An open thread where, at your weekend leisure, you can discuss anything you like.
[Except federal election stuff which should go here and Brisbane Central by-election stuff which should go here.]
Life, Culture and Politics from BrisVegas
Larvatus Prodeo was an Australian group blog which discussed politics, sociology, culture, life, religion and science from a left of centre perspective. more»
First? Anyhow, I would just like to share with you some news. Australian Federal Police have been training and funding the training of Burmese junta’s secret policemen.* The curriculum includes intelligence gathering on civilians (such as dissidents). This is all part of our assistance package to local fascist regimes and goes one better than our SAS help to Kopassus.
This will be a lovely start to the Liberal – love the name, don’t you? L-I-B-E-R-A-L – Party’s campaign. Maybe that is why the minister responsible for the federal police, is senator David somebody or rather.
Hellooo? Anybody there?
first
in my pants!
Kim:
3?
Hope war between Turkish Republic and US doesn’t break out.
hoping it does, keep me entertained till Howard calls the election.
Leinid:
] just as the keeps praising the original Anzacs for doing.
Hhmmm. Maybe our pretend war hero will put on a zippo-suit, pick up a Steyr and race over to fight Johnny Turk [shouldn't that be Mehmet?
And if Turkey calls on its NATO allies, he might have to fight the Huns too just like in the Great War.
I would like us all to observe 2 minutes silence on this eve of the general election being called and reflect on the passing of the career of Mark Latham.
Time also to read those diaries of his and acquaint ourselves with the cast of characters who may make up the next Government.
How candid of The Central Scrutinizer to out herself/himself as the last living person who gives Mark Lathan credit for having some political acumen.
Doris Lessing, Nobel Prize for Literature. About bloody time, I’d say. Of course I haven’t read thw whole of her output – the whole eighty books or so – I doubt anyone has. But I mightily enjoyed her science fiction, and Briefing for a Descent into Hell, which was sort of science fiction.One of her works that made the biggest impression on me was a play (which I’ve only read but never seen) about the CND in Britain in the early 1960s. A gut-wrenching drama as I recall, but I forget its name.
Any more Lessing fans out there? Now might be the time to reflect.
No Katz , no accusation that he had any acumen.
But there were circumstances when he was the saviour , the newly anointed leader.
His diaries may be crude and self serving but the descriptions of the other players are worth a review.
How has the whole party managed to clean itself up so well? The new broom is sweeping more cleanly perhaps .
Sir Henry: Where did you get that stuff about the Feds? Sounds tasty…
JA, think this is the source:
http://www.manlydaily.com.au/article/2007/10/13/6873_news.html
Anybody who has a few spare minutes, take a look at this piece.
Fascinating stuff.
Klaus K,
I read the Jesse James story. Fascinating and scary.
Katz:
not quite the last …. I still think he would have made an effective Prime Minister; definitely not nice one or a polished one or a charismatic one but one who would not have got Austrlaia so deep in the mire nor one who would have stopped us getting out of it — unlike Howard and Howard-With-Hair.
Here, here for Mark Latham. If you think about it his diaries and some of his actions as opposition leader – pollies super for example – were a repudiation of all the back room apparatchic stuff that he’d endured in getting to the leadership. If the campaign had held together – a very big ‘if’ – then we’d have had an interesting three years. The maverick with leadership thrust on him rather than the control freak who can’t even admit to wanting an exclusive ocean view. Latham’s fall is a very human response to a lot that is wrong with Australian politics, federal and state.
Wooh! Tax return and 50W Marshall Amp!
“unlike Howard and Howard-With-Hair.”
Like it GB , like it !
Nice amp anthony but what are you running through it?
Has anyone here both read the book The Good German and seen the movie?
The movie, which I enjoyed, was one of the more interesting adaptions I have encountered. But very different from the source material.
1988 Japanese Fender Strat that I got given a year or so ago. Not your traditional three chord noisemaker but the mid-boost switch beefs it up very nicely.
So Very Loud but a of of different sounds to be had out of it and the gain levels are very sensitive to the vol setting on the guitar.
?Saint Che?
With the 40th anniversary of the execution of Ernesto “Che” Guevara in Bolivia, perhaps a few quotations from his writings might pour a little cold water on the adulation we hear from some folk?
