The Kebab & Calculator
This topic contains 1,224 replies, has 36 voices, and was last updated by 
Bluesqueakpip 2 years, 6 months ago.
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22 July 2019 at 14:52 #67876
mare fecundititus
& I’m still on 6000km p/h in under 20 mins to slow down for first contact
wow.
22 July 2019 at 14:55 #67877sorry 12 1/2 mins to soft touch down -that’s incredible.
22 July 2019 at 16:38 #67878Hey @missy, hope you and your husband continue to improve. (hugs)
I’ve been puttering for a while since Series 11 ended, doing…well, various things (along with work of course). Catching up on a lot of old movies and stuff. Frankly I’ve been feeling rundown mentally lately, though not physically. I haven’t had many people to talk to in “meatspace” as some call it about how roughly things are going in the World at Large, since my close family (those I live with) are far more conservative than I am and it would only end in tears on my side. Active activism isn’t in the cards. My usual optimistic, reliable online friend has her own problems at the moment, my boyfriend and I just get depressed talking politics, and other online folks are more downbeat. It’s hard to find a place to vent. Any advice? It would be appreciated.
22 July 2019 at 16:39 #67879Wow. That was incredible.
22 July 2019 at 20:59 #67880@pedant – that video of the descent you posted was incredible.
Do you know if Aldrin and Armstrong heard all the chatter?Also what is the time delay between Earth and Moon for radio??
Whatever – piloting that craft down to the surface was as extraordinary an achievement as bouncing around on the surface afterwards.
So much could go wrong yet didn’t, through human skill.
I was chatting with my brother the other day about whether I trusted computers (algorithms) over humans and I said I wanted both.
May point him to this.23 July 2019 at 00:20 #67883Only CapCom (capsule communications) is allowed to talk directly to the astronauts, and he is all they can hear. This was Charlie Duke, the guy with the slightly southern drawl who refers to people turning blue. I believe (but may be wrong) that CapCom is always a fellow astronaut (see also Ken Maddingley, Gary Sinese’s character in Apollo 13 – who did not have (German) measles, but was grounded for 13 because he had been in contact with school kids who had rubella).
The “Flight” loop is the Flight Director’s loop, the mission controller – Gene Krantz, in this case. I am fairly sure he hear’s anything he wishes to hear. You catch him telling someone off for talking on “the loop” about something non-relevant.
If memory serves the time delay is about two seconds.
BTW, another film to watch is Hidden Figures. Although its timeline is slightly jiggled around for dramatic purposes all three central characters were real and John Glenn refused to fly until Katherine Johnson had double-checked the computer’s numbers.
One more thing, the question everyone wants answering:
Let's talk about peeing in space.
Several people, in response to my NY Times essay, have said that women couldn't go into space because we lacked the technology for them to pee in space.
— Mary Robinette Kowal (@MaryRobinette) July 19, 2019
24 July 2019 at 22:58 #67892Its a strange thing in this day and age.
An actor has died and I want to say that I feel a bit of a gut-pull.Not tears, not tears in the rain, but someone who was essential to a few movies that had visceral and emotional impacts on me and others.
I feel I’m expected to add a link BUT I WON’T.
Watch Blade Runner and watch The Hitcher. Watch his other films and TV.
Its perhaps telling that his impact is summed up in those extremely emotional scenes that are denuded of emotion when seen outside the context of the movie and in fact introduce spoilers if you’ve not seen them before.
apologies, normal service will resume
;¬)
25 July 2019 at 02:12 #67893@whisht Yes, I feel for you. I know that his improv of that speech was incredible but when you look all over the rest of the ‘net’ it’s pretty much “the iconic speech” when there are so many. Still, I am moved when I read it, too. The web has a tendency to take over, get tangled, or repeat -well, like a web, really 🙁
I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe…. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.
Syzygy
25 July 2019 at 03:12 #6789425 July 2019 at 06:29 #6789525 July 2019 at 21:17 #67896aww I know @blenkinsopthebrave @thane16
Last night I was grouchy and not fun.
