Steve’s Blog 2013

See also:

Steve's Hiking

The Upper Yarra Walking Track

finnsheep.com

NEW MOBILE FRIENDLY SITE: THE ULTRALIGHT HIKER

2014 Blog

2013 blog

2012  and earlier blog

This many people have visited this site:


Powered by Bravenet
View Statistics
 

 

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 Afghanistan it seems). I wonder just what long-term consequences we will reap from all this largesse: http://blogs.news.com.au/images/uploads/unemp_thumb.png

 30/12/2013: Looks like fun; may try it someday (French tourist - one year in Australia in one minute) : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSoA2r_4kKA

 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 Antarctica than there was 100 years ago when Mawson was there. If he had been there THIS year he would have DIED: http://www.amsa.gov.au/media/documents/25122013AkademikShokalskiyUpdate1_Media_Release.pdf

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 US, the EU and the UK can have FRACKING, I think it is about Vic’s turn too! Let’s not miss out on this prosperity. The opportunity may not knock again: http://hotair.com/archives/2013/12/23/european-unions-fracking-pronouncement-full-speed-ahead/

 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: ‘Australia is one of the world’s last surviving AAA states, yet its position is precarious. It has built up external liabilities of $855bn US dollars and has a net international investment position (NIIP) of minus 64pc of GDP, the world’s most-stretched after Europe’s Club Med bloc. The International Monetary Fund usually regards minus 30pc as a warning signal.’ Then, the GOOD NEWS: ‘Morgan Stanley report predicts that gas exports will help (the) country eliminate its current account deficit for the first time in four decades…Australia is to become a global gas superpower by the middle of the decade and eliminate its current account deficit for the first time in almost 40 years’. Take THAT you anti-fracking nut-jobs: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/oilandgas/10519371/Australia-to-be-an-energy-superpower-by-mid-2017.html

 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!

 19/12/2013: The ‘Bolt Case’ illustrated just how extreme our anti free speech laws have gone here. In England they have gone even further. Thankfully the Abbott Government is set to reform some of such laws here: http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/365825/british-man-arrested-making-nelson-mandela-joke-charles-c-w-cooke

 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” ‘Yorkshire’ copper elbow, some ¾” rubber hose and some ¼” micro irrigation outlets to help ‘flush’ the bowl. I will make the anti-drowning feature out of stainless mesh when I have located some. This should work well for messy birds (such as Della’s Dusky Lorikeets), or even as a dog waterer on the verandah:

 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 Melbourne, etc. Strategically it would be a smart defensive thing to be able to produce heaps of tough 4WD vehicles which could be co-opted for that purpose in the event of a national emergency. We WOULD have to solve the problem of corrupt (and lazy) unionists FOR ALL TIME too. I have never understood why THAT one is so hard…

 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 Australia’s ‘Housing Bubble’ which WILL burst one day: http://maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com/archives/23452-How-Isaac-Newton-Went-Flat-Broke-Chasing-A-Stock-Bubble.html

 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. Afghanistan, Sudan and Haiti all have higher life expectancies than South Africa’: http://www.frontpagemag.com/2013/dgreenfield/the-mandela-myth/

 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 Toyota - AND the Government is proposing giving such ex-employees further hand-outs? A further boot up the arse is what they deserve: ‘Late yesterday, Toyota Australia’s cost-cutting strategy received a serious setback when a Federal Court judge blocked the company from holding a meeting of employees today to consider changes to their workplace agreement, ruling that the carmaker had breached the “no extra claims” provision of the workplace agreement covering employees. Toyota Australia president and chief executive Max Yasuda said ... GM Holden’s planned closure in 2017 “will put our manufacturing operations and the local supplier network under unprecedented pressure so it is now more important than ever before that we make urgent changes…A decision will be made next year on the next-generation Camry and export program and we need to take urgent action if we want to stay at the negotiating table for future investments,” he said. “The proposed changes were designed to remove outdated and uncompetitive terms and conditions that make it difficult to compete with other Toyota plants throughout the world”’ http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/check_out_who_is_now_killing_toyota_hint_its_not_abbott/

 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 Antarctica – cold enough to freeze CO2 out of the atmosphere (though because of partial pressure, NOT at that altitude – nearly 4,000 metres!) SOME planet: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/12/09/coldest-ever-temperature-recorded-on-earth-found-in-antarctica/#more-98878

 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." Victoria's chief magistrate Lauritsen who has granted police investigating the AWU slush fund scandal access to hundreds of documents, finding they were part of a fraud and therefore not covered by legal privilege: http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2013/12/i-am-satisfied-.html

 09/12/2013: Chief Magistrate Lauritsen will rule today on whether Gillard and Wilson’s Slater & Gordon documents are protected by (client) ‘privilege’ – or whether Vic Police can use them as EVIDENCE. I’m barracking for Vic Police myself! The net draws ever tighter. She WILL be charged AND gaoled, the first Australian PM to have been PROVEN to be a criminal – there are plenty of other candidates, I’m sure! http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/opinion/abc-wont-tell-the-full-story-of-slush-funds/story-fni0cwl5-1226777751163

 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 Canberra! Who knew: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/child-abuse-secluded-hills-that-hid-the-darkest-secret-20131206-2ywps.html#ixzz2mj8HQ7Jp

 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 Africa.’ There are many, I’m sure who wish he had died BEFORE he had ruined his country: http://online.wsj.com/news/article_email/SB10001424052702303497804579240591294656698-lMyQjAxMTAzMDAwNTEwNDUyWj See, eg: http://www.ragemeister.com/Opinions2003/Mandela%27s%20Evil%20Past%20and%20Present.htm & http://www.ldjackson.net/nelson-mandela-just-another-thug/ & http://suggarynicedeath.blogspot.com.au/2013/07/nelson-mandela-woe-to-those-who-call.html SA was a peaceful prosperous nation before he took over. Now it is the murder capital of the world and descending rapidly into desperate poverty and chaos.

 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 Arctic: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2013/12/arctic_ice_cap_grows_29_in_one_year.html

 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. Melbourne zoo, with oceans of ‘qualified’ staff (and no doubt countless meetings, bonuses, perks etc) cannot care for ONE BABY ELEPHANT. WHAT? Did I hear them correctly? ‘It hanged itself with/from its favourite toy.’ The lunatics are running the asylum!

 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 New World’ – Huxley’s millennial predictions were surprisingly prescient: http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2013/11/the-predictions-of-aldous-huxley-on-the-50th-anniversary-of-his-death/

 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 Rat River’ aka Albert Johnson still presents an interesting mystery: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Johnson_%28criminal%29

 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 London in  it: http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2013/10/the-last-supersonic-flight-of-the-concorde-was-10-years-ago-today/

 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 Columbia lightweight nylon shirts and trousers. Wigwam make GREAT socks (Tip: always wear liner socks; use blister pads immediately if you develop a sore spot!) Thermarest’s new Women’s Neoair Xlite mat is 340 grams and R3.9 - the most comfortable sleep you have ever had. We are each wearing Keen hiking shoes at the moment (my sandal models are less than 350 grams ea in size 8, probably HALF the weight of the shoes YOU are wearing. THIS makes an ENORMOUS difference. TIP: Don’t worry about getting your feet wet, but do weigh your shoes when wet: some brands MORE than DOUBLE in weight when wet! Happy trails!

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: (Australia) ‘is increasingly moving away from a nation of self-reliant individuals, where civil society flourishes, toward a nation of individuals less inclined to practicing self-reliance and personal responsibility. Government programs not only crowd out civil society, but too frequently trap individuals and families in long-term dependence, leaving them incapable of escaping their condition for generations to come. Rebuilding civil society can rescue these individuals from the government dependence trap.’: http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2013/11/the-2013-index-of-dependence-on-government

27/11/2013: http://maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com/uploads/photo.png

26/11/2013: I have been wondering too what China has been up to with the spats over the Spratleys and Senkakus. David Archibald likens it to the situation vis a vis Japan just prior to WW2. If he is correct, it is a MUCH more worrying scenario – particularly considering our huge trade with China which would suddenly end, throwing Australia IMMEDIATELY into a DEPRESSION:  https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/qed/2013/11/china-attacks/

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 Sydney. The leader of the breakaway faction is an Afghanistan-born 30-year-old whose family sought asylum in Australia. He cannot be identified due to a court order. However, in the past four years he has beaten three murder charges, including the shooting death of a boxer Bassam Chami in 2006. 7.30 understands the new gang boss is an ally of Brothers 4 Life founder Bassam Hamzy, Australia’s highest security prisoner. Hamzy is serving at least 36 years in jail for crimes including murder, and has converted to radical Islam behind bars…However, with the emergence of a new faction taking over Brothers 4 Life, this time originating within the Afghan community, the threat appears far from over, with the gang moving in on valuable drug territory across Sydney… Foot soldiers recruited by the gang in recent times include Mobin Mirzaei, Wahed Karimi, Serkehl Rokzayi, from Sydney’s Afghan community. The three were arrested earlier this month and charged with the shooting of two rival Brothers 4 Life members…Mohamed Azamy, of the Afghan Community Support Association, says he is worried about the increasing violence and the growing number of young Afghan Australians turning to gang and bikie crime, and that the Afghan community has also been a target of violent extortions and shootings. “The community is afraid, the family is afraid of the future of the kids or involvement with the gangs, and they being targeted in different ways,” said Mr Azamy, who is building the first mosque for Sydney’s growing Afghan community.’

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 France's pensioners? Why, the solution is simplicity itself! Give all female workers pay raises so they can pay more taxes and make that nasty deficit go away.’ Maybe WE should try this instead of making productive citizens work until they are 70? OR, dare I say, if our (1 million+) unproductive citizens contributed THEIR 45 years’ plus work effort to the economy instead of relying on lifetime welfare, the needs of our elderly might more easily be met? https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/peter-smith/2013/11/french-word-fools/

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 Indonesia's Badan Intelijen Negara (the national intelligence agency), Marciano Norman, has told his agents foreign spies are a priority target. And in the wake of leaks by US National Security Agency fugitive Edward Snowden, he has ordered a review to boost the capability of his intelligence service to gather information and protect classified information’: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/policy/jakarta-boosts-powers-to-spy-on-neighbours/story-fn59nm2j-1226765670305#

 

22/11/2013: Black Thursday 7 February 1851, quite possibly Victoria’s hottest day on record: http://joannenova.com.au/2013/10/heat-and-fires-from-when-co2-was-ideal-black-thursday-stories-from-1851/

 

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 Indonesia can argue that leaked intelligence is notoriously inaccurate, and leaks suggesting we spied on the President’s phone are as improbable as leaks suggesting the President is implicated in corruption.’

 

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 South Africa. There were only half a million head of game. Changes in the law to permit private ownership of game and commercialise big game hunting coincided with the sea change that we see today: 10,000 game farms, supporting 20 million head of game on as many hectares. By contrast, the government formally protects only 7.5 million hectares as national parks. The game farm industry employs 100,000 people, which is reportedly three times more than employment in ordinary livestock farms. Income from game breeding stock sold at auction rose almost 15-fold in just six years, from R60 million in 2006 to R864 million in 2012.' http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2013-11-19-in-defence-of-a-lion-killer/

 

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 Macalister River in our new ‘Old Town Pack Angler’ canoes which worked wonderfully. What was not so wonderful was that our JR, Tiny fell out of Della’s canoe unnoticed on an entertaining 1 metre drop. When we stopped a couple of km further on to portage a dangerous Grade 3 rapid we noticed she was missing and had to paddle/hike back to look for her. After 2 hours and 1km vertically up and down we finally found her and could resume our journey. Understandably this morning we are all quite tired. There is a new river height gauge at Licola. Yesterday it was 1.73 which made for quite good conditions (probably about .85 -.9 on the old gauge. I would say the river is canoeable from about 1.68 to 1.8 after which it would become much more entertaining. Warning: There are a number of trees stuck in rapids, particularly the Grade 3 rapid just below the Burgoyne’s Track crossing which definitely need portaging (on the right).

 

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: CAPE York indigenous leader Noel Pearson has ... declared that a “person is not automatically disadvantaged just because he or she is indigenous…A person should be rewarded on their merits, and assisted in their needs,” he said. ”Race, and indigeneity, should be irrelevant to matters of public welfare and government assistance...”

 

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 US are reconfiguring B52s (yet again) to extend their service life out to 2044! This is an aeroplane which first flew in the 1950s – already some of the pilots are the grandchildren of the folks who first flew them back in the 1950s! Amazing engineering! Yet the current offering of passenger vehicles are mostly junk at the sales room door, and the folk who militate that we cannot have plastic shopping bags are buying new one-tonne throwaway cars in droves - instead of insisting that cars emulate airframes!

 

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 South America. Don’t expect that will happen again. But, you would think docs have been dissecting knees and doing knee ops for long enough they would have noticed this ‘extra’ ligament. I’m wondering whether it’s why my left knee has been sore since I drove to Warren in Western NSW in June to attend my sister’s 70th? Too soon to expect they can fix it, I guess. Like most things it will either get better or kill me I suppose: http://joannenova.com.au/2013/11/consensus-on-human-knee-ligaments-was-wrong-new-ligament-found/

 

17/11/2013: Who was Australia’s WORST Prime Minister? You decide: http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/timblair/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/worst_and_worster/

 

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 Australia’s education establishment. Every subject has to be taught through environmental, Indigenous and Asian perspectives where new-age, 21st century generic skills and competencies undermine academic content. Instead of acknowledging that “direct instruction”, championed by Noel Pearson and endorsed by the US study Project Follow Through, is the most effective way to teach, the national curriculum embraces an inquiry-based, child-centred view of learning. Unlike in Finland, a world leader in international tests, where teachers adopt a more formal approach to classroom pedagogy, Australian teachers are told to be facilitators, to base learning on the child’s world and to embrace open classrooms and activity based learning. The draft civics and citizenship curriculum air brushes Christianity from the nation’s civic life and institutions and adopts a post-modern, subjective definition of citizenship, one where “citizenship means different things to people at different times and depending on personal perspectives, their social situation and where they live”. The history curriculum, in addition to uncritically promoting diversity and difference instead of what binds us a community and a nation, undervalues Western civilisation and the significance of Judeo-Christian values to our institutions and way of life. As previously reported in The Australian, the English national curriculum adopts an exploded definition of literature, one where classic works from the literary canon jostle for attention along side SMS messages, film posters, graffiti and multi-modal texts. While nodding in the direction of teaching phonics and phonemic awareness, where children are taught the relationship between letters and groups of letters and sounds in a more formal, structured way, the English curriculum also favours “whole language”, where children are taught to look and guess.’ https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/qed/2013/10/colonised-classroom/

 

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, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc TOO! He should be drowned to the vile swamp which spawned him: http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/mirandadevine/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/let_us_forget_paul_keating/

 

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 Sandakan death march should be added to the toll. I think you could also add the loss of West Papua, and 8 million people butchered in South East Asia by communists after the fall of Saigon, so long engineered by ‘darlings of the left’ to the litany of evil: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/opinion/unions-exposed-as-war-saboteurs/story-fni0cwl5-1226751793596

 

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 Sri Lanka I hoped at first they would KEEP her. No such luck unfortunately. Not fit even for a hot curry. Why do we have this stupid Senate system which allows such evil folk to ‘represent’ us?

 

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 Rio wants it/them (or anyone else) they should just give it away. Bulldoze the Tarkine! So much of these treasured ‘wilderness areas’ are just rubbish: http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/locking_up_tasmanias_forests_and_the_jobs/

 

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. Australia really could be on ONE time zone. We could go even further and metricate time: all these strange Babylonian measurements are SO dated: http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/11/daylight-saving-time-is-terrible-heres-a-simple-plan-to-fix-it/281075/

 

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 Bass Strait - and elsewhere - quite safely for a generation (or two!) The world (Australia) NEEDS the cheap energy which will result from an expansion of the gas industry. Bizarrely those most against it are also those most opposed to coal mining and in favour of so-called ‘clean energy’! Furthermore, I look forward to a tenfold increase in my ‘Lakes Oil’ & etc shares, thank you very much! http://blogs.the-american-interest.com/wrm/2013/10/31/fracking-gets-a-clean-bill-of-health/

 

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 there Territories – States even?) and just opt for ‘first past the post’. These changes will make for a lot fewer recounts, and much more certainty in Government!

 

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 Brisbane. THEN they expect the rest of us to shell out for their ignorance and folly through vastly inflated insurance premiums. We have even had such folks turn up their noses at OUR hurricane, fire, flood and earthquake proof house because of its APPEARANCE, or because we have never quite finished it, or because we built it ourselves every brick, saw-cut and nail, or because it cost next to nothing! Literacy and numeracy have also declined!

 

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 Afghanistan with Tony? Whilst Tony went down on one knee to lay the wreath Shorten was too insensitive and too thick to do the same. When they were socialising with the troops Tony wore a ‘bomber’ jacket and a suit for the formal ceremony. Shorten was suited all the rime and looking more and more like a cross between Herman Munster and a poorly trained gorilla. Labor has saddled itself with this idiot until after the next election - what a gift for the Liberal Party!

