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»
Mogwai haven’t done anything of note since Rock Action. Discuss.
I’ve spent today working on a foundational/philosophical physics problem. I swore long ago I’d never do that. Apparently my swearing isn’t up to scratch.
I probably need to hang out with more miners or dock workers or something….
Leinad, I think you’re being a biiit rough. Certainly bits and pieces of Happy Songs for Happy People and Mr. Beast are pretty good, no?
@Guy:
HSHP I might give, but it does set the tone for the bombastic prog tone that swamps the unfettered exuberance and reflectiveness that made them truly great.
Compare the stuff on Mr. Beast and HWND,BYW with yes! i am a long way from home or Take me somewhere nice – in comparison their new stuff sounds like someone told Muse to fill in for a couple of albums.
Well done, Egypt.
Now for a series of disgusting marketing stunts as ‘analysts’ credit two particular social networking sites for Mubarak’s demise, as opposed to a dignified exercise of people power after years of economic stagnation, corruption and police brutality.
Why are comments off on the OLO controversy post?
@6 If you read the 316 comments on the OLO controversy thread you wouldn’t need to ask that question, except to prove that your moniker is apt.
http://larvatusprodeo.net/2011/02/07/on-line-opinion-and-the-advertising-and-free-speech-controversy/
Meanwhile, I harvested 2Kg of tomatoes on Thursday, 2 big pumpkins and the beans and corn will start coming in any day now. The action never stops around here!
Here’s a link to a new post on my blog. (I think the old theatre handbill is wonderful, but maybe that’s just me, smell of musty documents in archives and all that, reading stuff you know is 200 years old in the original etc. See, history is sexy.)
http://beingahistoryheadandotherthings.blogspot.com/2011/02/theatre-in-boston-1775-and-sydney-cove.html
There’s also another new post up on a First Fleeter, John Shea, but it might be easier to click on my name to read both.
Hope you enjoy.
With all the rumbling going on in the coalition at the moment its interesting that two Liberal MPs chose to publicly soften their position on same-sex marriage last week. Even more interesting is that the two MPs are in fact the former leadership team.
First Malcolm Turnbull says he is now open-minded:
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/turnbull-seeks-views-on-gay-marriage-20110208-1alqa.html
Then a day later Julie Bishop says the same:
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/bishop-breaks-ranks-on-same-sex-marriage/story-fn59niix-1226003262760
Sure, neither has said they will definitely vote for equality but its pretty clear they want to distance themselves from Abbott’s hardline “No” position.
Christian @ 9,
I’ve put a comment over at just plain bad policy thread, because your very pertinent observation fits into the mix of junk going on in the Libs. Hope you don’t mind.
Still clearing up from YASI: bought a new chainsaw yesterday: the guy said they had been walking out the door in the past week as had 2KVA generators for those poor folk who are still without power. Most can claim the govts $1000 handup (48 hours without power is among the criteria).
I got a STIHL MS290 which seems to have a bit of grunt and should do the job compared with the toy I had been persevering with.
Still very wet with daily storms/showers: discovered a clutch of cucumbers on a vine I had planted in December but overlooked. They obviously respond to adverse weather.
Paul @ 10
No dramas whatsoever with posting the stuff in the other thread. I considered it myself – saved me the trouble!
BTW – The scuttlebutt over at Pollbludger is that the moderates are lining up behind a Julie Bishop/Malcolm Turnbull leadership team except this time Bishop would be Opposition leader with Turnbull as Deputy.
Cant see it working myself for a variety of reasons but then I never thought the Mad Monk would work either and hes only a bees-dick away from the Lodge now!
“sounds like someone told Muse to fill in for a couple of albums”
Ouch.
@ 12 – pure speculation of course Christian, but one can entertain the hope that in a prospective Gillard-Bishop match-up, they might bring out the best in each other — in terms of policy, politics — and popcorn!
mick @2
Have you seen this?
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/01/quantum-birds/
Now that’s how its done! Long live the Egyptian Revolution!
Bring out yer blogs, folks.
Well done Egypt. Power to the people.
All the cops in the donut shop say
Way-oh, way-ohh,
Way-oh-wayyy-oh…
Walk like an Egyptian!
(well, _some_body had to do it…)
Christian # 12,
Where’s Robb fit into all this. Its my impression he is the Oz’z preferred candidate. Smart move by Malcolm. If Julie can be believed she genuinely doesn’t want the job, even if she takes it. So, will she step down and hand over tro Malcolm after a decent interval?
And, of course, WTF are they going to do with Tony? They can’t section him.
Onya, bike Tony!
Shadow minister for Sport and Anabolic steroids?
More thought on this Liberal Party puppetry. Julie takes the leadership, Malcolm is Deputy, over Robb’s dead body, Hockey gets a cast iron guarantee of Treasurer to stay out, Julie comes in and keeps their stupid CC policy till Minchin is gone in July, then hands over to untarnished Malcolm Cleanskin. Abbott stands down from Parliament, a decent interval having passed, with a by-election that reduces the ALP to rubble metaphorically.
Na, it won’t happen that way. Its all too sensible.
Good question Paul- what to do with Tony should he lose the leadership.
Would the govt consider offering him the Vatican post since whatisname is giving it away?
What’s the odds on Tony losing his spot as leader of HMO this year? I’m making it one of my predictions for 2011.
Tim Fischer give up the Vatican sinecure rainbowdog@23? You must be joking. He’d never leave a job close to that many trainlines.
Yeah, I know joe2, I was surprised, but apparently he wants to ‘slow down’, or so he announced in Penola. He’ll be leaving after the end of his contract so that could be good timing for Tone.
Oh I see, ‘slow down’, eh ‘dog. Can’t keep up with the jesuit party scene, I would say. It would be pretty punishing on the liver.
Joe2, EPO CERA, Hemassist and blood doping, please!
Steroids are so Merckx-era…
Poor Tim; Jesuitical parties, the liver…not to mention a good deal of genuflexion which can be rough on the knees for an older person.
OTOH Tony, so fit, so active, could take up take up the slack with ease. Do they allow dykes, sorry bikes! in Vatican City? It’s already a see so he’ll be fine with the budgie outfit.
