An open thread, where at your weekend leisure, you can discuss anything you like.
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»
Frist. Also, I hosted the latest incarnation of the History Carnival this week, which may interest some: http://airminded.org/2009/06/01/history-carnival-77/
Second Frist (or the Frist Second).
Back at work yesterday. Eleven hours on a hospital train for sick locomotives. Lessons with the beautiful teacher are moving from the Irish bar and to an Albert Street restaurant next week (although today it was held in the corner of a Banyo cafe).
Will miss the anti-selloff union rally on Sunday, as I’m rostered to work a change job that goes at least half-way to Toowoomba and back (another 11-hour stint, for sure).
Looks like I’ll also miss my beautiful niece’s engagement party next Saturday, thanks to the railways.
But there’s always the fishing excursion with the beautiful Japanese teacher on Sunday week to look forward to…
Caroline, where’s your script?
“Seasons of mists and mellow fruitfulness …” (+ 6 days)
Up early in a chilly morning to hang out washing after a week of fog etc before the mists etc return tomorrow, we’re greeted by caroling Maggies and a Lewin honeyeater dipping into the rosy magnolia grandiflora fruits about 20m from the kitchen window, and we wonder if the magnolia & camellia-loving Eastern spinebills will return this year now the drought’s over. The drought’s brought in so many birds that our field guide assures us shouldn’t be here (including three visitations from the exceptionally rare Paradise Parrot, also magnolia lovers, one of whom dined long enough for us to get the field guide and confirm the sighting). Noisy rainbow lorikeets breakfast on the banksia integrifolia a few metres west of the Magnolia, and I can hear King Parrots’ piercing cry as they check out the still not quite ripe lillypilly berries.
After a year of mists & rain, the mini Japanese maples glow garnet-like next to the weeping cherry & strelizia, and under ripening citrus; Brushfield’s yellow camellias shine with dew against an orange background of ripe Valencias and a true Anthemion (honeysuckle), with orange Watsonias in the foreground. Quite low, a military chopper from the base flew over in jungle camouflage, tail blazing autumn colours, just as, returning from dawn’s aerobatics over the Lockyer, one of the old warbirds this area has by the museum load also flew over, bright yellow with red tips.
Rain’s washed fine whitish harvest dust out of the air. Above, the cloudless sky will soon be the distinctive cobalt of mountain winter skies. Politics, finance – all that’s venal and venial – shrink to their true importance on this beautiful day in a beautiful world.
“Listen to the small sounds” said my host in a Japanese tea garden under the colouring maples and dark pines on a misty early October day more than a generation ago – the best words used in the best possible way, as Coleridge would say, in a setting he’d have loved with a passion; DeeCee’s corollary of which is “See the ordinary things.”
Mind switches to a different poet in a different season.
God’s in his Heaven -
All’s right with the world!
Everyone must still be in bed! Have a lovely long weekend.
Have finally, finally, started writing the prologue to my book on the First Fleeters and the American Revolution. Hopefully, since its only 1500 to 2000 words I might get it finished this weekend. Thinking about typing a version of it into my blog. If I do, I’ll link it.(This is my third try a douing a prologue over the past year or so, but it seems to be working this time.I didn’t have enough research done the previous times, or at least, not the tropics I needed for the prologue.)
Brett @ 1,
Love the history carnival.
Sp. doing/topics @ 5. Going blind.
And then, there’s this:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article6440499.ece
Does anybody know if the Howards went to Belesconi’s villa, or, more to the point, what went on while they were there?
Hey, Chinalco wants to part with $24 billion for a share of Rio Tinto.
How about we do a deal?
The population here in Oz is about 21 million.
What do you reckon? – $1 billion each, and we hand ourselves over to the “New Mandarins”?
Chinalco would be right at home: it’s doing to the Tibetans and all through Afirca (well, let’s face it – wherever there are minerals) just what the mining companies have always done to the original inhabitants here.
We can forget this stupid charade of a game whereby we vote for politicians who lie through their back teeth about how much they’re going to do to make everything rosy for “the people”, until (of course) they’re safely ensconced in a seat. Using their sinecure to ensure the business community are sufficiently grateful to land a plumb job on the board of a top company – when they retire from making such momentous decisions for the rest of us.
Politicians can proceed without embarrassment – or (perish the thought!) face a party conference! – and just do whatever the developers and other shysters suggest – without wasting time and effort having to dress it up as democractic, necessary and progressive!