 

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: Holland’s GOT Talent? Sure has – and at AGE NINE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBMfgLvRZJs#t=88

 

30/10/2013: STILL the elephant in the room: Iran. Nuclear BOMB. Action WILL come. Obama should have long ago stopped this, but he is (almost) a complete idiot. Israel WILL, but will their action provoke a widespread conflict? With so many Middle Eastern countries in ruins as a result of the ‘Arab Spring’ they MAY just get away with it – as they did with the bombing of Saddam’s nuclear facility so many years ago…

 

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 Blue Mountains as a result of Global Warming! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7AE81mqxR8

 

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 Australia’s unilateral carbon tax reduces the likelihood of global warming, and hence could cost-effectively avert an increase in bushfires, is on a par with faith in the tooth fairy.’

 

28/10/2013: Save the country. Nuclear, not solar (or wind!)! Please? New nuclear power plant to be built in the UK: http://jonova.s3.amazonaws.com/graphs/renewables/DECC_Infographic_Hinkley-point-C_final.gif

 

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, ‘Po’ white trash’ means. Seems we are breeding so MANY of these folks today…so many Ellie May’s and Jeeters!

 

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 Germany most people pursue a TECHNICAL education, not a ‘college education’. It seems certain to me many years ago that we had exceeded the percentage of the population which could benefit from a University ‘education’ and that increasing the numbers of those tramping ‘the hallowed halls’ had only adulterated the ‘educational’ significance of a degree. Such education was only ever suited to those with an above average intelligence. It is obvious that the ‘average’ University graduate today does not have the ability to pursue (or any interest in) research, any high order critical thinking ability or indeed what would have passed for adequate High School literacy a generation ago. As a consequence they are channelled into make-work courses with null intellectual content (if not entirely polemic), and made to hone their plagiarism skills in the hope there will be ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ in the form of a highly remunerative (and richly deserved!) career! I think it is high time we throttled back on University ‘education’ (particularly of the impractical kind), and even ‘academic’ Senior High School and transferred our efforts into inculcating in our young practical, marketable skills. By so doing we would produce an economic boom, a happier generation of young people and an enormous reduction in unemployment! Most of today’s graduates (even freshpersons!) really do not have the wit or skill to become competent mechanics, fitters, even garbage disposal persons…nor do they have the energy or drive to become shearers, day labourers, navvies, etc… http://www.forbes.com/sites/georgeleef/2013/10/17/higher-education-the-conventional-wisdom-is-wrong/

 

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 Australia 1995 (1301.0)’: http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/the_abcs_unprecedented_fires_occured_11_times_already/

 

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 West Java and Banten police forces to patrol the local waters for signs of people-smuggling activities …“The fact that they’ve coming in on tourist visas shows that they’re not really asylum seekers. People smuggling has become a big business here,” he said …Tedy Pembang, the Cisarua subdistrict chief, said many of the foreigners, mostly from the Middle East, had lived in the area for years, often arriving in the country by boat. He added that they tended to be ostentatious in their spending and socializing, generally keeping up a high profile that did not fit in with their claims of seeking asylum from repressive conditions back in their home countries.

 

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 Georgia may cause a further rethinking of the human narrative (http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/oct/17/skull-homo-erectus-human-evolution). Schliemann’s discoveries at Troy and Mycenae (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinrich_Schliemann) made us realise that myth and archaeology could come together. Since then there have been many archaeological vindications of ancient stories (many Old Testament sites - eg Jericho, have been extensively excavated – though the Palaeolithic tower found there still provides many mysteries to answer). This has led some to wonder about the provenance of myths about ‘little people and giants’ in folklore. These homo erectus skulls and the ‘hobbits’ found on Flores give one pause to wonder, that’s for sure. You begin to wonder whether eg Ramapithecus (http://curiosity.discovery.com/question/ramapithecus-one-of-earliest-humans) or Neanderthal man have given rise to legends of trolls, goblins, etc or whether the fossils we have found are outliers, whilst instead we inhabited the same world as them (as has been clearly demonstrated by the Flores discoveries). The Sumerian ‘Epic of Gilgamesh’ – and particularly his hairy friend Enkidu, echoing as it does the Biblical ‘legend’ of Esau make one wonder. The fact that some of these early ‘men’ have been found  on islands which never had a land bridge over a million years ago also makes one realise that they MUST have been able to build boats which implies quite ‘human’ levels of cultural sophistication, including language?

 

19/10/2013: US debt jumped $328 billion, more than Australia’s total debt in ONE day, totalling now more than $7 trillion, more than ten times ours (per capita) – and this is a GOOD thing? http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/oct/18/us-debt-jumps-400-billion-tops-17-trillion-first-t/#ixzz2i6yPjLDD

 

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 New Guinea in the 50’s and 60’s who were in the front-line in the ‘war’ against cannibalism and ‘cargo cults’. Some even lost their lives. One friend Jimmy, while helping to eradicate cannibalism in the Highlands, married a Chimbu girl, one of the most interesting (certainly the blackest) friend I have ever had (and the only cannibal!) who had the most awesome eidetic memory (as pre-literate peoples are said to do) and could repeat word for word conversations you had with her months or years before!…yet it was immensely to the benefit of her (and their children’s lives) that the culture of cannibalism was ended! Unfortunately we imported the ‘cargo cults’ and there are now millions of Australians who won’t live without this ‘manna from Heaven’ – or from their hard-working fellow countrymen at least!

 

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 Australia’s engagement with Asia; and sustainability… There is NOTHING about: eg percentages, simple and compound interest, net present value, etc, etc. In short there is NOTHING about BUSINESS or ECONOMICS. This is frightening!

 

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 & Torrres Strait islanders’ in addition to spending which is available to ALL Australians. Often it is spent on folks whom any civilised society would want to lock up and throw away the key, else hang from the nearest lamp-post such as the ‘perp’ in THIS case. Similarly folk of the approved colour (though not necessarily very much of it - as so many are blue-eyed!) can eg continue to demand (and receive) ‘land rights’ even though they have been state dependents for c200  years and have never paid a single cent in Council rates (nor ever will), nor (unlike the farmers above) produced a single scrap of food from their land, even land which was purchased for them as premium grazing properties, and continue to be state dependents and too often malefactors to boot. This apartheid HAS to stop : http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/opinion/expensive-farcical-appeals-are-a-benefit-to-no-one/story-fnj45fva-1226735707635

 

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 America sneezes, the whole world catches a cold’ has long been the accepted economic truth (becoming less so for us now, as the so-called GFC demonstrated when our relationship with China ensured we would be completely unaffected). Still, the prospect of American default (yea even winding back its reckless and mindless spending) could plunge much of the world into recession and carve countless billions (No, trillions now!) off the worlds’ stock markets: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/oct/9/obamas-national-debt-rate-on-track-to-double/#ixzz2hM4Wl2HX

 

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 Hyde Park to the Anzac memorial. A grand tribute to a humble soldier who did so much to boost Anzac Day and the Kokoda Track. Priest did not crave the spotlight. So it was fitting that a poem read by former Army Chief Ken Gillespie paid homage to the soldiers whose welfare Priest made his life’s work.

 

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 Bombay lugger.’ Your mum-in-law GG must resign (but didn’t - corruption fair gallops in the family, and the Party). Of course you WILL lose the next election ; whoever won would, so does Anthony get a guernsey then? Labor, STILL a bleeding shemozzle!

 

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 Melbourne soon. Unfortunately at over $300 per ticket I will not be gong to hear him speak, though it would be worthwhile, eg: ‘Moore’s Law is a reminder that by far the most useful thing you can do for humanity is to lower the cost of something. Yet far too few people in government, charities, companies, churches or aid organisations think of this as their duty…More’s the pity’. I am not an economist, but as far as I can make out, for true economic growth to happen, something somewhere has to get cheaper. If you have to work for a shorter time to fulfil a need such as mobile telephony, sandwiches or an airline ticket, you have a bit of spare time left over to fulfil another need or want. That gives somebody else a job providing for your new demand. And so on.’ http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/the-inexorable-nature-of-technological-progress.aspx

 

11/10/2013: Belgium may be taking euthanasia (which I generally support) too far. The case of two deaf twins who recently had themselves euthanized as they were beginning to lose their eyesight is a little disturbing, as is this case of ‘NancyVerhelst: http://takimag.com/article/softly_putting_the_monster_to_sleep_jim_goad#axzz2hAXPaMUE

 

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 Appalachian trail (http://www.amazon.com/Walk-Woods-Rediscovering-America-Appalachian/dp/0307279464 )

 

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 US. I KNOW most of you have been doing this sort of thing for years, but for me it was AWESOME (there, I’ve used the word!) We are at that time in life where the need to make new friends is paramount: not sure that we can do it quickly enough as the old ones die off or just fade away, to prevent our ending up alone sometime soon: just have to get OUT there and PARTY more, while there’s still time!

 

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 Czech Republic on towering Austrian economist Hayek, whom we ignore at our peril. He observes: ‘Europe needs Hayek and his merciless analysis of the over regulated, controlled, centrally administered European economic system and of the slippery road to serfdom that we have already embarked on.’ http://www.cato.org/policy-report/septemberoctober-2013/hayek-end-communism-me

 

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, Western Washington University) take on that: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/10/03/the-2013-ipcc-ar5-report-facts-vs-fictions/#more-95072

 

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 Vatican…’

 

 & 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 Samoa. A great admirer, A.E. Housman, wrote R.L.S as a tribute to Stevenson:

 

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 Warrigal Hospital says it all: http://www.abc.net.au/landline/content/2013/s3858413.htm

 

 

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, Australia would have 25 million people by the end of 2017 - with the last 5 million added in just 13 years. A fifth of our population arrives in JUST THIRTEEN YEARS – and, Yes! YOU can believe they will feel a loyalty to our nation and our culture, but I DO NOT! http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/state-grows-by-100000-people-a-year-20130926-2uh14.html#ixzz2g2El17Z7

 

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 Singapore with a full beard."

 

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 Australia if funding for our state broadcaster wasn’t drawn directly and immorally from our taxes.’

 

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 Yellowstone. It should never be forgotten that this, the first national park in the world was declared by this great Republican President - & famous hunter…I just loved the film about him starring Sean Connery and Candice Bergman; ‘The Wind & the Lion’. The most memorable photo in the book was of a treed ‘lion’ maybe 100’ up a pine tree with a huge hound baying at him from about 6’ below: "The encouragement of a proper hunting spirit, a proper love of sport, instead of being incompatible with a love of nature and wild things, offers the best guaranty of their preservation." Theodore Roosevelt. Yes!

 

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 Trinity College, Cambridge. They did great things in the Middle Ages, though.’ (Comment: That was a LONG while ago actually).  Trinity College, Cambridge, has 32 Nobel laureates, as against 10 Muslims listed in Wikipedia. ( & ‘Islam has 1.62 billion adherents, making up over 23% of the world population’.) Meanwhile, Australia’s senior Islamic cleric, Grand Mufti of Australia, Dr Ibrahim Abu Mohammed threatened to withdraw community support for federal Labor in Western Sydney if union leader Paul Howes replaced Bob Carr in the Senate, a leaked email reveals. “As you know we have worked very hard to marshal our community to support and successfully retain the majority of ALP seats in Western Sydney against all odds, and the choice of Paul will threaten our efforts to maintain this momentum. Paul has WITHDRAWN! Here as immigrants or as COLONISERS? NO MORE!

 

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 Victoria. Deer (and dingoes!) as common as rabbits elsewhere. Took our old Jack Russell, Tiny along for the walk. Turns out she is fitter than me and was still keen to hunt after six hours’ walking. It also turns out that deer are utterly mystified by Tiny whom they honk repeatedly at whilst ignoring me utterly, whilst presenting (to me) perfect targets. Just had to shoot one (or two & etc) for the dog who promptly buried bits of them all over the bush, just in case she should pass this way again. At about 14 years old this becomes increasingly unlikely. TWICE we figured packs of dingoes were hunting us: about 8:00pm on Fri night a pack came barking down our back trail from up river and had deer honking at them at about 30 yards out in the dark, (& me only having four shots in these ‘new’ John Howard mandated rifles and my trusty machete). Figured we could take about five of them. This pack must have picked up on an orphaned calf and clearly made their kill about 200 yards up the hill behind the camp from where they set up the most infernal howling for hours! That, and a sudden wind change and downpour made it hard to sleep. As we were walking out on Saturday another pack were again seemingly hunting our back trail this time led by what sounded like a bloodhound cross from the baying (MOST unusual for a dingo – these wild dogs have crossed with who know what other nasty breeds and are no doubt becoming more dangerous. Note to self: take more ammo next time). Fortunately they picked up the scent trail of a stag I had previously had two shots at (but been unable to locate – worse luck). The pack located him though! Better than eating us I suppose.

 

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 Yemen should energise us all to work towards ending this vile practice: http://www.americanthinker.com/2013/09/recently_the_world_read_with_horror_about_the_death_of_a_yemeni_8-year-old_child_bride_who_died_of_i.html

 

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, UK, Finnish…’citizens’’…Will you NOW begin to listen to me about the ‘Fifth Column’ dangers of indiscriminate Islamic immigration? I noticed also that had I been there, even if I had claimed to be Moslem, I would have been shot by them as I am (sort of) white (mostly red/grey actually – but what the heck?) This is clearly a terrible example of racist discrimination by these ‘good folks’. They should be taken to the ‘Human Rights Commission’ or brought before the ‘Anti-Discrimination Board’ and be given a (not too) stiff talking to!

 

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 Pakistan's north-western city of Peshawar: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/breaking-news/attack-on-pakistan-church-leaves-78-dead/story-fni0xqlk-1226724858804

 

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 Australia (I hope) we have JUST pulled back FROM THE BRINK. The G7 (in contrast) have just spent $18 for each $1 of GDP growth, (much like Rudd/Gillard) a figure which surely UNDERLINES THE LUNACY of all Leftie economics: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-09-12/five-years-later-18-dollars-debt-every-dollar-gdp-total-g7-debtgdp-440

 

14/09/2013: The Electoral Commission has the result this morning at 92:54. However one of the ‘close’ seats (EM, Fairfax, McEwen, &Parramatta) , Eden-Monaro has conceded (so, 93:53). Palmer is NOT so far ahead as thought and one would have thought McEwen OR Parramatta is in trouble, so the probable outcome is say 94:52. Sportsbet had Gillard on 51 at the time of Rudd’s overthrow of her, so THAT did not work! He DID NOT ‘save the furniture’ and Gillard supporters were right in their desire to let her win/lose the election by herself. It is also clear that (whatever the final outcome) Labor & the Greens will have (deservedly) a clear MINORITY in the Senate; so overall, a GOOD WIN FOR TONY: http://vtr.aec.gov.au/HousePartyRepresentationLeading-17496.htm

 

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, Warren used to be President of the ALP! http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/special-features/warren-mundine-abused-on-twitter-because-he-voted-liberal/story-fnho52jo-1226715454258

 

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 (‘Africa’) explains the break-up of the super-continent, ‘Pangea’ (how does he know the name of this place which was destroyed by gargantuan elemental forces long before men (or dinosaurs even) existed? Clever man!) He identifies an early precursor of the whale, named ‘Basilosurus’ after my uncle, my father’s brother, Basil Jones. Extraordinary. No-one has been named, ‘Basil’ (or Sheila, his wife) since the Second World War. Della and I are now passed the right to name things (Well, people) – dogs are OK, and Della’s darling JR, named “Spot’ seems happy with his name, but if we were still in the business of naming people, I think ‘Basil’ WOULD be a good name – not much competition there – and ‘Bas’ for short is good.

 

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 US, presaging the infamous GFC, though the Dow has recovered there and has exceeded its all-time highs recently. This morning before opening the ASX was 5144. Historically it has gained @ 8%+ after inflation which would place it somewhere over 8-9000 today if not for those disastrous experiments in socialism: Rudd & Obama. With the election of a Coalition Government here it is rising again. I think it is likely it will rise 50% by Xmas. In any case it WILL go back to 6800 sooner rather than later, so hang on to your hats, and think about putting some of those savings into the stock market.

 

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 Tasmania has ten times the votes of one in NSW or Vic. This House is a dreadful anachronism, ( a harking back to the defunct ‘House of Lords’ in the Westminster Parliament), and simply serves as a vehicle to allow commies & crazies to impose their minority wills on us ALL– in the depraved guise of the Greens, for example. It has to be abolished, or at least seriously reformed!

 

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 British Isles discovered in the Pacific – as big as Olympus Mons on Mars! I am amazed enough when someone discovers a new mammal the size of a cow in the jungles of Vietnam or somewhere, but it is hard to imagine not noticing a volcano this size until now. Truly, ‘There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,Than are dreamt of in your philosophy’. - Hamlet (1.5.166-7)  http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/09/06/scientists-confirm-existence-of-largest-single-volcano-on-earth-massive-underwater-volcano-rivals-biggest-in-solar-system/

 

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 Greenwich and the International Date Line where there is an island Taveuni, on which you can stand with one foot in yesterday and one foot in today!

 

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 ‘China boom’ – no mean feat, but he is ‘Superkrud’!