Have never been to the Vatican. But I have watched Shoes of the Fisherman and Angels and Demons. Lasting impressions – after you get out of St. Peter’s Square isn’t it all sort of No Bikes Allowed? Abbott would go nuts. And you can’t really have the Australian Vatican Ambassador swinmming in budgie snugglers in the city fountains of Rome. But I suppose he could get a special dispensation. Is the Tiber still shit to swim in?
This is pretty shameless, but anyway… I’ve collected some of the objections to compulsory superannuation that I’ve read in the last few years on my blog as a kind of set of questions (mainly because a regular commenter there might have an opinion, and I don’t understand this stuff) and if anyone’s interested in attacking them please feel free to have a go. It’s too long a post though…
Now modem-less, but I fly north to snowy climes tomorrow.
Egypt: how long before the military cede power to the people? Methinks there’s yet some blood to flow in Cairo…
Mercurius @ 7
What types of tomatoes ,pumpkin, bean and corn?
I do grosse lisse or roma tomatoes.Going to try some black russians in a corner.(a little concerned about cross pollination ,may be interesting)
Butternut pumpkins, french beans and sweet corn.
Planting time , up here, next month.
Happy Darwin Day, everybody!
Craigy – I was actually hoping for some cross-pollination from the 4 varieties I had growing in close proximity last season. Lots of self-sown plants came up, but they were all of 3 still-distinct types – principe de borghesi, rouge de marmande and and these cute, fuzzy, sweet-as-bro mid-sized yellow ones whose name escapes me.
Added to the comically large and abundant beefsteaks I put in from bought seedlings, I’m almost glad of the recent caterpillar attack, which also let in fruit flies and ants and screwed half the crop. Overabundance makes me feel guilty that I haven’t been organised enough to dry or preserve.
Next season – more room reserved for artichokes and beets and other non-tomato things. Eating nothing but cavolo nero, silverbeet, corn and tomatoes gets a tad tedious after a while. Though with my financial situation lately, I’ve been glad of the free food nonetheless.
Headline at the lAaaazyBC
Why wouldn’t they headline Hazel Hawke’s daughter? (She’s Bob and Hazel’s daughter in the story) After all, the appeal is on the behalf of others afflicted like her mother, not her father. Or does the ABC think Bob has a memory issue that needs research as well?
Sorry, Robert@27, what a dope I am.
I wonder if prolonged use of EPO or other (really) non performance enhancing drugs could lead to periodic 82 second non verbal head shaking and wierdly aggressive staring episodes?
Happy Darwin Day to you too Tigtog. Throughout the day I’ve heard to the breeding season call of the Pheasant Coucal – there are a number of these delightful birds close by. Far too often I see them dead on the roads as they fly clumsily and very close to the ground.
They make a perfect local emblem for Darwin Day – evolutionary peculiarities who have reversed the sex roles, the females competing for the males while the latter build the nest, incubate the eggs and care for the young. This happens in other families of birds, but in them it is associated with relatively precocious chicks and small clutches whereas the coucal chicks are more numerous and need more care.
On a slightly different topic… I’m ploughing at some speed through Pride and Prejudice and Zombies as part of a general undead-themed reading binge (I finished World War Z a week or so ago, and have Twelve still to go).
We grew rouge de marmande, aussi: very good for preserving, not so good for eating fresh. Annoying attack by budworm at first, but this has faded away after derpil spraying.
FDB@34
In these parts, capsicum ,chilli s and tomatoes grow like weeds
http://www.cheap-and-easy-recipes.com/recipe-choices.htm
Some good recipes here, tomato relish a stand out.
DIPEL for grubs works, organic. i refuse to put poison on my food.
Fruit flies are the enemy.
A $20 ute load of horse shit per year from the stables and , wooshka, grow anything,
Except stone fruit.(jealous)
Pheasant Coucals look delicious.
Barbarian, keep your hands off.
Craigy – you’re in the north, I take it? The difference is less this year – Melbourne’s had a very wet summer.
And SNAP! Just came back from the shops with some dipel. It goes on the tomatoes tomorrow.
I confess to spraying some pyrethrin on my cavolo nero early on, but now they’re so big and vigorous I just wash them well and take the holey leaves on the chin. Plus pyrethrin’s just a chrysanthemum extract, so even if poisonous it’s still natural-ish, and very short-lived in toxicity. Stevie the cat stays inside while I spray.
Su – don’t worry. Unless it’s introduced or VERY abundant, I’d never kill one on purpose. If I hit one driving though, I doubt you’d find it on the road later!
sorry, *dipel*
I’ve probably bragged about this already here somewhere, but quite a few of my firm, fleshy, tasty beefsteak tomatoes this year have exceeded half a kilo.
I’ve watered them exactly five times since they properly took root in October. Once was just because I thought they needed a feed and only had liquid fish emulsion.
a) Re: Egypt. Western leaders who have been vocal over the past few weeks should be careful about what they wish for …. it may not end up like they want.
b) Will PM Gillard make it to her first anniversary? A long 4 months!
c) Will Australia have an uranium deal with India before the end of the year?
Oh, Saturday musings,
FDB
My summer corn crop was a disaster(never again) , and the lavender looks sick (location maybe). For some reason ,and three other poeple i’ve talked to, my parsley just died.
But the garden beds are almost ready for planting.oooohhh
I do the “companion planting” thing. Seem to work
I used a Milk solution for powdery mildew. worked on the tomatoes but not the pumpkins .
Any ideas?
I have no answers to powdery mildew. My love of most other fungi precludes a broad-spectrum fungicide, and there’s no stopping whitefly, who spread the contagion merrily (as if it needs any help). It totally ruined my cucumbers and zucchinis last year, after a promising start.
My (or rather my sister’s) corn copped a late-season aphid pounding, but we got a few good weeks out of it. The leaf-miners were about, but didn’t make much trouble for the very vigorous plants. Can’t recall the variety though – doh!
