched and
injected ALL our remaining sheep – a job which used to take a week, and still
had time for a cold beer on the verandah! SO nice to be retired. I am also
happy I no longer have to pick up and turn over 1,000+ lambs at marking time.
Can’t even imagine any longer how my back stood up to THAT. Our apologies that
we no longer feel up to providing you folks with 100,000+ MEALS per year (not
to mention 10,000+ jumpers) but we have to have a spell sometime: I note that
the weather is to be warm this week AND that there is plenty of water in
Gippsland’s rivers – time again perhaps for a bit of white-water work, maybe an
overnight trip to proof-test our new hiking tent?
16/12/2013: Khayyam: ‘Like snow upon the
desert’s dusty face…’ http://www.thepiratescove.us/2013/12/13/some-parts-of-cairo-see-first-snowfall-in-100-years/
16/12/2013: Re the above quote; if you haven’t
read Khayyam, please DO. I still think Fitzgerald’s 1859 First Edition is the
BEST: ‘…one thing is certain, that Life flies; One thing is certain, and the
Rest is Lies; The Flower that once has blown forever dies’: http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/o/omar_khayyam/o54r/
15/12/2013: Very good news for the second driest
continent on Earth: http://www.gizmag.com/freshwater-reserves-under-sea/30072/
In any case lots of water: Enough to sustain a lot of lives for a long time!
15/12/2013: Bizarrely enough, THIS is NOT a
joke! The lengths (and ends) some folks will go to to further terrorism,
religion, whatever…This guy wants to be repeatedly sodomised to make his arse
BIG enough to accommodate lots of explosives. I would have though he is a big
enough arse already, but there you go: http://www.memri.org/clip_transcript/en/3496.htm
15/12/2013: Even a GENIUS isn’t always smart
with money. The ‘South Sea Bubble’ and ‘The Tulip Bubble’ & etc bear a
striking similarity in my mind to
15/12/2013: Maybe you should also get your head
around this; life was actually BETTER under apartheid: ‘Today South Africa has
a 26 percent unemployment rate and a 17 percent HIV rate…Among the 18-34 age
group, 56 percent of whites, 53 percent of Indians and 43 percent of those of
mixed race want to leave the country. Among blacks the number is only at 33
percent which still means that a third would like to leave…Today 77 percent of
South African households face food insecurity and most teachers are not able to
teach students how to read independently…With its high crime rates and high
AIDS rates, South Africa has a life expectancy in the fifties.
14/12/2013: ONE boat containing THREE people
this week –AND they will all be promptly sent home! WELL DONE TONY!
14/12/2013: WELL DONE George Brandis! I think
THIS is the first time in my life that one of our governments has struck a blow
for INCREASING FREEDOM: http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2013/12/this-is-your-chance-to-strike-a-blow-for-your-freedom-.html
14/12/2013: I feel SO sorry for people who have
nut allergy because…is there anything more delicious than Kraft’s Whipped
Peanut Butter? Well: Nutella, Thai Chilli Peanuts, Sea Salt Macadamias…
14/12/2013: I’m sure THIS is how it works here
too. Redistribution only fuels the entitlement mentality. Everyone should pay a
proportion of their income as taxes so that they feel their Government and
society BELONGS to them – and so they will have an interest in how Government
money is SPENT: not just sit idly by with their beggar’s bowl crying ‘Poor Me’
and expecting a handout from the rest of us: http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials-obama-care/121013-682454-government-becomes-a-massive-wealth-transfer-engine.htm
13/12/2013: Courtesy of
my bird-brained wife, Della: http://distractify.com/people/personal/reasons-birds-are-pure-evil-and-should-not-be-trusted/
13/12/2013: Just as they destroyed Holden and
Ford, Shorten’s bully boy union mates want also to destroy
13/12/2013: Don’t let THIS be YOU: http://acculturated.com/2013/12/09/last-regrets-of-the-dying/
13/12/2013: WILL the Royal Commission into child
sex abuse investigate these prominent political figures? Horrifying: http://pickeringpost.com/story/rob-borbidge-for-qld-governor/2459
13/12/2013: A LONG history of EQUALITY which we
would be foolish in the extreme to dismantle: ‘When the state constitutions of
New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania were framed in 1850s,
voting rights were granted to all male British subjects over the age of 21,
which included Aboriginal men.’ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suffrage_in_Australia
12/12/2013: It sure is COLD out there: minus 94C
measured in
12/12/2013: WHO would have thought: Movember is
racist AND sexist: http://www.newstatesman.com/2013/11/why-movember-isnt-all-its-cracked-be
12/12/2013: Puzzles of our times: why ARE we
only FULLY HUMAN in the mornings until after TWO cups of coffee?
11/12/2013: Went to these folks’ site to order
Della a set of lenses for her smart phone when I was blown away by the photo
gear they have for smart phones! Freight is reasonable too: http://photojojo.com/store/
11/12/2013: Elon Musk is AMAZING: his SpaceX has
just launched its first geostationary satellite. Next stop; Mars! http://www.space.com/23727-spacex-falcon-9-rocket-launch-photos-ses8-satellite.html
11/12/2013: Lung cancers can now be detected and
CURED with regular screening. As this is a cost effective way of reducing the death
rate, it should be adopted as breast screening has been. Of course, there will
be opposition from wowsers who view smokers as bad, and lung cancers as their
just desserts! There is no end to the evil folks CAN get up to! An interesting
observation: this medical ability may now mean that if you were going to die
from cancer rather than eg heart disease that smokers may gain increased
longevity over non-smokers. I predict this is an outcome which the ‘virtuous’
will not allow: http://www.cumc.columbia.edu/pulmonary/clinical-centers/lung-cancer-screening-program
10/12/2013: Mandiba. What a great guy! His (and
Winnie’s legacy): 80,000 whites murdered including @10% of the nation’s
farmers, tens of thousands of black ‘opponents’ of the ANC ‘necklaced’ to
death, a host of terrorists bombings etc, support for and from a heap of nasty
dictators world-wide, his country (once so peaceful and prosperous) NOW an
economic basket case and the murder capital of the world (far MORE dangerous
than even Iraq!)…he WAS a good communist – just like all the rest. The Left
‘celebrate’ his life. They are completely unable to distinguish good from evil.
He should be remembered for NO achievements.
10/12/2013: What a great outcome THAT would be.
Hope MANY others join them: ‘Mr Haddad said the men were so incensed that, if
they could, they would leave the country and not return.’ http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/asio-teen-fights-face-of-jihad-claim-as-unjust-racist-20131208-2yzf0.html#ixzz2muzjJlvx
10/12/2013: ‘We are living through a disruptive
innovation as far-reaching as the steam engine or the discovery of
petroleum…The people who created the shale gas revolution, and their gutsy
backers in the financial markets, sank billions of dollars into often fruitless
gambles over long periods before eventually reaping rich rewards. It is a
reminder that innovation is neither easy nor cheap nor inevitable…Yet we… can
now benefit from their efforts…They reduced the use of chemicals by 95 per cent
to very low levels; they proved that significant earthquakes or the
contamination of aquifers by fracking are both almost impossible; that methane
leakage is no worse than in conventional gas drilling; that the time and cost
spent in fracking a well can be greatly reduced with experience. We can come
in, in other words, when others have shown how effective, safe and affordable
slick-water fracking in shale is.’ http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/the-frackers.aspx
09/12/2013: Re Ju-Liar today,"I am
satisfied that, in each instance, the communication was made or the document
prepared in furtherance of the commission of a fraud or an offence."
09/12/2013: Chief Magistrate Lauritsen will rule
today on whether Gillard and
09/12/2013: THIS flying jellyfish robot
(weighing just TWO grams) IS rather neat: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tadbCnpSAh0
09/12/2013: Human prehistory becomes stranger
and stranger: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/05/science/at-400000-years-oldest-human-dna-yet-found-raises-new-mysteries.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&smid=tw-nytimes&_r=1&
09/12/2013: Definitely a good question: ‘When,
if ever, will Facebook contain more profiles of dead people than of living
ones?’ And the answer: http://what-if.xkcd.com/69/
08/12/2013: Homo Erectus mastered fire 790,000
years ago: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn4944-charred-remains-may-be-earliest-human-fires.html#.UqJJzuI4nwk
and maybe created THIS amazing artefact 230,000 years ago (cf ‘Our conclusion
is that this object was purposely modified by hominids.’ http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract;jsessionid=C3820F32074D17818923916A23FF7713.journals?fromPage=online&aid=76619)
maybe also the Tan Tan figurine from Morocco @ 400,000 years old (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/3047383.stm).
These little guys certainly made their way to some places (eg islands) where
they would have had to be able to build large boats to access (which argues for
their having had LANGUAGE). If so, then the ‘human brain’ PREDATED humans –
which is a pretty mind-boggling concept really. It also makes you think about
the ‘legends’ of the ‘little people’.
08/12/2013: STOP paying folks to BREED! This
will make a ‘better’ movie even than ‘Snowtown’! Kids who have barely even
learned to talk! Omigod! AND we are having a Royal Commission into a handful of
perverted priests who ought to have been publicly castrated and hanged
generations ago. Why don’t we throw some MORE money at such wonderful social
‘problems’? Sickening, but DO read the article – all this happening in the
hills just a few kms out of
08/12/2013: Life constantly tosses up novel
unexpected experiences. Yesterday driving into Churchill I saw two tiny rails
on the side of the road (like miniature brown-feathered velociraptors). My
guess is they were Lewin Water –Rails (or maybe Marsh Crakes – probably the
latter as they were very small; I only saw them for an instant). I am almost
astonished that in a life mis-spent wandering wild places I had NEVER seen them
before, yet yesterday saw them on the verge of a busy main road!
07/12/2013: Here’s an interesting water and
energy conserving gadget: ‘How much water does the Quench shower consume during
Step-2 (Auto-Mode re-circulating shower)? Around 4 litres (1 gallon) of water
is all that is required to enable the Quench shower to operate in Auto-Mode.
You can shower for as long as you like in Auto-Mode – using no more than 4
litres of water.’ http://quenchshowers.com/faqs/
07/12/2013: ‘The bulk of his adult life, Nelson
Mandela was a failed Marxist revolutionary and leftist icon, the Che Guevara of
07/12/2013: Structures 15 TIMES the diameter of
the Earth (and in plain view) found ‘hiding’ in our neighbourhood! What else
don’t we know about the sun? Yet Chicken Little believes EVERYTHING is down to
AGW! What fanciful tosh! http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/12/05/giant-convection-cells-found-on-the-sun/
06/12/2013: Just across the valley, this morning
THIS is the forecast: SNOW! (AND we have the heater on!) O, AGW ‘WHERE is thy
sting?’ http://www.bom.gov.au/vic/forecasts/mountbawbaw.shtml
06/12/2013: It is not just a LOCAL phenomenon
either: http://joannenova.com.au/2013/12/more-than-1000-cold-snowy-records-set-in-us-one-small-media-outlet-covers-it/
06/12/2013: AND in the
06/12/2013: All over the country farmers, pet
owners, manufacturers of animal housing, feeding, & handling equipment make
and install equipment which does NOT injure or kill animals. Lucky sheep, ducks,
parakeets, etc.
06/12/2013: Albert Einstein: "As he lay
dying of an abdominal aortic aneurysm in 1955, he refused surgery, saying: 'It
is tasteless to prolong life artificially. I have done my share, it is time to
go. I will do it elegantly.'" (Albert was 76 and one month old, and had
lived a VERY productive life, unlike most of us – some more of his bon mots
here: http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein
) I think the author has a point: there has to be some cost/benefit analysis on
the issue of prolonging life, particularly if the life is really not worth
living, and especially as someone ELSE has always to pay the piper - & as
the kitty is rapidly running out. At a somewhat creaky 64 I think about this
issue more and more, and feel it is long past time we could go to the doc and
say, “Some of the pretty blue tabs Doc, I’m out of here’, then just go home,
say ‘Goodbye’ to friends and family, ring the undertaker, and depart without
leaving huge bills behind for unnecessary and unwanted ‘care’: http://www.althouse.blogspot.com.au/2013/12/is-there-any-evidence-that-more-old.html
06/12/2013: The Dalmatian pelican at up to 15kg is the
largest living bird that can fly. What an impressive beast. (PS: It never did
feed its young from its breast but sometimes beats its breast with its bill to
assist regurgitation, which is what may have given rise to the myth): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalmatian_Pelican
05/12/2013: ‘O, Brave
05/12/2013: Indos at it again (PS: Perhaps we
should hang onto this lot – and the Herc - until THEY release Schapelle!) : http://www.menzieshouse.com.au/2013/11/smuggling-it-would-seem-is-in-indonesias-dna.html
05/12/2013: Strange how the Left courts
it…Religious tolerance is ONE thing, Islam is another: restriction and
punishment are common elements of Sharia as followed by extremists:
An eye for an eye
Drinkers (of alcohol) and gamblers must be whipped.
Homosexuals must be put to death
Adulterers must be stoned to death
It’s ok for men to hit their women if they want to
If you say anything negative about Islam, you can be
put to death
04/12/2013: It was instructive to hear Kate
Ellis this morning banging on about the need for more education funding BECAUSE
Oz students have fallen to 17th place in Maths after a decade of
INCREASED spending on education. Just a VERY little arithmetic applied to this
argument shows it to be fallacious. Isn’t it more likely that the Whitlam’s
‘reforms’ which threw out the ‘Three Rs’, especially phonics, and substituted
for hard knowledge (and didacticism) cuddly-softy leftie wanks and
‘student-centred’ learning might have effectively DESTROYED a whole generation’s
education? Especially concerning eg is that in NSW students no longer have to
continue with Maths until even Year 10 – and this is not if they have ALREADY
mastered calculus: indeed they do not have even to master Algebra or
Trigonometry! Nor do ANY graduating teachers have had to do so – is it any
wonder then that our students are innumerate, illiterate & etc. What is
needed is not more money, but more TEACHING! What is it about dy/dx that is SO
hard to understand?
04/12/2013: The Australian Curriculum:
‘Mathematics values Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and
cultures. It provides opportunities for students to appreciate that Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander societies have sophisticated applications of
mathematical concepts. Students will explore connections between
representations of number and pattern and how they relate to aspects of
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures. They will investigate time,
place, relationships and measurement concepts in Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander contexts.’ Oh, WOW!
04/12/2013: Today celebrating the Big Six-O with
the lovely Dell-A. Seems like only yesterday I met her when she was just
seventeen; she is ever my Dellight! Have a lovely day!
04/12/2013: Nov 2nd’s ‘New Scientist’
headlined the idea, ‘Does Now Exist’; STILL an interesting quandary - even
though our consciousness may never be able to deny time’s flow. It IS
interesting to recall how Newton’s Laws
first codified the relationship between time and other things, velocity, mass,
distance etc (eg the 2nd Law ie: F= dp/dt = d(mv)/dt) . Then along
comes Einstein and shows first that you can turn the equations around so time
becomes a variable, producing the ‘time dilation’ effect or it can be negative!
No surprise that you can substitute for ‘t’ (Time) in the equations and it
disappears –THAT was 1905 – still folks have not got their heads around it! Not
sure it is possible to consciously do so really: we are SO hard-wired for
seeing causality, for example. At the event horizon of a ‘Black Hole’ there IS
no time. If you could get inside one, it would be travelling ‘backwards’…
04/12/2013: William Blake’s ‘Auguries of
Innocence’ still rings redolent of the Luddite romanticism he represented
(remember his ‘dark satanic mills’?) It is astonishing just how many of his
rat-bag ideas still linger amid the Greens, animal libbers, vegans & other
like-minded nincompoops. STILL a great poem, & I confess I love some lines
eg the opening quatrain and,
‘Every night and every morn
Some to misery are born.
Every morn and every night
Some are born to sweet delight.
Some are born to sweet delight,
Some are born to endless night.’ http://www.online-literature.com/blake/612/
03/12/2013: FAR too warm TODAY, so: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/paulhudson/posts/Real-risk-of-a-Maunder-minimum-Little-Ice-Age-says-leading-scientist
03/12/2013: Another similar paper here: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/12/02/study-predicts-the-sun-is-headed-for-a-dalton-like-solar-minimum-around-2050/#more-98460
03/12/2013: So we do this: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/climatechange/10486223/Britains-85-billion-bill-for-climate-policies.html
03/12/2013: Interesting thoughts on the Jewish
faith: http://maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com/archives/13101-Chanukah-Confusion-and-Enlightenment,-reposted.html
Also see: http://www.chabad.org/holidays/chanukah/article_cdo/aid/429014/jewish/Chanah-and-Her-Seven-Sons.htm
Reading this, who can doubt that ideas take precedence over the material world.
03/12/2013: DEEPLY worrying: http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100247756/is-china-about-to-tell-the-west-game-over/
03/12/2013: Under Abbott, 207 boat people in
November. Under Gillard, 2630 boat people last November! (7.8%! – even less
when you consider Ju-Liar ran the numbers up to OVER 3,000 per month = 6.9% ie
DOWN 93%!)
02/12/2013: Some of those mountain men were
TOUGH, eg Hugh Glass. There is an excellent 1971 movie loosely based on his
life, ‘Man in the Wilderness’…terribly wounded in an attack by a grizzly, he
nonetheless survived and made his way back 200 miles to ‘civilisation’: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Glass
02/12/2013: Also ‘Jeremiah Johnson’ another of
my favourite movies; The Mountain Men
1980, Death Hunt 1981, Daniel Boone 1936…The ‘Mad trapper of
MORE on the ‘Mad Trapper’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c96YQ9yWbX0
02/12/2013: I managed to score a heap of cheap mushrooms
from Safeway’s ‘Bargain Bin’ yesterday so (it) looks like mushroom and bacon
pasta for tea tonight…here at Jeeralang Junction the decade long drought played
havoc with our annual autumn mushroom season which has still to recover. If the
following article proves true, it certainly will. With fungi identified as the
largest life-forms on earth, (and considering their ubiquity) it may hap they
are major players in the climate game (and Gaia will be reborn!): http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2513292/Mushrooms-make-WEATHER-Fungi-alter-nearby-air-humidity-create-winds-spread-spores-far-wide.html?ico=sciencetech^headlines
02/12/2013: Thinking BIG: earth to be powered by
solar installations on the moon; (Next stop a ‘Dyson Sphere’ (http://www.aleph.se/Nada/dysonFAQ.html)
: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/10480950/Japanese-firm-plans-250-mile-wide-solar-panel-belt-around-Moon.html
02/12/2013: Further reading: Robert Heinlein,
‘The Moon is a Harsh Mistress’ (recommended, nay: REQUIRED reading!)
01/12/2013: I-Phone telephoto…NEAT idea: http://easy-macro.com/ (Others available: http://photojojo.com/store/awesomeness/cell-phone-lenses/
, http://www.amazon.com/Universal-Camera-Blackberry-Telescopic-Microfiber/dp/B00AV3ZUQA
, etc)
01/12/2013: THAT long ago! Concorde was SUCH a
beautiful bird. Wish I had flown to
01/12/2013: Rumour has it that the Labor
politician accused of raping a 16 year old girl (albeit 27 years ago!) is none
other than the Hon (?) Bill Shorten, ex lover of Nicola Roxon and confidante of
Julia Gillard and Bruce Wilson. In a move reminiscent of Ju-Liar’s knifing of
Rudd, Tanya Plibersek has (apparently) called for a full investigation. Does
anyone think he should maybe ‘stand down’ whilst that happens? The Labor Party
sure can pick ‘em: Gillard, Obied, Williamson, Thomson, Shorten, Rudd…
01/12/2013: Great men of our time? “To send men
to the firing squad, judicial proof is unnecessary. These procedures are an archaic bourgeois
detail. This is a revolution! And a revolutionary must become a cold
killing machine motivated by pure hate.” Ernesto Lynch, aka Che Guevara, ‘Known
as ‘the Butcher of La Cabaña’, Che Guevara is known to have ordered the
execution of several hundred people he suspected of betraying his communist
ideology’: http://the-libertarian.co.uk/che-guevara-10-great-quotes/
01/12/2013: Seems like Shorten’s involvement in
union corruption (which dates back to Ju-Liar’s 1990’s shenanigans) continues
unabated IF this half a million dollars was (improperly) diverted to boost his
leadership campaign. Meanwhile the police investigation into Jools draws
inexorably towards its inevitable conclusion, ie she WILL BE CHARGED AND FOUND
GUILTY, the first PM in Oz history! (http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2013/11/my-story-in-the-australian-today-on-ms-gillard-the-awu-scandal-and-the-abcs-efforts-to-avoid-reporti.html)
What a dent THAT will put in Labor’s vote: http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/expensive_union_votes_for_bill/
30/11/2013: Though still a bit stiff and sore (I
think mainly from the VERY hot walk on Wednesday afternoon) I am pretty happy
to be still able to walk 20+km a day carrying a pack (even in fairly rugged
country). Of course it helps if you can reduce the weight of the contents of
your pack (including the pack weight itself). Some tips: Zpacks sell cuben
fibre packs which weigh from less than 230 grams (Della’s), (Tip: include a Sea
to Summit ultrasil pack liner bag and another for your bag and clothes in case
you have to swim!), sub-zero sleeping bags from 397 grams, two person tents
(inc poncho floor) less than 350 grams; Gossamer Gear’s carbon fibre hiking
poles are @100 grams each (a MUST! They reduce walking effort – and falls - by
30%+); Trail Designs will sell you a three fuel cookset which weighs under 250
grams; Montbell’s ultra light
super-stretch down sleeping bags are wonderfully comfy and their down vests and
jackets (or synthetic if you plan on getting wet) are very light weight (and
GREAT!). We wear
30/11/2013: Just a couple of excerpts to whet your
appetite; you really should read this : Friedrich A. Hayek, ‘The Road to
Serfdom’ http://www.iea.org.uk/sites/default/files/publications/files/upldbook351pdf.pdf
‘Who can seriously doubt that the power which a
millionaire, who may be my employer, has over me is very much less than that
which the smallest bureaucrat possesses who wields the coercive power of the
state and on whose discretion it depends how I am allowed to live and work?’
‘Our generation has forgotten that the system of
private property is the most important guarantee of freedom. It is only because
the control of the means of production is divided among many people acting
independently that we as individuals can decide what to do with ourselves. When
all the means of production are vested in a single hand, whether it be
nominally that of society’ as a whole or that of a dictator, whoever exercises
this control has complete power over us. In the hands of private individuals,
what is called economic power can be an instrument of coercion, but it is never
control over the whole life of a person. But when economic power is centralized
as an instrument of political power it creates a degree of dependence scarcely
distinguishable from slavery. It has been well said that, in a country where
the sole employer is the state, opposition means death by slow starvation.’
30/11/2013: ‘Cargo Cult Science’, a really thoughtful
piece by renowned scientist, Dr Richard Feynman: http://calteches.library.caltech.edu/51/2/CargoCult.pdf
29/11/2013: THIS is a VERY interesting article (as is
its conclusion): ‘In general, the best times for man in the last 18,000 years
are the warmer periods. The times of the disruption of civilization are the
cooler and more arid times. This is quite consistent and since we have not seen
unusual warming in the present warm period, relative to other warming events in
the last 18,000 years, it seem doubtful that this warming period will be a
problem for man to adapt to. Much of the last 18,000 years is characterized
with much more rapid sea-level rise than we see today and this has caused a lot
of disruption as it will in the future. But, the current rise in sea level is
very slow relative to sea level rise during most of man’s civilized period. Our
current warming and the current rate of sea level rise are very unspectacular’:
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/11/17/climate-and-human-civilization-over-the-last-18000-years/#more-97612
29/11/2013: TO THE LIGHTHOUSE: 43km, two days: one
hot, one wet & cold to (& from) Wilsons Prom light station. For full
story you will have to wait for Della's post. Today: both a bit calf-sore but
busy helping cut and pack ten lambs for Xmas (& many other) dinners!
27/11/2013: Friedrich A. Hayek’s great work, ‘The Road
to Serfdom’ is available (albeit as a Readers Digest Condensed Book) FREE,
here: http://www.iea.org.uk/sites/default/files/publications/files/upldbook351pdf.pdf
27/11/2013: SWEET: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/11/24/connecticut-couple-set-to-celebrate-81st-anniversary/
27/11/2013: (
27/11/2013:
http://maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com/uploads/photo.png
26/11/2013: I have been wondering too what
26/11/2013: NOW that the NSW fires have been washed
out by heavy rain (Ah, climate change you heartbreaker!) it might be time to
consider whether fires ARE becoming more frequent - and whether it really IS
appropriate to reward ‘firies’ with generous emoluments. Of course, the PAID
ones are not the ones who fight BUSHFIRES anyway. THAT is left up to unpaid
volunteers. (I was a member of the CFA for MANY years. After very nearly giving
my life, I thought I would take a break!) I suspect that there has been a steep
decline in the number of fire events here too brought about by similar things:
smoke alarms, fire extinguishers, fire blankets, better electrical
installations & building materials, a decline in smoking rates… http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/explaining-the-steep-decline-in-the-frequency-of-fires.aspx
26/11/2013: MIGHT the Indos become so annoyed with our
dumping their illegal immigrants back on their shores they would declare war on
us? Even if they did, (even though they have 250 million people and our Defence
spending is at its lowest since 1938 – not for long!) we would crush them like
a snake: http://pickeringpost.com/story/armed-conflict-with-indonesia/2344
25/11/2013: NOTHING I have read in the last decade is
as important as THIS (ex Karl Popper):
‘(1) The state is
a necessary evil and its powers should be kept to the minimum that is
necessary.
(2) A democracy is
a state where the government can be changed without bloodshed.
(3) Democracy
cannot confer benefits on people. "Democracy provides no more than a
framework within which the citizens may act in a more or less organised and
coherent way".
(4) Democracy does
not mean that the majority is right.
(5) Institutions
need to be tempered and supported by traditions.
(6) There is no
Liberal Utopia. There are always problems, conflicts of interests, choices to
be made between the lesser of evils.
(7) Liberalism is
evolutionary rather than revolutionary. It is about modifying or changing
institutions and traditions rather than wholesale replacement of the existing
order. The exception to this is when a tyranny is in place, that is a
government that can only be changed by violence and bloodshed.
8) The importance
of the moral framework.’
Please read on: http://www.the-rathouse.com/CRPublicOpinion17.html
25/11/2013: An important paper by an Australian
scientist. Its Conclusion: ‘Natural temperature change and variability in soil
moisture, not anthropogenic emission, is the chief driver of changes in CO2
concentration. These changes may act as a feedback contributing some warming
but are not its principal cause.’ http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/11/22/excerpts-from-salbys-slide-show/#more-98011
25/11/2013: SO, the Indo ‘hissy-fit’ is ALL about
their corrupt military losing a handy source of finance (ie the people
smuggling racket, which is THEIR private boondoggle). That being so, we need to
hit them in the hip pocket some more to bring them to heel, eg by turning off
the lucrative aid and tourist taps. What we certainly don’t need to do is have
Tony apologise for Krud & Ju-Liar’s inept spying activities… https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/qed/2013/11/nice-little-earner/
24/11/2013: Confucius: ‘The palest ink is more
reliable than the most powerful memory.’ This is a trick I increasingly
utilise!
24/11/2013: And YOU thought all these nice refugees
would turn out to be good guys? What TOSH! From the 7:30 Report (hardly a
refuge of conservative opinion): ‘Police
believe an Afghan faction inside the notorious Brothers 4 Life gang is
responsible for a recent outbreak of bloody and indiscriminate gun violence in
24/11/2013: The ‘Year Without a Summer’ (1816) –
Reminder: we could get a repeat of such an event ANY TIME. NB COLD is much
WORSE than warmth: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_Without_a_Summer
23/11/2013: BEFORE you say, ‘Sorry’, some things to
consider: http://www.menzieshouse.com.au/2013/11/list-of-terrorist-incidents-and-terrorist-groups-in-indonesia.html
& http://www.menzieshouse.com.au/2013/11/only-the-gullible-west-allows-hizb-ut-tahrir-to-spread-their-anti-liberal-democracy-poison.html
23/11/2013: Just wondering WHEN ‘Bambam’ is going to
APOLOGISE for the murder of the ‘Balibo Five’! Yeah, Sure!
23/11/2013: Bryce should GO NOW! How dare our GG take a
partisan side in politics? If she and JG are what you get when you put women in
charge (rather than the horrible aberrations they both are) it will be long
before the Australian public wants to repeat such experiments. Fortunately the
two Bishops shine in contrast!
23/11/2013: ‘FOLLOW THAT STAR’ - a serious injunction. One that the fabled
‘three wise men’ or ‘Magi’ (Gaspar, Melchior and Balthasar) are supposed to
have done. Trouble is, such a course of action would have had them walking in
circles! http://what-if.xkcd.com/25/
23/11/2013: TRY this out for yourself. The mind is
certainly a ‘strange country’: http://mindhacks.com/2010/09/18/the-strange-face-in-the-mirror-illusion/
23/11/2013: ‘How to fund the needs of
22/11/2013: GO Dave: “We’ve got to get rid of this green
crap" British PM David Cameron: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2510936/Cut-green-c-p-Camerons-private-view-energy-taxation-horrify-environmental-campaigners.html
22/11/2013: Cameron Stewart & Paul Maley:
‘INDONESIA has strengthened its ability to spy on Australia and other
neighbours this year by boosting its army's intelligence unit and buying new
eavesdropping equipment, despite claims by Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa
that his country has no need to spy on foreign governments. The head of
22/11/2013: Black Thursday 7 February 1851, quite
possibly
22/11/2013: THIS is the sort of evil country it is:
NEVER say ‘Sorry’ to them, Tony: http://pickeringpost.com/story/abbott-must-say-sorry-/2339
22/11/2013: TOUCHE: ‘The cables from the US embassy in
Jakarta, sent between 2004 and 2010, contained a series of startling but
unverified allegations about the conduct of Dr Yudhoyono, his wife and family.
Among the allegations were that Dr Yudhoyono ordered a corruption investigation
into political powerbroker Taufik Kiemas be dropped and that he received funds
from controversial businessman Tomy Winata via a middleman.’ Andrew Bolt:
‘Which suggests a neat face-saver. Surely
21/11/2013: Just I case you didn’t know: https://twitter.com/Fascinatingpics/status/402995006186995712/photo/1
21/11/2013: I am so sick of TREASONOUS bastards in the
ABC, the Guardian, Edward Snowden, Julian Assange, etc leaking state secrets in
order to destroy elected Governments and cause the deaths of service personnel
- or other innocents. WHY have we repealed the DEATH PENALTY FOR TREASON or for
other serious crimes for that matter?
21/11/2013: Quote of the day: Benjamin Zycher: ‘The
precautionary principle itself — a framework under which no one would venture
outdoors at any time for work or play, as any number of horrors loom, all of
which carry probabilities greater than zero. Even indoors, of course, the
precautionary principle requires eternal vigilance, as Pravda in its glory days
would have put it, as the roof might collapse at any time. I am surprised that
the Left has not proposed a requirement that individuals wear hard hats when
indoors, a diktat qualitatively identical to seatbelt and motorcycle helmet
laws and other such manifestations of nanny-statism. The precautionary
principle, accordingly, is a fundamentally totalitarian construct, as it leads
inexorably toward a world in which government dictates which risks are
acceptable’
: http://www.american.com/archive/2013/november/the-fallacy-of-the-social-cost-of-carbon
21/11/2013: AND THIS QUOTE SAYS IT ALL, 'In 1960,
there were only three game farms in
21/11/2013: And this, 'In terms of their
vulnerability, lions aren’t under nearly as much pressure as rhinos. What has
hunting done for the rhino population? Extending full private property rights
to the animals and legalising trophy hunting has arguably saved both the black
and white rhino from going extinct decades ago, according to a detailed study
conducted by environmental economist Michael ‘t Sas-Rolfes.'
21/11/2013: This SERIES will become a ‘must read’ for
those who seek to understand ‘aboriginal’ society’s problems (and what, if
anything) can be done to ‘solve’ them: https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/bennelong-papers/2013/11/traditional-culture-vile-crimes/
21/11/2013: The second instalment of Frank Pledge’s ‘trilogy’
is even more disquieting than the first. An example (concerning the
‘entitlement epidemic’), "In Kulgera, I heard the view expressed that
Aboriginal elders effectively fulfil the same role as judges in mainstream
courts, and therefore should be paid at the same rate as magistrates" : https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/bennelong-papers/2013/11/aboriginality-profession/
20/11/2013: Have been canoeing the Macalister River
for over twenty years – and there have always been fish eagles like this guy.
Magnificent creature, feasting on the many introduced carp, redfin and trout to
be found in the river – and without which he (and his mate – off somewhere
nesting I suspect) would not be there.
20/11/2013: Spent yesterday (5 ½ hours) white water
canoeing on the
20/11/2013: Gauge height had dropped to 1.71 this
morning so likely was more like 1.72 yesterday, excellent conditions. I figure
it to be canoeable at approx 2" less than that (though much canoe bottom
scraping) so from @1.67
20/11/2013: Thinking seriously about investing in some
better insoles to improve hiking comfort: http://www.walking.org/walking-equipment/footwear/walking-insoles-guide/
& http://www.superfeet.com/
19/11/2013: Neanderthals destroyed by global warming –
very funny: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/11/08/friday-funny-neanderthal-campfires/#more-97082
19/11/2013: This is an excellent example of how
deconstruction degrades meaning (or what Orwell would call ‘Newspeak’). This
amazing collection of trough denizen leftoids call themselves ‘Progress’ whilst
militating against every advance in human knowledge/technology. Just an
example: how many do you think would be in favour of nuclear fusion research? http://progress2013.org.au/
19/11/2013:
18/11/2013: Aloksak make really great waterproof to
200 metres snaplock bags. This one is even big enough to put your rifle in
(great for canoeing/boating/hunting trips. It is the only waterproof gun bag I
know of: http://www.survival-pax.com/aLOKSAK-Bags-Extra-Large.html
18/11/2013: Tony Jones should be sacked from Q & A
(and frankly the whole ABC Board which endorses all such partisan programmes as
the ABC (universally & in total defiance of its charter represents).
Miranda: “I’m stopping you,” Jones told Peter Hitchens. “Don’t stop me … I
haven’t finished my answer,” protested Hitchens. “You haven’t stopped anyone
else.” It’s always the way. The audience is as bad. “It’s a rally,” Hitchens
told them, waiting to speak over applause for a Savage interjection. “While you
do this I can’t talk, and you know it, and that’s to your shame because
silencing opponents is a very wicked thing to do.” He even told his fellow
panellists they were “fantastically intolerant”. “This is the absolute seedbed
of totalitarianism. When you start believing that the opinions of other people
are a pathology then you are in the beginning of the stage that leads to the
secret police and the gulag.” http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/mirandadevine/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/sneering_lefties_love_to_hate_abbott/
18/11/2013: Airframes are AMAZING: I see the
18/11/2013: This is a bit like finding a new continent
which has been hiding somewhere in the world. I remember when they first put
Landsat up, they did exactly that: found 100,000 square miles of extra land in
17/11/2013: Who was
17/11/2013: A very thought-provoking article:
‘Free-market economists are wont to point out that economic freedom is in one
sense more tolerant than political freedom. If you like apples and I like
oranges, then economic freedom means I can have one and you can have the other,
and we are both happy. Political freedom means that we take a vote on whether
we all should have apples or all should have oranges, and the loser is
disappointed.’ http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/when-political-tyranny-allows-economic-freedom.aspx
17/11/2013: Here at Jeeralang Junction we had our summer
back in September. Since Melbourne Cup Day (a date after which we NEVER [?]
have to light a fire – Ha! Busted!) we have had inches of rain and quite some
snow on the ranges. We may yet have another summer (and winter) before the year
ends. This is (what used to be called!) WEATHER.
17/11/2013: In my Facebook sidebar I keep getting adds
for ‘Finitro’ whch is apparently intended to banish my arthritis (I wish!) but
I suspect it is as badly misnamed as the ‘Endone’ the (euthanasia?) doctors
once wanted to give me for acute pain…
16/11/2013: With friends like this… http://edition.cnn.com/2013/11/14/world/meast/syria-beheading-mistake/index.html
16/11/2013: ‘Ah, but I may as well try and (tax) the
wind’...Shorten’s favourite lyrics (apologies to Dylan)
16/11/2013: Interested in children’s education. Read
THIS and weep. Like many things, it has fallen victim to what used to be called
‘communist infiltration’: ‘…the Rudd/Gillard inspired national curriculum
provides further evidence of the cultural-left nature of
16/11/2013: Some excellent Aussie weather: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/photos-fni0cx12-1226754707840
16/11/2013: ‘The simple truth is that buying
non-organic is far more cost-effective, more humane, and more environmentally
responsible’: http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/henry-i--miller-exposes-the-disappointing-truth-about-organic-agriculture
15/11/2013: I thought Keating was a slime beast when
he was PM. His speech at the War Memorial on Remembrance Day reveals he has not
improved one jot! To describe our magnificent WW1 VOLUNTEER heroes as ‘cannon
fodder’ dupes is reprehensible: (“Young Australians … can no longer be
dragooned en masse into military enterprises of the former imperial variety on
the whim of so-called statesmen. They are fortunately too wise to the world to
be cannon fodder of the kind their young forebears became: young innocents who
had little or no choice.”) Presumably he feels the same about ALL our VOLUNTEER
heroes from WW2,
15/11/2013: The mysterious bombing of Anthony
Mundine’s coffee shop: http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/timblair/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/australias_greatest_mystery/
15/11/2013: Beautiful abandoned buildings: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturepicturegalleries/10415404/Extraordinary-abandoned-buildings.html
15/11/2013: The LIE of the century? ‘The 97.1 %
consensus claimed by Cook et al. (2013) turns out upon inspection to be not
97.1 % but 0.3 %. Their claim of 97.1 % consensus, therefore, is arguably one
of the greatest items of misinformation that has been circulated on either side
of the climate debate.’ http://www.climaterealists.org.nz/sites/climaterealists.org.nz/files/Legatesetal13-Aug30-Agnotology%5B1%5D.pdf
15/11/2013: BEST MOVIE of the C21st so far ‘Hugo’ 2011
(by Johnny Depp and others). It won FIVE academy awards and a host of other
awards. The storyline rotates around a writing automaton such as I posted about
on Wednesday: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUa7oBsSDk8)
as a result of which my son-in-law, Matt recommended the movie – excellent
choice, Matt. DO give it a try: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0970179/
14/11/2013: Goodbye Krud - 1,500 drowned, 55,000
illegally here, 4 dead in ceilings, hundreds of billions blown, industries
destroyed, a catastrophe…The only ‘positive’ anyone could find was the
‘apology’ to the ‘stolen generations’, an apology for something which NEVER
HAPPENED: the consequence of which has been the condemning of a whole new
generation of aboriginal children to the most dreadful (sexual) and other abuse
and awesome neglect. Great work! He must RALLY hate the Labor party though – to
bring on a by-election (mayhap presaging the results of an imminent double
dissolution election as a second referendum on the carbon tax). Imagine if
Julia is charged in the meantime (an event into which Shorten will also be
drawn)…I suspect we will soon see the end of ‘Electricity Bill’, but Labor will
also have to repudiate its neat new leadership ‘system’ (another ‘gift’ from
Krud!) to remove him. O, what a sorry old Party!
15/11/2013: http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/timblair/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/not_a_bridge_remains/
14/11/2013: Rather than all going extinct, there are some
real cutesies still out there, like these: http://www.whydontyoutrythis.com/2013/11/22-bizarre-animals-you-probably-didnt-know-they-exist.html
14/11/2013: If Kepler’s results prove true (ie one in
five G3 stars are likely to have habitable planets) the we surely are NOT
ALONE. Looks to me as if SETI ought not have been abandoned: http://www.gizmag.com/kepler-habitable/29662/
15/11/2013: Sorry I was wrong, SETI is ongoing: http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/
14/11/2013: An interesting variation on the ‘penis
enlargement’ scam playing itself out in US courts: http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2013/11/fargo-but-with-lawyers-and-porn.html
13/11/2013: This beautiful writing automaton child
from 1770 (sic!) is truly amazing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUa7oBsSDk8
13/11/2013: Ah, sausage POLICE…long have we yearned
for them: http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/timblair/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/sausage_police/
13/11/2013: Ain’t it so? ‘Adherents of Marx at some
level must like the mass killings. Perhaps they make them feel powerful.’ http://pjmedia.com/instapundit/178595/
13/11/2013: NSW folk are to get the ‘right’ to clear
their own land to prevent bushfires. Loud cheering: (though I doubt the detail
will reveal as large a victory over the forces of darkness ie Government,
Greens etc) as might be hoped. The decision also misses the point: that it was
always one’s OWN land which Government had no (constitutional or other) right
to confiscate or otherwise interfere with! However, Dennis, PLEASE NOTE – and
follow suit, preferably BEFORE our fire imminent season is upon US again! PS It
might be a good idea to allow/encourage folk to clear a couple of chain (NB a
‘chain = one cricket pitch) of PUBLIC land adjacent to their properties too.
12/11/2013: DEATH to the eagle & bat shredders: http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=314_1383318524
12/11/2013: WHAT killed the car industry? ‘HOLDEN
workers will receive cash bonuses and annual pay rises worth almost $5 million
during the next two months as the carmaker seeks extra taxpayer assistance from
the federal government to stave off closure. The struggling car company, which
has received $2.7 billion in subsidies over the past 12 years, including a
$275m co-investment package from state and federal governments last
year’…Holden is apparently losing about $275 per car… http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/pay-rises-at-stressed-holden/story-fn59niix-1226753108425#sthash.HWyWJOaW.dpuf
12/11/2013: Rent Seekers International to co-ordinate
mendicants. What a fine idea. Someone needs to facilitate submission writing
workshops so that the ‘deserving poor’ can be properly cosseted. These folk are
a case in point. Not satisfied by the insane generosity of over 200 years
feasting at the public trough meanwhile causing an inordinate share of crime,
property destruction & etc they would NOW like their own nation – hopefully
it will be funded exclusively by their own taxes and there will be a strong woven
wire fence separating it from the rest of us: http://nationalunitygovernment.org/content/great-lie-still-underpins-thinking-indigenous-affairs-policy-today
11/11/2013: I see Fenix has a new SINGLE AAA head
torch, the HL 10 (http://www.fenix-store.com/fenix-HL10/)
weighing 42.5 grams including the head elastic. I have been using their LD 01
coupled with a couple of O-rings, one micro-cord lock and some hat elastic for
this purpose but this arrangement doesn’t point well (due to the shape of heads
= just above where the eyes focus. If you replace the Fenix headband with the
above arrangement you should have a torch which points where you want it @ less
than 20 grams (discluding battery). Of course, as an emergency back-up torch we
also carry a ‘Photon Freedom’ @ 6.2 grams including battery (http://www.photonlight.com/led-flashlights/photon-freedom-micro-led-keychain-flashlight/).
11/11/2013: An INCREASE in storm activity (as a result
of AGW)? Phooey: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/11/10/bjorn-lomborg-on-haiyanyolanda/
11/11/2013: I supposed devoted social planners won’t read
this, but the rest of you should. Just a short history of union bastardry in
Oz. Union responsibility for the dreadful deaths of 1,000+ men in the
11/11/2013: Watched Deborah Kerr in the 1961 film,
‘The Innocents’, a depiction of Henry James’ ‘Turn of the Screw’. THAT guy
could really write, and THAT gal could really ACT. What a brilliant film! Half
the film I was frightened out of my seat (and without ANY loud noises or sound
effects at all)! 21st film makers could learn a lesson or three
there!
11/11/2013: Shocking News: Half the Australian
population have below average IQs! The Government MUST act!
11/11/2013: When I heard that Australian
ultra-communist Lea Rhiannon had been detained in
10/11/2013: ‘Lies, damned lies – and statistics’: Is
the danger of death REALLY increasing? Well, maybe not: http://www.luckyculture.com.au/2013/11/04/what-the-sugar-prohibitionist-dont-tell-you/
10/11/2013: So this is really what ‘Obamacare’ was all
about? (Not so very different from our own ‘system’, I suspect). MORE free
stuff for those who do not (and do not want to) look after themselves. It is an
infinite trough. AND will end in tears. A time WILL come when the rest of us
wake up and say, ‘We really can’t afford all this’ and turn off the tap. All
very cruel I know – but I never wept when I skinned my knee, and neither should
anyone else! Mommy is no longer around: time to stand on your own too legs and
shift for yourselves! http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2013/11/surprise-people-like-free-stuff.php
10/11/2013: I suspect it HAS recently become ‘deviant’
or at east mildly disgusting (certainly openly) to admire delicious members of
the opposite sex. Instead, homosexuality, rather than something spoken of only
in hushed voices and practiced behind closed doors, has become almost de
rigeur. I notice (at least) that many young women are ‘expected’ to demonstrate
a predilection for feminine company in order to attract young males – at
parties and such! Is there no end to perversion? Soon ‘we will see a listing
for pedophobia, the shameful condition suffered by neurotically narrow-minded
people who are judgmental about pedophilia.’ http://moonbattery.com/?p=38701
09/11/2013: WHAT a
powerful animal a MOOSE is (Fast Forward to about 1:30): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GEhM2Byk7w#t=118
09/11/2013: I have only
recently learned that the principal ingredient of ‘flatus’ is hydrogen (not
methane – we are not ruminants – at least MOST of us, though I have known some I
wondered about…) so the ecologically minded telephone recharger aspirant might
also take along a plastic hose and bag to collect their productions and use
these to recharge – other folks could just buy the purpose built canisters.
This ‘must-have’ camping gadget shows surely there is no limit to human
ingenuity, credulity & etc: http://www.gofastandlight.com/myFC-PowerTrekk-Small-Portable-Hydrogen-Fuel-Cell/productinfo/PO-I-HPOWER/
09/11/2013: Here’s an
idea to test your ‘New Age’ views: perhaps this useful gadget should only be
available for women to buy? Girls, though it would clearly be illegal, I
suspect as you are buying it from a hiking supplies firm that you declare it to
customs as a ‘hiking torch, gift’ and see how you go: http://www.gofastandlight.com/Zaplight-Extreme-Electric-Stun-Gun-LED-Flashlight/productinfo/L-PS-ZAPEXT/
09/11/2013: Ann Bancroft
was JUST MAGNIFICENT in John Ford’s ‘7Women’ (1966) – LONG before Germaine’s
stupid silliness. Great film!
09/11/2013: The ‘elephant in the room’ STIRS: http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/netanyahu-bad-deal-very-very-bad-deal_766449.html
09/11/2013: Time to get tough with Natalegawa. Either
he takes the illegal immigrants ‘saved’ in THEIR territorial waters back or, we
drive right up to their beaches and tip them out there, and to Hell with the
consequences – or we cut off the huge pipeline of aid the Indos are sucking on.
Charity begins at home! Time to get out the BIG STICK, Julie. Point is, it was
HIS mates Ju-Liar & Krud were spying on them anyway! BUT, might there not
be a pretty good reason to keep a close eye on a huge Moslem country which is
maybe not as alarmed by jihadists as we have every reason to be?
09/11/2013: ‘Ju-Liar, the Movie’! Boy, will THAT be a
winner! Is the world READY for this: http://blogs.news.com.au/images/uploads/LABORFILM_thumb.png
09/11/2013: No boats have arrived now for a fortnight.
09/11/2013: They have
locked up HALF the state! Is it any wonder they are an economic basket case?
This is what the future holds if we follow the lead of the evil and idiotic
Greens. Time THEY were endangered. To make it worse, we have walked/driven
across vast expanses of awfulness that has been locked up eg huge stretches of
‘button-grass plains on the West Coast. If
08/11/2013: ‘I love
people, and people love me’ – the words of a pop idol perhaps? No, this is Hajj Abd
Al-Nabi…the executioner of the Arab Republic of Egypt. A charming chappie.
Unfortunately, we could use a few of his ilk here to deal with some of our
recent murderers (eg of Sarah Cafferty, Jill Meagher, & etc) & etc: http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/7483.htm
08/11/2013: MORE things
to worry about, eg WHEN will the Universe END? O dear, only about 10 to the
fiftieth power years left: http://io9.com/when-will-the-universe-end-1451601485
08/11/2013: Kettle Logic
(far too common unfortunately): Freud relates the story of a man who was
accused by his neighbour of having returned a kettle in a damaged condition and
the three arguments he offers in explanation: That he had returned the kettle
undamaged; That it was already damaged when he borrowed it; That he had never
borrowed it in the first place. Freud notes that it would have been better if
he had only used one.
08/11/2013: Della WILL
like this: Pigeon’s eye view amongst the following: http://voyagerloin.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/pigeon-overlooking-new-york-city.jpg http://voyagerloin.com/actualite/75-photos-du-monde-lavez-jamais-vu/
07/11/2013: I agree with
the writer that cutting out daylight saving just when you could use an extra hour
in the garden is downright cruel. If anything, daylight saving only makes sense
in the winter(ish) months when there is a shortage of daylight - after work
anyway. In summer there is heaps, so no sense at all then. I might support
having it all year (as no upsetting changes). I also like the author’s idea of
scrapping some of our time zones.
07/11/2013: The ‘Ten
Commandmants’ of Government (SOUND familiar?):
‘I Generally speaking,
government always grows -- it never shrinks -- whether times are good or bad.
II In each area it
purports to "assist", government attempts to replace individual
decision-making with central planning.
III In order to implement
its grand central plans and solidify its power, government must take from one
citizen to give to another; this is, in effect, lawful theft.
IV No matter how many
times central planning fails, the self-appointed masterminds in government
assert that "this time is different" and that with only a few tweaks
and more money, their delusional plans will succeed.
V Because it uses funds
confiscated from taxpayers, self-restraint is no obstacle to government's ambitions.
VI Its fundamental
misunderstanding of human nature notwithstanding, government must claim to
grant "rights", which require it steal the labors of one citizen to
give to another (such as food, shelter, employment, and health care).
VII No matter how
widespread the harm it causes, government will never provide an honest and
historical accounting -- a report card -- of its failures.
VIII As more individuals
and families are harmed by the failures of central planning, government must
find suitable scapegoats, must lie to do so, and therefore must also repress
dissent.
IX In order to build its
network of redistribution and grow a culture of dependency on its services,
government must inevitably undermine the family unit, religion, and the notion
of God-given rights in order to cow, bribe, or intimidate its citizens.
X As government grows
ever more powerful, it must also become increasingly oppressive through
compulsion and force. To do otherwise would mean government must shrink, and
this it cannot do’: http://directorblue.blogspot.com.au/2013/11/the-10-commandments-of-government.html
07/11/2013: Just sick to
death of these ‘anti-fracking’ nut-jobs. There has been any number of official
enquiries (including Peter Reith’s) into this process, which has been used in
06/11/2013: Vernal
profligacy continues unabated (mostly outside) our bedroom window. The
bronze-wing pigeons are well ‘at it’ with much fan-tailing behaviour and
careful twig selection in typical ‘columbine’ fashion.’ Hazel’ &
‘Blackberry’ our new lepine (or lapine?) denizens, not yet pot-bound (as Della
pretends incompetence with her Rossi .410) still scamper unaccompanied – but I
fear not for long. Indeed (as Lear observed) ‘The wren goes to 't’ - or at
least two (or more) do, sometimes as I noted once before with the Thornbills!
‘A young man’s fancy…’ Enough!
06/11/2013: 43 places to
avoid, if, like me, you don’t like crowds of people – otherwise, go there: http://microsite.smithsonianmag.com/content/lifelist/
06/11/2013: I’m not at
all surprised that 1350 WA votes ‘went missing’ – or the corollary: that the
vote count in EVERY electorate is wrong (NB WHENEVER there is a recount, the
tally changes). As an old sheep farmer I KNOW that whenever you count even a
small number of sheep (eg 100) the tally is different from the last time (even
when you cross off their tag numbers on a list). There is always at least one
sheep which appears/disappears, or even one which changes its gender (eg from a
ewe to a wether, or vice-versa!) This is what used to be called ‘LIFE’, but
evidently it is NOW a conspiracy – or a reason we should waste a few millions
on having another Senate election so a different coterie of ‘trough pigs’ can
be chosen! I have another preference: Let’s scrap the bloody undemocratic
Senate altogether, AND abolish the preferential system (and PLEASE, the
dreadful Hare-Clarke system in ACT/Tas – indeed WHY are
06/11/2013: I voted
‘NOTHING’. Click to see whether the majority agrees with me: http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/timblair/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/the_big_question/
05/11/2013: Shootndrink:
If you haven’t got one of these babies, you are OLD: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/SHOOTNDRINK-ALCOHOL-SHOT-GUN-GADGET-/130665071756
05/11/2013: Horse breeders
continue to show their incompetence in that racehorses do NOT carry an average
person’s weight plus a reasonable quota of gear (Let’s say @ 15 stone or 100
kilos - REALLY what you would expect from a ‘carefully bred vehicle’ which
weighs in at close to a tonne) but continue to (barely) struggle around the
track with little more weight than a small trained monkey would represent. At
least it provides a livelihood for midgets who might otherwise struggle in the
‘big world’, I guess.
05/11/2013: For those of
you who figured I was just a bigot, I notice our security intelligence
organisation (ASIO) shares my view. FYO: I was also against importing IRA
sympathisers most of whom were Catholics (if not indeed atheists, like myself).
Point is we have to have SOME discernment, or what USED to be called
‘discrimination’. O, how I hate the bastardisation of language. (Sometimes I
actually wake up feeling ‘gay’, but NO MORE. AND, Della is a little jealous of
‘Gay’!): http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/opinion/asio-report-says-there-are-great-dangers-from-radical-islamists/story-fni0ffxg-1226752319068
05/11/2013: Further to my
post about being able to light a fire in the rain, I have also long toyed with
the idea of carrying/constructing a fire rain hat or raincoat so that heavy
rain doesn’t put out your fire. The two occasions when it is really important
to be able to light a fire are when it is very wet and cold and when there is a
bushfire approaching (so that you can create burned ground as a refuge!) On
such occasions if you don’t have a lighter, or can’t light a fire you’re a dead
duck. Smokers clearly have an advantage here over more sanctimonious folk, and
even though I gave up smoking more than a generation ago (! – THERE is an
interesting method of measuring TIME) I still always carry a ‘Mini-Bic’). We
ALWAYS camp in a shelter which allows a fire outside. A tent is a cold,
creeping thing to have to retreat to when you can sit/stand in a warm open
shelter, drink rum, play games, read etc in front of a cheery fire – and with a
warm back! If you pitch a rectangular tarp high you can have a (small) fire at
one end (though the wind tends to catch the tarp if it isn’t pegged to the
ground on at least 2/3 sides. I think it should be possible to suspend over the
fire (eg a 1 metre square) diamond of eg ‘Tyvek’ @ 1.75 ounces /square yard
with a melting point of 800C. You need to be careful that the fire can’t ignite
its ‘roof’ or use it as a wick to ignite your tent, but this shouldn’t be much
of a problem in the rain. Set-up obviously needs to be when furled (a couple of
rubber bands should achieve this) so you can pitch it over the fire when it is
already lit. Weight should be able to be kept to less than 3 ounces (90 grams)
including stakes and guys.
05/11/2013: Alcohol
simmer stoves: these look good – may try out the ‘Turbo 1-D’ and the
‘Trailbaker’: http://brasslite.com/stoves/products.html
05/11/2013: The jury is
BACK on the effectiveness of the American ‘economic stimulus’. The same reality
applies to the dreadful Rudd/Gillard stimulus - and the horrendous debt it has
left us with. Unsurprisingly the stimulus is revealed as the greatest economic
disaster of all time. When WILL people wake up to the reality that Keynes is
just communism repackaged – and that Government does not create ANY real wealth
– and the corollary: that the best thing Government can do is ‘GET OUT OF THE
BLEEDING WAY!” http://catallaxyfiles.com/2013/10/29/laffer-again/
04/11/2013: JUST when I
was opining that folks who talk to dogs are going loopy, someone comes along
and deciphers ‘dog-speak’, or at least dog ‘tales’, if you can pardon the pun: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24746107#
04/11/2013: The first
sign of madness…. A belief in canine telepathy: whenever you get a new dog,
after a little while you realise that you have been asking ‘Spot’ to remind you
to buy tissues when you next go to the supermarket, not to forget to water the
carrot seedlings & etc…then you begin to wonder whether all this talking to
animals is early onset whatever-you-call-it…Talking to birds (our parrots, for
example) is reasonable by comparison (sometimes THEY talk back!), but when it
comes to dogs – and then: ‘I talk to the trees’, well, it gives you pause…
04/11/2013: I have been
thinking about the desirability of carrying a fixed blade knife mainly for
those rare occasions when it is necessary to split branches to produce dry
kindling and shave them to produce ‘excelsior’. Lighting a fire when it is VERY
wet and cold is the most important time – and can save your life. You can’t
really do this with a folder or any other of the ultra-light hiking options (eg
Micro Leatherman – 50 grams, or Swiss card – 25 grams (though both are
excellent multi tools for a variety of purposes; eg the Leatherman has the best
toe-nail cutting scissors in the WORLD!) You have to be able to split dry
branches you can break into eg six inch pieces over your knee. (The lightest
hatchet/machete is too heavy for emergency-only carrying at 4-500 grams). You
have to be able to hold the handle and tap on the end of the blade with another
piece of wood, so the blade needs to be about at least 3” long. These two sites
have some very light fixed blade knives (http://www.gofastandlight.com/Knives-Saws/products/20/ & http://kestrelknives.com/products/) Kestrel’s ‘Ultralighter’ would be hard to
beat @ 11.6 grams though a 2 ¼” blade is quite minimalist, but should do the
job in an emergency and would still butcher game or fillet a fish quite
satisfactorily. It IS a bit pricey at $100 though, so I may opt to carry a
little more weight and try out eg the Ka-Bar Adventure Piggyback Knife just over an ounce & $8.88 or the Ka-Bar
ZK Acheron Skeleton Knife (with a 3 ½” blade also @30 grams) & $9.39 or the
Mora Scout @ 85 grams including sheath $16.89 or the Gerber ‘Myth’: http://www2.knifecenter.com/item/GB31001156/Gerber-31-001156-Myth-Compact-Fixed-Blade-Sharpener-Plastic-Sheath @ 30 grams & $19.95...
04/11/2013: I downloaded
‘The Hobbit’ and we watched it (with subtitles) and without all the attendant
sound effects you now get in the cinema. IT WAS SO MUCH BETTER!
03/11/2013: Target’s
decision to reintroduce plastic shopping bags was just about the best news for
2013. Just wish Bunnings would follow suit as I am sick of trying to carry out
ungainly handfuls of various hardware – and I do NOT need another cardboard
box, which I have to burn, thank you. Mind you they have become more vigilant
against my stated penalty to them that I would simply steal every shopping
basket in their store over time; I am only getting a free shopping basket now
with about every second purchase! Of course the whole ban was just another
Leftie/Greenie nonsense as the Productivity Commission made clear way back
when: http://catallaxyfiles.com/2013/10/29/plastic-bags-iii-2/
03/11/2013: More good
news: http://joannenova.com.au/2013/10/co2-emissions-in-last-50-years-made-us-3-5-trillion-wealthier/
03/11/2013: TEACHERS: It is your job to teach
Maths, Physics, English Literature, Ancient Greek or etc, NOT to engage in
politics of ANY sort. An article in the Herald Sun reported a study of 40,000
students which proved that some teachers are SIX TIMES better at doing their
job than others. Such things ARE measurable. It would be far better to have
such teachers in front of classes of 50 students, pay them much more and get
rid of the ones who are not able to achieve results almost an order of
magnitude worse! (ie, we are not talking about some teachers being 10% better
than others; we are talking about them being TEN TIMES better!) Of course you
may have to bring back caning (It should not have been removed anyway). You may
need more secretarial assistants, computerised assessment & marking, protective
service officers, etc. Discipline. Regimentation. If we need ‘thugs’ to
convince ‘bad’ children to avoid their bad behaviour in future, we should have
them. What worked for Pavlov’s dog, etc. The key requirement of an education
system is that it makes children into productive (and loyal) citizens. What we
don't need are more bad teachers, or me social ‘welfare’ or social experiments.
It is just a nonsense that there aren’t VERY MANY in our schools - just as
there were when Della and I were teachers (or students!). Standards have also
clearly slipped. A sixth year of secondary and a seventh year of primary
education have been introduced since I was at school, yet the curriculum is now
only covering many topics at University (if at all!) which were then mastered
at school. In fact so watered down is the curriculum that most students never
(learn any)/master mathematics and science – let alone basic literacy and
numeracy. The average HIGH School graduate has not mastered Algebra (which was
mastered in PRIMARY School in my mother’s day! Imagine sending people out into
the world (as ‘educated’ human beings – they have a piece of PAPER to prove
it!) who cannot do calculus or trigonometry, have not learned their atomic
table or valency, do not understand how business works or have an eagerness to
take up its challenges, have no idea what chemical reactions are – let alone
who are unable to quote large sections of Shakespeare or other great poets –
and who have no knowledge or understanding of the wonders that were ancient
Greece & Rome: have never read Plato or Homer etc, etc! Our school system
is a hideously expensive, left-wing union dominated disaster area!
02/11/2013: ‘Electricity’
Bill Shorten really IS a dill! NOW he wants to deny the clear will of the people
and retain a carbon tax they have clearly voted to have removed, THEN he wants
to fight the next election vowing to bring it back again! PREDICTION: He will
NEVER be Prime Minister – and thank goodness for that! http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/policy/labor-to-stand-by-emissions-trading-scheme-says-it-wont-be-bullied-by-tony-abbott/story-e6frg6xf-1226751373905
02/11/2013: A packable
.22 Winchester Magnum rifle at under 1 pound has to be a useful thing to own,
surely? http://rutalocura.com/PRK.html
02/11/2013: Where your
climate dollars are REALLY going. Boy, do these dudes know how to pay
themselves BIG TIME. Pigs at a trough have nothing on these guys. Millions
squandered. And you guessed it, NOTHING for the poor, or the climate: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/10/27/long-green/#more-96352
02/11/2013: Quote of the day, former union
official Grace Collier: ‘Back in 1975, 2000 officials were employed by unions
with 3 million members whose membership dues provided a tax-free income stream.
Now 4000 officials are employed, while union membership is down to 1.8 million.
So twice as many union officials now live off less than two-thirds of the
membership revenue. Where is the extra money coming from?’ Those CFMEU thugs
(and others) sure know how to live it up BIG! Hanging IS too good for crooked
union leaders.
02/11/2013: This
guy’s worn-out sophism is viral at the moment; just a rehash of the tired old
‘Precautionary Principle’ really without any figures for ‘likelihood,
cost-benefit, etc…Trouble is the catastrophes he thinks we should avoid are not
real, as we already lived through the worst temperatures that CO2 could ever
cause just back in the Middle Ages, and it was quite nice weather-wise anyway.
Therefore if you took the action recommended you would have all the costs, but
as there were no negatives to avoid, it
would be just insane to waste the money when there are so many more important
things to spend money on right now (eradication of disease, famine etc). In any
case even if there were increases in temperature and negative effects, it is
going to be much cheaper (as a percentage of world GDP) to adapt to them
anyway. It is after all also not possible that the 'action on climate change'
WILL occur as the developing nations WILL not be kept in poverty. All the guy's
arguments are spurious nonsense. Setting up such disjuncts (which are false and
unreal - ie nothing validly follows from a false premise) is the trick which
makes it look like he has a point. Go back to reasoning 101. One could as
easily argue (as folks DID in the past) that GOD was going to bring
catastrophes, destroy the world, etc unless vast amounts of money was spent on
sinecures, indulgences, cathedrals, shamans, fetishes, shibboleths, etc. The
SAME invalid conclusion would be arrived at (as in this case): http://www.upworthy.com/one-guy-with-a-marker-just-made-the-global-warming-debate-completely-obsolete-7?g=4
01/11/2013: Scott
Morrison has just announced there have been no ‘illegal boat arrivals’ in SEVEN
DAYS. This is the first time this has happened since Rudd/Gillard undid Howard’s
‘Pacific Solution’. Hope you can remember that before the election of the
Abbott Government illegals were running at 100+ per DAY. This is what happens
when you have a Government of GROWN UPS! Henceforth the Labor party will be
known as ‘The Children’s party’!
01/11/2013: All that most
folks know about ENGINEERING was taught to them by the nursery story, ‘The
Three Little Pigs,’ which explains their passion for ‘brick veneer’ houses -
which have to be just about the WORST DESIGN IDEA of all time for housing.
Further to that folly, the design standards for even this
disaster-in-the-making idea for a house have declined over the years - so that
now the flimsy stick construction (which is what is supposed to hold up the
single tier of bricks (which will not stand up by themselves - try this with
your child’s blocks! Older houses were double brick) has declined from one
HARDWOOD (F17-21) 2”x4” (50x100mm) upright every 18” (45cm) to one 1 1/4 “x 3”
treated pine (F5-7) every 60cm and NO joints, everything just butt nailed.