 

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 Australia is not that Big Brother government knows best; it’s that our country will best flourish when all of our citizens, individually and collectively, have the best chance to be their best selves. Government’s job is rarely to tell people what to do; mostly, it’s to make it easier for people to make their own choices.’ (Tony Abbott)

 

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 Victoria has become a net food importer (with the rest of the country soon to follow) if we don’t get on top of the proliferation of mad greenie bureaucrats out to destroy farming AND the natural landscape generally. Greenies really should be declared a pest species and an open season declared on them: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/09/04/the-bull-and-the-borg/#more-93032

 

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 Canberra at all?) we should rid ourselves of these senior bureaucrats who cost so much and DO so little: http://www.quadrant.org.au/blogs/qed/2013/08/the-high-flyers-abbott-needs-to-target

 

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 Canberra for the past six. Can’t happen? I know it can. Don’t waste your vote this weekend.’

 

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 Australia. This is why Labor fears him more than any Liberal…voters are glimpsing a man who defies the characterisation of his enemies. They hear the testimony of a survivor of the 2005 Bali bombing who credits Abbott, on holiday with his family at the time, with saving his life’! http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/mirandadevine/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/kevin_rudd_cant_even_get_insults_right/

 

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 Carlton and Fosters shares?

 

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 Syria last week. After all Assad would have everything to lose and nothing to gain from such an evil act, whereas there are some very bad people in the opposition (including Abu Sakkar, the cannibal) who have everything to gain and nothing to lose… http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/may/6/syrian-rebels-used-sarin-nerve-gas-not-assads-regi/  

 

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 Wonnagatta River. Eye specialist appointment (Della) Melbourne Monday, but Tues-Wed (27C & 28C) are a possible two-day run down from eg the Kingwill Bridge to Waterford, but .6m over the ‘normal’ summer (canoeable) height of 1.8m at Waterford would make for an ‘interesting’ trip (may have to wait for the ‘real’ summer & our new Old Town ‘Pack Angler’ [@14kg ea!] Canadians): http://ozforecast.com.au/cgi-bin/weather.cgi?station=Crooked+River.VIC & http://www.bom.gov.au/cgi-bin/wrap_fwo.pl?IDV60154.html

 

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 Syria. A guy who can cut out an enemy’s heart and liver and eat them raw (on film, see below) can surely also release chemical weapons to kill innocent civilians (as happened last week). I have no doubt that terrorists gained access to such weapons (eg by over-running Assad’s ordinance depots). Israel’s Mossad filmed hundreds of semi-trailers of ‘weapons of mass destruction’ exiting Iraq through the Syrian border as Western forces were advancing from the South during the Iraq War - which is why the UN did not find any (even though ‘Chemical Ali’ was hanged for killing 5,000+ civilian Kurds  with just such weapons, so they clearly had them). Later Jordanian authorities fortunately foiled a plot to destroy downtown Amman with a release of just such purloined weapons. The Middle East is such a hideously dangerous place. The only ‘civilised’ country there is Israel (who richly deserves our support). I am not happy for us to be dragged into yet another Arab imbroglio because of the wicked release of nerve gas in Damascus last week (or for any other reason): http://www.policymic.com/articles/41777/abu-sakkar-syrian-rebel-cuts-out-and-eats-soldier-s-heart-in-ghastly-propaganda-video

 

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 Syria for al Qaeda? http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/should_the_west_really_bomb_syria_for_al_qaeda/

 

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 (Sydney) was ‘the greatest harbour in the world’ capable of safely sheltering THOUSANDS of ships. Of course that (and the fact that NSW is HALF the population of Australia is why Garden Island has existed for the last 175 years, and why our fleet is based there. We ARE an island! Yet Krud, (not the greatest intellect of our time as I have observed before), has decided to relocate the navy to the Brisbane River (not a harbour at all, and needing extensive dredging to even fit ONE naval ship (leaving alone the risk of having the fleet bottled up in a river mouth by a couple of callow youths with air rifles!) Of course Labor was already losing Western Sydney (CERTAIN after this decision), but the great intellect Krud seems to think that the people of Brisbane will be grateful enough (for this immense Defence FOLLY) to vote for him after this decision! This makes ‘Pig Iron Bob’ seem like a great Defence strategist! Phooey!

 

28/08/2013: Not the greatest intellect of our time; even though Labor is clearly losing Tasmania (and elsewhere) with huge swings (10%+) because of its association with the EVIL Green WRECKERS, Krud refused to join Tony in preferencing against them. I predict that this will be the last time such folly happens in Australian politics. Unfortunately some of these emerald folk will still be around in their Senate seats for a while yet. However, if they force a double dissolution (eg over repealing the carbon tax) after the current election, the NEW Labor leader we WILL have after Sept 7 WILL preference against them and they will (thankfully) be GONE! http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/greens_poison_labor/

 

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 Griffith to ‘play with Rudd’s head’: http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/abbott_will_be_pm_poll_lead_grows/

 

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 Blacktown (Western Sydney). It is instructive how the many ‘New Australians’ she interviews are opposed to illegal immigrants on boats: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bow2022pWFI

 

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 Afghanistan! I guess people who believe I fairies at the end of the garden end up with fairies like him!

 

24/08/2013: Or ‘Chelsea’ as I should now (more politically correctly) call him/her: http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/timblair/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/chelsea_lately/

 

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, ...  Australia’s debt-to-GDP ratio is still low when judged by the standards of near-bankrupt economies. But it is real and growing at a disturbing rate. So far, the government has demonstrated the same nonchalance to debt shown by countries now on the brink…For those of us who have a passion for excellence, it would be tragic if voters opted for a continuation of the mediocrity, ideological experimentation and policy mistakes of the past six years. All scare and no responsibility may be fine for election campaigns but that won’t do in government. And while some Australians may find state dependency attractive, they should be aware of the brutal withdrawal of state welfare that has occurred in countries further along the dependency road than Australia’.

 

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 Campbell put Blair’s husband in charge of winding up the whole climate boondoggle in Qld, so I imagine Flannery MIGHT be employed for a little longer getting rid of all the climate luvvies on that particular gravey train!

 

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; Campbell is STILL there. Which lead me to THIS: Is there ANYONE except Labor CLIENTS who actually votes Labor. When you factor in those on welfare (25-33%), public servants, others employed in the client industry (in Health, Aboriginal affairs, the ABC etc) kids on Austudy, the families of those dependents (doctor’s wives etc)…it is hard to see how there can be ANYONE else who votes Labor!

 

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 Australia, who receive political and financial support from the organisation overseas. "They call them 'sleeping cells'. They don't tell you who they are. Once they get the message that they are requested to do something, then they become active," said one community leader, Victor Bassily’. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/brotherhood-supports-sleeper-cells/story-e6frg6nf-1226698063860 AND they are terrorising and shooting up Western Sydney (and nothing is done about it): http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/mirandadevine/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/tough_justice_would_wipe_out_this_war_zone/

 

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 Melbourne. The surf was way too rough for either of us to go in. Suddenly a woman came up to us screaming. Her son had been pulled out by a rip and was in bad trouble. I was a weak swimmer and had I dived in someone would very soon have had to rescue me. Abbott was a strong swimmer and pretty much without hesitation jumped in, swam out to the kid, took hold of him, dragged him down the coastline a bit to get past the rip, and brought him safely to shore. He was not a bit interested in the mother’s thanks, rather a bit disgusted the kid had gone out in such treacherous surf. That was 36 years ago. I’ve got no doubt if the incident happened today Abbott’s response would be the same. Publicly and privately, he’s the same bloke. His personality may be unreconstructed, but also, it’s not a construct’. Let’s hope he can quietly SAVE AUSTRALIA as well!

 

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 China. Now, that really IS taking abortion too far: http://moonbattery.com/?p=34698

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 France, Conroy in the US...Martin Ferguson, where are you NOW? Too late now. It can only get worse. It is looking like a Gillard-sized defeat at the moment.

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 Uganda, Somalia, etc…Aborigines do not live in ‘Third World’ conditions in Australia. Though some live in squalor, largely of their own making, we spend $100,000 per annum, per capita on them, MORE than on any other group! This level of spending is VERY ‘First World’. It is long since time that they removed any remaining chips FROM their shoulders and shouldered their responsibilities for our collective society instead! None living today was born so far as I can see, before Captain Cook arrived! None is a victim of European displacement or etc…Indeed many other Australians HAVE been victims (of just such displacement as ‘aboriginal’ activists claim) having arrived (often at severe peril of their lives) on our shores from some war-torn hell hole. What the vast majority of such folk do is knuckle down, get a job, get a life, save every penny, pay their own way, send their kids to Uni, and so on. Is it in any way unfair to insist that those who CLAIM to be descendents of autochthons DO THE SAME? Again, I want to post about THIS ‘New Australian’ who has richly REPAID his ‘debt’ to our great country. After 225 years of handouts, it is long since time ‘aboriginal’ folks did so too. Probably the most morally objectionable handout is the concept of free (aboriginal’) land which attracts no obligation to pay rates (or other upkeep) and which (unlike all other private land in Australia) is not repossessed by Government for non-payment of statutory obligations such as rates, but nonetheless other Australians (those who are paying FOR this luxury) are excluded from enjoying these hugs chunks of OUR country. This is, pure and simple, APARTHEID: http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/mirandadevine/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/why_we_do_love_migrants/

 

12/08/2013: ASYLUM seekers have found their own PNG Solution with two Somalis the latest to sail from Australia’s nearest neighbour across the Torres Strait to far north Queensland. Since the Government announced the PNG solution just over three weeks ago, 2270 people have arrived with the latest a vessel carrying 52 intercepted near Christmas Island on Saturday night.

 

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 Newcastle and Geelong said…they would never be able to operate with the meagre payment offered, with one CEO claiming the pay rate was so low he thought it was an error… Disability service groups believe the DCA has no option but to increase their pay rate - as low as $33 an hour for consultations and service provision’. Now that’s $1320 per week or $68,640pa. I can tell you THIS: farmers tending veggies would be delighted to be paid HALF this much. Most are working AT A LOSS! Come ON now! This is a scheme which replaces 24 hour care by a carer pensioner for @$12,000pa? Maybe some of those (what 1.5 million folks?) who are already paid to do NOTHING could help out at NO cost even? AND much of the cost will go to keep folks ticking who would rather be dead (or who would be better off dead – or never having been born!) We should rethink this NONSENSE scheme. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/disabilitycare-australia-off-to-shaky-start-with-multi-million-dollar-cost-blowout/story-e6frg6n6-1226691064952

 

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 Austria, are set to become majority Islamic within a generation ie 25 years!) No, this is NOT a good thing – diversity is one thing; domination quite another: http://pickeringpost.com/article/enlisting-the-enemy/1793

 

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 New Guinea…the Opposition Leader has filed a High Court challenge to the Manus Island/PNG ‘solution’. It’s all starting to unravel Kevni, just like it did LAST TIME! http://www.postcourier.com.pg/20130802/frhome.htm

 

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 Queensland (where they will be much higher and may make it difficult for Labor in some of its ‘safer’ seats). I liked the Telegraph’s front page headline this morning, ‘FINALLY YOU NOW HAVE THE CHANCE TO KICK THIS MOB OUT!’

 

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 USA teen black unemployment hits 46%! Doubt that it is SO low here!

 

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 New York (much worse than the 80 year old Empire State -despite winning many awards). What is it with the Greens? http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2013/07/a-mongolian-neo-nazi-environmentalist-walks-into-a-lingerie-store-in-ulan-bator/100547/ & http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2013/07/when-sustainability-is-not-sustainable.html

 

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 Shanghai have shot down the world's first cake drones, deployed by a bakery to whizz pies through the sky: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/10206212/Pie-in-the-sky-Chinese-authorities-shoot-down-worlds-first-cake-drones.html?fb

 

28/07/2013: Spain moves to tax sunlight. Free air will be next: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/07/26/climate-craziness-of-the-week-taxing-sunlight/#more-90493

 

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 Manus Island policy, a total of 816 people from 11 boats in seven days has arrived. Manus Island has (theoretically) facilities for 600. The Manus Island ‘solution’ is swamped! What will he try next?

 

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 Manus Island detention facility yet torture and (male) rape are described as ‘widespread’!! Methinks if you selected 145 Aussie men at random and took them to such a place neither of these things would happen at all, EVER. What sort of people are trying to force themselves upon US? Krud has evacuated them all to the mainland. Nice one, Kevni. What ELSE have we got to look forward to?

 

25/07/2013: CORRECTION: 60 folk have been left on Manus Island: Would these be the rapees or rapers? Could there really have been 60 of either out of 145 people? QUESTIONS:1.  Won't bringing them to Australia mean they have to be processed according to OUR laws? 2. Wouldn't it be better to send the rapers BACK to wherever they came from?

 

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 Princeton (13:1). I wonder also how many of the latter have previously been the former? Capitalism provides opportunity. Socialism provides Detroit and the Gulag. http://www.aei-ideas.org/2013/07/wal-mart-deserves-the-2013-nobel-peace-prize-for-improving-the-lives-of-millions-of-low-income-consumers-globally/

 

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 Detroit (and America) was STILL great! (http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/07/bezos-apollo-11/) Watching the launch is still exciting: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSLRMdYSA9M

 

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: DETROIT: The fate of this once great city is one of the worst things I have known. Imagine a metropolis of millions reduced to a few hundred thousand largely illiterate dysfunctional welfare recipients living in a mostly abandoned, decaying landscape where services and facilities are collapsing everywhere…Imagine also that they did this to themselves…Is this the fate of the West, as the lights slowly go out one by one? I certainly hope not, but there are many warning lessons here that should be heeded: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/353959/downfall-detroit-mark-steyn 

 

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 Manus Island. It currently holds about 200 out of a ‘possible’ 600 and has taken OVER a year to (not) get up to scratch. That is, there are probably already 3,000+ folk already in the pipeline (eg on their way here from Africa etc) who just about can’t be stopped. This means the facility will be swamped before it is ever built (just like the ‘Malaysia Solution’) – effectively meaning the people smugglers have already called Krud’s bluff and before any possible election can be held (which takes a minimum of 33 days from any given Saturday), so that the whole deal will be seen as a sham before polling day. Remember also that the whole mess: the dismantling of the (working) ‘Pacific Solution’, the 45,000+ folks who have arrived - 15,000+ already this year, the 1,000+ DEAD, the incredible COSTS… are all down to Krud’s past meddling with our orderly refugee process. All of which leaves aside whether our country can (legally or morally) effectively KIDNAP folks arriving on our shores and just dump them in some awful Third World country where they will likely be attacked, beaten, robbed, raped, etc. New Guinea is NOT a paradise for such folk and clearly some will end up there before the end. Their fate will be BIG news…

 

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 Timor, Malaysia, New Guinea…Someone Save Me! Will the newest bubble be any better than the last? http://pickeringpost.com/article/classic-kev/1692

 

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 Origin streaker is a repeat offender. The bulky yet elusive fellow is currently stalling the law: “He’s not cooperating with police at all, he’s being very difficult,” Inspector Hill said. “He’s refusing to identify himself or answer questions so we’re going to have to fingerprint him and go through identity checks before we can work out the charging...It’s going to take a good few hours.” Only a few hours? Let’s put these cops in charge of border protection.

 

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 Timor Sea must be getting VERY dangerous having feasted on over 1,000 human bodies since Krud scrapped the working ‘Pacific Solution’. The size of his ego assures me that he will go later rather than sooner (certainly after the G20 on September 7), which means the earliest opportunity will be on his birthday September 21. The longer he waits, the more seats Labor will lose. It will be interesting to see whether he can lose as many as Ju-Liar would have, ie 30+. Meanwhile her arrest must move ever closer. A major sinking &/or terrorist threat or action in the last week/s of the campaign will sink it too. Interesting times…

 

19/07/2013: The grip of Middle East oil over the US has been broken. Perhaps soon WE will see that their would be enormous advantages to us economically in abolishing excise duties and making cheap gas and electricity available to Australian industry and consumers: http://www.aei-ideas.org/2013/07/as-a-separate-country-saudi-texas-is-now-the-12th-largest-oil-producer-in-the-world-will-likely-be-no-9-by-end-of-year/

 

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 Mongolia is coming online (after only four years’ development!) Meanwhile BHP (and others) are building huge copper, gold, silver, etc mines in the Atacama desert in Chile…Care to guess WHY big Aussie miners have deserted us?

 

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 Bethlehem to be born?

 

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 AUSTRALIA!

 

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 Victoria from the brink of insolvency where reckless spending & money printing by the previous Leftist Government had brought it. His conduct bears no relationship at all to the sort of folk who shot Malala, or who have been responsible for the bombing of over a thousand Afghan & Pakistani schools.

 

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, Krishna or even Loki – my personal favourite!) and Mohammed (Jesus, Buddha, Zoraoaster, etc) is NOT his prophet. Those who pretend to know the will of fictional ‘gods’ and be able to pass on their pronouncements are always and all when fakers and scoundrels (just as no-one can know the future and anyone who claims to be able to should be given a wide berth!) All religion (rather than being the source of enlightenment) is the enemy of truth. Its business is always to obscure and obstruct the process of discourse, enquiry and the pursuit of knowledge. It is perfectly appropriate to be intolerant of all religions.