Apologies.fwiw I’d read something on another place (probably Guardian) and the commenter just irked me as it sounded like they were talking about the actor as if they’d only watched clips of the great moments (like in soccer forums where people watch YouTube compilations and cry “wow – we must sign this player!” without understanding that those moments happen as part of a team experience; sometimes they’re due to the team and sometimes in spite of).
Normal service resumed – that is a great clip.
26 July 2019 at 09:53 #67897Now, now The Whister. If you have to be grumpy -then absolutely. In fact, you’ve never been grumpy (look at me, a total juvenile complaining about cleaners: unbelievably silly of me) here. Never ever. So, occasionally, vent whenever you like -as long as our emperor agrees & doesn’t lop off your head. After all, I’ve narrowly avoided the guillotine several times. Seriously, here, other than various ‘bots,’ you are amongst friends -of course there are those “young ladieez” (spammers) on the Forum in recent times who would like to have you (emphasis on the “have” or “had) in a slightly different …..manner.
As a child, the books we’d read, used sentences such as: “I want to have you” or “Yezzz, have me, I want to be had.” 🙁
My parents couldn’t understand my frustration ! 😈
Be well. x
26 July 2019 at 23:11 #67899ha ha @thane16 – don’t worry I don’t beat myself up too much, honestly.
And those ladieez can have me all they want – I’m just not a doctor!
Just seen film Arrival for first time and even with ad breaks etc its still left me with teary eyes.
And this is a lovely place to share that.29 July 2019 at 03:48 #67908I’m not sure what to call you now, so back to the past.
A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY PURO.
Regards Missy
29 July 2019 at 21:58 #67909ooh – is it @thane16 ‘s birthday?
Happy Birthday Puro!
And you’re having to spend it in a hotel!!
Hope you’re not having too much in the way of upheaval and that everything gets sorted at home.31 July 2019 at 08:47 #67912@pedant hey there.
oops sorry about the VD. I had to google it. Lots of things are “VD” but I worked out which one you meant on account of your exceeding old age. 🙂
This is my humour. I’m testing it out. As dad’s gen would say “it’s a Sunday drive so I’m wearing a hat and driving slowly.” I always type my responses straight onto the “reply here” area. Mum does too. I might have added links sometimes but the two of us generally press submit and hope for the best. Usually it’s not a problem. If there’s gobs of coding text I just edit it & press submit & its fine. So, now I’ve researched which characters are safer to use which helps.
We’re reading Macbeth at the moment. It’s a bit hairy. I don’t understand much of it but we’re all watching Judi Dench in Macbeth in the school hall next week. Mum keeps saying “is this a dagger I see before me?” in Lawrence Oliver’s voice which was in Dead Poet’s Society.#
It’s not Oliver, is it? But the internet here is bad so now you see how unknowledgeable I really am.
#Mum has real problems with that film, actually. I don’t.
31 July 2019 at 09:12 #67913@thane16 We did Macbeth in Year 11. We were fortunate to have a wonderful English teacher who loved the play and inspired us with a love of it too. It is said that Shakespeare is taught badly in Australia, but I think the real problem is the plays are meant to be acted out not read off the page and as we have a dearth of theatre here we don’t experience Shakespeare as it should be experienced. Film is a good substitute for stage. We saw the Polanski version, which holds up better than expected. I watched it again recently. I would love to see the Brannagh/Alex Kingston version. River Song as Lady Macbeth!! However even though it was televised I have failed to track it down.
I think if you have to read the plays then the best way of doing so is Graphic Novel. there is a good one of Macbeth which might be in your local library and would really help with understanding.
My eldest is doing a Shakespeare topic this semester and I have offered to watch lectures with him. (More for my own amusement) however he is currently in bed with flu so no lectures for the moment. He has been watching a bit of Dr Who instead.
Cheers
Janette
31 July 2019 at 09:47 #67914That sounds like a great idea. I’ll look at those and also some sites on the web for assistance.
