An open thread, where at your weekend leisure, you can discuss anything you like.
*Except election/hung parliament stuff, which should go on the latest topical post or relevant roundtable.
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!?!
Goodness, what’s everybody been up to? I’m never frist!
Well, tigtog, there’s a frist time for everything.
Channel 7 should be stripped of their licence in Sydney after their disgraceful behaviour last night – four channels available and despite saying early in the week that they would show the footy at 8.30, at 8.30 we got two episodes of the Vicar of Dibley!
NZ quake: emergency declared. Lots of damage..this one looks pretty serious for our Christchurch kiwi neighbours.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nz-quake-emergency-declared/story-e6frg6n6-1225914084668
Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair has described radical Islam as the greatest threat facing the world today. I suppose his evidence for this come from the same source that warned him of Iraq’s stockpile of WMDs.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-11182225
Here’s a poser for you all.
If the Coalition were to be believed, there should be a spate of house fires right now as a result of the insulation scheme, which might reasonably be expected to appear in the news media.
So where are the stories?
Lashed out this week and bought the BBC Dickens Collection. Have already watched Tale of Two Cities, Great Expectations, and Our Mutual Friend. Am halfway through watching the 1984 [?] version of Oliver Twist. Far superior to the recent trash version where the scriptwriters appear not to have read this short perfect novel. Probably the only version that equals it is the Roman Polanski Oliver Twist, which was excellent.
Still, have to wait and see how they do the end – Fagin’s death, etc.
SMH today makes front page note of how market based policies lead to unanticipated outcomes as foreigners buy up our precious bodily fluids by which they mean that Australian water is being bought at a massive rate by offshore companies. The purchases are not subject to review by the FIRB. The natural resource manager for the National Farmer’s Fed, Deborah Kerr inhabits a brave new world when she says that “When the rest of the world looks at us, they do see Australia out in front” for having created an open market out of the single most significant resource the nation has – water. She fails to grasp that what the rest of the world really see us “out in front” from their view behind us is our bare arse hanging out waiting to be chewed off. Meanwhile the sensibe human beings who run Fair Water Use Australia take the view that ‘unbundling’ water from land title may be unconstitutional. Let’s hope they are right.
Today I’m re-writing my schedule again, having heard the long range forecast. I’ve been in this type of work since 2001, and in my own business since 2005 and as much as I explain to clients that this planning/scheduling is somewhat pointless, because I have never encountered two seasons the same and each season provides different challenges and opportunities, they still want me to maintain the farce.
There was a time when everyone rolled their eyes when bureaucrats fell in love with the phrase “active adaptive management” and repeated it ad infinitum. How I wish they would rediscover it.
Oh and the Victorian LPers may want to batten down the hatches, there’s some weather coming your way!
akn, and how is it going to prove calamitous if those dastardly foreigners buy our water?
The weather seems to be missing Melbounre, but Bureau has said catchments damp, so maybe more run-off will end up there.
Daughter off to camp in Myrtleford during the week. Looks like the Ovens is flooding a bit, so will be interesting to see how that progresses. While the camp seems to be on high ground, maybe the highway and roads may be cut. The radar certainly shows a lot of water up that way.
Indie State MP Craig Ingram’s platform was to increase flows down the Snowy River, so perhaps that will come to pass now. More power to independents.
RM @ 10, they might pump it to the coast, put it in tankers and ship it off to Saudi Arabia! Oh noes!
On the other hand stupid speculative bubbles in individual commodities rarely achieve anything useful. But that’s nothing to do with foreigners — who I suspect will end up losing a lot of money to some shonks running an operation from a circular quay serviced office.
Robert Merkel: they can choose to sell or not and to whom they can sell or not with zero interest in or commitment to sovereign interests. Water is a sovereign resource. FOE have a reasonable take.