Same sister got enthused one day and pulled up our parsley before the seeds had formed properly. I was leaving it to sow, dammit! Now I too am sadly without it, but basil, thyme and sage are going well. I have to bring them out of the rain sometimes though, and they don’t have trays under the pots – it’s just been too wet.
I’ve started the seed saving thing.
My mini lettuce was 3 foot tall.
Bloody celery wouldn’t go to seed
Cherry tomatoes seeds survive composting . so i got plenty of them!!
But the old Vegie gardeners curse , i need more space.
I left an autumn broccoli to seed once, after eating the main head. It was still midwinter and I had nothing much else going, so I thought stuff it, let it go nuts.
Boy howdy, did it go nuts. Bloody thing ended up well over head height, in six different directions. I got about a cup of seed – without even being careful about the threshing.
I’m still using it 6 years later, albeit with a less reliable germination rate lately.
I like gardening for food, in case that’s escaped your attention! I sometimes envy Quincelanders their year-round warmth, and casual poolside pineapple growing (WTF?) but coming from Perth to Melbourne has been such an improvement. Apart from pests, which are frickin’ rampant here. Including the possum who eats my asparagus just before harvest. Every spear… every time.
Don’t talk to me about broccoli. No matter what i do, the grubs eat the hearts of the plants ,as if by magic.
I look at them with pride in the morning,go to work, get home, and their decimated.
I’m coming down to Melbourne at the end of the month.
Can you suggest any markets.
Preston market Craigy. Vic market is still pretty good, but kinda touristy. I’d rather jostle for position with grandfolks of various ethnicities than a bunch of hipster backpackers.
And don’t come here to escape cabbage moth larvae. I had a housemate who had a way of stopping them, of which he reminded me yesterday… the awesomeness of dipel we discussed earlier. Very regularly applied.
Yep dipel. I apply every 4-5 days. Not good enough for the broccoli it seems.
I’ll check out Prestons
Oh. In hindsight, the post that saw me banned from cattalaxy, didn’t include you.
Banned from Catallaxy? Good Lord Craigy!
How on earth did you manage that?
I could tell you some tales to make your ears curl, which elicited nary a text reprimand.
Trying to grow vegetables in Perth in summer should be vexatious enough, but here’s another thing to annoy me. Serves me right for listening to the news, but has anyone else been aggravated by the ceaseless, breathless repetition (the BBC is the worst) of ‘history in the making’, re Egypt.
Yes, it’s very important, but what annoys me is the idea that ‘news’ like this has never happened before. Let’s give some credit to the Filipinos – it was, in modern times (i.e. my lifetime) their brave example with their ‘people power’ revolution that inspired the rest – Poland and Eastern Europe, Tiananmen …
Maybe in Europe and the U.S., tin pot Asian countries, like the Philippines, or Indonesia, don’t make world history. Well, the Filipinos did. Nuns stopped tanks. Probably few people in Australia know what a political achievement Indonesians have made in the last 10 years. At a time when Western countries have little to be proud of, politically, Indonesia is something to celebrate.
How do you know about those things Russell?
I would suggest that unless you’re relentless traveller to strife-torn spots, with superb timing, you heard about them from the media.
QED.
FDB
I think it was because my insult and language was directed at everyone,(you can all go and get f…..) rather than the dude that offended me. A brain fart on my part. I am just new at this “blog thing” and had trouble with cattalaxy’s ,ah,etiquette.
Anyway , i’ve asked the question of moderator a few times , but no reply .
I do read the posts every day and seen worse than mine, .frequently .
As i said earlier, i look at both sides.
FDB – I was living in China at the time of the ‘people power’ revolution and I remember the electrifying effect it had on university students there.
Having worked in libraries all my life I’ve always had access to a lot more sources of information than ‘the media’ – I rely on journals and books for information: it’s the only way you can make sense of what’s going on.
My point about Indonesia is that the news is always a ‘crisis’ so that people won’t be informed about the slow, steady, wonderful change in a country like Indonesia. What do we learn of countries if we rely on the popular media who will only ever, periodically, mention them when something exceptional (usually bad) happens there?
Well yes Russell, you don’t need to convince me that the MSM concentrates too much on precipitious “events” (even manufactures them sometimes) and not enough on analysis of more nuanced and gradual stuff. Don’t get me started.
But you were making claims about the Phillipines, and Poland, and Tiananmen Square. I remember blanket coverage of those events, of a VERY similar nature to what we’re seeing now, with much the same rhetoric.
History in the Making (TM).
In fact, for me this has been far more nuanced… filled with uncertainty about what’s really happening and where it will lead.
I don’t really understand your complaint, unless it’s really just about what I discussed in para 1.
Oh wait. Maybe it’s just that you interpret the phrase “history in the making” to necessarily mean a series of events unlike anything ever before seen.
Someone serving at match point to win Wimbledon for the 6th time running would be history in the making, but it would also be very similar to many previous events.
Russell @ 56 while you’re busy trying to grow vegetables here in Perth you seem to have lost touch with the reality of state politics here. There’s nothing nuanced or gradual about changes in WA recently. Your comment @ 87 about the Barnett government here being moderate, February 8, 2011 at 2:25 pm, on the what-accounts-for-labors-32-primary-in-newspoll thread had me almost apoplectic. I responded @ 128 to explain why I disagreed with you. As often happens at the tail end of a thread it was lost in the rush of new issues and new posts.
I’d still be interested in your response. Perhaps here on Saturday Salon is as good a place for that as any.
Personally, I find WA politics currently too depressing to discuss – probably because they signal the way things are likely to go in NSW and Victoria.
I am, however, interested in the gardening discussion
Here in Qld’s Granite Belt we’ve been up to our ears in tomatoes (grosse lisse and cherry), zucchinis, beans, spaghetti squash, lettuces and various kinds of berries, but we bummed out on the grapes and stone fruit (and chokoes too, for some reason). Too much rain for too long, I think – which is something I wouldn’t have imagined a year ago.
We also have a strong aversion to using poisons in the garden, but I have yet to find a satisfactory organic means of dealing with fruit fly in the stone fruit, short of physically enshrouding each tree in netting. None of the baits and attractants seem to touch the little buggers, and it’s heartbreaking dumping trailer loads of fly-blown plums and peaches.