Mum said they did Hamlet and read out parts and ended up memorising them too which was good practise.
Hope he gets better soon.
31 July 2019 at 15:32 #67915Olivier (with an i).
A lot of Shakespeare productions seem to induce excessive..er..actorliness… in the cast. I may be that, because they are stage plays, people get sucked into ‘projecting’ but the effect can be a little distancing in stories that are often quite intimate.
The other occasional source of coding text is when you copy and paste a username from under a profile pic. That is a little bit prone to bring a load of gubbins with it.
4 August 2019 at 03:31 #67927In the spirit of keeping alive 20th century viewing habits, there is a line from one of my favourite movies of all time, called “A New Leaf” with Walter Matthau, where one character explains to Matthau’s character: “Sir, in your own lifetime, you have managed to keep alive traditions that were dead before you were even born.”
I have always loved that line (and secretly wanted to emulate it). It is a wonderful, incredibly funny, and strangely touching movie. I highly recommend it.
5 August 2019 at 03:46 #67931@blenkinsopthebrave It has become something of a challenge to avoid some of the tech. that I can’t be bothered with. My granddaughters are addicted to their phones ,in fact a lot of adults I know are so boring now because they are constantly looking at their phones. Even sitting around a table chatting with the phone on the table they can’t connect because their minds are on the phone. Who , other than the PM or President or doctor needs to be “on call” every minute? Then there is always the person who will immediately google any answer needed. Like, “who was that guy in such and such movie?” Sometimes its fun trying to remember and it keeps your brain sharp.
Anyway my OH got himself a cell phone and a plan and is texting his little heart out but my phone still hangs on the wall and when I go out it stays at home with the dog.
5 August 2019 at 04:01 #67932@blenkinsopthebrave and all. I just realized how much I sound like an old fart. I might as well have said “cell phones are malarkey!” or “put away that dang texting machine!” or “I see you got one of them computing machines”
I really think that new technology is great,here I am talking with people from around the world! I just don’t want to learn any more stuff I don’t need or want. I want to fill what little brain space I have with books and memories and Doctor Who.
5 August 2019 at 11:05 #679335 August 2019 at 12:06 #67935Oh, that’s some connection. I was thinking of, & watching bits of Up in The Air & my mind was drifting to play-boys & then you mention A New Leaf! I remember a well equipped lady in a bikini sidling up to Henry Graham. “I am alive! I want to give….”
Henry scurries off in this pitiful, almost fearful voice “oh No! Nooo! Don’t let them out!”
Neal Hefti who wrote the Odd Couple, did this score too. Wow of a film. Talk to people about it & they don’t know it. It’s a real treat people. Mr Blenkinsop is right. So many one liners -it’s worth it for the valet alone, played by George Rose- all of which fits into a film like a sweet, short* poem.
Syzygy
*And it wasn’t going to be short. Thank god for editors. We love you. The waste basket is your friend!
6 August 2019 at 02:59 #67937@pedant The little dog ( Newton ) doesn’t like shopping and someone has to answer the phone.
9 August 2019 at 00:00 #67943I was just reading the obituary of Chris Kraft, the NASA flight director during Apollo 11. Was it he who was the calm, controlling voice in the video you uploaded of “the complete descent”? Or someone else?
9 August 2019 at 13:16 #67944No, that’s Gene Krantz (memorable played by Ed Harris in Apollo 13).
16 August 2019 at 10:16 #67954Hi there @bluesqueakpip. @mudlark @serahni and all you great men and women! @whisht @blenkinsopthebrave @arbutus @nerys. This idea sounds like it’s about theology only, but I think it’s about changing perceptions -or not changing them?
Due to the ‘serious’ nature of the post below I thought I’d should share this from a Reuters article which commented on the show, The Family (Netflix). But you have to excuse me at the pub, as I’m not 18 🙂 Others might like to comment and this isn’t homework (I wish it was because it would be more interesting) – just my musings. I was reading about how David was seducing Bathsheba which led commenters & the author to say such things as “good on ‘im, he had a tough time of it. It was a ruthless period.” But they don’t mind at all that David organised the murder of his captain, so David could have Bathsheba.