However, the metal ties which link the framing to the brick course have
improved (They are now galvanised). If yours was built before this happened the
walls WILL just fall down one day. On top of this flimsy structure people
insist on placing an enormously heavy (yet poorly secured) masonry tile roof
with no structural or tensile strength instead of screwed down (eg) galvanised
iron as on their garage (which they can expect to last longer and withstand
storms, fire etc better than their houses). People are also building such
houses on concrete pads (instead of elevated stumps) on flood plains like
almost the entire city of
01/11/2013: Scientists
reply to IPCC’s nonsense: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/10/19/scientific-critique-of-ipccs-2013-summary-for-policymakers/#more-95880
01/11/2013: INCREDIBLE:
Each U.S. taxpayer now has a federal-debt liability of $1.1 million, and
rising.
31/10/2013: Interested in
lightweight HIKING? This set of Links will set you off on some wonderful
adventures, eg Brasslite alcohol stoves, down booties, Rutalocura products inc
carbon fibre trekking poles & Tenkara fly rods for same, pack rifles etc,
etc: http://www.titaniumgoat.com/links.html
31/10/2013: If you are
interested in hiking/fishing, these lightweight rods and reels are interesting
too (http://penfishingrods.com/shop/products.php?category_id=13) and these are just about the best hand
casters in the world: http://www.moontrail.com/accessrs/a-misc/handline.html
31/10/2013: Shorten is
such a thuggish chump. Did you see the clown in
31/10/2013: I can’t
imagine WHAT Brendan Nelson is/was thinking: Rudyard Kipling was one of the
great English writers AND a veteran of WW1. His epitaph to ‘unknown soldiers’
needs NO REVISION! http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/chiselling_god_from_the_unknown_soldiers_grave/
30/10/2013:
30/10/2013: STILL the
elephant in the room:
30/10/2013: Coming to a
town near you SOON: http://frontpagemag.com/2013/dgreenfield/muslims-gang-rape-12-year-old-norwegian-girl-get-community-service/
30/10/2013: ALSO coming
to a town near you: http://pjmedia.com/lifestyle/2013/10/14/child-marriage-comes-to-australia/
30/10/2013: Dr Spencer’s
paper showing that ‘1/3 of ocean heating over the 20-year period from 1990-2010
can be accounted for just based upon a change in oceanic cloud cover alone’ is
also worth a read: http://www.drroyspencer.com/2013/10/oceanic-cloud-decrease-since-1987-explains-13-of-ocean-heating/
29/10/2013: And to think
that only LAST OCTOBER it was snowing in the
29/10/2013: Scientific
FACT: the VERY HEAVY RAIN falling on the bushfires in NSW is a result of Global
Warming! http://www.bom.gov.au/products/IDR043.loop.shtml
29/10/2013: Newspoll:
Coalition 56:44. Past time ‘Electricity’ Bill made up his mind to allow the
repeal of the carbon tax!
29/10/2013: Obamacare:
CNS News reported: ‘Americans who were recipients of means-tested government
benefits in 2011 outnumbered year-round full-time workers, according to data
released this month by the Census Bureau…They also out-numbered the total
population of the Philippines…There were 108,592,000 people in the United
States in the fourth quarter of 2011 who were recipients of one or more
means-tested government benefit programs, the Census Bureau said in data
released this week. Meanwhile, according to the Census Bureau, there were
101,716,000 people who worked full-time year round in 2011. That included both
private-sector and government workers.’ At least you can see where the money has
GONE!
29/10/2013: Quote of the
day: Henry Ergas: ‘LIKE the theologians Voltaire skewered for attributing the
great Lisbon earthquake of 1755 to licentiousness and vice, the green lobby has
seized on the NSW bushfires as a sign that the carbon tax must be retained… To
believe
28/10/2013: Save the
country. Nuclear, not solar (or wind!)! Please? New nuclear power plant to be
built in the
28/10/2013: ‘Electricity
Bill Shorten’. THAT will stick!
28/10/2013: Hiking food:
Continental Sensations Cup a Soup: ‘Sweet Potato with Bacon & Cream’ IS
delicious. Pop one in YOUR day-pack!
28/10/2013: Ice is needed
by a ‘warming’ planet perhaps, but there’s more than enough here for many G
& Ts: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/10/20/antarctic-sea-ice-didnt-get-the-memo-that-it-was-supposed-to-melt/ & http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/10/22/nasa-announces-new-record-growth-of-antarctic-sea-ice-extent/
28/10/2013: The FBI’s
‘most wanted list’ of terrorists. Spot anything interesting (which ‘might’
throw a bad light on a particular ‘religion of love’)? Yes there are 2/32 folks
there who are not members. And you STILL think we should have an
‘indiscriminate’ immigration policy? I think we need to be VERY careful to
check out people’s bona fides. There ARE many fine Moslems (and over the years
I have had many such friends), but it is undeniable that a fanatical
fundamentalist jihadist element has hijacked, nay barbarised much of the
Islamic world – and we import it at our peril. PS: I would be just as concerned
about importing ‘Christians such as Timothy McVeigh: http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/wanted_terrorists/@@wanted-group-listing
7/10/2013: Merrin &
Matt have certainly turned their shop into a WONDERLAND. Try some Xmas shopping
in Yinnar: https://www.facebook.com/yinnargeneralstore
27/10/2013: The platypus
sure IS cute; I often delight to see one in the wild on one of my many
backcountry hiking trips, but they rarely let me tickle them like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6QHzIJO5a8
27/10/2013: A good laugh:
Vale Climate Change: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/10/25/friday-funny-a-tribute-to-the-life-of-climate-change/#more-96263
27/10/2013: THIS will be
a great invention if they can make it work: http://www.gizmag.com/silicon-supercapacitor/29515/
27/10/2013: What a GREAT
gadget: a hard drive which can store your stuff for a BILLION years. Just
think, your bad poetry can still be around long after the species has been
completely forgotten. Now there’s a ‘must have’! http://www.gizmag.com/billion-year-data-storage/29530/
26/10/2013: Quote of the
day; Andrew Bolt: ‘Some things are indeed simple, and cannot be disguised or
overcome with complexity. A knife still cuts the Gordian knot. The emperor
still has no clothes…’YES!
26/10/2013: LIT CRIT may
be FUN, but is it really worthy of STUDY, let alone vast subsidies from the
public purse? For example, would research money be better spent in searching
for a cure for childhood leukaemia, nuclear fusion, better anti-reflective
coatings, higher tensile threads…or maybe working out the role of the brothel
in Shakespeare? YOU decide: http://www.newenglishreview.org/custpage.cfm/frm/142200/sec_id/142200
26/10/2013: Time to rethink our statins? http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-saturated-fat-20131022,0,2193813.story#axzz2iVqDuTTZ
26/10/2013: O, HOW WE
need a ‘Boneta Bill’ here too! One of the few ‘rights’ in OUR constitution is
the right to private property (and its converse) that Government may not
confiscate it without (paying) just compensation. Yet the examples of
Government doing just that are legion; from simple idiotic ordinances such as
the children’s birthday party planning permit which provoked Boneta, to large
scale confiscation of farmland for ‘environmental’ reasons… Frankly it
frightens me to realise what most people (leftists) consider to be ‘rights’. Their ‘rights, almost
invariably MEAN the confiscation of someone else’s property for the ‘good’ of
someone else (themselves?). The right to work, free speech, freedom of
assembly, bear arms, self protection, justice, national defence…etc are low
down on their list. Do they even MAKE their list? http://www.americanthinker.com/2013/10/virginia_farmer_starts_property_rights_legal_revolution.html
26/10/2013: An
(environmentalist driven) lack of fuel reduction burns is what is making
bushfires worse: David Evans: ‘There has been a hiatus in the rise of average
global air temperatures for the last fifteen years or more…While this does not
rule out warming in some regions, climate cannot have been much of a
contributor to the worsening bushfire situation over the last fifteen
years…Current fuel loads are now typically 30 tonnes per hectare in the forests
of southeast Australia, compared to maybe 8 tonnes per hectare in the recent
and ancient past’: http://joannenova.com.au/2013/10/man-made-climate-change-and-bushfires-in-southeast-australia/
25/10/2013: We are
currently enjoying a ‘film feast’ of ‘golden oldies’. The most recent films are
just too loud, there is too much action and too little plot &
characterisation; the background noise and sound effects completely drown out
the dialogue so it is impossible to follow them. There are SO few exceptions.
We have been enjoying the 1940’s Sherlock Holmes films starring Basil Rathbone.
We have begun a John Ford festival. I already mentioned his ‘Young Mr Lincoln’.
Last night we delighted in Ford’s wonderful adaptation of Erskine Caldwell’s
great, ‘Tobacco Road’. You have to watch this to appreciate just what the term,
‘
25/10/2013: Dr Roy
Spencer (of UAH) thinks CO2 probably does warm the earth (just not very much) which
is likely right (& good for us/it), but his graphic pointing out the
divergence between the climate ‘models’ and the temperature record HERE is
striking: http://www.drroyspencer.com/2013/10/maybe-that-ipcc-95-certainty-was-correct-after-all/
25/10/2013: ‘Ah Love, let
us be true to one another’… http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/record-auction-price-for-a-symbol-of-love-the-violin-played-as-the-titanic-went-down/story-e6frg6so-1226743243445#sthash.tl3NtPHy.dpuf
24/10/2013: Trouble is,
Ted Bailleu was one of VERY FEW recent politicians in Australia who took action
to seriously rein in (rather than increase) debt, so that now Vic’s finances
are back in the black to the tune of a few hundreds of millions. AND, we dumped
him. This is the lesson the pollies understood from this. It is why US & Oz
debt continue to mushroom. Unfortunately there WILL be a day of reckoning for
all this recklessness (note the derivation, ‘reck’ = ‘care’ OE). When the
ability to pay finally runs out, we will have paid to breed a vast horde of
utterly useless folk who can no longer be sustained – and we WILL REFUSE to continue
hand-outs to them. WHAT, then, will be the consequence?
24/10/2013: Quote of the
day: ‘It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary
depends upon his not understanding it!’ Upton Sinclair
24/10/2013: ‘How do I
know my youth is all spent?’ More than anything I think it is the number of
tablets I have to take in the morning. Before breakfast I positively rattle.
24/10/2013: Of course the
SAME WEATHER pattern which is bringing NSW fires is bringing Tas and Vic cold,
rain and even snow! Later on in the season when a weather pattern is bringing
US fires down South it will bring NSW & Qld FLOODS. This is what WEATHER
has always been like. It has NOTHING to do with climate change, besides NEITHER
climate nor WEATHER has changed significantly in the C20th or C21st anyway!
24/10/2013: Just IMAGINE
the good you could do with a BILLION DOLLARS A DAY (if you weren’t wasting it
on AGW, that is): http://www.thegwpf.org/world-spending-1-billion-day-tackle-global-warming/
23/10/2013: John Ford’s
‘Young Mr Lincoln’ (1939) reminds me why the American people BUILT the Lincoln
Memorial. Spielberg’s turgid debasement
is unwatchable rubbish by comparison. Suggest you download the former from
‘Kickass’ and enjoy!
23/10/2013: In
22/10/2013: Evidently an
11 year old named ‘Global Warming’ lit the bushfires now engulfing NSW. Or
perhaps his/her name was Flim Flammery or Adam Bandit?
23/10/2013: Obviously a
product of good parenting: http://blogs.news.com.au/images/uploads/bird_thumb.jpg
22/10/2013: Quick ACTION
‘saved’ this British town from a creeping menace. We obviously need MORE
political correctness here: ‘A council has removed posters advertising a circus
following a complaint from a woman who is scared of clowns. Leighton Buzzard
Town Hall Council said it took down the adverts after one complaint - in a town
of 28,000 people. An unnamed female resident told the authority the posters
were scaring her whenever she drove past them, explaining that she suffers from
coulrophobia. The council removed all of the posters and told the circus not to
come back to the town unless it uses promotional material without clowns on
it’: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2465972/Circus-ordered-posters-ONE-complaint-woman-scared-clowns.html#ixzz2iOXE62j5
22/10/2013: What drives
home the reality that our last Westie and our last cat are no more is the fact
that a brace of (live) conies has invaded the garden (seen this morning outside
the bedroom window enjoying their silflay), something we haven’t seen here in
over twenty years. What the two JRs are doing about it is a mystery. It is
(sort of) nice to see that they have survived the myxo, the calici, the
bushfires, etc, etc BUT methinks they are destined for the pot – if I can work
on Della’s gun handling skills a bit…
22/10/2013: UNPRECEDENTED
bushfires: ‘of 48 major bushfires in NSW between 1926 and 2006, 11 occurred in October
or earlier’…’Serious bushfires occurred in New South Wales in 1951-52, 1968-69,
1984-85 and 1993-94. In 1968-69 over one million ha were burnt and three people
were killed (Linacre & Hobbs 1977; RFS 2003a). In 1984-85, 3.5 million ha
were burnt, four lives were lost, 40,000 livestock were killed and $40m damage
to property was caused (RFS 2003a). In 1993-94, bushfires burnt 800,000 ha,
destroyed 287 residential properties and other premises and killed four people
(Year Book
22/10/2013: You KNOW you
(at last) have a Government of grown ups when they instruct the relevant
departments to call people ‘illegal immigrants’ and ‘detainees’ instead of
‘clients’. Well done Scott Morrison!
22/10/2013: The French
will do ANYTHING, but it ought not be illegal: http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/western-australia/broome-police-charge-woman-after-allegedly-catching-her-driving-with-man-dressed-in-dinosaur-onesie-on-bonnet/story-fnhocxo3-1226743317246
22/10/2013: ‘SAVE THE
Planet’, the ‘great unwashed’ scream, yet we may have already done so (and by
the unlikely means of the Industrial Revolution’). Let me explain: Plants need
@ 200ppm of CO2 to survive. If the percentage drops below that (ie .02%) life
will pretty much cease – yet the pre-Industrial world tilted perilously close
to that. The percentage has varied from upwards of 20,000ppm in the time of the
dinosaurs for example, down to just over 200ppm over time, during which warm,
tropical periods and ice ages came and went completely uncorrelated to its
percentage. However, steadily the percentage of CO2 being liberated by
volcanism and other processes eg from the carboniferous rocks, coal & peat
deposits etc where it ‘ultimately’ becomes ‘locked up, declined until just
before the Industrial Revolution its percentage was such that the cessation of
life on earth was imminent. The forests shrank and great plains and deserts
spread across much of the globe as there was not enough CO2 to build any more
forests, and much of life had to retreat to what were really oases to survive.
Just in the nick of time (folks of a religious persuasion will see this as
predestined) as a result of the Industrial Revolution personkind began to
liberate vast quantities of carbon in the form of CO2 and a wonderful profusion
of life was the result. The forests spread, the deserts and grasslands
retreated and once more a profusion of life saturated the planet: THAT is the
era we are living in: the Anthropocene. It can only get better!
21/10/2013: Loony of the
month: I’d bet you hadn’t realised this: ‘Butter-iced snares of self-loathing that sell
precisely because they exploit young women’s insecurity about their looks and
identity, and offer a completely false and self-defeating solace of temporary
gratification, almost certainly followed by remorse and disgust’: http://davidthompson.typepad.com/davidthompson/2013/10/the-cupcake-menace.html
21/10/2013: THIS is the
sort of Prime Minister I want: a man of deeds, not just of words: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/in-depth/bushfires/tony-abbott-puts-himself-in-line-of-fire/story-fngw0i02-1226743492769#sthash.EKLsvkqG.dpuf
21/10/2013: Compulsory
‘free’ health insurance/care for all IS utterly unaffordable and unnecessary
(as this writer points out). The analogy to car insurance could be taken a few
steps further: eg WE usually only take out Third Party property insurance (and
only because others have a ‘right’ to sue us for damage to their more expensive
cars!) and chose to drive older cars which we maintain ourselves. Cost of
insurance = zero. If folks made a similar attempt to ‘drive’ a cheaper body and
maintain it themselves, and accepted that when it is worn out it should simply
be scrapped as no amount of repair costs can fix it, the cost would come down
enormously – perhaps to somewhere reasonable. Demands for ‘free stuff for
everyone’ are just infantile and irresponsible fantasies: http://maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com/archives/23139-The-Change.html
21/10/2013: This is quite
important: Dr Spencer explains (for the layman) the role of positive/negative
‘feedbacks’ in the climate system (and attempts to allay some extremist fears):
http://www.drroyspencer.com/2013/09/the-global-warming-they-fear-is-not-based-upon-physical-first-principles/
21/10/2013: Tim Blair: ‘Bill Shorten’s mispronunciation of
words containing “th” – “uvver” instead of “other”, “wiff” instead of “with”,
“fink” instead of “think” – is known as th-fronting. It’s big in
England. Happily, solutions
are available.’ PREDICTION: Tanya Plibersek will be the NEW Ju-Liar!
20/10/2013: Playing
Bandt’s game. Click on the Pic: https://twitter.com/aaronparker73/status/391119402088669185/photo/1
20/10/2013: Art for art’s
sake (WARNING; This is hilarious! Well
worth the $378!) :
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Half-Chewed-Cole-Haan-Wingtip-by-Emerging-Canine-Artist-Left-Shoe-Size-11-5D-/290991841025
20/10/2013: Quote of the
day: Adj. Comr. Dedy Kusuma Bakti, the Cianjur Police chief, said his office
was working with the
20/10/2013: The Call:
Carl H. Emmons
Did you ever have a longin’ to get out and
buck the trail,
And to face the crashin’
lightnin’ and the thunder and the gale?
Not for no partic’lar
reason but to give the world the laugh,
And to show the roarin’
elyments you still can stand the gaff.
Don’t you ever feel a
yearnin’ just to try your luck again
Down the rippin’ plungin’
rapids with a bunch of reg’lar men?
Don’t you ever sorta
hanker for a rough and risky trip,
Just to prove you’re
still a livin’ and you haven’t lost your grip?
Can’t you hear the woods
a-callin’ for to have another try
Sleepin’ out beneath the
spruces with a roof of moonlit sky,
With the wind a sorta
singin’ through the branches overhead
And your fire a gaily
crackin’ and your pipe a-glowin’ red?
Don’t you often get to
feelin’ sorta cramped and useless there,
Makin’ figgers and
a-shinin’ your pants upon a chair?
Don’t you yearn to get
acquainted once again with Life and God?
If you don’t, then Heaven
help you, for you’re a dyin’ in yer pod.
20/10/2013: These amazing
fossil hominids from Dmanisi in
19/10/2013:
19/10/2013: Lots of news
about the fires allegedly ‘caused’ by a non-existent global warming for the
last c20 years and NOT by a very wet autumn-spring and lots of growth (the
exact opposite of what the Flanneries etc predicted, a lack of fuel reduction
burns, absurd locking up of bush areas by misplaced greenie ideologues,
infringement of suburbia into the bush etc, etc and NOTHING about Canberra
having its COLDEST morning on record which has virtually wiped out the wine
industry there (but not the whining industry!): http://www.smh.com.au/environment/weather/canberra-wineries-hit-by-coldest-october-morning-ever-20131018-2vrd7.html#ixzz2i43s8w3F
19/10/2013: This is a
brilliant explanation of why otherwise ‘normal’ indeed privileged folks with no
problems at all really join hands in crazy mass movements such as
environmentalism. The summary of Paul Bruckner’s book, here (http://www.city-journal.org/2012/22_2_apocalyptic-daze.html) is a really important read (I particularly
like it that ‘Tintin’ is to blame for all this), eg ‘In France, a Green politician, Yves
Cochet, has proposed a “womb strike,” which would be reinforced by penalties
against couples who conceive a third child, since each child means, in terms of
pollution, the equivalent of 620 round trips between Paris and New York.’ There
YOU go, Merrin: always buzzing around! His conclusion is sound: ‘Environmental
worry is universal; the sickness of the end of the world is purely Western. To
counter this pessimism, we might list the good news of the last 20 years:
democracy is making slow progress; more than a billion people have escaped
absolute poverty; life expectancy has increased in most countries; war is
becoming rarer; many serious illnesses have been eradicated. But it would do
little good. Our perception is inversely proportional to reality.’: http://www.nationalreview.com/education-week/360874/wannabe-oppressed-stanley-kurtz
19/10/2013: Ah, the VALUE
of studies! Personally I dislike the wretched things: http://au.eonline.com/news/470937/oreos-are-as-addictive-as-cocaine-study-shows
19/10/2013: The sane side
of the climate change consensus: global warming has been and will continue to
be a net benefit to the world: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/10/17/the-good-side-of-climate-change/#more-95754
18/10/2013: ATTENTION
dual cab owners: Get a REAL 4WD, one that can easily tow a bogged Landie
(Warning: May not be road legal – or affordable!) : http://www.wired.com/autopia/2013/10/ghe-o-rescue/
18/10/2013: Meanwhile,
the wind begins to blow from the right direction: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2461999/Yorkshire-Dales-wind-farm-Britain-torn-down.html
18/10/2013: A day in the
life of a gas protestor: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_aklt-PCeI
17/10/2013: It is SO hard
to keep track of the origins of the influences which inform our opinions, nay our
TRUISMS. An example: it was the Marxist historian Gordon Childe who ‘invented’
the ‘Neolithic Revolution’, a ‘fact’ which I had not questioned until recently.
In so doing, he had drawn parallels with the ‘Industrial Revolution’ (which I
must also reprise soon) and had created a narrative of the human story (which
like the ideal of ‘progress’ for example) is wholly false, apparently. The
discoveries at Gobeki Tepe, Jerf el Ahmar, Wadi Faynan, etc, etc undo the
sequence of events in our prehistory underlining eg the certainty that culture
takes precedence over necessity (thus overturning a fundamental tenet of
leftist social studies curricula of the last 30 (?) years which have taught two
generations at least that the essential human necessities are first & in
order: air, water, food, shelter…) In these astonishing sites we see that
prehistoric hunters were constructing (Palaeolithic) monuments LONG BEFORE the
invention of farming, so that clearly CULTURE takes precedence over all else in
the human mind: an adamantine fact which policy makers everywhere need to
cleave to, utterly: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6bekli_Tepe
17/10/2013: Absurd
Creature of the Week: This Prehistoric Elephant Had a Huge Spork for a Mouth: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/10/absurd-creature-of-the-week-spork-elephant/
17/10/2013: Quote of the
day: Tim Blair: ‘the IPCC warns. “Another 800,000 people will fall ill year
from contaminated food and water – while more than 270,000 homes will be at
risk of collapsing into the ocean from rising sea levels.” These IPCC
predictions seem remarkably precise, considering that they’re talking about the
deaths of people whose parents haven’t yet been conceived. Could we please have
the names of the doomed, so that future folk won’t bother getting too close to
them?’
17/10/2013: When you
realise that eg the Montebello Islands (Bikini, Moruroa, Nagasaki etc) can
survive nuclear bombs and bounce back, concerns about a few hundredths of a
degree of climate change, fluoride, shopping bags, bad attitude, etc, etc
shrink into insignificance: http://sixtyminutes.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=8736684
16/10/2013: Looking into
ways to ‘convert’ a wagon into a camper. There ARE some interesting products
out there, eg these two: http://www.gizmag.com/ququq-van-camper-one-minute/28009/pictures#1 & http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMoUjjnZ5xE
16/10/2013: Farewell
Scott Carpenter: FEW of the space pioneers remain (John Glenn being most
prominent): http://catallaxyfiles.com/2013/10/13/scott-carpenter-rip/ & http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/10/14/godspeed-scott-carpenter/#more-95584
16/10/2013: Seems there
are folks who can’t distinguish between disagreeing with a CULTURE, and
‘racism’, the newest easy ‘put-down’ – all too distinguishable from ‘thought’.
They have forgotten (apparently – did they ever KNOW?) that most of my and my
parents’ lives (this is litotes) was spent fighting the dreadful culture of
COMMUNISM, or that some years of my parents’ generations’ lives were spent
eradicating the culture of Nazism, or that my generation stamped out the
culture of cannibalism in New Guinea (and with it that fascinating parasite –
responsible for the dread disease ‘kuru’ – which more than anything I know of
proved that ‘life will find a way!), and so much more. Evil must be fought,
whether it is politically correct to do so or not. Not all cultures are equal,
certainly not all are good, and some are downright execrable. A culture which
supports extreme violence and sexual abuse of women and children for example,
MUST not be allowed to remain. There is ample evidence that there are some
cultures which do have horribly evil characteristics at their very core: they
MUST be eliminated. (I have NO time for the Saudis, for example). Traditional
‘aboriginal culture’ is an oxymoron. I am not (of course) advocating harming or
killing ANY human being when I say this. For example, I had a number of friends
who were ‘patrol officers’ in
17/10/2013: Reply to a
comment: What I can simply NEVER understand about Leftists is how you have no
moral sense: you simply cannot see the difference between right and wrong, so
you can engage in rhetorical dispute about eg wording whilst turning a blind
eye to mass murder - and that something could be done to prevent it, and to
make the people (otherwise wholly ruined) have a decent life. Factual knowledge
(eg hunting skills and plant use and identification) are utterly different
matters to the 'culture' which sees MOST children and women in 'traditional 'aboriginal
society molested and abused. Examinations of skeletal remains shows eg most
have now and in the past suffered from skull fractures. There would not be one
in a hundred (nay a thousand) in Western society who have similar skeletal
injuries...yet you quibble about getting rid of an obscene 'culture' which has
such awful outcomes. As I said before, you simply have no perception of right
and wrong. You can still support socialism when you see what the Pol Pots, the
Maos and the Stalins, do and have ever done. Shame!
16/10/2013: Quote of the
day: Sid Maher: ‘On day two of his leadership, Shorten is exactly where the
Prime Minister wants him. Voting with the Greens, which produced the carbon tax
as part of their alliance with Labor in the last parliament, and facing attacks
from the Coalition that he is defying the will of the people’.
15/10/2013: Frankly I
think e-cigarettes should be encouraged too: http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/don%27t-discourage-vaping.aspx
15/10/2013: My thanks to
Prof Judith Sloan: The Draft Years 5-10 Australian Curriculum: Economics and
Business: In the first paragraph, there is a reference to “exploring the way individuals,
families, the community, businesses and governments make decisions in relation
to the allocation of resources and to consider the effects of these decisions
both now and in the future.” There are three priorities: Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander histories and cultures; Asia and
15/10/2013: Australian
farmers (and many others) have never been able to afford eg a High Court
challenge to the clearly unconstitutional various environmental & ‘native
species’ legislations which have stolen huge chunks of their land and deprived
them of their livelihood for more than twenty years (aka ‘dispossession’).
These laws are clearly unconstitutional in that they deprive people of their
private property without just compensation perhaps the only ‘right’ existing in
that document. Many have lost their farms completely. We personally lost over
$500,000 (which would have come in very handy in our retirement!) Meanwhile
though, our Government spends $74 million pa on ‘Aparthied Justice’ ie legal
aid specifically for ‘aborigines &
14/10/2013: Dogs
certainly have memories and feelings too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JC5DXGIC8s8#t=109
14/10/2013: Spending like
a drunken sailor, and all wasted. WHEN will these Lefties ever learn: ‘When Mr.
Obama became president in January 2009, the total federal debt stood at $10.6
trillion. This week, it hit $16.7 trillion — an increase of 57 percent. In the
same time frame under President George W. Bush, total federal debt rose 38
percent. Under President Clinton, it rose 32 percent.’ I calculate the per
capita US Government debt at TEN TIMES the Australian Government’s which I have
long since railed about as being unwise and unsustainable.. Unfortunately it is
a little like the difference between owing the bank a little money and a lot of
money: the former is your problem, the latter is the bank’s. ‘If
14/10/2013: Air Marshal
Mark Binskin, at the weekly media conference on Operation Sovereign Borders,
says just 215 boat people have arrived in the first three weeks. That’s about
70 a week. We were running at over 100 per DAY under Ju-Liar. In fact back then
nearly that many people per week were DROWNING trying to get here. This is
(ALREADY) a drop of 90% under Tony. He clearly WILL ‘Stop the Boats!’
14/10/2013: A great
TRIBUTE: Miranda Devine: ‘THE state funeral for Rusty Priest; World War II
veteran, RSL president and keeper of the Anzac flame, was magnificent.
Dignitaries and old soldiers gathered at St Mary’s Cathedral and followed the
gun carriage carrying his coffin across a sun-drenched
It is the soldier, not
the minister, who has given us freedom of religion. It is the soldier, not the
reporter, who has given us freedom of the press.
It is the Soldier, not
the poet, who has given us freedom of speech.
It is the Soldier, not
the campus organiser, who has given us freedom to protest.
It is the soldier, not
the lawyer, who has given us the right to a fair trial.
It is the soldier, not
the politician, who has given us the right to vote.
It is the soldier who
salutes the flag, who serves beneath the flag, and whose coffin is draped by
the flag, who allows the protester to burn the flag.’
13/10/2013: REALLY great
win, Bill. 30,000+ members voted you DOWN 60:40, but 80 Caucus members voted
FOR you 60:40. A triumph for the new Labor democratic way. Members at least had
enough sense to understand that someone who has knifed TWO PMs and who is
implicated in the soon to be prosecuted AWU affair is ‘not fit to shovel shit
upon a
13/10/2013: These hiking
poles are wonderful. ($175 per pair –recommended). At just over 100 grams each
they are about 150 grams lighter (per pole) than Leki (et al) which means for a
lot less work using them. I reckon they take 30% plus effort out of walking -
particularly over hilly and undulating terrain and they have prevented me from
having MANY nasty falls (and possible broken bones, an increasing worry as you
get older – and in remote areas. The number of people I have had to have ‘choppered
out’ with such injuries over the years would amaze you. Unbelievably one of
these poles will take all of MY weight. We also use them for tent poles, for
our zpacks and home made tents. It IS possible to remove a small round ‘plug’
from the handle of one and to insert the bottom section of the other pole there
to make an extra long tent pole (6’plus) such as might be needed for one of the
taller pyramid tents (egMountain Laurel Designs ‘Megamid’): http://gossamergear.com/trekking/trekking/lt4-trekking-poles-all.html
13/10/2013: For pumpkin
lovers: http://maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com/archives/20798-Pumpkins-are-tasty-food!.html
13/10/2013: 7 ½ hours
walking the ‘Grand Strzelecki Track’
doing a section (Jeeralang West Rd to Branniffs Rd) which is supposedly
12 km. This was the longest 12 km we have ever walked. I would estimate the
last four hours along Billy’s Creek was >12km. Della and the two Jack
Russells are stuffed! A bit more work (and thought) needs to go into this
track, particularly better suggested times, a few campsites would be handy (and
a LOT fewer stinging nettles). Other than that it IS MUCH better than Tasmanian
walks. http://www.grandstrzeleckitrack.org.au/
13/10/2013: We have found
THESE to be the best all-round sleeping bags (@624 grams) for a number of
years: http://www.moontrail.com/montbell-ul-spiral-down-hugger-3-reg.php Their temperature rating is VERY generous.
The older models used to weigh in at UNDER 600 grams. They are wonderfully
comfortable because they stretch (unlike other sleeping bags). I have been
quite comfortable down to minus 9C, though the addition of a Sea to Summit
liner increases warmth by 8C at a weight cost of @250grams (http://www.seatosummit.com.au/products-page/travel-sleeping-bag-liners/thermolite-reactor-liner/) I have noticed that Joe Valesko over at http://www.zpacks.com/quilts.shtml has just sarted making sleeping bags. His
equivalent bag would weigh 397 grams (plus 40 grams for a hood – sold
separately). We have a lot of Joe’s
other ultralight gear (packs, tents, etc) and have found them very good, so we
may just try one of these. I can see (particularly) that I can get Della’s pack
weight down substantially with a 1000 fill power down jacket (now even available
in ‘waterproof’ down) and one of Joe’s sleeping bags (more than 500 grams –
nearly two days’ food for her!)
12/10/2013: A couple of
years back we installed a ‘Solatronics’
automatic gate opener (www.solartronics.com.au ) on our front gate which has worked
flawlessly since, and which we can lock when we are ‘out’. When we are ‘in’ you
just press a button on a post to be let in. Chosen folks have a remote in their
cars. It HAS discouraged Jehovahs and petty thieves quite well. There has been
a complete drop-off in the number of cars mysteriously driving in and out of
our property, not that we have a lot which is worth stealing anyway (unless you
are an antique Subaru collector!) We are wondering if our front gate is now in
contravention of the new legislation banning domestic fortifications? We had
been planning installing security doors and screens, and possibly roller
shutters at a later date. We are already well armed, though the purchase of a
Rossi Circuit Judge (available Walmart: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Rossi-Curcuit-Judge-Shotgun-.410-Bore-.45-Colt/17200849?page=seeAllReviews) has been foreshadowed. Age seems to make one
more fearful, if not more paranoid. I am more than disquieted that our nanny
(Liberal?) State has banned people attempting to defend themselves from
malefactors whose numbers still seem to be increasing – possibly because they
have been paid to breed instead of being hanged for the last forty years?.
First they came for the bikies…
12/10/2013: Attention
ultralight hikers: this guy has some of the best alcohol stove anywhere and at
a good price. We have found his products excellent and have used them for many
years: https://www.minibulldesign.com/productcart/pc/viewPrd.asp?idproduct=147&idcategory=2
12/10/2013: A truly
fascinating study of dogs’ brains: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/06/opinion/sunday/dogs-are-people-too.html?pagewanted=all&_r=2&
12/10/2013: Always
learning: I have known since Primary School what ‘a pig in a poke’ means (and
why one should avoid its associated porcine salespersons!) but I am grateful to
last night’s ‘QI’ for enlightening me that a ‘pocket’ is something to keep a
‘piglet’ in - which had not occurred to
me before, though it should have. I am yet to learn what ‘poke’ means on
‘Facebook’, and perhaps I don’t want to, knowing what it has always meant for MY
generation. We had to learn the meanings of many other strange mensurational
and venal terms at Primary School. I can still tell you how many ‘pecks’ there
are in a ‘bushel’, and how many ‘bushels’ there are in a bag of wheat, (and
that there are more in a bag of oats – something which I have put to good use,
as sheep LOVE oats, though I don’t know about ‘ivy’ - which might be poisonous
to ovines for all I know), and how many of those to a ‘ton’, for example. One
of my grandfather’s favourite sayings was, ‘You have to eat a peck of dirt
before you die,’ a most enigmatic and ambiguous admonishment which you ignore
at your peril!
11/10/2013: One thing is
SURE about ‘quantitative easing’ (aka ‘money printing’): it really puts the
stock market up. This morning: ‘Whoosh!’
11/10/2013: We have been
taking them since we read (somewhere?) that Vitamin B supplements can be
protective against Alzheimer’s Disease. This morning I (almost) forgot to take
them…this is deeply worrying…
11/10/2013: Matt Ridley
is coming to
11/10/2013:
11/10/2013: GREAT news:
Fusion experiment produces more energy tan it consumes: http://blogs.the-american-interest.com/wrm/2013/10/08/fusion-breakthrough-deals-malthusians-another-blow/
10/10/2013: Bill Bryson
has a new book on the year 1927, which is a very interesting idea for a book
(Review here: http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/bill-bryson%27s-1927.aspx). I enjoyed his one about hiking the
10/10/2013: You can use
this handy calculator to see when you are going to die – and whether or not it
really is worth fixing that leak in the roof, booking that overseas trip or
starting on training that new master/mistress (https://www.livingto100.com/) and it will tell you that flossing will
extend your lifespan by a full year (whether this will be mainly spent sitting
in a wheelchair drooling and pooping yourself is a moot point). Attempts to
make flossing sexy have generally failed, though the picture below is a good
attempt. Unfortunately for OralB etc, the evidence for flossing is not
compelling, so maybe you can relax and tippy-toe quietly to that grave after
all: http://www.realclearscience.com/blog/2013/10/the-shaky-evidence-for-flossing.html
10/10/2013: Christie Sims
seems to specialise in ‘dinosaur erotica’. This could be the fastest emerging
genre. It even comes with a warning: ‘Warning: This is a tale of beast sex. This
story was written to unlock your darkest fantasies and innermost desires. It is
not for the faint of heart and is not your mother's erotica. All of the sexual
descriptions found in this book are very explicit in nature. It's not suitable
for someone under 18 years of age. Read at your own risk.’ http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FJOK42Q/ref=rdr_kindle_ext_tmb
10/10/2013: As if that
wasn’t bad enough, there is a restaurant which seems to specialise in cooked
penises (NOT a la Miewes, YET!) What IS
the world coming to: http://www.businessinsider.com.au/heres-what-men-in-asia-eat-to-boost-their-libidos-2013-10
09/10/2013: Quote of the
day: ‘The future is certain, only the past is unpredictable’. Polish saying
from Soviet times, as AR5 crumbles and AGW slowly slurps its way down the plughole
into the dustbin of ‘history’…
09/10/2013: A case for
not recognising ‘aboriginality’ in the constitution. This was a SICK culture,
and its remnants remain sick. WARRNING: This is NOT a pretty story. NB Gary
Johns was a Minister in the Hawke Government: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/columnists/history-yes-culture-no/story-fn8v83qk-1226734337831
09/10/2013: THIS (in
reply to a comment: (‘The Fabrication of Aboriginal History’ has an important part to play.
You can get a taste for it here: (http://www.quadrant.org.au/...).
09/10/2013: And THIS, to another: Clearly
evidence and argument are meaningless to you people! I grew up with aboriginal
people (mostly half and three quarter caste) and have all my life had friends
of aboriginal descent. The people I grew up with (in coastal and Western NSW)
had (sensibly) WALKED AWAY from 'aboriginal culture) more than fifty years
before I was born. As is common (and understandable) the women went first, for
the same compelling reasons which (full blood) Bess Price MP talks about today
in regard to the dreadful behaviour of so many folk in Central Australia. She
had this to say on 19/05 this year: ‘Within the last four months, two more
young mothers related to me were killed in Alice Springs Town Camp. One was
injured mortally in the public, in front of several families. Nobody acted to
protect her. Dozens of my female relatives have been killed this way.
Convictions usually lead to light sentences. I was told by a senior lawyer that
no jury in Alice Springs will convict an Aboriginal person for murder if the
victim is also Aboriginal and he or she is only stabbed once’.
09/10/2013: Made my first
Gmail ‘hangout’ video call yesterday to a young friend in the
08/10/2013: A VERY
endangered kind of bare: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eryxAcsTcOA
08/10/2013: I notice the
Americans have been doing without a Government lately, which seems like a GOOD
IDEA. Maybe some more of us could try this trick, and if we like it go the
whole way and do without Governments ALTOGETHER!
08/10/2013: Vaclav Klaus,
President of the
08/10/2013: An
interesting idea: mind you I notice they just wasted the last $X million they
received from our taxes, but it might help balance the budget: http://catallaxyfiles.com/2013/10/06/voluntary-tax-bill-2/
07/10/2013: "The
average human being has one breast and one testicle."
07/10/2013: This shows
just what sort of scam artist Obama and his other lefties are: they are closing
over 1,000 public parks which are entirely privately run and funded. Meanwhile
they seek to squander vast amounts on a new health system which they refuse to
own up to funding. It is another thing entirely to have a publicly funded
health system. Mind you though it is very easy to introduce distortions into
the market with nationalised medicine which end up making it inefficient and
unaffordable. Ours has now arrived at the point where eg to have an essential
back operation we were more than 50% ‘out of pocket’ (so who know what this
means for those who haven’t saved for such eventualities – though mind you I
think people should and not weep over demands on the public purse!) even though
we have contributed to BOTH the public and private health systems for up to 50
years. Our own system is hardly fixed: have you tried to see a competent doctor
lately? Of course partly the problem is that people are unwilling to accept
their own mortality, or are not allowed to go peaceably when the time comes: http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2013/10/its-official-us-forest-service-closing-over-1000-privately-funded-parks.html
06/10/2013: After twenty
years of cooling (during which the world emitted more CO2 than at any other
time in human history) it should be clear to even the stupidest observer that
the whole anthropogenic global warming scam was just ONE BIG DAMNED LIE, as it
was. Here’s Don Easterbrook’s (Professor of Geology,
06/10/2013: "His
mother should have thrown him away and kept the stork." - Mae West
06/10/2013: The poor WILL
inherit the earth (if we don’t stop them first!). From Jean Raspail’s brilliant and brutally
confronting 1971 satire (or indictment), Camp of the Saints (http://archive.org/stream/CampOfTheSaints/Camp_of_the_Saints_djvu.txt) :
‘Then, after a while,
there were too many poor. Altogether too many. Folk you didn’t even know. Not even
from here. Just nameless people. Swarming all over. And so terribly clever!
Spreading through cities, and houses, and homes. Worming their way by the
thousands, in thousands of foolproof ways. Through the slits in your mailboxes,
begging for help, with their frightful pictures bursting from envelopes day
after day, claiming their due in the name of some organization or other.
Slithering in. Through newspapers, radio, churches, through this faction or
that, until they were all around you, wherever you looked. Whole countries
full, bristling with poignant appeals, pleas that seemed more like threats, and
not begging now for linen, but for checks to their account. And in time it got
worse. Soon you saw them on television, hordes of them, churning up, dying by
the thousands, and nameless butchery became a feature, a continuous show, with
its masters of ceremonies and its full-time hucksters. The poor had overrun the
earth. Self-reproach was the order of the day; happiness, a sign of decadence.
Any pleasure? Beneath discussion. Even in Monsieur Calgues’ s own village, if
you did try to give some good linen away, they would just think you were being
condescending. No, charity couldn’t allay your guilt. It could only make you
feel meaner and more ashamed. And so, on that day he remembered so well, the
professor had shut up his cupboards and chests, his cellar and larder, closed
them once and for all to the outside world. The very same day that the last
pope had sold out the
& from the Australian folks pleading for
asylum so they can have boob jobs: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/policy/seeking-asylum-and-breast-job/story-fn9hm1gu-1226733279729
05/10/2013: I LIKE this
parallel argument: In February 2000, American philosopher Dr David Deming wrote
a letter criticizing Yale University student Joni Kletter's February 18, 2000,
syndicated article on gun control published in the University of Oklahoma's
student newspaper, The Oklahoma Daily—a letter for which the professor was
charged for sexual harassment. In her article, Kletter had claimed that
"easy access to a handgun allows everyone in this country . . . to quickly
and easily kill as many random people as they want." In his rebuttal,
Deming wrote "I just want to point out that Kletter's 'easy access' to a
vagina enables her to 'quickly and easily' have sex with 'as many random
people' as she wants. Her possession of an unregistered vagina also equips her
to work as a prostitute and spread venereal diseases. Let's hope Kletter is as
responsible with her equipment as most gun owners are with theirs."
05/10/2013: It is kind of
funny someone had to do a ‘study’ to find THIS out, as with so many things
(hopefully under Tony ‘research’ will return to the meaning we would expect it
to have eg scientific and medical research for the betterment of humanity).
Surely only a fool would want to be identified with these scummy people anyway?
Ho, Hum: http://www.salon.com/2013/09/26/study_everyone_hates_environmentalists_and_feminists_partner/
04/10/2013: Warren Meyer:
‘The IPCC does claim more confidence that warming over the past 60 years is
partly or mostly due to man (I have not yet seen the exact wording they landed
on), from 90% to 95%. But this is odd
given that the warming all came from 1978 to 1998. Temperatures are flat or
cooling for the other 40 years of the period. The IPCC cannot explain these 40
years of no warming in the context of high temperature sensitivities to
CO2. And, they can't explain why they
can be 95% confident of what drove temperatures in the 20 year period of
1978-1998 but simultaneously have no clue what drove temperatures in the other
years.’ http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2013/09/hearing-what-you-want-to-hear-from-the-climate-report.html
04/10/2013: Quote of the
day: “I was dissatisfied with the quality of humans available on this planet,
so I made my own.”
04/10/2013: Another Aussie
Jihadist: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/aussie-jihadist-accountant-sabirhan-hasanoff-jailed-18-years-in-new-york/story-e6frg6so-1226730514217
03/10/2013: Bad news for
me: the only one I own is the Leatherman (Micro, by choice). I am a failure: http://www.buzzfeed.com/justinabarca/things-every-self-respecting-man-over-30-should-own
03/10/2013: I have long
been a lover of Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) (& A.E. Housman)
Requiem
Under the wide and starry
sky,
Dig the grave and let me
lie.
Glad did I live and
gladly die,
And I laid me down with a
will.
This be the verse you
grave for me:
Here he lies where he
longed to be;
Home is the sailor, home
from sea,
And the hunter home from
the hill.
Stevenson's Requiem is inscribed
on his gravestone in
R.L.S.
Home is the sailor, home
from sea:
Her far-borne canvas
furled
The ship pours shining on
the quay
The plunder of the world.
Home is the hunter from
the hill:
Fast in the boundless
snare
All flesh lies taken at
his will
And every fowl of air.
'Tis evening on the
moorland free,
The starlit wave is
still:
Home is the sailor from
the sea,
The hunter from the hill.
03/10/2013: Ultralight
cooking: I think one of these ‘Sierra Cups’ (hhttp://www.evernewamerica.com/EBY152.htm each) @ 60 grams (or these: http://www.evernewamerica.com/EBY265.htm @ 50 grams) would be good for when you need
to cook more than two things at once. I have the 900 ml pot set @ 125 grams (http://www.evernewamerica.com/ECA265.htm) which works well with the Bushbuddy Ultra (http://bushbuddy.ca/indexs.html ) woodgas stove @ 150 grams. I am wondering
whether I can fashion a ring of motorcycle tubing (or like eg http://www.traildesigns.com/accessories/beer-bands ) to prevent burning my lip. A titanium
spork, cut-down pot scourer and mini cigarette lighter completes the kitchen at
less than the weight (<400 grams) most folks would have in their ultralight
gas canister stove (inc canister) alone! PS: I usually carry a Minibulldesigns
7 gram side-jet alcohol stove (eg https://www.minibulldesign.com/ProductCart/pc/viewPrd.asp?idproduct=195&idcategory= ) and 100ml meths for when I get lazy ( and
a few esbits for fire lighting)
02/10/2013: I just LOVE this
camping mat: the Thermarest xLite Women’s @ 340 grams at R-3.9 is quite long
enough for someone of my height (@5’8”) and exquisitely comfortable - &
warm. For sitting around camp we pair it with the Big Agnes Cyclone Chair @ 170
grams: http://www.cascadedesigns.com/therm-a-rest/mattresses/fast-and-light/womens-neoair-xlite/product & https://www.bigagnes.com/Products/Detail/Accessory/CycloneSLChairKit
02/10/2013: This is a
good example of why I hate greenie, leftie, animal libbie rabid dogs with a
vengeance and think there should be an open season on them all. After ALL these
years of ruin and vilification the local Giles Bros Abattoir in Trafalgar has
been exonerated from any animal cruelty claims and the whole thing has been
shown to have been concocted by ONE such loathsome creep. Like so many others
our livelihood was dependent on this abattoir where our lambs could be
processed for the local supermarket. I you have ever tried to make a profit by
selling your lambs through the auction markets, forget it. A number of small
town butcher shops in Gippsland could no longer source bodies economically and
had to close, furthering the domination of the supermarket giants. Many
ordinary workers in small-town Traf lost their jobs causing who knows what
misery to their families – as to the Giles Bros themselves, the fact that one
is STILL in
02/10/2013: I have ALWAYS
been disgusted by Ju-Liar (and the sooner she is arrested and banged up the
better) but her sickening confessional to the sisterhood (chaired by the
appalling Anne Summers) was overwhelmingly nauseating particularly the
continuing ‘feminist ‘victimhood’ rhetoric. Look, you have just been Prime
Minister, you CANNOT continue to claim 2nd class citizen status
based on your genitals! http://pickeringpost.com/cartoon/2085 
02/10/2013: Listen up
sisterhood, THIS is misogyny – but you wanted there to be lots more of them
here, didn’t you? Wake up! Women really shouldn’t drive –or vote! http://pjmedia.com/vodkapundit/2013/09/29/news-you-can-use-37/
01/10/2013: Remarkable:
‘An acre of corn is a living machine drawing CO2 from the air around it. In
windless conditions, CO2 concentrations over a cornfield build up each night as
CO2 diffuses from higher air and the organic matter and bacteria create CO2
from the soil. A paper by Chapman et al from 1954, shows that as soon as the sun
comes up, to power-up those dormant photosynthetic cells, the plants rapidly
draw down as much CO2 as possible, and when the CO2 levels fall too low, plant
growth surely slows. On a windless day CO2 values rose to 410ppm overnight and
fell to 210ppm during the morning.’ http://joannenova.com.au/2013/09/plants-suck-half-the-co2-out-of-the-air-around-them-before-lunchtime-each-day/
01/10/2013: You may have
MISSED this: the CO2 percentage in a field of corn varies by >200ppm in a
single morning – yet the ‘Chicken Littles’ (aka greenie fruitcakes) are worried
about changes of 1-2ppm in a YEAR!
01/10/2013: Quote of the
day: Willie Nelson: "I think it is just terrible and disgusting how
everyone has treated Lance Armstrong, especially after what he achieved,
winning seven Tour de France races while on drugs. When I was on drugs, I
couldn't even find my bike."
01/10/2013: Frankly I
find this TERRIFYING: The Bureau of Statistics estimates that the state's
population grew by 102,000 or 1.82 per cent in the year to March. At this rate,
30/09/2013: ‘ABC quoting
a survivor saying the passengers had been transported to the drop-off point by
soldiers. "The army took us,"’ If this guy is willing to identify the
Indo soldiers concerned who have ALWAYS been complicit in this dreadful trade.
THAT will ‘stop the boats’! http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/boat-rescue-claims-rejected-as-toll-rises/story-e6frg6n6-1226729603696
30/09/2013: Quote of the
day: Raymond Chandler: “I’m an occasional drinker, the kind of guy who goes out
for a beer and wakes up in
30/09/2013: When my Uncle
Pat, a Catholic priest, told me this in 1975 I thought he was speaking heresy,
but NOW we have it straight from the Pope himself: atheists like me CAN go to
Heaven. However, for atheists like me who are more than a little confident
there IS no Heaven and that all who believe in such nonsense as Gods and an
after-life are at best completely ‘away with the fairies’ and at worst
inexpressibly evil, it is a VERY academic question: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/pope-francis-assures-atheists-you-dont-have-to-believe-in-god-to-go-to-heaven-8810062.html
30/09/2013: Tim Blair:
‘Ten per cent of English court cases now involve the prosecution of citizens
who decline to pay for the BBC. That’s some 700 cases per day. We’d probably
see a similar number in
30/09/2013: I just LOVE
the wild places, and have long ago discovered Teddy’s various books about
hunting too; I think I started with a book about hound hunting mountain lions
in what is now
29/09/2013: Outspoken
atheist Richard Dawkins was involved in an online Twitter row on Thursday after
tweeting: ‘All the world’s Muslims have fewer Nobel Prizes than
29/09/2013: I am often
gob-smacked by just how bright Willis Eschenbach is, but THIS observation was
astonishing. Could breathing OUT more combat the breathlessness you get by
strenuous walking uphill. I tried this out on my recent hunting trip, and it’s
TRUE. I was able to walk in one go to the top of hills I normally have to pause
several times to ascend and arrive completely NOT out of breath. Try it
yourself: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/09/23/catching-my-breath/
29/09/2013: One-third of
all the CO2 emitted since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution was emitted
since 1998 (Yes, China - especially - HAS been burning A LOT!) yet there has
been NO WARMING AT ALL in that time. The AGW theory does not involve ANY delay:
the heat which is (supposedly) trapped, is trapped TODAY. CLEARLY, the theory
is WRONG. QED.
29/09/2013: Back from one
of my favourite places in Wonnangatta-Moroka: six hours walk in from my car
& five hours drive from here to the closest driveable location. This has to
be one of the remotest areas in
25/09/2013: How the rent
seekers and grant seekers flourished under Labor. You think it will be hard for
the Libs to make some savings? Read and weep what Krud, Ju-Liar and their whole
sorry lot squandered your hard-earned on (eg The Gwabba Yorga-Gabba Warra project received
$500,000 to organise netball competitions!): http://www.luckyculture.com.au/media-library/welfare-for-wowsers/
25/09/2013: Q & A
reveals Suzuki is a ‘complete phoney’: http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/suzuki_revealed_as_complete_know_nothing_by_very_first_question_on_qa/
25/09/2013: Tim Flannery,
Will Steffen & etc vow to fight on as ‘Climate Commissioners’ without
(recently withdrawn) Government remuneration. Ah, noble rent seekers! I’m sure we
could afford the vast army of bureaucrats we are currently burdened with at
THAT price! It will be interesting to see just how long this lasts…
25/09/2013: Child
marriage is SUCH a dreadful evil for girls. If I could castrate every man who
does this, I would - & with a rusty knife! It IS so much more prevalent
amongst some religious groups whether you agree or not. Religious tolerance
MUST NOT extend to turning a blind eye to this obscenity. The death of this
poor child in
24/09/2013: TOP Gear
(Well, bottom actually): http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/science/2013/09/this-insect-has-the-only-mechanical-gears-ever-found-in-nature/
24/09/2013: An important
review http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/climatism-watching-climate-science/2013/sep/10/science-based-rebuttal-global-warming-alarmism/ of an important report: http://heartland.org/media-library/pdfs/CCR-II/CCR-II-Full.pdf Everything you need to know to ascertain that
climate change alarmism is both wrong and silly, (& in my mind at least,
wicked!)
24/09/2013: Josh
Frydenberg is certainly (future) Prime Ministerial material: the parliamentary
secretary with responsibility for the Abbott government’s deregulation agenda,
has admirable intentions: ‘In little more than 5 1/2 years, Labor was
responsible for introducing more than 21,000 additional regulations… And the
Business Council of Australia has highlighted one resource development approval
process that took years, was extremely costly and required a 12,000-page
report, after which approval was finally granted with 1500 commonwealth and
state conditions and 8000 sub-conditions attached…A paradigm shift will soon be
under way…Two parliamentary sitting days will be set aside for repealing
legislation each year… And the performance of senior members of the public
service will be assessed in part according to their proven record in reducing
regulation, with their remuneration calculated accordingly…The Productivity
Commission will also be tasked to determine a framework for auditing the
performance of regulatory agencies.’ YES!
23/09/2013: ‘One woman
who doesn’t use accusations of misogyny and sexism to cover up her own
failures, who has judgement, who doesn’t lie, who gets on with the job and, as
a result, has the support of her people and wins an election in a landslide:
Angela Merkel wins third term in German elections’
23/09/2013: I notice
significant numbers of the jihadists responsible for the Kenyan massacre were
American, Canadian,
23/09/2013: SEE what I
mean: http://www.smh.com.au/national/18-years-jail-for-army-terrorattack-plan-20111216-1oy3f.html#ixzz2fehiChc2
23/09/2013: The renowned
Ghanaian poet and statesman Kofi Awoonor was also among the dead.
23/09/2013: SUICIDE
bombers have targeted an Anglican church in
23/09/2013: Thank (human)
goodness there are new Julian Lincoln Simons along to repudiate the idiocy of
the environmental orthodoxy: ‘Neither physics nor chemistry nor even biology is
adequate to understand how it has been possible for one species to reshape both
its own future and the destiny of an entire planet. This is the science of the
Anthropocene. The idea that humans must live within the natural environmental
limits of our planet denies the realities of our entire history, and most
likely the future. Humans are niche creators. We transform ecosystems to
sustain ourselves. This is what we do and have always done. Our planet’s
human-carrying capacity emerges from the capabilities of our social systems and
our technologies more than from any environmental limits.’ http://reason.com/blog/2013/09/16/overpopulation-is-sooo-over-explains-bio
23/09/2013: PROOF: the
most important resource is the human mind. Without it we would all be sitting
miserably in the dark: http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/sep/15/maxwells-equations-electrify-world
23/09/2013: The Art of
the Comma: http://moreintelligentlife.com/content/arts/anonymous/pg-wodehouse
23/09/2013: Seems I was
wrong about the ‘Rudd effect’ & that he ‘saved’ at least 15 seats. Expect to
see him challenging for the leadership after Shorten/Albanese fails at the next
election: http://www.theage.com.au/data-point/rudd-saved-labor-leaked-polling-shows-20130921-2u6my.html#ixzz2fYkvKZBX
23/09/2013: Tim Blair:
‘Sooner or later, somewhere in the world a mainstream political party –
possibly from the left – is going to say: “Hey, we went along with all of that
global warming stuff for a few years. We were scared we’d lose votes if we
didn’t. But now we realise that no policies we devise can make any significant
impact. From now on, our environmental spending will be limited to the
environment that people live in. Here are all your taxes back. Sorry.” On
current trends, such a policy would probably do rather well.’
22/09/2013: AUTOBIKE: If
it can be coupled with a crank driven electric motor, this bike would be
PERFECT: http://www.gizmag.com/autobike-shifts-gears/29135/
22/09/2013: Obama
explained in another of his recent speeches, "Raising the debt ceiling,
which has been done over a hundred times, does not increase our debt."
There you ARE!
22/09/2013: Lots of bad
things happening out in the ‘big world’ this morning: massacres and violence
abound, but it all seems quiet and peaceful here at Jeeralang Junction. Perhaps
our spells, runes and incantations are working – or the sign on the front gate which
says, ‘Trespassers will be shot!’
22/09/2013: In those
circumstances I too would have had a sudden conversion to Islam: http://www.thestate.com/2013/09/21/2992827/gunmen-open-fire-at-nairobis-most.html
22/09/2013: Ah, Moby
Dick: http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/science/2013/09/call-me-migaloo-the-story-behind-real-life-white-whales/
22/09/2013: In memory of
U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt's foreign policy: ‘Speak softly, and carry a
big stick.’ http://maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com/uploads/biggest.jpg
22/09/2013: Could not
have put it better myself: Terry McCrann: ‘The more bleating we hear from
Fairfax, the ABC, the Suzukis, Flannerys, Karolys and all the dreadful rest, the
more we will know that Abbott is succeeding in the fine art of restoring
rationality and even more basic sanity to government.’
22/09/2013: This may be
so: well past time many fantastic schemes were ‘undone’: ‘We have reached a
point of diminishing returns in our public life. Hardly anything actually needs
doing. We may in fact be past that point; not only does nothing much need
doing, but we’d benefit if much of what has been done were to be undone. What
useful work can I do with Windows 8 that I couldn’t do with XP? Politicians
make a living—a very grand living indeed at the higher levels—by saying there
are things wrong that need fixing. Are there, though?’ A case in point, local
company ‘Speednet’ have been offering 25 meg fixed wireless broadband here at
very reasonable rates for at least a decade to folks not near an exchange - or
anyone else who wants it. Evidently the NBN will, (at much greater cost) be
offering the same service SOMETIME in the future…
21/09/2013: THIS is Northumberlandia, the ‘Goddess of
the North’, the largest sculpture of a woman on Earth (note the size of the
cars lower left). It is a reclaimed open-cut coal mine – and YOU said you were
opposed to ‘King Coal’? Foolish mortal: http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/northumberlandia.jpg?w=640&h=343
21/09/2013: Could it be true: alien bugs that look
like Julia Gillard discovered in space? NOW we know where she came from: http://www.news.com.au/technology/sci-tech/british-scientists-claim-to-have-found-proof-of-alien-life/story-fn5fsgyc-1226723186041 http://resources0.news.com.au/images/2013/09/20/1226723/186548-alien-life.jpg
21/09/2013: Quote of the Day: "What is wanted is not
the will to believe, but the will to find out, which is the exact
opposite." Bertrand Russell
21/09/2013: Now THIS is an interesting approach to
take to the global temperature data. Ask a specialist in digital signal processing
whether any ‘signal’ can be discerned in the ‘noise’ of natural variability. I
have long argued that the natural variations are too large and too chaotic for
their to be any meaningful signal present in them, eg when daily temperatures
in one backyard can vary by up to 40C and when different areas in the same
backyard can vary easily by 5C or ore, where is the ‘signal’ from pretty shonky
‘world temperature records’ such as Hadcrut? http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/09/11/digital-signal-processing-analysis-of-global-temperature-data-suggests-global-cooling-ahead/
20/09/2013: It IS SO unfortunate that so much which
passes as thought among the Left, literati, ‘progressives’ and other such
ninnies SO closely resembles these delightful sideshow clowns forever
open-mouthedly rotating in unison and emitting exactly like nonsensical
platitudes, pulchritudes et al:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_4xx7NrAfZs/UjZUhwJ175I/AAAAAAAAAto/buM2DwS1NH4/s320/fairfax+editors.JPG
20/09/2013: Quote of the Day: Tim Blair: ‘I
haven’t translated the health warning on my packet of French cigarettes, but I
think it says: “We are here for but a short time. Please, go right ahead.”’
20/09/2013: It IS JUST WONDERFUL: the awful
hypocritical, incompetent, unscientific wanker Tim Flannery sacked and his
whole Government Department (AND a number of like others, eg Ausaid, the
‘Social Inclusion Board’…) abolished – and it was only: DAY ONE. So many MORE
good things to look forward to…
20/09/2013: Getting out into the world of people
(which I do NOT often) IS interesting, though I feel a need for a goodly dose
of wilderness to assuage it…It is pleasant that there ARE many sensible folks
out there, but it is also unfortunate that there are so many who seem to have
got their ideas from (perhaps a Greenpeace?) recycling bin, or as a job lot
with a cheap set of steak knives…It IS bizarre to be lectured by folks about
BOTH eg plastic bags, global warming and greed who drive to funerals in
brand-new $60,000+ SUVs and who seem to be unaware that you can (if you feel
THAT way!) eg brew your own beer , have a vegie garden, drive a Landrover
which NEVER rusts/wears out as EVERY part of every LR ever made is readily
available (cheaply), and who are evidently unaware that the world has cooled
for 202 consecutive months or that it was MUCH warmer in the Middle Ages or
that ‘resources’ are created by MAN and NOT by nature: eg John D Rockefeller
CREATED the petroleum resource (in creating Standard Oil) a resource which had
until then only ever been a curiosity or a nuisance and that in so doing HE
SAVED THE WHALES (c 1880!). NEW resources are being created daily by human
ingenuity and enterprise as old ones fall into abeyance. So mote it be! How
such folks (others sustained handsomely on welfare yet who decry the
evils of capitalism) fail to understand the immense benefits which human
ingenuity AND capitalism have brought to the great bulk of mankind over the
last couple of centuries, benefits which, if anything, are only accelerating
(thank human Goodness!) today…
20/09/2013: Travelled to the Hunter the last few days
to attend a funeral for a wonderful man I have known since c 1954. Caught up
with many folk I have not seen for a VERY long time (having lived in Vic for
nearly 40 years DOES attenuate relationships and origins) and at last met MANY
delightful relatives for the very first time. Though I took my Samsung tablet,
my arthritis makes it almost impossible for me to type on it, hence the paucity
of posts. I thank the numerous people who evidently missed our disagreements,
my daily doses of madness – or whatever. I will probably try to take the opportunity
of a few days away hunting/hiking in Wonnangatta-Moroka as my chest has
improved and my sore knee somewhat, so our conversations might not resume in
earnest for another week or so…
20/09/2013: NOW 202 months without ANY warming: we
really need to spend all those ‘carbon pollution’ dollars on ‘global warming’
mitigation: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/09/11/rss-global-temperature-data-no-global-warming-at-all-for-202-months/
20/09/2013: The science is settled: the West Antarctic
ice shelf has recently been discovered to be 20 MILLION years older than
previously thought: this completely debunks computer models abut how heat exchange
works on earth over time, clearly throwing the whole AGW farrago further into
disrepute: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/09/04/more-settled-science-the-west-antarctic-ice-sheet-is-20-million-years-older-than-thought/
15/09/2013: I noticed the informal vote was up
slightly this year (to 5.9% - possibly due to the very complicated Senate paper),
but still probably enough to effect a change of Government if all these folks
had voted one way – or nearly enough for them to elect their own Senator
outright; an interesting idea: the Informal Party, which stands for nothing,
not that unlike the major parties perhaps! It is reasonable to think that if
5.9% of people can get it completely wrong (and taking into account the large
accidental vote for the Liberal Democrats in NSW (enough to give them a
Senator), then it is likely a similar percentage of votes were cast for a party
other than the one intended. It could be reasonable to assume that idiots of
all political persuasions cancel each other out (though I am more inclined to
believe there are more idiots who vote for the OTHER side of politics – as who
is not?), however, it is surely long past time that some simple instruction
about and testing of competence was implemented to augment the franchise. I
think it would also be useful to consider qualification for the franchise (eg
the far too simple fact of being born in Australia seems too little to me,
& failure to have ever paid taxes would suggest to me an automatic
disqualification), as we will soon approach a point where those voting for a
living outnumber those who are paying for them to vote – and then whence our
democracy? It is not hard to imagine a military takeover to put things right
(as happens in lots of other countries) were it not for the fact that
successive reductions in the Defence budget over many years might well mean
that there are not even enough in our military to take over the country, let
alone defend it!