 

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 Macquarie University has persecuted Pr Murry Salby for doubting the global warming faith. No other word than PERSECUTION adequately describes what has happened to him: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/07/08/professor-critical-of-agw-theory-being-disenfranchised-exiled-from-academia-in-australia/#more-89542

 

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. Australia knows you now.

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 United States Attorney General. On counts 2, 3, 4 and 7, the Court sentences you to 20 years in prison on each count, the sentence on each count to run consecutively. (That's 80 years.)

 

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 United States attorneys have grappled with and what I have, as honestly as I know how, tried to grapple with, is why you did something so horrific. What was it that led you here to this courtroom today?

 

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 United States through his officers, will have to come into courtrooms and lay out evidence on which specific matters can be judged and juries of citizens will gather to sit and judge that evidence democratically, to mould and shape and refine our sense of justice.

 

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 Nigeria, killing 42 people, mostly students, some of the pupils being burned alive. Altogether 1,000 Pakistan and Afghanistan schools have been bombed, burnt down or simply closed through intimidation in the last three years.

 

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 Canada's National Post. "Successful terrorism persuades the terror-stricken that he's conscience-stricken." http://www.steynonline.com/5604/acceptance-silence-and-submission

 

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 New York (or Victoria, for that matter) for three days needs storage of energy equivalent to that released by TWO Hiroshima bombs. Clearly this is not a problem which is anywhere near solved yet: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/06/29/getting-energy-from-the-energy-store/#more-89007 The post that provoked Willis IS interesting: http://judithcurry.com/2013/06/29/an-energy-model-for-the-future-from-the-12th-century/

 

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 USA. In Australia such a person might be sentenced to therapy or even have to deposit $20 in the poor box. Of course if he was an aboriginal nothing at all would happen to him. WHY are WE so lenient to these vile perverts? Miranda: http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/mirandadevine/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/an_inconvenient_truth_of_church_and_courts_protecting_perverts/

 

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 California who want group marriages and others who want to marry objects of public infrastructure and redwood trees. On what logical basis can they now possibly be denied? http://neveryetmelted.com/2013/06/27/life-in-a-nation-governed-by-15-year-old-girls/

 

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 Syria. ‘’I wouldn’t mind being granted martyrdom,’’ he said. ‘’Call me crazy, call me weird, call me whatever but it’s a cause I’m willing to die for.’’ I believe he should be granted his wish!

 

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 St Petersburg from 5 to 6 September 2013. Rudd cannot, and will not, miss this – he is desperate to attend and have the other world leaders fawn over his every utterance. His Government cannot be in caretaker mode either – that would limit his ability to prognosticate (under the Caretaker Conventions he would effectively be an observer if he chose to attend during a campaign). So the Parliament must be dissolved after his return from Russia. The Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 provides that the election be held on a Saturday a minimum of 33 days after the issuing of writs for election… If Rudd visited the Governor-General shortly after he returned to Australia from the G20 meeting, the earliest election date would be Saturday 12 October 2013’.

 

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 Australia!

 

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 UK. In fact, the bird, a black and white swift which is the world’s fastest flying bird, hasn’t been spotted in Britain since 1991. That’s why it was such a treat for birdwatchers when the rare bird showed up today in Northumberland. Unfortunately, the sighting was cut short when the bird flew into a wind turbine’: www.inquisitr.com/819371/rare-bird-killed-by-wind-turbine-in-uk/

 

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 Indonesia. ARE there any grown-ups in the Labor party?

 

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 New Zealand, but we're not having any of that shit in Australia."’

 

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 Britain’s next PM, this is BIG news. Some of what he said: (he has a GREAT turn of phrase): ‘For more than 20 years now, we have been told that this country was going to get hotter and hotter and hotter, and that global warming was going to change our climate in a fundamental way. Do you remember that? We were told that Britain was going to have short, wet winters and long, roasting summers. It was going to be like 1976 all over again, with streakers at Lord’s and your Mr Whippy melting before you could even lick it, and Hyde Park scorched into a mini Kalahari. They said we were never going to have snow again, and that we should prepare for southern England to turn gradually into a Mediterranean world. There were going to be olive groves in the Weald of Kent, and the whole place was going to be so generally broiling in summer that no one would be able to move between noon and 4pm, after which people would come out to play boules and sip pastis, to the whine of a mandolin, in the dusty square that had once been a village green’. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/weather/10138096/The-weather-prophets-should-be-chucked-in-the-deep-end.html

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 US ‘pesticide workers’ shows they LIVE LONGER and suffer LESS CANCER. Death was down 42% and cancer down 28%. How about that: http://hsdispatch.com/2013/06/13/for-longer-life-and-less-cancer-pesticides/

 

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 Belgium is being used for food, and we’re saying it should go to cars here in Oz. Can we have your support?’

 

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 Maine court case signals the next frontier of civil rights: transgender equality: http://www.newrepublic.com/article/113454/maine-supreme-court-decide-transgender-student-bathroom-case#

 

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 Syria and Egypt are (not to mention Libya & etc, etc). You would have thought Islam could have fixed this instead of being largely responsible FOR it. No wonder so many refugees come from such awful places. The question is, Do we really want/need ANY of them OR their troubles? http://pjmedia.com/spengler/2013/06/18/syria-and-egypt-cant-be-fixed/

 

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 Flak Tower’, reviewed most capably below. A beautiful verse about the White Nun flower:

“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 Detroit, ‘Over the past 60 years, the population of Detroit has fallen by 63 percent.’ http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/detroit_dies_an_american_warming/

 

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 Detroit was once America’s fifth largest city, NOW virtually a wasteland verging on bankruptcy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w62pIqTtIkU&feature=player_embedded

 

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 Melbourne offices after the execution of a search warrant and co-operation between the firm and detectives, sources told The Australian yesterday.” When was the last time police investigated a sitting Prime Minister?

 

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 France today which failed to control its immigration ‘problems’ and it will be Australia tomorrow if WE do not: http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/timblair/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/goals_and_poles/

 

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 Candy Bridge for 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 United States Attorney General. On counts 2, 3, 4 and 7, the Court sentences you to 20 years in prison on each count, the sentence on each count to run consecutively. (That's 80 years.)

 

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 United States attorneys have grappled with and what I have, as honestly as I know how, tried to grapple with, is why you did something so horrific. What was it that led you here to this courtroom today?

 

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 United States through his officers, will have to come into courtrooms and lay out evidence on which specific matters can be judged and juries of citizens will gather to sit and judge that evidence democratically, to mould and shape and refine our sense of justice.

 

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 Australia which included prior inventions of the CAMERA!

 

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 Snowy River in our Defender and (see my post 30/3/2013) and camper (http://www.fourwheelcampers.com/). The area up around McKillops Bridge remains today an isolated place to live. It must have been much moreso eg when the Ambon Settlement was founded as a soldier settlement scheme after WW1 (there remains an interesting historic suspension bridge constructed so that the poor farmers there could get their produce to market – though it certainly could not have been fresh produce) and one wonders how they coped when a child was sick. Even today education is a major difficulty with the only school in the district (at Tubbutt) having only TWO students but otherwise obviating many hours’ travel per day. I could not help but sorrow at the dreadful effect that the ‘latte set’ is having on people’s lives there. Successive ‘green’ policies have stolen their grazing, logging and farming neighbours and converted their land into ill-managed (and seldom visited - especially by the chattering classes) ‘National’ Parks from which periodically they are attacked by dreadful, unnecessary unstoppable wildfires. (Not to mention introduced animals, vermin and weeds). One can see the successive waves of regrowth from the more recent fires along their hillsides as their pastures have been overtaken by a profusion of native weeds (aka gums/wattles etc) which they have had neither time nor money to remove. Again ‘green’ policies mean they cannot re-clear them or even plough fields which once shipped wheat to Sydney or Melbourne if they have lain fallow for a scant ten years. The struggle to make a living in such an unforgiving place means they are slowly slipping away, leaving the burden of enormous work to fewer and fewer, abandoning the work of their parents and grandparents without a penny to show for it, leaving abandoned farmhouses and fences leaning and weathering away into the landscape. I have often thought (and said) that there should be an open season on ‘Greens’. When I visit these wild places and see what a dreadful impact ‘green’ policies are having on them, I am moved to recommend May as a good time - being after the Duck, Hog deer and Red deer seasons. There should be no size or bag limits! AND no exceptions!

 

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 Australia. We should be expected to carry out all our duties as equal citizens (eg respect the police, obey the law, work, pay bills and taxes, be as good as our word…) and to only call on our nation’s help on an equal basis according to our needs. Nothing more. Nothing less.

 

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. Darwin showed that to the contrary, coral atolls were created by rising sea levels.” Coral reefs ARE parrot fish shit: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/06/13/why-the-parrotfish-should-be-the-national-bird/

 

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 Pickering on the subject: ‘A late-term abortion shows an empyreal disrespect for life itself. Instruments are inserted to dismember the baby before extracting it in small pieces. It's small limbs are easily torn from its underdeveloped torso. The child has a functioning nervous system so pain is experienced during this horrific process but it can’t express it, it can’t breathe, it suffers, muted, without anaesthetic. The process of cattle slaughter horrifies Gillard and her followers but not the process of slaughtering babies. She demands men have no say, yet a man’s genes are 50% of the unborn child’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 Afghanistan: Who are we fighting in Afghanistan? I thought the Brits and Americans were fighting the Taliban, the people who throw acid in Muslim girls’ faces for attending school, the people who murder nurses who inoculate Muslim children against disease. Now, if fighting the Taliban is to be equated with fighting Muslims, this is a real contradiction of everything much of the Islamic world and virtually all of the left have been contending for years – that the Taliban represent a tiny group of extremists in the Muslim world, and that they have so completely perverted Islam that they cannot even be called Muslims. Well, you can’t have it both ways. If killing the Taliban is the same as “killing Muslims,” then you can’t argue that the Taliban don’t represent Islam or Muslims. So, on the issue of the West fighting in Afghanistan, the Muslims and the left need to make up their minds: Is killing the Taliban a service or a disservice to Muslims? This is the first and last question both groups need to answer. Everything else is commentary”. You can add these nasty facts (including a boy beheaded and SKINNED): http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/more_of_that_humanity_of_the_taliban_and_their_excellent_faith/

 

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 Quebec overturned a century old ban on MARGARINE! The world is just RUSHING towards Doomsday. What WILL happen next? http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/349933/we-all-live-yellow-margarine-mark-steyn

 

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 Australia less safe than it was under the former government?” Ms Gillard replied Mr Abbott’s question showed the divide between a government that was building and investing for the future and an opposition that was “trading in fear”. So releasing 75% of asylum seekers directly into the community without ANY security check (and given that 80% of them are Afghan army deserters) is an ‘investment in the future’? THE FUTURE OF TERRORISM perhaps?

 

6/06/2013: Those of you who maybe ‘support’ the insurgency in Syria might not be aware that it is being used to ‘cleanse’ Christians from the country. They have the choice of: 1. converting to Christianity, 2. an impossibly large fine (paid how many times? And with what?) 3. death, or 4. flight. MANY have ‘chosen’ 3 or 4 – in some cases BOTH! You will be aware that I am not a believer, but such blatant PERSECUTION is also abhorrent to me.

 

6/06/2013: Say ‘No’ to Canberra’s power grab over local Councils, or at least leave it an option to abolish them later on…The ‘Council’ Referendum – is there anything sillier Ju-Liar has done? Well, I can think of about 700: http://www.nopowergrab.com.au/

 

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 Sweden, incinerating cars and so on, police react in a culturally sensitive manner: ‘We go to the crime scenes, but when we get there we stand and wait’. “That’s not strictly true,” notes Mark Steyn, “They are handing out parking tickets to the burnt-out cars”: http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/timblair/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/silent_vigil/

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 Australia and acts as a huge brake on the economy. Worst of all it does not benefit the home owner who is just working harder and harder just to stand still (as is the renter for that matter). It would benefit everyone if housing became cheaper but not too quickly as happened in the US with the GFC (but that CAN happen here). Already there ARE MANY PEOPLE WHOSE DEBTS EXCEED THEIR ASSETS. In that situation they are better off declaring bankruptcy – but who picks up the tab? Our Reserve Bank (which is really just a huge leftoid money printing factory intent solely on robbing savers and rewarding spendthrifts) just keep reducing interest rates. All that does is force up house prices as buyers are able (forced to?)  to borrow more which benefits them not a jot. The Reserve Bank needs to INCREASE interest rates to reduce the amount people borrow and to REWARD saving. How soon do I think it will be before this happens? I am not holding my breath: I began warning people about this c1970 when you could buy a two storey house in Glebe (inner Sydney) for less than $5,000 about the annual TAKE HOME pay of a skilled labourer: NOW those houses COST millions. WHEN will we learn? It is all part of the crazed economic theory called Keynesianism which has been destroying economies for over fifty years. It would be far better if we returned to some sort of financial REGULATION in which for eg business loans (ie borrowing FOR productivity!) received preferential interest rates.

 

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 Europe. Notice the riots they are currently having in Sweden. 34% of Australians are currently recipients of welfare, our biggest budget item by a long shot. Once we let it go past 20-25% we were DOOMED. We are going to have to wind it back. First we have to turn off the tap on new takers, then…

 

4/06/2013: A T-shirt with this message on it has been BANNED in England: “Obey our laws, respect our beliefs or get out of our country.” How FAR can the ‘Thought Police’  (cf ‘1984’) GO? http://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/news/10448618.Newport_shopkeeper_told_to_remove____obey_our_laws____T_shirt/

 

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: Darwin award nominees: “Giant predators. Blood in the water. Wiggly food-like items. What could (POSSIBLY) go wrong?” http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/05/24/4061962/heading-to-hawaii-for-dolphin.html

 

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: Fukushima update: “No radiation-related deaths have been observed among nearly 25,000 workers involved at the accident site. Given the small number of highly exposed workers, it is unlikely that excess cases of thyroid cancer due to radiation exposure would be detectable in the years to come.” And this was a ‘good reason’ for scrapping nuclear power and expanding coal fired power? http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/world/no-radiation-problems-from-fukushima-rep/story-e6frfkui-1226654915469#ixzz2UvGNhhNN


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: Fukushima update: “No radiation-related deaths have been observed among nearly 25,000 workers involved at the accident site. Given the small number of highly exposed workers, it is unlikely that excess cases of thyroid cancer due to radiation exposure would be detectable in the years to come.” And this was a ‘good reason’ for scrapping nuclear power and expanding coal fired power? http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/world/no-radiation-problems-from-fukushima-rep/story-e6frfkui-1226654915469#ixzz2UvGNhhNN


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 Upton was an interesting character, who once unsuccessfully ran for President. His ideas live on in eg the Social Credit party in NZ and other crazy leftoid wish fulfilment dreams such as the Greens…’Climate Change’ activists (eg Flannery) are excellent examples of the truth of his quote anyway.

 

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: Pickering is absolutely right. It is Labor and all its commie mates in the unions which destroyed Ford and which are destroying the whole economy of the country: http://pickeringpost.com/article/taking-australians-for-a-ride/1413have

 

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 Africa arriving this week. We must END THE REFUGEE CONVENTION and RETURN ALL ILLEGALS. The idea that we need any influx of unskilled people is absurd anyway – as is the family resettlement programme which only multiplies an already unwanted influx into a flood – and Together with our absurd welfare system) is only a huge magnet really. This programme must also go.

 

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 Perth and Melbourne have also been searched as fraud squad detectives step up their probe into the slush fund scandal. Ms Gillard has vigorously denied any wrongdoing in relation to the scandal’ : http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2013/05/steve-lewis-from-news-limited-is-still-on-the-story.html

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 Saudi Arabia. Naturally having fallen into trouble there which might lead to him being made a head shorter, he now also wants to BE Australian! Less well-known: Islam is deliberately targeting the large numbers of aborigines in custody here for conversion to its ‘faith’, and subsequently to its ‘jihad’, believe you me. This happened in the USA long ago but it has yet to produce vast terrorism consequences there. BUT IT WILL! However, the concatenation of a vast criminal underclass with a ‘racial’ chip on their shoulders and a proselytising and jihadist faith bodes ill for home-grown terrorism of the sort we have just seen in London. Be warned. We needed to take action against Islam YESTERDAY. TOMORROW will be too late.

 

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 China & Japan @ $0.10/litre then charging our own motorists $0.60 +/litre http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/05/24/the-worst-consequences-of-the-global-warming-scare/#more-86866

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 China gaining this competitive advantage. Our Government policies have distorted the market price of fuel here (energy generally) and we have moved from having the competitive advantage of cheap energy to having expensive energy acting as a drag on our economy. I just don't buy into the rant about Middle East oil. Resources which were developed (ie CREATED BY) the West. It was the Middle Eastern countries who were welching on the deal. They deserve for the West to develop cheaper alternative sources of energy (as is happening really quickly at the moment) and let these despots go broke and rot in their resulting squalor, rather than being able to afford the disgusting governments, militaries and societies they now have.

