Warning: DON'T read this with a mouthful of beverage.
The chicken and the egg are in bed together.
The egg lights a cigarette, leans back and says, 'Well, that one's sorted.'
Source: my good mate Pete - and those who came before him.
Sunday, 26 October 2008
soothsaying from the backyard: the Good Oil
I'm not the type of person who says 'I told you so'.
We all make mistakes; we all embarrass ourselves from time to time: the last thing we need is some wanker reminding us (at the worst possible time) that we ignored their priceless advice.
OK, now that the mandatory, qualificative preamble is out of the way, I'm going to:
(1) give myself a hearty pat on the back for delivering a series of rock-solid insights since I started this blog, early in the New Year; and
(2) humbly suggest that you might gain - in at least three senses of the word - from paying closer attention from now on.
This is neither the time nor the place to collate a definitive testament to smugness, so here's just a couple of recent-ish examples which serve to contextualise the current global 'economic crisis'.
(Spoiler: sorry folks, said 'crisis' will remain ONGOING for the best part of a generation until genuine cultural shift kicks in.)
http://jedsbackyard.blogspot.com/2008/04/joke.html
http://jedsbackyard.blogspot.com/2008/05/whats-real-cost-of-mythical-free-market.html
Go back thru my archives and you'll find a few more incredibly accurate analyses. (Pssst. Some have still to eventuate.)
[faintly heard: a lone voice from the Peanut Gallery:]
Stop beating around the bush! Desist from abusing equine species post mortem!
What's your nebulous point this time, Jed?
Right here, my savoury, delicious, nutly friend …
Quite simply, I'm right.
Yes, I'm the first to admit that the highly-nutritious produce from Jed's backyard is seditious and often critical …
random and occasionally querulous …
too-frequently prolix, impenetrable and convoluted.
I remain 50% post-new-age care-bear and 50% self-righteous, bloody-minded mongrel.
I embrace free-spirited rebellion, creative entrepreneurialism and gritty, generous collectivism - all the while, somehow, trying to balance a love/hate relationship with six billion other human beings …
BUT - like it or not - I know what I'm talking about.
AND I always tell the Truth!
Phew. Deadly punchline.
To summarise.
Just get with the program:
I'm giving you these insights for free.
No strings attached.
(Comparison: Late-nite TV Guy want an arm, a leg and both your kidneys for a pile of disingenuous hogwash.)
If you choose to ignore what I'm giving you - and I'm only going to say this once - I bloody-well told you so.
[ Optional homework: http://www.dict.cc/german-english/Korinthenkacker.html ]
We all make mistakes; we all embarrass ourselves from time to time: the last thing we need is some wanker reminding us (at the worst possible time) that we ignored their priceless advice.
OK, now that the mandatory, qualificative preamble is out of the way, I'm going to:
(1) give myself a hearty pat on the back for delivering a series of rock-solid insights since I started this blog, early in the New Year; and
(2) humbly suggest that you might gain - in at least three senses of the word - from paying closer attention from now on.
This is neither the time nor the place to collate a definitive testament to smugness, so here's just a couple of recent-ish examples which serve to contextualise the current global 'economic crisis'.
(Spoiler: sorry folks, said 'crisis' will remain ONGOING for the best part of a generation until genuine cultural shift kicks in.)
http://jedsbackyard.blogspot.com/2008/04/joke.html
http://jedsbackyard.blogspot.com/2008/05/whats-real-cost-of-mythical-free-market.html
Go back thru my archives and you'll find a few more incredibly accurate analyses. (Pssst. Some have still to eventuate.)
[faintly heard: a lone voice from the Peanut Gallery:]
Stop beating around the bush! Desist from abusing equine species post mortem!
What's your nebulous point this time, Jed?
Right here, my savoury, delicious, nutly friend …
Quite simply, I'm right.
Yes, I'm the first to admit that the highly-nutritious produce from Jed's backyard is seditious and often critical …
random and occasionally querulous …
too-frequently prolix, impenetrable and convoluted.
I remain 50% post-new-age care-bear and 50% self-righteous, bloody-minded mongrel.
I embrace free-spirited rebellion, creative entrepreneurialism and gritty, generous collectivism - all the while, somehow, trying to balance a love/hate relationship with six billion other human beings …
BUT - like it or not - I know what I'm talking about.
AND I always tell the Truth!
Phew. Deadly punchline.
To summarise.
Just get with the program:
I'm giving you these insights for free.
No strings attached.
(Comparison: Late-nite TV Guy want an arm, a leg and both your kidneys for a pile of disingenuous hogwash.)
If you choose to ignore what I'm giving you - and I'm only going to say this once - I bloody-well told you so.
[ Optional homework: http://www.dict.cc/german-english/Korinthenkacker.html ]
Saturday, 25 October 2008
a new series of Big Brother you aren't allowed to switch off
(I'll need to be a bit more rigorous in my blogging habits. In the current climate, if we don't use it we're gonna lose it.)
Investing a few minutes into your own investigations (some starter links below) could literally change your life.
(Not bothering to will almost definitely change your life!)
I've never used that cliché before. Now I've used it twice.
Likewise, I've never consciously used the words Conroy and fascist in the same sentence before. It's a useful precedent.
Context: We Are Protecting Children. Yes, indeed. And grownups. Oh, yes. And warm furry puppies. Yummy!
A lert? or a llama? or a lemming?
No opt-out of filtered Internet
Policy to be set after trial
Darren Pauli 13/10/2008 15:10:00
Australians will be unable to opt-out of the government's pending Internet content filtering scheme, and will instead be placed on a watered-down blacklist, experts say.
Under the government's $125.8 million Plan for Cyber-Safety, users can switch between two blacklists which block content inappropriate for children, and a separate list which blocks illegal material.
Pundits say consumers have been lulled into believing the opt-out proviso would remove content filtering altogether.
…
So. Here comes the Fundie Right's first Trojan Horse since the last election.
First of many, no doubt about it. (Add Bookmark here!)
The DLP is reborn. Ethos: let's not actually FIX social problems - let's just marginalise victims, proscribe normal activities in the name of kids (nice irony there! - see my July postings), shut down debate, monitor and control people, restrict their access to information.
Inquisition anyone?
If ISPs fall into line and the public adopts its standard head-in-the-sand posture - beggar me, beggar me NOW! - we'll have crossed the digital Rubicon, cos (as with our beloved gst) you can't unscramble an egg.
(Now we've got freakin ostriches! How did I manage to stuff up my lemming analogy?)
Here is some critical analysis:
These people are llamas … and rightfully so
… so are these … indeed: watch this space.
Here is some recent backwash (yesterday)
________________________________________________
Jed's off-topic rantful spin:
Well, the euphoria of a Fresh, Visionary, Compassionate and Democratic (Consultative!!) Federal Government has worn off pretty rapidly, hasn't it?
(Aye, Cap'n, the ALP keelhauled the True Believers a few years ago!)
My personal November high lasted about 18 hours.
Watching John Howard standing on a street corner in threadbare Levis and murdering Puccini was pretty painful after all.
The Feds have NFI what to do about the Murray-Darling; they're incapable of setting realworld - REALTIME - greenhouse* caps; loath to dump AWAs (a non-core promise!) and still content to encourage Centrelink clods to bash up single parents. Oh, how many peds and wife-beaters have been arrested / charged / gaoled since the Intervention started?
(As mentioned above, it's more about control than actually repairing social fabric.)
(* Did someone mention Greenhouse!? Kevin's personal contribution over less than 12 months is equivalent to Wollongong's 1965 thru 1970.