Those areas in the bible are murky. Sometimes hypocritical. But I tend to say it’s “interpretation and language differences?” I think most of you know I have a Christian faith and despite soccer games on Sunday I still try to make church twice a month. But I understand better what is right and what choices are made for the ‘greater good’ from both Buffy and Doctor Who: where in the first: “you have a choice, it’s not a good choice, but it’s a choice and you’re choosing wrong.” @pedant I’m not sure if that’s the exact quote, but close?
And from the Doctor: I’m not doing this because I want to beat someone, or because I hate someone…not because its easy…. I do what I do because it’s right; because it’s decent….maybe there’s no point in any of this at all.”
This is what I wrote on the newspaper’s page:
I find the hints regarding King David as a great guy, charismatic and doing what was necessary because it was fun is a startlingly venal base for a conversation about a king who memorialised himself by defeating Goliath. Most readers don’t pay much attention after the defeat of Goliath. If readers believe David had a rough time in a ruthless era and did “what it took” to survive then they’re using relativism to excuse a man who premeditated the murder of his finest captain only when Bathsheba fell pregnant after David seduced her. Another post said that people become upset at the oddest things and that “odd thing” is cold-blooded murder. I don’t think cynically laughing about this as if it’s cute irony rather than a sober discussion about theology and relative meaning is helpful.
Thank you for reading. Syzygy the youngest. PS: @whisht mum likes the music contributions!
16 August 2019 at 21:29 #67956@syzygy
The argument that in the context of the times and society in the 10 century BCE David’s actions in arranging for Uriah’s death so that he could have Bathsheba to himself were excusable doesn’t hold a single drop of water as far as I can see, and I wonder at the moral judgement of anyone who imagines that it does or ever did.
In addition to the question of morality and ethics, I doubt whether there has ever been a social group, whether clan, tribe, petty kingdom or nation, in which the deliberate killing or otherwise contriving the death of one member of that community by another has been officially sanctioned by law or custom, although there are obvious examples of grey areas where a sub-section of a community has been defined officially or unofficially as ‘other’ and the law has sometimes turned a blind eye.
The biblical account makes it perfectly clear that David’s actions were considered not only wrong but a gross abuse of his power as king. The prophet Nathan tells him so quite bluntly, underlining the point with the parable of the rich man with who had large flocks and herds but chose to take the one and only lamb belonging to his poor neighbour to feed a guest rather than slaughter one of his own. David was powerful among his own people, wealthy and had several wives already and he acted as if above the law and in the spirit of ‘because I can’. Remind you of anyone?
This being the Old Testament, David’s actions are considered foremost as a sin and offence against God; ‘What David had done was wrong in the eyes of the Lord’ (2 Samuel 11:27), and Nathan warns him that God will punish him: his first son by Bathsheba will die, his wives will be openly unfaithful and his family ‘will never again have rest from the sword’. The only ‘good’ outcome, if it can be considered such, is that his next son by Bathsheba was Solomon, but that hardly justifies the wrong and it isn’t presented in that light.
16 August 2019 at 21:36 #67957@thane16 (syzygy the younger)
In a moment of absent mindedness I attached the wrong tag to the above post, sorry!
17 August 2019 at 10:55 #67958This is so fantastic. Thankyou so much.
During a moment of break from studies I read some articles in the NY Times ($1 for 3-4 articles) and then watched a show called The Family which sounds nuts and actually IS nuts. What’s worrying is on the paper’s comments there are people actively saying “yeah, no worries, he’s a man, that’s what men do” but it wasn’t a grief-stricken outrage but a nasty and callous affectation -in my opinion.
So, I was looking to things for myself.