Does anybody have any suggestions as to how to control fruit fly without spraying the trees with noxious chemicals half a dozen times each summer?
CJ Morgan @ 63 – well I guess that’s an obviously West Australian way of putting one’s head-in-the-sand.
CJ Morgan, I make a kind of hippy bug spray using water in which garlic bulbs have been boiled plus a little grey-water-friendly detergent. It appears to work, but it has rained too much in Melbourne this spring/summer to test it adequately.
I see Gardening Australia’s taken up residence here this weekend.
My wife and I get a good fix of home by downloading the episodes from the website. We failed miserably at keeping plants alive on our balcony last (Canadian) summer, and it’s impossible to keep potplants alive in winter (due to cats, not cold.)
There’s nothing like Gardening Australia on Canadian television, alas.
Huzzah to the Gypos!
Gardening Australia is a bloomin’ breeding ground for dangerous left wing activists….
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/02/12/3137138.htm?section=justin
And when will Barry Cassidy find the balls to do something about Andrew Bolt taking over his show and turning it into The Liberal Spin Hour? No one should tolerate that kind of rudeness.
FDB @34 “and these cute, fuzzy, sweet-as-bro mid-sized yellow ones whose name escapes me.” Yellow Peach from Diggers? We planted some this year, lots of good fruit on the laterals and good strong clones which have just gone past knee height and are pilling on the fruit. could be a long season, touch wood.
I’ve been thinking i’ll sew parsley in march, but my spidey sense was tingling and i chucked some seeds in this morn, got plenty left if you want some.
Helen@65 are there now abundant fruit fly in Melbourne? I had not realized the war had been lost.
Anyone with a few dollars to spare; don’t go buying Lotto tickets for Tuesday night’s draw.
Some very smart money (that means “well-informed”) has been finding it’s way onto the Next PM markets at the corporate bookies. The whisper is that it’s NOT on a coalition figure.
Tuesday evening will probably see that market suspended as a whole new “paradigm” emerges.
You read it here first. Cheers
@CJ Morgan,
btw, we’ve fixed the donation button (well, replaced it with a link that works) now. Thanks again for bringing it to our attention.
Years ago when I first noted Peter Cundall on Gardening Australia I knew nothing of him beyond the show. I simply assumed he was one of those affable avuncular eccentrics that is very much the style for such programs.
When I heard of his activities in 2007 mainly around the Gunns Pulp Mill issue he imediately rose sharply in my estimations. When I dug a little further and found his roots in left-wing politics and union activism he rose in my eyes to the status of honoured elder.
I heard him speaking on the ABC one time about himself post-death in the most irreverent and non-maudlin of terms and it struck me that this chap had shown that being old and being wise and full of grace were entirely possible. If I turn 83 people I respect feel half as warmly disposed to me as I felt to him, I would be most happy.
I’ve recently been getting into Costa’s excellent gardening series from SBS via the dvds:
http://www.sbs.com.au/shows/costa/watchonline/page/i/1/show/costa
From the SMH
All of which begs the question, why is the Gillard government covering up for the human rights abuses of the Howard years?
One can only conclude that both Labor and Liberals are the puppets of the secret services i.e. that we have a situation in Australia no different from Egypt under Mubarak.
“Yellow Peach from Diggers?”
The very same. Thanks for that. Everyone should try them. Like you say, pretty vigorous and abundant, and excellent for when you want more sweetness than sour.. ness. There’s got to be a better word than that.
“plenty [parsely seed] left if you want some.”
That’d be nice. I’d have bought some, but there was a sentimental attachment to the strain I had going, brought from a long-lost and very fun North Fitzroy share house where it grew rampant. Can a passing moderator put us in email touch?
Thanks, tigtog @ 72. I’m going bush for the rest of the day, but I’ll follow through on that tonight or tomorrow
@ Mark and Fran – two of my favourite TV personalities are Peter Cundall and Costa. Kinda weird, because my partner’s the main gardener rather than me. My role is more labourer, slasher, harvester, pruner and lopper.
Let’s not get into the sexual division of labour here…
Costa’s a hoot isn’t he Mark?
One of those gardening types you half expect to start eating the soil. He came to the launch party for a community garden some mates of mine started in Brunswick recently. No cameras, no speechifying… just wanted to talk to folks about vegies!
For all the anti-catapillar quad who are using Dipel- here’s a handy trick that can save your wallet…
As the active agent in Dipel is a bacteria [Bacillus thuringiensis]specific to catepillars it is very easy to culture in a dedicated spraypack.
Simply start your culture off with a little Dipel then any time you find a catapillar, drop it into your sprayer.
That’s awesome thanks harley – the stuff’s a tad pricey!
Joe2 @ 68 – I thought Barrie Cassidy did a very good of setting the tone for him with his introduction about ‘a very ordinary’ time over Christmas for the government, and then with all his leading questions doing an Insiders version of the Alan Jones apologia for Abbott’s media stuff up.
I thought the photographer Talking Pictures to Mike Bowers was the best of the lot today for honesty and objectivity. As he said he and other press gallery photographers spend many hours looking at pollies’ faces in the chamber. They know fake when they see it.
I thought Barrie Cassidy looked very uncomfortable at times today. I wonder how much pressure he and others are under to present a partisan view. Is there a message coming from the top that if Labor stays in power now and gets up again the ABC will be in for a big shake up?
CJ and FDB – Costa’s enthusiasm is certainly infectious!
“All of which begs the question, why is the Gillard government covering up for the human rights abuses of the Howard years?”
I am not so sure, harleymc, that a cover up is in progress even if there could be one. Remember, as your quote confirms, Gillard was very quick to order an inquiry into this not new allegation of an Australian official being involved in torture sessions, a while back.
Howard and Downer may not be as big a fan of the demise of the Mubarek regime as the rest of us as further embarrassing information is bound to spill out whether by inquiry or leakage.
http://www.theage.com.au/national/habib-inquiry-ordered-20110115-19s0x.html
A repeat of @71. Word around the ring is that all discussion of the Gillard Govt will seem so “last weekend” by Wednesday Morning.