Source? Look it up under 'hypocrite': the dictionary shows Kev and Al Gore joining the Mile High Club.)
Bottom line. Things will only get better if we mug punters want it badly enough. In the meantime …
Same old retarded cappo economics: that 'growth' is the panacea ('massive fail' to use the technical term); we'll just continue to 'share' the economic pain, won't we? (Honestly, things are indeed looking bleak in Double Bay and Toorak.)
I never believed I'd say this either: RJ Hawke is starting to look like a bloody Marxist. ; )
Yes - sigh - I realise it's technically illegal to Eat The Rich … but can't we just hang them upside down for a few days until their pockets are a few mil lighter? (Jed's 'Trickle-down Theory'.)
A postscript on the loony right …
If these bastards had their way you wouldn't be legally permitted to safely kill a foetus - I grew up when the consequences of backyard abortions were a sad fact of life.
They'd force you to go full-term and thrust a child into a world that doesn't want it.
How many Fundie Catholics do you see queueing up outside maternity wards offering to walk their righteous talk and pick up the pieces of a broken life?
So, if they got their way, you can't terminate an unwanted foetus -
but free speech, free and open flow of information?
Fair game. Kill the sucker.
(How do we sleep while our beds are burning?)
Investing a few minutes into your own investigations (some starter links below) could literally change your life.
(Not bothering to will almost definitely change your life!)
I've never used that cliché before. Now I've used it twice.
Likewise, I've never consciously used the words Conroy and fascist in the same sentence before. It's a useful precedent.
Context: We Are Protecting Children. Yes, indeed. And grownups. Oh, yes. And warm furry puppies. Yummy!
A lert? or a llama? or a lemming?
No opt-out of filtered Internet
Policy to be set after trial
Darren Pauli 13/10/2008 15:10:00
Australians will be unable to opt-out of the government's pending Internet content filtering scheme, and will instead be placed on a watered-down blacklist, experts say.
Under the government's $125.8 million Plan for Cyber-Safety, users can switch between two blacklists which block content inappropriate for children, and a separate list which blocks illegal material.
Pundits say consumers have been lulled into believing the opt-out proviso would remove content filtering altogether.
…
So. Here comes the Fundie Right's first Trojan Horse since the last election.
First of many, no doubt about it. (Add Bookmark here!)
The DLP is reborn. Ethos: let's not actually FIX social problems - let's just marginalise victims, proscribe normal activities in the name of kids (nice irony there! - see my July postings), shut down debate, monitor and control people, restrict their access to information.
Inquisition anyone?
If ISPs fall into line and the public adopts its standard head-in-the-sand posture - beggar me, beggar me NOW! - we'll have crossed the digital Rubicon, cos (as with our beloved gst) you can't unscramble an egg.
(Now we've got freakin ostriches! How did I manage to stuff up my lemming analogy?)
Here is some critical analysis:
These people are llamas … and rightfully so
… so are these … indeed: watch this space.
Here is some recent backwash (yesterday)
________________________________________________
Jed's off-topic rantful spin:
Well, the euphoria of a Fresh, Visionary, Compassionate and Democratic (Consultative!!) Federal Government has worn off pretty rapidly, hasn't it?
(Aye, Cap'n, the ALP keelhauled the True Believers a few years ago!)
My personal November high lasted about 18 hours.
Watching John Howard standing on a street corner in threadbare Levis and murdering Puccini was pretty painful after all.
The Feds have NFI what to do about the Murray-Darling; they're incapable of setting realworld - REALTIME - greenhouse* caps; loath to dump AWAs (a non-core promise!) and still content to encourage Centrelink clods to bash up single parents. Oh, how many peds and wife-beaters have been arrested / charged / gaoled since the Intervention started?
(As mentioned above, it's more about control than actually repairing social fabric.)
(* Did someone mention Greenhouse!? Kevin's personal contribution over less than 12 months is equivalent to Wollongong's 1965 thru 1970.
Source? Look it up under 'hypocrite': the dictionary shows Kev and Al Gore joining the Mile High Club.)
Bottom line. Things will only get better if we mug punters want it badly enough. In the meantime …
Same old retarded cappo economics: that 'growth' is the panacea ('massive fail' to use the technical term); we'll just continue to 'share' the economic pain, won't we? (Honestly, things are indeed looking bleak in Double Bay and Toorak.)
I never believed I'd say this either: RJ Hawke is starting to look like a bloody Marxist. ; )
Yes - sigh - I realise it's technically illegal to Eat The Rich … but can't we just hang them upside down for a few days until their pockets are a few mil lighter? (Jed's 'Trickle-down Theory'.)
A postscript on the loony right …
If these bastards had their way you wouldn't be legally permitted to safely kill a foetus - I grew up when the consequences of backyard abortions were a sad fact of life.
They'd force you to go full-term and thrust a child into a world that doesn't want it.
How many Fundie Catholics do you see queueing up outside maternity wards offering to walk their righteous talk and pick up the pieces of a broken life?
So, if they got their way, you can't terminate an unwanted foetus -
but free speech, free and open flow of information?
Fair game. Kill the sucker.
(How do we sleep while our beds are burning?)
Wednesday, 16 July 2008
who remembers cardinal sins?
Here's a couple of posts I've submitted to a forum.
I've edited them for context only.
<->10 July
On the 7.30 Report last night the versatile Ali Moore demonstrated a new standard for fair-but-ruthless journalism in her interview with Pell. IMO.
Too clever by half!
There's a saying to the effect that 'if you always tell the truth you can get away with having a bad memory.'
Pity George never learnt this (or has forgotten).
Here's an extract …
GEORGE PELL: Mr Murray is quite clear and he clarified that subsequently that Father Goodall always insisted it was consensual.
ALI MOORE: Because in fact in police phone taps that Lateline will reveal tonight, Father Goodall tells Anthony Jones that "I certainly did not say it was consensual. I don't know where they got that from." And he's referring to his interview with Howard Murray in January 2003.
GEORGE PELL: I am not aware of that. I was always told it was consensual. *
In a week when Helen Thomas deplored the standards of her journalist peers …
Toady reporters
… and during an era when Dorothy Dix sets the farcical benchmark for interviewing in Australia, Ali Moore and a handful of others offer a breath of fresh air.
The woman is a bloody legend. Watch this space.
*Neither the investigator, the victim or Goodall himself made this 'consensual' claim, so where did it come from?
My Dad, a reporter for 40+ years, often claimed that the passive voice was for cowards – most frequently used by politicians.
<->16 July
More bastardry from Australia's senior catholic
(extract from previous poster:)
Mathew 18:6
‘But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.’
Great quote, Flednam, which should apply to everyone not just 'believers'.
As I mentioned earlier, watch this space.
These heart-breaking stories are the tip of the iceberg.
Celebrate all you like, catholics.
Enjoy your innocence.
Maybe, in-between the group hugs and jolly songs, you can spare a thought for the victims of your church.
While people piss and moan that 'art' equates to 'porn' (as a potential threat to kids), in Real Life children have been permanently damaged and families torn apart by 'spiritual guides' and trusted mentors.
Pell's 'solution' to these cases?
Hush it up, apologise in private and hide behind lawyers in public.
*Pontificate* on what's wrong with society!
Yep, just what our planet needs: more kids.
I've edited them for context only.
<->10 July
On the 7.30 Report last night the versatile Ali Moore demonstrated a new standard for fair-but-ruthless journalism in her interview with Pell. IMO.