15/09/2013: Further bad news for ‘warmies’ is this
evidence that ‘it’s the sun stupid’ is right after all - as the data comes in
to prove that changes in the cosmic ray count explain ALL the fluctuations in
climate previously erroneously attributed to homo horribilis. The BAD news is
it looks set to get quite a lot colder: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/09/04/svensmarks-cosmic-ray-theory-of-clouds-and-global-warming-looks-to-be-confirmed/
15/09/2013: I think it is good to see that Tony &
Julie will join Pope Francis in choosing a more modest style than their
predecessors (at the public expense). Happy to see an end of big spending
Government, apparatchiks with dachas & etc: http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/new_pm_dosses_down_with_the_police/
15/09/2013: ‘Deconstruction’ is an ‘intellectual
phenomenon which ‘informs’ almost all Leftist ‘thought’ in this country (and
others). It is the ‘intellectual’ heir of Hegelianism and Marxism, and
ultimately traces its roots to Plato’s ‘sophists’ (Those whose task was ‘to
make the worst appear the better reason’ as Socrates puts it). It is in my view
the GREATEST EVIL OF THE MODERN AGE: its every intent is to invert everything,
to turn good into evil, evil into good & etc…to destroy every tradition,
every established truth - and replace it with its own perverted creeds. Every
‘issue’ it battens upon becomes weirdly distorted. It attacks time-tested
traditional views, describing them as the ‘orthodoxy’, shortening the phrase to
the ‘doxy’, so as to conflate them with a common word for a cheap prostitute,
and thereby further debase them. It does NOT take them on intellectually; it
just seeks to bury those views as somehow ‘no longer fashionable’. For example:
HUNTING has been seen as a GOOD for the majority of time and for the vast
majority of people alive today or who have EVER lived. (You can substitute for
the word, ‘hunting’ in the previous sentence other long recognised ‘goods’:
‘marriage’, ‘honesty’, ‘thrift’, ‘honour’, ‘truth’, ‘patriotism’…you GET the
point!) Today, the ‘deconstructionists’ in the guise of ‘Greens’, ‘Animal
Liberationists’, ‘vegetarians’, ‘Whole Earthers’…want us to perceive hunting as
generally evil, cruel, unnecessary, unwholesome, barbaric…It is a strange and
MONSTROUS inversion of values. Most people who have ever lived have valued
hunting highly, not only the many wholesome skills involved but the ethos of
providing for oneself and one’s family, independence, oneness with nature, the
continuity of a tradition and a sense of belonging in a tradition of one’s
forebears…More about ‘deconstruction’ later.
15/09/2013: Keynes was WRONG and it is long past time
we kept following him down the ROAD TO RUIN. Here in
14/09/2013: The Electoral Commission has the result
this morning at 92:54. However one of the ‘close’ seats (EM,
14/09/2013: At 102, vale Ronald Coase: http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/ronald-coase.aspx
14/09/2013: Harry ‘Smith’ of the Wonnangatta: http://home.vicnet.net.au/~harryshut/pioneer.php Having discovered BOTH the murder victim’s bodies (many
kilometres apart), Harry was long under suspicion of the crime. We will
probably never know.
14/09/2013: The grey thrush is sitting on a nest of
eggs in the chink in the house wall where a brick has been missing (for this
purpose) the last 20+ years. She missed a couple of years lately as her mate
must have been killed by a fox/cat, but she has a new one now, and is working
hard at filling our little valley with their wonderful birdsong. The swallows
are back from China/Siberia/Korea – wherever they go, more numerous than ever.
Nice to think someone else loves them as much as I do on the other side of the
world. I sometimes wish I knew where they went - so I could visit them sometime
there in our off-season. Would be interesting to meet their ‘other’ people if
they have some. The wrens, blackbirds and thornbills are hard at it outside our
bedroom window in the mornings, and when I open the front door there is a
myriad of sparrow song from our archway straight outside. It IS Spring, after
all!
14/09/2013: Hang on to your mobiles, kids: speed is
getting faster every day (Now talking 450 megs): http://www.afr.com/p/australia2-0/telstra_trials_super_fast_mobile_DPkJYCDAhi3D4aS72RqknM
12/09/2013: As a Coalition supporter (currently), I
hope Labor hands ‘the poisoned chalice’ to Shorten rather than the clearly
better man, Anthony Albanese, who may have some chance of undoing the monstrous
corrupt wreck the once-great Labor party has become. It will be ‘interesting’
to watch Shorten reeling to the punches the promised Commission of Enquiry into
the AWU will surely inflict on him - which may even end in charges being laid
against him AS WELL AS Gillard and Wilson (which is a certainty!)
12/09/2013: I think Labor WILL roll over on the repeal
of the carbon tax when it becomes the first item on the agenda (as promised)
when Parliament resumes for the Spring Session because they will KNOW it will
be repealed as soon as the new Senators take their seats on July 1, and will
they really want the odium which will redound to them of forcing Australians to
pay this unnecessary and expensive impost on their electricity bills & etc
for a further 8+ months? They are ‘on the nose’ enough. Had it not been for the
Liberals’ ‘botched’ campaign in Western Sydney (read James Diaz & etc) ,
& the return of Rudd, Labor’s share of the vote would clearly have fallen
BELOW 30% (There was a stage in the dying days of Ju-Liar when 25% looked GOOD
for them!). Even in this election we had last weekend, their Senate vote has
clearly fallen BELOW one-third (12-13 sets out of 40) and conservatives will
have a majority in the Senate for the next SIX years: 40-41 Conservative vs
35-36 Left – that’s as good as it gets! The Greens are DEAD MEAT to the
Australian electorate. The Left/Green reform agenda; the whole climate lie,
& etc are FINISHED!
12/09/2013: Come off it Bill…Labor already HAS a GREAT
LEADER, ‘Andrew Fisher served as a Labor prime minister on three separate occasions.
Rudd has told three journalists at this newspaper that he wants to emulate
Fisher and become a three-time Labor prime minister. He has described himself
as a “determined bastard”.’ Well, he got half that right!
11/09/2013: Rise of the Micro Parties: I guess we’ll
have to see how it works out, but at the moment it looks like these groups
(mainly of the Right, I notice) have broken the stranglehold that Labor &
the Greens had on the Senate. If this is so, then Tony has nothing to fear from
a double dissolution and everything to gain - as it will guarantee his agenda
not just on those bills which serve as a trigger, but subsequent reform agenda
items like ridding ourselves of the bewildering array of quangos and other
outlandish bureaucratic hangers on which the Left have inflicted on us, mainly
to CONTROL us - but overwhelmingly to WASTE OUR MONEY!
11/09/2013: That’s ME: ‘And all I ask is a merry yarn from a
laughing fellow-rover,
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over’,
John Masefield, (Can YOU believe: 1
June 1878 – 12 May 1967?) ‘Sea Fever’, Ah, Yes! Lovely! http://allpoetry.com/poem/8495913-Sea_Fever-by-John_Masefield
& This: ‘Let no religious rite be done or read
In any place for me when I am dead,
But burn my body into ash, and scatter
The ash in secret into running water,
Or on the windy down, and let none see;
And then thank God that there’s an end of me.’
11/09/2013: Hiking Food: we are always adding to our
repertoire: on our last trip Della’s dehydrated savoury mince added to
Continental Dehydrated Potato Mash reconstituted to a very acceptable
‘Shepherd’s Pie’ for example. Lately we have been trying out several dehydrated
lentil meals. Coles have several under the name, ‘Celebrate Health’ (eg Indian
Marsala Lentils - quite nice). The BEST so far is Ainsley Harriott’s
‘Lentil Dahl’ which is SPECTACULARLY GOOD. We are eating this (&farting) at
home indecently often. Highly recommended!
11/09/2013: Infantile and downright nasty Leftists
have been (racially) abusing Warren Mundine who makes THIS point in return:
"Two million Labor people voted Liberal. That is a massive shift. They are
in big trouble and they haven't realised it." ‘Mr Mundine was overlooked
for a Senate spot by Julia Gillard in 2012 after she instead chose Bob Carr who
was parachuted in to be made Foreign Minister after Kevin Rudd's failed coup.’
Now become Paul Howes, apparently. THAT worked really well Ju-Liar! BTW,
11/09/2013: Don’t know whether you caught this, ‘The
Rise of the Continents’ (ABC 1 @ 8:30pm) wherein Prof Iain Stewart makes that slowest
of all the sciences, Geology EXCITING! This particular episode (‘
10/09/2013: Quote of the day: ‘Hayek, writing in 1945,
notes that it had become fashionable to downplay the wisdom of the streets and
assume that the experts, armed with lumps of aggregated information, knew best.
Yet, as he pointed out, ‘these facts are never so given to a single mind’,
which is why commentators, like central planners, so often get it wrong’. Nick
Cater. The Great Australian Public certainly ‘got it right’ this time!
10/09/2013: I am really sick of the INFANTILE
character of so many Leftists: I’m sure you have all seen the childish
caricatures of Tony Abbott as Gollum, gorilla, turtle, etc and the outlandish
warnings of all sorts of dictatorial and weird or evil behaviour from him and
his team – and these pinkos’ (unfortunately unfulfilled warnings) that they
will take their bat and ball elsewhere. Why cannot such folk grapple with the
real issues, articulate their political philosophy, explain how their agenda
might WORK in the real world? It is long since time they moved on from their
immature student politics, uni review sense of dependency on the public purse
and set out to get a real living in the real world. Australia faces serious
challenges to our future not least due to their favourite Government’s inability
to manage a buoyant economy into anything other than bottomless debt, its
endless corruption, disunity and disfunction, its endless ability to experiment
with long since debunked socialist schemes, its insistence in ‘scaring the
horses’ of economic growth, and especially its inability to take seriously the
prime tenet of Government: the Defence of the Realm!
10/09/2013: DNA design & synthesis, 3d printers,
virtual reality, computer gaming… mean that the distinction between matter and
information is disappearing: people ARE able to meaningfully ask the question,
‘Could the universe we appear to inhabit be a computer simulacrum?’ a la ‘The
Matrix’ & etc…Interesting times…
09/09/2013: The ASX200 was @ 6800 before Kevin ’07
when it crashed by OVER A THIRD. It fell again when Obama was elected in the
09/09/2013: Quotable quote: Philippa Martyr, Quadrant:
‘Take a stab, Bill. You're good at that. After Rudd, only one potential leader
genuinely represents the party's appetite for betrayal, intrigue, leaks and
relentless self-promotion.’
09/09/2013: You hear the Left intoning this pointless
mantra, ‘The rich get rich and the poor get poorer’ as if Redistribution was the
answer, as if you could carve up the pie into ever smaller pieces until
everyone gets their fair share – but after they have eaten their share, all
starve. You do not ‘make the poor richer by making the rich poorer’ as Abe
Lincoln was reputed to have said. You have to make a bigger pie if all are
going to have a bigger slice, and next day you need to bake an even bigger pie,
and so on. You have to GROW THE ECONOMY in order that everyone will be richer.
Far from being a greedy and mercenary goal (which the pious Left may blithely
and wilfully disdain), this is the ONLY way to make the world a better place.
It has been happening for a few hundred years now thanks to capitalism, and it
need to continue at least until ALL have a decent living.
09/09/2013: I would like to see MANY referenda (eg on
capital punishment, banning fireworks, the metric system, access to public
lands, one law for all Australians, gay marriage, & etc, etc…) but MOST OF
ALL, I would like us to be able to ABOLISH THE SENATE: I think it is absolutely
disgusting that this vile institution still exists which denies THIS basic
right: ONE PERSON, ONE VOTE! It is disgraceful that a voter in
09/09/2013: I REALLY like Lord Monckton, not least his
wondrous vocabulary…today I learnt this excellent word: ‘monopsony’ (which is
what it is if you only have one client – like so much that socialism builds),
and was reminded that the Royal Society’s motto is ‘Nullius in verba’, (roughly
translates as ‘We take no one’s word for it’ – a great motto) AND was reminded
that once there were great Islamic scholars, such as Abu Ali Ibn al-Haytham, or
Alhazen who was the founder of the scientific method: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/09/07/a-question-for-oreskes-but-what-do-we-mean-by-consensus/
09/09/2013: A volcano the size of the
08/09/2013: Well Done Tony: Look forward to MANY years
of adult Government – will be a pleasant change!
08/09/2013: Finally we can settle down to the more
important issues, eg GOLF CARTS SHOULD BE BANNED: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=rn5Cbe8vVM4
08/09/2013: Or this explanation for the existence of
evil (from ‘Time Bandits.’ PS: John Gielgud as God – excellent casting): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fw9IqUgGlzs&feature=player_embedded
08/09/2013: ‘Older’ folks might remember THIS: ‘It’s
Time’ (& weep!): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jykIqQxEOw&feature=player_embedded
08/09/2013: Quotable quote (from Prof Bunyip): ‘The few
remaining readers of The Sunday Age who are brighter than Earth Hour’!
07/09/2013: This may be worse than a Labor OR Liberal
Government: http://www.news.com.au/travel/world/testicle-eating-fish-may-be-migrating/story-e6frfqai-1226712685556
07/09/2013: Thank you ‘Courier Mail’ for this GREAT
newspaper front page: the circus IS over: http://blogs.news.com.au/images/uploads/clownpage.png
07/09/2013: On the lighter side, some interesting
‘venereal’ terms ( a word which might NOT mean what you THINK it does. Clue: ‘a
column of accountants’): http://wordinfo.info/unit/3676
07/09/2013: A ‘Great Circle’ as most of you no doubt
know, is a circle that goes clear around the entire globe, and whose centre is
at the centre of the globe - such as the meridians of longitude, for example.
The ‘Prime Meridian’ passes through
07/09/2013: Education: Yes, there SHOULD be large CUTS
here; too much money IS being wasted already (but there won't be, alas!). If
people have been doing such a poor job (as results show) by an earlier doubling
of funding, the worst thing you can do is throw MORE money at them. One should
not REWARD failure. (One would have thought that this would be THE principal
tenet OF education! O, Pavlov’s Dog, ‘wither goest thou?’) It would be better
to dismiss incompetent teachers and put their unfortunate students in the
classrooms of competent ones - and pay the latter more. You might even pay
teachers per student success, so that those who were most competent could teach
more students and be paid more for doing so. Paying for computers for students
whose MINDS need to be improved was/is just a silly waste of funds (as with
school halls etc). Clearly the curriculum needs to be improved (and returned to
something more sensible which would emphasize literacy, numeracy, civics etc)
instead of preaching left wing ideology, causes etc and telling students from
poor backgrounds that they are victims, rather than holding up to them examples
of Aussie heroes who have triumphed over such backgrounds and gone on to be
outstanding contributors to our society (Doug Nicholls comes to mind).
Education should be about uplifting people, not reinforcing them in their
'misery'.
07/09/2013: Members of my family were on BOTH sides of
the Rothbury mine 'massacre' when numbers of workers were SHOT (near Maitland
NSW in the 1920's). I can still recall being told by a relative how his father was
shot in the head by a police special constable and how his dad tore the
revolver from the policeman and bludgeoned the cop into unconsciousness with it
- before passing out himself from loss of blood from the head wound. Another
relative was part of mine management (later killed in a dreadful mining
accident). His father drove the train which brought the 'scabs' to Rothbury to
'break the strike'. And so on. It is one thing to know your history (even to be
proud of it), and quite another to want to repeat the mistakes of the past,
continue with mistaken 'class war' nonsense and outdated Stalinist ideology.
Capitalism has brought immense benefits to all. Socialism has brought nothing
but misery, enslavement and death. You need to wise up to this, as I long since
have.
06/09/2013: Green ‘values’: Scandal-plagued
independent MP Craig Thomson has won a vote of confidence from the Greens, who
have put him second on their how-to-vote card and described him as “an
excellent local member”. And, of course billionaire coal miner Clive Palmer
also gets their support and will win a Senate seat in Qld as a result! A
triumph of morality over politics!
06/09/2013: It IS astonishing is it not, that the 200
months of cooling the world has just experienced (caused by the cooling in the
mid Pacific Ocean) could be because the heat is ‘hiding’ and will spring out to
fry us one day? http://www.nature.com/news/tropical-ocean-key-to-global-warming-hiatus-1.13620
06/09/2013: Serves her right. At least she alone took
the hit and not all of us as with Government ‘clean energy’ initiatives: http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/timblair/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/bernie_getz_burned/
06/09/2013: Great article by Richard Lindzen a
pre-eminent climate scientist who sees AGW alarmism as the heir to other pseudo
sciences such as Lysenkoism, eugenics & etc: http://www.jpands.org/vol18no3/lindzen.pdf
06/09/2013: Where we would be today if we had not made
the foolish mistake of voting for Krud the first time around… First of all the
budget would be at least $15 billion per year better off as we would not have
had to pay the interest on the $300 billion debt he has run up (nor pay it off
– add another $30 billion a year for the next ten years at least). This would
have provided a lot of funds for really important investments like plugging the
huge gap in our marine Defence by the failure to have even one of the Collins
class submarines operational. Of course Kevin also inherited an economy going
‘gangbusters’ as Peter Costello described it and able to generate budget
savings of upwards of $60 billion per year. If these savings had been applied
to nation building, we could have built the NBN in one year or even done
something worthwhile – or just put the money away for a rainy day and reduce
people’s tax burden by $60 billion per year (or $2400 less for each man, woman
& child PER YEAR). It should be noted that Kevin inherited unemployment of
just UNDER 4% which he has managed to drive up to nearly 7% during the ‘
06/09/2013: Cuts, cuts, cuts: MILLIONS of dollars in
taxpayer-funded grants for obscure research projects - such as the role of
public art in climate change - will be scrapped or redirected to find cures for
dementia and other diseases as part of a Coalition crackdown on government
waste. So many of the cuts were to abolish hedgehog patting and telephone
sanitizing. Looking at the list, I was astonished we were ever funding all this
bullshit: http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/coalition_is_not_just_cutting_but_ending_green_waste/
06/09/2013: Labor’s existing (and foreshadowed)
restrictions on fishing, hunting 4WDriving, camping and free speech would be
enough to see me vote for the coalition even if there were no other issues at
stake!
05/09/2013: Personally I really LIKE this: ‘My vision
for
06/09/2013: I think it will be uplifting to have a PM
who, when he uses the phrase, ‘the good life’ does not mean a life of trivial
pleasures, who does not confuse ‘happiness’ with ‘pleasure’ (as so many do) and
who does not equate ‘admirable’ or enviable’ with ‘pleasure’. Christ on the
cross was ‘happy’ because he was doing something worthwhile, but he was NOT having
fun! We are a fortunate country indeed which has produced so many whose (often
tragic) service has benefited so many, and who have set such a ‘good’ example
for other Australians to follow: Mary McKillop, John Flynn, John Simpson, Fred
Hollows, ‘Weary’ Dunlop, Sister Bulwinkel…
05/09/2013: Lord Monckton’s satirical article
nonetheless highlights why
05/09/2013: An interesting article about how the U2
spy plane was built (contract signed March 2 1955, delivery July 1955!) which
makes the point that (especially senior levels of) the bureaucracy have
increased obscenely, and that they serve mainly to obstruct and obfuscate, NOT
to facilitate and implement. If we are going to chop 12,000 civil servants (and
why stop there – is there any need for
05/09/2013: Our new TENT, (Thank you Della for the
father’s day present!) z-pack’s hexamid solo plus tarp (http://www.zpacks.com/shelter/hexamid_plus.shtml = 176 grams) mated with their double poncho/groundsheet (http://www.zpacks.com/accessories/groundsheet_poncho.shtml = 173 grams), Total 349 grams plus guys and pegs and carbon fibre
pole (57 grams) if not using a hiking pole, still totals less than 500 grams!
Pretty light for a two-person tent!
05/09/2013: So good to watch Clive James again and
have some intellectual stimulation on TV – which hardly ever happens. There is
NEVER any discussion of important ideas eg quantum theory and the multiverse:
With which I mind, if the universe is truly infinite AND there are is an
infinity of worlds where you and I exist (some having come instantly into
existence from nothing), then there must also be an infinite number of Gods (as
the Indians think) – of course there are none around here! However, given the
speed of light constraint, these ‘Gods’ will have enormous problems
communicating with each other (or anyone else) and will have long since all
have gone mad from loneliness – which serves them right, really!
05/09/2013: A VERY important video: Topher is GREAT!
Would YOU take out car insurance on your car if the annual premium was going to
cost MORE than your car? http://topher.com.au/50-to-1-video-project/#prettyPhoto[flash]/0/
05/09/2013: Timely warning from Jeff Kennett: ‘In
1999, at the start of the final week of the state election campaign, the polls
indicated my Coalition would be returned with an increased majority. I warned
the media at a press conference that we could still lose. They laughed. But
that is what happened …This election could still be won by Labor with a
minority government. The Coalition could still lose. We could be facing another
three years of the same sort of leadership we have been experiencing in
05/09/2013: Having trouble deciding which was the
funnier gaffe of the election campaign: Kevin’s ‘fart smoke’ instead of ‘smart
folk’ or Tony’s ‘suppository’ instead of ‘repository’ (of wisdom). No
correspondence will be entered into…
04/09/2013: It doesn’t get ANY better than this: Tony
Abbott Worshipped and Kissed at Flemington Markets: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/special-features/election-2013-abbott-worshipped-and-kissed-at-sydney-markets-flemington/story-fnho52jj-1226710279427
04/09/2013: Lo, how the mighty have fallen: in the
Fairfax Press: ‘Privately some Labor MPs concede the best thing for the party,
given the scale of the repudiation coming, would be for Mr Rudd to lose his
Brisbane seat of Griffith.’(many of us agree with them and are excited at the
prospect…only three more sleeps to go…): http://www.canberratimes.com.au/federal-politics/federal-election-2013/defeat-would-allow-party-to-rejuvenate-20130903-2t3dn.html
04/09/2013: Quotable quote: Voltaire: ‘Doubt is not a
pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd.’
04/09/2013: Miranda is right: THIS is why Tony Abbott
will win and DESERVE to win: ‘Tony Abbott…is the candidate who connects with
Labor’s heartland. He likes a drink, he’s a volunteer firefighter and surf club
member. He doesn’t wear Zegna suits. He’s been going on holiday on the NSW
south coast with the same families for 20 years. His roots in student politics
were in the old Catholic arm of Labor, the DLP, not the toffy Young Liberals.
His ordinary rugged blokeyness, and his instinctively moral language, strikes a
chord in middle
04/09/2013: Rudd has fallen out with serious
Christians in his flippant misquoting of the Bible (on Q & A) as a result
of his sudden conversion to the ‘ungodly’ cause of homosexual marriage.
Claiming the Bible supports slavery may be the most stupid (and hypocritical)
thing he has done: http://matthiasmedia.com/briefing/2013/09/pm-verbals-the-bible/
04/09/2013: Historian, Keith Winschuttle: ‘Professed
Christian Kevin Rudd not only doesn’t know his Bible very well but had to stoop
pretty low to make the crack he did. This is particularly so given the
historical track record of Christianity in opposing slavery. In the
English-speaking world the two great milestones were, first, when in 1102 the
Archbishop of Canterbury, Saint Anselm, called a national church council and
persuaded it to make slavery illegal and, second, when in 1807 the English
Evangelical Christian movement led by William Wilberforce persuaded Parliament
to make the slave trade in the British Empire illegal.’
04/09/2013: The man is just an idiot: he dropped his ‘ungodly’
bombshell just three hours after he and Tony addressed ‘the Christian
constituency’: http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2013/09/cynicism-thy-name-is-kevin.html
04/09/2013: Health Nazis are banging away this morning
about some Ozis having upped their incahol uptake from 3000 to 3140 drinks per
year. One such fool opined that this ‘might’ tip one over from being ‘healthy’
to ‘unhealthy’. Accordingly I have decided to up MY intake from 2500 to 3000 as
I haven’t been very well lately! What tosh and wowserish nonsense this nanny
state nonsense is - & what effect will it have on my
04/09/2013: Clive James (with Kerry O’Brien) ‘The Kid
From Kogarah ABC1 8:30 tonight was one of the finest pieces of television in a
VERY long while. Clive is presently suffering from two terminal illnesses (from
which he bears up just so admirably). You can still catch the programme on ABC
Online, and I recommend you do. Such a mind. Shall really miss him…
03/09/2013: Unsurprsingly, UN investigator Carla del
Ponte claims it was probably the rebels and not Assad who gassed and killed
over 1,000 people in
03/09/2013: Something else to thank chemists for: Just
when ‘the science is settled’, we discover scientists were quite wrong about
how the ‘carbon cycle’ actually WORKS. Someone should have TOLD us! Definitely
time for action! http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/08/31/co2-calculation-in-the-glovbal-carbon-cycle-may-be-off-due-to-a-depth-error/#more-92816
03/09/2013: And now for the REAL news: ‘Are big cat tracker's socks the
oldest in Gloucestershire?’ & ‘Is this the biggest chip in
Gloucestershire?’
http://www.gloucestercitizen.co.uk/big-cat-tracker-s-socks-oldest-Gloucestershire/story-19728100-detail/story.html & http://m.gloucestercitizen.co.uk/articles/news/article/19547377
03/09/2013: If Ju-Liar were still PM THIS might have
been a BIG HEADLINE today. The noose is drawing tighter. She WILL be charged
and she WILL go to gaol. Watch and learn: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/wilson-challenges-slush-fund-seizure/story-e6frg6nf-1226708617880
03/09/2013: Meanwhile, Hedley Thomas, The Australian:
‘VICTORIA Police Fraud Squad detectives have seized Julia Gillard’s
confidential personnel files, invoices, travel records and all documents
relating to legal advice she gave 20 years ago to help set up a union fund for
her then boyfriend, Bruce Wilson. Documents obtained exclusively by The
Australian confirm the former prime minister is a focus of the investigation
surrounding Mr Wilson, the former Australian Workers Union secretary who was
dating Ms Gillard while she was his lawyer at Slater & Gordon in the
1990s…The documents have been kept in a sealed box at the Melbourne Magistrates
Court pending claims of legal privilege, but Detective Sergeant Ross Mitchell,
who is leading the investigation, yesterday applied to have them returned to
police… His application said he would argue that any claim of privilege by Mr
Wilson “should be rejected on the grounds that the contents of the documents
prepared by Mr Wilson or solicitor/s at Slater & Gordon (or both), were
made in furtherance of the commission of a fraud or an offence”.
03/09/2013: A man of NO principle. Just back in
May Krud had the same view about homosexual marriage as the Christian pastor he
humiliated on Q&A last night. Similar back-flips on other important issues,
eg asylum seekers, carbon tax & etc: http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/did_rudd_think_gays_were_abnormal_in_may/
He also admitted: ‘One in 13 people who come to this country by boat end
up drowning.’ ie 4,000 people dead because of his 2007 backflip on illegal
immigrants!
02/09/2013: Calling for suggestions for Krud’s ‘swan
song’ (early) this Saturday night. My suggestion, ‘It’s My Party And I’ll Cry
if I Want To’!
02/09/2013: Krud’s speech reached its nadir when he
said Labor was in favour of ‘industries we haven’t even dreamed of yet’. The
quality of Labor’s minions was shown by scattered applause.
02/09/2013: BILLIONAIRES: Here’s a group of folks for
the Left to love to hate. Some very interesting stories here. So MANY started
with NOTHING. There is hope for us all yet! http://www.forbes.com/billionaires/
02/09/2013: 23 years we have been here (at Jeeralang Junction)
and have not been able to see another house. NOW someone is building a
MacMansion 400 metres away on the top of the hill overlooking us. May there be
very big winds!
02/09/2013: From the Labor launch: Couldn’t be
trusted to buy a mozzie candle: ‘THERESE Rein meant her speech at the Labor
launch to show us a human side of her husband. Sweet, but the Kevin Rudd
she described yesterday sounded just like the Prime Minister who’s blown
billions of our money on trash. Rein told the sad crowd: “I want to introduce a
husband who was sent to Bunnings for a mozzie candle - one mozzie candle. “He
comes back with Roman flares, Blu-Tack, an extension cord, potting mix, a step
ladder, secateurs, but no mozzie candle.” How we laughed. Not. Remember how we
sent this same bloke out in 2007 to end “this kind of reckless spending”, only
to have him come back with school halls we didn’t need, roof insulation we
didn’t ask for, a thousand Indonesian boats we didn’t invite - and not one
mozzie candle? Sure, Rudd yesterday admitted he might have mucked up some of
the national handyman jobs we’d set him.’ Andrew Bolt. Newspoll is 54:46 this
morning. How come there are ANY folk willing to vote for these clowns – or
their vile minions, the Greens?
01/09/2013: Spring, Day #1: 24C on the verandah here
at Jeeralang Junction. Five days in a row forecast over 25C on the
01/09/2013: Vale Seamus Heaney: Someone else will have
to do the digging: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/177017
01/09/2013: ABU SAKKAR, a monstrous evil CANNIBAL is
just one of the terrorists whom the West is being gulled into supporting in
01/09/2013: DEBT: the simple answer is that as a
nation we owe too much money (debt to GDP ratio 215% - who would have thought?)
The biggest slice of this has been the growth of household debt as bank
deregulation has allowed folks to bid themselves into bankruptcy on house
prices, a pointless folly. All this will have to change. An interesting article
by Don Argus : http://resources.news.com.au/files/2013/08/30/1226707/461940-aus-bus-nav-paradox-of-debt-and-growth.pdf
01/09/2013: Quote of the day: Tim Blair: “How puzzling
this comment would seem to citizens in genuinely repressed nations: ‘The
blatantly anti-government front pages of newspapers like the Daily Telegraph
have sparked huge debate around the country about whether our media should be
more regulated or not.’”
01/09/2013: How’s THIS for a title: ‘Model-based
evidence of deep-ocean heat uptake during surface-temperature hiatus periods’?
What an interesting concept: ‘Model-based evidence’ – would this be in contrast
to REAL evidence?
01/09/2013: Good Grief! There is hope for me yet!
Increasing CO2 is making people TALLER. Read all about it: http://www.quadrant.org.au/blogs/doomed-planet/2013/08/the-looming-peril-of-global-talling
31/08/2013: Is Ju-Liar plotting a comeback NOW? This
week could get VERY interesting as the Titanic sinks slowly in the East… http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/special-features/gillard-in-canberra-as-rudd-campaign-struggles/story-fnho52jp-1226707021832
31/08/2013: What an amazing photo from the rover
Curiosity : a solar eclipse on MARS with one of its moons (Phobos) producing an
annular eclipse: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/details.php?id=PIA17356
31/08/2013: The Politics of Envy: An excellent answer
to the fork-lift driver from Mt Druitt who despised the ‘pretty little lady
lawyer on the North Shore’, Derek: ‘Why should a hard-working lawyer, putting
in 12 hours a day provide any sort of assistance to a man who's going to throw
his carbon tax hand-out, family and healthcare rebates into the mouth of a
poker machine at Mt Druitt Workers Club?’ http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/comment/blogs/the-tiger-of-happiness/a-new-type-of-woman-to-hate-20130829-2ssau.html
31/08/2013: Must watch: ‘last’ Clive James ‘special’
on ABC 1 Tues 8:30pm.
31/08/2013: The petrochemical industry is just
wonderful: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/08/28/when-life-gives-you-fracked-water-make-methane-hydrate/#more-92516
31/08/2013: Meanwhile in the real world, folks post
interesting things like this: http://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/molecule-of-the-week/archive/molecule-of-the-week-ethylene.html
31/08/2013: Wonderful that chemists are applying
themselves so diligently to some of the fundamental (no pun intended) problems
of the world like how to tell whether a coffee bean has passed through a
civet’s alimentary canal. Great stuff fellas: http://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/pressroom/presspacs/2013/acs-presspac-august-21-2013/first-scientific-method-to-authenticate-worlds-costliest-coffee.html
30/08/2013: Greenie sympathisers are banging away
about Tony’s pledge to scrap Labor’s Marine National Parks. Frankly National
parks are a bleeding disgrace: Since when did any National Park protect anything? I do multi-day hikes
in (eg) Wonnangatta-Moroka all the time. It is a disgraceful example of
introduced weeds and vermin proliferating, together with uncontrolled wildfire
causing widespread destruction of native plants and animals. National Parks are
a VERY BAD IDEA. Greenies did not discover them or ‘save’ them. Most have never
visited them (and never will) – as for going on multi-day hikes in them: well,
first of all under National Parks legislation it would be illegal unless one
was a deer hunter (I am), second: pull the other leg: these folks will never
get off their arses (or out of them!) The areas were obviously under perfectly
good management BEFORE they were made into National Parks, else they would not
have been there TO SAVE! A more piecemeal approach to land management (such as
would exist WITHOUT them) would ensure a greater diversity of opportunities for
plants and animals, and therefore be better conservation practice than the
wholesale approach which locking up land as National Parks is - which just
exposes the whole area to wholesale dangers (such as enormous wildfires) &
etc.
30/08/2013: Gobsmackingly Krud is saying he might
still go to the G20 on Sept 5-6 (to sort out the small problems in Syria - in my
personal opinion best handled by arming BOTH sides in the hope they will wipe
each other out!) Should just about be able to do that before he is no longer PM
the next day! SUPERKEVNI!
30/08/2013: Exactly: Should the West really bomb
30/08/2013: Treasury and Parliamentary Budget Office
officials confirm Rudd and Bowen LIED. Listen up Krud and Rat-face, lying to
the public makes you UNFIT FOR GREAT PUBLIC OFFICE! End of story. Goodness
knows, $10 Bill would not have been much to be out in the forward estimates
anyway (ie the next four years budgets -200 weeks) when total moneys will be @
$1700 Bill. After all over the LAST six years (300 weeks) your Governments have
overspent $1 BILION PER WEEK, so that NOW our debt is roughly $300 Billion more
than what Howard left you. In your first 30 days as PM (this time around) you
misplaced $30 Billion as I posted on 4/08/2013! Begone! You are no better than
your vile lying, thieving predecessor towards whom justice still marches remorselessly…
30/08/2013: Bounce Goes Out of Rolf’s Career: ‘She
touched my wobble board’, senile entertainer blubbers, ‘I was only trying to
put my joey in her pouch…’
29/08/2013: Clearly Abbott won the debates: Sportsbet
is paying out on the election results NINE DAYS EARLY with the coalition
favourites in 90 seats to Labor’s 56: http://www.sportsbet.com.au/blog/home/sportsbet-pays-out-early-on-coalition-to-win-2013-election?CarouselSB1
29/08/2013: The best line of the 2013 election
campaign, from Tony Abbott: ‘If you want to know my character, ask my
colleagues. If you want to know Mr Rudd’s character, ask his colleagues’.
Touche!
29/08/2013: Satellite records now show 175 straight
months of GLOBAL COOLING: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/08/27/the-200-months-of-the-pause/
29/08/2013: What CAN you say about a man who threw our
troops’ Xmas mail (presents) off the plane so he could fit the full complement
of his media lackies on…KRUD!
29/08/2013: Bizarre that a man who called the Chinese
‘rat f---ers’ (& other gaffes too numerous to mention) has a better
‘temperament for diplomacy’ than Tony…not the greatest intellect of our
time… http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/rudd_accuses_abbott_of_lacking_the_temperament_to_call_the_chinese_rat_fers/
28/08/2013: Captain Cook observed (way back in 1770)
that it (
28/08/2013: Not the greatest intellect of our time;
even though Labor is clearly losing
28/08/2013: It IS interesting how the Left want to
begrudge the Paid parental Scheme to WORKING women (& men) apparently
especially those on high incomes, whom surely any rational society would want
to ENCOURAGE to reproduce – as compared with Labor’s perverse idea that the
best we can do is pay the lame the halt and the indigent to proliferate
endlessly – what, just in case the day comes when we actually need MILLIONS of
such folk? But, as the ABC’s Fran Kelly (a fitting recipient of employer
largesse herself apparently) reveals here, factory workers and other lowly
folks ought not be paid to reproduce. Of course MANY more ABC presenters,
telephone sanitisers etc ARE needed: Bring on the giant space goat to devour
them all (with apologies to Douglas Adams)! http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/an_abc_entitlement_is_not_fit_for_the_little_people/
27/08/2013: Understand THIS: Government is FORCE; it
is not charity, avuncular, earth mother. Its role is NOT to succour and
support. It is TO CONTROL and DEFEND. To think otherwise is perversion. THIS is
our prime duty: ‘SUPPPORT YOURSELF’. Crying out to Government for ‘support’ is
ALWAYS just some ghastly selfish THEFT, an insisting that one’s fellow men and
women OUGHT support you because you won’t support yourself. Whence comes this
‘owing’, this ‘debt’? I can understand it in relation to care for the elderly (perhaps)
as they (surely?) can be expected to have spent a lifetime working, maybe
building up some ‘social credit’ (but might they not also have been expected to
have put away a little for a rainy day – or just such a certain eventuality as
old age)? But the great majority of those who clamour for ‘support’ just want
to suck at the public teat because it is there and it is easy, while ‘work’ is
a four letter word best not discussed. They are ‘owed’ nothing. A debt presumes
a corresponding credit which they have NOT built up.
28/08/2013: Government is FORCE #2: Further to my post
of yesterday: Indeed the ‘great’ dependent unwashed clamourers have it the
wrong way around: having been raised on a lifetime diet of dependency, eg free
education, health care, welfare, public housing, all sorts of publicly provided
services and checks and balances, law and order, defence, museums, public
transport…the list is almost endless…THEY have a debt to REPAY: eg by service
to their society: by joining our defence forces, working for the dole,
caring for the disabled, child minding, cleaning working folks’ homes, or
etc…They have already been well paid for doing nought!
27/08/2013: Quote of the day: ‘Demanding we observe trivial distinctions
of “race” - rather than stress our common humanity - is itself racist. I just
wish some people claiming to hate racism didn’t actually insist on it.’ Andrew
Bolt.
27/08/2013: It AIN”T half hot, Mum: numerous
studies of Arctic ‘data indicated that after the termination of the glacial
period, temperatures steadily rose to a maximum of 2.5°C warmer than at present
during the Holocene Climatic Optimum (4,000 to 7,000 years ago). The Medieval
Warm Period (MWP) and Little Ice Age (LIA) were also observed in the record,
with temperatures 1°C warmer and 0.5-0.7°C cooler than at the time of their
writing, respectively. After the Little Ice Age, they report that temperatures
once again rose, but that they had “decreased during the last decades,” thereby
indicating that the MWP in this part of the Arctic was significantly warmer
than it was just before the turn of the century’: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/08/23/the-medieval-warm-period-in-the-arctic/#more-92205
26/08/2013: In the end, THIS IS what it comes down to;
one man is a gentleman, the other a self-opinionated krud who has never done
anything for anyone else other than ‘selfie’, and all too often tramples those
whom he considers ‘lesser’. Which kind of man do YOU think should be leader of
your country? http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/mirandadevine/
26/08/2013: I am NOT in favour of melanoma, but I AM
opposed to State interference in our life choices. I think the Vic Govt’s
announced ban on solariums (without compensation! THIS IS TYRANNY!) is one of
the most unjust acts a Vic Govt has promulgated in a long while…The overall
lifetime risk of melanoma is about 2%. This presumably includes those with
‘bad’ behaviour (solariums, beach burning, etc) so the non-tanning number is
maybe lower, but we will use 2% as our base risk understanding that it is
likely high. The 5-year survival rate from these cancers (which by the
way tend to show up after the age 60) is 90+%. (AND a cure is just around the
corner). So a teenager has a lifetime chance of dying early from melanoma of
about 0.2%. (obviously MUCH less with the imminent cure!) A 50% increase to
this would raise this to 0.3%. An extra one in one thousand chance of
dying early from something likely to show up in old age -- is that "so,
so, so, so, so, so, so bad"? For some yes, for some no. That is what
individual choice is all about. Some would LIKE to have what we once described
as a ‘healthy tan’! Will there be a ban on going outdoors soon? Curiously I
understand that melanoma is higher in office workers than outdoors workers…
26/08/2013: Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) The Gods of
the Copybook Headings (1919):
‘As it will be in the future, it was at the
birth of Man
There are only four things certain since Social
Progress began.
That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns
to her Mire,
And the burnt Fool's bandaged finger goes wobbling
back to the Fire;
And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new
world begins
When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay
for his sins
As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will
burn,
The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and
slaughter return!’
(NB The "copybook headings" to which the
title refers were proverbs or maxims, extolling virtues such as honesty or fair
dealing that were printed at the top of the pages of 19th-century British
students' special notebook pages, called copybooks. The school-children had to
write them by hand repeatedly down the page.)
http://www.kipling.org.uk/poems_copybook.htm
25/08/2013: This is the go: always hated the smell of
the gym, and the very idea of exercise is, well, BORING – but a tab: ‘Yes.
Please’: http://www.gizmag.com/scripps-drug-sr9009-exercise-mimic/28651/
25/08/2013: About time anti-fracking nutjobs and
like-minded loonies repudiated the Industrial Revolution: http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/frackpic1.jpg?w=640
25/08/2013: YOU DECIDE: Would you rather watch Krud
and Annabel Crabb EAT (rather than deal with the ‘Syrian Crisis – as alleged)
OR watch: ‘The Hillbilly Slide And One Mad Coon’. No brainer, really: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8rnHXV7A8Q
24/08/2013: ‘Don’t mention ze poster’: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/australia/10261658/Kevin-Rudd-commits-political-gaffe-as-he-is-pictured-in-front-of-Hitler.html
24/08/2013: I have to admit that one of the cruellest
crimes committed by our ‘emerald’ brothers and sisters has been the banning of
‘golden rice’ (amid other life-giving GM crops) which has led to the
unnecessary annual BLINDING of hundreds of thousands of children. The crop was donated
free to the world by its inventor (No, NOT Monsanto!) Read all about it here: http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/gm-crops-don%27t-kill-kids-opposing-them-does.aspx What PUNISHMENT is deserved for folks who will intentionally blind
millions of children? I can think of SOME anyway!
24/08/2013: Cleaner air: who would have thought it
might lead to AGW? My own observations looking West up Parramatta Rd from
Sydney Uni attest to this. Between my earliest observations in the mid sixties
and when we left fro NZ in 1974 (at the time fearing imminent global
catastrophe I am shamed to remember) the distance I could identify a bus coming
along the road diminished by hundreds of metres. During the same period it
became impossible to ride a motorbike without glasses because of the sheer
amount of crap in the air getting in one’s eyes. I WAS surprised when I took
the children to the same spot in 2000 that I could once again see as far as I
had been able to in eg 1965. http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/08/19/shocker-global-warming-may-simply-be-an-artifact-of-clean-air-laws/#more-91909
24/08/2013: This Greens’ attack ad is about as bad as
it gets (who would WANT to wake up beside these folk the next morning either?) Mind
you it says something about the intelligence of the ‘emerald folk’ that THEY
have to wait until the NEXT morning to get the election results everyone sat up
and waited for the night before. (Of course, in the case of the current
election, I suspect the result will be in by about tea time: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14vBe-PrJ-E )
23/08/2013: WHO is the
woman hater: http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/timblair/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/rudd_revealed/
23/08/2013: Sleeping with
the enemy: The Greens (in the pay of Big Oil & etc) do a deal with coal
magnate Clive Palmer. Such PRINCIPLED luvvies: http://www.news.com.au/national-news/federal-election/mining-magnate-clive-palmer-and-the-greens-in-election-deal/story-fnho52ip-1226699523115#ixzz2cQAEjSS9
23/08/2013: In a similar
vein the actress depicted in Labor’s attack ads is nothing like the woman she
portrays: instead in reality she lives in a posh house in ‘Paddo’ with her
doctor husband, expensive Spanish tiles, sci-fi dishwashers & etc: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/bagging-tony-abbott-all-in-a-day8217s-work-for-actress-susannah-hardy/story-fni0cx12-1226700958998
23/08/2013: Rudd is
trailing his Liberal opponent (Bill Glasson) in his own seat by about 4% and is
avoiding debating HIM: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/22/kevin-rudd-trails-seat-griffith-poll
24/08/2013: And today it
got even worse with Liberal volunteers eager to rush to
23/08/2013: New oil
drilling technologies could increase the world’s petroleum supplies six-fold in
the coming years to 10.2 trillion barrels (about ten times what we’ve used so
far): http://qz.com/117504/new-drilling-technologies-could-give-us-so-much-oil-the-climate-wont-stand-a-chance/
22/08/2013: The Guardian’s Sophie McNeill talks to voters in
22/08/2013: Astonishing: ‘GLOBAL warming is causing apples to lose some of their
crunch but is also making them sweeter’, a study has found: http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/food/apples-losing-their-crunch-to-global-warming-study/story-fneuz8wn-1226698097349#ixzz2cMezpCyo
22/08/2013: Good Lord: Sea level has been FALLING the
last couple of years, so let’s explain this by saying it’s not because the
world has COOLED but that all the missing water fell on Australia (and stayed
there!): http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/08/20/climate_change_made_sea_levels_fall_in_2010_and_2011/
22/08/2013: Bleeding hearts might weep over Bradley
Manning’s fate, but I think he should have danced at the end of a rope
for his treason and the guys he caused to be killed in
24/08/2013: Or ‘
22/08/2013: Personally, if I had been Tony I would
have pushed or king-hit the posturing bore who continually strutted up and down
in front of him, motor-mouthing, interrupting, attempting to completely
dominate the ‘debate’, and just before being told to ‘Shut UP!’ was right
IN HIS FACE!
22/08/2013: Just guessing, but I’m thinking Obama
won’t see quite so much resemblance between his younger self and these young
thugs: Chancey
Luna, James Edwards & Michael Jones (whose future hopefully involves
potassium chloride) after they murdered Australian, Christopher Lane…
21/08/2013: Fair Point: Patrick Moynihan: ‘You are
entitled to your opinions, but not to your own facts.’ The anti-fracking
loonies ARE just making it up as they go along: http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/the-five-myths-about-fracking-%281%29.aspx
21/08/2013: Such cogent points made by the English
anti-fracking nut-jobs: http://www.kernelmag.com/features/report/exclusive/4596/i-met-the-fracking-protesters/
21/08/2013: Matt Ridley very cogently destroys the
fear campaign that is AGW: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/01/28/matt-ridley-a-lukewarmers-ten-tests/
21/08/2013: The PROBLEM with
‘renewables’; they are going NOWHERE: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/08/14/lomborg-renewables-are-stuck-although-green-hopes-keep-rising/
21/08/2013: New word for the day: PROTIST = eukaryotic
microorganism: in an interesting article explaining the dangers of chemophobia
(which is certainly a widesperead malady): http://www.sciencecodex.com/chemophobia_shouldnt_be_on_the_menu-117586
20/08/2013: And NOW: Time for some REAL fairy stories:
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/mar/05/five-hundred-fairytales-discovered-germany Here’s one: The Turnip Princess: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/mar/05/turnip-princess-discovered-fairytale Can’t wait for some more translations…
20/08/2013: In the ONE month since Krud announced the
‘PNG Solution’ 2764 illegal boat migrants have arrived. That would make 33,168
for a full calendar year or 99 per day. THIS is a SOLUTION?
20/08/2013: Maurice Newman, former chairman of the
Australian Securities Exchange, warns against falling for a scare campaign
against cuts to government spending: ‘After the 2010 election, prime minister
Julia Gillard expanded Kevin Rudd’s agenda. The people-smuggling industry,
climate change complex, trade union movement and public service, which expanded
by 13,000 full-time positions, enjoyed enhanced patronage at great expense to
the wider population. Indeed, to pay for these ideological flights of fancy,
Australians have picked up an open-ended tab currently running at more than
$13,000 per person. That’s from zero in six years. For a family of four, this
is equivalent to an unwanted debt of more than $52,000 with little tangible to
offset for it. True, ...
20/08/2013: The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are:
‘Pestilence, War, Famine & Death’. Modern society & science have done
much to banish three out of four of them, but WAR still looms as ever more
terrifying. AND I still maintain that the roots of war lie in BELIEF. If we can
rid ourself of this pestilential folly, and make people far more rational, I
think the dangers war will recede. Of course there will have to be far more
fact and logic based education: Science, History, Mathematics, etc and we will
have to rid ourselves of all those ideological faculties: women’s studies,
human rights, politics…you get the point!
20/08/2013: FAR too many Victorian women murdered this
year by ‘parolees’. Let’s ‘bite the bullet’ (sic) on this one. Harvesting these
guys for organs could have saved 30+ lives already this year. (Hopefully) they
will spend the rest of their lives in gaol anyway. Instead, let’s at least give
them the option of voluntary euthanasia and organ donation – if you cannot come
at a compulsory death sentence. Many of these guys attempt (or succeed at)
suicide in gaol anyway, which is a needless waste of the lives of others who
could have been saved with their organs.
20/08/2013: Some examples: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/opinion/evil-is-free-to-walk-our-streets/story-fni0ffxg-1226668447141
20/08/2013: NBN discovers that it has ‘lost’
another $5 BILLION! Why worry? It’s only money! AND Malcolm Turnbull says
Albanese is sitting on a report which shows NBN cost is blowing out to $94
billion (from $37!). This report should certainly be released BEFORE the
election so that voters can decide whether they DO want such an expensive
scheme – even if it may be (perhaps, still, at the moment) technically
superior… http://www.afr.com/p/technology/contractor_demands_cause_billion_2mtA80DzIsfpCsngike2aI
19/08/2013: The Climate Commission says this morning
that Tony has a few million deficit in his ‘climate policy’. Oh Dear…Well, it
won’t be hard to find the savings to FIX that. I note that
19/08/2013: Newspoll at 54:46 this morning! COME ON
folks. You can do better than that! 60:40 is a much better number;
19/08/2013: If architects, designers, builders,
electricians etc knew anything at all about what we actually use a house for,
there would be NO sales of extension cords – yet is there ANYONE who does NOT
own at least a dozen of them? The Space Goat has more work to do yet!
19/08/2013: This IS a problem: There are ‘dozens of
Muslim Brotherhood sympathisers in
19/08/2013: Quote of the day: Greg Sheridan: ‘There
are things people dislike about Abbott, but he is always the same man. In a
decade as a minister and four years as opposition leader, there are no stories
of mistreating staff, no stewardesses in tears. There is one episode in
Abbott’s life I witnessed but don’t often recount because my own role was so
utterly unheroic. In 1977, Abbott and I were lying on the sand at a surf beach
some distance out of
19/08/2013: It is difficult to even IMAGINE Krud
braving an ocean rip to save another person - though not so hard to
imagine him TALKING about it at some length: just as he recently revealed that not
only had he gone 'beyond the wire' in Afghanistan but had also served in the
Kokoda campaign. What an astonishing blimp! Character WILL out!
18/08/2013: Labor take note: Another clownwards
spiral: A Chinese zoo's supposed "African lion" was exposed as a
fraud when the dog used as a substitute started barking: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/08/15/china-zoo-under-fire-for-disguising-dog-as-lion/
18/08/2013: Hot babes: http://blogs.news.com.au/images/uploads/billtoon.png & http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/mirandadevine/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/sexy_gate_enough_already/
18/08/2013: Greens withering on the vine: the major
parties (+ Xenophon, & Katter etc) are preferencing against them already in
SA & Qld. (So, thankfully: GOODBYE Hanson-Young - & your childish art
& other tantrums!) This strategy SHOULD be implemented nation-wide so
that we will be rid of them. NB, without gaining a percentage large enough to
form a ‘quota’ ensuring they take the fifth Senate seat in each state, they
have to gain ‘surplus’ portions of the quotas of others (particularly the major
parties), so that if everyone else preferences against them they will (after
the next but one election) have DESERVEDLY disappeared from the political
landscape. And LONG SINCE TIME – we cannot afford such a disastrous destructive
menace in our political system as these (ex?) communists represent! But Labor
will squib on this just because they ARE their commie mates!
18/08/2013: Babies are being made into soup in
18/08/2013: A poll to decide what
the next ‘new’ term for ‘global warming’ should be (now that ‘carbon pollution’
has become ‘old hat’). ‘Climageddon’ is nice. Also ‘Irritable Climate Sydrome’.
There should be a prize for the best. Maybe ‘Chicken Little Effect’, ‘The Green
Disease’… http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/08/15/lexicon-shift-alert-global-warming-gets-another-name-change/#more-91685
18/08/2013: Brain Activity Shows
Basis of Near-Death Experiences (Forget religion!): http://www.newsmax.com/SciTech/Science-US-psychology-research/2013/08/12/id/519971
17/08/2013: SEX appeal is not such
a bad thing apparently. Liberal candidate Fiona Scott is polling 60:40 in David
Bradbury’s Western Sydney Labor marginal of Lindsay. Across the country similar
swings are happening, eg in Coorangamite in Victoria, Aston, Bennelong, Forde
& etc. This is turning into a rout. They WILL lose over 20 seats, quite
possibly 40. Labor desperately needed a NEW leader. Trouble is, ALL the decent
folk resigned or refused to serve under Krud. Some are currently on holiday:
Combet in
17/08/2013: Great torch. Della
bought me one for my birthday: Max 260 lumens. Weight 55 grams (with battery,
78 with headband too). A great little torch. Highly recommended. US$69 inc
freight: http://www.zebralight.com/H502w-AA-Flood-Headlamp-Neutral-White_p_108.html
17/08/2013: The interesting adventures
of Stavros ‘Chicken’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eZIJhVRN4w
16/08/2013: What Labor MPs
deservedly think of Rudd’s gutlessness in not preferencing the Greens last: ‘What have the greens given us apart
from electoral Armageddon…If we do any dirty deals with them we might as well
give ourselves Ebola as well. And Kevin should be taking the lead on this’ http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/labor-seeing-red-as-kevin-rudd-woos-greens/story-fni0cx12-1226697415884
Meanwhile his star is sinking slowly in the West (Sydney) where Labor is set to
lose a swag of seats: http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/rudd_now_struggling_to_stop_a_gillard_sized_loss_in_nsw/
And we start to see what Tony will (AT LAST) do to STOP THE BOATS. THIS will
work: http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/coalition_to_deny_rewards_to_our_30000_asylum_seekers/
16/08/2013: Bad news this morning: You KNOW you’re
over the hill when this link appears on your newsfeed: http://www.finalexpensesinsurance.com.au/
16/08/2013: Jason John Dinsley: Another bastard deserving
ONLY to be made into spare parts. When will we STOP this? http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/law-order/legal-quirk-allowed-parolee-jason-dinsley-to-rape-and-kill/story-fni0ffnk-1226697826615
16/08/2013: LED Light Globes UPDATE: New Phillips
13watt 1055 lumen available at Bunnings are GREAT (and more than 50% brighter
then the previous model though only using one extra watt). $20. NO 20+ watt CFL
ever worked as well as this. Highly recommended.
15/08/2013: Kids are having fun with a new App on
their ‘smart’ phones which allows them to remotely adjust television sets &
etc: turning off security cameras at shopping centres, Musak & etc. Trouble
is it won’t be long before they graduate to being able to adjust hearing aids
remotely, turn off pacemakers, open garage doors, turn off car ignition systems
on the freeway, or aircraft auto-pilots & etc. I suspect this technology
will soon be banned.
15/08/2013: PEFO shows Government debt will breach
(the agreed limit of) $300 BILLION in Dec this year. Great economics from guys
who started with a $60 bilion SURPLUS. The NBN is also exploding, but Albanese
will not release the latest figures which clearly show that there is a cost
blowout there of roughly DOUBLE ($94 BILLION). Simultaneously, people are
abandoning their home phone lines in droves (Something like 250,000 gone in the
last year alone), so where is the revenue FROM the NBN going to come?
15/08/2013: VERY interesting… http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/08/13/new-peer-reviewed-paper-shows-only-36-of-geoscientists-and-engineers-believe-in-agw/
14/08/2013: GREAT ad. Sure DOES bring tears to the
eyes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6D3rwe-386c
14/08/2013: THANK GOODNESS for THIS. Let’s hope Labor
comes to its sense and does the same. This Green EVIL must end: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/special-features/tony-abbott-set-to-banish-greens-from-the-lower-house-of-parliament-by-preferencing-them-behind-labortony-abbott-to-banish-the-greens-from-the-lower-house/story-fnho52jj-1226696675037
14/08/2013: Bleeding heart racist ‘aboriginal’ camp
followers are always opining about how BAD it is to be black in Oz today. What
nonsense fellas. Get a life! Get an education! Get a job! Try being black in
12/08/2013: ASYLUM seekers have found their own PNG
Solution with two Somalis the latest to sail from
12/08/2013: DEATH and THIS come to us all, I guess. I am
tidying up the garage and shed, things which I can well understand the reasons
for never having had time to do in the past. I will NOT be making painted
backboards with outlines of all my tools to festoon the walls with. I have
always delighted breaking into the sheds of those anal people who delight in
such things, and hanging all their tools in the wrong places! I only hope
my next trick is not to go through all the old photo albums and annotate them.
Such activities almost always in my experience indicate a fatal boredom, and
such folks as engage in them are usually well on the way out…SO, perhaps I will
find something else, interesting, to do TODAY…
12/08/2013: HERE is another serial rapist (Gary John
Barker, aka Gary Collingwood) set free to pillage again (http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/law-order/serial-rapist-strikes-months-after-prison-release/story-fni0fee2-1226694858752). I have a view which I describe as ‘moral economics’. This holds that
such folks ought to recompense society for their crimes (instead of adding
further costs TO society). So, for example, if such folks are killed and
harvested for their organs, each death of such guilty bastards can give life to
MANY innocents. In this way they repay their debt WITH INTEREST! This
rebalancing of moral debts is what I mean by ‘moral economics’. Again, it is
astonishing to me that we should spend upwards of $100,000 pa rewarding such
scum with LIFE (eg in prison) when that money could be spent rewarding the
INNOCENT with life, eg by paying for their cancer therapy, operations &
etc, when at the moment we are rewarding the innocent with DEATH. To continue to
REWARD THE GUILTY AND PUNISH THE INNOCENT is just so clearly WRONG! If you have
done EVIL, you should be made to repay this debt (not so much with punishment,
though I have no objection if such folks suffer TOO), but by DOING GOOD! Surely
we have already decided (by incarcerating such people and denying them physical
freedom) that their BODY is the property of society, to be used for the BEST
purposes society can devise?
11/08/2013: Tony was SO much better than Krud who is
now definitely TOAST!
11/08/2013: YES: http://blogs.news.com.au/images/uploads/ruddad1.jpg
11/08/2013: About ‘oaths’ and ‘words’: Marriage as an
institution is redolent with many ancient, tested practices such as the
swearing of oaths. Traditionally oaths are/were sworn on that which you hold
most sacred – in this case and many others that meant ‘on your life’! That is
the origin of the phrase ‘Till death us do part’. You are swearing ‘on your
life’. ie ‘on pain of death’ to be TRUE to your WORD: in this case, ‘I DO’!
Many folks today want to hijack or dilute these ancient customs. This is MOST
unwise.
11/08/2013: In another example, a ‘naturalised’
citizen is BETTER than one simply ‘born and raised’ because the former HAS
sworn a binding oath. Many older Australians swore these oaths at the beginning
of every school day - though I doubt many under about forty have EVER sworn
fidelity to their country which has given them so much. Too many have NO
LOYALTY, but only expectations that their country will PROVIDE for them:
nothing about DUTY enters their heads at all. The daily oaths my generation
swore spoke ONLY of our duties (‘I honour…I salute the flag’ etc) and NOTHING
of our entitlements. ‘Entitlements’ are always provided by the hard work of our
fellow citizens: they are always CHARITY. A citizen should avoid (on their
life) becoming a recipient of charity. Similarly, the swearing of an oath (on
your life) means that you hold that which you are swearing on more precious
THAN your life. New citizens have thought carefully about this. Old citizens
should too. We do right to honour our soldiers who have placed their lives
between us and our enemies. Those who think otherwise are quislings and
traitors, never citizens. Citizenship should be revokable, and ostracism should
accompany its revocation.
11/08/2013: Bizarre Fact: The SA Premier, MR Jay
Wetherill is Penny Wong’s Ex! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay_Weatherill
11/08/2013: Clearly, Ju-Liar, Tim Flannery and Al Gore
are all true believers in climate change as they have all bought expensive
houses within a stone’s throw from the beach! http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/timblair/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/changing_her_ways/
10/08/2013: THIS is a really GREAT story: http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/mirandadevine/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/why_we_do_love_migrants/
10/08/2013: Little Bo Peep would not have lost THESE
beauties. Perhaps a niche market we could exploit as retired sheep farmers? http://www.news.com.au/technology/sci-tech/glow-in-the-dark-sheep/story-fn5fsgyc-1226631407233
10/08/2013: I noticed yesterday that Krud’s
democratisation of the ALP does not extend to allowing the membership to
pre-select the potential ALP Member for Forde! The man is SUCH a liar, cheat
and humbug. Can’t wait until he is GONE. Happily Nielsen has it at Liberal
52-Labor 48% this morning, so things are moving in the RIGHT direction! 'Souffles do not rise twice' - A
Bolt. In a major turnaround since July, 47 per cent of voters now rate Mr
Abbott as more trustworthy than Mr Rudd.
10/08/2013: The GOOD NEWS is she WILL, ‘when I’m 64’!
10/08/2013: As Della already posted we camped at
beautiful Blond Bay, Gippsland on Tuesday night & at the Glasshouse, Lake
Tyers on Wednesday night. Winter is always the BEST time for camping as it is
solitary and you can have a warm fire if you want (our camper has a as heater,
so we are always toasty!) Most of the night we were lullabied by swan song: it
is only the Northern Hemisphere swans who are mute (and give voice reputedly only
in the moment of their deaths). Ours have many interesting vocalisations… AND the dogs
bailed a hog deer not twenty yards from our caravan... AND, the deer
BARKED back like dogs too!
10/08/2013: For nearly all of the ‘history’ of life on
earth CO2 percentages have been MANY TIMES what they are now. Only one period
(quite recently, when life almost stopped!) had a lower level. So, RELAX: http://s90.photobucket.com/user/dhm1353/media/GeoCO2.png.html
09/08/2013: Green Deaths per annum amount to millions
worldwide: Malaria (where the unnecessary & illegitimate ban on DDT cost
over a million lives pa for thirty+ years), support for biofuels (200,000+ pa
from starvation as we burn food rather than allow the poor to eat it),
opposition to food irradiation (100s of 1000s pa from food poisoning pa),
opposition to nuclear power (deaths from radon, Carbon 14, coal mining
etc), opposition to GM crops, diversion of money (from eg health, shelter,
food) to global warming ‘mitigation’, opposition to Western farming methods
(& especially in the Third World = mass starvation), support for national
parks before people…These folk are simply the most evil bastards EVER (making
Stalin, Hitler, Mao etc look like patsies). AND it is not just people whom the
greens murder in their millions. Animals and plants are destroyed by their
policies in their billions: millions of hectares have been destroyed to make
way for palm oil plantations and generally to grow ‘Biofuels’. Other millions
of hectares are routinely destroyed by wildfires because of their insistence on
a completely ‘hands off’ approach to forest management. At the same time vast
numbers of creatures are destroyed by introduced vermin such as foxes, cats,
pigs which they will not allow to be shot. Add millions of wildlife deaths pa
from windfarms and from paving over land with solar collectors & etc…
Astonishing that 8% of voters say they will still vote for their policies. How can
so many folk fail to be able to distinguish between good and evil?
09/08/2013: WONDERFUL headlines I have known,
including ‘Whitstable
Mum in Custard Shortage’, ‘Oven removed from home’, ‘No flood warnings for
North Somerset’, ‘Smug swans attack Dalmatian’, ‘Mystery of wheelchair left in
Shoreham pub’, ‘Road stays open’, ‘Man Found Nailed To Bench’, ‘Elderly
terrified by food fight’, ‘Woman found in Germany’, ‘Guides delighted with
their rubbish award’, ‘Goldfish catch sparks debate’, ‘Youth Found In Phone Box
With Fork’, ‘Cat hops into delivery van’ ‘Rudd tries to buy voters’ love with
borrowed billions’, and many others… http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/node/47913
06/08/2013: Meanwhile the NDIS looks set to blow out
by at least 50% (from $15 billion pa to at least $22 – as much as we spend on
Defence!). Bemused service providers in both
06/08/2013: Let’s not have this happen to us: http://maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com/uploads/hiroshima-detroit-lesson.jpg
06/08/2013: We must beware the Fifth Column which is
so rapidly growing within us: ‘Per capita, the Islamic community is sending
three terrorists off to fight with Islamist groups for every soldier the rest
of this country sends overseas to wage war against them…Later this year,
Australia will withdraw most of its troops from Afghanistan…the Islamic
population in Australia has doubled during this war.” Presently they represent
2.2% of the population having doubled in less than a decade. At the current
rate of growth they will be the majority in about FIFTY years (2 to the sixth
power = 64; 6 x 10 = 60). Some European countries (eg
05/08/2013: Commonwealth receipts as a percentage of
GDP ($1379 billion) are expected to be 0.4 per cent ($5.5 billion) higher this
financial year than last, spending as a percentage of GDP has risen two and a
half times that: an even larger rise than at the height of Kevin Rudd’s
stimulus. I repeat: ‘There will never be a surplus under a Government I lead’.