At corporate Bookies; Odds lengthening against Abbott being Next PM, shortening noticeably on others who are not coalition; one in particular.
ALP insiders always love a punt, especially those with the inside “mail”. It’s money for jam!
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/religious-groups-to-regain-bias-rights-20110212-1ardw.html
“THE Baillieu government is preparing to restore unlimited rights to religious organisations to discriminate against gays and lesbians, single mothers and people who hold different spiritual beliefs.
Attorney-General Robert Clark is drawing up amendments, to be introduced to Parliament in May or June, to curb Victoria’s anti-discrimination laws as part of the Coalition’s election promises to conservative religious groups.”
Peter Cundall has led an amazing life, and still going.
Born in Manchester 1927 in a place where everyone was a socialist or communist, and growing up through the depression, then the blitz, then joined the army just in time for the end of the war.
But then he was imprisoned in Tito’s Yugoslavia for 6mths in solitary confinement, after being posted to the Austrian border at the end of the war as a fresh 19yr old and wandering over the border with a beautiful young woman. Who then left him there and he was busted trying to get back to Austria.
The only prisoner of war taken after then end of hostilities? He had been sentenced without any trial for 4 yrs originally.
In interviews I’ve heard of his he says that the 6mths solitary confinement turned out to be one of the most transformative experiences in his life.
He was almost court martialled upon release for being AWOL for 6mths (!?), then sent to Palestine and witnessed the beginning of conflict around the establishment of the state of Israel.
Later he joined the Australian army from England, under the impression he could be a librarian, but he was sent to the Korean war as soon as he and a few thousand other ‘recruits’ arrived here.
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/bigidea/stories/s1149441.htm
Amazing life, and passion for gardening and the earth.
Certainly a national living treasure IMO.
Craigy, soz for late reply.
OK…I take it you have tried chili spray on your brocolli? Grubs usually hate that stuff and depart. 1/2 tsp of tobasco sauce mixed with water in a spray/mister bottle. Spray on all the young tender leaves. Reapply after rain. Doesn’t leave any detectable taste for humans, but bugs, possums, caterpillars etc. hate it.
Meanwhile, have growing:
Principe Borghese and Amish Paste tomatoes (heirloom)
Waltham butternut pumpkin
Kelvedon Glory and Snow Gold bicolour corn
Moon & Stars watermelon
Armenian cucumber
Choy sum
Mystery Potatoes!
Zucchini, carrots, blueberries, strawberries, mint, coriander, lemon balm, chives, onions, rosemary, thyme, Italian & French parsley, oregano
All in about 60m2 growing space.
Do I feel smug? Yes, yes I do.
I’m 1000 metres above sea level, so harvest times and yields here bear no resemblance to what you’d get anywhere else.
I wonder why it is that the two posts by Punter57 @71 and @84 brought to mind the tales of “racecourse urgers” or “shills” my father used to talk about. My apologies in advance Punter57 if I have misread your motivations but I won’t be rushing to any “corporate bookie” to place any bets. I’d prefer to buy garden seeds like many others on this thread.
PatriciaWA@81 – This year so far I’ve broken the habit of watching Insiders and now spend Sunday morning reading rather than tearing my hair out. The ABC does not seem interested in any real balance in programming or news. As an example the lead in to last night’s ABC news in Victoria had the newsreader (in a clip about Cardwell residents with Wayne Swan and Bob Katter) talking about the “Government’s BOTCHED reconstruction”. It seems that the language has emerged ahead of any programs or remedial work being put in place. Shades of things to come.
It’s a smug-off!
Thornless raspberries have crept under the fence from next door, but that’s all I can really offer for dessert. Blueberries FFS? I thought you were in Melbourne. We North Carltonians dream of 60m2.
And now off to the kitchen to follow Craigy’s advice and get chutneyed up. My kitchen windowsill is sagging under the bounty.
@Mediatracker. Does Phil Adams like a flutter? I’ve seen a few articles recently predicting Gillard’s imminent demise. I guess we’ll know by Wednesday. Shorten and the ALP would be mugs IMO. How does putting a “plotter” in charge at this point do anything but damage the party further?
Gardening of a different type.
On our rural property we have about 5ha, actually I’ve never measured it so that is a very rough guess, of remnant mallee scrub.
Largest such, by virtue of being the only, in a 5 plus km radius.
So its a nice day here, sunny about 26 degrees, so hannah’s mum and hannah and I have been out in the scrub exterminating with extreme prejudice wheel cactus and African Boxthorn.
With the aid of Otto the mattock, super hedge type clippers and some [shoosh don't tell anyone] Roundup, the scrub is now clear of these two weeds. Until some come back from the district when we’ll have to it again, its a maintenance thing.
Feels good.
FDB what made you think I’m a Melburnian? Was it my eccent?
“eccent”
Heh.
Kiwis are pretty thick on the ground hereabouts, granted.
“All hands on dick!” one of my coworkers exclaimed a couple of days ago. It took about tin munets to explain the joke she’d inadvertently made.
I dunno though… maybe it was the jewishness?
*runs, due to discussion of jewry being ipso facto antisemitic*
@88. Fair enough comment, except that I’ve named no bookie. nor “bet”. Who am I touting for?
Prior to last year’s election there was much discussion about how the bookies saw it in these pages, and they got it much “righter” than most bloggers here.
Can it be that the odds are SHORTENing for a reason?
Only 60 hours to go.
“Is there a message coming from the top that if Labor stays in power now and gets up again the ABC will be in for a big shake up?”
Patricia WA@81 who knows what goes on at that place. Things more slowly on these fronts- more evolution than revolution.
I have spoken before, here, of the board changes that are to come at Aunty this year. So far not so good with the quiet reappointment of Steven Skala and the less quiet return of Mark Scott from late last year. Maybe when Howard appointments Hurley and Windshuttle are out of the way things might improve in June. The board balance should certainly tilt at some stage soon away from the conservative stack.
Hannah’s dad @ 85, that is absolutley reprehensible.