Too clever by half!
There's a saying to the effect that 'if you always tell the truth you can get away with having a bad memory.'
Pity George never learnt this (or has forgotten).
Here's an extract …
GEORGE PELL: Mr Murray is quite clear and he clarified that subsequently that Father Goodall always insisted it was consensual.
ALI MOORE: Because in fact in police phone taps that Lateline will reveal tonight, Father Goodall tells Anthony Jones that "I certainly did not say it was consensual. I don't know where they got that from." And he's referring to his interview with Howard Murray in January 2003.
GEORGE PELL: I am not aware of that. I was always told it was consensual. *
In a week when Helen Thomas deplored the standards of her journalist peers …
Toady reporters
… and during an era when Dorothy Dix sets the farcical benchmark for interviewing in Australia, Ali Moore and a handful of others offer a breath of fresh air.
The woman is a bloody legend. Watch this space.
*Neither the investigator, the victim or Goodall himself made this 'consensual' claim, so where did it come from?
My Dad, a reporter for 40+ years, often claimed that the passive voice was for cowards – most frequently used by politicians.
<->16 July
More bastardry from Australia's senior catholic
(extract from previous poster:)
Mathew 18:6
‘But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.’
Great quote, Flednam, which should apply to everyone not just 'believers'.
As I mentioned earlier, watch this space.
These heart-breaking stories are the tip of the iceberg.
Celebrate all you like, catholics.
Enjoy your innocence.
Maybe, in-between the group hugs and jolly songs, you can spare a thought for the victims of your church.
While people piss and moan that 'art' equates to 'porn' (as a potential threat to kids), in Real Life children have been permanently damaged and families torn apart by 'spiritual guides' and trusted mentors.
Pell's 'solution' to these cases?
Hush it up, apologise in private and hide behind lawyers in public.
*Pontificate* on what's wrong with society!
Yep, just what our planet needs: more kids.
Friday, 6 June 2008
spammers = scammers
Phew! Where to start?
At present I have one phone line, used for voice and broadband Internet (and, infrequently, for faxes - remember them!?).
Well, I've had the same number since 1996 when my ex-partner and I moved to Warburton.
At roughly the same time (1996) we incorporated our business … so for eight years (until the company was liquidated), we ran Banshee Graphics Pty Ltd.
From what I can ascertain company details automatically become public property, so it was no real surprise that we were quickly inundated by trash marketers: frequent, unsolicited calls from any range of douchebag businesses trying to flog (usually dodgy) products and services which we never needed and never wanted.
Up to a point, we were philosophical about this phenomenon: it's the price you pay for living and working in a shameless and consistently hypocritical 'market' economy - and I for one don't begrudge another the right to earn a living.
At some stage - late nineties? - we were so busy that we purchased a second line.
And when we separated, in 2004, I kept the original number and my ex-partner, S, kept the newer one.
It's a fact of life that The Market is insensitive to changes in circumstances: it runs on dollars, disinformation, vacuous 'incentives', blind greed and a 'crash-through' mentality - and fuck anyone who gets caught in the traffic.
As a registered, productive and legitimate company it was all-too-easy for us to be sucked into the vortex comprising any number of marketers' databases.
But just try DISengaging!
Fair dinkum. Telemarketing - this responsive and consumer-need-drivenjuggernaut - reminds me of herpes simplex: it's painful, useless and it just keeps coming back.
Since 2004 I've been receiving more trash calls than ever before - and they've steadily increased up to the present.
About 12 months ago both S and I signed up to the Howard government's 'Do Not Call' register.
Well, as with pretty much everything 'achieved' under Howard's watch, it's been pretty bloody useless.
(Not too destructive compared to most of his anti-worker initiatives, but you can't win 'em all John.)
The volume of unsolicited calls to my number has roughly doubled since then - from an average of five per week to around 10 - while calls to S's number are now approaching zero.
For several months now, I've been screening my calls and only picking up for legitimate callers - but I know that I've missed out on genuine business opportunities - and even many personal calls - as a consequence.
A couple of weeks ago, I RE-registered with Do Not Call - but nothing has changed in the interim.
At times, I feel that I no longer truly 'own' my phone line.
What I need is a strategy to remedy this situation.
All the while, I remain sympathetic with telemarketers in third-world countries who are simply trying to improve their material existences and are in no way driving this abhorrent, exploitative, BASTARD-CAPPO agenda - but, equally, they need to learn to be sympathetic to my existence!
The best I can come up with at this stage is to publish any information that comes my way, in the hope that the spammers, scammers and turds involved might get their come-uppance in the full glow of public scrutiny.
Here's one to go on with.
Mid-afternoon (AEST) 5 June 2008:
"Gavin" from "Multicom Corporation" or similar.
'Please to' call him back on 1800 179 276.
(Garbled reference number: 142298)
…
Hey GAVIN: Please to FUCK OFF!
(Or at least email me your home number so we can 'catch up'.)
At present I have one phone line, used for voice and broadband Internet (and, infrequently, for faxes - remember them!?).
Well, I've had the same number since 1996 when my ex-partner and I moved to Warburton.
At roughly the same time (1996) we incorporated our business … so for eight years (until the company was liquidated), we ran Banshee Graphics Pty Ltd.
From what I can ascertain company details automatically become public property, so it was no real surprise that we were quickly inundated by trash marketers: frequent, unsolicited calls from any range of douchebag businesses trying to flog (usually dodgy) products and services which we never needed and never wanted.
Up to a point, we were philosophical about this phenomenon: it's the price you pay for living and working in a shameless and consistently hypocritical 'market' economy - and I for one don't begrudge another the right to earn a living.
At some stage - late nineties? - we were so busy that we purchased a second line.
And when we separated, in 2004, I kept the original number and my ex-partner, S, kept the newer one.
It's a fact of life that The Market is insensitive to changes in circumstances: it runs on dollars, disinformation, vacuous 'incentives', blind greed and a 'crash-through' mentality - and fuck anyone who gets caught in the traffic.
As a registered, productive and legitimate company it was all-too-easy for us to be sucked into the vortex comprising any number of marketers' databases.
But just try DISengaging!
Fair dinkum. Telemarketing - this responsive and consumer-need-drivenjuggernaut - reminds me of herpes simplex: it's painful, useless and it just keeps coming back.
Since 2004 I've been receiving more trash calls than ever before - and they've steadily increased up to the present.
About 12 months ago both S and I signed up to the Howard government's 'Do Not Call' register.
Well, as with pretty much everything 'achieved' under Howard's watch, it's been pretty bloody useless.
(Not too destructive compared to most of his anti-worker initiatives, but you can't win 'em all John.)
The volume of unsolicited calls to my number has roughly doubled since then - from an average of five per week to around 10 - while calls to S's number are now approaching zero.
For several months now, I've been screening my calls and only picking up for legitimate callers - but I know that I've missed out on genuine business opportunities - and even many personal calls - as a consequence.
A couple of weeks ago, I RE-registered with Do Not Call - but nothing has changed in the interim.
At times, I feel that I no longer truly 'own' my phone line.
What I need is a strategy to remedy this situation.
All the while, I remain sympathetic with telemarketers in third-world countries who are simply trying to improve their material existences and are in no way driving this abhorrent, exploitative, BASTARD-CAPPO agenda - but, equally, they need to learn to be sympathetic to my existence!
The best I can come up with at this stage is to publish any information that comes my way, in the hope that the spammers, scammers and turds involved might get their come-uppance in the full glow of public scrutiny.