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 London ‘beheading or the riots in Sweden) rather than supporting them. Their support only underlines the dangers of ‘modern’ Islam and fuels demands for it to be somehow quarantined or ‘controlled’: http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/chaudhry_what_he_said_not_many_muslims_can_disagree/

 

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: Pickering’s take on the ‘war on terror’ (pointing out that Al Qaeda’s side of it is financed by the international trade in opiates) is also a MUST READ: http://pickeringpost.com/article/what-a-funny-war/1401

 

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 Sunshine Coast. It showed that all journalists lean left - no surprise. But ABC journalists are extremists. They vote 41% Greens, 34% ALP and 16% Coalition - just about the exact opposite of the community. The latest Newspoll shows the community favours 9% Greens, 31% ALP and 46% Coalition. So will the ABC launch an affirmative action program to hire conservatives as a matter of urgency?” Or should we just sell it and the SBS off (or close them down altogether?): http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/mirandadevine/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/their_abc/

 

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: Pickering has an interesting perspective on the criminalisation of some drugs here: http://pickeringpost.com/article/look-what-we-found/1391

 

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 London we woke to this morning plus dreadful riots in Sweden (& so much more) surely warns us we may have to draw a line and bring an end to Islamic migration before it brings an end to OUR civilisation. I advise you once more to read THIS article,It's the demography, stupid.’ In further news however, “The men, who are being treated in separate hospitals while under arrest, are most likely to have converted to a radical form of Islam from Christianity but are not thought to have links to West African terrorist group - Boko Haram. One of the men has been identified as 28-year-old Michael Adebolajo who grew up in east London and converted to Islam some 10 years ago… He was the alleged killer in black seen ranting on video shortly after the murder.”: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1550345/posts

 

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 Sweden show. It may never have been an 'acceptable' religion if there IS such a thing. The 900 people who died at Jonestown (no relation) surely shows that and there are plenty more examples. I'm not sure it is a religion at all - maybe just a political and fascist ideology. However it would be foolish in the extreme to ignore the dangers of Jihadist and fundamentalist Islam as it is to ignore the demography. This has nothing to do with racism as believers do not belong to any one race, as we see in London. It is a sober assessment of the present (and likely future) wickedness of Islam and a call to get on top of it before it gets on top of us! If this means excluding Islamic immigration or banning Islam altogether, then that is what we should do!

 

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: ‘Oklahoma tornado strikes, climate vultures gather.’ (Bolt)

 

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 Sydney that I wrote about yesterday:

https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/p480x480/484631_10151562613077770_1737914319_n.jpg

 

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, Texas and Boston. Either Americans have become much worse at counting the dead (but how hard can that be?) or there is a spate of returns; soon coffins will be creaking open all over America, hands forcing their way up from graves…a truly terrible picture…

 

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 Bankstown for four years (Many Moslem offenders there) and had never encountered such behaviour and asked him to say just where in the Koran it sanctioned such rudeness. A disgraceful 'compromise' was reached.  This 'giving an inch to take a mile' must never happen, as we found out long ago (eg with Neville Chamberlain at Munich). This 'kowtowing' to 'Moslem' (& other 'sensitive') demands has been happening all over the West with awful consequences (many still to come - but the current riots in Sweden are a harbinger) and must NOT be acceded to!

 

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 North America has which rightly provokes envy. Here are some in slow motion: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fouo6GKGBIM&feature=player_embedded

 

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 Kyoto’.

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 Duke University and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) finds no evidence of groundwater contamination from shale gas production in Arkansas. “Our results show no discernible impairment of groundwater quality in areas associated with natural gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing in this region,” said Avner Vengosh, professor of geochemistry and water quality at Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment’: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/05/15/groundwater-unaffected-by-shale-gas-production-in-arkansas/#more-86352

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’. Australia must have only one people and one set of laws, one justice system, one welfare system. ‘Separate Development’ (what they used to call ‘apartheid’ in South Africa) for aboriginal people or any special migrant group (such as Moslems or Catholics) must be strenuously opposed and abolished. We just cannot allow practices such as Tony Thomas writes about here to continue for another DAY: http://www.quadrant.org.au/blogs/bennelong-papers/2013/05/a-blacked-out-past-part-iii

 

18/05/2013: We MUST listen to Don & Gina and reform ourselves before it is too late and we become another Spain or Greece: http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/we_cannot_pay_for_todays_handouts_with_tomorrows_money/

 

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 Asia are full of ruins of cities slaughtered by Buddhists in the past. ALL religion is EVIL. Full stop.

 

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’. Australia must have only one people and one set of laws, one justice system, one welfare system. ‘Separate Development’ (what they used to call ‘apartheid’ in South Africa) for aboriginal people or any special migrant group (such as Moslems or Catholics) must be strenuously opposed and abolished. We just cannot allow practices such as Tony Thomas writes about here to continue for another DAY: http://www.quadrant.org.au/blogs/bennelong-papers/2013/05/a-blacked-out-past-part-iii

 

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 Australia reported having been charged formally with an offence by police before they reached the age of 25. Young Aborigines are about 60% of all youths in detention, and their rate of detention is 28 times higher than for non-Indigenous juveniles. About 22% of the young Aboriginals in detention are 14 or under. A hidden but crucial issue in “Closing the Gap” is the rate of foetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) among young Aborigines. It is caused by excessive drinking by pregnant women. (Some women manage blood-alcohol readings of 0.4%). The children often suffer life-long brain damage and frequently get into conflicts with police.  Recent findings from Fitzroy Valley community in WA (pop. 4500, 80% Indigenous) involved a sample of 127 children. Half have FASD’: http://www.quadrant.org.au/blogs/bennelong-papers/2013/05/yabbered-to-death-part-i

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 Libya (where billions of Western dollars were also recently wasted, inspired by Kevin  – basically backing Jihadists) – or in Egypt, Tunisia…you get the picture. Bashir may not be the most pleasant of men either (nor was Gaddafi) but are the alternatives so much better we should be supporting either? http://edition.cnn.com/2013/05/14/world/meast/syria-eaten-heart/index.html?utm_source=buffer&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Buffer&utm_content=buffer9ef53

 

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 US constitution) would be something I would favour more. Remember, John Howard’s response to ‘terrorism’ included abolishing such an ancient right as habeus corpus (and the Star Chamber’ is ever with us in one form or another). A call to abolish at least two of three unnecessary tiers of Government we have would more likely draw my support. I will loudly be saying ‘No’ to any referendum on the permanent institution of ANY Government over our lives. Hope you will too?

 

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, Melbourne, Text Publishing, 1997. ISBN 0-87113-755-0 which details (amongst other fascinating things), the author’s experiences on the Lady Juliana – which saved the Australian colony from starvation in 1790. His description of the practices he observed amongst the aborigines of Port Jackson are quite horrific. Now Tony Thomas throws some light on a very dark issue. Cranial fracture rates amongst aboriginal women of 44% are incredible: http://www.quadrant.org.au/blogs/bennelong-papers/2013/05/the-long-bloody-history-of-aboriginal-violence

 

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 Minnesota? Probably not, but it gives some idea of how rapidly ice can advance AND, remember, we ARE overdue for a return to an ice age: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=0EyfEDKWscg#!

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 Mauna Loa, Hawaii as late as 1973, i.e. 83 years after the ice was deposited at Siple. An ad hoc assumption, not supported by any factual evidence solved the problem: the average age of air was arbitrarily decreed to be exactly 83 years younger than the ice in which it was trapped. The "corrected" ice data were then smoothly aligned with the Mauna Loa record, and reproduced in countless publications as a famous "Siple curve".' (Neat trick that for the air to be 83 years younger!): http://www.john-daly.com/zjiceco2.htm

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', Port Arthur, Tasmania by Ross and Crozier (mayhap one of Della's ancestors) on their way to the Antarctic. They indicate low tide on that day. You will notice that low tide NOW is much lower despite all the 'alleged' warming. Crozier later lost his life on the ill-fated Franklin expedition to find the 'North-West Passage'. They sailed into a narrow 'passage' which was open then and were frozen in. It has not thawed since. Crozier set off with 84 men to walk to the outpost at Hudson’s bay 1200 miles away and was last seen with four men twenty miles away from it (A fine effort): http://www.john-daly.com/photo.jpg

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 Germany is technical after age 16 - which is maybe why they are a much more advanced nation than we are.

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 USA: ‘General Electric is spending $US800 million ($784m) bringing back production of electrical appliances from China to Kentucky. Apple is spending $US100m on a US manufacturing line for Mac computers currently made in China. Other companies lured back to the US include Caterpillar, Whirlpool, Otis, Electrolux, Google, NCR and Zentech. Foreign companies plugging into the US’s cheap power include German chemicals giant BASF, which has already committed $US5.7 billion to North America since 2009. US commentators are talking about an extra $US1.5 trillion increase in manufacturing production and 3.7 million manufacturing jobs by 2025. One of the main reasons for this resurgence is cheap electricity, generated by the shale gas now being tapped into by US power companies’: http://joannenova.com.au/2013/05/big-government-incantation-creates-the-energy-black-hole-and-drives-off-businesses/

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 Australia of coal at any cost. The pre-requisite for access to the kitty is that a green venture MUST HAVE BEEN PREVIOUSLY DENIED A LOAN FROM A COMMERCIAL FINANCE SURCE. Now there’s a GREAT idea! Something for Tony to get rid of…

08/05/2013: The NEXT ‘marriage equality’: cousin marriage and all the horrors that it brings…Cultural relativism IS SUCH an EVIL; Denmark has some good ideas:  ‘Denmark is a pioneering example of where to begin: In order to counter forced marriages, the country does not allow Danish citizens to marry foreigners younger than 24 years old. It also offers non-Western immigrants up to 15,000 Euros or 20,000 Dollars to emigrate back to their countries of origin. Immigrants who are not Danish citizens are banished from Denmark if they commit violent crimes. The state does not support families economically for having more than the country’s average amount of children. This prevents foreigners from coming to Denmark who have plans to have a lot of children and live off the State’s child support system. The country also denies resident permits to foreigners who are marrying their cousin in Denmark. Right now, the country is working on a complete halt to immigration from countries that are not oriented towards Western values’: http://pickeringpost.com/article/the-cost-of-islamic-incest/1316

 

07/05/2013: I really liked this very apt header on Pickering’s blog: http://pickeringpost.com/article/the-goose-who-lost-the-golden-egg/1307

 

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 Australia’s? Do you suppose it has ANYTHING to do with the FACT that in every Indonesian school student’s atlas Australia is marked ‘South Irian’ and ALL of the island of New Guinea is marked ‘Irian Jaya’? Just a few kilometres to our North is the largest Moslem nation on earth. Despite wishful thinking, they are NOT our friends. They do not HAVE to be our enemies either, but they DO need to understand that they should STAY at least at arm’s length! YES, WE DO NEED A STRONG MILITARY: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-05-03/indonesian-president-wants-more-military-power/4666748

 

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 UK (UKIP – or UK Independence Party) has just won 25% of the vote in Local Council elections there. Clearly voters there are sick of their Labor Party being too far too the Left and their Conservative party chasing it all the way down the road to Moscow! I REALLY hope that Ju-Liar succeeds in completely destroying (at least the Left of) the Labor party here so that there can be a similar substantial shift to the Right in OUR political spectrum. The alternative is the road to ruin which we have been going down now for too many years to remember…

 

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 Israel which is ALSO surrounded by Moslem enemies (but not so MANY as we are) spends 50% of its budget on Defence!) How long ago WAS it we spent so little on Defence? (Clue: Was it before World War 2 when we were very nearly conquered?) Both major parties AND pretty much every Defence expert acknowledges we need to spend AT LEAST 3% of GDP on Defence. THAT would require a doubling AT LEAST. Would YOU support a levy on taxation to fund Defence? (Well, probably), OR could we make some savings among the ‘army’ of bureaucrats, fraudsters, sycophants, blood-suckers and outright bastards sucking away at the National Purse right now? You BET we could!

 

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 Christmas Island as $180,000 for the first year. Illegal boat people arrivals LAST WEEK 1049. This would translate to 54,548 annually. Cost $9.8 (or $11.1) BILLION! MUCH more than Gonski. HALF the estimated cost of the NDIS. ALL for people we did NOT invite. Try to conceive as well that there ARE @ 20 nationalities which have over 90% welfare dependency! YES, WE HAVE A PROBLEM!

 

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 Boston). THEN, I have no doubt you will begin to agree with me, but by then it will be too late. What is wrong with an orderly immigration and refugee programme such as we used to have BEFORE this Government lost control of our borders?

 

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 Port Arthur!) GAVE the Indonesians 100,000 ‘superseded’ SLR rifles and a billion rounds of ammunition AND just to drive the point home, scrapped all such firearms in private hands right down to semi-auto .22s and pump action shotguns! THAT made the country a real lot SAFER!

 

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 Australia any more...

 

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 Australia yesterday. When will this madness STOP?

 

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 China (not to mention a mad North Korea) we need to massively BOOST Defence spending. At present we are all but helpless.

 

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, Argentina’!

 

 

 

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 Melbourne: ‘APOD’. The journo used it at least six times IN A ROW ( = Alternative Place of Detention, ie for illegal immigrants). We are spending 8 BILLION dollars on this. In case your arithmetic is bad, that’s 8,000 millionaires (to provide for approx 25,000 people! Is it ANY WONDER THEY COME?

 

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 Australia when she witnessed his signature to the key document which allowed her and Bruce to steal $100,000s of AWU members’ money. Clearly she WILL be charged with creating a false document. The money trail should also make it clear that she benefited financially as well - insofar as the renovation of her house was concerned. The interesting questions which remain are, ‘Will she be charged BEFORE or AFTER the election?’ (OR before or after the no-confidence motion in May?) Only weeks ago another guy was sent down for several years for a similar defrauding of Thiess coffers which took place MANY years ago, so those of you who are expecting Ju-Liar to escape are probably mistaken. HOW DID the Labor Party let such a crook be PM? WHY has a once great Party fallen SO FAR? http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2013/04/hedley-thomas-on-the-scandal-the-pm-and-the-media-.html

 

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 high point of 23 million as early as next week, well ahead of any previous prediction… Australia's population is growing by more than 1 million people every three years. That's the size of Adelaide… Our growth rate now stands at an extraordinary 1.7 per cent a year. By comparison, the world average is 1.1 per cent, with most developed nations well below this average… We are now on target for not 36 million but 40 million by 2050. Under Gillard, the permanent immigration program stands at more than 200,000 a year - the highest level in Australian history. On top of this we have more than 50,000 New Zealanders now freely crossing the ditch annually, without proper immigration management such as skills testing…” Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/comment/australias-growth-cant-go-on-like-this-20130420-2i6vr.html#ixzz2REkFHb2Y

 

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

Photo: 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 Canada today!

 

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 Greek Island or six cheaply: consult your bank manager (Spiros) today: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/greece/10007606/Greeces-great-fire-sale.html

 

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 ‘Infinity Beach’ where they trigger a number of supernovae in order to attract the attention of lurking aliens. (Have been working my way through McDevitt’s work incidentally –particularly enjoyed the Alex Benedict novels, a blend of scifi and detective stories: RECOMMENDED!) Here is a description of how such a search MIGHT proceed:  http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0094576598000150

 

22/04/2013: We watched a programme the other night about Mali as a news team were the first in after the French intervention and the rebuff of the jihadists there. Malians they interviewed and filmed were all overjoyed that the jihadists (whom they described as insufferably evil) were gone, even though most Malians are Moslems too. They filmed semi-clad Malian men and women discreetly next to each other at their daily ablutions in the Niger River for example, a practice which had been outlawed by the jihadists. Similarly they had outlawed colourful clothes, dancing, singing & etc. The Malians interviewed regarded such fundamentalism as UNISLAMIC, no doubt in much the same way as Anglicans today view the ‘Christianity’ of some of their own extreme sects (eg those who died at Jonestown - no relation!) It is not so long ago (C17th) though that Anglicans (then styling themselves ‘Puritans) under the drab, tyrannical, humourless Oliver Cromwell imposed just such UNCHRISTIAN strictures on the good folk of ‘not so merry England.’ How overjoyed those good folk were when his rule was overthrown and replaced by the ‘Glorious Revolution’ which opened up the opportunity for licentiousness, merriment and drunkenness on a hitherto unknown scale. No doubt we can look forward to this happening in the future in Iran, Pakistan & etc. But don’t hold your breath! In the meantime we should oppose ‘fundamentalism’ of ALL sorts, including Marxist and Green. Curious fact: MY Jones ancestors hie from Stuntney, Ely (eponymous for its eel fishery) which was Oliver Cromwell’s seat – so no doubt they were able to ‘enjoy’ his absence of excesses at very first hand.

 

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 Boston bombers).

 

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 Rome burns’… http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2013/04/the-islamist-appetite-for-hate-and-terror-is-unabated-yet-the-gillard-government-is-cutting-our-inte.html

 

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 Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in Watertown, Massachusetts. There are celebrations in the streets of Boston tonight, including the area around Northeastern university. Near Northeastern, several hundred partying in streets. Cops move in to disburse, chants of "BPD!" go up': https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BIQh5fzCEAECdno.jpg http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/apr/19/boston-mit-police-dead-watertown - block-5171f515e4b0960bb64e92b3

Onlookers applaud first responders departing after their successful operation to capture 19-year-old Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev on in Watertown, Massachusetts.