It is Debbieanne@97 and plans are in place to stuff around with the hard won Victorian Bill of Rights. Baillieu may yet regret having gained control of both houses in 4 years time because the loony tunes are now putting their hand out and he has no excuse not to deliver.
Mercurious, I don’t think Malbournites realise they swap their a’s and e’s.
punter57,which corporate bookies are you referring to? Sportsbet? Betfair?
If you have any liabilities for Shorten, I’d advise you to lay him.
Debbieanne @ 97
Yes it is isn’t it?
My mind was boggled by it, I find it hard to comprehend in this day and age that prejudice and bias is considered OK if you are religious but not if you are not.
Love thy neighbour, do unto others etc seem a bit hollow don’t they?
After I typed #85 hannah’s mum [she found the Age report] suggested we go kill some boxthorn.
So we did.
Good therapy.
And people who put a “W” instead of”L” at the end of some word.
eg. swimming poow, high schoow or AFL footbaw.
Where that from? S.A.? Tassie?
I’m pretty sure that’s an actual speech impediment rather than any regional accent. Their articulatory apparatus simply cannot cope with “L”.
FDB “Can a passing moderator put us in email touch?”
Am i supposed to echo this sentiment?
If so, can a passing moderator put us in email touch?
Patricia WA @62 – I did respond to you on that thread – it’s a long comments thread, you need to scroll and scroll …..
Helen@65 are there now abundant fruit fly in Melbourne? I had not realized the war had been lost.
To be honest, Joe, I’m not that scientamific when it comes to garden bugs. It’s just “bugs, chewing leaves off!! Kill, but softly softly!” I wasn’t aware of Mercurius’s chilli recipe, which is a whole lot easier and doesn’t involve detergent, so I am switching to his method next time.
@102-103
Craigy you are right, a lot of footbaww players come from Adelaide.
Tigtog, I will leave to my betters to ponder whether or not that constitutes an “impediment”, on both counts.
FDB, didn’t notice too many Jews around in Elbert Park, last time I visited the city on the Yerra.
Oh o.k. Helen@106, fine, fruit fly has always been a major concern to Victoria from memory. They asked people to leave fruit from the north in bins to stop fly spread, at one stage, so I was just curious as to whether the battle had been lost. It is a very nasty little critter and deserves the tobasco treatment. As long as it does not like it, the same way I do.
Hey, it looks like Julia has pulled off a deal on health reform. She is quite negotiator they always say. Take that Tony tosser!
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/02/13/3137595.htm?section=justin
@Mercurius,
I guess sometimes “footbawww” could be just a dialect’s habit of glottal stoppage. It’s just that in places I’m aware of where glottal stops are common, they always call it “footy”.
Punter57, pardon us for being more than a little wary. With betting exchanges available, anybody can lay bets, and if somebody was pulling the equivalent of a stock market pump and dump putting rumours on Twitter and on political blogs like ours would be a great way to do so.
Pretty sure it’s an Adelaide thing, tigtog. I catch myself not articulating the ‘l’ clearly from time to time.
“Am i supposed to echo this sentiment?”
Don’t spose it can hurt!
Good to see so many skillful gardeners in evidence. Maybe LP could branch out into a sort of agro-blogging community. Or pioneer/invent same.
Or buy a patch of farm land and start a blogging/farming commune HQ of sorts. I’m only half joking.
Now I will return to full time joking.
Q: What did the elephant say in Tahrir Square?
TT, what DI(nr) said just up there — it is indeed an Adelaide thing, first brought to my notice by an incredulous woman from New South Wales who used to walk around mocking it, chanting ‘Jiw is riw iw.’ I spent 20 years driving home to Adders for Christmas and noticing the chronic inability or unwillingness to pronounce the terminal L here; and now, like David, I catch myself doing it from time to time. Once not long ago I was listening to the news on telly from the kitchen while I washed the dishes and heard a young woman talking about the ‘Christmas sows’. As it turned out she was referring not to pork but to the Christmas sales. Substituting a W for the terminal L (it’s just laziness about getting the tip of your tongue as far as your hard palate) does strange things to your vowels.
The Malbourne thing is much more noticeable when the short E or A comes before an L, too. Many’s the Alvis elbum I have heard Malburnians discuss.
Got room for a few more at the Doomstead, DI(NR)?
‘Jiw is riw iw.’
Sounds like a Cockney thing??
Rih’ Russew, i’ duz tha’ ‘nuw
Japerz, “Agro” here would mean aggression rather than agriculture (as in, “I went to that pub but there was too much agro there for my liking”)so thanks, but I think we have enough “agro-blogging” already
@113
OK, I’ll bite
“I don’t know. What did the elephant say in Tahrir Square?”
Answer: “A few minutes ago I was in denial.”
Answer: “Where can I get a room?”
Craigy@102, Tigtog@103&109, Mercurius@107, Pavolv’s Cat@114:
1. Pronouncing final /l/ as [w] is not a speech impediment, but the final result of extreme velarisation of the /l/. The back of the tongue gets closer and closer to the roof of the mouth, and the tip of the tongue eventually gives up doing its bit nearer the front. Hadn’t spotted it in Adelaidean, but it is utterly typical of Cockney in the UK, and evidently Polish went through the same change at some time, since their erstwhile “hard l” (Ł) is now pronounced [w].
2. The glottal stop used for /t/ is a totally different issue, although it can occur in the same accents. The two can happen together, resulting, for instance, in “bottle” being pronounced “bo’w” /bɔʔw/.
Ah’d join the commune bu’ I darn fink ah’d have the bo’ow for FDB’s Rokiw and chutney sammiches.
I’ve been trying to pronounce this ‘w’ for ‘l’ thing, and I’m usually pretty good at accesnts etc, but I can’t get it. Think I have to hear it first. Is it it like, ‘shuffew off’ instead of ‘shuffel off?’
“The Business Council says cuts to disability services and foreign aid should be considered as alternatives to the flood levy.”..
and when discussing pensions it is always important to get the word “incentive” in somewhere:
“…people currently incentivised to be on disability pensions who really would be much better off going back to work, even if it is only part-time or less rigorous work.”