Here's one to go on with.
Mid-afternoon (AEST) 5 June 2008:
"Gavin" from "Multicom Corporation" or similar.
'Please to' call him back on 1800 179 276.
(Garbled reference number: 142298)
…
Hey GAVIN: Please to FUCK OFF!
(Or at least email me your home number so we can 'catch up'.)
Friday, 30 May 2008
yet another joke
Apparently Schapelle Corby's beauty salon has a couple of other signs on the door.
There's an advertisement for Shapelle's new herbal treatment which is guaranteed to take 20 years off your life.
It's for women who have lost their appeal.
Source: http://au.messages.yahoo.com/news/top-stories/1135494?p=2
(Funny how anything concerning a convicted drug smuggler generates perverted humour.
Good thing nobody else in the family uses, deals or tells lies: THAT would be exceptionally funny.)
There's an advertisement for Shapelle's new herbal treatment which is guaranteed to take 20 years off your life.
It's for women who have lost their appeal.
Source: http://au.messages.yahoo.com/news/top-stories/1135494?p=2
(Funny how anything concerning a convicted drug smuggler generates perverted humour.
Good thing nobody else in the family uses, deals or tells lies: THAT would be exceptionally funny.)
camden, new south wales
Just a quick note to congratulate the good citizens of Camden, west of Sydney, for their passionate interest in planning issues.
A few days ago 200 of them attended their local council meeting to hear confirmation that a planning permit for a new muslim school is the district would not be issued.
All I can say is, GOOD ON THEM! And GOOD ON COUNCIL!
Appropriate usage of land, even in rural areas where there's plenty of room for everyone, is crucial.
Amenity is important to all of us; I think we can all agree on that.
Gosh, there's road traffic to worry about. There's sewage. There's garbage collections. Miscellaneous infrastructure.
There's the incalculable environmental impact of thousands of border crossings every schoolday of the year.
AND, next thing you know, they'll be moving in on us.
And the children. Our children. Oh my, who cares about The Children?
So, to all Camden's quiet achievers out there, GOOD_ON_YOU!
No doubt you and the other 199 attend every council meeting where planning issues are concerned.
No doubt you continually have done so in the past … and continually will do so well into the future.
Even past the day when the muslim 'language!' and 'culture!' have usurped your Proud White Trash ghetto mentality, I'm sure you'll keep showing up at council in your akubras, ug boots and union jacks, upholding a noble tradition of 'looking after the neighbourhood' and - ca va sans dire - keeping planning issues first and foremost while staving off racist agendas at every step.
A few days ago 200 of them attended their local council meeting to hear confirmation that a planning permit for a new muslim school is the district would not be issued.
All I can say is, GOOD ON THEM! And GOOD ON COUNCIL!
Appropriate usage of land, even in rural areas where there's plenty of room for everyone, is crucial.
Amenity is important to all of us; I think we can all agree on that.
Gosh, there's road traffic to worry about. There's sewage. There's garbage collections. Miscellaneous infrastructure.
There's the incalculable environmental impact of thousands of border crossings every schoolday of the year.
AND, next thing you know, they'll be moving in on us.
And the children. Our children. Oh my, who cares about The Children?
So, to all Camden's quiet achievers out there, GOOD_ON_YOU!
No doubt you and the other 199 attend every council meeting where planning issues are concerned.
No doubt you continually have done so in the past … and continually will do so well into the future.
Even past the day when the muslim 'language!' and 'culture!' have usurped your Proud White Trash ghetto mentality, I'm sure you'll keep showing up at council in your akubras, ug boots and union jacks, upholding a noble tradition of 'looking after the neighbourhood' and - ca va sans dire - keeping planning issues first and foremost while staving off racist agendas at every step.
Wednesday, 28 May 2008
9-11: the real conspiracy
Don't you love how the vast majority sees the 9-11 attacks in isolation - either as a pack of Al Qaeda terrorists opportunistically slaughtering 3000 western citizens or a neo-con plot within the US government to galvanize and unite 'christendom/ziondom' against Islam - rather than a mutually advantageous joint effort?
Back in 2001 I was dozing in front of late-nite TV when my partner shook me awake to the news that the first plane had hit the World Trade Centre.
Without going into the detail, I sat glued to the screen for the next 15 hours, flicking between channels and trying to separate fact from fiction.
Viewing these source documents it quickly occurred to me that such an attack presented an ideal opportunity for both sides - the fascist elements of the US government and bin Laden's fascist elite - to gain strategic territory in their shared agenda of an extended war of attrition.
Wake up!
There's really nothing new here: by its own admission, the US has a strong, cherished tradition of funding, equipping and facilitating selected terrorist organisations for decades.
Why should 9-11 be any different?
It's established that both sides are more than willing to sacrifice many lives to satisfy a 'big picture' agenda.
I've seen and read nothing over the past six years and eight months to change my original conclusion.
This scum feeds on death, hatred, ignorance and division.
Of all ideologies, only fascism, capitalism and terrorism inherently and systematically undervalue human life.
Back in 2001 I was dozing in front of late-nite TV when my partner shook me awake to the news that the first plane had hit the World Trade Centre.
Without going into the detail, I sat glued to the screen for the next 15 hours, flicking between channels and trying to separate fact from fiction.
Viewing these source documents it quickly occurred to me that such an attack presented an ideal opportunity for both sides - the fascist elements of the US government and bin Laden's fascist elite - to gain strategic territory in their shared agenda of an extended war of attrition.
Wake up!
There's really nothing new here: by its own admission, the US has a strong, cherished tradition of funding, equipping and facilitating selected terrorist organisations for decades.
Why should 9-11 be any different?
It's established that both sides are more than willing to sacrifice many lives to satisfy a 'big picture' agenda.
I've seen and read nothing over the past six years and eight months to change my original conclusion.
This scum feeds on death, hatred, ignorance and division.
Of all ideologies, only fascism, capitalism and terrorism inherently and systematically undervalue human life.
geelong revisited
On 29 April I posted about the Geelong footy team; in essence, that they were unbeatable …
I'm unhappy to admit that my analysis was dead wrong.
Look it up if you want to beat me over the head with it.
If Geelong ever did have a magic black bag 'o' tricks, it proved to be empty last weekend.
(It will be fascinating to see how they respond, won't it?)
My pathetic effort just goes to show how much I really know about footy.
But do you know what the great thing is?
I don't care. I'll keep posting (occasionally about sport) until someone shuts me down.
(… and NOTE that my earlier post about 'my team', St Kilda, was deadly accurate! NO guts, NO glory.)
I'm unhappy to admit that my analysis was dead wrong.
Look it up if you want to beat me over the head with it.
If Geelong ever did have a magic black bag 'o' tricks, it proved to be empty last weekend.
(It will be fascinating to see how they respond, won't it?)
My pathetic effort just goes to show how much I really know about footy.
But do you know what the great thing is?
I don't care. I'll keep posting (occasionally about sport) until someone shuts me down.
(… and NOTE that my earlier post about 'my team', St Kilda, was deadly accurate! NO guts, NO glory.)
Monday, 19 May 2008
I *really* love the interwebz
Forget its efficiency and immediacy for a minute.
Ignore, even, the small and decreasing enviro-footprint of working and communicating online.
In the 'nett return' stakes, the Internet simply rocks - because it empowers people!
Not just you and me, but her and him and them and … an increasing number of global citizens every day.
No matter where you live, or how you live, or how much money you make, OUR Internet is OUR tool.
And WE can use it to shape our future.