 

 

20/04/2013: Caught: Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the second bomber. Well done Boston police!

20/04/2013: Global Warming causes bombers – who knew? Mad quote of the day: New York Governor Andrew Cuomo connects the Boston terrorist bombing and climate change as the new normal’: “It’s a terrible situation in Boston. And, unfortunately, … one gets the sense that this is more reflective of the ‘new normal,’ if you will,” he explained. “So much of society is changing so rapidly. We talk about a ‘new normal’ when it comes t0 climate change and adjusting to a change in the weather patterns. ‘New normal’ when it comes to public security in a post-9/11 world. Where these random acts of violence, which at one time were implausible, now seem all-too-frequent.”

 

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 United States on July 1, 2002, at age 8. After seeking asylum, he was granted citizenship on September 11, 2012.'

 

'Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the 26-year-old killed in a wild shootout with police, was a legal U.S. resident who never the less could have been removed from the country after a 2009 domestic violence conviction, according to a Judicial Watch source. '

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 Maryland.

 

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 Lebanon. One rant by Mohammed includes a denunciation of Harry Potter films as promoting “paganism, evil, magic and the drinking of unicorn blood”. Great drink if you can get it!

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 Hunter River. One night near Urana he went into town for a drink leaving his wife and my baby grandmother Rose under the wagon. My great grandmother Margaret heard men's voices in the night: it was the bushranger, Thunderbolt, renowned for his regard for women, telling his men to come away and leave the womenfolk alone. One of MY earliest memories is of our being bogged up to the axles on the blacksoil plains near Willow Tree: in the night a willy-willy came up and scattered the several hundred empty 60lb honey tins on the 1927 Chev truck all over the Dimby Downs. My parents were itinerant beekeepers. I spent much of my early life under canvas. I have collectively spent years of my life camped under the stars. Such icons as this painting represent the hard work and independent spirit which built Australia...

 

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):  LC2

 

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 Chicago market which tanked to A$0.05 before it collapsed altogether last year. Meanwhile Aussies must pay A$23/tonne increasing by 3% pa. Is it any wonder eg Woodside has scrapped its A$45 billion James Price Point project and that all our mining shares are in free fall, eg Boart Longyear (the world’s biggest driller) was yesterday down to A$0.975 down a height of A$278 back in 2008. The left really CAN destroy capitalism, but they will destroy the wealth of us all (especially the poor!) along with it. My tip: with LESS than 5 months to go until the election BLY would have to be a good speculative buy! We bought heaps of their shares this week.

 

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 Australia in weeks. It is even MORE unlikely anyone else would follow suit. There will be plenty of resources for future generations (given that they will not have to use our outdated technology). This is a primitive Malthusian argument. We did NOT run out of forests  (or whales) as a result of the Industrial Revolution (as Malthus predicted). We substituted other (more economic) resources for them.

 

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 India. Here’s Peter Harcher: ‘The global business elite flocked to China's Boao forum last week and thrilled to the President's promises of growth and prosperity. But as they flew home enraptured, they might not have noticed what their host did next…But as the crowd flew home with those words ringing happily in their ears, Xi made a visit to another part of Hainan island, the site of China's big new naval base, including an underground port to protect Beijing's growing fleet of submarines from US spy satellites and, potentially, missiles. It is the symbol and the reality of China's growing power to challenge US hegemony over the high seas’: http://www.smh.com.au/comment/nightmare-side-to-china-dream-20130415-2hw1h.html

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 Boston) I see this morning. How fortunate that Ju-Liar is releasing several hundred Afghan army deserters into our community each week to counter this threat!

 

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 Australia will have high-speed rail or flying cars? Albanese declined to answer'

 

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 United States, they’re using the copper with VDSL. But they’re getting 100. ', 'If you can build 10 years later and spend $1,500 10 years later, that’s $3,000. Well the way technology goes, if you get $3,000 in 10 years time, you can have every bell and whistle ', 'Well the reason is that capital accumulates. If you don’t spend $40 billion now, you can spend $10 billion later on, on wireless, or whatever technology works, and actually get a better outcome '... http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/the_bolt_report_today31/

 

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 Victoria, in case you did not know: http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2013/04/10/philadelphia-abortion-clinic-horror-column/2072577/

 

12/04/2013: Today: Woodside cancels $45 billion James Price Point! Shell closes Geelong refinery. BHP cancels 25 billion Olympic Dam...AND neither the Carbon Tax nor the Mining Tax is having ANY negative effect? Talk about killing the golden goose! This utterly MAD Commie Government must GO - AND SOON!

 

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: Pickering's two most recent posts shed disturbing light on the ballooning illegal immigrant influx. This simply HAS to STOP: http://pickeringpost.com/article/a-govt-subsidised-scam/1181 & http://pickeringpost.com/article/behind-the-tamil-invasion/1180

 

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 Berkshire is Rolf Harris! Perhaps not just Kangas he wanted to tie down!

 

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 Beijing. Presumably these outdated Maoist dictators are the only people left who will still speak to her.

 

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 America to an end-stage metastasis. The way out would be so radical it can’t happen. It would necessitate a sweeping divorce of the state and the market economy. It would require a renunciation of crony capitalism and its first cousin: Keynesian economics in all its forms. The state would need to get out of the business of imperial hubris, economic uplift and social insurance and shift its focus to managing and financing an effective, affordable, means-tested safety net…The United States is broke — fiscally, morally, intellectually — and the Fed has incited a global currency war (Japan just signed up, the Brazilians and Chinese are angry, and the German-dominated euro zone is crumbling) that will soon overwhelm it. When the latest bubble pops, there will be nothing to stop the collapse.’ SOUND familiar? http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/344336/end-stage-metastasis-mark-steyn

 

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. Vanuatu has elected Mr Moana Carcasses to be their new PM. Perhaps he should challenge Ju-Liar next? http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/international/2013-03-23/vanuatu-parliament-elects-new-prime-minister/1106050

 

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 USA by wind generators than were killed by the Exxon Valdez disaster, yet nothing is done to diminish this plague. I understand that the high cost of wind electricity is also killing 25,000 UK pensioners annually: http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100207342/when-will-this-green-madness-cease/

 

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 China on the basis of either cheap labour or cheap energy. I know which I’d prefer':  http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/cheap-energy-and-the-north-east-of-england-%281%29.aspx

 

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 Snowy River before returning Thursday night....the best laid plans, as they say.... First problem was in the change of destination en-route...we thought that time was a bit short, so perhaps we should explore the Caledonia river area instead. First night was lovely, on the Barkly river, but things were not so idyllic after that. We headed into the Macalister, and the track deteriorated greatly. Some sections were very steep and clayey, so with rain forecast, we decided that we would not risk returning the same way and consulted the 'rooftop campers' map; no worries, 3 possible alternative exits...after around 10 river crossings (do-able) the track degenerated further...the "short rocky sections" described on the map turned out to be precipitous steps which Steve negotiated valiantly. By around 3 pm Wednesday we were looking forward to the end of the track (called the "Butchers Country Track" by the way, should you wish to avoid it!) in around 20 km. Then disaster struck: a huge step broke the tailshaft. The truck was stuck, immovable, just over the step, at a 30 degree angle. What to do? We secured it to a tree with a hand winch and pulled it a couple of metres onto a flatter section of road, then used the trusty satellite phone to call for assistance. Thanks to Merrin and Matt for running around looking for parts and being control centre, and overwhelming gratitude to Reg and Di Stirling for driving 6 hours each way and negotiating the last 20 km of the nightmare track to bring a new tail shaft for installation. This, of course, took a lot of time. We slept Wednesday night at a crazy angle in the camper secured in the middle of the road while the rain poured down. Our second night, with the truck repaired but light fading, was more convivially spend camping with Reg and Di in a more secure spot off the road! In short: totally overwhelmed by the goodness of people like Reg and Di, and totally 'over' 4WD tracks in such poor condition. Photos: didn't take too many 'happy holiday snaps' - but here you can see baby Spot napping en route and also enjoying the 4WD experience with Tiny, and finally the camper on its angle in the middle of the road - an odd sleeping experience!

 

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 Massachusetts beating us: of course young children should be able to CHOOSE their gender, whoever thought otherwise? Must be a few loose billions we could spend on this: http://www.americanthinker.com/2013/03/the_abolition_of_sex.html

 

 

25/03/2013: Global Warming UK style: whilst we sweltered through our 30-somethingth hottest summer (according to UAH satellite records cf 20/3, 13/3, 6/3) the UK and Germany have been experiencing steadily cooler winters. What is remarkable about this is that Europe is still in the WARM phase of the Atlantic multi-decadal oscillation- what will it be like when they move into the COOL phase? Meanwhile solar output presages cooler weather ahead for pretty much the rest of our lives (c30 years anyway!) http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/03/23/trend-to-colder-winters-continues-in-uk/

 

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 Finland...the goal of the program that Finland instituted, resulting in so much success today, was never excellence. It was equity...Real winners do not compete....Finland has no standardized tests...in Finland all teachers and administrators are given prestige, decent pay, and a lot of responsibility. A master's degree is required to enter the profession..." Read more: http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/12/what-americans-keep-ignoring-about-finlands-school-success/250564/

 

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...

Pickering: 'Polls do show Rudd is twice as popular as Gillard. But that's an indictment on Gillard and in no way a cigar for Rudd! Ivan Milat would outpoll Gillard.'

 

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 Windsor's threat on Lateline, last night to take the Government down if they unseat Ju-Liar? Mark Butler has openly abandoned her and Carr vacillates...

 

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 Iran burns... Less than a year to the SECOND Armageddon for Israel (the first having been the Battle of Meggido 609BC) & you would hope to see SOME international movement on Iran's nuclear threat. I fear it WILL end in some enormous, dangerous conflict: http://washington.cbslocal.com/2013/03/14/obama-says-iran-a-year-away-from-nuclear-weapon/

 

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 Fukushima disasters occurred on 11 March 2011: two years ago. No-one died from the radiation and no-one (likely) ever will. Remember too, this was just about the WORST foreseeable nuclear power disaster. To put the matter in perspective, every year tens of thousands of people die as a result of coal mining, yet during the current heatwave we all clicked the aircon on without a pang of trepidation OR regret! If increasing CO2 emissions were a problem we could have eliminated them by a massive switch to nuclear power (which would also have brought us CHEAPER electricity) yet we did not. Instead we have crippling electricity bills and no climate effect for all our pain: http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/where_are_the_fukushima_alarmists_now/

 

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 Australia). It CAN be reversed. Watch the short vid, then watch the longer one; you will be amazed: http://www.feasta.org/events/general/2009_lecture.htm

 

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 US is set to grow in a way that our Government has decreed WE must shrink: Stephen D. Pryor, President, Exxon Mobil: ‘The benefits for the economy start with jobs. Unconventional oil and natural gas activity created 9 percent of new U.S. jobs in 2011 and now supports over 1.7 million jobs. That is projected to grow to 3 million jobs by the end of the decade. Beyond that, Citigroup estimates that real GDP in the U.S. will increase 2 to 3 percent per year by the end of the decade as a result of new oil and gas production and related economic activity. That equates to a contribution of up to $600 billion per year to the economy. Contributing to this surge in GDP is the revival of American industry fuelled by lower cost energy. No industry will benefit more than American chemistry. The environmental benefits associated with rising use of natural gas are also significant. Since 2007, energy-related CO2 emissions in the U.S. have decreased more than 10 percent, to their lowest levels in nearly two decades, due in large part to the substitution of natural gas for coal in electricity generation. What’s truly remarkable is the impact on water. Producing electricity from shale gas uses less than half the water required by coal, a tremendous environmental and sustainability benefit for this country and prospectively for the world.’ Add in: the immense benefit of labour deregulation, incredibly low interest rates, a low dollar & an incredible wealth of American inventiveness means boom times ahead for the US. We are in exactly the reverse position; eg 90%+ of our petroleum is NOW imported, convoluted workplace rules, a high dollar, immense red/green tape… http://www.exxonmobil.com/Corporate/news_speeches_20130305_sdp.aspx#

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 Ravi: you won't believe what he is doing to this Rubik's cube whilst juggling it: http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2013/03/got-skills.html

 

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: 'Australia’s luck did not fall from the sky; it had to be torn from the earth in a triumph of mind over muscle. The secret of Australia’s good fortune is the Australian character, the nation’s greatest renewable resource.  Liberated from the constraints of the old world, Australia’s pioneers mined their reserves of enterprise, energy and ingenuity to build the great civilization of the south. Their over-riding principle was fairness: everybody had a right to a fair go and was obliged to do the right thing by others.' Interesting new blog: http://www.luckyculture.com.au/?p=122

 

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 Jurassic Park; now they are REALLY doing it. I think it's great...AND Della will want one (or a billion or so) of those new passenger Pigeons - Oh, No : more aviaries to build! http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/jurassic-pigeon-the-drive-to-revive-extinct-species-%281%29.aspx

 

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 Svalbard he noted (as you do) that it is a’fragile land’. This is utterly compulsory ‘greenspeak’ nowadays, but to describe an island which is nothing but frozen ice and rock so is ABSURD: is there some wilderness which is even harder than that? To the green spectacled everywhere is a ‘fragile land’. This appellation is utter crap. Everywhere, in whatever habitat, WHATEVER you do will advantage some things and disadvantage others. There are always myriad critters and plants searching for suitable habitats who will find the most awesome awfulness utterly appealing to them, even if WE do not find them tourist-brochure pretty. NB how soon things begin to colonise newly created volcanic islands emerging from the sea for example. Here is an example: I once cut an ugly bulldozer scar track across a clayey hillside (to provide some access on a farm we owned). In Spring I was utterly surprised to see a huge flock (hundreds) of diamond bankers (pardelotes) utilising the vertical cut as nesting sites. They must have come from many miles away. I had never seen more than a single pair together before. A ‘fragile land’ indeed! Back to Svalbard: the ‘global warming’ observed by the many scientists there (it is one of only two-three weather stations in the ENTIRE Arctic incidentally - amazing that three sites can produce much useful information on an area which covers over 10% of the Earth!); anyway the ‘global warming’ there has been conclusively identified as being down to the huge increase in visitors to the airport monitoring site there as compared with just a little while ago when the island was uninhabited and only accessible by sea!

 

 

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 Thompson River with Simon Schutte testing out the new back and the new and old Alpacka (TM) pack rafts: definitely recommended gear, company, leisure activity...

 

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, Pickering is quite right: these folks are NOT refugees: http://pickeringpost.com/article/the-asian-invasion/973

 

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 Greece they founded a new colony, a new city state where the excess population went. We recently visited Launceston which seemed to me to be about the ideal size for a city: (perhaps the larger megapolises Sydney, Melbourne, etc ought to be torn down or at least split up)? Tony’s plan to resettle lots of folks in the tropical North rings sensible in this regard. At least today we have the internet and PCs which COULD make large-scale participatory democracy work. It has to be far better to assay this than to proceed with ‘representatives such as Gillard, Wong, Slipper & etc?

 

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 Washington garbage incinerator tomorrow, what would we lose to offset our gain of their salaries and the salaries of their parasites?

 

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 United States has never developed an aristocracy really disinterested or an intelligentsia really intelligent. Its history is simply a record of vacillations between two gangs of frauds.

 

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 Ukraine (c1917-23) & Spain (1930’s) and its leaders murdered. Naturally the Statists loathe most those who believe in NO state! I am not arguing here for the complete absence of a State but for its diminution: there are a few essentials for safety’s sake we need it to provide: defence and law and order spring to mind. After these essentials, the positive NEED for a State as compared with allowing private individuals and businesses to provide what else is needful becomes pretty thin on the ground. Some will immediately argue: ‘WELFARE’ (the State’s biggest budget item; Defence takes a very low fiddle number in such Leftist priorities) – as if what the State provides under this name is for anyone’s welfare: neither the recipients nor those who needs must ‘pay the piper’ – and it is ever-escalating: as more such ‘rights’ are created, so too more access or demand them. The alternative to State Welfare is PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY. Might it not be preferable if folk worked, saved, budgeted and provided for themselves instead of blowing all their earnings (or refusing to earn) and then relying on the State (ie their fellow countrymen/women who have done so) to pick up the pieces? In addition, much such providing (eg for the elderly and infirm) is AGAINST their own wishes – the reverse occurred under other civilisations eg Kiribas or the Inuit. Again, it is obviously much more to one’s benefit (one’s welfare, one’s sense of pride and responsibility) to strive and provide for one’s self and one’s loved ones.

 

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 California" Governor Jerry Brown - and in news just to hand it is believed OUR PM will be visiting there soon too!