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/02/14/3137847.htm
Disgusting drivel, but certainly new to me this word: incentivised???
Erik@125 that was indeed drivel from the business council. I wonder if these people have any idea how self-interested and ugly they sound. The original interview is below without the obvious question, that should have been asked, about a higher mining tax to pay for climate change caused damage.
Major fail again Aunty!
http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2011/s3137792.htm
Yes, and um…y’know….perhaps the BC could get a bit pro-active about the employment of people with disabilities? I mean, if they are actually that concerned…
It’s a characteristic of management jargon that you replace a perfectly adequate word with some abomination to show how clever you are. Gradually the new word seeps into daily usage in most cases.
Goodbye ‘encourage’, welcome ‘incentivise’.
Eric, they obviously already employ people with advanced empathy deficit.
Eric Sykes, it seems to be a variant of the old JWH term “incentivation” (remember that around 2005 or so?)which has mutated and infected Mr Bradley’s speech. Of course people on the Business Council, like politicians, have very low resistance to this type of thing.
Paul @124: More like Shuffoo off, but you’re nearly there.
Q: What did the elephant say in Tahrir Square?
A: I’m looking for a Tea Partier so I can sit on him and squash him.
They say true character emerges in a crisis: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/02/14/3137847.htm
Hey Business Council of Australia – this proposal merely highlights what a bunch of ethically dubious deadshits currently run your organisation.
Sack them – and restore some public credibility.
The BCA subscribes to the theory that you can make the poor rich by making the poor even poorer.
Paul @ 134
Yes and why not? It seems to have worked so far…..
Paul B@ 124
Orstrayia
That’s y for l. Mebbe l is on the way out
Oh I dunno, cutting foreign aid could help if properly targeted. Like all those Great Big Subsidies to foreign-owned companies.
Fiona – I think our foreign aid has a large element of subsidies to Australian-owned companies. That must not be the part the BCA has in mind.
Actually, Helen, I think “incentivisation” was coined by Howard on one of the occassions he was Opposition leader. I remember Max Gillies having a lot of fun with it back in the day. (For some reason “Let’s do the Time Warp” keeps running through my head … )
DI(nr) #140, the original term was “incentivation” and Howard coined it in 1987. It didn’t do him much good at the time.
Helen, yeah, I meant to write agri-, I forgot for a moment how to split the word up.
How about aggro-agriculture though? Or does Big Agribusiness already account for that? Let’s ask Wendell Berry!
OK this is gonna be a letdown I bet, but here goes anyway…
Q: What did the elephant say in Tahrir Square?
A: “Down with Mubarak!”
– i.e., just like everybody else. You’re waiting for the elephant to say something sort of elephant-ish, but he reacts the same as everyone else. It’s a variation on the old, “What did the elephant say in the unemployment line?” “Gimme my check!”
The best version I ever heard was from a four-year-old who was really delighted because I think she thought she had suddenly discovered the secret of Anti-Comedy…
KID: What did one bumblebee say to the other bumblebee, when his mouth was full of bubble gum?
ME: I don’t know, what?
KID: (mumble-mumble-mumble sounds)!!
ME: Best joke ever! Here’s a wheelbarrow full of rubies!
And that little kid grew up to be… HILLARY CLINTON!!!11!
Attempted redneck humour fail.
Well.
@95 I gave you the drum everyone.
Which ALP insider/s saw the Nielsen Poll in advance?
Was 52-48 a week ago. Now 54-46.
And some people still don’t get why the money’s pouring in against Julia! Huh?
Fine @ 100; I’m interested in what you were getting at. Abbott next? Oakeshotte and Windsor to crumble? M
aybe Wilkie too?
BTW. “Lay” in betting parlance means to Bet Against; what the bookies do when they accept your bets.
Lefty E (and anyone else disturbed by the BCA’s position) – you could always give them a phone call. I did.
The BCA’s rep I spoke to complained that their statements were misrepresented by the media. I pointed out that their “disability pensions may not be the best use of government money” was open to a lot of interpretations.
I added that it would be better to cut business subsidies than disability pensions. She didn’t sound pleased, but then I didn’t expect otherwise.
Well, I suppose there is one advantage in incentavising the disabled. When our condition worsens because we’ve been ‘incentivised’ we can sue the shit out of the bosses. It is a disgusting suggestion the BCA are making, but then again I wouldn’t expect anything else from a bunchof boss-class capitalist pigs. Trouble is a week or two ago, Gillard floated an idea exactly like this. So who’s tweaking who here?
I once had a bad case of incentivation, but I got over it when I was pensioned off.
Seriously, that’s a really appalling announcement. Even worse than Abbott’s call for donations to the Libs instead of a levy, or his latest ‘shit’ storm.
What is it with the Right and foot in mouth disease?
There’ll be plenty of room at the doomstead, FDB @ 115, particularly if you bring your awesome gardening skilz and your drum kit.
“Trouble is a week or two ago, Gillard floated an idea exactly like this.”
That was the impression the Newslimited report left me with.
When I heard her actual words, on radio, from the conference she attended on which the story was based, I came to a completely different conclusion.
joe2 @ 149,
Should’ve known better than to trust Rupert, then. I was beginning to worry what sort of a Labor PM she was. Your comment somewhat reassures me.
@146
A thought: class actions in discrimination law against employers, by the disabled and by those kept down under the age-ist glass ceiling, really ought to be the go if this sort of crap gains traction.
Which is what seems to be happening in the U.K. It can’t be ruled out if He-who-shall-not-be-named wins the next election.
‘Which is what seems to be happening in the U.K.’
Disability bashing, I mean. I don’t know what legal measures Brit pensioners are looking at
Pretty awesome that Arcade Fire won the best album Grammy.
Their latest is one of the best albums I’ve heard in ages!
I wrote to the BCA and they’ve just responded. Here is some of their answer:
What they didn’t say of course was that their view of “incentive” would amount to a harsher test for those receiving disability. You don’t need to cut disability pensions to save money if you can throw people off them or radically cut the number reciving full pension on the basis that they could be working, as the BCA says “at least part-time”.