No wonder fascist governments hate it.
No wonder the US government, for example, automagically scans our emails. (Sorry, it does. By default, we're all terrorists.)
No wonder the China government and its transnational partners (Google, Yahoo …) have connived to minimise citizens' access to information.
Knowledge is power.
Of course the Internet is abused.
There's perverts and stalkers and child pornography.
There's spam (how big is YOUR penis?!) and viruses and trojans.
There's loony-tunes crypto-fascists and neo-con zionist murderers and vacuous islamist suicide-bombers … and any number of racist, supremacist scum espousing divisiveness and even genocide.
And so forth.
But in the face of all the negatives, I'll continue to argue that our Net can help to liberate us!
A free, open and democratic system will always be abused by sociopaths: it's the price we pay for a defective gene pool!
You've probably noticed this yourself but I'll just confirm that over the past 30 years or so governments and corporations have colluded in using, misusing and abusing their power to collect and abuse our personal data, with the nett outcome of diminishing citizens' autonomy.
They have achieved our collective compliance by using the argument that 'the innocent have nothing to hide'.
So, somehow, we have become guilty of something by default. WTF?
Well, I, for one, have nothing to hide and nothing to be ashamed of - but I draw the line at governments' right to snoop, to manipulate and try to control my life. (Don't you?)
Furthermore, the 'nothing to hide 'argument cuts both ways.
It's doubly ironic that, as governments' 'rights' to our personal information have increased, citizens' access to governments' operations and culpability has significantly decreased.
Funny about that!
Back to my main point.
I urge you to use the Internet - this amazingly powerful, free tool - to help reclaim our planet.
Be subversive. If necessary, be seditious.*
Discuss. Debate. Research.
Communicate. Join some forums.
Do a few cash deals and don't tell The Man. (Easily justified as 'Commercial-in-Confidence'.)
PS. It's worth noting that the likelihood of US government complicity in the '9-11' attacks is no longer the province of the lunatic fringe but has finally entered the mainstream.
Some of us knew this six years and eight months ago!
*sedition, noun.
1. speech or action causing discontent or rebellion against the government; incitement to discontent or rebellion.
Ex. Sedition against the Federal Government, the Court held, is a field in which Congress alone has jurisdiction to enact laws (Wall Street Journal).
Ignore, even, the small and decreasing enviro-footprint of working and communicating online.
In the 'nett return' stakes, the Internet simply rocks - because it empowers people!
Not just you and me, but her and him and them and … an increasing number of global citizens every day.
No matter where you live, or how you live, or how much money you make, OUR Internet is OUR tool.
And WE can use it to shape our future.
No wonder fascist governments hate it.
No wonder the US government, for example, automagically scans our emails. (Sorry, it does. By default, we're all terrorists.)
No wonder the China government and its transnational partners (Google, Yahoo …) have connived to minimise citizens' access to information.
Knowledge is power.
Of course the Internet is abused.
There's perverts and stalkers and child pornography.
There's spam (how big is YOUR penis?!) and viruses and trojans.
There's loony-tunes crypto-fascists and neo-con zionist murderers and vacuous islamist suicide-bombers … and any number of racist, supremacist scum espousing divisiveness and even genocide.
And so forth.
But in the face of all the negatives, I'll continue to argue that our Net can help to liberate us!
A free, open and democratic system will always be abused by sociopaths: it's the price we pay for a defective gene pool!
You've probably noticed this yourself but I'll just confirm that over the past 30 years or so governments and corporations have colluded in using, misusing and abusing their power to collect and abuse our personal data, with the nett outcome of diminishing citizens' autonomy.
They have achieved our collective compliance by using the argument that 'the innocent have nothing to hide'.
So, somehow, we have become guilty of something by default. WTF?
Well, I, for one, have nothing to hide and nothing to be ashamed of - but I draw the line at governments' right to snoop, to manipulate and try to control my life. (Don't you?)
Furthermore, the 'nothing to hide 'argument cuts both ways.
It's doubly ironic that, as governments' 'rights' to our personal information have increased, citizens' access to governments' operations and culpability has significantly decreased.
Funny about that!
Back to my main point.
I urge you to use the Internet - this amazingly powerful, free tool - to help reclaim our planet.
Be subversive. If necessary, be seditious.*
Discuss. Debate. Research.
Communicate. Join some forums.
Do a few cash deals and don't tell The Man. (Easily justified as 'Commercial-in-Confidence'.)
PS. It's worth noting that the likelihood of US government complicity in the '9-11' attacks is no longer the province of the lunatic fringe but has finally entered the mainstream.
Some of us knew this six years and eight months ago!
*sedition, noun.
1. speech or action causing discontent or rebellion against the government; incitement to discontent or rebellion.
Ex. Sedition against the Federal Government, the Court held, is a field in which Congress alone has jurisdiction to enact laws (Wall Street Journal).
Friday, 16 May 2008
wanky products
Thanks to 'global thinking' by a series of Australian governments, manufacturing in this country has been declining for 25 years.
RIP John Button. I know your heart was in the right place, but thanks for nothing.
In retail the grocery industry, dominated by the duopoly of Safeway / Woolworths and Coles, the consumer is presented with declining choice between brands, dearer prices and even products of dubious quality, pretty much all imported!!, in the name of 'competition'.
No, really guys, thanks for all that. The bigger the lie, the more believe it.
But that's not why I've dropped in today.
I wanted to 'credit' a few products that society doesn't need, has never needed - but has decided it actually does 'need' - and will continue to pay good money for.
How about the blue liquid that we dump in our toilets?
Nice one. A toxic chemical which interferes with the biological action septic tanks were designed for.
We get away with it because an increasing number of households no longer take responsibility for their waste locally but ship it off 'somewhere else' via sewers.
Congratulations for concealing your culpability and convincing yourself that your excreta is someone else's problem.
How about 'leaf blowers'?
Now that hosing down your driveway (whatta wank) is illegal pretty much everywhere, morons take refuge in a machine which is almost effective as a rake.
Have you useless gimps discovered how a broom works?
Seriously: well done!
How about 'diet dinners'?
For fuck's sake, calories aren't rocket science.
Try eating less or eating better quality food rather than consuming overpackaged, over-processed muck.
How about 'climate control' in cars?
I just love it.
To be continued.
RIP John Button. I know your heart was in the right place, but thanks for nothing.
In retail the grocery industry, dominated by the duopoly of Safeway / Woolworths and Coles, the consumer is presented with declining choice between brands, dearer prices and even products of dubious quality, pretty much all imported!!, in the name of 'competition'.
No, really guys, thanks for all that. The bigger the lie, the more believe it.
But that's not why I've dropped in today.
I wanted to 'credit' a few products that society doesn't need, has never needed - but has decided it actually does 'need' - and will continue to pay good money for.
How about the blue liquid that we dump in our toilets?
Nice one. A toxic chemical which interferes with the biological action septic tanks were designed for.
We get away with it because an increasing number of households no longer take responsibility for their waste locally but ship it off 'somewhere else' via sewers.
Congratulations for concealing your culpability and convincing yourself that your excreta is someone else's problem.
How about 'leaf blowers'?
Now that hosing down your driveway (whatta wank) is illegal pretty much everywhere, morons take refuge in a machine which is almost effective as a rake.
Have you useless gimps discovered how a broom works?
Seriously: well done!
How about 'diet dinners'?
For fuck's sake, calories aren't rocket science.
Try eating less or eating better quality food rather than consuming overpackaged, over-processed muck.
How about 'climate control' in cars?