[from his (diary entry) summary for the month of March 1967, while engaged in his hapless attempt to begin a guerilla strugge in Bolivia]: “The peasant base is still not developing, although it seems that by means of systematic terror, we will obtain the neutrality of most of them: support will come later. We have not made a single recruit…”
in the Spanish original: ‘mediante el terror planificado’
Ah, Saint Che! ?What a wonderful role model for disaffected youth, si?
hasta luego
Can I just say how welcome it is to find Zappa personae like the Central Scrutinizer making an appearance at this blog. You is what you is, sir/madam.
Central Scrutinizer
There were occasions when he was DESCRIBED as the saviour, by hopeful and hopelessly romantic ALP loyalists.
But I recall clearly the remark by Kelvin Thompson, Victorian ALP MP: “Hang on for a bumpy ride!” on the day Mark was anointed Leader. How apt. How prescient. Did he have balls of cruystal?
I think not. It’s still true to say that future behaviour is usually consonant with past behaviour, and doubtless Kelvin knew more about Mark’s past behaviour than the average voter, or indeed than the commentarians.
I too am amazed at the ALP’s current good behaviour. It seems uncharacteristic. Do they have a sniff of the better leather on the Govt side of the House?
cheerio
Bismark, correction -
You are what you is. You is what you am.
There you go. Now back to the icing annointment utensil.
You’re quite right, FDB. I realized my mistake as I hit the ‘submit’ button. Now, back to browsing for catholic girls (you know the rest).
A nice looking Strat, anthony. I’ve always liked maple fingerboards on a Strat. And a Strat through a Marshall is a time honoured tradition.
Cheers Shaun, the fingerboards were already nicely worn at the weeeeeeedle/bend positions which gives it a nice bit of history. Big shoes big shoes. What are you using for your AC/DC inspired riffage.
Unsolicited pic of my guitar. Or at least, of an identical one. I’ve got a mate building me a custom handmade valve amp, and I’ll be sure to bore you all with pics of that once available.
That’s a beauty FDB. I’d take an unseemly interest pics of a custom handmade valave amp – and specs, lots of specs.
anthony,
I play a Tele with a maple neck (I had a beloved Strat but sold that back in the mid 90s just before I left LA). I’ve got a Twin Reverb from 1980 with JBL speakers. Not exactly a rig for rockin’ though it can do the job with the right touch. But really great for blues and country.
Frank Black! Joe Strummer! The Fender Tele has always been the Fender I would buy if I bought a Fender.
They do a nice clean amp do fender. I love how valves are so commonplace in guitar amps – it’s such a great retention of old technology that works. Nice to to look at too, you can almost see the electrons moving through them
One of the guitarists in one of my bands has a Quad Reverb. Same tone pretty much, just LOUDER. The combo of that with his pretty cheap Mexican Tele is supoyb.
So much of the joy of Fender amps is that most of the tone comes from the input stage (IMHO) so you don’t need the output cranked for it to sound great (unlike lots of Marshalls). The worst offender is the otherwise very Fender-like (and Fender-designed) Music Man 210/212 series. Solid state input gain stage, so unless you wind up the master, it’s just not doing its job right.
If you run into this problem with your amp Anthony, consider a dummy load. The guy in one of my other bands uses one for home/prac room playing, and it sounds great. Basically it mimicks the current draw of a cabinet, leaving the speakers with less work to do but still driving the output hard. Sorry if that’s an unrequired explanation.
No no not at all, I’m still very much a grasshopper.
If I’ve got the dummy load concept right – it’s like putting an opposing jet in a 5 metre lap pool so it’s like you’re swimming 50m but not really. So the amp is working hard and sounding like it without needing to be at neighbour distressing levels.
The Vintage Modern seems to be squaring a lot of circles in the playing soft/ playing loud stakes. There’s a lot of dirt to be had in the high settings of the “Dynamic Range”, which, if I’ve read my manual correctly is an extra pre-amp valve but I’m looking forward to heading out to the farm and seeing what it can do without neighbours.
Yeah, that’s the concept alright. Sounds like your amp has some extra trickery up its sleeve beyond the ol’ JCM blast-o-tron with a 4X12 cab. God I hate seeing those things when I mix a band – they’re designed for the days when the PA was just for vocals!