It’ll put an end, once and for all, to all the quibbling about carbon trading and what’s left of the “environment”; about whether any new coal, iron ore or uranium mine should be built; about whether to privatise the railway, the prsions, the hospitals; whether we should make Pine Gap and those 21 or so US military bases here in Oz off-limits to “Australians”; etc, etc.
This quarry – once known as “Australia” – would be so much easier to administer without so many conflicting interests and pseudo-mechanisms of administration!
I’m sure the Murdock Press would support it – it’d make it much easier for Rup. to set up newspapers in China – and make up for the possibility of Newslimited falling over in the “west”.
Individually, we can play capitalist with our loot, and either succumb to the new regime or bugger off to a permanent Club-Med holiday / life-style.
Any one up for it?
Mervyn, if your maths weren’t out by a factor of one thousand, and if ‘the Australian people’ actually owned Rio Tinto, then… your argument would still make no sense.
FDB @ 9 – mate, I thought it was such a good idea.
I was going to run with it and set up me own political party. We need some sort of democratic opposition in Qld. But if my plan is a goer, we won’t need a parliament – the board of Chinalco can just send in an operations manager.
And I won’t put you in the planning department – and you’ll only get a smaller % of the pay-out anyway. I’m going to have to get me slide rule out and work it all out again, just in case!
And to this we might add our own Paul Burns in this hideous left wing plot to make Belesconi look bad. Paul, if Howard had of been involved in something like this it might have helped his image. Hyacinth would have given him the deepest grief.
There was a stranger in my garden last Thursday night, late. There were two ways of looking at the result, of course. I could have considered my tiny garden violated, my personal property stolen, my sense of security destroyed. I could have cursed the thief and lamented all those years of love I’d lavished on that little tree, lost. Or I could have consoled myself with the thought that at least the bonsai thief had taste. From all the range of twisted fig varieties, stunted olives, the peppers and the boxes, he (for no woman wore the boot whose imprint was left clear and deep in the soil beside the rack of pots) had chosen the oldest and the best, my favourite.
Obviously a man of some sensibility, I realised. He had recognised in an instant, in the dim light, the classic lines of that conifer. He had seen its gnarled trunk rising from the span of exposed roots and understood, I was certain, how long and lovingly I had agonised over which of its branches I should prune away, and which to bend with wires and weights. He had appreciated the hours -over years- that I’d sat contemplating its form, visualising the ways it could have grown and changed. He had felt all the love that I had fed that little tree, and he’d been overwhelmed by the desire to possess it for himself. An artistic thief, then? Or at least a thief with a certain talent for spotting quality. My work would continue to be appreciated, perhaps even treasured. It would live on -somewhere.
I was already feeling better about the incident, though resolved not to let it happen again. I set off walking to the hardware store, designing in my head a complex system of sturdy wires and strong rods that would link the pots together, preventing further thefts.
Then, as I turned the corner, I found the green-glazed pot smashed against the fence. My bonsai conifer was torn out, twisted, its roots already dessicated. The stupid Philistine moron bastard!
That’s awful Ozy.
I’m spending the day attempting to gradually accustom Tina to a new cat we’ve taken on for a trial. I thought she’d be cool with a kitten, having been a mum before we got her from death row, but at 7 month the new kitteh might not be cute and vulnerable enough for that to work. Plus she’s got a permanently big and puffy tail, so might be sending the wrong signals!
Now I can handle a bit of agro – it’s only natural – but if I can get through the long weekend with no stinking piss sprayed all over my favourite things, that would be awesome.
Paul B #5,6. And a bit (of blog writing) in denial? Would love to read it. The Man is born free, but everywhere lies in chains Great Experiment in Liberty vis a vis Everything is perfect when it comes from the maker, but degenerates when it gets into the hands of man Grand Romantic Experiment in Social Redemption! So many facets! But my knowledge & paradigm bases are way out of date.
John Gorton was the PM when I first read all the philosophical, political etc background to White Settlement I could access – and the follow up to the 1960s famous “Broken Reeds & Smoking Flax” debate (Boulton, Blainey V CMH Clark, mainly in AJPH/AJHP … forget which, it’s that long ago) and MalF when I spent weeks in London’s BM background-reading myself into a possible doctorate on the influence of The Lunar Society & its outriders on early Oz white settlement (until I finally figured I’d have to live in the UK for years to do it). As, for career purposes, I might as well not have done OzHist from the late 70s onwards (OzPol was another matter), I didn’t keep up. In addition, OzHist/Pol were then in the Marxist v Structural Functionalists, Logical Positives etc and just heading for Frankfurt School, so my paradigms are still “Grand Narrative” – not that postmodernism etc aren’t despite their claims to the contrary!