Despite some really good As and Bs, my global average at November will be quite poor. I don’t want to necessarily go to uni but I don’t want my options pulled out either! Still, TAFES or old advanced education areas offer similar things without the heady costs. Mum and I reckon @janetteb would’ve had free uni -or she did for 2 degrees – after that she had to pay per year but the cost was about $1500 for a year and nothing like the current costs. No wonder no-one can afford a house anymore.
Most of my mates who are 19 or 20 have never moved out. Mum will be charging me, though, for food, car insurance, the internet and a portion of everything which is miles cheaper than moving in with people who have to work two jobs just to pay the rent. Never mind saving up for a home of their own.
This was the Lucky Country. But then there was a time in America when they looked to the stars. Now they look down in misery.
Thankyou again.
Syzygy the Younger.
Thankyou again. You are a beautiful writer.
18 August 2019 at 07:51 #67967@thane16 .. you got me started.. Having three sons two of whom are now in tertiary education the injustices experienced by their and your generation are very much a constant subject of conversation and concern here.
Yes when I started University, after taking a very extended gap year/s it was free. I was fortunate to be able to do three years full time without cost and receive Austudy. IT was not even then really enough to live comfortably on and I also worked part time. I was just starting Honours when HECS was introduced by the then Labor Government. We felt really betrayed by that. I protested. We blocked the streets of Adelaide, it was huge, but achieved as little as such protests usually do. (knowing that I will still march because we can not ever let them silence us.) I was fortunate that the following year I received a scholarship and so have a very modest HECS debt. (still) Arts degrees don’t always lead to profitable employment.
AS to the cost of living,.. I met my S/O when I was starting Honours. He was unemployed, living in a share house, because even on the dole he could afford to do so, and I encouraged him to enroll at Uni. (He then went on to get straight A’s. grrr) So we were both full time students on Austudy supplemented by the part time work I was doing, keeping my income within the allowance. We had a really nice flat, ran a car, (it was on “loan”) and could even afford to have pets. I managed to save enough firstly to take him overseas with me, doing the Trans Siberean on that kind of income and then to pay the deposit on a house. I compare that to the situation of my sons. They are receiving, I calculate about the same amount that we were, thirty years ago. The same amount.. roughly. The cost of living has risen at least four fold since then. At least.. The money they now receive is a pittance. Our eldest cannot afford to move into a flat with his girlfriend. She has moved in here. Great for us, but not fair for them. They dream too of travelling but have no means of doing so. They don’t dream of ever owning a house because that is deemed impossible. And meanwhile our moron government cuts taxes to the rich and gives away all our public assets, while happily screwing over our neighbours, letting entire countries drown just as long as their coal mining mates are happy.
Yeah. You got me started… I will take a deep breath,, As you say, this was the Lucky Country but we did not appreciate just how lucky we were and let it all go down the drain.
Sorry for the rant,
Cheers
Janette
18 August 2019 at 11:24 #67968I think many people KNEW we were the lucky country & secured political mates rates via ‘good’ capitalism and entrepreneurship. My parents left communism but I valued a socialist society (not Communist ideals). As Iris in The Heights says – ABC ivew -Thane bloomin adores it & Iris is his favourite character to the extent he’s cried when watching. Sooo, in response to a statement “It’s just an idea,” Iris snaps, “So was Communism.”
I loved Hawke and the 1984 Accord. It was a bloody miracle . People taking to the streets in awe. Then we had Keating and a recession that saw mates lose $40 000 overnight with deregulation and collapsing shares; skipping uni to earn it back. HECS followed swiftly.
I totally understand your frustration.** I have electricians and plumbers charging $279 to walk in the door . Thereafter it’s $115 every 15 minutes. This is suburb investiture. Where less “affluent” areas pay the same people $150. There has to be something illegal about this. We know this but our avenues of complaint are tedious and fraught with difficulty so we shag & shrug, watching Netflix with wine, sharing a jammy dodger.
Thane knows, without a doubt, that if he’s had a brother, it would be ‘worse’ (you know he doesn’t mean he’d hate him) . Already he prioritises what furniture in our home he’d keep, what jewellery he’d sell (!) & how much he’d rent the third bedroom out for -not because he wants profitability but because he figures someone may benefit. Also he thinks a car in inner Brisbane isn’t really necessary. There’s $50K right there gone -or saved -with public transport improving.