 

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 Kenai River' in Alaska this morning: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/02/22/fishing-the-mighty-kenai-2/#more-80281

 

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:

  1. Heat olive oil I a large pot medium heat
  2. Cook onion in oil 2 minutes
  3. Stir in garlic, carrot, celery and cook 3 minutes
  4. Add and brown sausages
  5. Add basil, oregano and paprika
  6. Toss to coat
  7. Stir in tomatoes and stock
  8. Bring to a boil
  9. Reduce heat and simmer 30 minutes
  10. Stir in beans and tiny pasta
  11. Simmer 8 minutes until pasta is tender
  12. 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, Madeira. The greatest rivers of all on Earth are in the sky. It is this bounty we may harvest by the judicious planting of the right trees, transforming what WAS harsh desert into gardens which will provide shade and sustenance to man and beats alike:  http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/02/21/harvesting-fog-the-no-regrets-option/#more-80263

 

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 Melbourne in March. Why are there no protests against these REAL hate speakers? http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/if_wilders_is_wrong_explain_this_conference/

 

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 Amsterdam after an ordeal that lasted 2 years cleared me of all charges. Earlier, I have spoken in the premises of the United States Congress, the British House of Lords, the Danish Parliament and other government premises. I participated in conferences in the U.S. and Canada, Germany, Italy, and elsewhere, with people none of which belong to the far-right. For the past 9 years I have been living under round the clock police protection. Wherever I go, plainclothes policemen go with me. I live in a government safe house, bullet-proof and safer than the National Bank. I wish I had their money. Earlier my wife and I have even lived in army barracks and prison cells just to be safe from assassins. Why do I need this protection? I am not a president or king, I am a simple parliamentarian. I have been marked for death. I was placed under police protection in November 2004 when the Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh was slaughtered in broad daylight because he had criticized Islam. A few hours later, the police found a letter written by van Gogh’s assassin threatening to kill me and my colleague (Somali born) Ayaan Hirsi Ali as well. We, too, had been critical of Islam, especially through our work in parliament. Ayaan has since left for America, but I continue to candidly express my views about Islam in the Dutch Parliament and in the public debate around the world. But it is not I who am important here. What is at stake is the defence of our freedom. Only two weeks ago, a good friend of mine, Lars Hedegaard, a journalist from Denmark, survived an assassination attempt. A foreigner tried to shoot him through the head. Why? For the simple reason that Lars is critical of Islam. Europe has become a dangerous place for those who criticize Islam."

 

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, Melbourne, Text Publishing, 1997. ISBN 0-87113-755-0 which details (amongst other fascinating things, the author’s experiences on the Lady Juliana – which saved the Australian colony from starvation in 1790. His description of the practices he observed amongst the aborigines of Port Jackson are quite horrific especially when compared with his descriptions of the native inhabitants of other lands he visited: (http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/farewell-to-the-myth-of-the-noble-savage.aspx)

 

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 Australia (or anywhere else). It is disgusting AND MUST CEASE. Hopefully an incoming Liberal Government will reform or even abolish it: http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/anything_but_conservative3/

 

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 Australia this argument appeared in many logic textbooks. NOW, we can see what is wrong with it (black swans!): Yes, the premise is false. NOW we realise that NOTHING AT ALL follows logically from a FALSE PREMISE even though the FORM of the argument is VALID. THAT is why we have to make every effort to get the facts right, FIRST!

 

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 America where all life seemed to live in harmony with its surroundings.” But the town Carson described did not exist, and her polemic, Silent Spring, introduced us to environmental alarmism based on junk science. As the years passed, Rachel Carson was elevated to sainthood and the template laid for endless spasms of hysterical fear-mongering, from the population bomb, to nuclear winter, the Alar scare, and global warming. Human beings have not, can not, and never will live in harmony with nature. Our prosperity and health depend on technology driven by energy. We exercise our intelligence to command nature, and were admonished by Francis Bacon to exercise our dominion with “sound reason and true religion.” When we are told that our primary energy source, oil, is “making us sick,” or that we are “addicted” to oil, these are only the latest examples of otherwise rational persons descending into gibberish after swooning to the lure of the Noble Savage. This ignorant exultation of the primitive can only lead us back to the Stone Age,” (http://lewrockwell.com/orig9/deming8.1.1.html)

 

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. Europe is going through an Islamification process, which makes our continent less free and less safe. Contrary to what many Westerners think, Islam, rather than a religion, is a totalitarian political ideology. It is an ideology because it aims for an Islamic state and wants to impose sharia on all of us. It is totalitarian because it is not voluntary: once you are in, you cannot get out. Unlike genuine religions, Islam also makes demands on non-Muslims. We, too, are marked for death if we criticise it. For nine years I have been living under constant police protection. I live in a government safe house. I am driven every day to my office in an armoured police car. I have even lived in army barracks and prison cells just to be safe from assassins. I am threatened because I am a critic of Islam”.

 

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 US has produced energy independence for the US; the ‘new’ Green River formation in Wyoming has larger reserves than the entire world had to date. Again they have proven FOUR Saudi Arabia's of natural gas in the US last year alone. Here too, we have a major find in the Cooper basin just the other day which will produce energy independence for us for many years to come. To think this is all 'evil' is just an 'evil' thought itself.

 

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 Tunguska event (roughly a large city is GONE!). I HAD messaged the Centaurans to smash Canberra, but unfortunately they missed this time by 17,000 miles. Perhaps Ju-Liar was out of town? Better luck next time little green guys!

 

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 Australia came into being and we ALL became Australians. Since then ALL Australians HAVE been treated equally by the law AND by the Constitution: the 1967 referendum was actually a FRAUD! It is time we ALL recognised our ONE-NESS instead of our spurious ‘differences’ & quit having special deals for ANYONE except based on genuine NEED! PS: The ‘stolen generations’ is also a fraud (perpetrated by rent seekers and their fellow travellers): there has not been one, single example of someone taken from his or her family because of their RACE; again their NEED was & is the only determinant for such an outcome – as it quite properly should be! Of course it may become substantially different were we to implement the apartheid agreed to in the House of R’s yesterday!

 

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 Australia: these people are just economic (& social) wreckers; they are the biggest pest species in the country and urgently need to be eliminated. PLEASE help to do so at the ballot box (next month?)

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: Riviera on the Tamar: who could want for more? The beds and shower are soft, the sheets are clean, the beer cold enough to bite. The meals excellent and inexpensive: I really enjoyed the $7 salt and pepper squid with sweet chilli sauce, a $19 mixed grill too large to eat with mushroom sauce, and last night Spiro’s incomparable steaks. The view across the Tamar is astonishing and varied. The company incomparable.Who could want for more?

 

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. 'Cradle Mountain was NOT up that 'road' but many interesting things were, or lay along it; so all good. FOOTNOTE: Serendip' was the ancient name for Sri Lanka (or Ceylon). Back when vessels could not tack into the wind but needs must be driven by it, if you missed India riding monsoonal winds across the Arabian Sea, and did not 'serendipitously' intersect the beautiful jewel which is Ceylon, you sailed onwards willy-nilly until you were wrecked on the WA coast and eaten by its inhabitants!

 

09/02/2013: Ju-liar has sold her Canberra apartment (bought 2007 = $530K, sold 2013 = $615K). She made $85K out of the transaction less costs which is 16.03% divided by 6 = 2.67% (or slightly LESS than inflation by my reckoning). Two takes on this: 1. It illustrates her complete failure to understand economics; 2. she is in a hurry to get out - may be in the market for a dodgy passport: tattoo parlours please take note! http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/

 

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 'Lincoln.' I was lulled into a false sense of security that the movie would be good because of the discussion of Euclid in the trailer (which I commented upon positively on 20/1). Unfortunately THAT was the ONLY good thing in what was otherwise an indescribably slow turgid movie (I was minded of Kipling's 'great grey-green, greasy Limpopo River' in 'The Elephant's Child'). Della quit it & went to bed after about 15 insufferably boring minutes whilst I (being made of sterner stuff) stuck it out for nearly an hour. It might have been better had the talentless Daniel Day-Lewis and the awful Sally Fields NOT been cast as the Lincolns. Gregory Peck might have pulled it off, perhaps.

 

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 America's latest 'mass murderer': again, contrary to allegations made about the last two (eg Gifford's assailant), he is NOT from the right - as his manifesto makes clear. He is a great admirer of Hilary, Barack, & Michelle. Also interesting is that HE is a policeman (just the sort of person the anti-gun lobby says should be the ONLY people allowed to have guns - what? So that the rest of us have NO defence against them?) Fact is: this sort of people are just nutty extremists. They exist everywhere, but obviously there are more of them if you have 350 million people in your country. I still believe that (as I said after the dreadful events at Sandy Hook – see earlier post on 15/12 & quote from Macbeth), we need to be able to identify such people & treat their ANGER - if possible PREVENT their anger in the first place. MOST IMPORTANT POINT; it is ANGER which is responsible for so many of the evils in the world. Understanding the causes and implementing the cures for anger ought to be an international priority: Latest News: http://abcnews.go.com/US/christopher-dorners-truck-found-flames-beat-mountain/story?id=18427632 & Manifesto: http://www.crimefilenews.com/ (He has SUCH a lovely smile: evil cannot be taken at face value!)

 

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 Benghazi, yet he was re-elected nonetheless, so the nightmare of a Ju-liar resplendent is still a possibility. As he fiddled whilst Rome burned a (late) great American hero was dying for his country in Benghhazi fighting to save his fellow Americans: Tyrone Woods charged his assailants unarmed, captured their weapons and killed SIXTY of them before they could kill him. What a great country which can still produce the likes of Tyrone. Well, he HAS NO equals, I imagine. For this outstanding feat of heroism, he will receive NO medal from his President! Decline AND Fall! http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/panetta-obama-absent-night-benghazi_700405.html

 

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 Canberra should be abolished. Don't suppose it was Tim? http://mygungahlin.com.au/police-seize-vehicle-after-burnout-posted-to-facebook/

 

08/02/2013: This is my grandfather, George Earnest (yes, really) Jones 'dressed to kill' in his Boer Way uniform c1900. His life spanned the last half of the C19th and the first half of the C20th, so intersecting mine briefly with some fond memories eg of his famous gardens and sugar bananas, hares hanging under his verandah, hound hunting (them) along the Raymond Terrace Rd outside Tenambit (East Maitland NSW where he lived a long & blameless life), his fabulous yarns, his kindness & generosity, his noisy soup eating...HIS father's life spanned the ENTIRE C19th which he lived entirely in the small village of Stuntney (once an island) near Ely , Cambridgeshire. HIS grandfather would have known Oliver Cromwell well (as Stuntney was his seat and many Joneses were thereabouts back then). Much earlier the Romans pushed one of their famous roads through the marshes, right through Stuntney. No doubt one of my ancestors leaned on a nearby fencepost and watched them both come AND go...My father's generation spanned the entire C20th: the last of them is just now passing. Mine will span the last half of the C20th and the first half of the C21st, from the Korean War, mayhap to the first interstellar flight or the discovery, by Jonas Polk of immortality; of course, if that happens Della and I might yet set out, rejuvenated to colonise the stars...Who knows WHAT life holds? Important point: there is a continuity to ALL this: if a generation loses track of where it came from, and where it is going, it is LOST in time and may never find its way. There is an importance in history and tradition (which maybe makes me conservative), but there is an outstanding promise in the future (which maybe makes me also radical). Cheers.

 

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 Mendoza, a winemaking oasis set in the eastern foothills of the Argentinian Andes. Returning home from our umpteenth carnivorous dinner, a portly, rather unkempt man claiming to hail from Belgium - think of a young Gerard Depardieu minus his generous nose - suddenly emerged from the shadows of the desert night. The man initially requested directions to the town’s main plaza, before regaling us of his horror day. On arrival at the bus station that morning he had apparently been mugged by a gang of local youths. They had taken everything, even his belt and shoes. The local police were allegedly useless. With no money or identification, he was seriously entertaining the prospect of sleeping rough. Tears welling in his eyes, he asked if we could spare 100 pesos - roughly $A20 - to board a bus to Buenos Aires and seek urgent assistance from his embassy. As my wife and I deliberated over the stranger’s claims to charity, something the man said MADE ME THINK OF TONY ABBOTT."

 

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 Toyota quits the electric car claiming that after 100 years of not working, the idea is a dead dog. Meanwhile, n other news, in the US alone five new Saudi Arabia's of petrochemical reserves have been proven in just the last year...: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/04/us-autos-electric-hydrogen-idUSBRE91304Z20130204

 

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 Australia wealthy. If there is someone who has an issue with that, let them try the alternative, poverty isn’t just ‘beer and skittles’, it ain’t much fun, children! Together, those who came earlier, some like Della’s ancestors in red coats on the First Fleet who spent thirty years shepherding ‘cobbers’ (remember THAT word?)  like some of my ancestors in chains, & others as free settlers in the 1840’s and 50’s perhaps, when Henry Lawson wasn’t even a pup (& who) worked hard and made Australia grow, that Australia, that ‘land of sweeping plains, Of ragged mountain ranges, Of droughts and flooding rains…” we LOVE.  MY Country. I doubt there was a single one of my generation could not recite IT, and ‘Clancy’ and ‘The Man’ & etc. A sad reflection on our ‘education’ today is that too many kids reading this won’t have ANY idea what I’m talking about!  These folks MADE Australia, and BECAME Australians. I still have problems with that minority of newcomers and ‘First Australians’ (you know the pale ones with freckles and blue eyes mostly, spongers and troublemakers usually) who after 225 years have failed to BECOME Australians. How long does it take, Brother, to understand, ‘It’s the only game in town?’ AND that it’s the BEST game in town!  The best damned game on the whole benighted planet, for goodness sake (Yes, mostly FOR goodness!), and that if you don’t like it, if you don’t fit in, if you want to do things which are un-Australian (bludge on others, not pull your weight, not help your mates out in need, not join in the celebrations, not have a beer down the pub, not barrack on the footie, not cheer the Melbourne Cup, not weep a tear on Anzac Day, not gaze up at the Southern Cross in wonder…not join in all those things which ARE quintessentially AUSTRALIAN; if you don’t GET it mayhap – as Dottie said – your ‘love is otherwise,’ & maybe you should be too. We welcome guests but can’t abide freeloaders. So be it!) , well, whether you came yesterday or a thousand years ago, you can just f—k off! Why SHOULD we want you here? Why SHOULD we want to share this great nation with you? To all the others, who came late OR early: Welcome and enjoy! To the others, ‘Please, close the door behind you.’ Cheers. http://www.dorotheamackellar.com.au/archive/mycountry.htm

 

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 Pickering: the ALP has become a disgusting mockery of it former self, and the union movement has perverted all its once noble aims: http://pickeringpost.com/article/quoti-did-nothing-wrongquot/905

 

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 Western NSW) were beacons of civilisation. They LED the country economically, politically, intellectually. Major intellectual figures of the Day: William Lane, Henry Lawson, Banjo Paterson had their wellsprings THERE. ‘Waltzing Matilda’ was written thereabouts. Legendary shearer, Jackie Howe shore 321 sheep in seven hours and 40 minutes at the Alice Down station in outback Qld WITH HAND SHEARS in THIS vicinity. From this region sprang the GREAT ALP (not the aborted monster we see today but a party OF WORKERS FOR WORKERS with a dream of mateship and a fairer society under the Southern Cross. It should now be called ‘The Welfare Party’ – what an abortion that word is. Today there remains not a single worker in this once great party: it is a party of lawyers and staffers only, feeding on itself and its own corrupted corpse. So too the AWU sprang from thereabouts, again not the blighted nightmare we see today but a union of hard-working shearers and bush intellectuals. The great Shearer's Strike began around here. 10,000 of such folks from West of the Darling, unable to create their dream of a socialist state there where 100,000 folk lived then (!) before the great drought of 1891 began (that which has never let up – now THAT is climate change!) took ship to Paraguay to found a colony they called 'The New Australia' where they could attempt to implement their dreams. Caroline Jones made a GREAT documentary about it in 1975 ‘And Their Ghosts May Be Heard’ (http://nfsa.gov.au/collection/film-australia-collection/program-sales/search-programs/program/?sn=1540). THIS WAS Bourke. NOW it is a HELL HOLE. What went wrong? 'Paying people to breed' is what. ‘Welfare’ is what. If you have a folk already whose average intelligence is a measured 35 IQ points lower than the average European, it is going to take MANY years of hard work to 'close the gap' (centuries even) to where all the averages of society sit - AND you will have to work determinedly and steadfastly at it, NOT simply pay people to breed.! If you do the reverse (WHAT INSANITY - but it is what we did) then you create the awful mess that Bourke, and many Western towns and outstations are today. You my even get a situation for which there IS no remedy, though we hope not. At least not without moving the people forceably and interspersing them amid urban populations where you can hope they gradually mix away. (Race & Inteligence: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ao8W2tPujeE)

 

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 Australia. The decrease in insolation to the soil alone would reduce temperature and evaporation and increase the growing season and plant yield and they would themselves produce more fodder for stock and other creatures. I believe it would also increase rainfall as if it is cooler it rains more as moisture condenses out of humid air. If in addition, we were to increase the cover of willows/aspens etc all along our waterways AND introduce beaver we could allow the latter to turn our waterways into giant sponges which would both mitigate floods, increase average stream flows (particularly in the hotter months) and enormously increase the quality and quantity of life they support. The aboriginal management, in my opinion has been an ignorant disaster which largely turned the continent into an infertile desert all too prone to massive 'natural' disaster and nutrient loss. Such people should NEVER again be allowed to manage land. Before they came the eastern seaboard (particularly) was a continuous sweep of Auricaria which supported enormously more than the hideously invasive (& barren) eucalypts and wattles which I consider (to be) nothing more than weeds which have arisen and prospered as a result of hopeless mismanagement: http://joannenova.com.au/2013/02/do-forests-drive-wind-and-bring-rain-is-there-a-major-man-made-climate-driver-the-models-miss/

 

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 Damascus, then the Real Road to Damascus, Julia on the Road to Damascus, the REAL Julia on the Road to Damascus, and so on...