May Clio inspire you, Mate! Say hello to UNE & its great memories as you pass!
What I most remember was the huge gulf between what was in the documents, and popular versions (inc the then preferred academic).
PS Paul @ #7. Those are images of JaH & JoH I certainly did not need!! Worse than Suetonius’s Tiberius! My idea of porn!
joe2,
Belesconi doesn’t require European socialists, Australian socialists or a hideous left wing smear campaign to look bad. Its all his own work. I suppose we should be thankful for small mercies. If Hyacynth hadn’t been talking to John in September 2007 he might have resigned and not given us all the satisfaction of watching him go down in flames to Maxine McKew in Bennelong.
Upping the game. Wolfrom Alpha…must see.
http://articles.mercola.com:80/sites/articles/archive/2009/06/04/Unbelievably-Powerful-Computational-Knowledge-Engine.aspx
Ozi, I understand & am truly sorry for your loss. Bad enough when cruel nature destroys one’s treasures. Mindless vandalism is an obscenity.
Viva Capitalism!
A truly inspiring video.
DeeCee @ 14,
The convicts won the Botany Bay Debate, in the end. Shot the economic historians down in flames, though the diplomatic/military historians came away with a partial victory, I think. (We were here to annoy the French.)Now I think the debate is about whether we intended to stay here after the First Fleeters died off, but the Aborigines were gazzumped by the hordes of the Second/Third Fleet. (I think; it might have moved on from there). Lately I’ve been concentrating on what these First/Second Fleeters did in the American Revolution before they got here, or were back in Blighty, so I’m not exactly up to date with the most recent debates re early Sydney, apart from the Aboriginal ones, which can be effectively summed up as : Was Governor Phillip a racist murdering bastard, or was he a good guy? (I come down on the side of the good guy argument as I argue things didn’t go ratshit with the Aborigines in terms of warfare till the whites settled on the Hawkesbury, which Phillip wouldn’t allow.)
889 words of the prologue written since last night.
Dee Cee @ 18, thanks for your empathy. I posted my story before reading your post @ 3, which was wonderfully evocative of a rural morning, and cheered me up.
Here in distinctly urban Tuart Hill (now denuded of all but two or three of its eponymous trees) the whine of power tools and the grunt-and-doof of bogan utes drowns out all but the most raucous birdsong, alas. Though sometimes, in the spaces between cars, I do manage to hear the “small sounds” of New Holland honeyeaters rustling and tweeting in the macadamia tree.
Well . . . terangeree I’m thinking more along the lines of lots of moving images with a soundtrack of ambient sounds. Not too much dialogue. A bit of stilted Japanese perhaps in bars with a background, at least in the first lesson with some lilting Irish diddley.
I think we could also cut between the business of planes, trains and vast expanses of countryside with the stillness, perseverance and patience of Ozymandis’ tender, loving, care of his beloved, favourite, bonsai and the tragic injustice of its theft. I think this will juxtapose very nicely don’t you? And be in keeping with a Japanese flavour. Keep doing it. Looking good so far, and developing all the essential elements.
Here in distinctly urban Tuart Hill (now denuded of all but two or three of its eponymous trees) the whine of power tools and the grunt-and-doof of bogan utes
This is perfect Ozymandis for my film, ‘Terangeree’. We can segue the suburban doof doof with some Kyoto nightlife.
Very sorry about your loss. That really sucks.
btw Terangeree, does that moniker of yours mean anything? And, have got any ideas about casting?
Paul@#20. I think the bigger question is, “What would have happened if the French hadn’t stormed the Bastille 14 July 1789?” Perhaps smaller ones: “And if Napoleon hadn’t gone on the rampage, then invaded Spain & rolled over Saxony (the two principal merino producers) at the very time Beau Brummel made pure merino wool the Must Have material for men’s coats? Or Macarthur (the colony’s chief of “those who ought to have been [convicts]“) hadn’t cheated at cards – presuming this has not been demolished as a myth? … (And we put that unmitigated scumbag on our paper currency! Only in Oz!)