<span style=”display: inline !important; float: none; background-color: transparent; color: #333333; cursor: text; font-family: Georgia,’Times New Roman’,’Bitstream Charter’,Times,serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;”>But it was Labour who brought in HECS and it was mates rates and corporate lunches (which my father thought perfectly acceptable) that hit the lower middle classes. I used to read, at 18, John Pilger, who was viciously hated by other journos. I never knew if he was exaggerating because uni had narrowed; I had music on my mind and from every Station to Station I had Fashion in my head.</span>
**So I understand your boys must struggle. I never had Aus-Study but many mates did. I had no idea it’s the same amount now and I’m very sorry for that: yet the entrepreneurial elites ignore the facts & throw lame arrows at “millennials who don’t know what they’ve got.”
And that’s a tiny bit true. Half the world lives in shitty conditions and because it’s Columbia or Krakow, or the Indian subcontinent, they don’t ‘really’ matter as much.
Example: Thane had a guidance officer who did the usual palaver about uni. When I found out who she actually was, I hinted to Thane, “look, she’s been married 4 times with 3 kids to different dads and has had the job for 6 months.” Thane’s response was entirely correct: “So, what? You discount her because of this? That she’s trying to help people? Maybe these issues weren’t hers alone & she’s making the best of a new job.” Thane: 18, turning 35.
I guess our kids are……(don’t hit me) our future: they’re the best of us and I try to have confidence they’ll literally ‘best’ the conservative elites. Providing they think entirely avoiding Love Island and Piers Morgan. 🙂
Syzygy the Elder.
18 August 2019 at 11:31 #67969@janetteb sorry about the coding. I simply type it write in w/o any cutting or pasting and I avoid ‘&’ if I can as well as dollar and pound signs, question and exclamation marks. It’s a tad frustrating. I don’t want to have 9 lines of code to wade thru. 🙂 From the word improving go down to “But it was Labour.”
18 August 2019 at 13:56 #67973@thane16 It was actually under Hawke that HECS came in because it happened before my S/O started Uni. We were in Eastern Europe when Keating became PM so didn’t know until we reached London and read an Australian newspaper. Unfortunately Labor in the Hawke/Keating years was swinging ever further to the right, buying the economic rationalist line. Uni’s were being hit and arts suffered because they did not fit the new economic rationalist line. I should point out that there were plenty of fine people within the ALP, (including our former premier Jay Weatherill and Penny Wong) who opposed the direction the party was taking and continue to try nudging it back to the left. (I was a card carrying member of the ALP for over ten years and still volunteer to help every election. I do not agree with everything the party does but they are still our best option and I wore a black arm band for Bob last time, that day we do not talk about.)
I was able to get independent Ausstudy because I had been working for over two years though proving that was an interesting exercise. That I had been living away from home for about four years and was living interstate meant nothing. My S/O was over the age for independent Ausstudy when he started uni.
Yes our young people still are fortunate in comparison to many others around the world that but does not justify cutting their privileges. Everyone on this planet should be able to afford to get an education and for that to be the case most young people need to receive an allowance. Scandanavian countries does this because they tax their companies. Norway is able to take care of its citizens because it taxes North Sea oil. Major companies are paying less tax than people like us. If those companies payed their fair share of tax than every young person should be able to receive the assistance they need to best realise their potential. And yeah I agree, our young people are the future but they deserve better than what they are currently being handed.
Cheers
Janette
18 August 2019 at 14:13 #67974Yes I realise my mistake with King Bob!
I also understand the various differences & attitudes about the rest of the universe but it doesn’t mean we leave out, as you say, the many privileges people here have. Except they’ve lost some of them anyway. Which is no excuse. I try, I guess, to see the world as one “global village” which, back in 1998 was the Big Juicy Lie that hadn’t happened yet. And then along came researchers, journalists & authors in philosophy who debunked Globalism -or recognised it was misused.