05/08/2013: Meanwhile in
05/08/2013: The ‘Decline of the West’ – something I
have long been concerned about. THIS looks like a very good read about the
topic by renowned historian Niall Ferguson: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-great-degeneration-niall-ferguson/1113833127?ean=9781594205453
05/08/2013: Well I WAS WRONG. Clearly Krud believes it
is now as good as it gets. Reachtel (taken AFTER the announcement) has it
Coalition 52: Labor 48%. Newspoll this morning has exactly the same figures.
Greens at just over 8% still look like a party in decline (Thank Gaia!). Katter
at 1.4 and Palmer at 1.8 are interesting and might make for some excitement in
04/08/2013: Journos have been banging on all weekend
that Krud will call Sept 7. Only if Monday morning’s poll puts him in a hugely
winning position; otherwise he is desperate to attend the G20. Think late Oct
or even Nov. He is lovin’ bein’ the man! However, the 2010 election was held on
21 Aug, so we are already two weeks overdue with a Sept 7 date. The earliest he
will go after that is Sept 21 (FOUR WEEKS LATE). See how this leaves Labor open
to valid the criticism of desperately (and illegitimately) hanging on to
power…PS: an election can only be held on a Saturday at least 33 days after it
is called – Sept 7 is now the earliest date (the latest possible date is Nov 30
– so don’t hold your breath!): http://www.aec.gov.au/faqs/Elections.htm
04/08/2013: ‘There will never be a surplus under a
Government I lead’: Krud’s ‘Swan Song’? How did they lose ANOTHER $30 billion
dollars in just ONE MONTH? ALL the figures are extremely dodgy, no wonder at
all coming from this most duplicitous of human beings: http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/there_will_be_no_surplus_under_a_government_rudd_leads/
04/08/2013: Practically everything you ever wanted to
know about hammock camping (plus a little more): http://theultimatehang.com/archives/
04/08/2013: Ain’t it so: ‘Put bluntly, failure
attracts more money than success. Politically, failure becomes a reason to
demand more money’, (Thomas Sowell, http://www.tsowell.com/speducat.html ) Hence the need for Gonskis, the NDIS, the PNG ‘solution’, the ‘new
car industry plan, more money for ‘renewables’, Depts of ‘indigenous’ affairs
& so on ad nauseum… Meanwhile (eg) in the
04/08/2013: The greatest food in human history: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/the_greatest_food_human_history_5bikMtD5ZJ50x1KMCyGfTJ
04/08/2013: PS: Given youth unemployment just hit
27.3% I would have thought we could use a few more Maccas (and the like) so I
have little sympathy for the bizarre protesters at Tecoma!
i
03/08/2013: Couldn’t agree more: http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2013/08/the-sanctimonious-barbarism-of-mutilating-little-girls-and-the-creed-that-drives-it-have-no-place-on.html
03/08/2013: TOP TIP: You know how you can’t cut
through the roots of trees with a chain saw as it goes immediately blunt when
the chain hits dirt? If you want to cut a tree right down to the ground (or
below) a sabre saw is the answer (eg http://www.klika.com.au/trade/cordless-tools/makita/makita-cordless-reciprocating-saw-bjr182.html?gclid=CPnHn8Ps2rgCFSFgpgodpi4AVw) . PS: I have found my cordless Makita angle grinder to be just about
the best thing I have ever had and strongly recommend one for your beloved’s
Xmas pressie. PPS: Some brands of cordless sabre saws take a pole attachment
which would be good for tree pruning.
03/08/2013: I notice Krud has appointed THREE new 457
Visa folk to head his re-election team. The guy is such a humbug: Tom McMahon,
the former executive director of the Democratic National Committee, Joon Kim of
the consulting firm New Partners and British social media expert, Matthew
McGregor, will be part of Mr Rudd’s election campaign team for 2013.
02/08/2013: The pencil is mightier than the sword: http://directorblue.blogspot.com.au/2013/07/the-progressive-and-pencil.html
02/08/2013: TOP Environmental stories: the Neo Nazis
get all the hot chicks (& best underwear!), and Al Gore’s environmentally
sensitive office is the most energy inefficient in
02/08/2013: Now here is a neat gift for the executive
geek, Tetris Lights: http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/f034/
02/08/2013: Taxing smokers (I include excise
generally) is unfair and discriminatory. It is targeting the poorest with the
highest levels of taxation and making them pay the bulk of (eg everyone’s
health care) costs whilst simultaneously discriminating against them in the
provision of services. I think the Opposition should announce that it will
abolish excise altogether and maybe make up the difference by increasing GST or
income taxes which are a much fairer revenue measure. I have long since written
to every Opposition member with this suggestion but received the usual silence
in reply. NB I do not smoke.
01/08/2013: Just LOVE Dr Google who has shown me how
to cure the incurable (computer invisible) engine problem in our new TD5
Defender which now goes like a rocket!
01/08/2013: AND should you need to make your own
machine gun out of those stray plumbing fittings in the garage (surely a DIY
must have?), this guy has some excellent plans (I would be careful about
downloading them though…): http://thehomegunsmith.com/index.shtml
01/08/2013: If you happen to need a lock pick (and who
des NOT?) these folks have them. Their lock pick gun @ $69.95 would make lovely
gift for any of your outlaw relatives: http://www.gadgetsdirect.com.au/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=160
01/08/2013: These folks have some pretty neat stuff,
suitable for presents (NOT a hint), survival & etc, eg miniature compasses
& signalling mirrors, springers for fishing, a great range of knives -
& this is ‘peanut lighter: http://www.countycomm.com/splitpea.html
31/07/2013: Take an eight-minute break to restore your
faith in humankind: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiLDMBDPCEY
31/07/2013: Back from the DEAD: the massive heart
attack which has kept me silent for a couple of days turned out to be a freaky
infection on the outside of my heart now (hopefully) completely cured by antibiotics…still
a very scary and bizarre experience especially coming as it did on the 50th
anniversary of my own father’s death!
31/07/2013: Mind you, I was more than a little
sceptical of the hospital giving me Endone for the pain something surely more
suitable for euthenasia!
31/07/2013: Hard to believe, but there you go... <iframe
src="https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=637858169559064"
width="320" height="240"
frameborder="0"></iframe>
31/07/2013: Snuffy the seal’s triumphant return to the
sea (goes wrong!) : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_i3PPe3i9Y
28/07/2013: "Perhaps the essence of the Liberal outlook
could be summed up in a new decalogue, not intended to replace the old one but
only to supplement it. The Ten Commandments that, as a teacher, I should wish
to promulgate, might be set forth as follows:
1. Do not feel absolutely certain of anything.
2. Do not think it worth while to proceed by
concealing evidence, for the evidence is sure to come to light.
3. Never try to discourage thinking for you are sure
to succeed.
4. When you meet with opposition, even if it should be
from your husband or your children, endeavour to overcome it by argument and
not by authority, for a victory dependent upon authority is unreal and
illusory.
5. Have no respect for the authority of others, for
there are always contrary authorities to be found.
6. Do not use power to suppress opinions you think
pernicious, for if you do the opinions will suppress you.
7. Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every
opinion now accepted was once eccentric.
8. Find more pleasure in intelligent dissent than in
passive agreement, for, if you value intelligence as you should, the former
implies a deeper agreement than the latter.
9. Be scrupulously truthful, even if the truth is
inconvenient, for it is more inconvenient when you try to conceal it.
10. 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.
Bertrand Russell
(18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970)
28/07/2013: Pie in the sky: Chinese authorities shoot
down world's first cake drones
The authorities in
28/07/2013:
28/07/2013: Unexpected consequences: If this proves to
be true then the medical establishment’s injunction against salt intake must be
leading to a reduction of intelligence – I suspect this has already happened,
as evidenced by the increase in credulity amongst mung bean munchers and other
intellectually challenged greenies: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/2013/07/23/how-adding-iodine-to-salt-boosted-americans-iq/#.UfBcJW33zJV Interestingly, not everyone is in favour of reducing salt intake: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/7/prweb10950859.htm
27/07/2013: Could Percy have been made to confess
using Sodium Pentothal? Could Camilleri? Could Dupas? Could Milat? Could
Brady?...Should we find out? There ARE lots of dreadful unsolved crimes out
there, and many grieving relatives longing for closure…
27/07/2013: Quote of the day: Mark Awerbuch: ‘Many of those
who gravitate to the Left have failed to achieve success in life and seek
solace in providing succour to a side of politics willing to mitigate their
failure by punishing those who have succeeded. We understand, but it is
tiresome’.
28/07/2013: 'Success' could be as little as the
ability to get up in the morning, shower, dress in clean clothes and be at a
'workplace' at a designated time...and anything moving upwards from there. We
have OVER 1.5 million folks on the public trough who can't 'succeed' at that
most simple of tasks - YET THEY VOTE - you can guess what side of politics they
vote for!
26/07/2013: Since Wednesday night when Krud announced
his
28/07/2013: CORRECTION: Latest figure indicate 1260
arrived in the 7 days, quite an increase in the ‘usual’ average of 100/day!
26/07/2013: Remembering Otis Redding… http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/07/the-songs-otis-redding-could-have-sung/278007/
26/07/2013: Like: BJORN LOMBORG: the environmentalist
whom the ‘climate crazies’ love to hate: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/07/20/lomborg-lets-get-our-priorities-right/#more-90194
26/07/2013: Astonishing: the (very temporary) Federal
Treasurer, Chris Bowen encouraging people to evade tax ( a gaolable offence):
"Within the first 12-month period the individual concerned can pick the
three months they want to maximise their chances of getting the maximum tax
concession ... we would like some evidence that the car is being used for
business purposes." http://www.news.com.au/national-news/salary-packaging-and-car-fleet-representative-leigh-penberthy-corners-prime-minister-to-extract-meeting-promise/story-fncynjr2-1226684649855#ixzz2a0XGtw14
25/07/2013: EVEN MORE good news: Scientists have
managed to turn off the defective chromosome which causes Downes Syndrome. The
future of GM is SO wonderful: http://www.nature.com/news/researchers-turn-off-down-s-syndrome-genes-1.13406
25/07/2013: MORE good news: the world is awash with
food and the situation is likely to get even better: http://spectrum.ieee.org/static/the-age-of-plenty http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/templates/worldfood/images/home-graph_4.jpg
25/07/2013: ‘Today I give sincere thanks to Prince
William and his lovely wife Kate for naming their baby son Kevin Michael in my
honour. They’re bonza people. A most appropriate gesture that’s for sure. I
can’t wait to take a selfie of yours truly and bonnie prince Kevin Michael.
We’re cooking with gas now. That’s a fair shake of the sauce bottle: imagine
King Kevin Michael Windsor with Prime Minister for Life Kevin Michael Rudd!
I’ve got to zip’.
25/07/2013: It WAS just such an astonishing (not to
mention its racism incitement) thing for a president to say (ie that 35 years
ago he could have BEEN Trayvon). So, does this mean that Obama’s past includes
king-hitting guys, sitting on their chests and smashing their heads against the
sidewalk (as Trayvon was PROVEN to be doing)? Who would NOT have blown him away
in such circumstances? He was apparently 4” taller than Zimmerman: we have only
been shown photos of a much younger Trayvon, not the nasty hulk Z shot. Where
DO folks GET these awful names anyway: ‘Trayvon’ – I note that the late
hooligan’s mother’s name is ‘Tracey’ – perhaps we should have called our kids
‘Stedell’ or ‘Dellstee’? This MAY be worse than naming your kids after the
latest sitcom – apparently there has been a rash of ‘Kaleesis’ after ‘Game of Thrones’!
What a heartbreak old world… http://www.quadrant.org.au/blogs/qed/2013/07/obama-whistles-up-up-a-lynch-mob
25/07/2013: ONLY 145 folks in the
25/07/2013: CORRECTION: 60 folk have been left on
24/07/2013: WHAT a STUNNING photograph: our solar
system is brilliant – and look how small all our concerns really ARE (Earth
& Moon arrowed): http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/saturn_earth_cassini.jpg?w=640&h=419
24/07/2013: Your taxes at work: “...Three years of
improvisation, research, discussion and imaginings resulted in a chimerical
narrative about the Hindu deity travelling to Germany to reclaim the swastika,
an ancient Sanskrit symbol, from the Nazis. ‘We sat on that storyline for about
a year, thinking there is no way that a small theatre company from Geelong made
up of six actors with intellectual disabilities can re-write European history…”
http://bunyipitude.blogspot.com.au/2013/07/coming-soon-muhammad-versus-tall.html
24/07/2013: Meanwhile NBN contractors are demanding
they be paid 40% more pushing the total cost to over & $70 billion – one
more huge black hole in the budget to join all those already there. This guy
Krud can REALLY manage!
24/07/2013: As if it was not bad enough PNG is planning
to ban Islam, but also have huge penalties against homosexuality (eg 14 years
gaol) so who knows what penalties these people would face there:
http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/federal-election-2013/men-who-were-raped-kept-in-same-facilities-as-assailants-former-guard-20130723-2qhie.html#ixzz2Zt2merax
23/07/2013: I notice PNG are considering voting to ban
Islam. This could prove interesting... http://cathnews.co.nz/2013/07/19/catholics-oppose-proposal-to-ban-non-christian-religions-in-png/
23/07/2013: ‘Whatever happened to the rangakanga,
The rangakanga caused much anger,
Send him to the donga to become a sanga,
And into the slammer with the awful ranga!’
23/07/2013: It is interesting that Walmart (@ 25:1)
has many more applications per vacancy than
23/07/2013: It's official: Krud apogee passed...going
down. Newspoll this morning: Coalition 52: Labor 48. My guess is his ego will
ensure he will hang on as long as he can as he enjoys being 'the man':
Come ON November!
23/07/2013: It's a boy! No urgency to change the
constitution this CENTURY after all with THREE kings now in line!
23/07/2013: Just wondering how (well?) Moslem illegal
immigrants will enjoy PNG’s ‘traditional’ dish of ‘long pig’… Some of them may
well find out! Today’s mystery: ‘Would Moslem ‘long pig’ be halal?’
23/07/2013: Today’s OTHER great mystery: Don’t forget
the KANGAROO! What ever HAPPENED to the rangakanga?
22/07/2013: Here are just a few of PNG’s new citizens.
They are welcome to them…Perhaps machine gunning wasn’t such a bad idea after
all…http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2013/07/some-great-aussies-live-on-christmas-island-meet-a-dead-set-patriot-shaz-with-the-telephoto-lens.html
22/07/2013: It becomes ore obvious by the day why half
of the ALP hate him…and Tony Burke – if Krud had changed the policy to sinking
the boats and machine gunning the occupants in the water (as the Japanese used
to do so charmingly to us), Krud & Burke could put a positive spin on it…
21/07/2013: The trouble
with sacred cows is they turn out to be such bum steers!
22/07/2013: ‘In 1936, aged 24, (Alan) Turing wrote: “We
may now construct a machine to do the work of this computer.” It makes no sense
today, but that’s because of what Turing wrought. In 1933 a computer was a
person, usually a woman, who knew how to compute.’ This was the man who broke
the ‘Enigma’ code (there is an excellent film of that name), but he was also a
great scientist. So great was his contribution to society that Henry VIII MAY
have been wrong to declare that homosexuals should be ‘boiled in oil’ (the
traditional punishment – but I don’t wish to be hasty about this)! Nonetheless
his homosexuality led to his death. The British Parliament are debating a
‘pardon’ for him. (PS ‘are’ IS correct in this case). An interesting article
here: http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/alan-turing,-a-great-scientist.aspx
22/07/2013: Like: BJORN LOMBORG: the environmentalist
whom the ‘climate crazies’ love to hate: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/07/20/lomborg-lets-get-our-priorities-right/#more-90194
22/07/2013: APOLLO 11! Still thrills me 44 years
later. These WERE the rocket engines which took those three brave men to the
moon back when
22/07/2013: Cost of Howard’s ‘Pacific Solution; $300
million over 6 years = $50 million per year. Cost of Krud & Ju-Liar’s
illegal immigrants = BILLIONS each year (AND GETTING WORSE) Axe this clown!
22/07/2013: ‘Drab, pietistic uniformity is the curse
of the collectivist age. Today, with a fearful and unanimously acquiescent
docility, the hive mind tediously hums the Party Line, now rebranded
“consensus”. Imagination, initiative, inquiry, inspiration, intuition and
invention are not merely discouraged but hated. Individuality in any form is
not merely loathed but punished.’ Lord Monckton. A VERY important essay. DO
find time to read it through: http://www.quadrant.org.au/blogs/doomed-planet/2013/04/the-triumph-of-the-individual-over-the-hive-mind
21/07/2013: Can’t find any
Government waste to cut? Read on; this is actually TRUE: ‘LABOR'S former climate change department didn't know
whether it was hiring or firing before the agency itself was sacked. The
abandoned stand-alone climate change bureaucracy spent $2.2 million sacking 49
public servants in the months before it was swallowed by another government
department in March. But figures show the agency also hired 62 people in the
same period before the merger, with the new salaries estimated to cost up to $5
million annually - based on average public sector wages. After the merger, the
department changed tack again and embarked on another savings drive and made 12
staff as redundant at cost of $555,000’. http://www.news.com.au/national-news/disbanded-climate-change-department-defends-cutting-staff-at-the-same-time-it-was-hiring/story-fncynjr2-1226681614995
21/07/2013: THIS is art #2: And YOU said there could
be no possible Government savings: Well how about this: The Australia Council
has awarded $38,000 to a lady named Linda Dement (I kid you not) for
photographing herself having sex with a skinned rabbit: http://bunyipitude.blogspot.com.au/2013/05/a-poultry-sum-for-talent-such-as-this.html
21/07/2013: Quote of the day: Lord Monckton: ‘A
governing party incapable of balancing the books should be automatically
ejected from office and debarred from standing in the consequent general
election.’ Hear, hear!
20/07/2013:
20/07/2013: Illegal immigrant boat arrivals have been
averaging OVER 100/day. In just ONE MONTH we will exceed the 3,000 projected to
go to
20/07/2013: VERY disturbing reflections. We all guilt-trip
about whether we are/were ‘good parents’…It’s a simple question really: ‘Do we
spend enough time WITH the kids?’ http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/mirandadevine/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/why_virtual_parenting_raises_virtual_children/
20/07/2013: THANK YOU Miranda: What a GREAT Bio: http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/mirandadevine/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/a_true_giant_of_this_nation/
20/07/2013: HOW he will be remembered, (or best
forgotten): ‘Kevni of the thought bubble’! East
20/07/2013: Three years ago (after she had backstabbed
Krud) Ju-Liar had three important to-dos before she could call an election:
carbon, illegals, mining tax. After he backstabbed HER, Krud obviously had the
same list: IF YOU BELIEVE HIM ANY MORE THAN YOU SHOULD HAVE BELIEVED HER,
YOU’RE A BLOODY IDIOT!
19/07/2013: Great unanswered questions of our time
(esp. with Will & Kate's babe imminent - indeed overdue; how dare it keep
us waiting. PS I predict a boy to deconstruct all the inheritance stuff which
will then be three generations away): 'Did Jules finish the kangaroo?'
19/07/2013: Fair Point, Tim Blair: Last night’s State
of
19/07/2013: Greg is right: http://www.quadrant.org.au/blogs/zeg/2013/07/oh-brother
19/07/2013: The dominoes are falling here, REALLY: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=1QtdPfz_faM
19/07/2013: PREDICTION: the greenies will love this
one – it may even become compulsory: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/video-urinepowered-mobile-phone-charger-lets-you-spend-a-penny-to-make-a-call-8713564.html
19/07/2013: Krud’s APOGEE has been reached! Two week’s
running polls had Labor:Coalition at 50:50. No leader has EVER improved on his
‘honeymoon’ period during an election campaign. It will be all DOWNHILL from
here as he makes ever more fly-by warm fuzzy split-second crazy decisions, and
folks become more and more sickened by his glib fatuous spin and the ever
increasing numbers of live and DEAD illegal immigrants. The sharks in the
19/07/2013: The grip of Middle East oil over the
18/07/2013: STRANGE (?) the way these ex trade union
Labor has-been types are found to be the most suitable types to head up huge
industry super funds (eg both Combet and Crean are scrambling to head up CBus)
and Bracks is pegged to be our next Consul-General in New York. The rats are
fighting over the fallen plums before they are available to Liberals too!
18/07/2013: Labor’s 1917 Manifesto: http://michaelsmithnews.typepad.com/.a/6a0177444b0c2e970d01901e378f2a970b-800wi
18/07/2013: ANOTHER latter-day Kaspar Hauser? http://edition.cnn.com/2013/07/16/health/amnesia-swedish/
17/07/2013: KRUD HAS BEEN RESPONSIBLE FOR 1,000
ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS DROWNING: 220 THIS YEAR ALONE! APPROXIMATELY ONE A DAY SINCE
HE BECAME PM AGAIN 20 DAYS AGO. HE IS A MONSTER!
17/07/2013: Quote of the day: Adrian Rogers: “You
cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of
freedom. What one person receives without working for, another person must work
for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the
government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get
the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take
care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to
work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear
friend, is about the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing
it.”
17/07/2013: NO. I am not joking: I was working
full-time 7 day roster shift work in a heavy metal refinery at age 15 and
paying my own way full-time though University. Over the years we have always
had to pay for everything ourselves and also pay for other people's nice
taxpayer funded treats. NOW we are not entitled to an Old Age pension (and
would not accept the charity even if we were) because we have saved too much
money even though we have paid more taxes than all the bludgers we have
supported over the years and are still supporting. I do not believe in free
stuff! Someone has to pay. I am sick of people wanting to live off other
people's efforts and other people's money as if it was their RIGHT. They have
no such perverted right. The important right they have is the right to WORK
HARD AND MAKE SOMETHING OF THEMSELVES.
17/07/2013: Last night’s 4 new deaths at sea take to @
20 the number of deaths of illegal immigrants Krud is responsible for since he
became PM again 19 days ago ie @ ONE MURDER PER DAY! Since he abandoned the
‘Pacific Solution’ back in 2007 (which had shrunk the number of folks in
detention to FOUR) Krud has been responsible for over 100 deaths! Making him BY
FAR THE WORST MASS MURDERER in Australian history! Still there are folks who
would like to see him WIN the next election. Of course there are also people
who wish ALL the illegal immigrants should DROWN!
16/07/2013: After @300 revisions (before word
processors), THIS is probably my favourite poem: FERN HILL by Dylan Thomas:
Now as I was young and easy under the apple boughs
About the lilting house and happy as the grass was
green,
The night above
the dingle starry,
Time let me hail and climb
Golden in the
heydays of his eyes,
And honoured among wagons I was prince of the apple
towns
And once below a time I lordly had the trees and
leaves
Trail with daisies and barley
Down the rivers
of the windfall light.
And as I was green and carefree, famous among the
barns
About the happy yard and singing as the farm was home,
In the sun that
is young once only,
Time let me play and be
Golden in the
mercy of his means,
And green and golden I was huntsman and herdsman, the
calves
Sang to my horn, the foxes on the hills barked clear
and cold,
And the sabbath rang slowly
In the pebbles of
the holy streams.
All the sun long it was running, it was lovely, the
hay
Fields high as the house, the tunes from the chimneys,
it was air
And playing,
lovely and watery
And fire green as grass.
And nightly under
the simple stars
As I rode to sleep the owls were bearing the farm
away,
All the moon long I heard, blessed among stables, the
nightjars
Flying with the
ricks, and the horses
Flashing into the dark.
And then to awake, and the farm, like a wanderer white
With the dew, come back, the cock on his shoulder: it
was all
Shining, it was
Adam and maiden,
The sky gathered again
And the sun grew
round that very day.
So it must have been after the birth of the simple
light
In the first, spinning place, the spellbound horses
walking warm
Out of the
whinnying green stable
On to the fields of praise.
And honoured among foxes and pheasants by the gay
house
Under the new made clouds and happy as the heart was
long,
In the sun born
over and over,
I ran my heedless ways,
My wishes raced
through the house high hay
And nothing I cared, at my sky blue trades, that time
allows
In all his tuneful turning so few and such morning
songs
Before the
children green and golden
Follow him out of grace,
Nothing I cared, in the lamb white days, that time
would take me
Up to the swallow thronged loft by the shadow of my
hand,
In the moon that
is always rising,
Nor that riding to sleep
I should hear him
fly with the high fields
And wake to the farm forever fled from the childless
land.
Oh as I was young and easy in the mercy of his means,
Time held me green and dying
Though I sang in my
chains like the sea.
16/07/2013: THIS is ART? ‘The Hungry Vagina…In three
vertical screens, the vagina is a decorative flourish in boastful public
self-gratification. It makes its own proscenium arch, pumping in languid spasms
that make you wonder about the cause of the pulsations’: http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/art-and-design/female-nude-given-a-major-makeover-20130625-2ov3s.html
16/07/2013: The tenth Commandment exhorts ‘thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's
wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass.’ I am not sure whether that last is a misspelling, but the current push
to have gay marriage and bestiality brothels & etc adds a certain
poignancy…I prefer the eleventh Commandment myself, ‘Thou shall not GET
CAUGHT!’
15/07/2013: The Greens at least/last seem to be
acknowledging they have run out of other people’s money to spend and want $43
billion dollars worth of new taxes. They seem to think the banks and the rich
have lots of money that should belong to someone else! They will spend our
past, our present and our future until there is absolutely nothing left…Clearly
they are so driven by that covey of baby boomers who having spent their
parents’ humble bequests have pissed all their own money up against the wall
and have left nothing for their own children: so admirable!
15/07/2013: I see Rio’s new copper mine in
15/07/2013: FORMER Labor Party president and
indigenous leader Warren Mundine has accused KRud of trying to destroy two
years of work to create bipartisan support for an indigenous recognition
referendum. Mr Mundine warned the Prime Minister to butt out and leave
Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin to build the cross-party support for
the major change and determine the question to be put to voters, after KRud
this week accused Tony Abbott of delaying the process. “Rudd has threatened
bipartisanship support on the referendum with his political negative spin,” Mr
Mundine told The Australian yesterday. “Macklin had been working hard with Tony
Abbott and the opposition for the referendum to succeed. In one stupid
brain-explosive sentence, KRud has almost destroyed all that work. “My message
to Rudd is to shut up and get back on board and stop using indigenous people
and the referendum as a political football. We’re sick of being used.”
15/07/2013: MANY questions settled: Oh, so TRUE: http://maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com/uploads/settled.png
14/07/2013: Dog Goldberg Machine by Beneful: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AA56LgpFbSw
14/07/2013: THIS is so embarrassing: http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2013/07/the-rudd-receives-supplicant-emissaries-from-fearful-nations-in-newly-minted-ceremony-the-idi-amin-v.html
15/07/2013: ‘The best lack all conviction while the
worst are full of passionate intensity.’ How true: WB Yeats: THE SECOND COMING
Turning and turning in the widening
gyre
The falcon cannot hear the
falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre
cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the
world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed,
and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is
drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while
the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at
hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those
words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus
Mundi
Troubles my sight: a waste of
desert sand;
A shape with lion body and the head
of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the
sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while
all about it
Wind shadows of the indignant
desert birds.
The darkness drops again but now I
know
That twenty centuries of stony
sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a
rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come
round at last,
Slouches towards
14/07/2013: Krudd once said global warming was “the
great moral challenge of our generation”. Now he is Abbottlite, axing the tax
(albeit replacing it with a lower price through emissions trading). I repeat:
‘The best lack all conviction while the worst are full of passionate
intensity.’
14/07/2013: I know there are those of you who will
consider me a pretentious tosh if I claim I only consume large quantities of
Dimensions Cab-Sav because it contains Resveratrol…In other news scientists
claim that lots of sex keep one looking younger…You may have wondered at my
continuing emulation of Peter Pan…Oh…Wendy…Veni, Vini, Vinci!
14/07/2013: Some things that really ought to be
BANNED: whipped peanut butter, Lindt chocolate, pistachio nuts, beer, cream,
crumpets…
14/07/2013: Graham Richardson on the KRudd’s proposed new
Labor rules that would make him virtually unsackable as Prime Minister: ‘The
idea that a spill could not occur unless 75 per cent of the caucus agreed
effectively means that no leader could ever be defeated...There are plenty of
examples of why such a cumbersome mechanism makes no sense. HV Evatt was in the
process of succumbing to the early stages of dementia. Mark Latham had an
almighty meltdown, refused to take calls from anyone and disowned everything he
previously stood for. What if these problems occurred during a three-year term
of an elected prime minister? What if on top of the 70 per cent requirement
there would still be a need for the entire party membership to vote in a
leadership ballot? I can only guess on how long such a vote would take, but
four to six weeks would be a reasonable guess. There is no doubt to how the
voters would react to the nation being held hostage for the six weeks because
of the Labor party’s rules’.
14/07/2013: The Dunning-Kruger Effect: I’m sure we all
know SOMEONE who has this defect, (reminds me of ‘pronoia – the delusion that
people LIKE you) where ‘unskilled individuals suffer from illusory superiority, mistakenly
rating their ability much higher than average’ – Do you also suppose Krud is a
sufferer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
13/07/2013: Senator Carr said asylum seeker numbers
had spiked and 20 per cent of Australia’s immigrants now arrive courtesy of people
smugglers …and they are coming from as far away as Africa with huge
proportional representation among boat people of land-locked countries such as
Sudan and Afghanistan: http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/timblair/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/youre_on_your_own/
13/07/2013: Fatal warnings of ‘Howard Lite’: Back in
2007 Krudd promised to ‘turn back the boats’, he was ‘a fiscal
conservative’…every Howard policy which he thought was popular was embraced
warmly by the slithy tove. As soon as he was in power the Australian stock
market dropped 30% (AND HAS NEVER RECOVERED!) NOW, Krudd wants to blame this on
the GFC (which we didn’t have to have, given China – only the inordinate costs
apparently) but it was HIS policies which wrought economic ruin: unemployment
is now 2-5 times what it was under Howard (when it had a 3 in front of it – and
the unemployed were paid the SAME amount as pensioners!); we had a national
CREDIT then: now we have debt of nearly half a year’s GDP and NOTHING to show
for it; Yes we have low interest rates: this is because growth has slowed;
there is no demand for money; people are saving their every last cent because
they are fearful of the future; the economy is going over a cliff –
particularly the mining industry: some of the companies whose shares are worth
between ONE SIXTH and one Half of what they were ONLY a year ago when the
carbon and mining taxes were introduced (Remember these were key Krudd
policies): BLY, ASL, FMG, WHC, NCM, AAX, TSE…There are heaps more whose value
is STILL less than a quarter what it was before the GFC – but read before
‘Kevin ’07’! NOW, he is once again pretending to be ‘Abbott Lite’ stealing all
of the Libs most popular policies, but is that what we will get if we vote for
this opinionated wrecker? Not on your Nelly: he will accelerate the Australian
economy over that cliff and fill our country with unwanted Moslem extremists and
other undesirables. WAKE UP
13/07/2013: I have always been astonished at the way
the Left can’t distinguish between good and evil: Like him or loathe him Jeff
closed down many schools and sacked many public servants & etc in order to
rescue
13/07/2013: Some say, ‘Tolerance is a virtue’ but I do
not. There may be a million religions and at least as many ‘gods’. Clearly not
all can be true, but all can (indeed must) be false. I would say, ‘There is no
God’ (not Allah, Jahweh, Ba’al,
13/07/2013: Well done Malala, and Happy Birthday: http://www.malala-yousafzai.com/
12/07/2013: So for eleven days in July, we’ve seen 15
illegal maritime arrivals transporting 1,379 illegal arrivals which costs
taxpayers $96,530,000.When will Rudd do something to stop the boats like he
promised? Oz navy taxi service and merchant ships being hijacked by self-harm
threatening Ozzie wannabees from INDONESIAN waters have cruelled his ‘Tampa’
moment just as he was luxuriating with his ‘mate’ BSY!
12/07/2013: Meanwhile Krud’s shaving mishap was
clearly staged to appeal to the bogan element (rapidly growing – but I wonder
does anyone consider themselves a ‘bogan’. Reminder to self: ‘Must look in
mirror’) …back to the story: but does anyone really believe that Krud cut
himself shaving at 9:30am when he had been up for hours or that the cut had
mysteriously disappeared minutes later?
12/07/2013: Can CO2 harm the oceans? This is the
ultimate fear campaign waged by the ‘carbon police’. THIS rticle debunks it from
a chemical engineering background. It is fairly hard going, however the bullet
points at the end are worth reading. Here is an example: ‘It is essentially chemically and
biologically impossible for carbonate dependent organisms to suffer from CO2
increases… The organisms most susceptible to ocean acidification from CO2
evolved at a time when concentrations were 15 times higher than today’ and here the complete article: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/07/08/ocean-acidi-what/#more-89532
12/07/2013: And you thought Auntie wasn’t biased? Come
on now: THIS is how the ABC previously saw the delightful gay parents (who last
week were gaoled for 40 years for paedophilia): http://gaydadsaustralia.wordpress.com/2010/07/14/abc-far-north-queensland-two-dads-are-better-than-one-by-sam-davis/ More thoughts on this matter here: http://www.quadrant.org.au/blogs/qed/2013/07/the-story-the-abc-doesn-t-want-you-to-see
11/07/2013: Your pet cat, ‘Tibbles’ may soon have
something more to worry about f this global warming goes on and on: http://berkeley.patch.com/groups/local-connections/p/will-global-warming-supersize-lizards-berkeley-fossils-offer-clues
11/07/2013: And, further to that: good news for
junkies; all that CO2 is increasing the amount of morphine in poppy plants –
indeed they may soon become giants and take over the world: http://mindaberbeco.scienceblog.com/2013/07/09/hot-smack-climate-change-and-heroin/
11/07/2013: DEEPLY disturbing. Before you jump to a
conclusion, please note that the blogger Bob Parks, IS a black American. ‘What happened to large numbers of
American blacks between the beginning of WW2 and 1970? Before WW2, blacks,
mainly in the South at the time, led aspiring, family-oriented, church-going,
bourgeois lives (despite social segregation). How and why did this sub-cultural
transformation happen?’ Similar sub-cultural transformations have happened and
are happening here – and THEY MUST BE AVOIDED: http://www.black-and-right.com/2013/07/01/before-its-deleted-of-the-day/
11/07/2013: Six Reasons Why Men Are Avoiding Marriage:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoXQf2f2Yxo and below is a seventh!
11/07/2013: Interesting: ‘Every day American culture is a
little more like a Black Mass against nature and manhood and anything decent or
beautiful or noble or worth saving. Western Civilization has become a Black
Mass for Western Civilization. Everything our better fathers believed in has
been spit on and placed like a tainted Host between the yeasty thighs of a
giggling whore’. http://alternativeright.com/blog/2013/6/26/gay-marriage-what-the-fuck-ever
10/07/2013: I’m afraid THIS is us, Bing Crosby, ‘Busy
Doing Nothing’ from ‘A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court’ (1949):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuxSl_4yLz4#at=150
10/07/2013: The AWU refuse to toe the line on Krudd’s plans
to change ALP rules – of course it would interfere with their intention to axe
him AFTER the election and install their ‘svengali’, Bill Shorten. I expect
they will succeed (in both) and that (unfortunately) the unintended consequence
will be even higher electoral support for (doomed) Krudd!
10/07/2013: As the old joke goes: what’s the opposite
of diversity? University: A new book ‘Taxing Air: Facts and Fallacies About
Climate Change’ (http://www.taxingair.com/) by Bob Carter,
who retired from James Cook University before he got interested in the global warming
debate but remains an emeritus fellow looks interesting. He recently found
himself deprived of even an email address by colleagues resentful of his
failure to toe the line.
10/07/2013: This is how
09/07/2013: Can’t WAIT for this stuff to hit the
supermarket shelves here. The world just keeps getting better and better
(despite the tyranny of choice!) : http://www.geek.com/science/neverwet-superhydrophobic-spray-hits-stores-this-week-1560808/
09/07/2013: Another great product: Ultra Ever Dry: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfUaKXasdD4
09/07/2013: I was a bit taken aback by this lady
shrink’s bizarre lament over capitalism’s failure to ration choice (http://www.breitbart.com/InstaBlog/2013/06/27/Renata-Salecl-The-Tyranny-of-Choice).
Was Christ right, ‘the Statists will always be with you…’ ? Matt Ridley has an
excellent riposte (‘There are poor teenagers in Indian villages who have none
of these choices: I do not envy them.’ – Well, Yeah!): http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/the-myth-that-choice-overload-is-a-cause-of-great-misery.aspx
09/07/2013: The fabulous NBN
has made very little difference to the town where it was first rolled out four
years ago (Midway Point, Tas), but now the 50%+ of folks still NOT connected to
it are worried what will happen to them when their phones are cut off very
soon: http://www.canberratimes.com.au/national/nbn-suffers-failure-to-communicate-20130706-2pive.html
08/07/2013: Unbelievably Morgan
now has Labor at 55.5% and Coalition at 45.5%. Krudd should call an election
immediately while this dead cat bounce lasts but as he wants to go to the G20
on 7 September he likely won't go till October or later - and will (hopefully)
lose: http://www.roymorgan.com/findings/morgan-poll-july-8-2013-201307080647
08/07/2013: Meanwhile Krudd and
Rein clean up on the unemployed; they are now taking the Brits down for
hundreds of mills, just as they did the Australian taxpayers (if you remember –
and you should!). Naturally the unemployed get no benefit from all this ruddy
welfare capitalism AT ALL: http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/rudds_wife_makes_fortune_from_workless_britons/
08/07/2013: I DID like this
comment (at Catallaxy): ‘Every day, every minute, every time Rudd opens his mouth, Labor voters –
like beer fairies when someone drinks a Canadian Club – explode and die. It’s
the mind-boggling condescension; the grotesque narcissism; the pretentious
over-analysis of everything; the ludicrous thesaurus-mined vocabulary, that
makes his every speech a weird froth of verbiage devoid of actual meaning; the
overwhelming smugness; the insufferable conceit; the off-the-scale self-regard;
the insane, all-consuming craving for unanimous awed recognition as the
smartest person in the room (and any room); the teenage levels of
self-aggrandisement; the hilarious bigging-up name-dropping; the crass,
bathetic, utter inability to relate to anyone below his perceived level, AKA everybody;
the primed-to-explode grievances that fester behind the rictus smile; the
ridiculous OCD of the just-so white-shirt-coloured-tie-and-navy-suit – unless
it’s a weekend and it’s the ridiculous OCD of the
just-so-khaki-chinos-and-chambray-shirt; the painful fakeness of the
manufactured persona; the desperate fist-clenching as he suppresses the anger
that ordinary people make him feel; the lightning speed to perceive a slight;
the drawn-out hundred-fold revenge in return; the delight in humiliating those
beneath him; and the cloying, fulsome, gushing insincerity of his fawning over
other world leaders. Does anyone seriously think this man can be voted in as
Prime Minister again by an electorate now wholly and painfully aware – which it
was not before – of all of the above? Sorry, Kevin, it’s over. Yes, those cool
kids at school that got all of the girls’ attention, with their pathetic
muscles and dumb macho posturing and stupid, smart-arsed lines – how could
those morons have laughed? – while you – YOU!
– went ignored for all those years! You tried to
hide your superiority and suck up to them, those nobodies!
But you showed them, you showed them, how dare those stupid cows ignore YOU, you were
smarter and better than all of them! You showed them! You showed them all! Yes,
you did show them. Be happy with that. Because it’s over.
08/07/2013: The Spider's Web (aka "Natural
History"): E. B. White
The spider, dropping down from twig,
Unfolds a plan of her devising,
A thin premeditated rig
To use in rising.
And all that journey down through space,
In cool descent and loyal hearted,
She spins a ladder to the place
From where she started.
Thus I, gone forth as spiders do
In spider's web a truth discerning,
Attach one silken thread to you
For my returning.
(White, never one to waste words, wrote this poem in
1929 as a love letter to his wife).
08/07/2013: The BIG drillers Eg Ausdrill, Boart Longyesr…)
are so cheap here at the moment (BLY is at one sixth of it 12 month high for
example). You would think the world was going to end…yet we are on the cusp of
an energy revolution (as soon as there is a change of Government anyway). Read
about it here: http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/the-dash-for-shale-oil-will-shake-the-world.aspx
08/07/2013: Just suppose the ‘Little Ice Age’ is on
its way back…what effect would a growing season which was ie one month late and
only 2.5C cooler have? Answer: harvest down OVER 50%! Result: BILLIONS starve.
And some folks are still worrying about global WARMING? http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/07/05/further-to-a-1740-type-event/
08/07/2013: Oh, Kevin, YOU KNOW something? http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2013/07/every-bent-coal-mine-owner-with-union-roots-and-their-media-mates-have-known-for-months-the-icacs-re.html
06/07/2013: SO many of them today: http://cdn.spectator.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/SACRED-COW_HEATH.jpg
06/07/2013: If only OUR judges were like this:
‘Remember the guy who got on a plane with a bomb built into his shoe and
tried to light it? Did you know his trial is over? Did you know he was
sentenced? Did you see/hear any of the judge's comments on TV or Radio? Didn't
think so.! Everyone should hear what the judge had to say.
Ruling by Judge William Young, US District Court.
Prior to sentencing, the Judge asked the defendant if
he had anything to say His response: After admitting his guilt to the court for
the record, Reid also admitted his 'allegiance to Osama bin Laden, to Islam,
and to the religion of Allah,' defiantly
stating, 'I think I will not apologize for my
actions,' and told the court 'I am at war with your country.'
Judge Young then delivered the statement quoted below:
Judge Young: "Mr. Richard C. Reid, hearken now to
the sentence the Court imposes upon you.
On counts 1, 5 and 6 the Court sentences you to life
in prison in the custody of the
On count 8 the Court sentences you to the mandatory 30
years, again to be served consecutively to the 80 years just imposed. The Court
imposes upon you for each of the eight counts a fine of $250,000, that's an
aggregate fine of $2 million. The Court accepts the government's recommendation
with respect to restitution and orders restitution in the amount of $298.17 to
Andre Bousquet and $5,784 to American Airlines.
The Court imposes upon you an $800 special assessment.
The Court imposes upon you, five years supervised release simply because the
law requires it. But the life sentences are real life sentences so I need go no
further.
This is the sentence that is provided for by our
statutes. It is a fair and just sentence. It is a righteous sentence.
Now, let me explain this to you. We are not afraid of
you or any of your terrorist co-conspirators, Mr. Reid. We are Americans. We
have been through the fire before. There is too much war talk here and I say
that to everyone with the utmost respect. Here in this court, we deal with
individuals as individuals and care for individuals as individuals. As human
beings, we reach out for justice.
You are not an enemy combatant. You are a terrorist.
You are not a soldier in any war. You are a terrorist. To give you that
reference, to call you a soldier, gives you far too much stature. Whether the
officers of government do it, or your attorney does it, or if you think you are
a soldier, you are not-----, you are a terrorist. And we do not negotiate with
terrorists. We do not meet with terrorists. We do not sign documents with
terrorists. We hunt them down one by one and bring them to justice.
So war talk is way out of line in this court. You are
a big fellow. But you are not that big. You're no warrior. I've known warriors.
You are a terrorist. A species of criminal that is guilty of multiple attempted
murders. In a very real sense, State Trooper Santiago had it right when you
first were taken off that plane and into custody and you wondered where the
press and the TV crews were, and he said:
'You're no big deal. '
You are no big deal.
What your able counsel and what the equally able
I have listened respectfully to what you have to say.
And I ask you to search your heart and ask yourself what sort of unfathomable
hate led you to do what you are guilty, and admit you are guilty, of doing?
And, I have an answer for you. It may not satisfy you, but as I search this
entire record, it comes as close to understanding as I know.
It seems to me, you hate the one thing that to us is
most precious. You hate our freedom. Our individual freedom. Our individual
freedom to live as we choose, to come and go as we choose, to believe or not
believe as we individually choose. Here, in this society, the very wind carries
freedom. It carries it everywhere from sea to shining sea. It is because we
prize individual freedom so much that you are here in this beautiful courtroom,
so that everyone can see, truly see, that justice is administered fairly,
individually, and discretely. It is for freedom's sake that your lawyers are
striving so vigorously on your behalf, have filed appeals, will go on in their
representation of you before other judges.
We Americans are all about freedom. Because we all know
that the way we treat you, Mr. Reid, is the measure of our own liberties. Make
no mistake though. It is yet true that we will bear any burden; pay any price,
to preserve our freedoms. Look around this courtroom. Mark it well. The world
is not going to long remember what you or I say here. The day after tomorrow,
it will be forgotten, but this, however, will long endure.
Here in this courtroom and courtrooms all across
America , the American people will gather to see that justice, individual
justice, justice, not war, individual justice, is in fact being done. The very
President of the
See that flag, Mr. Reid? That's the flag of the United
States of America . That flag will fly there long after this is all forgotten.
That flag stands for freedom. And it always will.
Mr. Custody Officer. Stand him down."
So, how much of this Judge's comments did we hear on
our TV sets? We need more judges like Judge Young.
06/07/2013: Such charming folks: Islamic militants
(Boko Haram, whose name literally means, “Western education is sin”) have
attacked a boarding school in northeast
06/07/2013: Hours worked per week per Employable
Person. An Employable Person is the sum of those employed and unemployed. This
does NOT include the HUGE increase of folks on the ‘disabililty allowance’.
May 2010 - 32.16 hours per week, May 2011 - 30.24 hours, May 2012 - 29.16
hours, May 2013 - 28.77 hours. It shows a massive increase in underemployment
under Labor (12.5%!) Some may remember that unemployment was down to around 4%
under Howard (of course that was before the GFC we didn’t have to have); it is
now 5.5% and RISING. No wonder the economy and the market are in the doldrums:
05/07/2013: "Terrorism's great achievement isn't
hijacking jetliners, but hijacking the debate," wrote George Jonas in
05/07/2013: After a week I remember exactly why
Ju-Liar knifed Krudd. He is just bloody awful! Just cannot stand
the glib, sanctimonious little weasel. I hate his girlie hands and his horrid spittle
dripping cock-sucking lips… I NEVER thought I would say this, BUT, ‘Bring back
Julia!’
05/07/2013: FINALLY the tree ring data which provoked
the infamous ‘hockey stick’ is GONE. In its place we have a VERY flat
temperature scenario for the last CENTURY (See: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/06/28/hey-ya-mal-mcintyre-was-right-cru-abandons-yamal-superstick/). The important graphic is here: http://climateaudit.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/yamal_chronology_compare4.png?w=680&h=480&h=480
05/07/2013: Latter-day hippies should read Willis’s
latest post. The problem with RENEWABLE energy is STORAGE. To store the amount
of energy needed by a city the size of
05/07/2013: ‘A paper published in the
International Journal of Climatology finds that aging of the solar radiation
screens on weather stations is causing a large positive bias in measured
temperatures of 1.63°C, which by way of comparison is more than twice the global
warming of 0.7°C recorded since the end of the Little Ice Age in 1850’ : http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/06/29/aging-weather-stations-contribute-to-high-temperature-records/
04/07/2013: Such born liars: KRudd on the 7:30 Report
claimed we have the refugee problem because HE implemented the policy he took
to the 2007 election (which was he’d turn back the boats, NOT scrap the
‘Pacific Solution’!) and claims the influx of refugees was caused by a
‘unexpected’ civil wars In Sri Lanka and Afghanistan which had both been going
on for DECADES! Over 1,000 folks drowned because of him, the glib bastard!
04/07/2013: Charming ‘married’ couple. Forty years is
NOT ENOUGH by a long shot: http://www.smh.com.au/national/named-the-australian-paedophile-jailed-for-40-years-20130630-2p5da.html#ixzz2XjkG3rE5
04/07/2013: “In 2010 I did a story on two gay dads,” writes
the ABC’s Ginger Gorham. “Those two men turned out to be pedophiles of the
worst kind.”
04/07/2013: Of course the 40 year sentence was
delivered in the
04/07/2013: More than one way to think about ‘marriage
equality: ‘membership in a culture best noted for offering oral sexual services
to strangers in public lavatories entitles you to have the government invent a
parody version of marriage just for you…If indulgence in vice makes you special
and gives you status and privileges, why are only sodomites being so
favoured?... If
sodomy is worthy of federal recognition, approval, and protection, why not
polygamy, bestiality, and incest? There are doubtless people in
04/07/2013: The Daily Mail has abandoned the AGW
orthodoxy – hopefully our media will soon follow suit: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2294560/The-great-green-1-The-hard-proof-finally-shows-global-warming-forecasts-costing-billions-WRONG-along.html
03/07/2013: Kevin…He’s NOT the Messiah: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plZRe1kPWZw
03/07/2013: There is a world of difference between Ed
Husic and these men, just as there is a huge difference between the average
Christian and Timothy McVeigh: Migrants we don’t want: During a lecture last
month, Campbelltown Sheikh Jamil el-Biza said Shiites should be destroyed,
‘’either with our hands or with our blood’’. He berated young Muslims for
caring more about the Canterbury Bulldogs NRL team than what is happening to
their ‘’brothers’’ in Syria, Chechnya, Kashmir and Somalia…Zaky Mallah, who runs
an office for the Free Syrian Army from his Parramatta garage, promises he can
get young Australians into Syria in less than 24 hours but strongly denies he
is recruiting people for the resistance… Zaky Mallah’s aim is to die
in
03/07/2013: Deaths of 19 firefighters in Arizona NOT
caused by global warming! The ‘real’ explanation for heat waves, the
existence and position of deserts and the various huge ‘permanent’ high and low
pressure systems found in large areas on earth: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/07/01/heat-waves-validate-the-skeptics/#more-89113
03/07/2013: In the article ‘Many cultures in southeast Asia used
fire pistons to start fires by simply squeezing air in a tube.’ This is true: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_piston and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtJn-mgmlq0&feature=player_embedded
Get one for $70: http://www.campingsurvival.com/fiplfipi.html
03/07/2013: Meanwhile in Egypt 22 million have signed
a petition seeking Morsi’s resignation whilst only 13 million voted FOR him, so
perhaps fundamentalist Islam WILL fall to democracy and common sense after all
and the so-called ‘Arab Spring’ may not be a total disaster after all?
02/07/2013: Fair point: Samuel J at the Cat tips a
late election: ‘The G20 is being held this year in
02/07/2013: I was interested to see in the paper
yesterday that someone had a 27 year old wombat. This is much older than such
an enormously destructive giant rabbit would live around here, but it is
surprising how long some of the critters we live with DO live. We have had the
same grey thrush nesting in a hole in our wall ever since we have been here (23
years) – and she was here when we came – as was a pair of blue cranes, a pair
of wedge-tail eagles, welcome swallows who nest in our garage (who winter every
year in Siberia) and are no doubt quite contemptuous of OUR sedentary ways, a
VERY annoying flock of sulphur crested cockatoos who I’m told will likely
outlive my children (but NOT unless they cease their destructive habits!) and
so on. Often you can recognise individual animals (such as the English
blackbird with a solitary feather in his tail who haunts the slope outside our
window…it is not just OUR home.
02/07/2013: Unbelievable: Morgan: Labor 51.5, Liberal
48.5! Wake up
02/07/2013: Nelson Mandela’s favourite poem (and one
of mine too):
Invictus (Undefeated) : William Ernest Henley
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
01/07/2013: Labor’s primary vote is the same as it was
the weekend before Rudd was dumped – 35 per cent. AND GOING DOWN. Watch and learn!
01/07/2013: I’d like to see him try this now – Daring
aviator lands on White House lawn: http://www.whitehousehistory.org/whha_history/white-house-stories/white-house-aviator-atwood.html
01/07/2013: ‘Beam me up Scotty.’ This guy is seriously
working on building ‘warp drives’ – and about time too: http://www.space.com/21721-warp-drives-wormholes-ftl.html?cmpid=514630
01/07/2013: AND an interesting take on immigration:
‘...the Bill authorizes somewhere between 30 million and 60 million new legal immigrants
over the next ten years, 90% of them low-skill and low-wage. The Democrats hope
this will create a mammoth and permanent underclass that will be forever
dependent on government for security, and will reliably vote Democrat for
generations. Certain business interests hope the bill will deal a crippling
blow to America’s working class, driving down wages and providing an
inexhaustible supply of cheap labour.’ http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2013/06/the-gang-of-eights-bill-will-never-become-law.php
30/06/2013: Death is probably cheaper than divorce,
but it is still completely unaffordable: ‘In that Medicare spending, between
one-fourth and one-third goes to medical bills for a patient's final year of
life, most of it in the last 30 days’. Most of this could be avoided if people
accepted they should die quietly at home. We should get over it. We are not so
unique and precious that others should have to pay over most of their taxes
just to keep us alive (without even interesting bon mots as a reward in most
cases! I DID like the General whose final words were reputedly, ‘They couldn’t
hit an elephant from th…’). Face it, some really big savings could be made for
all of us in the Health, Education and Welfare budgets. http://www.deseretnews.com/article/765555271/How-will-I-die-The-high-cost-of-death.html
30/06/2013: THIS guy is in charge…Up to 90 per cent of
people who arrive by boat are considered genuine refugees, but [Foreign Affairs
Minister Bob] Carr said his “impression” was that now, as arrivals spiked, most
were economic migrants…“There have been boats where 100 per cent of them have
been people who are fleeing countries where they’re the majority ethnic and
religious group,” he said…The lunatics are running the asylum seekers…
30/06/2013: Tim Blair: ‘A furtive Hairdresserii mathiesonicus
searches The Lodge’s surrounds for free tickets and other sustaining morsels’.
YOUR taxes at work: ‘It’s been an amazing three years personally for me, having
gone to the royal wedding and met the Queen in Buckingham Palace, gone to
Washington, met the Obamas, to China, all that sort of stuff. And also just
getting to live in both the premises, the Lodge and Kirribilli, it’s been an
amazing privilege and an amazing experience’. Farewell Timmy. Enjoy your shed!
30/06/2013: ‘The White-throated Needletail isn’t seen
very often in the
29/06/2013: THIS is a big improvement: We have moved
from Ju-Liar warning that abortion might become an issue again under Mr Abbot
to Krud warning that Tony will cause a WAR with
29/06/2013: ‘An Australian father watched his young
daughter playing in the garden. He smiled as he reflected on how sweet and pure
his little girl was. Tears formed as he thought about her seeing the
wonders of nature through such innocent eyes. Suddenly she stopped and stared
at the ground. He went over to see what work of God had captured her
attention. She was looking at two spiders mating. 'Daddy, what are those two
spiders doing?' she asked. 'They're mating,' her father replied. "Making love".
'What do you call the spider on top?' she asked. A Daddy Longlegs,' her
father answered. 'So, the other one is a Mummy Longlegs?' the little girl
asked. His heart soared with joy at this cute and innocent question. He
replied, 'No dear. Both of them are Daddy Longlegs.' The little girl, looked
puzzled, thought for a moment, then lifted her foot and stomped the spiders
flat. 'Well", she said, "that might be OK in
29/06/2013: Buddhists rampant: http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/timblair/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/mad_monks/
28/06/2013: Already, the slide begins: Morgan SMS poll
Wednesday night: Labor 49.5, Coalition 50.5; Reachtel poll Thursday night:
Labor 48, Coalition: 52. I wonder can Krud beat Ju-Liar’s 29% ? Hope so. One
thing is sure: if Krud cannot revive Labor’s prospects (and after we have to
LISTEN to him go on AND ON for a while I much doubt it!) then Shorten is
completely DEAD MEAT. I mean many must think he is a DOG already for having
axed TWO sitting PMs. Why would they give HIM a chance to BE PM? Maybe Chris
Bowen will be the next Labor PM (if we are ever silly enough to HAVE one) in at
least TEN years’ time!
28/06/2013: Excerpts from the (the late Iranian leader)
Ayatollah Khomeini’s ‘Blue Book’ courtesy of Mark Steyn: "If a man marries
a minor who has reached the age of nine and if during the defloration he
immediately breaks the hymen, he cannot enjoy her any longer." (I'll say.
I know it always ruins my evening). Also: "A man who has had sexual
relations with an animal, such as a sheep, may not eat its meat. He would
commit sin…Marriage before puberty by the permission of the Guardian and on
condition of taking into interest the ward's interest is proper…It is loathsome to eat the meat of horse and mule and donkey and if
somebody makes coitus with them, that is an intercourse, they become unlawful
and they must be taken out of the city and sold elsewhere…If they have
intercourse with a cow and sheep and camel their urine and dung becomes unclean
and drinking their milk will also be unlawful and they must be killed and
burned without delay, and the person who had intercourse with them must pay
money to the owner. Further, if he had intercourse with any beast its milk
becomes unlawful’. Also a wonderful tribute to the late great journalist, Oriana
Fallaci who famously tore off her chador and flung it to the floor in front of
him (Khomeini) decrying it as ‘a medieval rag’. (How DID she survive?) What a
gal. But, BOY! This Khomeini rubbish is WORSE than medieval. It is little
wonder though that Australian camels are the only ones in the world which do
not carry syphilis: http://www.steynonline.com/1516/the-shagged-sheep
28/06/2013: Notice that it is not just one who sees a
grave danger in Moslem immigration but the Moslems themselves. If just ONE imam
can identify 100 potential terrorists from his own mosque how many MORE are out
there – and how soon before ONE strikes? AND if it happens before the election,
who will be unable to forget then that the ‘boat people problem’ was ALL Krud’s
fault: http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2013/06/on-a-news-day-like-today-its-easy-to-overlook-important-stories-like-this-one-about-muslim-extremist.html
27/06/2013: Tony Abbott asks a good question: ‘In 2007
you voted for Kevin and got Julia. In 2010 you voted for Julia and got Kevin.
If you vote for the Labor Party in 2013 who knows who you will end up with.’ I
would GUESS, Bill Shorten – unless he is also charged for his part in the AWU
scandal concerning which Julia WILL be arrested.
27/06/2013: Our watching of ‘Game of Thrones’ was
interrupted last night by the machinations within the Labor Party – or was it?
27/06/2013: I suspect there WAS no petition. In any
case I’m betting that it is never produced. Ju-Liar was not so good at a
Mexican stand-off as my post on 24/06/2013 suggested. It will not be the first
time Krud lied, nor the last! What a ruddy mess!
27/06/2013: Do we REALLY need more folks like this
anywhere? I think NOT: http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/muslim_hate_preacher_incites_a_fifth_column/
27/06/2013: London Lord Mayor Boris Johnson ‘comes
out’ as a climate sceptic. As he may well be
26/06/2013: Join
our sisters and stand together for gender justice! Sign on in comments as a
Conservative for Julia Gillard. We demand that Julia continue leading the Labor
party all the way until September 14.
26/06/2013: Kevin 07pm
26/06/2013: Tomorrow AM, new PM? Shorten two bob each
way! http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/its_on/
Looks like the Ruddster will need about as much magic as THIS guy, Dynamo: http://video.dailytelegraph.com.au/2393506179/Dynamo-levitation
26/06/2013: Unbelievable! Under a Labor Government:
You can receive the $5,000 baby bonus AND Parental Leave for ABORTING your
baby: http://pickeringpost.com/article/gillards-dark-side-materialises/1569
26/06/2013: Greenies caught out cheating AGAIN: EPA
Covers Up The Safety Of Fracking: ‘The Environmental Protection Agency declines
to have outside experts review its study claiming water contamination from
fracking in Wyoming...Thanks to fracking, which has boosted an otherwise dismal
economy, the U.S is awash in oil and gas, and on its way to becoming a major
energy exporter: http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials/062113-661014-epa-rejects-peer-review-of-fracking-study.htm?p=full
26/06/2013: Bjørn Lomborg reminds us that 2013 is the
40th anniversary of the Limits to Growth, which used state of the art computer
models that were not validated to predict that humanity faced a devastating
collapse from the lack of food, oil, other commodities, etc.
26/06/2013: A study of
63,000
26/06/2013: We checked out
the ‘super moon’ but it looked just like any ordinary moon to us, but this
super hurricane on Saturn IS really something out of the ordinary: http://arstechnica.com/science/2013/06/cassini-captures-gigantic-hurricane-on-saturn-in-exquisite-detail/
25/06/2013: Prime Minister Julia Gillard takes six
staffers, a stylist, a makeup artist and several changes of costume to a
photographic studio and poses for five hours with a woollen kangaroo she is
knitting for royalty. As senior advisor John McTernan says: “It was a
no-brainer.” He got that right.
25/06/2013: Ju-Liar: “This feels slightly absurd.”
Slightly absurd? She’s a republican knitting a present for the baby of the
monarch’s grandson. She’s a Prime Minister who has spent five hours of her day-
with six staff in attendance - simply to pose with knitting needles. She is a
modern feminist posing with the tools of a domestic lifestyle of a pre-feminist
era. She uses stylists to pose is a dress that classes violently with the
chair. She is showing she is her own woman by adopting a PR stunt dreamed up by
her male PR adviser. She is giving encouragement to young female politicians by
plying a hobby now synonymous with mad old aunts. She is showing her
authenticity by pretending to knit for five yours in a photographer’s studio. I
thought the “blue tie” speech marked the nadir of her spin. Now it’s knitting
the bush kangaroo.
http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/man_makes_prime_minister_gillard_knit_him_a_kangaroo/
25/06/2013: Politically incorrect? http://maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com/archives/22392-The-Sexual-Harassment-Epidemic.html
25/06/2013: Unfortunately so many of the wise heads
are very old eg Fred Singer, Freeman Dyson and this guy Vincent Gray, so we
will be without their sane input far too soon. I just hope it is not before
they have managed to convince folks of the falseness and impossibility of the
AGW hysteria, as it is just such an unaffordable madness haplessly diverting
billions from needy folk to jet-setting Western spruikers like Al Gore, Tim
Flannery & etc:
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/06/21/nzclimate-truth-newsletter-no-313/#more-88551
25/06/2013: Drive Aid: ‘Greedy people in developing
nations are eating huge amounts of food that could easily be turned into
biofuel to power our cars. African acreage the size of
24/06/2013: What a BRILLIANT device! Talking/Reading
glasses attachment for the blind. Hope Della never needs one, but clearly she
will not have to learn Braille. I am amazed at the way Israelis keep coming up
with all these wonderful things and often wonder when it will be the Arabs’
turn? http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/04/science/israeli-start-up-gives-visually-impaired-a-way-to-read.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&utm_source=feedly&_r=0
24/06/2013: The delightful ‘Taliband’: ‘And the reason
for the killing was? Let me guess, the climbers were supposed to make the
mountain come to them.’ (In response to the ‘unexplained’ execution of nine
mountaineers).
24/06/2013: ‘Have a nice life’, What a GREAT ‘Dear
John’: http://resources2.news.com.au/images/2013/06/23/1226668/173534-dumped-letter.jpg
24/06/2013: Best thing about Newspoll is that the
Greens are (thankfully) DYING, but also ‘Others’ are (correspondingly) rising.
Presumably much of this is Katter’s party who might well cause Labor to lose even
more seats (even quite safe ones) where the Liberals might well come in last
meaning their preferences might push Katter over the line. Interesting times: http://blogs.news.com.au/images/uploads/newspolljune_thumb.jpg
24/06/2013: HERE is a neat compendium of ALL the
public evidence against Julia Gillard showing that she HAS committed serious
criminal acts in the past and is therefore UTTERLY unfit to be an MP, let alone
a PM: http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2013/06/welcome-pack-the-awu-scandal.html
24/06/2013: GREAT poem: John Masefield (1878-1967) Sea
Fever
I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea
and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her
by,
And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white
sail's shaking,
And a gray mist on the sea's face, and a gray dawn
breaking.
I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the
running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be
denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds
flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the
sea-gulls crying.
I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy
life,
To the gull's way and the whale's way, where the
wind's like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing
fellow-rover,
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long
trick's over.