BTW, I think the Convicts won the BB debate once the aborigines taught ‘em huntin’ & fishin’ & swimmin’ in the ‘arbour; they discovered that every boat that came from “home” or the East or ventured into the South Pacific had to barter for stores with convict gardeners – my grandmother used to spin yarns her grandfather had told of how colonists greeted each new ship that sailed in, and that, back in Old Blighty, only the aristocracy could afford china, silk, muslin etc (during the N war, stores came from India & The East, at the time trade embargoes had “killed” China’s export markets, leading to spectacular “dumping” in Eastern ports & much creative bartering). Until I read y’r actual documents (in pre-white gloves days), I thought her stories were “tall tales” not true!
Tho, to be honest, my fave docs weren’t the letters back home to Little Ice Age “factory fodder” families about free flour, tea, sugar … boots etc “LOL, Wish you were here”, but the gloriously bitchy pipes & dirty ditties (pipes still rolled), and hilarious “white picket fences” and “crapping in the Domain” stories. Of course, there are always the stories the mind spins when it considers that men outnumbered women c13 to one, and most of the “ladies” had been transported for what were, in less legal language, “rolling the clients”. Any wonder those who stayed off the rum made fortunes! Any wonder we developed our sense of humour. Some things never change, especially near Sydney’s SE ‘arbour shoreline.
Congrats on the 889; but you’re procrastinating about the rest, aren’t you!
A very good find, there Joe Blow.
I have to say, though, that your salutation is contradictory. The VW plant is a product, from what I can see, of good design, good management, and a determination to make a statement at any expense. Capitalism, generally, does everything possible to make such facilities uneconomic.
The cargo tram is, from a cursory google glance, an entirely new movement with examples springing up everywhere. How we lament stupid decisions made here in Sydney. The loss of the tram system is a clear example of negative outcomes from competitive forces.
DeeCee @ 24,
Na, not procrastinating. Have written a hundred or more in handwriting about what was happening in New York while the hero of my prologue, James Mario Matra was aeway travelling the world with Captain Cook.About halfway through that sequence. Hope to get the whole chapter done by the end of the weekend, or Monday evening at the latest.
btw all the First Fleet Journals/letters except for HRA and HRNSW are on line now at the state library. I think Banks’s letters also are still accessible – its been a while since I’ve looked at them, so I’m not sure if they’re still up. There were some weird things going on with the site some six months or so ago, and a lot of stuff either got taken off or I was a goose and couldn’t find it anymore because they changed the site around.
Ozi @# 21. Glad it helped. I was having some very Wordsworthy moments.
During my working days, we had a vow that, as soon as we turned a specific corner and saw the mountains spread before us, bathed in light, we’d switch from work (no matter how stressful the day) to home mode. It’s a beautiful part of the world, pure magic. We fell in love with it on a 107 F degrees day – a denuded dairy & beef farm populated by crows, maggies, no other birds & no butterflies; cut into bush-fire prone, slip-prone (if you buy on the slope), Escarpment blocks no one wanted to buy. Then. Every butterfly & new bird has been a triumph. But the big one will be if the Escarpment’s little pink orchids bloom again. Any minute now afternoon feeding time will start & squarking blue-faced honeyeaters arrive to demolish what’s left of the Queen Protea’s flowers (they “own” it). Listen to and watch the little things!
What I’m avoiding was a BIG thing, in this case, a ghastly big flagpole with a ghastly big flag (thankfully, partly masked by trees if I stand in the right places) the local Bushie council Anna Bligh wished on us decided was the best way to celebrate QLD’s 150th birthday. With a “sausage sizzle”. And people playing “dressed up” in mop [sic} caps that were never part of C19th dress … To make matters worse, it’s World Environment Day!
I remember the Centenary (1959), and Major Harold de Vahl Rubin’s magnificent gift – a convoluted process (necessitated by tax laws) by which he gave the gov the cash to buy his 3 Picassos plus his Degas, Renoir, Toulouse-Lautrec, Vlamink … There was such an uproar, esp about the Picassos, more especially naked “La Belle Hollandaise”. But, tho still a teenager, I fell hopelessly in love with them all, esp Picasso, more esp La Belle. All year, we were visited by great artists, pop as well as more trad & classical – every cent of my pocket money went on tickets in the Qld equivalent of “The Gods”. Princess Alexandra visited, there was at least one parade, a truly hideous stamp, and a lot of picnics (Barbecues hadn’t “arrived” from the USA; certainly not “sausage sizzles”). Nicklin, a true gentleman (tho I didn’t vote for him) was in his first term as premier & no one had heard of Joh. Although some of it was certainly hick, I remember it as The Year for Art Lovers; exhibitions & visits such as my father remembered from the days of the great opera singers & Ballet Russe.