 

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 BACK SEA. GO BACK. Glug, glug, glug. Good God, if you live on a flood plain with three cyclones A YEAR and no levee AND no insurance, AND have done NOTHING (WHAT? NO LEVEE?) forget putting your hands out! I'm OVER this!

 

02/02/2013: AND ONE THIRD of Holland is BELOW sea level. Go figure!

 

02/02/2013: "One senior Labor MP told The Weekend Australian late last night that “Rome is burning"… " (Bolt) Yep. You Beauty!

 

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 Japan will decline from its current 127.5 million to 116.6 million in 2030, and 97 million in 2050. This is truly astonishing and puts Japan at the forefront of uncharted demographic territory; but it is territory that many other industrial countries also are beginning to enter as well" (Instapundit)

 

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 Ephesus c500BC) One of my all-time favourites. I also love, “No man ever steps in the same river twice.” The Universe IS vast; it is more than likely there are MANY ‘Gods’ ie creatures so much more advanced than us as to be wholly incomprehensible, somewhere out among the stars – perhaps even an infinite number of them, whatever THAT means…but neither they nor anyone else MADE the universe, nor have they any concern for the affairs of man, any more than you have any concern for the tiniest ant you unknowingly crush underneath your feet! Such illusory thought are merest delusion; a mistake of scale: when you are high on a mountain looking down on the vast panorama before you, you might well say, ‘Well, THIS is reality’, but when you lie down on your belly and peer beneath the blades of grass to see perhaps an ant crawling over a grain of sand (mayhap bearing a speck of dung on her shoulders not unlike the world), you might well say the same thing, ‘THIS is reality’. Theology is ALL a mistake of SCALE. To ourselves, and our loved ones WE ARE all-important – as it should be, but in the mighty scheme of things we ARE less than dust – and, it doesn’t MATTER! We are not that very far from our remote proto-lemur ancestors hiding in the green gloom of a primaeval jungle, peering out between the fronds at the passing giants…http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heraclitus

 

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, & Africa is a mess. Like it or not: colonialism WAS better); we parted ways on that. I disagreed with Gough & Malcolm's dismantling of our 'protectionism', independence and self-reliance (still do); they thought I was one of them then. I was never one of anyone or any thing. Just ONE. Now the Left IS the orthodoxy. I challenge that. Always have. My target has remained the same. My enemies have changed. That is all. Truth is ALL. Socrates said, 'the unexamined life is not worth living', yet that is the life of most - particularly those who champion the orthodoxy (the Left today, the Right tomorrow - who knows?) You will find me there then, still, challenging them, whoever they may be. Be certain of that!

 

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 Wilson... Does anyone seriously believe Ju-Liar will still be PM on 13th September? Bring it ON!

 

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 Canberra and the ACT. They were a bad idea anyway. Move anything worthwhile (War Museum...etc ) out to a convenient MacDonalds truck stop on the Hume, give the rest to Rio to 'beautify', (could  not be worse!), allow 37 years of 'work for the dole' before existing 'public servants' can be retrained to do any meaningful work (or use for spare parts - but who would want?) = huge budget surplus! Cheers!

 

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 Victoria University, is alarmed by sexist firefighting: "It is practically impossible to ignore the heavily gendered nature of bushfire response in this country". Strangely, I had. Good work with the fires, guys!

 

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 Wilson’s estimate of a 2.7% extinction rate, and is still ridiculously high.

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 US or Oz BOM has managed yet to bring us significant rain. TODAY would be a good day guys! Some relief tomorrow apparently. Here's hoping...

 

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 Europe, where lenders and taxpayers in the peripheral countries have either fled or are bankrupt, economies are surviving on the grace and favour of others. In America, we see the future with 11 states having more people on welfare than they have in work".

 

23/1/2013: Across Germany’s northern-most border with Denmark you'll find an incredible superstore called Fleggaard. There, you can buy everything you need: tubs of gummi bears, cases of wine, industrial strength dishwashing soap, etc., at prices 30% cheaper than you'll find in Denmark. It is Denmark's Costco, packaged as a German loophole. This is one of their advertisements! The 100+ women do stunts in the air, while free-falling, and holding hands to spell out "Half-off on Dishwashers at Fleggaard." You'd be hard-pressed to find a man in Denmark who hasn't seen, and fallen in love, with this commercial, which is good since it was geared strictly to men. The ad is real! Below is the link to simply the best advertisement ever made. Honestly; it's awesome. Watch for the blonde! http://www.m2film.dk/fleggaard/trailer2.swf

 

22/1/2013: It is COLDER in Britain than at any time since the Little Ice Age: the graphic is particularly telling; http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/01/21/its-snowing-and-it-really-feels-like-the-start-of-a-mini-ice-age-london-mayor-boris-johnson/

 

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 USA: 'I'm going to bubble you away bro; are you feeling lucky punk?' http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/01/19/pennsylvania-girl-5-suspended-for-threatening-to-shoot-girl-with-pink-toy-gun/

 

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, Avon, Valencia Creek, Horseyard Flat etc will get a bit more than this - but 10mm is useful rain when you are trying to put a fire out! Even the 1mm tonight will help. NOAA now has some tonight and LOTS on Thurs-Fri - so we live in hope! The BOM 'humans' still can't see any rain, but this is normal! http://www.australianweathernews.com/OCF/OCF_085.HTM

 

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.

 

Australia’s grassland landscape was created and managed by generations of Aborigines who were masters at using man’s most useful tool – fire. Every explorer from Abel Tasman (1642) and Captain Cook (1770) onwards noted the smoke in the sky and the burnt trees whenever they landed. This burning created the open grassland landscapes that dominated pre-European Australia. Aborigines lit fires continually, so their small patchwork fires caused no permanent damage to the environment and created and maintained the healthy grasslands on which many animals and Aborigines depended.

 

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 Australia. They have created tinder boxes where the growth of woody weeds and the accumulation of dead vegetation in eucalypt re-growth create the perfect environment for fierce fires. Once ignited by lightning, carelessness or arson, the inevitable fire-storms incinerate the park trees and wildlife, and then invade the unfortunate neighbouring properties.

 

Many of today’s locked-up areas were created to sequester carbon to fulfil Kyoto obligations. Who pays the carbon tax on the carbon dioxide released to the atmosphere by wild fires?

 

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 Australia

 

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 Canberra,, and a report on/from the USA. I have missed his intellect and his interesting 'take' on things this last month - but I guess he is entitled to a holiday too! http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/

 

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 Thomson River - I think THAT idea is out this week, though I feel guilty for letting him down! We have three fire pumps and a sprinkler system set up as well as the garden watering system but have still more fine tuning to do on the plumbing today - and we will try to get mowing so we can extend the area of slashed/mulched grass even farther from the buildings, and move the sheep down to the creek where there is still some greenery which won't burn. There is a fence to fix. The Sawyers (the original settlers here) survived the 1939 fires with only wet bags, so I think we will manage (we have the bags too!). The trouble is that back then there were far more properties with more stock and less rubbishy bush and long grass to burn. We are hoping the NOAA prediction of some rain comes to pass: our BOM can only predict global warming it seems, and neglect their day job of providing a welcoming shower now and then. You would think with all this fog and low cloud these might be ideal conditions for a bit of cloud seeding to put the fires out! The radio says the fire is burning into the Avon Wilderness (as I predicted). Nothing but good rain will stop it from getting into the Wonnangatta-Moroka. It may burn for weeks if it does not rain! Already countless innocent creatures have died needlessly because of this Green wicked madness! It makes me SO angry with them! They simply do not care for nature - as normal people do. They are just extremist ideologues and petty tyrants.

 

20/1/2013: The US weather bureau has rain coming: 40 mm in the next 8 days and 25 mm in the 8 days after. I find it hard to believe too, but I have found them more accurate than our blokes many times. You have to enter the co-ordinates of the area you are interested in in digital form. I have had three dry trips to Fiordland based on their forecast and have successfully cut hay for years relying on them when our BOM had no idea, so we'll see how it pans out: http://ready.arl.noaa.gov/READYcmet.php

 

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 Western Tyers is VERY beautiful; this is the view from our old camp. Early mornings you would often see platypodes paddling up and down the stream. PS: Look it up; I AM right!):

 

 

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 Victoria' by Chris & Yvonne McLaughlin! It is three weeks (by my reckoning) on the Wonnangatta-Mitchell from the Humphray River confluence to Lake King. A similar voyage can be had on the Snowy. Slightly shorter journeys on the Thomson, Macalister, Tambo, Mitta Mitta & etc. I have some 'secret' river trips which are not in the book (though these MAY yet be declared 'heretical'): for example, a week can be had on the 'uncanoeable' Tyers River (from Growler's Creek to the Morwell River confluence). It contains probably the scariest bit of whitewater (a waterfall and chute) I have ever survived (many times) just below the start of the old tramline. The faint hearted CAN portage it (That's me these days!). I reckon the Latrobe could be canoed from much closer to Noojee but I haven't yet done so. A pleasant day can even be had coming down the Tarwin from the Sth Gippsland Hwy near Meaniyan and finishing at the Tarwin Lower pub - what better way to top off a lovely day? No need for self-chilling beer at the end of the trip anyway!

 

20/1/2013: (In answer to a comment): The best canoe shop undoubtedly is 'Capacity Sports' in Bay Rd near Westfield Southland. No-one locally has much. There are many to chose from, but also many that are not very good. I think you should borrow a couple of ours first (we have a variety). No-one much has improved on the design of Perception's 'Minnow'. I am VERY enthusiastic about this (https://www.alpackaraft.com/index.cfm/store.catalog?CategoryID=53&ProductID=66 Note the new 'Cargo Fly') I promised to take you canoeing THIS week. I HATE to break a promise, but my back IS very bad, (however think I would survive - still have a few jobs to finish, but I can fit both in before my op next Sat), and there ARE THE FIRES! I WAS going to drop you in at the T2, mind the kids and pick you up. Still want to. Can still do this if it is safe but the Stoney Creek Rd is likely closed, so too the Cowarr-Erica Rd (you are closer so can find out). I was then going to arrange a day trip from either the T9 or the Mitchell Creek Track. Buy Rooftop's 'Walhalla-Woods Point Adventure Map’. I think two days on The Thomson this week would be foolish because of the uncertainty of the fires which could sweep down on the river from the North and cook us (also they have let a really lot of water out of the dam - presumably as fire management). If you just want to have a paddle (on the weir etc) just come borrow a couple of ours. Della should invite you around for tea this week. Name a night. You can stay over. Water is too low for canoeing most everywhere this summer. You COULD get down the Thomson, the Latrobe (flat & muddy) or there is a section I cleared on the Tyers from the W3 track off the Tyers-Erica Rd to the Morwell pumping station at Wirilda Park off the Tyers-Yallourn Nth Rd. It is some time ago so would need some more work, but would be worth it. Kids could do this small river with a bit of experience. There is a walking track if you want to explore it first. The weir at the pumping station is a great place to take the kids for a swim.

 

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 'Lincoln' where he talks about Euclid's Principle of 'Equivalence'. THIS is on the right track; we should be concerned with TRUTH and certainty. Of course, the axioms which we chose to be 'self-evident' (as in Euclid) can become the problem. He did not PROVE this principle, though I think a recent mathematician has. I am all for the Scientific Method myself which stands things up and then knocks them down (rather like a coconut shy!) so that Einstein's Special & General Theories explode Euclid's world - though they are reasonably easily derived from Newton's and Maxwell's equations (easy when you know how: which is Einstein's genius really!)

 

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 United States 70% of eligible voters pay zero or near zero federal income taxes. They simply don’t pay the bills for defence, for Medicare, or Medicaid, or the dole, or food stamps...The declining transnational species who pay materially more in taxes than they receive in state benefits will, and are, being progressively and systematically disenfranchised. They pay for the apparatus of the state but have a rapidly declining say in its complexion. In fact they are victims of the state which everywhere has become despotic. The state’s major function is no longer the protection of the realm, or the keeping of law and order, or the provision of essential services". (AND NOTE WELL)" It is to extract wealth by threats of penal servitude from the productive and transfer it to the ostensibly indigent." IS it any wonder WE have a Gillard?

 

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 Wonnangatta-Moroka National Park again! Much of the wind for a few days is from the South and East which gives some chance, as it will tend to blow the fire back on itself - but you would not believe how fast a bushfire can burn INTO the wind in hot dry conditions (as fast as you can walk at least! Really!) DSE have closed the Twenty Acre Creek Track (just South of Cheyne's Bridge) a few years back where the fire might have been contained to the North of where it is shown on the map. The only bridge across the river giving access from the Licola Rd is on this closed road which is why it was such an extraordinary step to have closed it. We ARE SO badly served by the DSE and their Green Management extremists! Elders 28 day rainfall forecast have some rain (high probability) about the 28th so it will burn at least until then. http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001879813530


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 Wonnagatta-Moroka National Park (and continuing hot, dry weather and generally Westerly winds says it will) it will destroy the snowgum forests which have already been burned once and create a treeless plain across the High Country. It will also (alas) destroy the canoe drums I have planted at my 'camps' up there which will be a nuisance for me to replace so soon! http://osom.cfa.vic.gov.au/public/osom/attachments/1270818074/Aberfeldy-Donnelys%20FireMap%2020130118%202100hrs.pdf

 

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 Avon & etc.

 

 

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 Australia has really been in the past, from Miranda. You may not have heard about a lot of this because it is not PC at the ABC, CSIRO, BOM etc: http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/mirandadevine/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/aussies_have_weathered_natures_extremes_before/

 

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 Australia. Most are urban areas. Cape Otway is one of the few reasonably remote ones. If you highlight 'Highest' you will see that there has been only one high temperature since 1913. Yet we are being told that 'today' is the hottest it has been 'since records began' or 'in the last one hundred years' & etc yet at Cape Otway 11 out of the 12 hottest averages were before 1913. We are being sold a pup! http://www.bom.gov.au/jsp/ncc/cdio/weatherData/av?p_nccObsCode=36&p_display_type=dataFile&p_startYear&p_stn_num=090015

 

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 America and a compelling reason for its greatness: that is that the US Constitution recognised (for the first time) that people have inherent human rights. That these pre-existed Government and do not devolve from it. That an important role of Government was to protect these rights, but I say again: it was not the source of them. Alex makes some important points eg about the use of drones and the President's increasing his powers to allow arbitrary arrest and imprisonment as huge breaches of those very human rights which Government was set up to protect. Therefore the only defence the public has against such tyrannous Governments lies in this second Amendment right to own guns for the defence of said rights. I was frankly shocked and still am when Obama started killing American citizens (and others) without charge or trial (in foreign countries without their permission) by the use of drones.

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 Rome too fell.

 

16/1/2013: Great T shirt: http://www.zazzle.com.au/cigarette_love_tee_shirts-235968912048973446

 

15/1/2013: Does Roxon CARE about Australia AT ALL? Whose hands is her latest proposed tyranny (viz, the 'crime' of offence') playing into? If YOU care about Australia you owe it to yourself to read Paul Sheehan's article (below). In THIS Australia, pay particular attention to the case of  'a teenager named  Tegan Wagner who had been gang-raped by a group of young Muslim men': http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2013/01/thank-goodess-for-paul-sheehan.html#more

 

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 Greece right away? (and, by the way, many thanks to Greens activists for helping us lose several thousand dollars on our Whitehaven shares - hopefully the money comes back as the perpetrator is punished!): http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2013/01/analysis-of-the-federal-budgets-to-2016-by-pierpont-a-bigger-scandal-that-the-awu.html

 

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 US history (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donner_Party): http://maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com/uploads/SodaSprings3_12.jpg

 

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 China since the 1980s] accomplished? The short story is that it was done simply by letting individual incentives work, by allowing people to try and get rich on the market. Deng Xiapeng, on of the main Chinese political leaders from 1978 to the early 1990s, had a mantra: “getting rich is glorious.” ”[L]et some people get rich first,” he also famously said. Nian Guangjiu, an illiterate man who had been twice convicted of street peddling, took the idea seriously and, four years after Mao’s death, had become one of the first Chinese millionaires, amassing his fortune by selling watermelon seeds. It is fascinating that this simple idea apparently escaped the development economists who spent much of the 20th century devising economic models, foreign assistance proposals, and government schemes to kick-start economic growth in underdeveloped countries," Ronald Coase & Ning Wang 'How China Became Capitalist'.

 

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 India and China are growing at 7-10%, Western countries are lucky to manage 3-4% even though you would think we had a substantial head start. There is a massive cost to the crippling weight of all the rules and regulations - many of which ARE also driven by superstition eg green energy policies, GM food bans, 'health' restrictions on various products, etc, etc: http://catallaxyfiles.com/2013/01/04/bureaucracy-and-superstition-matt-ridleys-fears/#more-38508

 

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

 2012  and earlier blog