24/06/2013: ‘No Government has ever taxed a country
into prosperity…It’s not Government that creates wealth, it’s business that
creates wealth’…This is not just about creating a richer country, it’s about
creating a better country too…Our gift to the future will be a country in
better shape than the one we inherited…Prime Ministers must always be the
servant of their country..’ An important speech. Tony Abbott in Parliament last
week. It WILL be SO nice to have a PM who is a decent honest ordinary person: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMio7YJw3hk&feature=player_embedded
24/06/2013: Mexican stand-off ALP style: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fha44MxZN0w&feature=player_embedded
23/06/2013: A
23/06/2013: I just LOVE it when things suddenly get three
(or more) orders of magnitude (10 cubed) BETTER as in the case of this
miniaturised cyclotron. I foresee the day (not far distant) when every home
will have its own briefcase sized nuclear fusion reactor producing all its
energy and heating/cooling requirements: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/06/21/desktop-sized-atom-smasher-demonstrated/
23/06/2013: The perfect gift for your dog: ‘Go Fetch,
Spot!’ http://www.gizmag.com/ifetch-automatic-fetch-dog/28022/
22/06/2013: Secret of Roman concrete revealed. Just
goes to show that ‘progress’ always SEEMS to be more than it IS: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-06-14/ancient-roman-concrete-is-about-to-revolutionize-modern-architecture
22/06/2013: What an awful mess eg
22/06/2013: MORE evidence that CO2 is not an important
driver of climate change: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/06/21/paper-summer-temperatures-were-about-10c-warmer-than-today-even-though-the-concentration-of-atmospheric-co2-was-similar/#more-88537
21/06/2013: Unfortunately TOO true: http://www.bookwormroom.com/2013/06/07/from-a-generation-that-fought-the-nazis-to-a-generation-that-fights-hurt-feelings/
21/06/2013: For the guineas pig who has everything: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/lifestyle/home-garden/is-your-guinea-pig-medieval-enough/story-fni0dm3i-1226666382941
21/06/2013: Now here’s a great idea: In the Guardian,
union organiser Godfrey Moase calls for every Australian citizen to receive a
basic income of $30,000 per year. No exceptions, no means testing: “Imagine the
creativity, innovation and enterprise that would be unleashed if every citizen
were guaranteed a living. Universal income provides the material basis for a
fuller development of human potential. Social enterprises, cooperatives and
small businesses could be started without participants worrying where the next
pay cheque would come from. Artists and musicians could focus on their work.”
Just excuse me, please if I refuse to PAY!
20/06/2013: The ABC doesn't want to know about Julia
Gillard and the police enquiry - when it's paid $1 billion per annum to make
sure it finds out and tells us!
20/06/2013: MUST BUY: Clive James’ latest book of verse
‘Nefertiti in the
“Because we have a mind to make her ours,
And she belongs to nobody’s idea
Of the sublime but hers. But that we know,
Or would, if it were not among her powers
Always across the miles to bring us near
To where she thrives on shadows. By her glow
We measure darkness; by her splendour, all
That is to come, or gone beyond recall.”
Also, I hope THIS is not imminent:
“Too much luck,
Just to have lived so long when I unfold
And shuffle forward to go out and down
The steep, dark, helter-skelter laundry chute
Into that swamp of blinking crocodiles
Men call Shit Creek. Come, let us kiss and part.”
http://www.quadrant.org.au/magazine/issue/2013/6/the-extraordinary-verse-of-clive-james
20/06/2013: WELL DONE Tim Blair: http://blogs.news.com.au/images/uploads/eletowel.png
20/06/2013: I think Ju-Liar did VERY WELL to be at 95th
place out of 100: http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2013/06/what-a-crew-in-the-bottom-10-places-on-readers-digests-most-trusted-list.html
20/06/2013: I agree with Tom Meagher, if Adrian
(Edwards) Bayley did not earn the maximum 25 years for rape, who does? Apparently
he showed 'remorse'. Many of us would like the opportunity to demonstrate to
him forcibly just what 'remorse' means! Apparently he will get the 'protection'
Jill Meagher did not:
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/law-order/bayley-faces-dangerous-risks-in-prison/story-fni0fee2-1226666538121
19/06/2013: Further to yesterday’s post about
19/06/2013: STRANGE things do happen to men’s noses as
they get older: http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2013/06/vicks-vaporub-story-number-two.html
19/06/2013: ET had one, so why shouldn’t you? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtylFugOT_4&feature=player_embedded
19/06/2013: ABC BIAS: NOT A WORD about the Vic
police executing a search warrant on Slater & Gordon in pursuit of their
criminal investigation of Ju-liar, a warrant they could not have had issued by
ANY magistrate unless they could demonstrate a PRIMA FACIE case of criminal
conduct by her!
18/06/2013: ANOTHER problem Shorten has (the first
being his role in the suppression of the AWU/Slater & Gordon crimes) is
that his wife Chloe Bryce is head of ‘Women for Gillard’. Also, can he really
be Prime Minister if his mother–in-law is Governor-General?
18/06/2013: You MAY think THIS couldn’t happen here,
but
18/06/2013: AMAZING skill with a simple ‘weapon’: http://www.maniacworld.com/greatest-sling-shot-man-ever.html
18/06/2013: If ‘natural gas’ (aka methane) turns out
to be largely abiotic, so NOT a fossil fuel, doesn’t this mean that it is
RENEWABLE energy , so NOT the anathema the anti-fracking brigade want to paint
it? http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/is-gas-made-in-the-earth%27s-mantle.aspx
17/06/2013: ‘Hedley Thomas, The Australian, June 17,
2013 12:00AM: “POLICE from the Victorian Fraud Squad have seized boxes of legal
documents from Julia Gillard's former employer, Slater & Gordon lawyers, as
part of an ongoing probe into the AWU slush fund scandal. The documents were
removed from the firm's
17/06/2013: ‘Women for Gillard: it’s a fair swap’: http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2013/06/buy-swap-and-sell-stu-of-nt-is-interested-in-swapping-women-for-gillard.html
17/06/2013: THIS is the
17/06/2013: An Immigration Department survey showed
that even after five years, just nine per cent of Afghans claiming asylum had a
job.
17/06/2013: Thanks to
Ruling by Judge William Young, US District Court.
Prior to sentencing, the Judge asked the defendant if
he had anything to say His response: After admitting his guilt to the court for
the record, Reid also admitted his 'allegiance to Osama bin Laden, to Islam,
and to the religion of Allah,' defiantly
stating, 'I think I will not apologize for my
actions,' and told the court 'I am at war with your country.'
Judge Young then delivered the statement quoted below:
Judge Young: "Mr. Richard C. Reid, hearken now to
the sentence the Court imposes upon you.
On counts 1, 5 and 6 the Court sentences you to life
in prison in the custody of the
On count 8 the Court sentences you to the mandatory 30
years, again to be served consecutively to the 80 years just imposed. The Court
imposes upon you for each of the eight counts a fine of $250,000, that's an
aggregate fine of $2 million. The Court accepts the government's recommendation
with respect to restitution and orders restitution in the amount of $298.17 to
Andre Bousquet and $5,784 to American Airlines.
The Court imposes upon you an $800 special assessment.
The Court imposes upon you, five years supervised release simply because the
law requires it. But the life sentences are real life sentences so I need go no
further.
This is the sentence that is provided for by our
statutes. It is a fair and just sentence. It is a righteous sentence.
Now, let me explain this to you. We are not afraid of
you or any of your terrorist co-conspirators, Mr. Reid. We are Americans. We
have been through the fire before. There is too much war talk here and I say
that to everyone with the utmost respect. Here in this court, we deal with
individuals as individuals and care for individuals as individuals. As human
beings, we reach out for justice.
You are not an enemy combatant. You are a terrorist.
You are not a soldier in any war. You are a terrorist. To give you that
reference, to call you a soldier, gives you far too much stature. Whether the
officers of government do it, or your attorney does it, or if you think you are
a soldier, you are not-----, you are a terrorist. And we do not negotiate with
terrorists. We do not meet with terrorists. We do not sign documents with
terrorists. We hunt them down one by one and bring them to justice.
So war talk is way out of line in this court. You are
a big fellow. But you are not that big. You're no warrior. I've known warriors.
You are a terrorist. A species of criminal that is guilty of multiple attempted
murders. In a very real sense, State Trooper Santiago had it right when you
first were taken off that plane and into custody and you wondered where the
press and the TV crews were, and he said:
'You're no big deal. '
You are no big deal.
What your able counsel and what the equally able
I have listened respectfully to what you have to say.
And I ask you to search your heart and ask yourself what sort of unfathomable
hate led you to do what you are guilty, and admit you are guilty, of doing?
And, I have an answer for you. It may not satisfy you, but as I search this
entire record, it comes as close to understanding as I know.
It seems to me, you hate the one thing that to us is
most precious. You hate our freedom. Our individual freedom. Our individual
freedom to live as we choose, to come and go as we choose, to believe or not
believe as we individually choose. Here, in this society, the very wind carries
freedom. It carries it everywhere from sea to shining sea. It is because we
prize individual freedom so much that you are here in this beautiful courtroom,
so that everyone can see, truly see, that justice is administered fairly,
individually, and discretely. It is for freedom's sake that your lawyers are
striving so vigorously on your behalf, have filed appeals, will go on in their
representation of you before other judges.
We Americans are all about freedom. Because we all
know that the way we treat you, Mr. Reid, is the measure of our own liberties.
Make no mistake though. It is yet true that we will bear any burden; pay any
price, to preserve our freedoms. Look around this courtroom. Mark it well. The
world is not going to long remember what you or I say here. The day after
tomorrow, it will be forgotten, but this, however, will long endure.
Here in this courtroom and courtrooms all across
America , the American people will gather to see that justice, individual
justice, justice, not war, individual justice, is in fact being done. The very
President of the
See that flag, Mr. Reid? That's the flag of the United
States of America . That flag will fly there long after this is all forgotten.
That flag stands for freedom. And it always will.
Mr. Custody Officer. Stand him down."
So, how much of this Judge's comments did we hear on
our TV sets? We need more judges like Judge Young. Pass this around. Everyone
should, and needs to, hear what this fine judge had to say. Powerful words that
strike home.
16/06/2013: When Mandawuy Djarrtjuntjun Yunupingu died
recently I noticed that ‘we’ were enjoined to avoid mentioning his name or
displaying IMAGES of him as such ‘respect’ was a ‘traditional aboriginal
practice’. This cultural practice confirms my belief that there was once an
advanced (Atlantean) culture in
16/06/2013: Some really interesting takes on the CO2
question here, including some usually heavily ignored points such as: “So if, as is so commonly assumed, the
current spike in atmospheric CO2 is substantially or entirely
anthropogenic, one then needs to ask what has inhibited the natural spiking
that would normally accompany this 150 year long warming trend (actually 400
years of warming since the coldest depths of the Little Ice Age) such that our
anthropogenic release could act as the sole (or primary) source of the current
spike? A partial answer to this important question may be largely or at least
substantially explained in my prior posting. i.e. We have inhibited insect and
microbial emission and substituted a smaller quantity of our own. Then, is the
current spike anthropogenic? Certainly it is not. The current atmospheric CO2
spike would be similar, most likely larger, if we were never here.” http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/06/14/an-engineers-take-on-climate-change-2/#more-88092
16/06/2013: Our immigration system IS broke, and we
must quickly fix it. It is run BY cheats, FOR cheats. If I had my druthers I
would deport ALL who have come here ILLEGALLY under the Rudd/Gillard
Governments and any who continue to come: no processing, just the BOOT. For
those who patiently WAIT THEIR TURN, instead: the hand of kindness: http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2013/06/come-and-lie-to-us-you-now-what-you-need-to-say-if-you-want-to-stay-its-easier-all-round-just-stick-.html
16/06/2013: Recently Della and I circumnavigated the
16/06/2013: The Green and the Black: Many Australians
(maybe even the majority?) have SOME Irish ancestry. For example I am 3/8ths
Irish (willy nilly) having three Great-Grandparents originating from the
‘emerald isle’. Even 3/8ths Irish ancestry is not enough to claim IRISH
nationality, nor is my ½ English or 1/8th French the basis for any
claim. Yet one can claim ‘Aboriginality’ on the basis of 1/32 (OR LESS)! I
never KNEW any of my great grandparents, so I can’t properly say I have any
ALLLEGIANCE to them, (indeed even after MUCH research I still know little about
them) and have only been able to work out the NAMES of 17/32 Great Great Great Grandparents
let alone their nationalities, so clearly some of them COULD have been
‘Aboriginal’ – or anything else, but probably not extra-terrestrial, much as
you may think otherwise! This is despite extensive research over many years,
quite expensive document searches and the fact that my European ancestors came
from countries at least where records have generally been kept for a long while
(though the Irish destroyed a lot of their records early in the C20th!) To
claim ‘membership’ or ‘belonging’ on such slender evidence (as 1/32) is just
utterly absurd – and clearly racist in itself. Very many ‘Aborigines’ (perhaps
the majority) also have Irish ancestry. Many would have more than 1/32 IRISH,
indeed often MORE Irish than ‘Aboriginal’ ancestry, yet we are enjoined to
accept their quite racist claim to BE ‘Aboriginal’ without demur – indeed to
QUESTION it (as I do here) is no doubt actionable as offending against some one
of our latest ‘Big Brother’ laws. Like me, they can neither claim nor BENEFIT
from their Irish ancestry even if they might wish to celebrate it sometimes
with hearty draughts of green beer – as we all do! It is simply long past time
such ‘racial identification’ stopped permanently. We are all simply human
beings and citizens of
15/06/2013: Downloaded and watched the 1994 film,
Harrison Bergeron’. This is a really great, important film. You should do the
same. Sadly, we know people who would not know the film is about them…so it
goes…once you have watched it you will agree. Another great film, ‘It’s a
Wonderful Life’. Cheers. (Read the Kurt Vonnegutt story on which it is based here: http://www.wordfight.org/bnw/bnw-unit_packet.pdf)
15/06/2013: Did you know? These Aussies died defending
this far-flung speck of Oz: http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2013/06/to-all-those-who-say-hand-christmas-island-over-to-the-indonesians-what-do-you-reckon-these-blokes-w.html
15/06/2013: Interesting…Willis Eschenbach: “Take for example
the long-discredited idea, first overthrown by Charles Darwin, that coral
atolls are under threat from sea level rise.
15/06/2013: PUNCTUATION RULES: I agree with Warren
Meyer about the need to change how parentheses and quotation marks need to be
treated. It IS absurd to have the punctuation INSIDE the quotation (when it is
not part of it) and I will be changing how I deal with this matter: http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2013/05/pronouns-quotation-marks-and-punctuation-oh-my.html
14/06/2013: Giving politicians the unfettered right to
commit murder is a VERY dangerous step as has happened with the escalation of
the ‘drone wars’. Soon apparently robot ‘soldiers’ on the battlefield will have
the ability (right?) to fire without human oversight. This is not something
from the ‘Terminator’ movies; this is happening today: http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2013/06/power-without-accountability-will-be-abused.html
14/06/2013: It is not unlike the ‘right’ (?) to (late-term)
abortions so vehemently defended (eg) by Ms Gillard (along with her contentions
that “married women are whores” and “a heterosexual relationship should be the
non-preferred option for young people”). Here’s
14/06/2013: GO, Miranda: “that old gender card stinks.
It’s an insult to every woman in the country who has forged a career on merit -
not as some quota queen patronised and secretly reviled by male rivals. Gillard is living proof of what happens when quotas
are enforced. Incompetence is rewarded. Untrustworthiness is rewarded. Fakery
is rewarded”. http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/mirandadevine/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/pm_spouts_a_load_of_femi_nonsense_even_she_couldnt_possibly_believe/
14/06/2013: Great headline: Tim Blair: 'Misogynist menu
mythology sweeps the planet!' Also liked: NOTHING BUT BLUE
TIES DOES SHE SEE!
13/06/2013: Clearly after the fiascos of the last week
Labor will not go to the polls with the evil redhead. Just as clearly it will
not be Shorten as this would mean he would only ever be PM for a couple of
weeks. It just as obviously won't be Rudd as the party is completely fractured
on that issue, and anyway he would be a gift for the coalition. They will have
to find someone else, someone who is retiring anyway perhaps - maybe Simon
Crean. I would say he at least could save a few seats. At the moment, the way
the preferential system works, if the coalition plays its cards right it could
replace some Labor MPs with Katta MPs leaving the Labor party just about
non-existent, as it is in Qld. They brought this on themselves. My guess is it
will happen about the last day of sitting of Parliament, ie late next week.
13/06/2013: David Feeney, Ms Gillard’s choice for
Batman (come back Martin, PLEASE!) was complicit in Ms Gillard’s various
malfeasances at Slater & Gordon back in the 1990’s (Surprise, surprise) as
the following link makes clear. So MANY close to Ms G in the ALP are crooks
too: http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2013/06/david-feeney-julia-gillard-emily-and-her-list-its-not-who-you-know-its-what-you-know-about-them.html
13/06/2013: What ARE the facts about bees and
neonicotinoid insecticides? As always, the usual green suspects are lying to
us: ‘Neonicotinoids are derived from naturally occurring nicotine plant compounds and have
been hailed as a low-toxicity pest treatment. They are often applied to seeds
or on soils during planting, become part of the plants’ physiology, and work by
giving treated plants internal defenses against invasive pests. That means
neonics are toxic only to insects that feed on crops, which dramatically
reduces the need to spray entire fields with other, less safe pesticides. It
also curtails risks to farm workers and beneficial insects.…Canadian field study that compared hives exposed to neonics to those
that weren’t exposed – and found no difference in colony health between the two
groups…’ http://www.cfact.org/2013/05/20/radical-greens-ignore-science-in-their-fight-to-save-the-bees/
12/06/2013: 3,000 km in six days to help celebrate my
sister’s 70th birthday. Hope she enjoyed it as WE are both frazzled.
Interesting trip though: got to see some awful parts of Western NSW I thought I
would never visit (ever the masochist, Della opines we might go back for a
closer look – when we hate ourselves enough!), and caught up with a lot of old
friends and relatives along the way.
12/06/2013: Dennis Prager: “Here’s a question for Muslims
and leftists who buy this argument about the West killing Muslims in
12/06/2013: Interesting graphic of how the world
looked LONG ago:
http://maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com/uploads/largest1.jpg
12/06/2013: World temperature for May +0.07C. Big
change since they put those sats up! http://www.drroyspencer.com/2013/06/uah-global-temperature-update-for-may-2013-0-07-deg-c/
12/06/2013: So, conclusive PROOF the climate models
overestimate ‘warming’ by a multiple of at least FOUR: http://www.drroyspencer.com/2013/06/epic-fail-73-climate-models-vs-observations-for-tropical-tropospheric-temperature/
12/06/2013: CO2: NO CORRELATION WITH TEMPERATURE: I
have been meaning to do a post from/about this important climate scientist for
ages. Here is an excellent article explaining what IS the historical
relationship between CO2, oxygen, temperature and life on Earth generally.
Please take the time to READ THIS:
http://nzclimatescience.net/images/PDFs/nzctruth%20312.pdf
7/06/2013: I am RATHER fond of this guy’s designs FOR
repeating hex nut firing rubber band guns: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMuI634RAYI&feature=youtu.be
7/06/2013: ALREADY 5 years since
6/06/2013: Yesterday, Mr Abbott asked Ms Gillard in
parliament: “Given that a convicted jihadist terrorist was held at a family
facility in the Adelaide Hills for almost a year, through what officials called
a clerical error, will the Prime Minister now concede that Labor’s policies
have made
6/06/2013: Those of you who maybe ‘support’ the
insurgency in
6/06/2013: Say ‘No’ to
6/06/2013: Henry Ergas: “THERE is one crucial result
in the Parliamentary Budget Office’s report on Australia’s fiscal position:
from 2001-02 on, the Howard government ran structural budget surpluses every
year averaging 1.4 per cent of GDP; while every year it has been in office,
Labor has run structural deficits averaging 2.8 per cent of GDP. And even
accepting the fog of unreality that is Labor’s latest budget, those structural
deficits will persist through to at least 2016-17…The contrast with Labor could
not be more stark. The licence given to union thugs; the imposition of
inefficient taxes, such as the carbon tax and the MRRT; the squandering of
scarce capital on follies such as the NBN; the proliferation of subsidies,
regulation and “green tape”; the resulting crippling of the resource boom: all
these slash the economy’s ability to grow and so finance spending commitments.
The result is a deterioration in the structural fiscal position under Labor,
which may be 2 per cent of GDP worse than the PBO suggests”.
6/06/2013: Charles Mackay : “Men, it has
been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds,
while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one.” http://www.amazon.com/Extraordinary-Popular-Delusions-Madness-Crowds/dp/1463740514/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&tag=wattsupwithth-20&qid=1370178913&sr=1-1&keywords=Extraordinary+Popular+Delusions+and+the+Madness+of+Crowds#reader_1463740514
6/06/2013: As Professor Myles Allen: “if
you suppose that the annual UN climate talks will save us, forget it. I
met a delegate at the last talks in Doha in December who told me he had just
watched a two-hour debate that culminated in placing square brackets around a
semi-colon” (PS: Could this have been kruddmp?) : http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2331057/Why-I-think-wasting-billions-global-warming-British-climate-scientist.html?ito=feeds-newsxml
6/06/2013: As “youths” rampage in
5/06/2013: CANCER CURE? On the 7:30 report last night
results from trials of two new monoclonal antibody drugs on metastatic melanoma
showing at least 50% of patients free of the disease two years on ( ie more
than 18 months after they would otherwise have been dead). The doctor
interviewed (who was ‘over the moon about it –understandably) felt that the
same drugs will be effective in ‘curing’ most other cancers: Is this the
wonderful breakthrough we have all been waiting for? Certainly hope so!
5/06/2013: Should these requirements become
compulsory? Come on DOWN Tim Newman, you will be WELCOME: http://www.desertsun.co.uk/blog/?p=1672
5/06/2013: I am losing track of TIME. I have trouble
remembering what CENTURY it is; meanwhile today’s teenagers were born in the 21st
century. Hard to believe!
5/06/2013: HOUSING is ridiculously expensive in
5/06/2013: NBN: Much as I think this is a silly,
wasteful exercise, it is not half so silly as the asbestos bullshit in
Telstra’s pits, pipes, etc. Millions of us have lived safely in fibro cement
houses for decades yet suddenly the same product is perceived as dynamite. This
is a nonsensical beat-up. I think it is absurd to spend perhaps $100 billion on
this huge piece of infrastructure but to have it stalled over fibro cement pits
which Telstra technicians have been working in for decades is preposterous!
5/06/2013: The Welfare State: ‘we should NOT be
economically free so that OTHERS can live FOR free’. The idea is bound to
attract more than a few TAKERS. Eventually they will outnumber the doers, and
after that: Armageddon. THIS is what is already happening in
4/06/2013: A T-shirt with this message on it has been BANNED
in
4/06/2013: May 2013: 3399 = 40,788pa x $203,704 (see post 5/5/2013) =
$8,308,678,000pa processing costs alone. STOP THE BOATS: http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2013/06/illegal-boat-arrivals-for-the-month-of-may-2013.html
4/06/2013:
4/06/2013: Good Boy Peach: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2279789/I-chase-I-bite--crime-report-dog--Police-investigate-completing-witness-statement-written-force-dog.html
4/06/2013: One learned assessment of where/why the
‘party ended’ (http://www.quadrant.org.au/magazine/issue/2013/6/left-stranded-by-an-ebbing-tide) and one not so learned (http://pickeringpost.com/article/why-voters-want-gillards-blood/1440) I think Windschuttle is right (as the terrible polling in Western
Sydney shows = 25% is NOW ‘good’). Years ago I taught there at a number of
schools. I was always fascinated by the ‘fact’ that the greatest resentment of
new immigrants was from the last cohort of arrivals, not from the ‘old’
Australians. The resentment towards ‘queue jumpers’ is VERY real (and rightly
so – it goes against our overwhelming tradition of a ‘fair go’, an important
part of whose ethos is that if ‘Jack is as good as his master’ them both will
have to stand in line to buy a ticket at the footie, & etc. Those who are
‘up themselves’ and push in are quite properly resented by all (especially by
the most recent legal arrivals whose relatives in the ‘family reunion
programme’ are directly supplanted BY the illegals). Nick Cater’s new book and
blog are an enormously important contribution to Australian society: http://www.luckyculture.com.au/
4/06/2013:
4/06/2013: 200 illegal boat arrivals YESTERDAY alone:
if maintained that would take us to 73,000 for the year. This is the largest
and most dangerous ‘invasion’ we have ever faced.
3/06/2013: I too INSTINCTIVELY hated the word
‘sustainable’ (just as I abhorred earlier empty platitudes such as ‘environment’,
‘fitness’, ‘rights’, ‘common sense’…) It has risen to be a creed but it is
nothing but NONSENSE. Nick Cater succinctly demolishes it in THIS way, “No one would disagree that human
endeavour must be sustainable. The free market is a pretty good measure of
that. If a resource becomes scarce, prices rise and consumers look for
resources in more abundance.” ‘The Stone Age didn’t end because we ran out of
stones’ sums the whole thing up pretty well…This man is a seriously important
thinker: http://www.luckyculture.com.au/
3/06/2013: One learned assessment of where/why the
‘party ended’ (http://www.quadrant.org.au/magazine/issue/2013/6/left-stranded-by-an-ebbing-tide) and one not so learned (http://pickeringpost.com/article/why-voters-want-gillards-blood/1440) I think Windschuttle is right (as the terrible polling in Western
Sydney shows = 25% is NOW ‘good’). Years ago I taught there at a number of
schools. I was always fascinated by the ‘fact’ that the greatest resentment of
new immigrants was from the last cohort of arrivals, not from the ‘old’
Australians. The resentment towards ‘queue jumpers’ is VERY real (and rightly
so – it goes against our overwhelming tradition of a ‘fair go’, an important
part of whose ethos is that if ‘Jack is as good as his master’ them both will
have to stand in line to buy a ticket at the footie, & etc. Those who are
‘up themselves’ and push in are quite properly resented by all (especially by
the most recent legal arrivals whose relatives in the ‘family reunion
programme’ are directly supplanted BY the illegals). Nick Cater’s new book and
blog are an enormously important contribution to Australian society: http://www.luckyculture.com.au/
3/06/2013:
3/06/2013: These new sandals/thongs look like the ‘go’
for folks wishing to have a spare pair of ‘shoes’ around camp, for river
crossings or in case their hiking shoes die etc. Definitely on MY birthday
list. At 3 oz (85-90g) they are a little heavier than my home-made pair I
posted about on 20/12/2012 which weighed 58 grams, but may prove more robust
being Vibram soles etc. I notice they also have special (http://bedrocksandals.com/ninja-socks/) socks to wear with them. Neat: http://bedrocksandals.com/earthquake-sandals-v2/
3/06/2013: Meanwhile, if you have forgotten my
birthday (or your own!) there is further hope: that taking high doses of
B vitamins may slow the development of Alzheimer’s disease. This news indicates
a definite BUY of Blackmore’s (BKL) if you can remember to do it when the
market opens: http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/sep/13/b-vitamins-alzheimers
3/06/2013: It is truly amazing the nonsense people
believe: Mohammed (like Perseus) apparently had a flying horse, a hippogryph
(called Buraq) – handy critter if you can catch one! No doubt those beasts are
like unicorns which require virginity and a silver rope to ensnare - neither of
which most of us have lying around)…Possession of such a transportation system
is at least a LITTLE more charming than raping nine year old girls and
beheading several hundred Jews, unpleasant pursuits he also engaged in: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buraq
3/06/2013: Amid the varied arguments in favour of
privatising this and that, our pollies clearly avoid the pressing need to
privatise that which is most inherent in THEIR role, ie legislation. Imagine if
legislation was ‘demand driven’ as things ought to be in a free market economy.
Imagine if the market actually brought us laws which were value for money!
How many of the zillions of current laws would be dumped and how few
excuses for new ones found. Also we would have a dross of surplus laws we could
sell off to the highest bidder - but who would want a law which forbids the
blind taking seeing eye dogs into National parks or dictates that paraplegics
cannot use snowmobiles there, & so on ad infinitum…Of course it might
also actually be better if we let the market decide who were the BEST
people to run the country – instead of the idiots we currently elect…Moving on
from that, we might even get to the point where if we wanted to say, take our
Jack Russells camping in our National Parks (as we do! AND supposing that there
remained NPs!) that such an ‘offence’ no longer carried the death penalty or
whatever extravagant punishment such wilful evil no doubt currently attracts…
2/06/2013: Placid woodland scenes hide unexpected
dangers: ‘man dies after being attacked by beaver’ (what a loser!) - when will
it be the turn of the humble wombat? I am minded of a now extinct B-grade
novel from the sixties, ‘The Year of the Angry Rabbit’ which featured giant
rabbits invading (Old) Parliament House (the new would be MORE apt, being
underground already) and consuming politicians and particularly the Prime
Minister. WHAT a good idea! http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22707094
2/06/2013: Quotable quote: Upton Sinclair: ‘It’s difficult to
get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not
understanding it’. Found in an interesting article by Anthony Dillon here: http://www.quadrant.org.au/blogs/bennelong-papers/2013/05/the-power-of-victimhood
2/06/2013: WHO would believe that Ju-Liar is WORTH
MORE than US Pres Obama or French leader Sarkozy & etc? Furthermore, both
parties have voted to keep it an official secret just how much taxpayers’ money
we are wasting on our awful pollies. Incredible: http://michaelsmithnews.typepad.com/.a/6a0177444b0c2e970d0192aa906113970d-800wi
2/06/2013: There is always hope. I have posted about
the possibility of storing ‘renewable energy’ before. It may ONE DAY be
possible: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/05/30/an-interesting-advance-in-battery-applications/
1/06/2013: ‘Racists’ adopt girl. Why not hang them? My
own sister did the same (much to her credit, I believe). What a world… http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/this_girl_cannot_have_her_future_stolen_by_a_myth/
1/06/2013: NOW, a scientist confirms they got it wrong
and it was CFCs which were responsible for ‘climate change’ and not CO2 AT ALL!
Of course the world legislated to control CFCs in the Montreal Protocol way back
in the 1980s. Wow: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/05/30/study-says-global-warming-caused-by-cfcs-not-carbon-dioxide/
1/06/2013: Very sad news for Labor and Australian
society generally: Martin Ferguson is not recontesting his seat. If the small
handful of other ‘adults’ remaining in the Labor party do the same, then after
the coming debacle in September the ALP (and obviously the Greens) will be
completely dominated by ultra left wing economic and political imbeciles so
distant from normal Australian beliefs and tradition as forever to be
unelectable as a Government. Who knows what idiocy the Libs will manage to come
up with in Government too when you witness the bizarre reversal Tony did on the
‘cash for votes’ bill earlier this week… ‘Poor fella my country.’
1/06/2013: Quote of the week, Enoch Powell, from his
famous ‘rivers of blood’ speech, 1968: ‘It almost passes belief that at this moment 20
or 30 additional immigrant children are arriving from overseas in Wolverhampton
alone every week - and that means 15 or 20 additional families a decade or two
hence. Those whom the gods wish to destroy, they first make mad. We must be
mad, literally mad, as a nation to be permitting the annual inflow of some
50,000 dependants, who are for the most part the material of the future growth
of the immigrant-descended population. It is like watching a nation busily
engaged in heaping up its own funeral pyre.’ The whole speech is to be found
below. You DON”T have to be a rocket scientist to be gifted with a certain
degree of prescience or to see that a current policy is leading the nation to
future certain disaster: if you read the whole speech (in today’s context) I
feel that you will find it hard to believe (as I do) that Enoch Powell has been
long vilified for making it: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/3643823/Enoch-Powells-Rivers-of-Blood-speech.html
1/06/2013: Further to the subject of folks ‘having
meetings for a living’ I can just about imagine the amount of ‘work’ that went into
redesigning containers of coffee sweeteners so that they now slip though the
fingers when putting a tab in the cup and drown themselves: the result many
more packs are now sold (though fewer used)!
1/06/2013: Following on from the recent example of a
very large adult man using institutional force to pick on a (dumb) 13 year old
girl, I too LIKE the phrase which has sprung up from this incident, ie
‘recreational racism’. I foresee the day when a popular Saturday SPORT will be
going out and bashing a few ‘whities’ just for the fun of it! Or am I maybe too
prescient or too sceptical? Curious point of order: the ‘Indigenous Round’ was
not itself racist (?) – isn’t this just a little like when the South Africans
had only whites on THEIR sporting teams?
31/05/2013: Back from four days’ hiking in the
Wonnangatta–Moroka National Park with the lovely Della and the two (illegal)
Jack Russells who just have to see this wonderful wilderness which is being
preserved for ‘future generations’ but NOT for the current one – particularly
of JRs! We know a beautiful remote flat where we camped amid the comings and
goings and roars of numerous sambar deer. There has been no such comeback for
native critters (particularly birds) since the fires of over five years ago. The
forest remains silent of birdsong (even with my new hearing aids!) Fire killed
timber is now coming down in a BIG way. The silence is continually punctured by
the crashing of falling dead forest giants (‘habitat’ trees?). They will make
canoeing the river difficult for a generation. There used to be such a log jam
(say 200 metres long) for @ 25 years about a day’s canoeing downstream from the
Humffray confluence but the floods which succeeded the fires cleared it a few
years back. I think the 4WD tracks get worse every year: DSE’s 15,000 employees
seem to think that ‘work’ means ‘having meetings’. A handful of people with
decently equipped 4WD tractors could make every bush track a 2WD road and so
provide opportunity for current AND future generations to explore our
wilderness areas. In any case you need a VERY serious piece of 4WD gear to get
into (and particularly OUT OF) the Wonnangatta Station nowadays – despite its
iconic stature. When they opened the road in the sixties the first vehicle in
was a Volkswagen Beetle – hard to believe NOW! Unexpected rain fell on the
third night and all the fourth day (making egress more difficult. The BOM are
still unable to foresee this (ie weather four days ahead) but can tell with
great certainty and to within one hundredth of a degree what the climate will
be like in a century: more folk who think ‘work’ means ‘having meetings’! if
only we didn’t have to pay for them all – in more ways than one…
31/05/2013:
31/05/2013: Interesting quiz: http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/global_warming_the_quiz/
28/05/2013: This week three boats IN A DAY compared
with three boats IN A YEAR under Howard. We have also started sourcing illegal
immigrants from even further afield with the first boatloads from
28/05/2013: So glad taxpayers fund this kind of art –
but since when is shitting on the stage ART? http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/theatre/dancers-display-private-movements-20130524-2k6x3.html#ixzz2UIjZWVja
28/05/2013: An interesting comparison: without the
current tariffs I could be driving a BMW instead of a Commodore or Falcon:
http://catallaxyfiles.com/2013/05/25/a-special-tariff/
28/05/2013: Astonishing that you can murder a man and
chop off his head and be defended by people of your own faith (who are not
charged with incitement or anything else) but those who comment on the matter
ARE charged. I suppose it is only a matter of time before the thought police
(or the Jihadists) come for me too…http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2330180/Woolwich-attacks-Man-charged-making-racist-anti-religious-Facebook-comments-British-soldier-s-death.html Meanwhile we have THIS: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/uk/Radical-British-preacher-Anjem-Choudary-praises-London-killer-Adebolajo/articleshow/20249924.cms and THIS : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/uk/Exiled-cleric-who-taught-UK-soldiers-killer-praises-courage/articleshow/20245320.cms
28/05/2013: Michael Smith: ‘PRIME
Minister Julia Gillard has been drawn further into the union fraud
investigation involving her former boyfriend, as Victorian police examine her
radio account of a 1993 property transaction. News Limited can reveal Australian
Workers Union offices in
28/05/2013: Another elephant in the room: You will
have noticed the brouhaha over Shayden Thorne, recently arrested in Saud Arabia
on (suspected) terrorism charges. You may not have also noticed that ‘Mulla’
Thorne has now unsurprisingly also discovered his ‘aboriginality’ (amazing),
having lived practically all his life in
27/05/2013: Tim bought a bush block at Jamieson and
put a caravan on it JUST after Ju-Liar announced the election. Do you suppose
he feels he will be looking for a new home, or a new ‘job’?
27/05/2013: What is the sense of our selling coal to China
(at a loss) and then importing oil @ $100/barrel: ‘Shenhua (China) has
stated that its first CTL (coal to oil) plant, a direct liquefaction facility
in the Ordos Basin, has an all-in cost of $60 per barrel and that it is very
profitable’. The same can be aid of our selling LPG to
27/05/2013: Comment reply: Actually I am arguing that we
should build our own CTL plants and bring down the excise on gas so that we can
have the advantage of cheap fuel rather than
27/05/2013: Of course, as an
alternative we could have the enormous inefficiency of ELECTRIC vehicles,
critiqued here: http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2013/05/bringing-skepticism-and-math-to-electric-vehicle-fuel-numbers.html
27/05/2013: Quote of the day: Tim
Blair: “You
can’t help but feel a little bit sorry for your average Muslim terrorist. They
go to all the trouble of blowing up children in Boston, killing US Army
personnel in Texas, detonating bars in Bali, flying jets into New York
skyscrapers and now basically removing a soldier’s head in a London street, all
in the holy name of Islam. But where’s the credit? Where’s the
respect?”
27/05/2013: MORE Moslems behaving badly. It may be
that the ‘War on Terror’ becomes the resurrection of the ‘Crusades’ or anyway a
war on Islam. Those OF that faith would do much better to condemn these awful
acts which have provoked revulsion around the world (such as the
27/05/2013: Reply to a comment: The 'War on Terror'
(or the Sixth Crusade, as I have suggested it may LATER be known as) is now in
its TWELFTH year! My comment is that Moslems need to take the lead in CONDEMNING
rather than supporting terrorism by fellow Moslems. As a contrast not many
Christians support(ed) Timothy McVeigh's bombing of the Federal Building in
Oklahoma City in 1995 even though he was an avowed fundamentalist Christian!
27/05/2013:
26/05/2013: Gays and guns: interesting take: http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2013/05/totally-awesome.html
26/05/2013: Magistrate Jacqueline Milledge showed
herself to be a worthy heir to Solomon in her treatment of the contempt of
lowlife Mohammed Issai Issaka who would not stand in court for her. In effect
she tricked him into standing OUTSIDE for her! However, I doubt we have heard
the end of this kind of shenanigans from like minded ‘religious’ bigots! My
preference would be that she had followed Solomon’s example and simply cut him
in half, but I am a barbarian!
26/05/2013: Miranda: “Now that (Leftist) bias has been
quantified, in a survey into journalists’ political leanings by the University
of the
26/05/2013: Tim Blair: 'Laurie Oakes outlines the case
against ABC privatisation: "Apart from anything else, who would buy
something that makes no money?" Well, us. We pay more than $1,000,000,000
every year for something Laurie rates as a financial zero, despite more than
eight decades of ABC prominence'!
26/05/2013:
26/05/2013: Tasmanian behaviour recorded: A man who
set up a video camera to capture paranormal activity in his kitchen instead
recorded evidence of his partner engaging in a sexual relationship with his
16-year-old son, the Supreme Court heard...
25/05/2013: The terrible murder in
26/05/2013: Reply to a comment: I think you have
failed to read my post. Islam has turned very nasty during the last @ 30 years
as eg the events in
26/05/2013: And further: I feel that you should
acquaint yourself with the Dutch politician Geert Wilders head of the party
with the largest voting bloc in the Dutch parliament so hardly a minority view
or an extremist view. We had to fight WW2 to stop fascism and Nazism which many
today see as having been very similar dangers to the Islam which now confronts
us. It would be very foolish to ignore the immense dangers this ‘new ideology
poses because of misplaced homilies about ‘racism’ or ‘fairness’. The folks who
back this evil creed are not at all sensitive to our Western Leftist
sensibilities – and they will roll over them like a panzer division rolling
over Polish cavalry. We must beware Islam; I’m sorry it has come to that too.
25/05/2013: 40 Gigs WIRELESS: this might just rescue
us once they pull out our old copper cables and leave us with not much to
replace it with. (Here at Jeeralang Junction we won’t be getting the NBN) In
rural areas a network of tight beam millimetre users could keep lots of people
operating on the internet super highway: http://www.gizmag.com/wireless-data-transmission-40-gbit/27565/
25/05/2013: If you can’t bear to be a minute without
your computer, there is ‘Google Glass’: http://www.google.com/glass/start/what-it-does/
25/05/2013: For next year’s winter hiking warmth there
is 1000 fill power down: (http://www.thegearcaster.com/the_gearcaster/2013/02/1000-fill-power-down-jackets.html) but this ‘Mirage’ jacket @$309 should keep Della warm enough this
winter: http://www.moontrail.com/mont-bell-mirage-parka.php PS: Check out the freebies ($100 worth on this jacket) at Moontrail:
they are a good company to buy hiking gear from. Tip: you may need a ‘shipito’
address to get some items sent here – or it may be cheaper)
24/05/2013: Rumour has it that Miss G and McTiernan are
now an item. Goodbye Tim. Question: Who WILL pay for all those traffic
infringements?
24/05/2013: Vertigo anyone? http://www.buzzfeed.com/peggy/these-photos-will-make-your-stomach-drop
24/05/2013: AT ‘Gasland’ fraudulent, see: http://www.examiner.com/article/fracknation-movie-buries-gasland-eco-fraud & http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2011/06/gasland-fraud.html & http://news.heartland.org/newspaper-article/2011/08/01/gasland-producer-misled-viewers-lighted-tap-water & etc. The really weird thing about Gasland nutters is that they
believe people would spend millions of good dollars sourcing valuable natural
gas (which they wish to sell for a profit) and THEN let it escape so that
people can extract it from their tap water for free in order to heat their
houses, water, cook, fuel their cars, etc!
24/05/2013: AT LAST a better 3D printed gun: http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2013/05/the-newest-3d-printed-gun-is-far-more-dangerous-for-much-cheaper/
24/05/2013: A VERY good paper underlining the benefits
of the much more modest warming now acknowledged to be much likelier the case
than the IPCC’s grim prognostications: http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/the-implications-of-lower-climate-sensitivity.aspx
23/05/2013: The IPCC fraud: http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/monckton_hadcrut4_98month_graphic.png?w=640&h=330
23/05/2013: Fair comment: ‘
23/05/2013: Thanks to Dee Sergeant, a truly horrifying
photo of Afghan men and their BRIDES. The abuse of women and children in this
‘culture’ (and also in ‘traditional’ aboriginal ‘culture’ – as I wrote about
last week) means to me that we must annihilate these cultures, NOT give in to
them - as in the disgraceful case of Mohammed Issai Issaka in
23/05/2013: Oklahoma City RESURRECTIONS: this morning
30 people have come back from the dead after the tornado disaster there. I
noticed the same thing happened in West,
22/05/2013: Sure IS getting warmer? http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/05/20/nenana-ice-classic-sets-new-record-for-latest-ice-out-and-the-record-is-still-growing/
22/05/2013: Quote of the Week: “The influence of
mankind on climate is trivially true and numerically insignificant.” Richard
Lindzen
21/05/2013: BULLSHIT! How dare the arrogant bastard?
Hope she throws the book at the dick head. Immigration ought to consider
cancelling his citizenship and deporting him too: http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/timblair/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/mo_says_no/
23/05/2013: He 'said' it was not because she was a
woman. She replied that she had been a magistrate at
21/05/2013: Watched ‘Jack Reacher’ last night. Recommended.
Good modern remake of ‘Pale Rider’.
21/05/2013: Dreadful mismatch between journalists and
the public: http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/timblair/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/journalism_vs_australia/
20/05/2013: STUPID award winner shot: http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2013/05/burglars-lock-home-owner-in-closet-where-he-keeps-his-guns-one-injured-video/
20/05/2013: These two young people make some
astonishing hiking equipment, including fully functioning packs (http://www.zpacks.com/backpacks/blast.shtml) from 255 grams (Della & I both walked across Tasmania carrying one
of these), This 2 person ‘tent’ (http://www.zpacks.com/shelter/hexamid_plus.shtml) from 133 grams, this double groundsheet/poncho combo (http://www.zpacks.com/accessories/groundsheet_poncho.shtml) from 173 grams, a sub zero sleeping bag (http://www.zpacks.com/quilts/sleepingbag.shtml) from 376 grams and a breathable raincoat (http://www.zpacks.com/accessories/wpb_jacket.shtml) from 127 grams. Astonishing that they can get pack 255 + tent
133 + raincoat 173 + sleeping bag 376 to under one kilogram (937 grams)! For
most hikers EACH of these items would weigh over one kilo! Joe’s latest ‘dry back’
pack (http://www.zpacks.com/backpacks/arc_blast.shtml) @ 440 grams is definitely on my wish list. Also GREAT people to deal
with.
20/05/2013: Hummingbirds. Something
19/05/2013: Food for thought, inter-glacials: ‘It's a fact
that the earth, right now, is about as cold as it has ever been in the past
half-billion years…the Eemian Interglacial… lasted around 15,000 years, beginning
about 130,000 years ago…The Hippopotamus was distributed as far north as the
rivers Rhine and Thames…Trees grew as far north as southern Baffin Island in
the Canadian Arctic Archipelago instead of only as far north as Kuujjuaq in
northern Quebec, and the prairie-forest boundary in the Great Plains of the
United States lay further west — near Lubbock, Texas, instead of near Dallas,
Texas, where the boundary now exists’: http://maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com/archives/21704-The-Eemian-period,-with-the-Hippos-of-Britain.html
19/05/2013: Climate models getting worse:
http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/ipcc-ar5draft-fig-1-4.gif?w=640
19/05/2013: Bess Price: ‘Within the last four months,
two more young mothers related to me were killed in Alice Springs Town Camp.
One was injured mortally in the public, in front of several families. Nobody
acted to protect her. Dozens of my female relatives have been killed this way.
Convictions usually lead to light sentences. I was told by a senior lawyer that
no jury in Alice Springs will convict an Aboriginal person for murder if the
victim is also Aboriginal and he or she is only stabbed once’. How CAN
Australian women be murdered and no-one be punished? Something MUST be done!
19/05/2013: HOW times change:
Kevin Rudd, 2007: ‘If elected, I will act on climate change
by ratifying
Tony Abbott, 2013: ‘We will abolish the carbon tax …
let me repeat: We will abolish the carbon tax’.
19/05/2013: Palestinian KFC. FAR too expensive. Will the
suffering never end? http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/16/world/middleeast/tunneling-kfc-to-gazans-craving-the-world-outside.html?hp&_r=1&
18/05/2013: A SKYWHALE competition. What a great idea!
Also something we can do with all those spare condoms:
http://the-riotact.com/johnboy-crowned-skywhale-king-at-in-canberra-tonight/104384
18/05/2013: Aboriginal MP Bess
Price was stopped by the Labor party in the NT Parliament from finishing this
very important speech about the plight of aboriginal women and the conspiracy
of white aborigines of the Left. It is a must read. The situation is dreadful.
Remedy is desperately urgent: http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/bess_price_why_this_deadly_silence_when_our_women_are_dying/
18/05/2013: Take THAT, ‘Gasland’
nutters: ‘A new
study by scientists at
18/05/2013: Sex and violence in (traditional)
aboriginal ‘culture’ are so disturbing as to be (to most people) unbelievable,
yet believe it we must. This is a ‘culture’ which needs to be annihilated so
that its people can be saved for a decent life. Departments of ‘Aboriginal’
Affairs need to be abolished; so too the concept of a social group variously
styled ‘Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islanders’.
18/05/2013: We MUST listen to Don & Gina and
reform ourselves before it is too late and we become another
17/05/2013: MORE crocodile tears from the awful lizard
woman: THE EPITOME OF MOTHERHOOD! Does ANYONE believe she cares about anything
other than herself? You would have to BE a retard yourself to believe her! If
she had an iota of love for her country she would GO NOW! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNgEz-XR9oU&feature=player_embedded
17/05/2013: The author of a major review of counter-terrorism
laws, Anthony Whealy QC : ‘Authorities suspect up to 200
Australian dual citizens may be participating in the fight against the regime
of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Many are thought to be fighting with the
al-Qa’ida-linked al-Nusra Front. Four Australians have died in the current
conflict. Authorities fear the men, most of whom are dual Lebanese-Australian
citizens, will return more deeply radicalised and equipped with the training
and experience to do serious harm to the community’. These people ARE Australian
citizens? Long past time to CANCEL THEIR CITIZENSHIP!
17/05/2013: Quote of the week: US Vice Pres Joe Biden:
‘If we had guns
that shot chocolate, not only would our country be safer, it would be happier.’
With leaders like this, the world sure is a safer place!
17/05/2013: Having hit out at Islam and Christianity
as being essentially evil, you should not think I will spare Buddhism: Pol Pot
was a Buddhist. So have been lots of other similar monsters. The jungles of
17/05/2013: Sex and violence in (traditional)
aboriginal ‘culture’ are so disturbing as to be (to most people) unbelievable,
yet believe it we must. This is a ‘culture’ which needs to be annihilated so
that its people can be saved for a decent life. Departments of ‘Aboriginal’
Affairs need to be abolished; so too the concept of a social group variously
styled ‘Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islanders’.
16/05/2013: DISABILITY AFFIRMATIVE ACTION: THIS is not a joke: ‘Can websites be
forced to change to accommodate the disabled — by using “simpler language” to
appeal to the “intellectually disabled or by making them accessible to the
blind and deaf at considerable expense?’ Obama is actually doing this with the
ADA (American with Disabilities Act) This reminds me so much of Kurt Vonnegut’s
story ‘Harrison Bergeron’ in which at age fourteen, Harrison is a physical
specimen: seven feet tall, immensely strong, and extremely handsome. The
government does everything in its power to squelch Harrison, forcing him to
wear huge earphones to distort his thinking, glasses to damage his sight and
give him headaches, three hundred pounds of metal to weigh him down, a
ridiculous nose, and black caps for his teeth (Read it here: http://www.wordfight.org/bnw/bnw-unit_packet.pdf):
http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2013/05/well-at-least-tmz-will-be-ok.html
16/05/2013: A dreadful crisis: ‘Latest
Productivity Commission figures show that after age-standardisation, just under
one in 50 Indigenes to be in gaol. That is 13.6 times the non-Indigenous rate.
From 2000-10, the rate of Indigenes in prison rose 51% to nearly one in 50
(1891 per 100,000), while rates for non-Indigenes remained steady. In WA the
per capita rate rocketed to about one in 25 in custody, about 24 times the rate
for non-Indigenes. From 2000-10, Indigenous males in custody rose 55% and
females, 47%. They now comprise a quarter of Australian prisoners. In 2008,
over 40 percent of all Indigenous men in
16/05/2013: Tony Thomas: ‘Sexually mutilated infants,
toddlers raped, children sodomised, women so badly beaten they come to envy
dogs. Stripped of cant and buck-passing, beyond a patronising and indulgent
judiciary, remote Indigenous communities are being eaten alive by the cancers
of grog, misogny and endemic violence.’ The incidents in this article are so
shocking I had trouble even reading about them. What life must be like for the
indigenous women and children who have to suffer such horrors is unimaginable.
We MUST put an end to this. I think forced assimilation is the ONLY solution
which has ANY chance of working. I mean, ‘NT politician Bess Price told
the Parliament that gaol was safer for young people because there was no
alcohol, three meals a day, the company of family members and language groups,
and a healthier environment’: http://www.quadrant.org.au/blogs/bennelong-papers/2013/05/when-the-horrific-is-mundane-part-iv
16/05/2013: ‘Syrian rebel cuts out soldier's heart,
eats it’: I did not watch this video either, but the headline at least gets the
message across. You may have also noticed how unpleasantly things are going in
16/05/2013: ‘World grain harvest up 7%. ’This is JUST
the sort of thing ‘global warming’ brings about; rather better I think than
reading about billions of folks starving as the world cools into the next Ice
Age: http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/bloomberg_corn.png
16/05/2013: So, Kermit Gosnell may receive the DEATH
sentence (something he has handed out overmuch himself I think). Good. It also
amazes me that there are feminists who SUPPORT the abortion of late term
(20+weeks) FEMALE babies performed on the single basis of sex selection!
Frankly I find this issue shocking, and not much removed from infanticide. It
seems to me that there are thousands of parents desperate to adopt, and that
many of them would PAY to adopt these babies which would otherwise be aborted -
making it a zero cost option (particularly for the baby) all around. It would
have the added advantage that the baby would eventually grow up to be a
taxpayer who might be expected to pay to support (at least via the tax system)
BOTH its mothers! Some interesting thoughts from Miranda here: http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/mirandadevine/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/the_reality_of_abortion_is_exposed/
15/05/2013: Quote of the day: Professor Sinclair
Davidson: ‘How
is that sledgehammer to revenue going?’ http://catallaxyfiles.com/files/2013/05/Swan-Budget-2013-3.jpg
15/05/2013: Only THREE weeks ago Ju-Liar said she was
missing $12 billion dollars. Now the Black Swann admits $19.4 billion is
missing. So they have ‘lost’ $7.4 billion MORE in JUST three weeks! You cannot
TRUST these people with money – or anything else. ‘Begone vile hag’!
15/05/2013: I had forgotten about THIS $7 billion too
though: http://joannenova.com.au/2013/05/australia-cuts-foreign-aid-but-sends-7b-to-starving-european-politicians/
15/05/2013: So, we are to have a referendum on Local
Government: not whether to abolish it as you might surmise but whether to
petrify it like a giant albatross around our necks forever. It will come as no
surprise to you that I have ever favoured LESS or NO government, but I doubt
personal experiences of Government produce worse exemplars of sheer bastardry
and intrusive busybodiness than the local kind. A referendum to abolish it is
always in order. Our constitution contains pretty much NO provisions to protect
us from Government or to guarantee our rights - which Government may not interfere
with or take away. A referendum to LIMIT government and install such rights (eg
such as free speech or the right to bear arms in the
15/05/2013: So great is the disadvantage in being
identified as ‘being aboriginal’ the population of those so identifying increased
by 90,000 between 2006-2011!
15/05/2013: A WELL DONE Adam Giles. The new Chief
Minister of the Northern Territory is AT LAST going to do something to SAVE a
generation of aboriginal children growing up in horrific conditions EVEN IF it
means adopting them out to white parents: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/national/nt-chief-minister-adam-giles-says-fears-over-stolen-generation-are-causing-child-neglect/story-fncynkc6-1226641498953
15/05/2013: The elephant in the darkroom. I have
mentioned this book before John Nicol, Mariner: Life and Adventures 1776-1801,
15/05/2013: Meet EARL: nice that electronics
manufacturers are giving some thought to there you might want to use your
tablet; Earl is specifically designed for hikers and backpackers and is
waterproof. Definitely worth a look: http://www.meetearl.com/#features
15/05/2013: The Wondrous Skywhale: your taxes at work
folks. Strange Swannie couldn’t see trimming this as a possibly save from
budget deficits. Cost $334,000 yet we don’t even own it! http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/timblair/index.php/dailytelegraph/this_is_canberra/
14/05/2013: The unbuilt, unfunded NBN (which will cost
at least $90 billion) has just been gazumped by Samsung’s new 5G network. Is
there ANY doubt most folks will prefer a mobile network with speeds of tens of
gigabits per second? The NBN DINOSAUR: THIS is what comes from betting all your
money on yesterday’s technology. http://appleinsider.com/articles/13/05/13/samsung-testing-5g-wireless-technology-that-can-download-entire-movies-in-seconds
14/05/2013: Masochism is ubiquitous in one guise or
another: I may have no yen to try ultra-marathons (or any other kind) but for
some reason I have been beating myself up by drinking awful Nescafe coffee for
ages until Della bought some beautiful Moccona for me yesterday – changed me
instantly from a masochist to a sybarite!
14/05/2013: Mother’s Day: many lovely gifts showered on our
very deserving Della – and a fine family repast including the locally famous
‘Della’s Dip’, Steve’s ‘Pasta Fagioli’ Garlic Bread & and an excellent
fruit salad with ice cream and cream followed up by Lindt’s new caramel balls.
We will need to move a little closer to that marathoning mentioned earlier to
work that lot off.
14/05/2013: If you REALLY want to know how EVIL the
Bible is (eg how it advocates incest, rape, murder etc) have a look at the
following website: http://www.evilbible.com/ & this: http://advocatusatheist.blogspot.com.au/2009/11/imperfect-and-immoral-teachings-of.html
14/05/2013:
Quote of the day: Bertrand Russell: ‘The whole conception of a God is a
conception derived from the ancient oriental despotisms. It is a conception
quite unworthy of free men. When you hear people in church debasing themselves
and saying that they are miserable sinners, and all the rest of it, it seems
contemptible and not worthy of self-respecting human beings. We ought to stand
up and look the world frankly in the face. We ought to make the best we can of
the world, and if it is not so good as we wish, after all it will still be
better than what these others have made of it in all these ages. A good world
needs knowledge, kindliness, and courage; it does not need a regretful
hankering after the past or a fettering of the free intelligence by the words
uttered long ago by ignorant men. It needs a fearless outlook and a free
intelligence. It needs hope for the future, not looking back all the time
toward a past that is dead, which we trust will be far surpassed by the future
that our intelligence can create.’ ‘Why I Am Not a Christian’: http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/jksadegh/A%20Good%20Atheist%20Secularist%20Skeptical%20Book%20Collection/Why%20I%20am%20Not%20a%20Christian%20-%20Bertrand%20Russell.pdf
14/05/2013: Of course, if you
think only Islam is/was extremist, try to remember the evil that was done in
this man’s name (JESUS - with teachings like THIS): ‘He
who is not with me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters…Whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven him neither in this
world nor in the world to come…Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye
escape the damnation of hell…The Son of Man shall send forth His angels, and
they shall gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and them which do
iniquity, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire; there shall be wailing
and gnashing of teeth…Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting
fire…If thy hand offend thee, cut it off; it is better for thee to enter into
life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never
shall be quenched, where the worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched…If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and
wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he
cannot be my disciple…Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone
who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life…Do you suppose
that I came to grant peace on earth? I tell you, no, but rather division…For
there are eunuchs, that were so born from their mother's womb: and there are
eunuchs, that were made eunuchs by men: and there are eunuchs, that made
themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. He that is able to receive
it, let him receive it…’& etc ad nauseum. Charming fellow. AND remember what his approach was to
Gadarine swine and fig trees (not to mention money lenders!) THIS essay by
Bertrand Russell ought almost to be compulsory reading. Anyway, give it a try: http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/jksadegh/A%20Good%20Atheist%20Secularist%20Skeptical%20Book%20Collection/Why%20I%20am%20Not%20a%20Christian%20-%20Bertrand%20Russell.pdf
13/05/2013: Glowing plants (eg to replace street lights). I
think this is a really cool idea and would like some seeds. Della would
definitely want the glowing rose, I’m sure. Of course there will be many
leftist nutjobs who oppose all genetic modification (no doubt even if it saves
their own life – well, duh!) who will be horrified at the idea, but ‘Go suck!’
guys: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/antonyevans/glowing-plants-natural-lighting-with-no-electricit
13/05/2013: Is THIS the beginning of the next ice age
in
13/05/2013: Professor Bunyip certainly has a point:
something went BADLY wrong. Somehow we went from orderly migration and
assimilation as in the first film to those preaching jihad and suicide bombing
in the second: http://bunyipitude.blogspot.com.au/2013/05/something-went-wrong_9.html
13/05/2013: Two important
facts emerge from yesterday’s post about ice cores: 1. If ice core depth is a
good inverse correlation with CO2 percentage it ought to be possible to convert
the data to arrive at the real concentration. If we accept for example that the
25,000 German measurements in the 1930s of concentrations of 439.5ppm are taken
as correct but the depth where it is found shows a concentration of X, this
gives us a multiplier. I suspect this methodology will produce a very different
history of the concentration of CO2 than the AGW hypothesis propounds; and 2.
We will almost certainly arrive at the conclusion that the CO2 percentage is
entirely dependent on temperature – and not the other way around. Confusing
cause and effect is a common logical fallacy…
13/05/2013: VW Kombi Van 2013 update: this baby is not
just for aging hippies: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2322023/Just-vantastic-Head-turning-campervan-opens-reveal-secret-compartment-flick-switch.html
12/05/2013: 'SlipperyPete' in
& out of Clive Palmer's UAP in 24 hours: what a farce!
12/05/2013: CO2
concentrations. Read THIS VERY carefully. (This guy was a renowned expert on
ice & glaciation) : Ice cores: 'These data show a clear inverse correlation
between the decreasing CO2 concentrations, and the load-pressure increasing
with depth. The problem with Siple data (and with other shallow cores) is that
the CO2 concentration found in pre-industrial ice from a depth of 68
meters...was "too high". This ice
was deposited in 1890 AD, and the CO2 concentration was 328 ppm, not about 290
ppm, as needed by man-made warming hypothesis. The CO2 atmospheric concentration
of about 328 ppm was measured at
12/05/2013: 'A study of stomatal frequency in fossil leaves
from Holocene lake deposits in Denmark, showing that 9400 years ago CO2
atmospheric level was 333 ppm, and 9600 years ago 348 ppm, falsify the concept
of stabilized and low CO2 air concentration until the advent of industrial
revolution' [Wagner, F., et al., Century-scale shifts in Early Holocene
atmospheric CO2 concentration. Science, 1999. 284: p. 1971-1973]
12/05/2013: You may never have
visited this site or seen this photograph. The marks on the rocks were made at
low tide in 1841 on the `Isle of the Dead',
12/05/2013: Thermometer
Inaccuracy: You have probably read lots about this topic particularly about
poor siting, moving or maintenance of the Stevenson screens used to measure
temperature. This may have occurred at any time in the instrument record. The
BOM also claims that it ignores all data prior to c1910 saying it was before
the implementation of Stevenson screens but this is untrue as they were
installed at most major sites in the 1870s
& 80's and there is no sound reason to disregard earlier methods of data
collection as inferior anyway as the screens used beforehand were quite
adequate. The main reason they want to disregard earlier records is because
they reveal an earlier warmer period than today. There are some other reasons
for concern about Stevenson screen records: three major changes occurred
sometime in the 1980-1990 period worldwide to the screens: the paint used on
them changed from whitewash to latex; the minimax thermometers were replaced
with automatic thermometers which recorded temperature every 30 minutes, and
they were no longer opened twice a day to record the temperatures from the
minimax thermometers which obviously causes the temperature inside the boxes to
be higher. Each of these changes produced a warming bias in the records. The
three biases together produce a warming equal to the alleged warming which has
occurred during that period. Some references to these three changes are here: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2008/01/14/a-typical-day-in-the-stevenson-screen-paint-test/ & here: http://www.warwickhughes.com/blog/?p=604 & here: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/05/10/a-mean-study-of-australian-temperature/ & here: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/01/22/the-metrology-of-thermometers/ & here: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/01/22/the-metrology-of-thermometers/ & here: http://www.john-daly.com/tob/TOBSUM.HTM ...
12/05/2013: Why is it that
increasing levels of education seem to produce little more than increasing
levels of gullibility? Maybe 'educated' folks today are just falling for more
sophisticated scams than their less scholarly ancestors: newer religions
perhaps (like global warming). It seems also the case that the more time folks
spend in school the less they know. They may have more specialised knowledge
but hardly anyone seems able to do anything
else anymore. Mind you some things have conspired to be more difficult (like
fixing modern cars - hence MY retro vehicles). By the same token, I remember
when I was struggling with High School Algebra my mother helped out by
producing her primary school algebra book. Similarly my high school science
seems to be well ahead of most folks today's 'environmental science' degrees,
so maybe it's not just a mater of gullibility but also dilution. In any case I
suspect 'education' for most is a waste of time. Most universities are little
better than seminaries or 'make-work' schemes and we would be better off
abolishing them and replacing them with a more thoroughgoing practical
education. Most education in
12/05/2013: Constant improvement: it has become SO
much easier to win the lottery these days. Once I had at least to BUY a ticket
to win say, $10. Now I am woken at 3:00am by phone messages saying I have won
$2 million without even having to buy a ticket! Unfortunately it HAS become
more difficult to collect your winnings…I am currently negotiating with two
companies in Nigeria and one in Bangladesh where they have SO much money they
can afford to just give it away like this. Apparently if I send them $3
million, they will send me…nothing!
11/05/2013: FRACKING, a method developed in 1947 (but
only now available to the knowledge base of Leftist nincompoops) and the
breaking of Union power are having THESE consequences in the
11/05/2013: Has the Amount of Carbon Dioxide Changed
Significantly Since the Beginning of the Twentieth Century? Giles Slocum
Monthly Weather Review October 1955
http://docs.lib.noaa.gov/rescue/mwr/083/mwr-083-10-0225.pdf
11/05/2013: 400ppm today. Big News. Nearly as high as
in the 1940’s when I was born according to direct measurements of CO2 taken
over the years (over 100,000 direct measurements taken since c1830 totally
ignored by the ‘warmists’) reveal the episodic nature of CO2 percentages
varying up and down as the oceans alternatively cool or warm just because cold
water holds more CO2 than warm water as anyone knows who has put a glass of
soft drink in the fridge. The AGW industry has discarded these records, instead
substituting an ice core analogue of CO2 percentages prior to c1960. Problem
with the ice cores is that CO2 is crushed out of the ice as the weight (and
depth) of the ice increases so that the further you appear to go back in time
the lower the percentage seems to be. It is not a good analogue anyway, as you
can see by measuring the CO2 in last year’s snow which doesn’t contain similar
percentages as were present in last year’s air. Some reading on these issues
here: http://docs.lib.noaa.gov/rescue/mwr/083/mwr-083-10-0225.pdf
& http://www.warwickhughes.com/icecore/
11/05/2013: Ron Boswell notes that just when OUR
manufacturers are being driven offshore and cutting jobs, in the USA major
companies are bringing their jobs BACK from China (largely because of falling
energy costs) ie the reverse of how Labor is closing down our economy with
astronomic energy costs. We need to CLOSE DOWN LABOR AND THE GREENS: http://joannenova.com.au/2013/05/big-government-incantation-creates-the-energy-black-hole-and-drives-off-businesses/
08/05/2013: Quote of the day: Graham Richardson: 'In May
last year the budget predicted 5400 asylum-seekers this financial year. That
number was revised to 12,190 in February. So far this (financial) year, more
than 20,000 have arrived...There is so little credibility for the government to
stand on that no one is bothering to listen… September can’t come soon enough.