Fifty years later, like the “Courier Mail” we’ve gone Murdoch tabloid crass. Sure the Paris Opera Ballet & a few art exhibitions are coming; but have our Nat billionaires (esp the ghastly Palmer) donated anything to match Rubin’s iconic gift? Naah. Do the local art galleries & museums have a “donations” programme so we could have honoured the milestone? Surely you jest! Is the TAG even worth visiting? Hardly ever & only when its Oz Impressionists, Gould originals, & seriously important books & diaries (like Leichhard’s) are on show – which isn’t often (“Gum tree art”? Shudder. Lindsay? Cringe! Pre “happening” modern art? Chunder! Give us “Installations” any day). Yet this is the town of AJ Stephens (Bulletin Red Page), George Essex Evans, other fine artists & writers – with a stunning modern ceramic collection.
And we’ve got a ##@@**## skinny phallus vandalising a superb skyscape (no wind, thankfully).
No wonder Malcolm Turnbull wants us to “wait for the USA” on Climate Change & what have you. 12 years of Howard, and Oz is crass “?nationalism”, dressing up like the past & sausage sizzles, with imitation 4th July celebrations. Bug#er!
Listen to and watch the small things
Paul@16 I will now sleep well tonight knowing there is no international socialist conspiracy agin Belesconi and his, hot to trot, mate Topolanek. Indeed, that the latters donk is genuinely his own and not affixed by sneaky leftist troublemakers.
We had Yum Cha for lunch on Gouger St, then went to ‘the Wheaty’ [a pub] for their secondhand book sale, had a Barossa dark ale as I wandered around perusing the books. I was after nature books and came home with an armful for 15$. A grand day.
Caroline @ 23:
“Terangeree” is the Murri place name for the place where my parents had a holiday house when I was a little tacker, and to which they retired.
So I suppose you could add the thundering surf and pandanus-fringed beaches of Point Lookout to the screenplay.
Oh, and the confusion of a second Dell Inspiron netbook, bought in Akihabara and identical to the first Dell apart from its lack of a webcam (which I never use, anyway) and that it runs a Japanese version of Windows XP.
Oh, and thanks to my understanding of the menu, my ordering a serving of cold beer and pickles last Saturday night.
More on the dangers of fascism?
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article6445910.ece
Downloaded file from Oxford, supposedly free, of 1777 New York newspapers (some minor resesarch in prologue) but it was a Wizard I had to buy after 40 days and anyhow I couldn’t work out how to open fieles so they were readable so in the end I just deleted the bastard. Reminds me of the days when I used to hate computers.
Closed the shop early on Saturday, drove to Whyalla. This morning entered the Novice trial ring, moved to start peg, took opff lead & gave to steward, started off heeling etc, went along swimminmgly. Well, up to the point where the bitch who I had walked decided she needed to pee suddenly ran away & out the ring and by the time she returned had bombed the trial. Bugger!
Still did the other exercises, went fine, we will get our CD sooner rather than later.
The dog obedience & agility community is a very friendly one, lots of cameraderie as the only competition is a lighthearted one to see who can get a 1st, 2nd or 3rd place.
Leisurely journey home tomorrow, Pt Augusta then the scenic Pt Germein Gorge and Gladstone, Crystal Brook etc and stopping at clare for tasting & buying some fine reds
Alas, a planned scenic flight over flooded Lake Eyre proved impossible
Still pluggin’ away at this prologue. Sidetracked by having to do some minor research into New York 1777 and the impact of the battle of Saratoga there.
Melbourne (3rd in world) scores highest in Economist’s Urban livability poll over Perth (5) Sydney (9) Adelaide (11) and Brisbane (16). http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/06/09/2592740.htm
And Victorian Premier says Malaysia is immature because its warning people not to travel to Melbourne or something. Wasn’t aware Maylasia was a region of NSW.
Melbourne…. “liveable one day, sneezy the next”.
Paul Burns @7, I can guarantee Hyacinth wouldn’t be invited to get naked under any circumstances.