I wonder if the Surfing Monk could relate this wonderful experience:
Betwixt sacred and propane
Robert, of course foreign buyers will most likely not actually ship our water overseas, but use it on land which they have also bought up. For example, Chinese companies are reported to be buying rice properties, perhaps as supplements to their own rice production, perhaps also as a long-term hedge against food shortages in China.
Land + water = product, so it makes sense to control the inputs. And with China’s population to feed, all of Australia’s croplands would provide handy insurance against domestic shortfalls, well into the 21st century.
I guess Australian land- and water-licence-holders could make pretty good money selling their assets to Chinese, and Indonesian, and Indian etc., companies, so indirectly we could all live high off the hog for a while. Of course, down the track ……
But hey, we can just keep buying Chinese products, food, clothing, footwear, manufactures ! But then, even further down the track ……
“If your house is under threat I suggest taking all your valuables off the floor,” he said.”
Some sage advice from the emergency services bloke in Ballarat.
Done my usual readings of New Dawn Magazines, New Scientist,Acres the Australian organic growers newspaper,and Silicon Chip.All quite interesting,and especially matters Bee in New Dawn.Linking very Ancient matters to Bees.I have often wondered why the present beehives as they are for commercial honey collection haven’t evolved very much,must be a lack of science designers.In Acres newspaper an article exists about Papua-New Guinea bees.If I was one of the Greens’ Backyarder type scientists I would be evolving new honey collecting boxes,and wondering why ,Negative Ion knowledge isn’t applied to honey collection.And even how well bees do and behave in various permanent dwellings,including Round Dome mudbrick or Strawbale buildings. Colours of like gold in such settings. The affect of LED lights on insectivora especially bees and wasps both native and otherwise,and the particular intrusive mite that affects bee colonies.Beehive design over a water based container that regularly creates waves of a particular frequency particular that which may have comparisons with bees or wasps.And I would also ask overseas investors in Australian Water resources to invest in water science applications,applied to near farm sources of their investment, or, simply they will be banned from ownership by investment in resources.Water bodies are more than the water source they have some effects on local temperatures,wildlife activities and survival etc.The photographed drain in the SMH Online that Farmer Morton wants to sell,hasn’t been thoroughly researched ever I would suggest , for what else it could do.That is the problem with farmers selling their rights to overseas interests,another oppurtunity lost to Australians by having the unknown foreigners dictating the assets.Would they want their personal life dictated like this!? Overseas owners of property should have direct relationships with Agricultural Colleges to improve productive outcomes on those properties where locals unable to do so could see experimentation along organic farming lines taking place.These farms should also have accomodation for Australia’s low income groups for rest holidays escape from cities and as access to other farms as workers ,if need be.If you control the water and land source you must insure equity for Australians in some other way.Self interest does not have to be excluded,as long as it is co-operative.
Heave ho!!!
news.com.au an adult website – hey there’s an excuse for Conroy to filter it
http://www.news.com.au/technology/newscomau-classed-as-adult-website-in-audit-of-politicians-internet-use/story-e6frfro0-1225914118368
“If the Coalition were to be believed, there should be a spate of house fires right now as a result of the insulation scheme, which might reasonably be expected to appear in the news media.”
All the rains, that prove there is no climate change or drought, put the fires out before they had a chance to start, Robert@6.
Get a grip, man!
Chrus @ 19,
Guess fred Nile reads an awful lot of News Ltd. sites. Sort of explains things regarding him – a bit.
Four Corners copped a bucket on media watch tonight for their crap, biased, report called “Overdose” that bagged the govt successful stimulus package by implication.
My wife came home the night after it was screened, from work, to tell me her boss saw it and had been very critical of the labor waste. A bloody disgrace Aunty.
http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/s3004109.htm
OMG, Piers Morgan has been confirmed as taking over from Larry King in the big chair at CNN.
I think this is taking British revenge upon rebellious colonials way too far.
You guys have got to hear this band…if you think you don’t like country music, you haven’t heard The Crooked Fiddle Band!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUQFzMwHeIw&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ex-D9_TmRVg
They hail from Sydney, and absolutely kick arse!