The election will see carnage on a scale not seen in most slaughterhouses.'
(With friends like this, who needs enemies?)
08/05/2013: The SUPERCAT: This is a VERY useful hiking
stove you can make with a paper punch from Officeworks and some empty cat food
cans. I have found that there are two sizes and that one fits snugly inside the
other (and both inside your cup and inside your billy) so that you can have one
for simply boiling and one for simmering. I have also discovered that an esbit
burns so slowly in the double holed model that you can bake in your billy on
top of it if you make a holey platform with legs out of aluminium flashing
which fits inside your billy and suspends (eg the damper) to be cooked
about an inch above the bottom of the billy. A windscreen of the same material
is also a good idea (and also fits inside your billy):
http://jwbasecamp.com/Articles/SuperCat/
08/05/2013: More troughs: The Clean Energy Finance
Corporation (CEFC) is not due to start until July 1st this year but dozens of
contracts have already been drawn up and ready to sign on the commencement
date. It will offer up to $2 billion each year from 2013, for five years.
Jillian Broadbent, Chair of CEFC, has mailed out hundreds of request for
submissions from oddball greens with aspirational ideas to rid
08/05/2013: The NEXT ‘marriage equality’: cousin
marriage and all the horrors that it brings…Cultural relativism IS SUCH an
EVIL;
07/05/2013: I really liked this very apt header on
06/05/2013: You will remember how the Government cut
back on funding for medical research in the last budget, preferring to spend
the money on illegal immigrants, global warming, etc. What a disastrous mistake
that is. We could be world leaders in all sorts of medical breakthroughs, like
these ones: http://joannenova.com.au/2013/05/human-body-parts-made-to-order-real-science-we-could-be-doing-more-of/
07/05/2013: There has been NO WARMING since AT LEAST
1997. If this continues for two more years every kid graduating high school
will have experienced no warming during their entire lives despite having been
preached to about it by Leftist teachers all that time. We can therefore EXPECT
that the mismatch between what this generation has been taught and what they
have experienced will produce the most sceptical generation ever! AND the
Russians predict (on the basis of sun spots) that it will CONTINUE getting
colder: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/04/29/russian-scientists-say-period-of-global-cooling-ahead-due-to-changes-in-the-sun/
07/05/2013: And if this study proves to be definitive
the whole CO2 scam goes away and we should be preparing for things to be a
little cooler. Maybe time to brush up on those old knitting needles: http://joannenova.com.au/2013/05/fourier-analysis-reveals-six-natural-cycles-no-man-made-effect-predicts-cooling/
07/05/2013: Now WHY do you think he wants a stronger
military than
06/05/2013: Apparently time stands still in the
vicinity of a Black Hole. Interestingly Ju-Liar and her evil crew are leaving
us with many huge budgetary black holes which will make time stand still for
most of us for MANY years to come as we struggle to pay them off: as temporal
‘black holes’ they also have an uncanny resemblance to the many 1950’s
socialist black holes practiced in many countries (eg Britain), but fortunately
NOT in Oz, (We had a Menzies – if ONLY there was another!)
06/05/2013: The ‘new’ conservative party in the
05/05/2013: If you consider us well defended, please
tell me how many operational tanks we have (Clue: Is it more than 50?) and how
many operational submarines (Clue: Is it more than ONE?), and how long will it
be before we HAVE a submarine fleet again (Clue; Is it before 2030?) Do we
spend more on Defence than welfare? (Clue: we are set to spend more on
disability ALONE than Defence). What percentage of GDP is it? (Clue is it more
than 1%?) Remember
05/05/2013: Notice how under Howard the Australian
Government got by with about 17 cents out of your EVERY dollar, but Ms Gillard
NEEDS @ 26 cents out of your every dollar ie 9 cents more or an increase of
OVER 50%. STILL she cries poor, and begs for MORE MONEY! http://michaelsmithnews.typepad.com/.a/6a0177444b0c2e970d01901bc58c03970b-pi
05/05/2013: Labor budgeted $1.1bn in the 2012/13
budget for processing asylum seekers on the assumption we would get 450
arrivals per month. That works out at a cost of $203,704 per person in Labor's
cost estimates. The Australian Council of Social Services calculated the cost
of processing each asylum seeker in detention on
05/05/2013: Just those 1049 people last week cost
$188.8 million JUST to process. The reason they are coming in such numbers is
that most ARE allowed to stay (as compared with none when they come illegally)
which is what the situation should be. These people are 'jumping the queue,'
pushing aside folk who are doing the right thing - and sucking up enormous
amounts of cash. We are NOT getting to choose WHO they are; some WILL be
terrorists. Despite increasing intelligence eventually some will get through
the net and wreak some dreadful event (such as in
05/05/2013: I think negative comparisons with Howard's
success in stemming illegal immigration is wildly wrong: when Rudd was elected
there were four people in detention! Labor has lost control of our borders to
the extent we will almost certainly have to scrap the refugee detention and
automatically return ALL illegals to their port of embarkation without
processing and go to a complete place of origin application and processing to
get control of the situation again. Some innocent will suffer but we cannot go
on as we have been doing.
05/05/2013: Of course it has not been just Labor which
has weakened our Defence: Remember when Howard (as a response to
04/05/2013: One boat, 184 people, $180,000 cost to you
to process each - that's $33,120,000 you weren't expecting. The 1049 which
arrived last week will cost $188.8 MILLION JUST to process. Once you add in
that migrants from some (20+) countries have 90% + welfare dependency still
after five years here (You MAY be able to GUESS which ones) IS IT ANY WONDER
THE COUNTRY IS GOING BROKE?
04/05/2013: Illegal boat people arrivals LAST WEEK
1049. This would translate to 54,548 annually. Not so long ago TOTAL refugee
intake was set at 13,000, subsequently pushed up be Ju-Liar to nearer 20,000.
NOW we are nearly 200% over target just counting boat arrivals. Most of these
people also have far too high a potential as terrorists given the very high
percentage of them who are Afghan army deserters or ex Tamil Tigers. This
Government has seriously lost control of our borders. As well they have now
taken Defence spending DOWN another notch. Doesn't make me feel very safe in
04/05/2013: The retro crowd (and those who like
jaffles) will LOVE this: http://www.breville.com.au/the-original-74tm.html
04/05/2013: Quote of the day: Iowahawk summarises: ‘So
the Tsarnaevs came on a refugee visa, collected $100k, went back home for
vacation, then blew up 260 Americans.’
04/05/2013: If
you suddenly suffer from a plague of PIGS, do you a. build a bigger trough? Or
b. cull some pigs? I have been looking at the NDIS eligibility criteria (below)
as it seems likely that there will be huge cost blowouts as it is massively
rorted (as the Government ADMITS is the current disability pension). I
can see that both Della and myself could argue that we were (multiply) eligible
– should we wish to apply, and supposing we suddenly suffered from such a
shortfall of personal pride as no longer to WANT to look after ourselves.
Clearly a huge industry of advocates, assessors, shysters, bludgers etc will be
needed to administer this grandiose scheme who will (if they can) leave as
little for the genuinely needy as they possibly can.
‘5.1 The Act sets out when a person meets the
disability requirements. The requirements are met if:
(a) the person has a disability that is attributable
to one or more intellectual, cognitive, neurological, sensory or physical
impairments, or to one or more impairments attributable to a psychiatric
condition; and
(b) the person’s impairment or impairments are, or are
likely to be, permanent; and
(c) the impairment or impairments result in
substantially reduced functional capacity to undertake, or psycho social
functioning in undertaking, one or more of the following activities:
communication, social interaction, learning, mobility, self-care,
self-management; and
(d) the impairment or impairments affect the
person’s capacity for social and economic participation; and
(e) the person’s support needs in relation to his or
her impairment or impairments are likely to continue for the person’s
lifetime’: http://yoursay.ndis.gov.au/document/show/27
03/05/2013: The NDIS deal is very like Latham’s
stampeding the pollies into changing their super scheme (back when) ie so close
to an election they couldn’t afford to make it an issue - whatever the merits.
In the previous case the pols rewarded themselves in all sorts of OTHER ways so
NOTHING was saved; it also gave them the excuse to raid and rob everyone else’s
super, so a no-win there. In the present case, the huge elephant in the room is
that the current Government has drastically overspent and it will have to be
reined in hugely (and it will be). Even if more IS spent on the ‘disabled’ THEY
will not benefit ONE JOT: watch and see. All sorts of other smart arses will
grab the money and run. As an addendum, I can’t see how anyone can think it is
sensible policy to spend MORE on the disabled than on DEFENCE (Yes, this is
what is proposed!) If you do, there will BE nothing to defend in the long run –
and it is unlikely in the extreme that our new masters (the Indonesians or
Chinese for example) will spend ANY money on OUR ‘disabled’, particularly that
huge cohort of them which (even Centrelink!) accepts COULD work! Maybe they
will (at least) institute the sensible cost saving (for disability AND aged
care for example) of allowing those who do not WANT to live the ‘right to die.’
Of course, there are many others who (morally) ought not to have been ‘saved’
from whatever awful ‘accident’ or etc caused their disability so they must live
such a life as they do. For MYSELF AND MY LOVED ONES I would want myself and
them put to death swiftly and painlessly rather than live such a life as we are
NOW contemplating spending (Yes, COUNTLESS) billions ‘supporting’ for these
poor wretches! It is just NOT humane to enforce such shocking lives on anyone.
Sorry.
02/05/2013: The mooted levy of 0.5 per cent ( a 33%
INCREASE) would raise $3.2 billion. The Australian
Government Actuary: ‘The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) will cost
Australian taxpayers around $22 billion a year (gross) and $10.5 billion (net)
in its first full year of operation.’ That is 7 TIMES the amount raised by the
levy, leaving a shortfall of @ $19 billion pa! Total tax revenue last financial
year: $317 billion. Total tax revenue now expected: $340 billion. Percentage
increase in tax revenue over past year: 7 per cent. Increase in dollar
terms $23 billion ie enough to finance ALL THE COST of the NDIS!
03/05/2013: Seriously SAD ADVICE: ‘If warming is a bad
thing, then you should drink less beer and release less CO2’:
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/05/01/beer-crisis-could-trigger-ice-age/#more-85391
02/05/2013: THREE large illegal immigrant boats
together carrying almost 250 people arrived in
02/05/2013: Ju-Liar is set to further gut Defence
spending (already at its lowest level since the depths of the Great depression
in 1934 – a disastrous level THEN which came very close to Australia becoming a
colony of JAPAN) in the up-coming budget in order to ‘fund’ her wish list of
warm fuzzies such as Gonski, the NDIS, etc. But Government revenues for the
year are already UP 7% or OVER $20 billion. With this sort of increase in
income, you ought to be able to fund Defence INCREASES as well as some of your
warm and fuzzies. Where DOES all the money GO Ju-Liar? Your Government is
already spending over $100 billion a year MORE than the average of the
Howard-Costello Years (nearly 40% more PER YEAR). We already have the
ridiculous spectacle of spending per aged or per aborigine at over $100,000 per
person yet probably less than $10,000 actually GOING to the people concerned.
It is mostly swallowed up by the inflated salaries of your left wing public
servants and party apparatchiks. It will be the same outcome with Gonski AND
the NDIS: the folks who NEED the money will get BUGGERALL of it! Living
next door to the largest Moslem nation on earth AND with an aggressively
expansionist
02/05/2013: The REAL
Ju-Liar: “I have in the past ruled out a levy and I will do it again now,” said
Gillard in December about funding the NDIS. With Government revenue UP 7% for
this year, you might think they would be able to budget - AS WE ALL DO! But
they just BORROW more money and SPEND, SPEND, SPEND – as if the end of the
world was just around the corner: ‘Don’t cry for me,
02/05/2013: Now HERE is a
GREAT idea: Lifesystems’ Thermal Jacket. I bought some at Bogong in Little Bourke
St yesterday. Here is a fetching photo of me modelling one. It MAY never catch
on as chic apparel but WILL no doubt have a place at fancy dress parties &
etc. BUT what a great idea for a day hike or the footie: http://www.lifesystems.co.uk/products/outdoor-survival/thermal-jacket.html I think their ‘Survival Shelters’ are a great idea too.
Many more people should be carrying them: also great for demonstrations and
parties: http://www.lifesystems.co.uk/products/outdoor-survival/4-person-survival-shelter.html
01/05/2013: Yes, I REMEMBER THIS as if it were yesterday:
when ‘gays’ openly criticised and ridiculed marriage. Now, suddenly they want
IN, but their almost universal licentious behaviour WITHIN that sacrament
indicates they simultaneously want OUT. Caligula famously married his horse or
his sister. Solomon was reputed to have a THOUSAND ‘wives’ (I LIKE women, BUT:
‘Rather him than me’!) How long will it be before these new ‘rights’ are
demanded in the name of ‘marriage equality’? The very demand is a monstrous
LIE: 100% infidelity after a mere FIVE years is hardly what I would describe as
marriage!
http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/yearning_for_the_marriage_many_once_attacked/
01/05/2013: I just LOVE these Government ACRONYMS. One
I heard yesterday on the way down to
01/05/2013: AND remember, OVER A THIRD of the cost of
any such scheme will be ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS: http://pickeringpost.com/article/dont-disappoint-the-disabled-julia/1274
01/05/2013: I KNOW this will cause offence, but here
goes anyway: Quote of the day: Australian Government Actuary: ‘The National
Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) will cost Australian taxpayers around $22
billion a year (gross) and $10.5 billion (net) in its first full year of
operation.’ (SEVEN TIMES the figure currently being bandied about!) This Figure
would require a 3.5% tax levy to fully fund. I suspect it will blow out MUCH
more than this as has every other ‘trough’ scheme the Government has ever
implemented. Aside from its ‘motherhood’ value, I am yet to understand WHY or
WHETHER we need such a scheme at all (I felt –and still feel – the same about
paid parental leave, child care, unemployment ‘benefits’, & etc ad
infinitum). It seems strange to me that the pollies who are eagerly advocating
the NDIS are still opposed to euthanasia which might at least allow SOME of its
potential UNWILLING recipients to voluntarily remove themselves from its
excessive costs. WHY are all the new ‘rights’ ECONOMIC rights which have to be
paid for BY SOMEONE ELSE, unlike the ‘old’ rights such as the right to work,
vote, assemble, believe…or the right to own private property?
01/05/2013: No WONDER women are worried about ‘global
warming’: http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/house/296679-dems-warn-climate-change-could-drive-women-to-transactional-sex,
but they need not be, as the Russians think it will be very much cooler for the
next couple of centuries: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/04/29/russian-scientists-say-period-of-global-cooling-ahead-due-to-changes-in-the-sun/
30/04/2013: Good news: two new series (7 & 8) of
‘Foyle’s War’ are available on Kickass Torrents AND Series 6 AND 7 of George
Gently are coming soon…
30/04/2013: Tim Blair: ‘When Levin continued,
weakly claiming that an anti-Muslim musical could be presented on Broadway
without subsequent deadly mayhem, in the manner of The Book of Mormon, Maher
asked: “Tell me what colour the sky is in your world.” Good question’... It’s
now 14 days since the Boston Marathon was bombed by Islamic extremists, 406
days since an Islamic extremist shot Jewish children in France, 1171 days since
Islamic extremists bombed Pune in India, 1270 days since an Islamic extremist
murdered 13 people in Fort Hood, Texas, 1615 days since Islamic extremists
launched an assault on Mumbai that killed 164 citizens, 2853 days since Islamic
suicide bombers slaughtered 52 commuters in London, 3336 days since 191 were
blown apart by Islamic extremists in Madrid, Spain, 3852 days since Islamic
extremists killed 202 people including 88 Australians in Bali and 4248 days
since nearly 3000 died in the Islamic extremist attacks on the World Trade Center
and the Pentagon’... Read more: http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/timblair/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/patterns_emerge/
30/04/2013: A tense day
waiting to see Della’s eye specialist for an evaluation of the success of her
recent glaucoma ops…wishing her all the best. An intra-ocular pressure near or
lower than 10 will be good news. Hears hoping…
30/04/2013: A friend of mine has
a good business selling gas to the astronomically expanding chicken farming
industry: one client alone is ADDING fifty sheds of 30,000 chickens each he
tells me. My friend is having trouble supplying the gas tanks, let alone the
gas and may be able to retire sooner... Thanks to fracking for gas chicken is
becoming relatively cheaper and cheaper: there is simply no way the grazing
industry can compete with its outdated sheep and cattle. It is simply vastly
cheaper to create a kilogram of protein raising chickens. Curiously it would be
vastly cheaper still to raise a kilogram of INSECT PROTEIN. Just reviewing our
use of insects for food in my mind I could not get much beyond honey and
cochineal, yet if we cultivated maggots or mealworms for food the price of our
protein requirements would put even the chicken farmers out of business – and
THEN, there is also ‘Soylent Green’…
30/04/2013: Ju-Liar’s new
iconic Ozzie, ‘John’ must be just about the only one of us able to support both
a profoundly disabled wife and a son at an elite private school. No wonder her
advice to him (given his wages have dropped drastically) is NOT to rein in his
spending but to BORROW some more money to fund his lifestyle! How FEW of us
would actually adopt this economic illiteracy will be born out by Labor’s
polling on election day: I predict LESS than 30%.
29/04/2013: Over 3,000 illegal
immigrants in April alone!
29/04/2013: Is Governments’
monopoly of the money supply coming to an end? http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/the-bitcoin-bubble-and-birmingham-tokens.aspx
29/04/2013: Immigration
exceeds live births. Miscarriage and abortion taken together also exceed live
births. Something is definitely WRONG here. This is not a sensible population
policy!
29/04/2013: Looks like you can
forget about getting your toes wet anytime soon: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/04/26/australian-sea-level-data-highly-exaggerated-only-5-inches-by-2100/
28/04/2013: This girl sure can
skip rope: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ofOJoK-eEWo
28/04/2013: FINALLY the cops
have noticed what I pointed out months ago: that it would be EASY to prove
Ju-Liar and Ralph were on opposite sides of
28/04/2013: It is not just an
isolated Kermit Gosnell event (see post 14/04/2013). Doctors in Oz are aborting
perfectly viable babies (in this case baby GIRLS – and being paid by the
taxpayer to do so) when there are thousands of folks wanting to ADOPT them.
Meanwhile our PM apologises to the adopted who at least got a life but does not
condemn those who deny children a life. Abortion really can be too easy an
option particularly if you are waiting c20 weeks plus into the pregnancy before
you make the decision. Premature babies are routinely surviving now from about
24 weeks. Where DO you draw the line between abortion and murder? http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/couple-abort-girl-because-they-wanted-a-boy/story-e6frf7kx-1226630789932
28/04/2013: The Mining and
carbon Taxes ARE hitting Whyalla after all: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/mining-energy/arafura-scraps-1bn-whyalla-plant-as-costs-rise-rare-earths-price-falls/story-e6frg9df-1226625847192
28/04/2013: “The Bureau of Statistics population
clock tells us we'll reach a
26/04/2013: They call
him "SIR"..By the length of his beard and the grey legs, I figure he
must be over 10 years old. He looks to be well over 8 feet at the top of the
shoulder hump,and with his head up the height to the top of his antler must be
about 12 feet.This guy is king of the forest, no
bear or pack of wolves would dare come after him when he has this
rack......Considering that a dirt road can fit 1 1/2 cars across ... this
fellow is HUGE ...THIS IS ONE BIG BOY
Have been seeing browse at 11' in Fiordland. Missed
out on going this year on account of my back and level of fitness but will be
back next year.
26/04/2013: We have been
off 'stealth camping' for a few days in our trayback camper on the Defender.
Each night we have been able to chose a delightful spot in one of our National
Parks, Marine Reserves, etc where there is an icon illustrating a tent crossed
out (Well, we don't have a tent!) and another of a dog (clearly not TWO Jack
Russells such as we have with us) also crossed out. We are SUCH law-abiding folks.
We have encountered no other campers or gendarmes. We decided if officionadoes
approached us we would point to our mouths and make strange gargling noises
until they went away. I know some would say, 'What if everyone did as we are
doing?' Well, more campsites would be needed for one thing, and for another
there would be no chance of their prosecuting 'Everyone'.
26/04/2013: Quote of the
day: “Many women who do not dress modestly ... lead young men astray, corrupt
their chastity and spread adultery in society, which increases earthquakes,”
Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi was quoted as saying by Iranian media. I am
surrounded by women like THAT. What WAS that? Did the Earth move? Sure did!
23/04/2013: More Presbyterians
being ‘irritants’ in
23/04/2013: I agree Waleed Aly
needs to apologise somewhat differently for Islamic terrorists than to describe
them as ‘irritants;’ this is NOT a ‘mature’ view: http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/timblair/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/let_us_speak_maturely/
23/04/2013: Unintended
consequences: you can NOW pick up a
23/04/2013: Frankly I was
appalled that Mark Dreyfus, the Attorney General has NOW become an apologist
for THIS man (Sheikh Feiz Mohammed ) who clearly represents
the WORST results of our non-discriminatory immigration programme (even though
the Department of Foreign Affairs and trade – DFAT – warned against admitting
these people back in the 1970’s): http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/if_this_faith_causes_this_fear_lets_discuss_it/ & http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2013/04/the-sydney-morning-herald-finds-some-one-to-say-the-muslim-terrorists-in-boston-felt-left-out-thats-.html
23/04/2013: A timely warning:
'The Co-exist' Bombers', or the perils of Multi-culturalism (or perhaps
cultural relativism? Mark Steyn IS great: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/346146/%E2%80%98co-exist%E2%80%99-bombers
24/04/2013: If you are
thinking that the Government COULDN”T make any savings cast your eyes over this
‘piggies’ list of Commonwealth grants: Download
Part 3 Grants of financial assistance to persons other than a State or
Territory
24/04/2013: Pigs at the
trough? Jobs for the ‘boys’? You call it what you want, but notice this: apart
from attempting to lock a future Government into its own outrageous spending eg
by issuing inordinately lengthy contracts (eg for ‘green’ schemes) Ju-Liar is
busily rewarding a heap of her mates with their ‘just rewards’ while she still
can. It I disgusting: http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2013/04/inept-people-rewarded-by-the-labor-patronage-and-indulgence-machine.html
22/04/2013: What IS a Dyson
Sphere? Even if we could capture ALL of the energy which falls on the Earth as
sunlight, if energy demand grows at 1% pa eventually (in a 1,000-10,000 years
energy demand will outstrip what arrives from Sol. Similarly, just cooling
nuclear fusion reactions would heat the planet to the point of
uninhabitability. We MUST eventually move outwards from Terra and capture more
of the sun’s energy. Ringworld is one scenario. The other is a Dyson Sphere: a
habitat built eg at Earth orbit and which captures approx ALL the energy the
sun produces. We could LOOK for civilisations which had significantly done this
by observing the relative brightness of their suns compared to their infrared
signature. If we found one which matched we would KNOW there was an older, much
more advanced civilisation out there…
22/04/2013: Recently I opined
that SETI had likely been so far unsuccessful as aliens would be unlikely still
using primitive lightspeed radio telecommunications (mayhap NEVER had) when
quantum entanglement methods at many times the speed of light are ‘just around
the corner’ for our good selves. Another methodology which might be employed is
to search for massive alien geo or stellar technology such as ‘Dyson Spheres’
(after the world’s pre-eminent physicist Freeman Dyson), Ringworlds (Larry
Niven) and the like. I have to confess that I was reanimated in this idea by
reading Jack McDevitt’s ‘
22/04/2013: We watched a
programme the other night about
22/04/2013: It reminded me of
a project to recover ancient sounds stored on pots as they were spun on
potters’ wheels much like the process used to produce old vinyl, bakelite, wax
etc records. Unfortunately the process was far too crude and no
interesting ancient Greek conversations could be recovered from historic
amphorae etc.
22/04/2013: Scientists have
been able to dry and store ova and later fertilise them and produce viable
young in cattle. This IS a major advance. It led me to wonder whether the dusty
contents of ancient Egyptian Canopic jars might contain enough RNA from
desiccated brains to someday resurrect memory – then I remembered that the
sillies first removed the brains through the nose (with a special tool – must
get one of those!) then threw them away! The Canopic jars contained just a few
internal organs. So, pyramid worshippers, you can forget about your
immortality: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21829115.100-powder-womens-eggs-for-home-storage.html
21/04/2013: Just in case you
are thinking there is a common thread running through all these bombers, (eg
they are all YOUNG MEN) it MAY be time to remember the Atlanta bomber (and the
misidentification of who was responsible: http://www.popehat.com/2013/04/16/richard-jewell-cannot-accept-our-apology/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Popehat+%28Popehat%29 ), Timothy McVeigh (the Oklahoma City bomber), the fact
that 1970’s suicide bombing was the preserve mostly of Lebanese Christian YOUNG
WOMEN, and maybe how nearly all the C19th and early C20th bombers were
anarchists and nihilists…In singling out (exclusively) fundamentalist Moslems
we neglect other present dangers as exemplified eg in the Waco Siege and
Jonestown (no relation!) – inspirations for McVeigh! Nonetheless it IS
extremely foolhardy of our Government to be CUTTING funding to our security
services (eg ASIO) as we clearly DO have dangerous persons who merit watching,
(eg Sheikh Feiz Mohammed, a hero of the
21/04/2013: We would CHOOSE
exemplary immigrants, but the current policy brings us too many who are just
plain EVIL as THIS West Australian article points out. This is what happens
when our Government loses control of border security: http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/newshome/16811290/alert-on-criminal-boat-people/
21/04/2013: Mind you, you
COULD buy Serco shares as they have made $1.8 billion out of illegal
immigrants: http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2013/04/youre-working-and-paying-taxes-to-make-serco-great-serco-handles-australias-clients-with-care-and-sensitivity-which-dont.html
21/04/2013: Wonderful images
of Mars' weather: http://www.weather.com/news/science/space/ron-miller-mars-weather-photos-storms-20130415
20/04/2013: We can only HOPE
that the threat of terrorism IS a hoax as Ju-Liar has been busily cutting
ASIO’s budget. Talk about ‘fiddling while
20/04/2013: Incredibly there
are already conspiracy ‘theorists’ blaming the whole thing on the Government,
claiming a hoax, calling for the surviving bomber to be freed…(add your own
nonsense HERE). THIS might help such folks understand: http://thatsnonsense.com/blog/boston-marathon-bombing-hoaxes-and-conspiracy-nonsense/
20/04/2013: I LIKE this: 'Onlookers applaud first responders departing
after their successful operation to capture 19-year-old
20/04/2013: Caught: Dzhokhar
Tsarnaev, the second bomber. Well done
20/04/2013: Global
Warming causes bombers – who knew? Mad quote of the day: New York Governor Andrew Cuomo
connects the
20/04/2013: With upwards of a million
immigration applicants pending, Australia does not need to accept potential or
real FIFTH COLUMNISTS or have them force themselves on us - else (as is
currently happening at a rate of more than a thousand a week!), we face the
same potential consequences as Boston, London etc suffered. As 90% of the
world's refugees ARE Moslems it doesn't take a great deal of intelligence to
see that fundamentalists Islamists and Jihadists present a significant danger -
as do Tamil 'Tigers', and other likely terrorists. When we rejected a
'discriminatory' immigration policy such as the 'White Australia' policy is
said to have represented, it did NOT mean that we should not show some
'discernment' (also once synonymous with the word, 'discrimination') over whom
we accept as new settlers in our country. The problem we face is that if we are
unwilling to choose wisely (ie with discernment) then we must reject ALL
applicants as the risks are too great. THAT would be most unfortunate. When
DFAT identifies groups as particularly worrying (as they did with those who
came in the 1970’s after the Lebanese Civil War for example), we should be able
to say, ‘No’ accordingly without any embarrassment! If you examine the
amazingly high figures for public hangings in colonial days, you will see that
then we gave offenders one chance – or the rope, whereas today we invite and
indeed reward them for reoffending.
20/04/2013: Presbyterians #3:
the Tsarnaev brothers, ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS (OF COURSE!) from Chechnya, one shot
dead, one on the run - now identified as the Boston marathon bombers…
'A federal official said the younger brother arrived
on a tourist visa in the
'Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the 26-year-old killed in a wild
shootout with police, was a legal
This is what their FATHER has to say, 'In my opinion,
my children were set up by the secret services because they are practising
Muslims.'
'The conflict in Chechnya began in 1994 as a
separatist war, but soon becamse an Islamic insurgency whose adepts vow to
carve out an independent Islamic state…Militants from Chechnya and neighbouring
provinces have launched a long series of terror attacks in Russia, including a
2002 hostage-taking raid in a Moscow’s theatre, in which 129 hostages died, a
2004 hostage-taking in a school in Beslan that killed more than 330 people, and
bombings in Moscow and other cities.'
The suspect’s uncle is also furious, but for a
different reason: “He put shame on our family. He put shame on the entire
Chechen ethnicity. Turn yourself in!” Ruslan Tsarni told reporters from his
home in
The Australian link? In April 2012 Tamerlan was
clearly watching radical Islamist content on the internet. His YouTube channel
includes several posts by Sheikh Feiz Mohammed, an AUSTRALIAN ex-boxer, now resident
in
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001879813530
A primer of Chechnyan terrorism: http://www.cfr.org/terrorism/chechen-terrorism-russia-chechnya-separatist/p9181?cid=soc-Twitter-in-terrorism-chechnya_terrorism-041913
'Well that is one mullah's
opinion. A more popular view -- outside Lakemba, at any rate -- might be that
Australia needs to confront community leaders who drop broad hints of the
bombings to come unless their followers are granted immediate
"attention" to their issues.' http://bunyipitude.blogspot.com.au/2013/04/sheik-ka-boom.html
20/04/2013: George Lambert:
Across the Blacksoil Plains: This is what my great grandfather George Harvey
did with his life: carting wool bales from Northern NSW to port at Morpeth on
the
20/04/2013: BOTH satellite
records now show 'warming' is BELOW ALL climate models so their predictive
skill is clearly ZILCH:
http://www.drroyspencer.com/2013/04/global-warming-slowdown-the-view-from-space/
19/04/2013: Time for the
red underpants Conroy: the Japanese 'Nuro' fibre to the node is already
offering 2 gigabytes (10 TIMES faster than the NBN) at less than HALF the
monthly cost: http://pickeringpost.com/article/the-conroy-con-unravels/1207
19/04/2013: Did you
know: the second plank of the Communist Manifesto is a "heavy progressive
or graduated income tax"? As it is now nearly 100 years since this was
introduced most places (as an emergency WW1 measure, isn’t it about time we
abandoned it along with the rest of the outdated communist nonsense? http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-04-15/100-years-old-still-killing-us-america-was-much-better-income-tax
19/04/2013: People for
the Ethical Treatment of Sacred Cows (PETSC): 
19/04/2013: WHERE the money
has gone: Excellent graphics: http://catallaxyfiles.com/2013/03/28/budget-myths-and-reality/
19/04/2013: Swarthy
Presbyterians? http://www.theaustralian.com.au/in-depth/boston-bombings/photos-released-of-boston-bombing-suspects/story-fni3117f-1226624000338
18/04/2013: Quotes of the day:
George Washington: ‘Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force.
Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master…Firearms are second
only to the Constitution in importance; they are the peoples' liberty's
teeth…The marvel of all history is the patience with which men and women submit
to burdens unnecessarily laid upon them by their governments…The time is near
at hand which must determine whether Americans are to be free men or slaves…’ http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/g/george_washington.html
18/04/2013: The EU carbon
market has fallen to A$3.20/tonne and is predicted to go as low as A$1.20.
Surely this is a repeat of the
19/04/2013: Bought some more
yesterday as low as $0 .835. Hopefully that's as low as it CAN go. Last week it
had a one day rise of 15%. Here's hoping!
Comment: ‘If we applied the carbon tax to
exported carbon as well as domestically produced carbon it would be fairer. But
if, as a result, we left something in the ground, for our children and their
children, this would be a great improvement. NOT a loss.’
Steve: At $23/tonne and rising
by 3% such a measure would bankrupt
17/04/2013: I am NOT a bit
embarrassed that the majority of Aussie gals (52:48) are NOW revealed as
misogynists just like their blokes (62:38) when asked the question, ‘Would your
prefer Tony or Ju-Liar as PM?’
17/04/2013: Another
boatload of unwanted illegals has now sailed right up to Broome. Soon, they
will arrive in your lounge room without even bothering to knock on your front
door. AND it could SO easily be stopped (eg by telling the corrupt Indos: 'No
foreign aid for you unless there are NO refugees!') http://pickeringpost.com/article/abbott-can-stop-the-boats...-/1188
17/04/2013: Quote of the day: Miranda: EXACTLY: ‘Thatcher had
shaped history more forcefully and effectively than almost any man in the same
job’. AND, interestingly, under existing gender rules Maggie would never have
risen to be PM – such gender preferment is reserved for Trendy Leftie gals! http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/mirandadevine/
17/04/2013: A tip I learned
from Col Francis: don’t cut the block as you would a tomato or an orange; peel
it like an onion: ie work your way in from the outside...
16/04/2013: I for one have never understood the
West’s rampant courting of the Dragon when this investment could have gone to
pluralist, English speaking, democratic, free market
16/04/2013: The marshmallow
Wars' 'Top Gun'! Get one of these beauties for your kids folks. Imagine being
able to blast your dad from 12 metres away with sticky marshmallow: http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2013/04/enjoy-marshmallow-superiority-with-this-air-compressed-bazooka/
16/04/2013: For the dads out
there who might want to fight back, perhaps you would like to make your own
ashtray shooting repeater complete with broken beer bottle bayonet (definitely
worth a watch, very funny): http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=-xuiNLKAu9E#!
16/04/2013: Sport hating
Presbyterians have struck again (in
16/04/2013: Frankly I am
disgusted at the young rent-a-crowd most of whom were unborn when she left
office celebrating Baroness Thatcher’s death. She was perhaps, the last major
Western leader who believed she could halt and turn around the decline of the
West (and who succeeded in DOING SO! Since then the Left has promoted decline
to the hilt! Further, I doubt ANY of this crowd (or most anyone else) would
still want to live in the awful socialist union dominated ‘utopia’ she managed
to undo. For a start, there would BE no iphones to tweet their dislike her
policies; instead communication would be totally dominated by state-run
monopolies: in the UK by British Telecom and the BBC who were so moribund that
it took months to have a phone connected and the only way you could find out
what was going to be on (state owned) TV was to buy the Radio Times; so too
every other aspect of life has been improved vastly by her dismantling of state
owned monopolies and encouragement of private enterprise and (dare I say it?):
YES, FREEDOM!
15/04/2013: Oh, YES:
http://michaelsmithnews.typepad.com/.a/6a0177444b0c2e970d017c3897ed87970b-pi
15/04/2013: Quote of the week:
Tim Blair: 'AAP’s Lisa Martin asks transport minister and high-speed rail
enthusiast Anthony Albanese: Mr Albanese, by 2050, is it more likely
15/04/2013: Calloo,
Callay...Woke this morning once again to 'Bread and circuses'!
15/04/2013: INTERESTING
contradiction: 'Woodside, its joint-venture partners and the Barnett government
are “morally obliged” to pay out a $1.5 billion social benefits package
attached to the aborted plan for a gas hub north of Broome. Former head of the
Kimberley Land Council Wayne Bergmann, who was central to the deal, has
described the agreement that traditional owners signed for the James Price
Point gas hub as a once-in-a-lifetime chance to move beyond welfare and create
real jobs and opportunities for indigenous people.' Oh, I wish I had a money
tree...
15/04/2013: Julia is SURPRISED
that Labor polling is NOW at 29% and sliding - AND after again promising to
'rob peter to pay Paul'! Trouble is Jules, Peter is BROKE and sick of being
ripped off! AMAZING: '... the author of the landmark report driving the
changes, David Gonski, made a rare public statement criticising the cuts to the
higher education sector that will help fund the schools plan.'
15/04/2013: Andrew's interview
with Professor Michael Porter (Deakin) about the NBN fiasco makes interesting
reading. For example: 'So the interesting thing is that 3 million households
can already get these speeds. Why are we going to overbuild? ', 'Most of
Europe, the
14/04/2013: Good news: I am
pretty sure I have ‘cured’ my 110 Defender’s handling problems with our new
camper attached. A few more components to add this week to be sure but we
should be good for lots of safe cruising and camping. The 130 which we bought
in the belief that the 110 was not capable of the job WILL be sold. A WARNING:
late model cars such as the Land Rover TD5 with heaps of questionable
electronics are a NIGHTMARE if the electronics should give any trouble (and they
WILL!) This means that Discos and Defenders in the 1995-98 age range are GOLD
as they are (probably) the last car built which will not rust, is endlessly
repairable and is wholly mechanical and simple to work on. When we have sold
the 130 Defender we will probably buy another 110 of this vintage. This is
seriously good advice people.
14/04/2013: 'Kermit Gosnell' -
a name which WILL go down in infamy: if you thought you were OK with abortion,
this guy's crimes MAY just change your mind. There IS a line over which we will
(and ought) not step. He DID. Hard to believe: beheading live babies, snipping
off babies' feet and keeping them in jars...so many horrors. Late term abortion
IS seriously questionable - but has been legalised here in
12/04/2013: Today: Woodside
cancels $45 billion James Price Point! Shell closes
12/04/2013: WATCH this
video. It WILL bring tears AND inspiration. You MAY have to be patient and wait
about three minutes, but be prepared to be surprised: Charlotte and Jonathan: http://biertijd.com/mediaplayer/?itemid=33967
12/04/2013:
12/04/2013: In building an
internet provision system it makes the most sense a to let the private sector
do it so that it will be demand and profit driven rather than warm inner glow
and outrageous cost driven (ie it is simply wicked to FORCE people to pay
thousands of dollars one way or another for an internet which they neither want
nor need), and b. to only put in what is necessary as future developments will
almost certainly see better systems. In this regard, new types of fibre which
are tens of thousands of times faster are already proven in the laboratory as
are methods for delivering up to 2 gigabytes over copper wires, microwave and
wireless systems which are faster than the ANCIENT fibre we have been using for
the LAST fifty years (ie the NBN). Here are some examples: http://www.t3.com/news/graphene-faster-than-fibre-optic www.technologyreview.com/news/405372/faster-than-fiber/ http://jpap.org/ http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/freeabs_all.jsp?reload=true&arnumber=4251082
New fibre 15,000 times faster!
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21729104.900-information-superhighway-approaches-light-speed.html
11/04/2013: NOW they are just
sailing right up to the Australian mainland: 800 arrived last WEEK. Note this
one which arrived in Geralton was provided by Deutsche Bank as tsunami aid to
people whom the High Commission on Refugees has declared cannot qualify as
refugees. Yet we take them by the THOUSANDS. THIS is madness;
http://blogs.news.com.au/images/uploads/deduts_thumb.png
10/04/2013: Rumour has it that
the 82 year old Oz entertainer interviewed over child molestation in
10/04/2013: AT LAST the
coalition has come out with a 'sensible' broadband plan which will deliver the
speeds which people actually need for a fraction of the cost. Of course the
same result COULD have been delivered YEARS AGO at even less cost if Kev and
Jules hadn't squandered so much on the crazy NBN. I mean the max speed normal
folks will EVER use is watching ONE High Definition TV channel @ 6 megabits per
second (easily achieved with VDSL over copper). Most of us just download a
dozen movie torrents overnight with MUCH less speed than that - if we are
internet savvy at all!
10/04/2013: Last week (against
all the ‘smart’ advice) we bought a HEAP of mining stocks. (I MEAN eg Boart
Longyear were $1.09 - down from an all-time high of OVER $200!) Don’t know
whether YOU cheered as they skyrocketed yesterday, but feel free to join the
show TODAY. 25% in a week is VERY happy making! So much better than when the
bottom falls completely OUT of the market as a result of various commie
Government decisions…
10/04/2013: Lots of folks have
been posting a photo of a guy with his trophy elephant as if this is a BAD
thing: The really great thing is it only costs @ $20,000 to shoot an elephant,
money which has enormously INCREASED the elephant population as compared to
countries where it is FORBIDDEN to shoot an elephant and where numbers are
declining as a result of their 'conservationist' policies. The local people
(whose elephants they are) need a cash value put on elephants so that they will
allow them to hang around so that they profit from them being shot by rich
Westerners. Otherwise they will be shot by poor Africans who are sick of them raiding
their cassava. And YES, WHEN I have $20K of loose change I too will shoot an
elephant - and a lion, tiger, polar bear, etc - just another sub-human I guess!
10/04/2013: Our two Jack
Russells will LOVE their new Ju-Liar chew toy: http://blogs.news.com.au/images/uploads/chewlia.png
10/04/2013: Meanwhile Ju-Liar
is swanning it with her commie mates in
9/04/2013: This dog does more
in 1:09 than I have done in 63years: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=227714490704525
9/04/2013: Maggie Thatcher MUST read: 'A system of
state control can't be made good merely because it is run by "clever"
people who make the arrogant assertion that they "know best" and that
they are serving the "public interest" interest which of course is
determined by them. State control is fundamentally bad because it denies people
the power to choose and the opportunity to bear responsibility for their own
actions.' http://reason.com/archives/2013/04/08/margaret-thatcher-how-i-privatised-brita/print
9/04/2013: Vale Baroness Thatcher: the world certainly
needs more leaders like you: 'The problem with socialism is eventually you run
out of other people's money.'
8/04/2013: 800 illegal immigrants in ONE week; the NBN
to cost $94 billion; disability pensioners UP 280% & now 820,000 of whom it
is admitted 400,000 could work; welfare bill now $130 billion pa; and Defence
at its lowest level since 1934 whilst North Korea threatens WAR... Who thinks we
can afford THIS disaster?
7/04/2013: SO few Victorians left: Jeralean Talley,
born in 1899, describes the first and only time she drove a car: "I tried
that one time," in her 30s, she said. The plan was to put the car in the
garage. "I didn't hit the right one to make it go forward and it went
backwards," she said, laughing. Husband Alfred Talley, who died in the
1988, hollered at her. "I opened the door ... and got out of the
car," she said. She told him when she got ready to go somewhere in the
future, he would drive her: http://www.freep.com/article/20130403/NEWS02/304030076/Inkster-woman-113-is-world-s-oldest-person
7/04/2013: Reagan budget director David Stockman
:‘Since the S.&P. 500 first reached its current level, in March 2000, the
mad money printers at the Federal Reserve have expanded their balance sheet
sixfold (to $3.2 trillion from $500 billion). Yet during that stretch, economic
output has grown by an average of 1.7 percent a year (the slowest since the
Civil War); real business investment has crawled forward at only 0.8 percent
per year; and the payroll job count has crept up at a negligible 0.1 percent
annually. Real median family income growth has dropped 8 percent, and the
number of full-time middle class jobs, 6 percent. The real net worth of the
“bottom” 90 percent has dropped by one-fourth. The number of food stamp and
disability aid recipients has more than doubled, to 59 million, about one in
five Americans…These policies have brought
7/04/2013: Quote of the day: Harry Truman, ‘The only
thing new under the sun is the history you haven’t read.’
6/04/2013: World temperature forecasts based on solar behaviour:
‘Significant temperature drop at about 2016-17. Possible unusual cold snap
2021-22. Built in cooling trend until at least 2024. Temperature Hadsst3 moving
average anomaly 2035 - 0.15. Temperature Hadsst3 moving average anomaly 2100 –
0.5. General Conclusion – by 2100 all of the 20th century temperature rise will
have been reversed. By 2650 earth could possibly be back to the depths of the
little ice age. The effect of increasing CO2 emissions will be minor but
beneficial - they may slightly ameliorate the forecast cooling and help
maintain crop yields.Warning! There are some signs in the Livingston and
Penn Solar data that a sudden drop to the Maunder Minimum Little Ice Age
temperatures could be imminent – with a much more rapid and economically disruptive
cooling than that forecast above which may turn out to be a best case scenario’
Dr. Norman Page
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/04/02/global-cooling-methods-and-testable-decadal-predictions/
6/04/2013: An interesting exercise: match the Labor
criminal to their photo. Astonishing there are so many of them: http://pickeringpost.com/article/those-who-aspire-to-lead-us/1121
4/04/2013: It's all downhill for Jules. Save us Martin
& Simon: Morgan poll: Labor 41 per cent to 59!
3/04/2013: Quote of the
day: Tony Abbott on Tim Flannery's future as Climate Commissioner: “It does
sound like an unnecessary position given that the gentleman in question gives
us the benefit of his views without needing taxpayer funding!” Yay!
3/04/2013: Touche, Peter Phelps (despite all they HAVE
done to indoctrinate the young): on the not-so-youthful Greens: ‘I wish to
debunk one of the great political myths in Australian politics today: that The
Greens are the party of young people. Nothing could be further from the truth.
I refer to a report of Chris Harris regarding preselection for the Senate and
note the demographic breakdown of The Greens NSW. Of those born in the 1940s,
1950s and 1960s, 1,227 are members of The Greens, yet of those born in the
1970s, 1980s and 1990s only 371 are members. The Greens do not have a youthful
party; it has a party made up of disgruntled baby boomers, ex-communists who
joined after their own communist visions failed, smelly hippies, crazy cat
ladies in their later menopausal years, and moratorium marchers who went out in
March 1971 and intellectually never came home. The symbol of The Greens is not
a Prius, it is an EJ Holden’.
3/04/2013: Seriously GOOD news: 'An uprising against
the Taliban that began last month in this southern Afghan village has now
spread through dozens of others, according to residents and Afghan and American
officials, in the most significant popular turning against the Islamist
insurgents in recent years. ': http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/21/world/asia/afghan-villages-rise-up-against-taliban.html?_r=1&
3/04/2013: The AEU will not like Christopher Pyne as
Education Minister, but he just might instigate a real 'education revolution'
which will lead to better outcomes for students - including increasing
literacy. Under the 'big spend' instituted by Gillard (at the behest of the
AEU), though spending rose 40% nonetheless 30% of students are now failing
basic literacy standards. We just don’t need a Gonski to spend even MORE. Much
of this failure is down to an insane rejection of phonics in the early years,
but you can also think of crazy ideological positions such as abolishing
corporal punishment, the 'skills based' and 'student centred' curriculum etc
instead an emphasis on real knowledge. Of course, one of the problems we NOW
have (as a result of a generation of this) is that we have ended up with a
deficit of knowledge amongst the teachers themselves - including few if any
with a solid grounding in the Classics or in Maths and Science - and students
are (rightly) bored with preaching (the 'green curriculum') and ideology
generally. In my own personal experience of a generation spent teaching,
students are never bored by knowledge or the intellectual stimulation of a
diversity of ideas, nor with learning how things got to be the way they are – I
include in this eg HOW Pi was discovered, or the periodic table... What a
disaster it is that over 90% of teachers are committed yet ignorant Leftist
voters with no understanding even of the economics which is supposedly the
basis of such false theories! http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/mirandadevine/
3/04/2013: 50 lovely women of the 20th Century:
http://youtube.googleapis.com/v/Q5XetQeFu-0&autoplay=1
2/04/2013: Quote of the day: Judith Sloan:
'high-income earners pay way more than their share of income tax revenue. The
top 1 per cent pay 17 per cent of all tax revenue and the top 10 per cent pay
nearly half'.
2/04/2013: Notification this morning that my new (and
repaired) hearing aids are at the Post Office. Yippee! It will be SO good to be
able to hear. I have purchased a new set of Siemens Aquaris WATERPROOF aids
from this guy for @$3,000 which will be SO good. I previously purchased a
device from him so I could adjust them myself. The same aids from an Oz
audiologist cost $14,000! These guys rip more off the Government by supplying
pensioners (not me) with $1500 aids for $6-8,000 than ANY single mother. Why
isn’t something done about THEM? http://www.thehearingcompany.com/
2/04/2013: Essential Media: 44 to 56. Come ON Martin.
SAVE the Party!
2/04/2013: Here IS the UAH satellite data for March
2013 for comparison:
http://www.drroyspencer.com/wp-content/uploads/UAH_LT_1979_thru_Mar_2013_v5.51.png
2/04/2013: Steffen and Flannery talking bullshit again
this morning about climate change (It's already happened - must have been
dozing!) Time to STOP paying these mongrels millions to talk and invent rot.
Satellite data (for eg) shows this as I have previously posted. Money could be
MUCH better spent on eg medical research or just simply medicine, or...
2/04/2013: Quote of the day: The Animal Liberation
Society’s Mark Pearson, (extolling their wonderful target $14,000 drones):
"Let's say we find a sheep dying from fly strike, we can record the
location on a GPS and notify the authorities…There are lots of cases where
farming activities cause horrible distress to animals - mulesing being a common
example." Leaving aside that mulesing is intended to PREVENT fly-strike,
couldn’t they just let the farmer know? When did it become even remotely likely
that farmers would WANT to lose sheep to fly-strike? Mark Pearson, the ALS,
& Greens generally are simply BARKING MAD, not to mention EVIL!
1/04/2013: Quote of the day:
'Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to
teenage boys'. P J O'Rourke. More here: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/p/p_j_orourke.html
1/04/2013: 'It's the
demography, stupid #2': Bizarre happenings which outcome from social
experiments such as eschewing marriage, gaiety, swinging & etc. Would not
have occurred to me that I was more desirable than Della! AND don't believe it.
Interesting thoughts from Bettina and Miranda: http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/mirandadevine/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/deluded_hotties_and_first_date_checklists_its_a_jungle_jane/
1/04/2013: It WILL make
interesting and useful pre-duck season target practice. Pity there won't be an
open season on animal libbers and Greens this year - maybe next year? - there
is an opening slot between duck season and red deer season would just suit
perfectly...Northern Territory Cattleman’s Association boss David Warriner: “It
wouldn’t be hard to shoot a drone down with a shotgun, would it?”
1/04/2013: THIS will be very
handy for me when someone comes up with an android one. My hearing aids broke
down recently when I was helping out in Merrin & Matt's shop. Boy, this App
would have been handy: http://www.medgadget.com/2013/03/bioaid-iphones-now-turned-into-functional-hearing-aids.html
1/04/2013: Just when you
thought the Left couldn't get any sillier, an interesting SPLIT in Labor
students over such issues as whether 'dating based on the sex of the other is
discriminatory' & whether 'logic, rationality, and economics (are) tools
used by males to subjugate women,' & etc: http://www.honisoit.com/2013/03/a-political-paradigm-shifts-as-nls-splits/
1/04/2013: An interesting
Easter puzzle from Lord Monckton (and the chance to have him contribute to
charity): http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/03/31/easter-puzzle-the-chinese-egg/#more-83190
1/04/2013: NOW 95% certain
'global warming' is a dead dog: http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/03/30/article-2301757-1903167F000005DC-59_634x480.jpg
31/03/2013: No wonder Asian student results are
way above ours! Curiously a parent who did this in Oz would a. be prosecuted,
and b. have his child removed...'O Brave New World that has such people in
it'... http://www.fredoneverything.net/AsianSchools.jpg
31/03/2013: Strange, but true.
31/03/2013: This three year
old is a very promising cricketer and maybe should be coaching our team! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wfwjK8JmuU&feature=player_embedded
31/03/2013: There are more
birds killed annually in the
31/03/2013: Keep your eyes
peeled for the comet THIS week, and look forward to the one coming in November
which will outshine the full moon!
30/03/2013: http://maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com/uploads/niagarafalls1911.jpg
30/03/2013: Quote of the week:
'This country can compete with
30/03/2013: WHAT an EPIC: http://joannenova.com.au/2013/03/apollo-11-engines-found-and-recovered-from-4km-deep/
30/03/2013: Another GREAT
idea: http://joannenova.com.au/2013/03/upgrade-coal-power-and-cut-15-of-emissions-will-the-greens-consider-coal/
30/03/2013: Pyrococcus
furiosus: You'll be hearing more about this little fellow. Scientists at the
Uni of Georgia have genetically engineered it so it turns CO2 directly into
fuel (which when burned produces exactly the same amount of CO2). Hopefully we
don't run out of CO2! http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/03/27/enivronmentalists-worst-nghtmare-gmod-frankenbugs-could-make-fuel-from-directly-co2/#more-82861
30/03/2013: Truly shocking:
"Since 1984...some 250,000 Brits have died from the cold, and 10,000 from
the heat". The REAL price of the global warming/carbon tax, etc
scaremongering: http://climaterealists.com/?id=11411
30/03/2013: Della: Early Easter 4WD misadventure: We
set out Tuesday lunchtime with the camper planning to see some of the
26/03/2013: Delusion of the
decade: the EU thinks that STEALING 40% of depositors' funds will SAVE the
banking system. I would be surprised if this does not lead to a run on the
banks EVERYWHERE. My advice; take your money out of the bank TODAY and get
yourself along to a gold dealer and buy INGOTS. You might also cruise by
Bunnings and purchase a safe to put it in. As you will be passing your local
gun shop, I suggest you drop in and order a new gun (I have recently
recommended Rossi's Circuit Judge) to help you defend your money from any other
low-life who might take a fancy to it, as they are not ALL in the Government,
YET! http://www.rossiusa.com/product-details.cfm?id=212&category=15&toggle=&breadcrumbseries=
26/03/2013: Aboriginal
commentator Dallas Scott has an interesting comment about 'white' aborigines, a
subject now outlawed. Nonetheless I agree with him in this, that if we spend many
billions on 'aboriginal improvement' you WOULD expect to see a few somewhat
darker faces amongst those who have been 'improved': http://theblacksteamtrain.blogspot.com.au/2013/03/success-we-like-it-white.html
26/03/2013: I wonder whether
Labor LOVES Newspoll as much today (see my last post on this on 13/3)).
Previously 48:53. NOW 42:58. The astonishing thing to me is that even Newspoll
could find 30% of respondents who said they would vote Labor. Either these
people are seriously deluded or the poll is a fraud. YOU choose...I think the
even more astonishing thing is that they could find 10% of people who said they
would vote Greens. There is no end to human perfidy!
26/03/2013: 1200 ILLEGALS in
March alone. Wonder why? The people smugglers’ newsletter advertises that time
is limited: “An election is called for September 14 after which date the
welcoming arms of Ms Gillard will be gone... but don’t take the risk, an
election could be at any time and Mr Abbott will certainly stop us going. He
will turn our boats around. Last chance! Send your money to Mohammed and I’ll
get you on the next boat. Don’t forget there is no other country in the World
that will treat illegal invaders better than their own poor. So board a boat
now while you can. Only $15,000 a seat.” Sgd Mohammed, “Allah is great.”
25/03/2013: Indications ARE
that Voyager 1 HAS (finally) departed the solar system, the first man-made
object to do so: http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/03/chill-out-people-we-still-do-not-know-if-voyager-1-has-left-the-solar-system/274206/
25/03/2013: Time we had THIS
here too; we can't have
25/03/2013: Global Warming
25/03/2013: I think folks who
vote for Labor & the Greens should have to pay a larger proportion of their
income in tax to help pay for their spendthrift ideas. So long as I am being FORCED
to pay, I want NONE of their policies - or their debts! Problem is, most of the
Lefties don't pay ANY tax, do they?
Most Left voters are just
recipients of Government largesse (bludgers on one Government benefit or other)
or Government employees. There would be VERY few amongst them who believe in
free enterprise or who have ever even worked in a free enterprise environment
for a single day of their lives! Why should anyone pay a cent of their hard won
money in tax to be squandered on the likes of these?
I think the Government should
be responsible for LESS, not MORE. Government is ALWAYS a form of Highway
Robbery where the public is made to 'stand and deliver'. Whether the robbers
turn out a bit like Robin Hood was alleged to be is frequently more luck than
good management: indeed the Government's share of the economy has been growing
under BOTH major parties as they continue to commit what is in effect treason
on the Australian people, seeking to turn us from a nation of 'doers' to a
nation of beggars.
24/03/2013: Must read: Three
great essays by the late great Michael Crichton. I particularly recommend the
first, 'Aliens Cause Global Warming' (p2) and the second, 'Environmentalism as
Religion' (p14): http://scienceandpublicpolicy.org/images/stories/papers/commentaries/crichton_3.pdf
24/03/2013: Before you get too
carried away about the apology over 'forced adoption' or the 'stolen generation',
you should read this man's positive and endearing account of being raised by
white foster parents: http://theblacksteamtrain.blogspot.com.au/2013/03/dont-be-sorry-for-me.html
23/03/2013: I have been
lamenting THIS for some time (and still do) but I confess I did not understand
it, but clearly the women did and do. What an awesome amount of cultural change
and educational improvement is needed to turn this around. Somehow you just
imagine that as low paid factory work migrated to China and the nation spent up
enormously on education that folks just move on up. Unfortunately there is a
rather a large army of people for whom the word, 'Up' is a little too difficult:
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/03/the-decline-of-marriage-and-the-rise-of-unwed-mothers-an-economic-mystery/274111/
23/03/2013: Martin Ferguson,
PLEASE run!
22/03/2013: We THINK we KNOW
how things work, but the amazing success of Finland's education system show we
often DO NOT: eg, "there are no private schools in
21/03/2013: 1:03pm: Simon
Crean just called for a spill: she is dead meat!
Simon IS such a good man: HE
deserved to be a successful Labor Prime Minister, but I guess it is never going
to happen...
20/03/2013: AND, just in case
you THOUGHT the BOM was telling the truth about our recent summer being 'the
hottest on record' here is the satellite record showing just how ordinary it
WAS:
http://jonova.s3.amazonaws.com/graphs/australia/2013-hot-summer/australia-uah-summers.jpg
20/03/2013: The world’s
LARGEST ecosystem has just been discovered! The rocky upper mantle of the
entire earth (it is 10 kilometres thick!) has just been found to be teeming
with life. What WE do up here on the surface s largely irrelevant. Perhaps this
is also the source of all the world’s ‘fossil fuel’ natural gas (methane) which
had been hitherto unexplained? http://joannenova.com.au/2013/03/most-of-earth-covered-with-life-powered-with-hydrogen-living-rocks/
20/03/2013: Quote of the day,
Jo Nova: 'Where is the natural law that makes sense in this decision? Don’t
punish the shareholders, or the bondholders, break the centuries long promise
that is the entire reason for banking. If the government can steal your money
in the bank, why keep it there? Hello Bank-run. Wasn’t the point of banking to
keep your money safe from burglars?' $30 billion was wiped from the ASX
yesterday – for us…there GOES that holiday!
20/03/2013: UNBELIEVABLE:
Julia Gillard has declared the upcoming election will be between 'a strong
feisty woman and a policy weak man'. Not sure WHO she is talking about! Maybe
Julie Bishop is about to become the Liberal leader, & Simon Crean (?) the
Labor leader?
20/03/2013: A great
time for queue jumpers: In the last six years of the Howard Government, just 18
boats arrived. In just the last two weeks of the Gillard Government, 14 boats
have arrived.
19/03/2013: Quote of the
day, Sarah Palin: ‘No, it's not about the bad guys, it's all about the lead,
like solely that chunk of metal did the crime. That's like saying, solely
that fork made me fat.’
18/03/2013: What to make of
18/03/2013: Miranda Devine is
quite right: adoption was a much better child welfare measure than what we do
now (In 2010-11, fewer than 200 children were adopted in Australia despite more
than 37,000 children being in government-funded care placements). Dare I say
that this is particularly true for 'indigenous' children?
http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/mirandadevine/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/respect_a_mothers_choice/
18/03/2013: Yet
another advance of three orders of magnitude (ie 10 cubed or 1,000times). This
device may even be scaleable up to produce some useful 'renewable electricity:
http://www.gizmag.com/osmotic-salinity-gradient-power-nanotubes/26623/
18/03/2013: Oxymoronic,
but true: curved flat-pack furniture. Human cleverness really has NO limits:
http://www.gizmag.com/stratflex-flat-pack-furniture/26636/And here is another
beautiful piece of work from Australian scientists well on the way to bringing
an extinct species BACK: http://www.gizmag.com/extinct-gastric-brooding-frog-cloned/26687/
18/03/2013: This
procedure has worked for 25 generations in laboratory mice: http://www.gizmag.com/riken-wakayama-mouse-serial-cloning-snct/26576/
18/03/2013: MORE GOOD NEWS:
When someone comes up with something which is 10% better we are right to be
very pleased as the old Babylonian 'Rule of 72' tells us that this will produce
a doubling after only seven times. When Lockheed Martin comes up with a new
form of graphene (a kind of carbon) which is 100 TIMES better (ie THREE orders
of magnitude!!! better), you would be right to be blown away. This stuff will
be able to filter salt out of water using only 1% of the energy of our new
desalination plant at Wonthaggi. NOW we can see that it was built in the wrong
place as there is little need for massive new irrigation schemes in Sth
Gippsland! For the world's food production in general though, this is a
mind-bogglingly positive development, and will green the world’s coastal
deserts turning them into food bowls! The world just keeps getting better and
BETTER:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/13/usa-desalination-idUSL1N0C0DG520130313
17/03/2013: Genesis 2 a la
Statists: iowahawk.typepad.com/iowahawk/2012/07/you-didnt-build-that.html
17/03/2013: This is an incredibly
important video: how burning fossil fuels is greening the planet:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-nsU_DaIZE&feature=player_embedded#!
17/03/2013: It's a
really serious problem and may break out in Oz anytime soon: we must be wary:
http://iowahawk.typepad.com/iowahawk/2012/10/white-house-scientists-struggle-to-contain-outbreak-of-scrutonium.html
17/03/2013: As if the shale
gas revolution wasn't enough to put paid to the old chestnut that resources are
finite and are (rapidly) running out, the Japanese have just successfully
drilled into and extracted methane from methane hydrates an almost infinite gas
resource underlying a huge area of the world:
http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/the-gas-age-is-good-news.aspx
17/03/2013: I suspect THIS is
the week we will (finally) see the end of Ju-Liar!
17/03/2013: If THIS is true,
(and I have no doubt it IS), there is a lot of trouble ahead for us all from
these chaps: http://pickeringpost.com/article/up-to-80-of-illegal-immigrants-are-afghani-army-deserters/1015
17/03/2013: OF COURSE we need
to change the Constitution, not the culture of dependency? Any other folk who behaved
like this, anywhere, anywhen would be told in no uncertain terms to LIFT THEIR
GAME: http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2013/03/why-do-we-pussyfoot-around-the-central-issue-clean-yourself-up-get-off-the-grog-get-some-clean-cloth.html
16/03/2013: 24.5 minutes to
disassemble and reassemble a V8! Unbelievable. It's great to see that some of
today's youth are not wasting their time on idle pursuits: http://iowahawk.typepad.com/iowahawk/2012/06/hope-for-america.html
16/03/2013: Energy
use per person graphed against per capita income per person (and you WONDER why
I invest in mining companies?): http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/energy-use-vs-income.jpg?w=640&h=436
16/03/2013: TS Eliot:
'This is the way the world ends: Not with a bang but a
whimper'? Obama fiddles whilst
15/03/2013: In a
break with 1,000 years of tradition they have chosen a South American ITALIAN
to be Pope!
14/03/2013: WEIRD and
wonderful: the Strandbeest, a NEW life form: www.strandbeest.com
13/03/2013: Jo Nova
notices that according to the satellite records the world has been cooling for
at least the last 8 years. I note the cooling to have been C.05/decade or
5/8ths of a degree for the NEXT 100 years. This has to be seriously worrying:
http://jonova.s3.amazonaws.com/graphs/temperature/rss-2005-2013-global-temp.gif
13/03/2013: And
whilst we are talking about cool things, how’s about this quantum refrigerator invented
by good old Albert; move over Esky:
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/03/12/introducing-the-quantum-refrigerator-the-coolest-cool-tech/
13/03/2013: The Japanese
tsunami and
13/03/2013: In the face of
such polls what else can Labor do? Well, this week they are going to ram
through legislation outlawing free speech, creating more Government censorship
than existed in World War 2:
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/opinion/an-aggressive-attempt-to-silence-your-media/story-e6frezz0-1226595884130
13/03/2013: Labor just LOVES
Newspoll…
Newspoll Monday: Labor 48%,
Coalition 52.
Morgan Poll Tuesday: Labor
42.5%, Coalition 57.5.
Essential Media Monday: Labor
45%, 55.