I just love it.
To be continued.
Friday, 9 May 2008
confessional
Constructive criticism over the months has convinced me that my posts are often impenetrable.
(Say the word 'rant' many times, quickly: it blurs, acoustically, into 'rah-rah-rah'!)
Those of you who know me well enough will understand why I do this.
Whether you do understand or not, here are some reasons.
1. There's so much to say.
2. It's all, in my opinion, urgent.
3. There's always at least two sides to an argument and I find it difficult to summarily dismiss positions I disagree with.
4. Therefore, this internal debate all too often invades my writing, effectively undermining my own platform.
5. The compulsion to integrate every aspect of my complicated life is too often impossible to communicate succinctly.
There's more, but that will do.
Having set up this 'defence', I need to transcend it!
I'm a professional communicator, after all.
No doubt, it's wonderful to vent - I'm all for it! - but the main purpose of a blog, I think?, is to reach out and share ideas.
To do so effectively demands that I express my ideas clearly.
It would be a pretty sad outcome if no one read my posts but me!
Feedback welcome.
(Say the word 'rant' many times, quickly: it blurs, acoustically, into 'rah-rah-rah'!)
Those of you who know me well enough will understand why I do this.
Whether you do understand or not, here are some reasons.
1. There's so much to say.
2. It's all, in my opinion, urgent.
3. There's always at least two sides to an argument and I find it difficult to summarily dismiss positions I disagree with.
4. Therefore, this internal debate all too often invades my writing, effectively undermining my own platform.
5. The compulsion to integrate every aspect of my complicated life is too often impossible to communicate succinctly.
There's more, but that will do.
Having set up this 'defence', I need to transcend it!
I'm a professional communicator, after all.
No doubt, it's wonderful to vent - I'm all for it! - but the main purpose of a blog, I think?, is to reach out and share ideas.
To do so effectively demands that I express my ideas clearly.
It would be a pretty sad outcome if no one read my posts but me!
Feedback welcome.
Wednesday, 7 May 2008
what's the real cost of the mythical 'free' market?
I'd be the first to admit that, as a general rule of thumb, you can't change human nature.
Example. There's nothing wrong with communism in its purest sense but as applied, historically, it has too often brought out the worst in humanity: criminality, genocide, elitism and privilege, incompetence, lack of accountability, exploitation, suppression and repression.
Substitute communism with Catholicism or Islam (or any cult you like) and you'll observe a similar phenomenon: the finest altruistic principles corrupted by human opportunism and manipulation.
Another time, I'll look at this phenomenon a little more closely.
Suffice it to say, most communist states have broken down because the vision, in practice hasn't matched the theory – thanks to human nature.
Why? Too many of us don't really believe, in our hearts, that we are no better than everyone else.
A global economy underpinned by the 'principles' of Supply and Demand is humanity's panacea.
Damn! I didn't vote for it but I'm really impressed!
As with most noble precepts, capitalism works - on paper …
Production and consumption increasing in harmony, in equilibrium.
Innovation, excellence and hard work rewarded: wealth for all!
Mutual obligation - so no free rides at society's expense.
Productivity and Competition keeping prices down; mediocrity and underperformance penalised.
'Just In Time' management offering efficiency gains to benefit the marketplace.
(insert your favourite cliché here)
How much needs to go wrong before our collectively-thick-as-pigshit human nature perceives that the free market is a complete crock?
Six billion of us live in a closed system which can't sustain anything approaching continual growth.
In fact, if we all stopped breeding tomorrow, our manufactured environmental crisis is still inevitable.
When I was in high school 35 years ago, we learnt that a quarter of the world's population lived in poverty.
Thanks to the market, they still do.
As for aspirationalist 'working families' - a favoured tool of the overpaid and largely underworked notional 'left' here in Australia - this term needs to be replaced with 'WORKING POOR'.
REAL workers are being screwed worse than ever.
Example. There's nothing wrong with communism in its purest sense but as applied, historically, it has too often brought out the worst in humanity: criminality, genocide, elitism and privilege, incompetence, lack of accountability, exploitation, suppression and repression.
Substitute communism with Catholicism or Islam (or any cult you like) and you'll observe a similar phenomenon: the finest altruistic principles corrupted by human opportunism and manipulation.
Another time, I'll look at this phenomenon a little more closely.
Suffice it to say, most communist states have broken down because the vision, in practice hasn't matched the theory – thanks to human nature.
Why? Too many of us don't really believe, in our hearts, that we are no better than everyone else.
A global economy underpinned by the 'principles' of Supply and Demand is humanity's panacea.
Damn! I didn't vote for it but I'm really impressed!
As with most noble precepts, capitalism works - on paper …
Production and consumption increasing in harmony, in equilibrium.
Innovation, excellence and hard work rewarded: wealth for all!
Mutual obligation - so no free rides at society's expense.
Productivity and Competition keeping prices down; mediocrity and underperformance penalised.
'Just In Time' management offering efficiency gains to benefit the marketplace.
(insert your favourite cliché here)
How much needs to go wrong before our collectively-thick-as-pigshit human nature perceives that the free market is a complete crock?
Six billion of us live in a closed system which can't sustain anything approaching continual growth.
In fact, if we all stopped breeding tomorrow, our manufactured environmental crisis is still inevitable.
When I was in high school 35 years ago, we learnt that a quarter of the world's population lived in poverty.
Thanks to the market, they still do.
As for aspirationalist 'working families' - a favoured tool of the overpaid and largely underworked notional 'left' here in Australia - this term needs to be replaced with 'WORKING POOR'.
REAL workers are being screwed worse than ever.
Saturday, 3 May 2008
let's shut this arsehole down …
… permanently.
(… and any individual or organisation that underwrites him.)
Guillermo Vargas Habacuc
This piece of scum calls himself an artist. I'll give him 'art'.
Maybe 30 years ago I read a quote from Doris Lessing along the following lines. Unfortunately, despite several searches, I've not been able to properly source and attribute it, but truth transcends 'credit' …
The measure of a civilization is how it cares for its defenceless.
What kind of 'civilization' tolerates and even encourages torturing animals? Darling, how caché!
Guillermo Vargas Habacuc belongs in prison where he should be fed the same diet as his former pet.
(… and any individual or organisation that underwrites him.)
Guillermo Vargas Habacuc
This piece of scum calls himself an artist. I'll give him 'art'.
Maybe 30 years ago I read a quote from Doris Lessing along the following lines. Unfortunately, despite several searches, I've not been able to properly source and attribute it, but truth transcends 'credit' …
The measure of a civilization is how it cares for its defenceless.
What kind of 'civilization' tolerates and even encourages torturing animals? Darling, how caché!
Guillermo Vargas Habacuc belongs in prison where he should be fed the same diet as his former pet.
Friday, 2 May 2008
get with the program … coupla useful links
Regain control: Insight 1
Regain control: Insight 2
quality before quantity … efficiency before 'busyness' … Equity before morbid overconsumption.
Wake up before your bed catches fire.
Regain control: Insight 2
quality before quantity … efficiency before 'busyness' … Equity before morbid overconsumption.
Wake up before your bed catches fire.
Wednesday, 30 April 2008
a joke
I'm rebuilding this from the ground up as I can only remember the theme and the punchline.
A groom and his best man were called upon to sign a document after the wedding service.
The groom, who had never learnt to write, inscribed a large 'X'.
The best man, at his turn, wrote 'XX'.
'What's the second X for?' asked the groom.
'Oh, that's my economics degree.'