Certainly Big Oil etc is taxed elsewhere, whilst we rub up against the U.S. I’m absolutely ignorant of the detail you’ve given. I’m going to see a man about a book.
18 August 2019 at 15:05 #67977@thane16 Yes “globalisation” was just another tool for the rich to use to exploit the poor.
Norway does not have a deficit. They have made so much money from North Sea oil, which is not a good thing but it is good that the citizen of Norway have benefited. Our government allows corporations to profit from coal and we get nothing in return, not even cheaper power. (of course talking of the power grid in Australia is another sorry tale of “mates” kick backs while the population is screwed over and the plant is destroyed.) Why is it that our rulers always make the worst choices, for us, for others and for the planet.
Cheers
Janette
19 August 2019 at 03:46 #67978@thane16 (the elder and the younger)
Like both of you (janette and the syzygy the elder) I lived through the same years. I too often wonder if our decisions were responsible for the options available to the generation represented by syzygy the younger.
When I think back to my own experience the one thing that always stands out–the thing that (for me) makes all the difference–is class. Both my parents came from a working class experience of the depression. They carried those values with them, and those values were embedded in my upbringing. My brother and I were the first in the wide extended family to go to university. For me, the only reason I had that opportunity was the Whitlam government allowing me to go to university without the enormous financial burden previously imposed. My older brother (the smarter one) got there because of scholarships.
Many years later, when I was a professor in a law school, I was at an event where the wife of a retired judge (both he and her from the old established wealth of Sydney’s north shore (only Australians will understand that reference) was complaining that the problem of the younger generation was that “simply anybody” was allowed into university. I pointed out that the only reason I was at this event (as a law professor) was because the Whitlam government had allowed people of my income bracket to attend university. She looked at me like I was something she had picked up on the sole of her shoe.
Resistance to climate change, opposition to refugees, suspicion of higher education–it’s not just the current government, it’s the enablers of the government.
20 August 2019 at 09:32 #67982Thou That Has Spoken
The Siggers
P: I shoulda gorn with (now that’s not Old North Shore neither) something punk. But I just couldn’t do it.
20 August 2019 at 09:38 #67983Also, seriously, no THE OA?
It’s gorn too.
Clearly it wins hands down -over Stranger Things, over 13 Reasons. Over Rectify.
But only The Leftovers and Doctor Who remain in the bracket of spell-binding, decisive, and beautiful telly
I shall go cry in a corner.
But on the music thread we have an unexpected “day 4” of Woodstock. It was many years before I even knew there was another day or morning, at least. A pop of wonderfulness. Or wonder.
22 August 2019 at 02:47 #67989@blenkinsopthebrave and @janetteb
I could NOT believe this! He rants on a message about how the Left are haters and warmongers, that there is nothing but peace in Trump, that he’s a Christ loving person who is radical in all the right ways & provides messages of hope & love. Er what? I thought Voight had a good conscience….
It’s interesting that he’s glad Trump didn’t have to deal with the leftist lobby because of his supreme wealth. Why doesn’t he argue about the presidential election problem? Also, Professors Blenkinsop, I hope my Hallelujah wasn’t interpreted as a right-enabling interpretation? I was simply saying “hallelujah” and didn’t think the Buckleys would be the best choice for a hallelujah (also the choir’s very good). This is what happens when I mix music with political argument. It becomes a clusterf**k. So, Voight. Man oh man is he wrong-headed! We ban Voight from d’house
26 August 2019 at 02:16 #68021@xad4 and others who love the Osprey Project in Wales. They’re closing off sections at the end of the month as they’re building a new wildlife centre. Also, Peris was very hungry!
9 September 2019 at 10:48 #68077Just for people to be aware whilst we take joy in retaining The Ashes, there’s raging bushfires even at the beginning of Spring. The actual heat is ……-at the moment quite low, with minimums of 7-12.