Good one Fran…and again, it’s not like they are responding with a scheme to encourage their members to actually…employ…people. Like, given the flack they seem to have picked up everywhere you’d have thought they might actually see the opportunity….but no, just a “but we didn’t really mean it but we really do” naff statement.
And while we are on “people with disabilities” it’s worth noting that George Shearing has passed…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ny_YxhWMBIE&feature=related
Aside from being the hippest dude in the universe by way of getting mentions in Kerouac novels, his sound and his whole style of impro – the space between the notes – will be sourly missed….vale GS.
The BCA seems to have a complete lack of awareness of the difficulties faced by people with disabilities. Once more, I’m going to resort to personal anecdote but I think it is instructive about the problems faced by people with disabilities. Just before I got on the disability pension in 1994, I applied, at the then CES’s urging for a job in Glenn Innes which I think is some fifty miles from Armidale, and it was a job I was very fitted to do, with my extensive experience in welfare work. I had to travel to and from Glenn by bus, do the interview, which required mr hanging around Glenn all day. I didn’t mind, but the bus journey and the waiting around Glenn all day really took it out of me. When I went back to the CES in Armidale the next morning I could hardly put one footr in front of the other. This sort of brought home to the CES staff exactly how disabled I was, and they were in part responsible, because they’d sent me on this long two way bus journey that had really stuffed me up. Anyway, they put me on the DSP immediately. Unless you look hard, I don’t appear disabled, apart from a slight limp. And my disability, back then, was relatively mild, though its got a lot worse with age, and I developed other chronic conditions. God knows what it would be like for people with really severe disabilities.
In general terms, its not just getting a job, its getting to the job every day in a fit enough state to work. And staying well enough to work throughout the day. Somebody should tell the BCA they don’t just put you on DSP. You actually have to be unfit to work and this has to be verified by doctors, often different doctors, on a reasonably regular basis.It usually means you have limited mobility of some kind and frequently are in chronic pain that most of the drugs in the world can’t take away completely.
These fit,overfed, rich businesspeople don’t have a clue.
And, further, that doesn’t even take into consideration people with severe mental illness or intellectual disability, many of whom look fine on the outside, but are incapacitated severely by their condition. I’m going to stop, cause I’ll just get angry and start sending off abusive e-mails or make abusive phone calls to the BCA if I think about it too much.
Paul, to quote Public Image Ltd. : Anger is an Energy!!!
I work with people who move between work and the pension. When they get a job they have to fill out forms that are like a novel; when they change jobs they have to write another novel; when they finish a job and re-apply to Offcentrelink they have to write another novel. The Kafkaesque (to coin a phrase) complexities and controls that are forced on people with disabilities are simply appalling and not very well known about outside the sector. When I tell work experiences over the occasional dinner party people simply don’t believe me at first…..”don’t be ridiculous, you’re exaggerating, it can’t be that bad!!”.
However there is no excuse for a leading employers advocacy organisation not to know about the situation that “potential employees” face. It is monumental ignorance and deep instituionalised prejudice of the worst kind.
Eric,
I was “lucky” because within a year or two it soon became obvious that I was so ill they left me alone. I couldn’t cope when I was well and on Newstart. God knows what I would’ve been like if I had been unwell. In a permanent state of high anxiety neuroses (one of those nasty little side effects of CP they don’t really tell you about), I suspect.
FDB, fate took me and my deadly treadly north of the river today, i have left packets of parsley and basil seeds at the reception of CERES for you.
toodle pip
But of course, Abbott’s ‘not backing this’ himself. He’d never do that!
What a dishonest sleazebag of the lowest order.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/02/15/3139678.htm?section=justin
Compassion r us.
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/libs-at-odds-over-boat-crash-funeral-costs-20110215-1aupk.html
Not quite sure where to stick this, cause we don’t seem to have a thread for it yet, but is anyone else repulsed by the Liberals’ decision to criticise bringing the bodies of the asylum seekers from Christmas Island? Why anyone would use such a tragedy as a political points is beyond me.
At the moment the only one who’s spoken out is Hockey.
Morrison and Abbot are morally repugnant little ar*ehats as far as I’m concerned.
Sorry, didn’t see the previous two posts…
I was upset the govt could seem to afford no more than pauper’s coffins, looking at the footage tonight and then I googled it:
“Bodies in Muslim funerals are usually washed at a mosque and buried in a cloth without a casket – traditions which the family say have been ignored by the Federal Government.”
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/02/15/3138841.htm
Pretty awful everywhere you look really.
Totally disrespectful of Gillard there Casey! Might have missed it, otherwise.
Aw crap Dylwah – I was hoping for something reciprocal, but have been both busy and lame, and not replied despite Rob M sending me your email address.
Anyway, I’ll certainly pick up my package, and you should check your email for further.
This from crikey and so say all of us. But not often nor loud enough.
Oi. Why don’t you lot do the Distant Suns posts anymore? How about I get you started. Please riff off the following premise: Heroism and success are inherently conservative and gritty fiction is the result of bored, middle-class, college-educated liberals. c.f. http://arseh.at/492
My favourite bit are the last two paragraphs, with a postulation that Tolkien was possessed of an unjaundiced view of war, as something then a horror.
Jacques Chester, re Ozblogistan. Could you please contact me via e-mail immediately in a way that I can reply directly to you. I am contacting you on LP because my e-mails to you just bounce back.
Please remove me from Ozblogistan. Its too complicated for me and I no longer wish to be part of it.
Could LP administrators please ensure Jacques Chester gets this message as it is impossible to contact him any other way.
I deeply regret having to do this so publicly but I have been left with no alternative.
Paul Burns,
Apparently both Borders (Australia) and Angus & Robertson are now “in the hands of receivers”.
No wonder ALP is on the nose in Queensland.
http://www.cis.org.au/publications/issue-analysis/article/2365-tax-borrow-spend-how-the-states-compare
“Apparently both Borders (Australia) and Angus & Robertson are now “in the hands of receivers”.”
Hospital pass?
Any LP readers in Christchurch? Things look pretty bad down there…
Thoughts, prayers, whatever to the people in Christchurch now.