A groom and his best man were called upon to sign a document after the wedding service.
The groom, who had never learnt to write, inscribed a large 'X'.
The best man, at his turn, wrote 'XX'.
'What's the second X for?' asked the groom.
'Oh, that's my economics degree.'
Tuesday, 29 April 2008
geelong
Upfront! I'm nowhere near a footy expert.
I know a lot about many sports but AFL isn't one of them.
However, I think that sometimes I notice little things that smarter followers don't.
The Geelong team is playing footy on a different level than other teams and, if their form continues, they'll prove it against all the rest.
This is my contention.
I've listened to maybe 80% of their first six games this year - on the radio - and watched about 15-20% of their total gametime.
It's become increasingly obvious to me that, if a footy team can be compared to a car, Geelong has something like an extra cog, a supercharger, nitrous oxide … a 'blitz factor' they can use for around 15 or 20 minutes per game - and call upon at will.
This sets them apart.
Until the other teams achieve the discipline, intellect and physicality to recognise and effectively respond to this phenomenon, Geelong is unbeatable.
I'm inclined to give most of the credit to their coach, 'Bomber' Thompson.
Case in point: last weekend's encounter with Fremantle.
I reckon Freo matched Geelong for about a third of the game and were actually 'the better team' most of the time.
But, when the Cats really needed points, they collectively reached into this mysterious place and simply overpowered the Dockers.
When the Cats are on song, they can win by 100 points without raising a sweat.
And when they're playing badly, they do enough to win.
They've shown this time and time again.
In due course we'll all find out if their current dominance is sustainable.
In the meantime I'm going to enjoy it!
I know a lot about many sports but AFL isn't one of them.
However, I think that sometimes I notice little things that smarter followers don't.
The Geelong team is playing footy on a different level than other teams and, if their form continues, they'll prove it against all the rest.
This is my contention.
I've listened to maybe 80% of their first six games this year - on the radio - and watched about 15-20% of their total gametime.
It's become increasingly obvious to me that, if a footy team can be compared to a car, Geelong has something like an extra cog, a supercharger, nitrous oxide … a 'blitz factor' they can use for around 15 or 20 minutes per game - and call upon at will.
This sets them apart.
Until the other teams achieve the discipline, intellect and physicality to recognise and effectively respond to this phenomenon, Geelong is unbeatable.
I'm inclined to give most of the credit to their coach, 'Bomber' Thompson.
Case in point: last weekend's encounter with Fremantle.
I reckon Freo matched Geelong for about a third of the game and were actually 'the better team' most of the time.
But, when the Cats really needed points, they collectively reached into this mysterious place and simply overpowered the Dockers.
When the Cats are on song, they can win by 100 points without raising a sweat.
And when they're playing badly, they do enough to win.
They've shown this time and time again.
In due course we'll all find out if their current dominance is sustainable.
In the meantime I'm going to enjoy it!
Saturday, 26 April 2008
shark fin soup II
(Might be helpful if you do a little
Homework
first.)
I'm not a Buddhist. I'm an atheist. (Owned up to that one ages ago.)
But I really like the way Buddhism works, if you know what I mean!
Without getting even slightly mystical about it, I feel compelled and, equally, determined to integrate every element of my life - work, relationships, eating, sleep, leisure - into a single, contiguous and internally consistent philosophy.
Segué …
I'm not an expert on permaculture; I'm not even what you might call an adherent.
But I really like the way it works - and I use bits of it pretty much every day.
Why?
I appreciate efficiency, elegant design, appropriate technology, optimising resources, allowing 'nature' to do its thing … but helping it along if required.
It's an integrated, wholistic, systematic approach to making things work better - both Locally and Globally.
Back to shark fin soup!
The following extract is lifted from the 'homework' link above.
I've deleted a few points to avoid complexity - leaving us with only five (but plan to revisit these principles again).
Selected extracts are in italics; my comments are appended to each in Roman; 'shark fin soup' is abbreviated to 'sfs'.
Holmgren's 12 design principles
These restatements of the principles of permaculture appear in David Holmgren's Permaculture: Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability
…
Apply self-regulation and accept feedback - We need to discourage inappropriate activity to ensure that systems can continue to function well.
Where is the incentive for the sfs industry to 'self-regulate' if consumers don't do anything to 'discourage inappropriate activity'?
The Market God is blind to all evils until the Market God itself - you and I - shoves a red-hot poker up its own backside.
This method shut down the ivory and fur trades so transforming the shark fin trade should be a doddle.
Use and value renewable resources and services - Make the best use of natures abundance to reduce our consumptive behaviour and dependence on non-renewable resources.
Produce no waste - By valuing and making use of all the resources that are available to us, nothing goes to waste.
These two principles, both packed with value, merge.
Rather than controlling nature, we have every 'right' to manage its renewable resources in a genuinely sustainable fashion.
In doing this, we should waste nothing. If killing sharks is sustainable - and, under a quota system, it should be - then we have an an obligation to waste none of it. As matters stand, the market for sfs is anything but sustainable.
As for "our consumptive behaviour and dependence on non-renewable resources": refer to my earlier comments regarding Greenpeace's wasteful and indulgent activities.
It's run by smart, capable people who can and should do better once they get over their addiction to fame.
…
Integrate rather than segregate - By putting the right things in the right place, relationships develop between those things and they work together to support each other.
Refer to my opening statement.
Seriously, the only hope for our planet is "the getting of wisdom".
Every act we undertake as individuals has consequences. Most of them impact on others.
I feel we should seek, at all times, to ensure our actions offer a nett benefit to our fellow six billion "travellers" - even those yet to be born.
Let's make an effort to get these relationships right.
…
Creatively use and respond to change - We can have a positive impact on inevitable change by carefully observing, and then intervening at the right time.
It's great to finish on a positive note!
(I'm the first to admit that my posts contain a lot of criticisms. I use the analogy of "The Emperor's New Clothes": before a problem can be fixed it must be recognised as such.)
Just as the philosophy of Permaculture accepts and even embraces change, we all need to do the same.
Peak Oil has come and gone over the past few years and the reality is finally sinking in.
The knee-jerk reaction was bio-fuels as a solution, but - for a change - the Reality Check kicked in pretty damn quickly!
Dedicating agricultural resources to fuel means less food (and / or dearer food - for those who can still afford it).
Well, sorry, DUH!
It might be an idea to bite the bullet and start weaning ourselves off the teat of self-indulgence (a.k.a. overconsumption).
To close the current discussion for now …
In simple terms: if a large shark fin equates to a single meal for one wealthy, self-indulgent person, how many needy people would the whole animal feed?
Doesn't it make sense to meet the nutritional requirements as many as possible from a decreasing pro rata food supply?
Bottom line: let the tossers have their sfs under a quota system.
But make the bastards pay for it, Bigtime, ensuring the rest of the animal goes to the hungry at a subsidised rate.
(Could the Coalition of the Willing start doing something useful for a change, like maintaining an economic blockade along other than racist, ideological lines? I have my doubts.)
Homework
first.)
I'm not a Buddhist. I'm an atheist. (Owned up to that one ages ago.)
But I really like the way Buddhism works, if you know what I mean!
Without getting even slightly mystical about it, I feel compelled and, equally, determined to integrate every element of my life - work, relationships, eating, sleep, leisure - into a single, contiguous and internally consistent philosophy.
Segué …
I'm not an expert on permaculture; I'm not even what you might call an adherent.
But I really like the way it works - and I use bits of it pretty much every day.
Why?