Galaxy Poll Sunday: Labor 45%,
Coalition 55.
Why not add them up and get a
huge sample?
Newspoll 1200 polled: 48, 52
Morgan 4627: 42.5, 57.5
Essential 1948: 45, 55
Galaxy 1010: 45, 55
Total 8785 polled: Labor 44.1,
Coalition 55.9
Of course it is dominated by
the huge Morgan poll, but the statistical error drops from 5% for Newpoll’s to
1%...
13/03/2013: Being a
non-Catholic I can understand why MY ballot papers for the papal election have
failed to arrive, but how about the rest of you guys? Don't you WANT a vote?
But then, I guess you're used to the undemocratic nature of religion: you don't
get to vote on who will be God, or what sex HE will be either...
12/03/2013: I have long
thought that SETI may be listening 'wrong' and that's why there always seems to
be no-one home (an improbability considering the vastness of the universe; ie
if 'intelligent' life arose here, it is unlikely that it is not quite common
elsewhere). NOW we can see that 'quantum entanglement' has speeds of AT LEAST
10,000c which makes a return message from Alpha Centauri about 7 hours by my
calculations. In the windjammer days a return message from ‘Blighty’ took 3+
months. At the higher measured value (140,000c) a return message would take
just 30 minutes, so we could have meaningful dialogue with folks a VERY long way
off indeed! ET folks out there are unlikely to be crawling along with
communication using radio waves at 1c when they can use something that zips
along at 140,000c. I suspect the same fate awaits the NBN!
http://www.gizmag.com/quantum-entanglement-speed-10000-faster-light/26587/
11/03/2013: Just want to make
THIS point again. (You will have noted that Oz megafauna also expired about the
same time as the introduction of that Numero Uno Pest; homo sapiens - the
adjective may be inappropriate, methinks). We continue this with the current
campaign to exterminate camels and donkeys in our deserts. Mayhap they do more
good than harm, particularly if we threw a few lions into the mix: http://maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com/archives/21722-To-what-extent-did-the-extirpation-of-American-Bison-herds-create-much-of-the-American-desert.html
10/03/2013: SO, WA will not
only be Ju-Liar's 'Swan Song' but Chrissie's too: the Green's vote is down 4%
to 7.9%: one percentage point less and they would win NO Senate seats in their
own right, which would be a VERY good thing! A GREAT result for Colin Barnett
who has won a swing TO the sitting Government of 9.9%! Good Luck Tony: http://www.abc.net.au/elections/wa/2013/
10/03/2013: This is VERY
important. I have written before about trees (23/2 & 15/2 & 2/2). NOW I
have found this amazing lecture by Alan Savory which re-inforces and extends my
point. Desertification is still a major problem. Humans have been contributing
to it for a long TIME (via land MISmanagement for c 15,000+ years in
09/03/2013: Just LOVE this
guy, Topher. His latest offering 'The Forbidden History of Terrible Taxes'
gives MUCH food for thought:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=WGHY8XpM6oI
09/03/2013: WA has to be
Ju-Liar's 'Swan Song'!
09/03/2013: Always loved this poem, The
Silkworms by Aussie Douglas Stewart (see below) and I was minded of it by this
interesting video illustrating an amazing range of compact furniture (PS: I
guess not so many children nowadays get to raise silkworms: the absence of not
only backyards but wonderful scarlet-staining mulberry trees in them precludes
this, if nothing else). How CONSTRAINED OUR lives have become: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=133253163504265&set=vb.174474359217&type=2&theater
All their lives in a box! What generations,
What centuries of masters, not meaning to be cruel
But needing their labour, taught these creatures such patience
That now though sunlight strikes on the eye’s dark jewel
Or moonlight breathes on the wing they do not stir
But like the ghosts of moths crouch silent there.
Look it’s a childs’s toy! There is no lid even,
They can climb, they can fly, and the whole world’s their tree;
But hush, they say in themselves, we are in prison.
There is no word to tell them that they are free,
And they are not; ancestral voices bind them
In dream too deep for wind or word to find them.
Even in the young, each like a little dragon
Rambing and green upon his mulberry leaf,
So full of life, it seems, the voice has spoken:
They hide where there is food, where they are safe,
And the voice whispers, “Spin the cocoon,
Sleep, sleep, you shall be wrapped in me soon.”
Now is their hour, when they wake from that long
swoon;
Their pale curved wings are marked in a pattern of leaves,
Shadowy for trees, white for the dance of the moon;
And when on summer nights the buddleia gives
Its nectar like lilac wine for insects mating
They drink its fragrance and shiver, impatient with waiting,
They stir, they think they will go. They they remember
It was forbidden, forbidden, to ever go out;
The Hands are on guard outside like claps of thunder,
The ancestral voice says Don’t, and they do not.
Still the night calls them to unimaginable
bliss
But there is terror around them, the vast, the abyss,
And here is the tribe that they know, in their known
place,
They are gentle and kind together, they are safe for ever,
And all shall be answered at last when they embrace.
White moth moves closer to moth, lover to lover.
There is that pang of joy on the edge of dying–
Their soft wings whirr, they dream that they are flying.
08/03/2013: Another very
useful graphic: each increase by 10x in CO2 emissions correlates to a 10 year
increase in life expectancy:
http://www.coyoteblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/precautionary-principle-500x372.gif
08/03/2013: Just like all the
other good Russian Commissars driving in limos to their dachas & etc, our
'hero of the people' Hugo Chavez died leaving a stray $2 billion or so behind
him which he had somehow gleaned from helping the poor...When WILL the Left
ever learn?
http://sultanknish.blogspot.com.au/2013/03/getting-rich-by-fighting-for-poor.html08/03/2013:
Unbelievable! Instead of dining with genuine denizens of Rooty Hill Ju-Liar
chose to import this strange creature, 'Edenland':
http://blogs.news.com.au/images/uploads/edenriley_rooty_hill_dinner.png
08/03/2013: Unbelievable!
Instead of dining with genuine denizens of Rooty Hill Ju-Liar chose to import
this strange creature, 'Edenland': http://blogs.news.com.au/images/uploads/edenriley_rooty_hill_dinner.png
08/03/2013: Two different
views on Shorten PM. What is certain is that Ju-Liar will not lead Labor into
the coming election:
http://pickeringpost.com/article/odds-shorten-on-shorten/995 and
http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/mirandadevine/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/prime_minister_shorten/
08/03/2013: ‘An
analysis of NASA satellite data shows that water vapour, the most important
greenhouse gas, has declined in the upper atmosphere causing a cooling effect
that is 16 times greater than the warming effect from man-made greenhouse gas
emissions during the period 1990 to 2001’ even though the world has wasted a
trillion dollars on bogus ‘climate change mitigation’ schemes which might have
gone a long way to lifting the poor from their misery:
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/03/06/nasa-satellite-data-shows-a-decline-in-water-vapor/.
08/03/2013: She is
SUCH a lying piece of slime, but I think Ben Fordham has PINNED her to a lie
which will see her in GAOL in the near future, that: she faked a Power of
Attorney in order to assist her then boyfriend in a massive fraud against her
employer, AND that she benefited financially from the fraud too. All her latest
‘non election campaign’ promises: National Disability scheme, Gonski, National
Dental Scheme, new wall at Warragamba…are just a continuation of her non-stop
lying:
http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/fordham_grills_gillard_on_awu_scandal/
08/03/2013: 3D pen:
it won't be long before this is a Xmas 'must have.' You would need rather more
drawing skill than I have though but I'm sure all the wannabes who can't see
that there child really does not have the intelligence of a nuclear physicist
will be buying them. (Also on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVT6xdRWIQ8):
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1351910088/3doodler-the-worlds-first-3d-printing-pen
08/03/2013: The
08/03/2013: Here is a rather good reason why we SHOULD
know where the illegal immigrants are: it is amazing that lots of folks with a
seriously infective disease could be haphazardly sprinkled around all over the
continent: folks with such a predilection for murder too! Wowee!
http://pickeringpost.com/article/its-curtains-for-curtin-detention-centre...and-they-wont-dare-tell-you-why/992
07/03/2013: Some immigrants
really have some amazing skills. Take a look at
07/03/2013: Janice Peterson gave
Ju-liar quite a bit of stick in this 'immigration' interview. Boy, when the
Left's paid propagandists at SBS and ABC start to can you, you're toast:
http://www.sbs.com.au/news/video/20836419832/Julia-Gillard-extended-interview
07/03/2013: Most of the heat
content is in the oceans, not in the atmosphere at all, and it has not changed
in the last 20 years either. What remains curious and unexplained however is
the step change which seems to have occurred in both in the late 1990s, a
sudden upwards movement of @ C.1-.2 degrees. This step change is the ONLY major
change in temperature which has occurred in the last fifty years or so (and
bears no relationship to CO2 changes). It MAY relate to solar cycles
however...More research into this is needed (NOT into 'global warming') as we
need to prepare for cold times if they are coming - as indicated by the
projected solar minima ahead - which in the past have brought terrible harvests
worldwide. Repeated in the future such failures would cause untold human misery.
http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/sea-surface-temperature-comparison-60ns.jpg?w=640&h=587
07/03/2013: Nick Cater: '
06/03/2013: American ducks,
but should work well here too. Della is going to have me building lots of
these: http://maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com/uploads/covesidewoodduck.jpg
http://www.ducks.org/conservation/waterfowl-biology/wood-duck-resources
06/03/2013: Interesting
observation: “From the point of view of physics, it is a miracle that 7 million
New Yorkers are fed each day without any control mechanism other than sheer
capitalism.” John Holland, scientist, Santa Fe Institute.
06/03/2013: “Global Warming”
shadenfreude - well said, Bruce: http://www.qando.net/?p=14942
06/03/2013: De-extinction:
they did it in
06/03/2013: One more tyrant
bites the dust: Hugo Chavez is dead! In further news it looks like 'Red Ted' is
on the skids...
06/03/2013: There's always something
new to be discovered about our planet:
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/03/04/mysterious-electron-stash-found-hidden-among-van-allen-belts/#more-81347
06/03/2013: It IS a bizarre
migration 'policy' isn't it: Joe Kelly and Dennis Shanahan in the Australian:
'THE Coalition has accused Julia Gillard of preferring migrants who arrive
"illegally on boats and go on to welfare" to skilled workers who
arrive the "right way", get jobs and pay taxes'.
06/03/2013: The satellite data
does not support our BOM's climate alarmism. The world's temperature remains
pretty flat as it has been for nearly twenty years. Indeed since 1997 there has
been a slight DECLINE in the world's temperature. February is quite a lot
cooler on average (despite the hot weather we are having in Vic at the
moment): http://www.drroyspencer.com/2013/03/uah-global-temperature-update-for-february-2013-0-18-deg-c/ 23 years of NOT warming (RSS satellite data) should be MORE
than enough to declare the whole AGW hypothesis dead in the water:
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/03/05/has-global-warming-stalled-now-includes-january-data/#more-81357
05/03/2013: I am reading an
interesting sci-fi by a 'new' writer: Hugh Howey's 'Wool Omnibus' only
available in e-book I think. Well worth the read!
04/03/2013: Della and I were
watching a doco recently (one of Bruce Parry’s ‘Green Arctic’ series.
Discussing the controversial ‘global warming’ island of
04/03/2013: Was I the ONLY one
dumbfounded at Ju-liar's latest promise to spend $64 mill cracking down on
'organised crime' - I guess her own AWU crimes were 'disorganised'?
04/03/2013: Just in case you
didn't understand the old adage about pigs and troughs, the Fed Govt is
considering scrapping the Climate Change Dept (which it only set up last year
& which is costing $218 mill pa!) . Take a look at some of their expenses
to maybe see why:
http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2013/03/something-seems-cruel-about-this-mob-pretending-climate-change-matters-then-sorry-youre-dropped.html
04/03/2013: This is something
like the West was BEFORE the C18th Enlightenment, ie 'free speech' was heavily
circumscribed and some topics downright dangerous. Here we see Richard Dawkins
(perhaps the world's most famous ATHEIST) dodging the question of whether the
God of the Old Testament ( 'the most unpleasant character in fiction') was
equally evil as the God of the Koran ('Dunno!') - but SURELY the SAME God: but
very different penalties for speaking out (ie DEATH). We MUST not allow violent
minorities a. to live in our country & b. to suppress our freedoms!
http://www.thejc.com/node/102653
03/03/2013: Spent a pleasant
day yesterday white-watering on the
03/03/2013: Just a brief step
back in time to the 1970s when all the concerned folks were warning us about
the coming ICE AGE; NB I suspect they may still be right, but don't know WHEN:
no reason not to prepare though eg by pushing ahead with research into GM
crops, nuclear fusion & etc, ie things which will be useful anyway but
doubly useful if most of Europe and North America is a kilometre deep in ice!
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/03/01/global-cooling-compilation/#more-81095
01/03/2013: As usual,
01/03/2013: There are things
you can cut and things you cannot; you could close down the whole of Canberra
and WTF, but $500 million off palliative care (how ghoulish!) and this is
following huge cuts already to medical research (but free laptops to kids who
don't need them at $2500 each(!); that's OK)? A challenge Ms Gillard, whilst
you are IN Rooty Hill: http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2013/02/david-just-lost-a-parent-the-family-was-supported-by-mt-druitt-palliative-care-he-asks-ms-gillard-to.html
01/03/2013: If
only...'common sense' was NOT an oxymoron! I have spent a considerable portion
of my life trying with modest effect to make it not so, encouraging, training
people to reason: that they may become something more than 'common' - and
definitely sensible.
01/03/2013: We all
know there ARE awful men (AND women!) but that the great majority of both men
and women are fine, lovely people - and that there is little that is not joy in
their unions. Here’s Mencken again, ‘A misogynist - A man who hates women as
much as women hate one another’.
28/02/2013: Pickering IS right
(http://pickeringpost.com/article/mcternans-clever-goggles-ploy/970) and Ju-liar’s glasses are all about showing images of the
NEW Julia, the one who hangs out with the (other) proles at Rooty Hill RSL.
There is no doubt the new Julia has had a few nips and tucks over the hols and
a bit of lipo on that famous derriere too, I think. Question arises, ‘Who is
paying for all this ‘silk pursing?’ I note that a lass flew up from Melbourne
so Jules could chose her new non-optical glasses from 100 pairs (great work if
you can get it!) instead of slipping down to Thrifty or Specsavers herself like
the rest of us do - or getting them from China eg from zenni for a fraction of
the cost: Gosh at zenni you can even try them on on-line…
http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/timblair/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/sight_flight/
28/02/2013: FEEL the LOVE:
http://blogs.news.com.au/images/uploads/somuchlove.png
28/02/2013: You HAVE to love
this ad: http://blogs.news.com.au/images/uploads/poleyart.png
28/02/2013: Many claim that
‘environmentalism’ has replaced religion. This is not the case; it is just a
newer cult. However, since the C18th ‘Enlightenment’, GOVERNMENT has replaced
religion. All that folks prayed to their shibboleths and fetishes for, they now
seek from this litotes - bravely ignoring that it is just their very selves
they pray to, for there is no such thing as ‘the government’ – it is nothing
more than the collective of us all; praying to it for help we must needs ‘rob
Peter to pay Paul’. Mostly it is a consequence of the move from participatory
democracy to representative democracy and the creation and rise of nation
states which have produced this illusion, but it is a dangerous illusion, and
has produced many of the worst tyrannies on earth. It has always weakened the
human spirit, the drive to independence and creativity, the will to enterprise;
therefore we must look forward to its decline and abandonment, and hope for
human progress. ‘Participatory’ democracy is a different fish altogether: what
has worked splendidly for centuries (once upon a time in ancient Athens, and on
the village green) in the shape of cricket clubs, pigeon fanciers, volunteer
fire brigades & etc can now work for the whole modern ‘state’ as we now
have the technology (THIS!) to make it work. We no longer need representatives
as we now have the technology to speak for and vote ourselves. Aristotle opined
that 100,000 citizens was about the upper limit for participatory democracy in
a city state: when a city exceeded this number in ancient
28/02/2013: The results of the
Italian election are VERY interesting. First, there is the dramatic comeback of
pro-free enterprise Berlusconi to within a whisker of seizing government once
again. Then there is the dramatic rise of comedian, Grillo (taking 25% of the
vote!) Finally, there is the decline of the Statists: Monti received only 10%
of the vote. I foresee BIG changes afoot for the EU in the future. I trust that
the results indicate the zenith of Statism and that we can look forward to its
decline and retreat everywhere. I expect a similar withdrawal from socialist
support to occur in our own elections – coming VERY soon!
28/02/2013: Fluoride: poison?
Here are the safe levels of contaminants in drinking water: http://water.epa.gov/drink/contaminants/index.cfm As you can see the maximum safe level for fluoride is
4ppm. Fluoride is normally added at 1mg/l (1ppm). Take a look at the complete
list of other poisons/contaminants permitted at similar tiny levels, eg
arsenic. Some folks are just nutters and NOTHING will cure them.
28/02/2013: I think we all
understand that the price of freedom for millions is the sacrifice and death of
a few heroes. When freedom is stolen from millions putatively to prevent the
death of a few fools we should rebel wholeheartedly – yet this is what continues
to happen with ever-increasing draconian rules about previously acceptable and
innocuous behaviour such as talking on the phone whilst driving or having the
odd drink or two. At least the heroes died to save our freedom (which we are
now throwing away), but the supposition that we are ‘saving’ anyone with these
new measures is laughable. Fools WILL die: there is no protecting them from
themselves…and there is no protecting anyone else from their folly either. Even
if we COULD save a handful, the price (freedom) would be too great. This is a
dangerous trade-off and has no ending except the universal prison, the
‘panopticon,’ an invention of that wholesome socialist Jeremy Bentham (you MAY
call it CCTV or the internet filter & etc) – just as the pure hearted
Quakers invented the ‘penitentiary’…
27/02/2013: THIS guy was
great: Henry Louis Mencken (1880-1956): "I believe that liberty is the
only genuinely valuable thing that men have invented, at least in the field of
government, in a thousand years. I believe that it is better to be free than to
be not free, even when the former is dangerous and the latter safe. I believe
that the finest qualities of man can flourish only in free air – that progress
made under the shadow of the policeman's club is false progress, and of no
permanent value. I believe that any man who takes the liberty of another into
his keeping is bound to become a tyrant, and that any man who yields up his
liberty, in however slight the measure, is bound to become a slave." Also
see: http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/H._L._Mencken
27/02/2013: Quotable quotes,
Henry Louis Mencken (1880-1956):
“No one ever went broke
underestimating the taste of the American public.
Freedom of press is limited to
those who own one.
Those who can -- do. Those who
can't -- teach.
Imagine the Creator as a low
comedian, and at once the world becomes explicable.
Nature abhors a moron.
Say what you will about the
Ten Commandments, you must always come back to the pleasant fact that there are
only ten of them.
Marriage is a wonderful
institution, but who would want to live in an institution.
Theology is the effort to
explain the unknowable in terms of the not worth knowing.
Every decent man is ashamed of
the government he lives under.
Hanging one scoundrel, it
appears, does not deter the next. Well, what of it? The first one is at least
disposed of.
Injustice is relatively easy
to bear; what stings is justice.
It is hard to believe that a man
is telling the truth when you know that you would lie if you were in his place.
Capitalism undoubtedly has
certain boils and blotches upon it, but has it as many as government? Has it as
many as marriage? Has it as many as religion? I doubt it. It is the only basic
institution of modern man that shows any genuine health and vigor.
Jury - A group of 12 people,
who, having lied to the judge about their health, hearing, and business
engagements, have failed to fool him.
...the great artists of the world
are never Puritans, and seldom respectable. No virtuous man--that is, virtuous
in the Y.M.C.A. sense--has ever painted a picture worth looking at, or written
a symphony worth hearing, or a book worth reading...
The trouble with Communism is
the Communists, just as the trouble with Christianity is the Christians.
The cosmos is a gigantic
flywheel making 10,000 revolutions per minute. Man is a sick fly taking a dizzy
ride on it.
Faith may be defined briefly as
an illogical belief in the occurrence of the improbable.
A man full of faith is simply
one who has lost (or never had) the capacity for clear and realistic thought.
He is not a mere ass; he is actually ill. Worse, he is incurable.
In this world of sin and
sorrow there is always something to be thankful for. As for me, I rejoice that
I am not a Republican.
Liberals have many tails and
chase them all.
Remorse--Regret that one
waited so long to do it.
...school teachers, taking
them by and large, are probably the most ignorant and stupid class of men in
the whole group of menial workers.
Democracy is also a form of
worship. It is the worship of Jackals by Jackasses.
One seldom discovers a true
believer that is worth knowing.
Suppose two-thirds of the
members of the national House of Representatives were dumped into the
We must respect the other
fellow's religion, but only in the sense and to the extent that we respect his
theory that his wife is beautiful and his children smart.
Conscience is the inner voice
that warns us somebody is looking.
A poet more than thirty years
old is simply an overgrown child.
A man may be a fool and not
know it -- but not if he is married.
Truth would quickly cease to
become stranger than fiction, once we got as used to it.
Democracy is the art of
running the circus from the monkey cage.
The basic fact about human
existence is not that it is a tragedy, but that it is a bore.
Creator - A comedian whose
audience is afraid to laugh.
A newspaper is a device for
making the ignorant more ignorant and the crazy crazier.
It is the fundamental theory
of all the more recent American law...that the average citizen is half-witted,
and hence not to be trusted to either his own devices or his own thoughts.
A celebrity is one who is
known by many people he is glad he doesn't know.
A cynic is a man who, when he smells
flowers, looks around for a coffin.
The New Deal began, like the
Salvation Army, by promising to save humanity. It ended, again like the
Salvation Army, by running flop-houses and disturbing the peace.
For every complex problem, there
is a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong.
Lawyer: One who protects us
against robbery by taking away the temptation.
Judge: A law student who marks
his own papers.
Misogynist - A man who hates
women as much as women hate one another.
It is inaccurate to say I hate
everything. I am strongly in favour of common sense, common honesty, and common
decency. This makes me forever ineligible for public office.
Love is the triumph of
imagination over intelligence.
Tis more blessed to give than
to receive; for example, wedding presents.
A good politician is quite as
unthinkable as an honest burglar.
A politician is an animal
which can sit on a fence and yet keep both ears to the ground.
Demagogue: One who preaches
doctrines he knows to be untrue to men he knows to be idiots.
Time is the great legaliser,
even in the field of morals.
Immorality: The morality of
those who are having a better time.
Jealousy: The theory that some
other fellow has just as little taste.
Self-respect: The secure
feeling that no one, as yet, is suspicious.
Sunday: A day given over by
Americans to wishing that they themselves were dead and in Heaven, and that
their neighbours were dead and in Hell.
Sunday School: A prison in
which children do penance for the evil conscience of their parents.
The argument that capital
punishment degrades the state is moonshine, for if that were true then it would
degrade the state to send men to war... The state, in truth, is degraded in its
very nature: a few butcheries cannot do it any further damage.
The most common of all follies
is to believe passionately in the palpably not true. It is the chief occupation
of mankind.
A professional politician is a
professionally dishonourable man. In order to get anywhere near high office he
has to make so many compromises and submit to so many humiliations that he
becomes indistinguishable from a streetwalker.
Giving every man a vote has no
more made men wise and free than Christianity has made them good.
Conscience is a mother-in-law
whose visit never ends.
Firmness in decision is often
merely a form of stupidity. It indicates an inability to think the same thing
out twice.
Truth - Something somehow
discreditable to someone.
Philosophy consists very
largely of one philosopher arguing that all other philosophers are jackasses.
He usually proves it, and I should add that he also usually proves that he is
one himself.
Life may not be exactly
pleasant, but it is at least not dull. Heave yourself into Hell today, and you
may miss, tomorrow or next day, another Scopes trial, or another War to End
War, or perchance a rich and buxom widow with all her first husband's clothes.
There are always more Hardings hatching. I advocate hanging on as long as possible.
The fact that I have no remedy
for all the sorrows of the world is no reason for my accepting yours. It simply
supports the strong probability that yours is a fake.
It is impossible to imagine the
universe run by a wise, just and omnipotent God, but it is quite easy to
imagine it run by a board of gods. If such a board actually exists it operates
precisely like the board of a corporation that is losing money.
The believing mind is
externally impervious to evidence. The most that can be accomplished with it is
to induce it to substitute one delusion for another. It rejects all overt
evidence as wicked...
Why assume so glibly that the
God who presumably created the universe is still running it? It is certainly
perfectly conceivable that He may have finished it and then turned it over to
lesser gods to operate. In the same way many human institutions are turned over
to grossly inferior men. This is true, for example, of most universities, and
of all great newspapers.
The Christian church, in its
attitude toward science, shows the mind of a more or less enlightened man of
the Thirteenth Century. It no longer believes that the earth is flat, but it is
still convinced that prayer can cure after medicine fails.
Under democracy one party
always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is
unfit to rule--and both commonly succeed, and are right... The
The theory seems to be that so
long as a man is a failure he is one of God's chillun, but that as soon as he
succeeds he is taken over by the Devil.
It is often argued that
religion is valuable because it makes men good, but even if this were true it
would not be a proof that religion is true. That would be an extension of
pragmatism beyond endurance. Santa Claus makes children good in precisely the
same way, and yet no one would argue seriously that the fact proves his
existence. The defence of religion is full of such logical imbecilities.
Puritanism: The haunting fear
that someone, somewhere, may be happy.
27/02/2013: Hitler was a
Socialist: ‘Nazi’ stood for National Socialist Party. This should be Politics #
101, but instead we are told he/they were ‘right wing.’ If such a dichotomy
exists, it means that the right believes in LESS Government since the Left
clearly believes in MORE – and almost always leads to a diminution of personal
freedom, loss of control of our lives and at worst to mass butchery and
enslavement - such as we saw under the Nazis and the Soviets! There are many fatal
errors implicit in socialism; principal amongst them are: that some bureaucrat
knows better how to spend our money than we do, that central control is better
than local, personal control or free enterprise, that the state ‘knows’ better
than the market, that the rights and freedoms of the individual should be
subsumed to the rule of the mob (who demand and are rewarded with ‘bread and
circuses’), that the state can run things more efficiently (better?) than can
private enterprise…Any modest reflection on the ‘benefits’ of socialism will
surely tell you that it is always and allwhen a nonsense. The complete absence
of a State has been tried few times and has always been crushed by vast force
by fascists and communists alike: eg in the
26/02/2013: I NOW need one of these
devices to aid me in my solo pack rafting:
http://www.amazon.com/Motorcycle-Trailer-Carrier-Hauler-Towing/dp/B005XDM0XO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1361789812&sr=8-1&keywords=Motorcycle+Towing+Cradle
26/02/2013: My new (fortieth
anniversary) Alpacka pack raft has arrived. I am very keen to try it out.
Perhaps this Saturday, weather and back permitting...
https://www.alpackaraft.com/index.cfm/store.catalog?CategoryID=53&ProductID=66
26/02/2013: The West is in
more serious danger today than it even was during the Cold War. The threat of
communism has diminished (though the threat posed by its fellow travellers:
greens, nimbies, wankers, etc is greater than ever) but there is a greater
threat yet (of our own making) the failure to produce heirs: Della and I have
done our bit. Time for some more of you out there to unzip and get on with it -
or we are all ruined: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1550345/posts
25/02/2013: THIS is the trend
for the current inter-glacial: looks to me like we should be doing more to
prepare for a COLDER world:
http://jonova.s3.amazonaws.com/graphs/lappi/gisp-last-10000-new.png
25/02/2013: Androids must be
extraordinarily common in SA for BOTH of the Pistorius brothers to have killed
one!
25/02/2013: Practically every
evil which has its origins in human beings is a result of a failure of
reasoning. Therefore it is supremely important to understand how faulty
reasoning ‘works,’ to recognise it and counter it. HERE is a pretty neat ‘ready
reckoner’ of some of the main species of faulty reasoning:
www.conradaskland.com/blog/2009/11/25-fallacies-that-lead-us-to-believe-weird-things/
24/02/2013: Karl Marx:
"Criticism of religion is the premise of all criticism."
Lars Hedegaard: "Criticism of religion is not only
the starting point of all criticism. It is the prerequisite of any kind of
criticism. In a society where religion cannot be criticized, everything becomes religion from the
length of your beard to what hand to use when wiping your backside. Where there
is no criticism of religion, life and society in their entirety become
religious and the littlest squeak against the existing order is an act of
blasphemy".
Lazarus Long ('Time Enough For Love' - Robert
Heinlein): "One man's religion is another man's belly laugh."
A very timely and important essay by Mark Steyn
here: http://www.steynonline.com/5420/lars-hedegaard-defender-of-freedom
24/02/2013: Volunteer
environmentalists are required to help save a newly endangered species (This
should really test out their commitment to 'THE CAUSE'). Phthirus pubis has now
become exceedingly rare and may not long survive: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-13/brazilian-bikini-waxes-make-crab-lice-endangered-species-health.html
24/02/2013: It was very
obviously MUCH hotter in the 1930's: http://www.coyoteblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/screenhunter_28-jan-26-12-17-500x364.jpg
24/02/2013: Amazon has at last
begun the charge to privatise money (as I advocated some time back). MOVE OVER
Governments. Your days are numbered... http://www.technologyreview.com/news/510876/could-amazons-virtual-currency-buy-you-a-coffeemaker-someday/
24/02/2013: Fair point, Warren
Meyers "You can't combine open immigration with a welfare state - this
leads to financial implosion. Open immigration allows illiberal,
anti-democratic people to take power through the democratic process...The key
for me is to disassociate legal presence in this country from citizenship. It
should certainly be possible to have multiple flavours of legal presence in
this country. At level 1, anyone can legally be
present, seek employment, buy property, and have access to certain services
(e.g. emergency services). At level 2, a history of working and paying...income
taxes gets more access to welfare-state sort of programmes. Over time, this may
or may not lead to full citizenship and voting rights, but there is no reason
we can't still be careful with handing out full citizenship while being
relatively free with allowing legal work and habitation".
24/02/2013: "Everybody
with half a brain is coming to
24/02/2013: Someone has just
reminded me of the 'Addled Parliament' of 1614 (in the reign of James 1) which
was so named by him because it would not vote to pass some of his more
exorbitant financial measures...MORE 'addled Parliaments', please!
24/02/2013: THIS is really
quite neat (makes you feel just how SMALL you are): http://www.scaleofuniverse.com/
24/02/2013: Minding the kids'
store this morning...Want to read some GREAT true stories, try THIS link (http://wattsupwiththat.com/category/willis-autobiography/)? I especially enjoyed his descriptions of salmon fishing
'the mighty
24/02/2013: Steve’s Pasta E
Fagioli: Della is off being crafty again, leaving me a temporary widower – so I
have to shift for myself. Tonight I made THIS excellent soup. I think it is
very nearly the best meal I have ever made, so I will share it with you:
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 med onions chopped
2 lge cloves garlic chopped
1 lge carrot chopped fine
2 stalks celery chopped 1 cm
cubes
500g Chipolata sausages chopped
approx 20mm
2 teaspoons dried oregano
leaves
1 teaspoon dried basil leaves
2 Teaspoon sweet paprika
1 400g can chopped tomatoes
with juice
4 cups chicken stock
1 400 g can cannelloni beans
1 cup very small shell pasta
(1cm)
2 tablespoons fresh chopped
parsley
Directions:
- Heat olive oil I a large pot medium heat
- Cook onion in oil 2 minutes
- Stir in garlic, carrot, celery and cook 3 minutes
- Add and brown sausages
- Add basil, oregano and paprika
- Toss to coat
- Stir in tomatoes and stock
- Bring to a boil
- Reduce heat and simmer 30 minutes
- Stir in beans and tiny pasta
- Simmer 8 minutes until pasta is tender
- 12 Stir in parsley and serve; (Serves 4-6)
23/02/2013: Is there ANY point
in having an election when the punters have already pretty much decided the
result: Coalition: 92, Labor: 54. Independent: 2?
http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2013/02/what-the-moneys-saying-about-the-election-result-every-seat-in-the-house-of-reps-courtesy-of-wwwspor.html
23/02/2013: Apartheid #5: ‘A
touch of the tar-brush’ folks used to say of this ‘coz’ or that – or eg an
uncle of mine STILL lost at Fromelles - just to emphasize their dusky hue - but
to imply no such racial slur (or mercenary claim) as may be presupposed today.
Folks back then supposed it would be extremely unlikely if we hadn’t almost ALL
picked up the odd gene or two from Oz’s original inhabitants in the course of
two and a quarter centuries of mingling on the same soil. Likely this remains
true for most - and highlights the mockery of those who stress THAT ancestry
above all others, and also place it ahead of their allegiance to be Australian
– something which we (rightly) expect AND receive from most recently arrived
immigrants and certainly from FIRST generation Aussies, but for some reason
sadly there remain some who after 225 years still don’t want to be Australians,
though they are all too happy to take our hand-outs! The claim of
‘aboriginality’ is at best weird racist drivel; at worst it is much more
sinister - akin only in my experience to the Nazis’ insistence on being Aryan.
Naturally I expected that my Family History research WOULD turn up a plethora
of aboriginal ancestors given how dark a number of my relatives were – and how
my dear old mum took it for granted (and in her stride – as you always did back
then), but it turns out most of these darker hued cousins, uncles, aunts etc I
have been able to trace spring from a French Great-Grandfather who a cousin of
my father once said had been known as the ‘negro Frenchman.’ Given that HIS
(paternal) ancestors were in Lyon back in the C13th (one having even been
commemorated as mayor back then), clearly the ‘negro’ ancestry must have come
in the maternal line somewhere, somewhen back in France (It would have been
diluted too much to still show after seven centuries). Of course I wasn’t going
to make any citizenship claims or such based on my one-eighth French ancestry
nor any land rights etc based on this one maternal presumably ‘negro’ ancestor
either, (maybe from one of the French Caribbean colonies?). It is all just part
of the interesting hodge-podge mix of who we are. Over-riding it all in
importance is who we are AS HUMAN BEINGS ie: do we pull our weight, do we ‘eat
what is set before us’, are we as ‘good as our word,’ do we ‘expect nothing and
give all’, do we DO ‘a fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay’, do we believe ‘my
country over all,’ & etc…THINK on it!
23/02/2013: I wrote before
about the importance of trees back on 2/2. Pliny talked about an island where
it never rained but the inhabitants obtained ALL their water needs by catching
(in pitchers) the water which cascaded down their trunks in the dawn. These
trees were likely the Foetid Laurel a small grove of which yet persists on
Chaco,
22/02/2013: Farewell, Tom
Good:
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100203339/in-memory-of-richard-briers-why-theres-no-going-back-to-the-good-life/
22/02/2013: "THE UN's climate
change chief, Rajendra Pachauri, has acknowledged a 17-year pause in global
temperature rises, confirmed recently by Britain's Met Office, but said it
would need to last "30 to 40 years at least" to break the long-term
global warming trend." Oh COME NOW Raj, GAME OVER I would think -
& please ignore the absence of ANY proof of ANY anthropogenic
warming...http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nothing-off-limits-in-climate-debate/story-e6frg6n6-1226583112134
22/02/2013: Oscar otherwise
reprehensible conduct may have a ‘rational’ excuse after all: seems the
arresting cop WAS an android – or at least he has been arrested on SEVEN counts
of murder! These bizarre murders seem to be increasing in frequency. Folks of
an eschatological bent will be presaging doom: well, they always Are actually…
22/02/2013: Remember when…just
about every house from the Hunter North was of a type we USED to call
‘Queensland’ houses ‘cause they were made of hardwood timber and were up on
stilts: the former because hardwood is rated at F25+ (to withstand CYCLONES –
who would have thought?) whereas the much scantier pine framing NOW being used
is F7 at best; AND they were built WELL ABOVE flood level on stilts, no less.
Well, there is another 6” of rain on the way today. Let’s see how the new
houses cope, ie those approved by the current generation of town planners who
baulk when you want to build a pergola or a doghouse, but who gaily approve
MacMansions on concrete slabs almost below sea level on flood plains.
22/02/2013: There is an
interesting critter called ‘rubisco’. It’s not a biscuit. It’s not even a
critter either really, just the most common protein on the planet. It’s made by
‘chloroplasts’ which are NOT some evil chemical fluoridationists add to the
water supply but just the most common photosynthesis factories on the planet.
(It is these little guys – or a GM form of them made even more efficient and
pumping out exactly the nutrients humans need which I foresee getting under the
skin of the ‘green man’ I have already posted about – 18/2. I still haven’t
figured whether the watts per square metre delivered by dear old Sol plus the
relative efficiency of photosynthesis would deliver enough kilojoules to power
homo emeraldis, but I WILL give it some thought!) If these two interestingly
named things (rubisco, chloroplasts) did NOT exist, there would be NO life on
the planet and we would not be here arguing about whether they can or can not
transform a little more CO2 into useful things to avert the great heat death
which awaits us all - if you believe some panicky chicken little folks!
22/02/2013: You MAY have
missed this; I certainly did. After walking endless days and driving endless
days through the absolutely awful ‘world heritage wildernesses’ of Southern
& Western Tassie, I probably opined to you that they should give the whole
bloody lot to Rio (in the unlikely event event they would want it: who else
would love an endless peat swamp we walked across for seven whole days) and
which contained four living creatures (we’re still not sure whether they meant
species or individuals). There weren’t even any mossies (nothing to eat!) and
no animal tracks, fewmets etc. Just bloody dreadful. One day on our driving
trip we camped (at one of the better spots) ‘Prickly Wattle Camp’ – what a
delight IT was! Nonetheless, I was somewhat surprised to learn that Tony Bourke
has actually given it to the miners! No wonder Chrissie had a hissie fit!
http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/ore-values-over-core-values-as-labor-gives-tarkine-to-miners-20130219-2epdp.html#ixzz2LNXBNBRp
21/02/2013: Geert Wilders is
correct. Take a look at the views of these speakers at an Islamic conference to
be held soon in
21/02/2013: Ain't it the
truth? "Obviously, in nature, the increase in CO2 and
Humidity are both caused by rising temperatures. It is also
impossible to have a net positive feedback because systems with total positive
feed back are not stable and simply run away to disaster. We wouldn’t be here
to tell the tale if it were true." It's the Sun stupid - The minor
significance of CO2: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/02/20/its-the-sun-stupid-the-minor-significance-of-co2/#more-80162
21/02/2013: There is evil
aplenty still afoot in our midst. These folks failed to learn from 70 years
under the Soviets, or from the 100 million plus folk murdered by Mao, &
etc:
http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2013/02/marxism-2013-for-children-from-age-4-in-melbourne-hosted-by-van-rudd-in-the-school-of-rebellion-for-.html#more
21/02/2013: Geert Wilders
(Dutch MP, who has Indonesian ancestry): "I am an elected politician from
one of the oldest democracies in the world. I am the leader of the Party for
Freedom, the largest Dutch opposition party. We have almost 1 million voters in
a country that is known for its tolerance. I am not a fringe figure; I am not
far-right either. Political opponents brought me to court, accusing me of hate
speech and discrimination. But the court in
21/02/2013: Apartheid #4: We
should not enter into ANY celebration of ancient aboriginal culture without
serious examination of the veracity of claims made. In this context, Keith
Windshuttle’s excellent histories (‘The Fabrication of Aboriginal History’ have
an important part to play. You can get a taste for it here: (http://www.quadrant.org.au/blogs/history-wars/2010/05/pocket-windschuttle-goes-viral). THIS important opinion piece in ‘Quadrant’ among the
‘Bennelong Papers’ (http://www.quadrant.org.au/blogs/bennelong-papers) is also essential reading: (http://www.quadrant.org.au/blogs/bennelong-papers/2013/02/rousseau-shouldn-t-re-write-our-constitution) As I said in an earlier post (19/2) the TRUTH of a premise
is supremely important.
20/02/2013: Wunderbar: NBN Co
has defended its pricing structure despite admitting to the Australian
Competition and Consumer Commission that it may not recover all of its costs by
2040. Oh, genius #2!
20/02/2013: I agree with Tim
Blair, THIS really is GENIUS: https://twitter.com/_FloridaMan Heaps of evidence for my 'spare parts' case to be found
above.
20/02/2013: So Chrissie is
abandoning Labor to concentrate on key core Green policies such as abolishing
coal mining and the mining industry generally. Good one Chris, that'll work
fine: as my dear old mum used to say, 'None so pure as the pure in heart!'
20/02/2013: Or, hopefully,
sooner! http://blogs.news.com.au/images/uploads/ball1_thumb.jpg
20/02/2013: Apartheid #3:
Below is a link to an excellent new study on just how warlike primitive societies
are/were. It confirms Dampier’s observations about the ‘miserablist people on
Earth’ , other travellers’ tales, C19th anthropologists & etc , that
aborigine society in its ‘natural state’ was indescribably violent and awful
and that therefore Europeanisation and the extinguishment of aboriginal society
can only have been a good thing. We should NOT celebrate in our constitution
something which is both appalling and a lie. You should try to get hold OF A
COPY OF THIS EXCELLENT BOOK, Nicol, John, John
Nicol, Mariner: Life and Adventures 1776-1801,
20/02/2013: Oscar's
'automatism' plea may be blown if it becomes generally known that shortly
before he had been reading Oliver Sach's book, 'The Man Who Mistook His Wife
for a Hat'!
19/02/2013: Why YOU have to work until you are
67 (or 70!). Thank YOU, Miranda: “Effectively, about 80 per cent of the money
collected in income tax is now spent on social security and welfare... she
received $1400 every fortnight in welfare payments, plus $250 a fortnight in
child support payments from two of the three fathers of her children. So her
income is $825 a week, tax free, plus the $5000 baby bonus.” Do we really need
MORE of this? http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/mirandadevine/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/voters_are_sick_of_handouts/
19/02/2013: Watch
the video. THEN tell me you really want MORE of these guys:
http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/welfare_is_a_jiohad_seekers_allowance/
19/02/2013: I noticed this
too, a day when I quoted from Wilders' warnings about the dangers of radical
Islam Leigh Sales at 7:30 was giving those very people (extreme radicals) free
air time. The ABC has become the voice of the extreme Left: it no longer has
even the pretence of a balance of views. It has been years since it has had a
SINGLE commentator who is even as middle of the road as the Liberals, let alone
anyone more conservative: instead it showcases extremist commie nutjobs as if
they were somehow representative of mainstream
19/02/2013: This
too: Wilders
“has lived under guard now for nine years…At one stage he was housed in a
former jail for his safety. He has been the target not just of death threats,
but of actual assassination plots - like one by two Muslim fundamentalists
arrested after a siege in 2004. You may agree with Wilders or you may disagree,
but the danger to his life and fear of so many people to be seen to be helping
or meeting him should tell even the deaf that Islam does indeed threaten free
speech - and threatens also your right to hear whom you like and decide for
yourself. On that last point there should be no disagreement: the threats to
Wilders and those who wish to hear him are disgraceful. Astonishing. A stain on
our free society. And they are testimony indeed to the intolerance of
Islam. But now to the 7.30
report on Wilders last night. I would have thought that with so many attempts
to silence Wilders, 7.30
would have thought it both important morally and interesting for its audience
to let him speak. Test him, sure, but let him speak. Instead, the show vilified
him with some pre-emptive and largely false labelling, and drowned out the few
things Wilders was allowed to say with a barrage of vile abuse by some
rent-a-mob of radical activists meeting in some concrete corner. Wilders at
least has a constituency, leading a party with 16 seats in the Dutch parliament
and coming second overall in recent polls. The protesters found by the ABC to
abuse Wilders represent virtually nobody.” Andrew Bolt.
19/02/2013: The extremists 7:30 showcased,
example: ‘Solidarity is actually a Trotskyite outfit with a minuscule
membership and an authoritarian plan for Australia far more threatening to our
democracy and our freedoms than anything Wilders could ever dream of. Its
manifesto, for instance, declares: “Capitalism stifles democracy and smothers
creative freedom… We stand for socialism, a society that would be based on
democratically elected workers councils which control and plan the economy…
Parliament, the army, the police and the courts are institutions of the
capitalist state ... [which] cannot be taken over and used by the working
class.” 7.30 does not mention
this, or even label Solidarity “Left wing” as it (falsely) labelled Wilders
“Right wing”’
19/02/2013: The truth of
premises is actually MORE important than the validity of argument (though they
are BOTH important). Here is an example from a primer of traditional formal
(Aristotlean) logic. Here is the FORM of a valid argument: ‘All swans are
white, This is a swan, Therefore it is white.’ It IS a valid argument. Before
the discovery of
19/02/2013: Apartheid #2: This
is the second of some posts about the inadvisability of changing to an
‘apartheid’ constitution, but first, you should understand the mythology (the
premises) on which it is based; firstly the myth of the ‘noble savage’. Here’s
an excerpt from Dr David Deming’s excellent essay (link below) to start with:
“The modern environmental movement and many of our public policies are based
implicitly on the myth of the Noble Savage. The fountainhead of modern
environmentalism is Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring. The first sentence in Silent
Spring invoked the Noble Savage by claiming, “there was once a town in the
heart of
18/02/2013: Christianity USED
to be like this too (eg during the Spanish Inquisition) and there are millions
of dead Buddhists too, victims of the conflicts between ‘Theravada’ and ‘Mahayana’
in the past (just like the conflict between ‘Sunni’ & ‘Shia’ in Islam
today); all this forms a part of why I am opposed to AL religion. However,
today our freedom is MOST threatened by Islam. Listen to what visiting Dutch
MP, Geert Wilders says about it: “In the Islamic world, I was always struck by
two things. I was impressed by the kindness and helpfulness of many people. But
there was also their fear. Islamic societies are ruled by terror. Muslims are
good people, but they live under the yoke of Islamic sharia. If they leave
Islam, or even just mildly criticise it, they sign their own death verdict. I
returned to The Netherlands and became a politician. I used to live in the
Kanaleneiland district of Utrecht. During my years there, the district was
transformed into a dangerous neighbourhood for non-Muslims. I have been robbed.
On several occasions I had to run for safety. The same transformation happened
in several cities in The Netherlands and other European countries where Islam
settled.
18/02/2013: Over-Ju-Liar:
http://michaelsmithnews.typepad.com/.a/6a0177444b0c2e970d017c36ed284a970b-800wi
18/02/2013: It IS a spoof, but
an excellent one, Tim Blair: 'Before it is abolished forever, the Department of
Climate Change should issue one final warning':
(http://blogs.news.com.au/images/uploads/climatedept2.png)
18/02/2013: Green Man #3: To
recap: this is human modification that is a whisker away: imagine a
subcutaneous layer of GE algae/bacteria whose photosynthesis and food producing
factories produce all the energy and nutrients we require save air and water.
Of course we would have to live naked in the open or under artificial light to
obtain the full benefit. Imagine further that one’s skin formed an intranet
connecting information processing units from all over the body. These might be
implanted, such as pacemakers, artificial hearts, audio-video eyes and ears and
enhanced senses, or worn such that they could communicate with other
people/devices via wi-fi and Bluetooth, etc. We have only yet begun to see how
the human environment can/will change in this best of all centuries!
18/02/2013: Robert Heinlein
once observed that high-tech is indistinguishable from magic: we are rapidly
approaching THAT interface (though strangely there remain folks who dwell yet
on the mages – we will ne’er be free of troglodytes I fear!) I figure this
jacket adumbrates invisible tattoo ink which will one day soon do the same
subcutaneously making us into ambulatory subsidiary electronic networks. No
doubt the ‘green man’ I foreshadowed in a previous post (17/2) will acquire
such a skin as part of his/her transformation to homo naturalis. There
MAY remain some quandary as to whether the sun’s rays trasmogrified by
skin-deep photosynthesis would be sufficient in all climes to power other than
such a sluggish existence as many greenfolk live anyway…
http://www.aninews.in/newsdetail7/story97394/now-jacket-to-connect-wearable-tech-using-data-waves.html
18/02/2013: I had wondered whether
you could megascale a capacitor to do this (ie store energy for the grid);
mayhap slightly less low-tech than the giant lead-acid batteries herein. There
remains the possibility that ‘renewables could be made to work (though
prolonged cold/hot/windless periods would still bedevil them) though I misdoubt
they can ever be economic: nb the stratospheric escalation of our power costs
albeit everything we do to mitigate them: (solar panels/ leds, timers, heat
pumps et al) is cancelled out by it: http://www.equities.com/news/headline-story?dt=2013-01-31&val=990500&cat=energy
17/02/2013: I'm still waiting
for Ju-Liar (or anyone from the Left) to describe our summer wildfires as:
'carbon pollution'...
17/02/2013: Human Rights Commissioner,
(on Channel 7 this morning) Gillian Triggs supports the Government’s plans -
since abandoned - to make it unlawful to 'offend' someone on the basis of their
sexual orientation, political opinion or social origin, etc...Weird
juxtaposition of role and position: Just a little too like the old saying,
'Fighting for peace is like f-----g for virginity' - though I MUST admit I do
not agree with the latter: I think 'fighting for peace' is always and alltimes
a worthwhile cause, and that (too frequently) the ONLY way it CAN be achieved.
If peace is not worth fighting for, WHAT IS? As to Ms Triggs: do we really need
such seat-warmers, do we really need such quangos? DEFINITELY NOT!
17/02/2013: Leslie Camilleri:
why MUST we abide bastards like this? He has VERY belatedly put his hand up for
the murder of wee lass, Prue Bird but will not tell (even to diminish her
mother’s anguish) where her remains are hidden. Let's not suppose he is
suffering from a little amnesia here. It is obvious, is it not it's because
there are yet more tiny victims of this cruel monster yet undiscovered…Suppose
I was taking his spare body parts to save others' lives, do you not think he
might not somewhat freely admit to Prue's whereabouts then? First, I will take
your cojones (not that someone wants/needs them - your genes ARE default,
laddie, just to prove a point!) Then maybe I will take your eyeballs which will
save the sight of two people (who do not see the world in the same way as you
even through your eyes)...about NOW, he will be VERY willing to tell where Prue
is...
17/02/2013: I realise now that
(in a very hasty earlier post) I opined that Oscar had a perfect alibi if he
said he though she was an electric sheep, when I should have said if he thought
she was an android - with apologies to Phillip K Dick (cf: ‘Do Androids Dream
of Electric Sheep’ aka 'Blade Runner'.
17/02/2013: Ain't nature
wonderful; a solar powered salamander ! Wowee. Gene Wolfe had a green man in
one of his 'Torturer' novels (forget which one) who didn't need to eat (if he
wore clothes) but could gain all his sustenance from water, sunlight and air
due to symbiosis with an algae underneath his skin. I thought this was a neat
(though fanciful) idea at the time but evidently it MAY lead in the future to a
resurgence of Jainism and other such greenie religions as folks repudiate the
‘wicked earth-hating ways’ we now practice and embrace a NEW ‘greener’
lifestyle. The fashion industry WILL ‘wither on the vine’, so to speak! I
expect Chris Milne and her ilk to get right behind this (or get their behinds
right on this) :
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/01/18/spotted-salamander-first-solar-powered-vertebrate-discovered/
17/02/2013: Here in Gippsland
Lakes Oil (LKO) ARE very up and down but a very cheap buy. If you are not very
afraid to lose $5K I suggest you get a Commsec account and buy and sell them.
Often they move up or down 10%. If you buy eg at .007c you can immediately put
an open-ended sell order in at eg .008c and make @$500, then you can put in an
open-ended buy order @ eg .007c again. If/when they get their fracking
permissions, they will be the sort of outfit which will either fold or maybe go
to $10 or higher (who knows?) and you would ever need to work again. Drilling
IS bringing billions of people world-wide immense benefits whatever quaint
ideas sundry opponents might have who would mayhap rather see billions of folks
suffer and die. In just two years drilling in the
17/02/2013: PS: The
anti-fracking 'nut-jobs' have been trying to hound Lakes Oil out of business
(with the assistance of 'Red Ted' - when ARE the Libs going to replace this
loser?), hopefully without success. Question: WHY CAN'T Vic share in the same
success and bounty as the other States (and nations) which are benefiting
already from nature's bounty, and from these wonderful ‘new’ drilling
technologies? Why MUST we become troglodytes? ('The Stone Age DID not end
because we ran out of stones' - 'an oldie, but a goodie' .
17/02/2013: Good news perhaps:
after over six years Israeli hero & PM, Ariel Sharon has shown signs of
consciousness (though remaining in a coma). If he revives will he get to serve
of the remainder of his term? He would make a better PM than OURS in his
PRESENT state frankly – perhaps the ALP should enlist him?
16/02/2013: So, apparently the
large asteroid missed by roughly the diameter of the Earth, which IS pretty
near. Evidently there is a 30% chance such a chunk of rock WILL hit us this
century flattening an area similar to the
16/02/2013: And, AT LAST we
can say that Christopher Dorner IS dead - & about time too: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-20730718
16/02/2013: Can't wait to see
Tony begin to build those 100 dams...Sarah Hanson Young has already come out in
opposition to them (who knew?) so he MUST be on the right track, surely?
16/02/2013: Michael Milton
says Oscar Pistorius’ arrest on murder charges is a huge blow to disability
sport, but surely the reverse is true: doesn't it show that the disabled are
capable of anything anyone else can do?
16/02/2013: New challenges
every day: hoping to master the tablet soon; Della is miles in front of me
already...no surprise there, I suppose?
16/02/2013: It wasn't always
'us and them' - & probably isn't today either. A case in point: the Roden
family owned a furniture factory in Launceston for many years eventually
employing 150 people but begun in their back shed. During the 1929 flood there
many people's houses were damaged. The family sent its workmen around with
wagons to collect furniture. They rented a warehouse, dried and repaired the
flood damaged furniture, then gave it back to their customers, gratis. During
the Second World War when many of their employees were away serving their
country (mainly in the 40th), Mrs Roden kept their wages for them 'so they
would have something to come back to', she said!
15/02/2013: It is interesting
that there ARE still things which cannot be said, not in polite society anyway,
and I have just discovered one of them. I wanted to speak about my disgust and loathing
for pedophilia and how I thought they should be hanged, nothing exceptional
there, surely? Neither was what I wanted to say pornographic, or horrific in
nature – Stephen King would have far excelled me there. Nonetheless, both Della
and a friend whom I read it to both agreed the way I put it could not be said.
Interesting. There are limits to freedom I agree to as well. I think it would
be most undesirable to give children free access to opiates, for example. I can
think of many more distasteful examples, but there are limits to what you can
say. The censorious spirit is inherent, it seems.
I remember many years ago
beginning to read Emlyn Williams book ‘Beyond Belief’ about the Moors Murderers
(Henley & Bradey). The book was masterfully written – too masterfully. I
came to a point where I could not continue. This was not because of any graphic
account of the horrific details of the child murders. There was a point where
Williams was entering the minds of such people – and there I could not go. THAT
is the problem I faced today: I asked Della and my friend to look into the mind
of a pedophile. I don’t think either would trouble at all if such folk ended
their lives on a short length of rope – but to enter their minds, their world?
NO.
Unfortunately THIS is exactly
the problem we ARE faced with. There has been a move afoot for many years to in
effect decriminalise pedophilia at least so far as this: that it no longer be
viewed by the law as a crime or a disease but as a life choice (though it might
still be banned). The Victorian Government (many years ago) sponsored the
publication of a periodical ‘Outrage’ which openly canvassed the view this
view. I cannot go into the disgustingly depraved ‘liberties’ the group
publishing these documents advocated. Such people continue to ‘test the
boundaries’.
Wittgenstein argued that there
could not be a private language even if its inventor understood it. I think
Tolkien just about proved him wrong, and whilst elvish remained a private
language for him for some time, I understand there are groups who chose to
speak it now! And Klingon!
I think that there are also
things which cannot be said. Not just things which if you said them people
would be deeply shocked (or whatever) so that you should not say them even if
you feel quite passionately about them. There are thoughts/feelings etc which
words cannot express. Lots of people have noticed that I suppose. Most of these
you could make a fair attempt at though. Sunsets and such. What I mean is there
are concepts which cannot be expressed and others indeed which cannot even be
thought. Some aspects of the complexity of the universe will forever be beyond
our ken, beyond our understanding. Some would be beyond the understanding of
any being which COULD exist or be imagined, even. It is most unlikely that a
truly infinite universe (which I suspect the universe Heraclitus observed IS)
would ever be reducible to any finite set of rules or laws (explanations) and
so will remain forever unknowable, inexpressible. Whether this is a good thing
is a supercilious question even though it is the first which arises. The second
is ‘Is it true? but in this context THAT is exactly the problem: an infinite
universe is not reducible to such a small number as TWO polarities; the
question is meaningless…
15/02/2013: If Robert
McClelland resigns to take on a Labor sinecure (what else?) AND Ju-Liar fudges
on a by-election (likely), should the Liberals continue to 'pair' him. I should
say NOT! Let's end this fiasco NOW!
15/02/2013: I KNEW that there
had been a war between grass and trees fought for millions of years: the spoils
the % of CO2 in the atmosphere - interestingly grass has been MUCH better at
locking it up than trees - and it has all the large mammals (including us) as
symbiotes in this battle. Turns out there has been another (vaster, and yet
more miniscule) clash transpiring in our oceans for millennia: its outcome will
be the fate of the planet; not some triviality mankind practices!
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/02/13/the-war-on-bugs-affects-the-oceans-and-co2-exchange/#more-79589
15/02/2013: Another very good
graphic: http://blogs.news.com.au/images/uploads/budgett_thumb.png
15/02/2013: EVERYONE should
have a new puppy. Jack Russells are the BEST. I will stand for NO disagreement
here. Puppies have such a time to PLAY, and believe me, whatever you HAVE been
doing, you haven’t spent enough time PLAYING – so get yourself a puppy! (Try
the Trading POST where illegal puppy buying and selling still abounds!)
15/02/2013: Blade Runners
aside, the fate of Chris Dorner still hangs in abeyance it seems…howsomever, if
you have a dog which kills sheep, you do NOT give it to a sheep farmer because
THEY have more sheep, you quickly and quietly eliminate it - additionally to
ensure that it does not breed more of its like. Punishment aside, this was one
of the important reasons we practiced execution of serious criminals for many
years in the past. Slowly this method worked (over many years) as they came to
represent an ever-decreasing percentage of the population - and society became
safer. At the outset when we abolished the rope in the mid sixties, there
seemed to be little change, but slowly, inexorably, and then more and
more quickly, such folks bred up (as they WILL, particularly if we PAY them TO
breed!) AND re-offended, so that today we see chaps on their third or even
fourth murder victim in succession! Recently Ned Kelly was recently reburied by
his ‘descendents.’ Now one of the purposes of his execution (as mentioned
above) was to prevent descendents from arising in the first place, which I
think succeeded in his case (these folks are descended from his relatives, I
suppose). I always understood that in addition to hanging the offender, s/he
was buried in unconsecrated ground (in the hope that we could so prevent their
resurrection and after-life) AND that they were buried in quick-lime so that
their body would be tortured after death and would quickly burn away leaving NO
remains. At least part of this was a myth, it seems. This remains true: where
Kelly was put @ 120 years ago was part of his (legislated) punishment, and we
have no right to CHANGE that, just as folks in the future would have no right
to resurrect eg Chris Dorner should such technology become available – except
for the purpose of trying and punishing him for his crimes perhaps! If society
threatened to do this to (say to mass killers who often suicide to ESCAPE
punishment) this MAY act as a deterrent, I suppose – though such folks are
probably just too mad and bad to be deterred by anything…
15/02/2013: Where DO genes
come from? I have already commented on this issue and its consequence for the
evolution of human intelligence, but I was drawn to an item recently which
noted that domestic dogs (such as our new wonderboy, 'JR') have acquired a gene
which allows them to digest grain (missing from wolves), presumably so that
they can share your morning toast. I assume they acquired it from us due to
centuries of proximity and passed it on to their offspring. I WONDER what genes
WE have acquired from our association with dogs: there are definitely some
folks who have acquired some of a dog's injudicious behaviour...
15/02/2013: Oscar Pistorius
has the PERFECT alibi: he mistook his girlfriend for an 'electric sheep' - fans
of Phillip K Dick WILL understand!
14/02/2013: ANOTHER simple,
effective graph:
http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2013/02/a-simple-graph-on-the-federal-governments-income-and-spending-.html
14/02/2013: MANY WILL GO DOWN
WITH HER! Kernohan: "For the record Bill Shorten, Chris Hayse, Conroy,
Roxon, Swan, Feeney, Ludwig, Howes and others knew full well about the fraud
perpetrated by Gillard and Wilson in what is now known as the AWU scandal."
http://pickeringpost.com/article/for-those-who-missed-it-bobs-response-to-bill-shortens-pledge-to-fix-bullying/928
14/02/2013: SHAME! Apartheid
AGAIN! Yesterday Liberal AND Labor voted to place into the constitution a
division of Australians based on WHATEVER tiny proportion of ‘race’ with which
people may chose to identify their remote ancestors. I will definitely vote
against any such proposal if it is ever put to a referendum. Aborigines ceased
to exist on 1/1/1901 when
14/02/2013: Hopefully Chris
Dorner IS dead (belatedly, after murdering four people), and it is not another
poor victim whose remains were found in the burnt out shack. Who NEEDS mad dogs
like him anyway, even if he DID vote for Obama?
14/02/2013: Wow! THIS trumps
even her pink batts, school halls et cetera: $16 million to recruit 14 people
from a group who long since found something more worthwhile to do with their
lives! Wonder how many of the 14 will stick it out too?
http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/another_16_million_wasted_another_labor_promise_broken/
14/02/2013: The Tykes are
talking an Oz, Afro or Asian Pope; SAY isn't it about time we had a WOMAN Pope:
it's been a long time holding our breath since Pope Joan (whom most aver a
fake)?
14/02/2013: Leftie
environmentalists CANNOT be APPEASED. First they wanted the 'waste' land where
we conducted mining, timber harvesting, fishing, grazing, hunting etc for their
'National' & 'Marine" parks so they could waste it further with their
wildfires and runaway vermin & weeds. Then they decided that artificially
created 'farm' land was also unsuitable for coal seam gas mining, wind farms,
hydro projects and ad nauseum & infinitum. Don’t wait around: they WILL
want your house (and your wife, car, family – anything the vandals can lay
their hands on)! Wake up
13/02/2013: Here's a quandary
for the greenie folks: Do we really want EVERY living species to survive, or
are there some we could really do without? There are probably some bigger ones
which have questionable value too (including some people, frankly):
http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/when-species-extinction-is-a-good-thing.aspx
13/02/2013: PLEASE don't waste
any good money placing bets backing the September election day: Tony has
imposed an overseas travel ban on his team; the team investigating Gillard says
charges will be laid 'within weeks'; Wilson will accept the same deal Blewitt
did, ie that no evidence he gives will be used against HIM; Ju-Liar has cashed
herself up by selling her Canberra flat AT A LOSS; Kevin is VERY close to the
numbers; ICAC daily reveals fresh depths of infamy in the ALP/Union movement.
The ALP will be WIPED OUT at an early election and will need to cleanse and
reinvent itself before it ever again has the confidence of the people...
13/02/2013: OUR (?) NBN:
Coalition Senator Simon Birmingham said: “Once again NBN Co have revised down
targets, this time having failed to deliver a single connection from 19 months
of construction in 25 areas across three states.” Astonishing! Thanks for THAT
Kev & Ju-Liar! Malcolm Turnbull “Not only has the Syntheo rollout failed to
deliver a single activated service in 19 months, the NBN Co has also
acknowledged that most of the premises in multi dwelling units passed by the
NBN fibre cannot be connected to the service.” WOW!
13/02/2013: It's Certainly
Time, Ju-Liar: http://pickeringpost.com/article/our-prime-minister-is-a-crook-part-x/924
13/02/2013: Good Buy Ruby Tuesday
(Should have posted this yesterday but I was too tired after returning from
Launceston @10:30pm, picking up the new puppy - JR, 'Jack' for short - &
etc
Della: Thanks for the
brilliant ring! (Pity the hands are so time-worn...)
Steve: Every tiny wrinkle or
blemish is a badge of honour to a GREAT forty years sweetheart!
12/02/2013: Interesting link
between Big Tobacco and Big Green. Who would have thought SUCH clean green
folks could tarnish themselves with wicked money? Imagine the founder of the
World Wildlife Fund (not to mention the saintly Mr Gore) being a Tobacco Baron!
PUREas the driven s—t! Well, there you go...http://nofrakkingconsensus.com/2013/02/11/about-those-tobacco-connections/
12/02/2013: These ARE cute.