Not far from here, but far enough, people had 10 minutes to get out. No time beyond a grab-bag. The fire was running up hill at 10 metres per second at tree-top level.
Think about that. 10 metres PER second in the dark. An orange hell blasting up, taking anything with it. And our fire-fighters are volunteers. One owner said “it’s OK to say you’re gonna stay and fight it. It’s another thing to see a universe of orange coming at you. You’re brought to your knees or you run.”
9 September 2019 at 15:05 #68079@thane16 ironical isn’t it. Our entire world is being reduced to ashes right now while our “leaders” fiddle. I fear that we are reaching the tipping point and those with the power to do something seem intent upon destruction. Depressing days indeed.
Cheers
Janette
14 September 2019 at 05:58 #68104Been reading about the drought in Australia. As someone who spent 60 years of his life there, I have strong feelings about what is happening at the moment to the land itself and the government policy that is accepting (if not encouraging) it. It is clear that that this is not a changing of the seasons. I know that the problem has historical roots, dating back to the 19thC practice of plowing land that had so little top soil that it encouraged, in part, what we are confronted with. It is also painfully obvious that there is little interest in learning from centuries of Indigenous stewardship of the soil. What does concern me is the seeming (from my distant perspective) lack of interest at the political level in addressing climate and environmental issues.
Dear me, all that sounds a bit grim. On the lighter side of things, apparently Donald Trump’s orange hue is caused by light bulbs. Of course it is…
14 September 2019 at 16:51 #68105@blenkinsopthebrave Oh it is all fine here. Our P.M is praying for rain… Yes that is the solution to the current crisis being offered by our government. What really depresses me is this incompetent bunch of fools who so clearly care only for their billionaire mates got voted back in despite the overwhelming evidence that they barely share a brain cell between them. Like many other Australians I am still processing the shock of the last election. Meanwhile our state government, (Libs) are about to sell off public transport as well as selling the power infrastructure that the previous Labour Government put in place to sort out the mess created by the last Liberal government when they sold off ETSA. It is a dance of fools spiraling ever downwards.
cheers
Janette (trying to be positive but it gets harder by the day)
15 September 2019 at 10:16 #68106Are you anywhere near these fires? They seem to be getting worse, and some have been lit deliberately.
It’s shocking.
Missy
16 September 2019 at 00:35 #68107@thane16 – knowing your thing for planes….
Bugger. Completely forgot it was Battle of Britain today, and I always post this somewhere. Ah well, only 30 mins late
16 September 2019 at 01:41 #68108@pedant Wow! That was way too close. I would have peed myself and then cried. Thank you for waking me up.
17 September 2019 at 07:57 #68112Brilliant Mr P. I thought his reaction was split second. No way I could drop that fast & keep a hair do. 😉
I think the problem on the web -site were people asking for some happy time? Sometimes removal men who want to take all the furniture. I do not mind it myself. I think furniture is over-rated unless it is my bed. Parents will not buy me a longer bed so my feet stick out. They say if I want a longer bed I have to buy it myself. Also there are doctors on the ‘Doctor’ WHO forum who are not really the doctors we need. At home, though we had a serious doctor issue which caused some problems even though he only speaks English. It was funny looking back on it. This doctor or general practitioner is not an Indian person (and we do not have issues with Indian doctors. They are great), but “Doctor Gupta” on our web site is not a Doctor Who-type Doctor? 🙂
oh yes the fires are bad. I thought the 12 year olds shouldn’t be charged like that. My dad said otherwise. I thought they were campers who didn’t know what they were doing? In the garden the wind blew ash and red dirt everywhere & I had to spend two hours wetting the house, the fence and then pulling out 5 plants which died overnight from wind-attack (that’s normally mum’s problem, ahem). People have lost houses. You could check mums mention on this thread about how fast it was going: 10 metres per second per second up hill at TREE TOP LEVEL. Terrifying.
@Blenksinsopthebrave
We all agree. It’s a terrible political & environmental situation. It’ also “every person for themselves” which is isolating & horrible.
@whisht message coming…..
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