Those of the AGW faith will no doubt want some to cool themselves with in the
face of irrepressible warming – if they can in good conscience use the fridge
to MAKE them! Anyone who felt inspired by Ursus Bogus (http://wattsupwiththat.com/2010/05/12/new-bear-species-discovered-ursus-bogus/) should get a set anyway. (http://www.amazon.com/Polar-Ice-Penguin-Bear-Molds/dp/B0067X0IRE/ref=sr_1_1?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&tag=wattupwithth-20&qid=1360609643&sr=1-1&keywords=Polar+Ice+-+Penguin+and+Polar+Bear)
12/02/2013: 'From 1995 to the
present there has been NO statistically-significant global warming' Phil Jones,
Hadcrut. So WHY the Carbon Tax? Why all the other mad green dreams? http://catallaxyfiles.com/2013/02/11/phil-jones-test-2013/
12/02/2013: I see the Pope has
resigned. Hopefully they have had enough and do not replace him! Also hope his
resignation has nothing to do with an excess of altar boys in his youth! When
ARE people going to get OVER this mumbo jumbo wicked nonsense?
12/02/2013: Beauty Point:
Moonlight awakens me to a stargazey night: out on the estuary the navigation
beacons well shafts of coloured lights towards me where the wind casts webs on
the glassy surface of the estuary.
12/02/2013:
11/02/2013: The Market: Every
gambler knows: You have to know when to hold….but of course you can’t KNOW.
No-one except charlatans and shamans knows the future. You have to GUESS and it
is an interesting challenge to guess right as the market whirls up, down,
sideways…I wonder whether virtual sheep can graze on the virtual farms
represented by Ruralco, Wesfamers, Elders or whether buying some Incitec Pivot
or Pacific Hydro will fertilise my virtual fields and bring me greater wealth.
An interesting challenge but far easier on the back than REAL farming…
11/02/2013: JB HiFi we luv u!
Who else would have been kind enough to make us money whilst we were lazily
driving the back roads? Well WDC were also kind...Keep up the good 'work' guys!
10/02/2013: How much clearer
would you want a picture to be? Game over Craig, Ju-Liar, I would think: http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/offset-0-34-v2.png?w=584&h=438
10/02/2013: More interesting
adventures courtesy of 'Navperson' who serendipitously takes you to places
other than you chose but which mayhap contain more surprise and delight. '
09/02/2013: Ju-liar has sold
her
09/02/2013: The election
campaign is publicly funded, yet we do not have the right to KNOW whether or
not they are ever telling us the truth. My guess is they just about never are. This
has to end. It is just one of those things (I mentioned bleow) that 70-80% of
Australians want, but NO political party will deliver. Here's Christine Kerr in
the Australian: "POLITICAL parties have been given a green light to mislead
and deceive voters in taxpayer-funded electoral material, despite Julia
Gillard's pledge to introduce tougher federal regulations. As MPs and
candidates begin bombarding voters with glossy election pamphlets in the
lead-up to the September 14 poll, the Australian Electoral Commission still
does not have any powers to decide whether political messages published or
broadcast in relation to a federal election are true or untrue".
09/02/2013: AT LAST: Leftist
voters seem to be deserting the Greens and flooding back to the ALP in WA; this
should take some of the sting out of the abject craziness of the Left - but
really, the ALP needs to be remade; it has to rid itself of both crazies AND
crooks, go back to its roots in really being the voice and REPRESENTATION of
'working Australians' AND it needs to understand that EMPLOYERS work too, AND
that the greatest increase in prosperity does not come from sweat any more, but
from brain work and capital. Capital wasted (which is their current
methodology) can only lead to poverty for all. ALL political parties need to
listen up more to what the people want, eg if 70-80% of the people think, 'Hang
them!' (murderers, child molesters, terrorists etc), THEN BLOODY HANG THEM.
There is no sense in keeping such folks alive just in case we should ever NEED
them. We do not need them to BE alive!
http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/labor_smashing_greens_in_wa_meanwhile_the_barnett_government/
09/02/2013: We BOTH tried to
watch '
09/02/2013: Della watched the
new 'Les Miserables'. On my count this is the third one she has watched (and enjoyed
- women are inexplicable creatures!). I gave up and went to bed quite early on
into the movie. Things I can't stand about it: one song and one chorus repeated
endlessly. Stupid chanting dialogue. NOTHING SCANS. Are there no POETS who can
write verse any more? I am astonished that such rubbish has gained ANY audience
at all. On the other hand, Della LOVED it! Who am I to argue?
09/02/2013: Two interesting
points about
08/02/2013: Bolt: "what the
(UK) Met figures show, here is the Met in its own words, excuses and all: 'The
linear trend from August 1997 (in the middle of an exceptionally strong El
Nino) to August 2012 (coming at the tail end of a double-dip La Nina) is about
0.03°C/decade, amounting to a temperature increase of 0.05°C over that
period...Or put it this way: if this rate of warming is real and was maintained
for the rest of the century, the world by 2100 would be hotter by about 0.27 of
a degree. You’d struggle to even measure it. You certainly wouldn’t notice a
change in the climate, other than the natural ones that have always been with
us'". Sure need to do something about THAT!
08/02/2013: Magpies down the
road from us playing chicken: Why DID the magpie cross the road? For one
recently it was a grave mistake. Someone else had hit him; we picked him up to
see if we could help, but to no avail. I just hate hitting birds. I am like to
have a serious rear-end (yes even worse than THIS one) if I keep screeching to
a halt to protect ducks, magpies, wagtails, etc...
08/02/2013: Y'know how green
folks are always ranting about how evil 'fossil fuels' are, but have you ever
given serious thought to just how MAD this idea is. David Deming gives some
thought to this issue: http://lewrockwell.com/deming/deming11.1.html
08/02/2013: Obama deserted his
post (under fire) whilst Americans were killed in
08/02/2013: "In the
thunderstorm part of the tropical thermal regime, it is important to note that
not only is the relationship between incoming energy and temperature
non-linear, but in fact there is no relationship between incoming energy and
temperature". That was just a bit of a taste of a
truly amazing article which shows definitively how so many scientists have been
barking up the wrong tree on climate - if there really IS a tree at all: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/02/07/emergent-climate-phenomena/#more-79055
08/02/2013: Yet another reason
why I am right that
08/02/2013: This is my
grandfather, George Earnest (yes, really) Jones 'dressed to kill' in his
08/02/2013: BCA president Tony
Shepherd said: “Philosophically, I object to the term ‘concessions’. The money
is ours. We go to work, we get paid. The money is ours. It’s up to government
to justify how much they take from us. It’s not theirs, it’s our money. It’s
not a concession, it’s our money.”
07/02/2013: Fair point:
http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/clip_image002_thumb.jpg?w=571&h=430
07/02/2013: You can VERY
CLEARLY see in this UAH satellite data the step change which occurred in the
temperature figures c1998 (and that there has been no warming since) Neither of
these phenomena CAN have been caused by the ever-increasing (and yet incredibly
tiny) proportions of CO2 in the atmosphere (which ought to have produced a
LINEARLY upward movement). In the twenty years before the step change the
temperature fluctuates around -.3C from the average; afterwards it fluctuates
around +.3C. No-one yet knows WHAT caused this. My betting is on long-term
cycles as the most likely culprit, probably caused by the sun:
http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/tlt_update_jan2013.png
07/02/2013: Moves against our
Super are seriously worrying. Isn't it enough that folks are being ORDERED to work
until they are 67 or 70, not to support the elderly (as claimed, and which
might be reasonable - most don't want to see their mums and dads starve!) who
are increasingly able to support themselves, but to support an ever-increasing
army of bludgers, blood-suckers, sycophants conwo/men, and public
'servants'/masters? This Government has also increased budget outlays by $100
billion pa over the average of the last Government's budgets and thrown it to
the winds. From Michael Smith's blog: "Jonathan is an eminent
person. He's freely given of his time and analytical skills to set out
exactly how well our nation's government has performed over time. Here's
his note. 'This took me 30 minutes to go to budget.gov.au and work through the
official budget documents. I do have a Bachelor's degree in economics, but
practice as a corporate lawyer. What the attached document shows is that
Labor's claim that their record deficits result from falling revenue is
absolute garbage. You will see if they kept average spending as a percent of
GDP to the average of the last 5 Coalition budgets they should have delivered
surpluses in 3 out of 4 budgets. Instead they have increased expenditure as a
percent of GDP by 3.85%. I really hope you publish this and circulate it
because I believe it is extremely important that facts are used to destroy
Gillard and Swan's claims. They are complete and utter lies. Why a member of
the Press Gallery has not taken the time to do this basic research task is
beyond me.'"
07/02/2013: Sound familiar?
Nick Dyrenfurth: "A funny thing happened on the final evening of my
family’s recent holiday to
07/02/2013: Just a point of
correction: some folks have been posting here of the 'desirability' of
'marriage equality'. Now, this is a nonsense: gays have exactly the same marriage
equality as heterosexuals, ie the right to marry a person of the opposite sex,
of their choice - just the same as the rest of us. The 'right' no-one has is to
marry someone of the SAME sex. PLEASE, instead of referring to this demand as
'marriage equality' (which already exists), call it 'same sex marriage' which
is what you are asking for. I would still want to deny it, but THAT, (and my
reasons for doing so) are another matter! Neither do we have the 'right' to
marry: multiple folks, our family members, animals eg a horse (as Caligula
did), a whale or a tree (as many green nature lovers seem to want to do), money
(as too many want to do), unbridled pleasure, narcotics, the 'Dark side',
madness...or ANY OTHER THING than a person of the opposite sex. Open one door
and you will also find ALL these doors (and more ) behind it waiting to be
opened...Again, there is this equally valid point: the majority of
heterosexuals might not want the right to marry persons of the opposite sex. If
this is so (as appears likely) then it is equally likely that demands for ‘same
sex marriage’ are unlikely to have majority support!
07/02/2013: Another green
dream crashes and burns as Nissan and
06/02/2013: If THIS is what Ms
Peris is REALLY like, she should prove a GREAT adornment to the House (too bad
really Craig won't still be there to keep her company - though he is/was in the
other house) and Ju-Liar should get just what she deserves from picking
her...still wondering about her
percentages...http://pickeringpost.com/article/the-captains-pick/913
06/02/2013: This should prove
interesting too: "Peris' private companies have successfully sucked
$333,700.00 and a further $950,011.00 from taxpayers in a mostly abortive
Aboriginal medical road show":
http://pickeringpost.com/article/a-very-cross-ms-crossin/914
06/02/2013: New Australians: I
grew up in the fifties when we had lots of these folks coming in: Poms, Greeks,
Italians, Dutch, Baltics…& later Albanians, Turks…etc. (I married one of
their fine daughters). In those days we INVITED them in, and we chose carefully
who could come, BUT, (THIS IS IMPORTANT), the very minute they were here, they
were ‘NEW Australians’. Note this important point: we expected them, first and
foremost, FROM DAY ONE, to BE Australians! No multi-culturalism then (what an
obscenity!), we EXPECTED and RECEIVED loyalty from our gift of citizenship. Of
course in those days (at school) all of us were taught something about
citizenship: eg Every day began with an OATH of ALLEGIANCE to the Queen and the
flag. It may seem quaint today, but it IS important for folks to understand
clearly where their primary duty lies. If they don’t want to accept it, they
can just f—k off. There are plenty of other nations in the world for them to
choose from! Though WHY ANY nation would WANT spongers, quislings and traitors
is hard to guess at. Most of these folks repaid the gift of citizenship
handsomely: they worked hard on our farms, in our factories, mines and shops,
etc. They saved & sweated and raised whole new generations OF Australians.
They made themselves wealthy and they made
06/02/2013: The Criminal Code:
I believe that THIS will catch Ju-Liar out, and that she and Wilson WILL be
charged BEFORE the election in September. After all, there IS $1.3 MILLION
missing in 1992 dollars! If that is the case, keep your eye on Kevin Rudd:
"7 Principal offenders
(1) When an offence is
committed, each of the following persons is deemed to have taken part in committing
the offence and to be guilty of the offence, and may be charged with actually
committing it, that is to say—
(a) every person who actually
does the act or makes the omission which constitutes the offence;
(b) every person who does or
omits to do any act for the purpose of enabling or aiding another person to
commit the offence;"
06/02/2013: Some thoughtful
points from a real climate scientist:
http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/scientist_the_cure_is_worse_than_any_warming/
05/02/2013: In the Post Office
today: You meet them still: even at aged 60, having raised a brace of children,
they still believe in their own virginity, have still a golden rope tucked away
somewhere I suppose. The belief in unicorns just won’t go away. This particular
devout had her life savings invested in a unicorn farm somewhere, hoping no
doubt that their increasing numbers would give her a good return…She commented
on how foolish I AM to have invested in the stock market (down one quarter
percent AGAIN today – ignoring the couple of one percent rises of the last week
or so!) Her money she averred is safely ‘capital guaranteed’ in ‘trust funds’
she said. ‘There ain’t no such critter,’ I declared. ‘But it returned 2.8% when
all your shares were down,’ she said. ‘And how much AFTER inflation?’ I
replied. She looked most puzzled. ‘Out of what thin air do you suppose the
capital is going to come to GUARANTEE yours?’ I asked. She remained mystified;
a believer in unicorns yet. Some folks just can’t do arithmetic, I guess. If I
explained: ’Suppose you put your half a million into 100 different companies’
share. Suppose again, yesterday you sold $100,000 worth which were ‘up’ 5% (or
$5000) and bought $100,000 which were ‘down’ 5%. (or $5000). You would have the
same amount of money. Right? Suppose today the market falls by 1% or $5,000.
Would you (over the long term) have (if the market never rose or fell again)
have the same value of investment today as you had yesterday even though you ‘lost’
$5000 (on paper) today? The answer is definitely, ‘Yes’, but she just can’t SEE
that. To her mind I have lost $5,000 whilst her capital is guaranteed at 2.8%
even when inflation is 4%, I suppose. She just doesn’t get it. SHE continues to
believe in unicorns – and I do not!
05/02/2013: Some say human
evolution has ceased. How small a time frame THEY live in, and how blind to all
that goes on around them. One major thing (among others) drives evolution:
adaptation. Those who cope best with changing circumstances will prosper, those
who cope worst will fall behind. So it has always been. Sometimes a group will
hang around for a long while, well adapted to their small niche, free from the
threat of competition (like Tasmanian aborigines). Ultimately this is a faulty
strategy. The last little while (centuries!) has seen a huge movement of people
all over the world – and a vast mixing of genes. Both things drive evolution;
movement brings up new challenges, the mixing throws up new types best suited
to those challenges. The best move, the poorest specimens linger on in their
pathetic niches until they are ultimately swept away. Human inventiveness also
continues to throw up new opportunities and new challenges to which the best
will adapt quickly. Average intelligence has been rising steadily by as much as
.15 points per year in whole populations. Such an increase would take a whole
population from ‘average’ (100) to genius (130) in a mere 200 years. This is a
MIGHTY pace of evolution.
05/02/2013: Sea serpents, a
pod of dolphins 8 miles long (!) and MORE. This guy is just wonderful:
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/02/04/here-there-be-dragons/
05/02/2013: The Oxijet Water
saving Shower Head #2: Ours came today and took a minute to install. Forgot
Step 1: take out the exiting restrictor, THEN it worked. I must say I am seldom
amazed (though I was when I discovered I was wearing sandals and socks instead
of my pull-on work boots – because of the back operation recovery - and so got
my feet thoroughly soaked! BUT, the thing WORKS. I can see little difference
between the amount of water coming out of one of Bunnings wonderful 200mm
shower roses UNRESTRICTED and the one with the Oxijet fitted!
Surprisingly the Oxijet puts out a little LESS water (8.5 lpm) than the same
head with a restrictor (9 lpm). Actually looking forward to my shower tonight!
These people are the Australian suppliers: Mekeema 0242723264. Price is $35
including delivery $9 for one, less for more. Enjoy. http://www.gizmag.com/oxijet-water-saving-shower-head/25973/
05/02/2013: I COMPLETELY agree
with
05/02/2013: Shame on YOU,
Azahara: you should expect to be gaoled, whipped and RAPED. I hope all you Oz
girls are listening up to this; after all, the caliphate IS coming here too:
http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/timblair/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/keep_running/
05/02/2013: Falseness: I HATE
LIARS: Just the last week: 1. I'm sure I'm not the only one who noticed that
Ju-liar claimed Roxon told her she was going to quit TWELVE MONTHS ago - when
she was only appointed twelve months AND SIX WEEKS ago and was so chuffed at
the time at having achieved her LIFELONG AMBITION - clearly didn't want to
stick with it long then, did she? 2. THEN there was the announcement of the
election date: prediction: a lot of money will be made by people betting that
the election will be held ANY DAY BUT 14 September - if they can get anyone to
take the bet! 3. The glasses. Take a close-up of the glasses; They ARE fakes. There
IS no change in focus anywhere on their surface! What's the point of THAT
Ju-liar? Crooked as a dog's hind leg, more porkies than a butcher's shop, a
bent penny...http://blogs.news.com.au/images/uploads/sheseesyou.png
05/02/2013: And, in other
developments, Al Gore opines that the Opposition’s climate policy will have NO
effect on climate change! For once I agree with him: two reasons: climate
change is NOT anthropogenic AND, 'Did you not attend the lesson of the good
King Canute?' Other Opposition/Government policies which 'might' not be
desirable: paid Maternity/Paternity leave (is DNA evidence needed to make a
claim I wonder? Seems fair if I'm paying...). If a gun is going to be held to
the rest of the public (most of whom paid for their own children AND someone
else's already - I am not just being mean spirited here!) to shell out for
these extra small pink things, surely it would be reasonable to exercise a
little Quality Control here as in other important areas of Productivity? Will
there come a time in the future for example when we will (ever) need large
numbers of stupid people? Surely no-one is pessimistic enough to think we WILL
throw away all the nice gains of the Industrial and Technological Revolutions
and return to eons of mindless drudgery - and the need for millions of mindless
drudges, as if THEY could even do SUCH (any?) work better than their smarter
peers anyway. AND what about skipping paying those on welfare to breed: Is it
anticipated that there will come some future time when we will really NEED
squillions more people sucking on the public's purse/s? Come on Tony, bite the
bullet? Ju-Liar has at very least had the good taste NOT to breed - why pay
others of her ilk to do so?
05/02/2013: So they have FOUND
poor old Dick the S--t. Good news. No sign of his horse yet. Hope though
for other scoliotic blighters that they may yet gain fame, nay immortality -
anyway notoriety. Still waiting for the two princes to pop out from hiding
saying, 'Surprise! Maybe today?
04/02/2013: Quote of the day:
Mark Twain: 'Never argue with a fool; onlookers might not be able to tell the
difference'
04/02/2013: An observation I
failed to make when I posted THIS photograph of the great Barack yesterday: not
content to just be the sort of Leftie who steals people's money and gives it to
the poor (and public servants!), this guy actually SHOOTS left-handed too. He
doesn't look as though he has often held a gun before though. Question: should
SUCH folks as he be allowed to have a gun: Governments have shot rather a lot
of people too, you know?
http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/timblair/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/low_aim/
04/02/2013: Bourke: What a
disaster: the HIGHEST crime rate in the WORLD! This is DISMAL news, but hardly
unexpected. It is a result of 40 years of failed socialist experimentation with
'the black/welfare issue' from BOTH major political parties. Let me wind you
back @ 100 years. Bourke was a major port on the Darling steamboat route. It
(and other towns in remote
03/02/2013: I LOVE this guy:
Because you will not get so far into this, but you must, you must, I will post
THIS quote at the beginning to edge you on - but PLEASE, do read the rest:
"nobody ever says “I wish I’d spent more time at the office”. Don’t mail
the envelope in, push the envelope, the journey will end long before any of us
wish it to. Live your most impossiblessed dreams, my friends, because any other
kind is just a dream. Chance the widdershins steps of the tarantella, lift the
ancient curses and look under them for old coins and lost loves and dust
bunnies with a vest and a gold pocketwatch, opt for an immediate increase in
the uncertainty levels, stay away from the world of adrenalin deficit spending,
hold your dearest warm under your heart while you dare the icy seas of life,
for the night is assuredly coming …"
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/02/02/conventional-wisdom-unconventional-oil/#more-78653
03/02/2013: The world never
cease to amaze me: You would think elderly undertakers and Jehovah’s Witnesses
represent just too small a market to make a living out of BLACK SUITS! I have
(unsurprisingly) been black-banned by the Jehovah's who never seem to want to
visit any more for our VERY lengthy chats!
03/02/2013: Life on Earth:
From the top of the atmosphere (& beyond) to the deep of the Sea, to the
bottom of the Crust, the Earth is teeming! Life forms a substantial portion of
the earth's thermostat. Life, in case you haven't noticed, is the only thing in
the observed Universe which says, 'Fuck entropy!' Whilst everywhere else energy
states wind down to nothingness, life BUILDS energy states. Life DEFIES the
Universe. It is proud to BE alive, and doing something. The universe otherwise
is inanimate, completely bound by rules (& despite often stunning beauty
with only life to admire) is basically quite boring. But LIFE, Ah, Life IS
wonderful! http://joannenova.com.au/2013/01/cloud-forming-bacteria/
02/02/2013: I have thought
this for a long while: it is why rainfall used to be much higher in Sth
Gippsland where we live (on average) than before the forests were cleared (and
why it is again increasing (as they return). It is also one of the reasons I
have long advocated the planting of innumerable shady deciduous (introduced)
trees in North-South rows all over
02/02/2013: Do you suppose
Nova Peris could have filled Chris Evans' job now there actually IS a Senate
vacancy (two days later)? Please forgive me for this, but does anyone KNOW
precisely what percentage 'aboriginal' Ms Peris IS? She looks of very
Philippino/Indian ancestry to me (as does her mother) and I know she has SOME
Danish...I wonder is she more Aboriginal than I am, say French (one eighth) or
Irish (one quarter), or Della Scottish (one half), yet strangely neither of US
considers one's self anything BUT Australian! Perhaps if there was money in it
for us we could change our minds!
02/02/2013: Thinking about
what to get Della for a 40th Anniversary (Ruby) gift - and, YES! I am thinking
of getting her SOMETHING. I was going to take her to Kerala (though I would
probably hate it - but not the curries!) but it would probably suit winter best
AND I don't know yet whether my back will be up to travel next weekend, (most
folks would still be in a hospital bed then), so it might just be Beauty Point
Tasmania (which I at least know we both loved!). I WOULD get her a new
lawnmower (which I know she would enjoy) but I have just bought her two second
hand ones which are still performing well - AND I have already bought her a
lawnmower for her birthday once AND she did enjoy it, so there! A chainsaw
might fill the bill, or maybe a new rainwater tank...If YOU have any better
ideas, I would be glad to hear about them!
02/02/2013: I have had her out
labouring in the garden all afternoon (so she works up a sufficient sweat to
try out my new showers) and she has just come in with a HUGE basket of fresh
produce. Perhaps I could buy her another basket?
02/02/2013: There is the Road
to
02/02/2013: 25 YEARS we have
lived in this house and the toilet doesn’t block up! Bloody opiates! Now,
recovering from a back operation and with a vast wound I do not want to get
ANYWHERE near e coli bacteria down on my knees grovelling amid sullage pipes,
it decides to back up…Off to Bunnings to buy a giant rubber plunger. THAT may
work. Wish me luck! I KNOW! Too much information!
Corrrection (Irralee Jones) : Sorry to
hear that the toilet is so bound by Murphy's law... but actually, we moved
there when I was 9 and I just turned 31, so let's not get ahead of ourselves on
the 25 years thing…
Reply: Just a bit of hyperbole
- rounding to the nearest quarter century; common enough. BUT let me tell you
about the Bunnings purple superloo unblocker...(note to the fashion conscious:
it ONLY comes in purple - but at $20, who cares?) anyway, back to the story:
ONE squish and it's gone. BEST $20 worth really. I have also replaced BOTH
shower heads this morning with SUPER shower heads so that my beloved will be
clean for the first time in a quarter century, AND I installed bump on/off 84%!
water saving taps in the laundry and bathroom sinks. AND I DROVE all the way to
Traralgon and back - there would be some busybody health nazis have a problem
with that! - but now, I am pooped...Incidentally we bought up big on different
model toilet unblockers, so if you receive one as an unexpected present, don’t
be surprised, and it doesn’t mean I think you are a big s—t!
02/02/2013: Yeah Craig. Get
REAL. And I just loved Premier O'Farrell's take on your strip-searching,
"After all, the allegations surrounding Craig Thomson are that he was all
too ready to take his clothes off in front of strangers in exchange for
money," Duh! Forgot they MIGHT need my vote…http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2013/02/mr-thomson-should-have-thought-about-this-before-he-accepted-his-bail-conditions.html
02/02/2013: So true: “The Dutch started 700
years ago to build dykes and levees against floods. It is now 60 years since
the country’s last catastrophic flood – caused by a failure in some critical
dykes”. (Bolt) AND, the Zeider Zee, the ONLY human creation so vast it
CAN be seen from space was entirely built BY HAND. We need some workers like
that in today’s Oz!
02/02/2013: WORK, What? WORK?
We PASSED a law (the Carbon Tax Act). That should be enough. We HAVE acted. Go
02/02/2013: AND ONE THIRD of
02/02/2013: "One senior
Labor MP told The Weekend Australian late last night that “
02/02/2013: "Recently,
the Japanese government announced that the population decrease for 2012 is
expected to be 212,000—a new record—while the number of births is expected to
have fallen by 18,000 to 1,033,000—also a record low. Projections by the
Japanese government indicate that if the current trend continues, the
population of
02/02/2013: “This world, which is the same for
all, no one of gods or men has made. But it always was and will be: an
ever-living fire, with measures of it kindling, and measures going out” (Heraclitus of
02/02/2013: So, 90% of the
Universe is missing! Who knew! Scientists are busily searching for it (THEY
have won the contract) amongst the dark matter and other queer particles and
things. But it IS gone. Stolen perhaps. Mayhap some advanced civilisation are
wont to hide the truth from us and have organised that, ‘There is a veil beyond
which you cannot see; Some little talk awhile of me and me thee there seemed,
and then no more of thee and me…before we too into the Dust descend…make a game
of that which makes as much of thee…Unborn tomorrow and dead yesterday, why
fret about them now if today be sweet?’ (the 10 second Khayyam for those who
have lost concentration span, or never had it!)
02/02/2013: This morning I am
minded of those images of children playing amongst the shattered ruins of a
crumbling civilisation (like we had just last year(?) from Libya) whilst the
conquering army draws nearer, passing around a cocked hat saying, 'Here Scamp,
you BE Minister of Defence, YOU be Prime Minister' whilst the band slowly plays
‘Alexander's Rag-Time Band' to honour the rag-tag lot, and the Titanic slowly
sinks in the setting sun on the horizon...
01/02/2013: Watched Inspector
Blake: very like Miss Fisher, but still a long while since 'Auntie' made
anything decent (except Rake, O Yes!) but I find the Leftie scriptwriters
tiresome. They just can't leave it alone. The mindless didacticism. To them,
the Lefties are always defying the orthodoxy ( so Blake/Fisher etc - despite
their being a class above - please ignore that - & ignore my
mentioning it!) but it just ain't so. There was a time when they (the Left) kept
pace with me. They thought I was one of them because, for a brief time, we had
the same enemies...it was a little time. I always challenged the orthodoxy,
still do, fashionable or not. I was in favour of the Vietnam War in the mid
sixties (that was really challenging the leftist orthodoxy back then (some
fisticuffs over that you CAN believe, but I WAS right: 8 million dead are hard
to argue with. Still, THEY are in denial and never apologised; just moved on.
The next issue...). I supported Apartheid when THEY opposed it (still do: bad
ideas don't get better just 'cause time passes, &
01/02/2013: VERY handy piece
of ordinance: a speed loader for the Rossi Circuit Judge pistol/rifle revolver
shotgun. Obviously the young guy in the vid has never had the need to reload in
a hurry, but he IS young. It is a very neat piece of gear though and works
well. You could carry it say in your breast pocket so your gun would not
normally be loaded (the best idea in my opinion), then the gun could be loaded
and operational in double-quick time. One in EACH breast pocket would be a good
idea: ten shots is a nice number. Will order a couple to go with the gun when I
buy it. 2 kg is a very good weight for such a firearm. The synthetic stock
would be a good option (also lighter) if you are going to use it as a canoeing
gun (as I intend) so that you can bag some fresh meat on those long downriver
trips eg on the Murray/Goulburn etc (or maybe in the Canadian Arctic - would it
be effective against bears if you used solids, do you think? Five quick
half-inch holes should discourage most critters, animal OR human!). The wooden
stock would be too easily damaged if it became wet. I am wondering if it can
easily be taken down into two parts to fit in a canoe bag - looks like one
screw holds it together. You should be able to replace the internal screw with
an external finger operated one for easy dis/reassembly.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glFsntr26_w
01/02/2013: A disturbing
issue: I am very little in favour of segregated or faith-based 'education'. One
can do little about the mad religious ideas parents 'chose' to indoctrinate
their children with at home (even if I might wish it was impossible for parents
to teach such silly ideas as belief in god/ess/es or an after-life to their
helpless children). I cannot support that the taxpayer should be milched by the
various religious lobbies for financial help with their children's
indoctrination. By the same token, I cannot accept that teachers ought (in
whatever 'education' system) to promulgate ANY beliefs: this includes beliefs
in Green fantasies as well as the various streams of moral relativism or
indoctrination (including that homosexuality is a good idea) and many other
distasteful topics. Education is properly about training folk (young or old) to
be able to assess argument and evidence and make up their own minds. Perhaps
disappointingly, I cannot agree with either writer: http://www.mamamia.com.au/news/bernard-gaynor-open-letter/
01/02/2013: Lots of folks in
ALL the major parties (I exclude the Greens here: they have a uniform
nuttiness!) share the views (& religion for that matter) of Bernard Gaynor;
also lots of folks who share the 'religion' of the gays. No fuss made about it
when it is (maybe eccentrics?) in major parties. Katter (like Pauline Hanson)
is seen as a threat (so they HAVE to be made ANATHEMA) to the cosy turn-taking
deal Lib/Lab have done for decades - which in other times/places would
have (correctly) been identified as a kind of endemic fascism (ie a corporate
approach to Government) where choice/alternative is merely an illusion. Note
how they gaoled Albert Langer for advocating boycotting the preferential system
of voting (which he correctly saw as a denial of choice in that in the end you
HAVE to vote FOR folks who are distasteful to you - or you just don't GET a
vote! Then, the Lib/Lab 'coalition' changed the electoral act so what Langer
advocated did not count as a valid vote. What exactly is unclear about a vote
which says: 1:2:2:2:2?
01/02/2013: Every day Ju-Liar reminds me more
and more of Icarus: I close my eyes and have an image of her mighty arse
spiralling out of the sky as she crashes and burns...meanwhile the carbon price
(on which the Government has bet so much of OUR money) slides slowly into
oblivion (down 49% this month) to under $4, yet our 'big polluders' will pay an
astonishing $23 - rising by 3% pa, and the mysterious and ineluctable
'compensation' for this excess lands daily in the Centrelink bank accounts of
Labor's supporters: but WHERE (in thin air) is all this money coming FROM?
http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/europes_carbon_price_crashes_to_445_gillards_still_23/
01/02/2013: THIS might just be
the answer: http://www.rossiusa.com/product-details.cfm?id=212&category=15&toggle&breadcrumbseries
01/02/2013: Usain Bolt (the world's
fastest man) can run 100 metres in under 10 seconds - or about 20 metres in @ 2
seconds. In that time, should an assailant threaten you, you should easily be
able to squeeze off 5 shots with this excellent gun, putting just under a half
dozen of approx half inch holes in his torso without even the need to aim - or
if you are using buckshot, he will have fifteen quite deadly enough holes clear
through his disgusting lust enraged body. He should stop quite promptly, like a
charging rhino, in a small cloud of dust at your feet. Feel free to blow a
whiff of smoke off the top of your barrel, girls and place a tiny foot
delicately on his bleeding chest! Photos, please! An excellent choice too, I
think, for protecting your beautiful children from the 'tender mercies' of
sundry pedophiles, rapists, drug pushers, terrorist immigrants & etc whom
our Governments seem determined to release from prison so they can prey on us
one more time...I don't think so!
01/02/2013: And, just in case
you think pedophiles are quite nice people, not very different from ourselves,
really, have a listen to THIS nice Jewish one. ASTONISHING: 'The things you see
when you don't have a gun' - as people USED to say:
http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/a_kernel_of_sense_in_a_callus_of_indifference/
01/02/2013: Just asking for
it...http://frontpagemag.com/2013/dgreenfield/1-in-4-swedish-women-will-be-raped-as-sexual-assaults-increase-500/
31/1/2013: End this NOW:
http://www.news.com.au/national/australian-defence-force-to-sell-off-thousands-of-vehicles-and-other-war-equipment/story-fncynjr2-1226565344839
31/1/2013: The AGW hypothesis has been tested many
times and has FAILED. Occam's Razor insists we not deliberately concoct
elaborate explanations (which is JUST what this is): no warming for 20 years
PLUS a large increase in CO2 = conclusive proof AGW IS FALSE. End of story:
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/01/30/global-warming-anthropogenic-or-not/#more-78404
31/1/2013: Bob Dylan had another great song: 'The
Answer is Blowing in the
Wind'...http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/01/30/oooops-at-least-they-didnt-name-it-robust/
31/1/2013: Ju-Liar's glasses/great record cover: ('You
can't hide those lying eyes')
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=5-NlR54PqLw
31/1/2013: It WILL be difficult for Craig Thomson to
explain his appearance on CCTV brothel footage today...In further developments
police say in relation to the 12 man AWU investigation that CHARGES WILL BE
LAID. Seems unlikely it will be just
31/1/2013: Well Done Daniel Geale: I have wanted to do
THAT myself. Can we invite Daniel do a Labor Party fund raiser next?
http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/timblair/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/dan_beats_man/
31/1/2013: Can't believe this: Ju-liar delayed the
election three weeks beyond the Government's 'full term' so that it could be
held on the holiest Jewish day, Yom Kippur - presumably so that Jewish voters
will not be able to vote Liberal - or was this done at the behest of her Moslem
constituency? No, forget it: this is just another example of her complete
incompetence! Just add it to the 'Timor Solution,' 'Cash for Cars,' People's
Assembly' & etc, etc...
31/1/2013: 225 days to go...savings to be made? Just
abolish
30/1/2013: 21 August 2010: a day which will go down in
the annals of infamy: the day Ju-liar was 'elected'. 14 September 2013:
Independence Day: the day Jules gets her fat arse kicked after serving 'one
complete term' of three years: at least that's how she put it in her speech
today. Those extra 24 days will be pretty hard to take though! Just ONE MORE
LIE. O, WHY do we have to wait SO LONG?
30/1/2013: After just 4 days in hospital spent mostly
fighting for my freedom, I can definitely say that the WORST thing anyone can
do to you is take that freedom away; unfortunately that is just what sundry busybodies,
do-gooders and major and minor tyrants see as their vocation in life. The only
appropriate punishment for such folks is DEATH; instant and without either
hesitation or remorse. In the context where they had me imprisoned, they
understood that I was at the bottom of their hierarchy - instead of being at
its top where I was, in fact their employer (having even paid IN ADVANCE) and
they were MY SERVANTS, having been paid to provide me with a designated
service. Instead of eagerly conceding to my every wish (such as a whole TWO
Cascade Premium Lights with my tea once per day) they fought to a standstill
with what they saw as the benevolent concession of ONE (and VERY old stock at
that!). Fortunately I had an ample supply of Dimensions Cab Sav cleverly
disguised by the masterful Della as Cranberry Juice. It was more than somewhat
amusing to be delicately sipping on THIS before their very eyes whilst
energetically arguing for my second stubby of Cascade...
The experience DID however sharpen my focus on the
relativity between punishments other than Death, and itself. Some time ago a
Roman writer named Sallust wrote a book named 'The Catiline Conspiracy, (You
can download it here: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/7990). In this book there
is a lengthy discussion about the virtues of various punishments which might be
awarded to the nabbed conspirators in the case (who had in fact DONE nothing -
conspiracy not then being agin the law). Some argued for a thorough whipping
(howled down as fit only for slaves); others for imprisonment (completely ruled
out as un-Roman and too, too cruel), so the obvious conclusion was the fairest
and most sensible: Death - and so it was done. When I first read this book, I
too was still a captive and victim of demonic and dispirited leftist orthodoxy
and thought 'how different - indeed how wrong - the ancients were to
ourselves'; NOW I realise it is us who are very wrong. Death is certainly the
lesser penalty to imprisonment and should always be the FIRST choice. It makes
no sense to cruelly (not to mention expensively) imprison an offender and
continue to punish him, (then later let him out to offend again) when it can
mercifully be over in a trice and the offenders' spare parts used to save a
multitude of lives! So mote it be!
30/1/2013: A friend sent me
this today (Thank You VERY much!): it is a short compilation of the late
Christopher Hitchens' comments on the evils of religion. PLEASE take the time
to watch it ALL. It is both witty and true: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=mQorzOS-F6w
29/1/2013: Of course, those who are working towards
gender equality are doing a better job than the fire brigade - as you can see
from the gender make-up of their employees. These people just CANT be serious.
Unfortunately they are; have a look at the stats. If this agency was abolished,
36 women and 3 men would lose their jobs and the Government would save $4.52
million or $115,897 for each of the downtrodden darlings! If you build a
trough, you WILL have pigs:
http://catallaxyfiles.com/2013/01/29/workplace-gender-equality-agency/
29/1/2013: Good heavens:
Meagan Tyler, lecturer in sociology at
29/1/2013: Telstra's 4G
network (launched late September) is set to connect its ONE MILLIONTH customer
this week with peak speeds of 300 megs and with NO cost to the taxpayer. The
NBN is still to achieve 7,000 connections at a max of 100 megs at a cost to the
taxpayer of @ $100 billion and they have been 'working' at this for YEARS! It
is a stark reminder of the difference between socialism and the free market!
28/1/2013: Shower without a
friend. Looks good. May try one: http://www.gizmag.com/oxijet-water-saving-shower-head/25973/
26/1/2013: Good morning world:
I am alive and on my feet, no pain or other unpleasant sensations below the
wound in my back so I trust it is fixed! There will be no stopping me from here
on in! Thank you to everyone for your support and kind thoughts. I imagine they
will still want to keep me here for a couple of days, so they can look forward
to further argument from me about increasing my beer ration! Cheers.
26/1/2013: Della: Steve is now walking about a bit and returning to his old self. I
am just heading back to my hotel and look forward to further progress in the
morning. Thanks to everyone for the kind well-wishes!
26/1/2013: Just LOVE this guy:
Where are the corpses #2: "If we assume that one percent of them go
extinct per decade, that would mean that we should be seeing about 33
continental mammal extinctions per decade. It’s worse for birds, a 1%
extinction rate for birds would be about 80 continental birds per decade. We
have seen absolutely nothing even vaguely resembling that. That’s only slightly
below
26/1/2013: Instead of 33 mammals and 80 birds
going extinct on the continents per decade, in the last 500 years on the great
continental landmasses of the world, we’ve only seen three mammals and six
birds go extinct. Only nine continental mammal and bird species are known to
have gone extinct in 500 years. Three mammals and six birds in 500 years,
that’s less than one continental mammal extinction per century, and these
highly scientific folks are claiming that 30 mammals and 80 birds are going
extinct per decade? … once again I’m forced to ask, where are the
corpses?" http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/01/25/always-trust-your-gut-extinct/#more-78234
25/1/2013: Interesting career
move available for you gals: why not give birth to a real Neanderthal (not just
the one you actually did bear)! With global cooling just around the corner,
these ancient buddies will soon be needed to deal with the imminent plague of
woolly mammoths, cave lions & etc! http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2265402/Adventurous-human-woman-wanted-birth-Neanderthal-man-Harvard-professor.html?ito=feeds-newsxml
24/1/2013: It IS pretty clear
from this graph that CO2 causes global cooling: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/01/23/burt-rutan-this-says-it-all-and-says-it-clear/#more-78107
24/1/2013: Neither the
24/1/2013: Ominous: Former Australian Securities
Exchange chairman Maurice Newman: "The West has now reached the point where
total private and public debt, together with unfunded government liabilities,
can never be repaid by an ageing demographic. One day even debt servicing will
be an issue. With fewer taxpayers and lenders, the ability to take from the
future to provide for the present will end. This is when we see the final
collapse of the great international governmental Ponzi scheme. Already in
23/1/2013: Across
22/1/2013: It is COLDER in
22/1/2013: Quote of the day: "The more I study
the history of intellectuals, the more they seem like a wrecking crew,
dismantling civilization bit by bit — replacing what works with what sounds
good." - Thomas Sowell
22/1/2013: They're finally getting serious about gun
control in the
22/1/2013: ALPACKA: I was going to treat myself to a
new canoe to celebrate my successful back operation this Saturday (you have to
be optimistic) and so was going to purchase an Alpacka raft
(https://www.alpackaraft.com/index.cfm/store.catalog?CategoryID=53&ProductID=66)
with which I plan to tackle the Snowy as soon as I am recovered - probably
alone, as Della's eyesight won't let her do serious whitewater any more, and
you can just spend your life waiting around until your friends are free to join
you!. Checking out the website I noticed they have THIS amazing innovation
(https://www.alpackaraft.com/index.cfm/store.catalog?categoryID=65) which
allows you to put all your gear INSIDE the inflated tubes! What an
amazing idea. Sheri Tingey is a genius!
21/1/2013: Interestingly, this site (which is based on
computer models running on the BOM's computers) also shows some useful rain
coming (see Mt Moornapa - right in the path of the fire) on Thurs. One could
expect the upper Moroka,
21/1/2013: I like this letter by Viv Forbes: "A
recent report from friends who suffered terrible losses of buildings, fences,
pasture and cattle in the Coonabarabran fire commenced with the ominous and
oft-repeated message: “a raging fire came out of the National Park straight for
us”.
There is only one way to limit fire damage – reduce
the fuel available.
Fuel load can be reduced in three ways – by grazing
animals, by planned small “cool” fires, or by mechanical reduction with
slashers, mulchers or dozers.
Misguided tree lovers and green politicians have
locked the gates on ever-increasing areas of land for trees, parks, heritage,
wilderness, habitat, weekend retreats, carbon sequestration etc. Never before
on this ancient continent has anyone tried to ban land use or limit bush fires
on certain land. The short-sighted policy of surrounding their massive
land-banks with fences, locked gates and fire bans has created a new alien
environment in
Many of today’s locked-up areas were created to
sequester carbon to fulfil
The green bureaucracies and politicians are clearly
mis-managing their huge land-bank. Aborigines and graziers did a far better
job. There should be a moratorium on locking up any more land and a return to
sustainable management for existing land holdings".
Viv Forbes,
Rosewood Qld
21/1/2013: Bolt is BACK with three great articles this
morning: the vast, unpredicted cold across the Northern hemisphere, the immense
threats to our freedom (of speech) coming out of
21/1/2013: Woke to lots of fog sailing past smelling
of smoke. DSE have now taken down ANY fire map, so (though they admit that the
fire is now twice as large as it was on Friday), we can have no idea where it
is. The Southern front of the fire is about 30-40 km away stretching all along
the Northern horizon. In the 1939 fires the wind jumped the fire across that
distance; from the Baw Baws to the Jeeralangs - so anything CAN happen. We were
going to go for a walk along the tops of the Baw Baws during this hot weather
if my back and the fire had not intervened! Good thing we are not up there I
guess - or camped in the Wonnangatta-Moroka (as is our wont) in the path of the
fire. Then I WAS going to spend some days with a friend canoeing the
20/1/2013: The
20/1/2013: When only the police and military have
guns: http://moonbattery.com/guns-nazi_execution.jpg
20/1/2013: Obama: the best gun salesman in history:
http://pjmedia.com/instapundit/161409/ I remember it was like this after John's
'buy back'. I had to hand in one gun and modify another, so, since I was
thinking about guns as a result, I went and bought four new ones! You just
can't have too many guns!
20/1/2013: The
20/1/2013: I love Gippsland's rivers. There are so
many where a week or more's placid canoeing can be had. I think it would be a
good idea to replace the Bible and the Koran in church and mosque with the
book, 'Canoeing the Rivers & Lakes of
20/1/2013: (In answer to a
comment): The best canoe shop undoubtedly is 'Capacity Sports' in
20/1/2013: Despite yesterday's post (and this
mornings) I don't 'like' Christians any better ('a plague on both your houses'
says it pretty well I think). Casting my mind back over the 'Quadrant'
article(s) concerning the historicity of Jesus and Mohammed, it seems pretty
clear that no-one could take anything reliably from the 'teachings' or the
'reality' of either 'man'. I think identifying Jesus as a 'sacred mushroom' is
probably 'as good as it gets'! So why are folks fighting over this silly
nonsense? BELIEF is the problem. People need to give up on this dangerous
folly. There is either knowledge or there is nothing. Fighting over 'beliefs'
is the ultimate madness. Someone said to me yesterday, 'Well it's my opinion'
or 'I'm entitled to my opinion' or some such tommy-rot. NO! You are NOT
entitled to ANY 'opinion'. You are entitled to knowledge, and having to defend
your 'opinion' with matters of fact. I liked the clip from '
20/1/2013: Some would thank 'God', but it is the
Coriolis effect which mainly keeps the wind blowing from the West in the
Southern hemisphere while the sun rises in the East, which means that camping
in an open shelter you are always woken by the beauty of the dawn in front of
the shelter. There are two equally wonderful experiences to be had at dawn. One
is to rise in the crisp cold light and pad off over the crunchy frost to see if
you can catch a stag who has not yet returned to his bed; the other is to stay
in your own warm bed and enjoy!
20/1/2013: Something to look forward to, but not VERY far
forward, it seems: http://www.steynonline.com/5387/the-veil-descendsAND:
http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/timblair/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/this_is_a_muslim_area/
AND: http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/timblair/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/gentle_pat_of_justice/...I
SUPPOSE there must be some such immigrants who are NOT on welfare...Posted
BEFORE it becomes illegal (thanks Ms Roxon) for fear of causing offence...
19/1/2013: THIS, also in Quadrant, formed an
interesting juxtaposition to the author's similar examination of the
'historical' Mohammed:
http://www.quadrant.org.au/magazine/issue/2013/1-2/the-quest-for-jesus
19/1/2013: Wow! But true: Peter Smith in Quadrant:
"Election campaigns are quite different when state mendicants form the
majority. In the
19/1/2013: Took another look at (still yesterday's!)
fire map). As the fire had already crossed the Licola Rd North of Glenmaggie
and was burning in bush country heading for Ben Cruachan, and as there are only
three North-South tracks in that area (Mt Margaret, Ben Cruachan & Golden
Point (from memory) and the Avon River where it could be stopped, I predict it
will not be stopped (if the wind is generally from the West as is usual) before
it gets into the Avon Wilderness where the 'Management Only' tracks have fallen
into complete disrepair and are only negotiable by walkers or motorcyclists
(illegally - good for them!). This is the style of 'preservation' or
'conservation' favoured by wildlife hating Green nutters! Once it is into the
Avon it WILL cross into the
19/1/2013: A On 27th Dec 1790 (measured at a location just stones-throw from
Observatory Hill) the mercury hit 108.5 F (42.5 C) before peaking at 109 F
(42.8 C) . This was BEFORE the Urban Heat Effect (UHI) so go figure how much
HOTTER THAT was than today! See
(http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/01/14/global-warming-it-was-warmer-in-sydney-in-1790/)
AND
(http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/01/18/a-follow-up-on-the-it-was-warmer-in-1790-in-sydney-story/#more-77760)
19/1/2013: A friend sent me this link. His comment: ‘I
see that they are now using the author of your favourite book to convince us of
climate change. They are also including Aldo Leopold as to give it some
credibility’
http://www.livescience.com/26328-global-warming-brings-earlier-spring-flowers.html
Steve: Amazing that early spring flowering should have
happened without global warming! These folks have never BEEN outside, never
heard of seasons. Some years you get two crops of plums off your trees (for
example). This has been happening forever. Things flower early or late as is
their whim. This year trees put on massive growth early because of good spring
rain which had been unusual and are now nearly dead as the supply of water
dries up: maples over at the old house hold nothing but dry shrivelled (autumn)
leaves, yet it is January; yet they did not burst into bud early. They may not
survive. The 'season' is what we used to call this.
19/1/2013: Great work DSE, CFA etc. The only fire map
or satellite image available is a whole day old! This is just the way it was
during the previous fires. It provides NO basis for residents to assess and take
appropriate action. What a useful Royal Commission
THAT was. Of course NONE of its recommendations have been implemented. Indeed
we are still waiting for the implementation of the Royal Commission held after
the 1939 fires! Great that you can see where the fire was yesterday morning.
Observation: If the fire IS still burning in eg Stoney Creek/Deep Creek (and
why would it not be?) SW of Walhalla, then a Northerly wind will drive it down
to Tyers, Toongabbie, Cowwarr etc. During the last fires Della and I were
locked up here for nearly a fortnight with a huge fire still burning to the
east of us (and an Easterly wind blowing) - we could see the smoke - but could
we EVER get an image of where the fire actually WAS? We are having a repeat of
this craziness. Prediction: If this fire gets into the Avon catchment and the
Steve: The fire got this
big in @ ONE DAY. Imagine how big it can be with a couple more adverse days
which will come before there is rain? Of course the DSE have had a policy of
'regrowing' the many fire breaks which were put in hastily and at great risk
during the earlier fires so they no longer exist. Just such great 'conservation'
work from the Greenie managers of this Government Department!
Comment: Not that I like
the fires Steve, great country up around the Barkly River/Licola area hope it
doesn't head Nth or bloody Sth.
Steve: Seems like its Eastern
edge is Sth of the Barkly at the moment. I know the whole area where the fire
is/threatens like the back of my hand (every gully, ridge & track from well
East of the Thompson Dam through to well East of Omeo) having hunted over it
for more than thirty years yet I cannot make any sense of the 'information'
coming out. I guess 'the historic hotel site' being threatened is the 'Springs'
just Sth of Mt Useful. Just over the ridge into Licola, the Barkly, the
Caledonia, the
18/1/2013: The Greens are just
such lovely people with such high moral values (as the 'Whitehaven' affair
shows - we are still well down as a result of this). Not to mention their
support of the ban on DDT (100 million dead), support for Bio-fuels (250,000 per year dead); their opposition to GM crops (1
million children blinded per year cf 'Golden Rice) - not to mention vast areas
of forest cleared unnecessarily including all their wildlife (either for
Bio-fuels or outdated and inefficient 'organic' agriculture); add in the vast
tracts of forest burned (and people and animals killed) because of their
bizarre forestry policies. These people are PURE EVIL! http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/greens-split-over-coal-company-hoax/story-fn59niix-1226555646984
18/1/2013: She WILL not escape
this time: police spent two days interviewing an ex Slater & Gordon legal secretary
about Ju-lia's misdeeds: get ready for an early election - & put some money
on the market! http://pickeringpost.com/article/truth-closes-in-on-pm/877
17/1/2013: Extra-terrestrial life? Fred Hoyle
vindicated? This will be so cool if it proves to be true: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/01/14/claim-meteorite-discovered-with-signs-of-life-in-it/#more-77521
17/1/2013: PS: If 'climate disruption' is unavoidable,
why should we do something about it?
17/1/2013: And even arch-warmist James Hansen concedes
that it hasn't been warming for a long time. Would be nice wouldn't it if the
Left/Green media would stop blathering on about a couple of bush fires and warm
days? It IS the middle of summer, a time for which we ought really to prepare,
eg by having done 10% fuel reduction burning annually back in autumn - not 1% -
and clearing all the 'petrol bush' invasive native vegetation from around our
houses etc: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/01/16/quote-of-the-week-hansen-concedes-the-age-of-flatness/
17/1/2013: Some very good and timely data on just how
hot and dry
16/1/2013: I have said this before and I will no doubt
say it again: There are less than ten long-term climate records for
16/1/2013: Gridlock: Having to travel the Monash
'Freeway' next week to attend a back operation leads me to muse about a
solution to this awful problem. I understand that it occurs because of the
prevalence of lane swappers causing people to brake, and that the difference in
(reaction) time between acceleration and deceleration means that more people
are arriving at a spot than are leaving it is what causes the traffic to slow
down and stop. If people make EVERY attempt NOT to stop it improves the
situation so that those who see the problem approaching and slow down early to
create a larger gap in front of them can do much to alleviate the situation.
However, there is a little used 'emergency' lane which could come into play
when (say) the traffic slows to 25km/hr or less. If traffic was allowed to use
this lane at this speed when traffic speed had dropped to this limit it should
safely prevent the gridlock from developing altogether.
16/1/2013: A young friend just shared THIS link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWQPZ-taYBs
Steve: Just watched all of Alex's performance. He was GREAT! So nice to see
someone brought on to showcase the ego of the interviewer taking over the show
and being able to espouse his opposing view (albeit Alex does seem to have a
few nutty theories there, eg '9/11' which I have to admit I have not checked
out - though it would seem to fall to 'Occam's Razor' in that the sheer number
of people needed to create such a conspiracy is so great; incompetence is
likely to explain more than conspiracy!).
Morgan would have to explain how it is that Switzerland where EVERY adult male
is REQUIRED to own and maintain a real semi-automatic assault rifle (not the
usual semi-automatics that Piers is talking about banning - I understand
private ownership of military weapons is already heavily circumscribed in
America, as it is here) and yet they have the lowest rate of gun related (or
other) murder in the world. He would also have to answer Alex's quite valid
claim that it is Government's ownership and misuse of guns which is the biggest
danger ( & has been responsible for the deaths of more people than any
other cause) as he says 80 million under Mao alone - I think it is now
recognised that Mao murdered far more than that actually!
I think the NRA makes at least ONE hugely important point. It is a factor
unique to
The 'Statists' have created a bevy of 'new' rights which they see as more
important than the 'old' rights - and here I think they are hugely wrong. These
are largely unearned rights (mainly economic) and which impose a burden on
others which they might not seek themselves. It is now too easy for the
'majority' to vote to misappropriate the money of the 'minority' ('for the
public good!', no doubt). But it is not and was not their property. I think (in
future) we will have to restrict the franchise (or forego democracy) so that
only those who produce wealth can vote as to how it is distributed. Beggars
will always vote for an increase in alms (but will vote for a ban on 'arms' it
seems!) They will vote for an ever bigger state to protect their new unearned rights
but will mostly also vote to make that very state ever weaker against foreign
(and internal) dangers. So
16/1/2013: Great T shirt: http://www.zazzle.com.au/cigarette_love_tee_shirts-235968912048973446
15/1/2013: Does Roxon CARE
about
15/1/2013: BEWARE the ALP:
Steve Kates in Quadrant: "They will use some of the most sophisticated
analytical and statistical techniques available to uncover every grievance in
every sub-constituency. They will then target these groups with promises to fix
whatever problems they pick up.
They will run a precisely
targeted campaign of fear based on the threat of losing programs or payments
that benefit each of these sub-constituencies.
They will label the Coalition
as representatives of a tired, old ideology based on principles no longer
relevant in the twenty-first century. Misogyny, reproductive rights, religion,
along with any number of issues that their analytics team has identified, will
be driven whether or not there is any reality behind these fears. Labor being
the party of the path of least resistance is almost never under such threats.
They will promise what cannot
be afforded and dare the Coalition not to match their supposed generosity.
Criticisms about the affordability of such ideas—where’s the money coming
from?—will work just as well for the ALP.
They will invent sources of
revenue that will never in reality cover the cost of their programs but which
are sourced well beyond their own target constituency.
They not only will have but
will expect to have, and will be entirely dependent on, virtually the whole of
the media being in their corner at every stage of the way who will cover for
Labor to the fullest extent they can while ratcheting up the decibel count on
any issue that might harm the Coalition.
The Left’s incompetence and
bad government are never enough to ensure its defeat. And the more that
outdated notions of personal freedom and independence are moved downwards in
the scale of collective values the more difficult a party of the Left will be
to dislodge. The ALP has not yet lost the next election. Barack Obama, with
hardly a success to his name, is still the president. Polls or no polls, who
the Australian prime minister will be a year from today is yet to be
determined."
15/1/2013: Neurosurgery
probably next week: they are not going to touch my brain - it is apparently
beyond help: but hopefully they CAN fix my back!
15/1/2013: You would hope that
the fires would teach people that the tourism, mining, timber, farming, grazing
etc industries know better how to manage the land so that there are commercial
livelihoods, needed products and much better protection for wildlife and nature
in general. I am totally opposed to National Parks (so too 'aboriginal' land)
and would like to see them eliminated - as they produce exactly the
opposite result to what is intended: rather than protecting fauna and flora,
they are responsible for its widespread destruction. The land needs to be managed
piecemeal, not wholesale. There is no one answer. Drawing vast imaginary lines
around an area does nothing to protect it; the reverse is true. Instead, a
diversity of land uses produces a diversity of opportunities for nature and
leads to no wholesale destruction such as we see happening now, again - to my
great sorrow. I would like to see every Greens voter having to go out and deal
with fires and the rotting bodies of all the sheep, wallabies, etc which their
obsessive policies have killed - much as the Americans forced Germans to deal
with the dead and dying of the Death Camps at the end of WW2.
15/1/2013: Lots of folks have
become somewhat obsessive about Indian Mynas (and alas many other things!) I'd
guess they peaked on the farm around fifteen years ago and have been in
substantial decline ever since - and are now somewhat rare. There used to be a
huge nest (I'd guess over 200 litres) of them in a pine tree up behind the dog
yards but it is now quite silent and empty. About fifteen years ago I noticed
the kookaburras beginning to catch and eat them; so too the falcons and snakes.
They were such a plentiful and available food source it was small wonder
really. THIS is how nature deals with things. In nature, everything is a
resource or an opportunity!
Della: I dislike
the holier than thou attitude I have seen in one 'obsessive' who boasted of the
record number (150) she has so far trapped and dispatched by neck-wringing.
More barbaric than the problem demands, methinks...
Steve: Also, they are charming
and intelligent birds and make wonderful pets; as they are freely available
more children should have one or two...
14/1/2013: Thank you Miranda:
it IS exactly the right time to bring this up while the fires are still burning
and the dead are lying amongst the ashes: why haven't Governments acted to
overturn these vast Green bureaucratic bans on clearing of dangerous native
vegetation and early and extensive fuel reduction burning: http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/mirandadevine/
14/1/2013: And THIS
article of Miranda's is even better. Damn the Greens: http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/mirandadevine/
14/1/2013: I voted for the
'generic green liarbird' myself: http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/timblair/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/our_feathered_friends/
12/1/2013: Vale and farewell
Fred Turner: where would the world be without the Chicken McNugget? http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323706704578230040695757514.html
11/1/2013: Just If a chook can
live for two years without a head, is it any wonder that our Government can
continue for years without a brain: http://www.miketheheadlesschicken.org/
09/1/2013: Just what you would
expect to happen: carbon dioxide is plant food (obviously) so increasing its
percentage in the atmosphere is beneficial to all life on the planet; the
doomsayers are just wrong: http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/the-greening-of-the-planet.aspx
09/1/2013: Maybe we should
just move to
09/1/2013: Donner Pass today:
you can see how so many pioneers perished there in 1847 and why it remains the
worst example of cannibalism in
08/1/2013: I see police
disagree with Jul-liar about climate change causing the Tasmanian bushfires and
have now CHARGED someone: http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/timblair/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/campal_warming/
07/1/2013: The world
temperature trend has SURE been flat these last 17 years. Why? http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/wb4.png?w=640&h=480
07/1/2013: Who IS responsible
for all those tickets? I vote for 'the big polluders' myself: http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/timblair/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/driver_unknown/
07/1/2013: Polar bears
certainly ARE cute (but at a distance)! They certainly ARE predators though,
and you might not want to try THIS at home. (I notice incidentally that there
is plenty of snow and ice for them there - may be a good place to go to avoid
the current heatwave?): http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturepicturegalleries/9781279/Wildlife-cameraman-Gordon-Buchanan-comes-face-to-face-with-a-polar-bear.html?frame=2443202
07/1/2013: WHY your wife
should own a gun: http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/local/woman-hiding-kids-shoots-intruder/nTm7s/
06/1/2013: Robber Baron (?):
John D. Rockefeller: Standard Oil began in 1870, when kerosene cost 30 cents a
gallon. By 1897, Rockefeller's scientists and managers had driven the price to
under 6 cents per gallon, and many of his less-efficient competitors were out
of business-including companies whose inferior grades of kerosene were prone to
explosion and whose dangerous wares had depressed the demand for the
product. Standard Oil did the same for petroleum: In a single decade, from 1880
to 1890, Rockefeller's consolidations helped drive petroleum prices down 61
percent while increasing output 393 percent. Greenpeace should have a picture
of John D. Rockefeller on the wall of every office. Rockefeller, by driving
down the cost of Kerosene as an illuminant, did more than any other person in
the history to save the whales. By making Kerosene cheap, people were willing
to give up whale oil, dealing a mortal blow to the whaling industry (perhaps
just in time for the Sperm Whale).
06/1/2013: Fair point:
"How was the miracle [of rapid economic growth in
05/1/2013: Lawrence Anthony
(17 September 1950 – 2 March 2012) was an international conservationist,
environmentalist, explorer, and bestselling author: Following his death, there
were reports that some of the elephants he worked to save came to his family's
home in accordance with the way elephants usually mourn the death of one of
their own. Amazing, if true: http://www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/elephantwhisperer.asp
05/1/2013: Where does the
money go (#2)? Matt Ridley suggests bureaucracy and superstition are crippling
the West. Whereas
05/1/2013: No more 'little
doggies in the window'. Patty Page has died, aged 85: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/singer-patti-page-dead-at-85/story-e6frg8n6-1226546936283
05/1/2013: Looking just at the
Social Security and Welfare Budget of $131,656 million and then assuming, say,
three million Australians living below the poverty line that equates to
(131,656,000,000/3,000,000) $43,885 per person; saying that there are really 5
million ‘poor’ people in Australia still works out to some $26,000 per person.
SO, where does all this money really GO?
04/1/2013: Too true to be
good! Man confesses to wife, 'I was just swiving the next door neighbour's
pin-up wife for the money,' but the story has a further amazing conclusion.
Read all about it: http://maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com/archives/21282-Difficult-to-find-a-good-neighbor-these-days.html
04/1/2013: Quote of the day:
"It was a theory that was built on the belief that the progress of society
depended on the efforts of individuals to better their lot, rather than on
radical exercises in political engineering" on David Hume, page 69 of
Nicholas Phillipson’s 2010 biography of Adam Smith - Sigh: what a fine theory!
04/1/2013: That's always been
the problem hasn't it, first you have to HAVE a co-relation (correlation), then
it has to be significant, then it has to have a causative link? None of this
can happen if there IS no statistically significant co-relation. Game
over, I would think: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/01/03/agw-bombshell-a-new-paper-shows-statistical-tests-for-global-warming-fails-to-find-statistically-significantly-anthropogenic-forcing/
03/1/2013: I have had enough
of this pain; I think I am going to bite the bullet and have something done
about this bad back (sciatica). I favour Minimally Invasive Back Surgery at the
moment, but would be grateful to anyone with experience of the procedure and
recommendations of Neural Surgeons who have performed the op at least 100 times
successfully! Thanks.
03/1/2013: Bad news: Alas,
Morris Pressings Dry Red Casks are no more! It was just about the best wine I
have ever drunk - and I am glad to say I have drunk a lot of it! Now to find a
replacement: Dimensions Shiraz Cabernet is quite nice: Any suggestions?
03/1/2013: Working hard on a
treadmill a human being can produce 100 watts, so a ten hour day of hard work
equals about ONE kilowatt hour which is worth about 30 cents - that's the price
of slave labour. Question: In this 'poor' country how many slaves can you
afford to keep? Cheap energy IS the very basis of civilisation. I look forward
to the era of plentiful fusion power. Bring it on!
01/1/2013: Nice to think
nuclear bombs all had names - some very sweet ones too! A spectacular video of
many of them exploding; such awesome beauty - ah, the fatal attractiveness of
evil: http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2012/12/a-complete-history-of-us-nuclear-explosions-in-90-seconds/
01/1/2013: A very interesting point: "Government
is our servant. The central, really very new concept on which this country was
founded is that an individual's rights do not flow from government, but are
inherent to man. That government in fact only makes sense to the extent that it
is our servant in the defense of our rights, rather than as the vessel from
which these rights grudgingly flow. Statists of all stripes have tried to
challenge this assumption over the last 100 years. While their exact details
have varied, every statist has tried to create some larger entity to which the
individual should be subjugated: the Proletariat, the common good, God, the
master race. They all hold in common that the government's job is to sacrifice
one group to another. A common approach among modern statists is to create a
myriad of new non-rights to dilute and replace our fundamental rights as
individuals. These new non-rights, such as the "right" to health
care, a job, education, or even recreation, for god sakes, are meaningless in a
free society, as they can't exist unless one person is harnessed involuntarily
to provide them to another person. These non-rights are the exact opposite of
freedom, and in fact require enslavement and sacrifice of one group to
another": http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2005/06/i_dont_necesari.html