I appreciate efficiency, elegant design, appropriate technology, optimising resources, allowing 'nature' to do its thing … but helping it along if required.
It's an integrated, wholistic, systematic approach to making things work better - both Locally and Globally.
Back to shark fin soup!
The following extract is lifted from the 'homework' link above.
I've deleted a few points to avoid complexity - leaving us with only five (but plan to revisit these principles again).
Selected extracts are in italics; my comments are appended to each in Roman; 'shark fin soup' is abbreviated to 'sfs'.
Holmgren's 12 design principles
These restatements of the principles of permaculture appear in David Holmgren's Permaculture: Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability
…
Apply self-regulation and accept feedback - We need to discourage inappropriate activity to ensure that systems can continue to function well.
Where is the incentive for the sfs industry to 'self-regulate' if consumers don't do anything to 'discourage inappropriate activity'?
The Market God is blind to all evils until the Market God itself - you and I - shoves a red-hot poker up its own backside.
This method shut down the ivory and fur trades so transforming the shark fin trade should be a doddle.
Use and value renewable resources and services - Make the best use of natures abundance to reduce our consumptive behaviour and dependence on non-renewable resources.
Produce no waste - By valuing and making use of all the resources that are available to us, nothing goes to waste.
These two principles, both packed with value, merge.
Rather than controlling nature, we have every 'right' to manage its renewable resources in a genuinely sustainable fashion.
In doing this, we should waste nothing. If killing sharks is sustainable - and, under a quota system, it should be - then we have an an obligation to waste none of it. As matters stand, the market for sfs is anything but sustainable.
As for "our consumptive behaviour and dependence on non-renewable resources": refer to my earlier comments regarding Greenpeace's wasteful and indulgent activities.
It's run by smart, capable people who can and should do better once they get over their addiction to fame.
…
Integrate rather than segregate - By putting the right things in the right place, relationships develop between those things and they work together to support each other.
Refer to my opening statement.
Seriously, the only hope for our planet is "the getting of wisdom".
Every act we undertake as individuals has consequences. Most of them impact on others.
I feel we should seek, at all times, to ensure our actions offer a nett benefit to our fellow six billion "travellers" - even those yet to be born.
Let's make an effort to get these relationships right.
…
Creatively use and respond to change - We can have a positive impact on inevitable change by carefully observing, and then intervening at the right time.
It's great to finish on a positive note!
(I'm the first to admit that my posts contain a lot of criticisms. I use the analogy of "The Emperor's New Clothes": before a problem can be fixed it must be recognised as such.)
Just as the philosophy of Permaculture accepts and even embraces change, we all need to do the same.
Peak Oil has come and gone over the past few years and the reality is finally sinking in.
The knee-jerk reaction was bio-fuels as a solution, but - for a change - the Reality Check kicked in pretty damn quickly!
Dedicating agricultural resources to fuel means less food (and / or dearer food - for those who can still afford it).
Well, sorry, DUH!
It might be an idea to bite the bullet and start weaning ourselves off the teat of self-indulgence (a.k.a. overconsumption).
To close the current discussion for now …
In simple terms: if a large shark fin equates to a single meal for one wealthy, self-indulgent person, how many needy people would the whole animal feed?
Doesn't it make sense to meet the nutritional requirements as many as possible from a decreasing pro rata food supply?
Bottom line: let the tossers have their sfs under a quota system.
But make the bastards pay for it, Bigtime, ensuring the rest of the animal goes to the hungry at a subsidised rate.
(Could the Coalition of the Willing start doing something useful for a change, like maintaining an economic blockade along other than racist, ideological lines? I have my doubts.)
shark fin soup 1
Background info here:
"ego, pride, exhibitionism, hubris..." a strong case for retrospective abortion.com
As always, never accept my word for it: Google is your friend.
The increasing demand for shark fin soup during an accelerating global food crisis serves, in many ways, to encapsulate the intellectual vacuum manifest between the tokenistic 'sustainability mantra' and a less-than-smug reality.
To supply the decadent demand for a bland and occasionally toxic product, whole dorsal fins are cut from live sharks before the animals are dumped back into the ocean to die slowly or to be torn apart by their cousins.
Now, I'm no fan of Japanese whaling 'research'. Everyone knows this 'research' nothing but a Big Lie.
Governments and diplomats would do well to call Japan's bluff, literally, by 'shirtfronting' the lying, hypocritical bastards and giving them a few smacks for fibbing.
In mitigation, however, at least the whales aren't being mutilated and thrown away. The entire whale is the product, not a tiny piece of it. It's killed; it's used.
Although the jury's still out, whale harvesting may even prove to be sustainable.
Given these two parallel realities, why do people get all warm, fuzzy and concerned about the latter but not the former?
Why are there quotas for whales and not for sharks?
How many sharks are being butchered alive for every whale killed and eaten?
How many tens of millions of dollars, tens of thousands of litres of fuel, thousands of hours of human resources, are invested in the annual Greenpeace Anti-Whaling stunt?*
Is it possible these resources might be invested more wisely?
Perhaps in one of dozens of third-world countries where people are literally starving?
Hmmm, the lying-hypocritical-bastard syndrome is catching on!
Boycott shark fin soup. Boycott restaurants that serve it. Boycott people who eat it.
*In the interests of balance re Greenpeace activities:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominionpost/4495790a6031.html
(But who died and annointed them cops?! If I wanted another pack of interventionist bully-boys I'd become a US citizen.)
"ego, pride, exhibitionism, hubris..." a strong case for retrospective abortion.com
As always, never accept my word for it: Google is your friend.
The increasing demand for shark fin soup during an accelerating global food crisis serves, in many ways, to encapsulate the intellectual vacuum manifest between the tokenistic 'sustainability mantra' and a less-than-smug reality.
To supply the decadent demand for a bland and occasionally toxic product, whole dorsal fins are cut from live sharks before the animals are dumped back into the ocean to die slowly or to be torn apart by their cousins.
Now, I'm no fan of Japanese whaling 'research'. Everyone knows this 'research' nothing but a Big Lie.
Governments and diplomats would do well to call Japan's bluff, literally, by 'shirtfronting' the lying, hypocritical bastards and giving them a few smacks for fibbing.
In mitigation, however, at least the whales aren't being mutilated and thrown away. The entire whale is the product, not a tiny piece of it. It's killed; it's used.
Although the jury's still out, whale harvesting may even prove to be sustainable.
Given these two parallel realities, why do people get all warm, fuzzy and concerned about the latter but not the former?
Why are there quotas for whales and not for sharks?
How many sharks are being butchered alive for every whale killed and eaten?
How many tens of millions of dollars, tens of thousands of litres of fuel, thousands of hours of human resources, are invested in the annual Greenpeace Anti-Whaling stunt?*
Is it possible these resources might be invested more wisely?
Perhaps in one of dozens of third-world countries where people are literally starving?
Hmmm, the lying-hypocritical-bastard syndrome is catching on!
Boycott shark fin soup. Boycott restaurants that serve it. Boycott people who eat it.
*In the interests of balance re Greenpeace activities:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominionpost/4495790a6031.html
(But who died and annointed them cops?! If I wanted another pack of interventionist bully-boys I'd become a US citizen.)
Sunday, 6 April 2008
st kilda
I emigrated from Sydney to (far) East Gippsland in 1983.
A few days after I completed the relocation it was made clear to me that, although this wasn't mentioned on the induction paperwork, the choice of a Footy Team had now become mandatory.
At the time violence for non-conformance was colourfully implied (but not, fortunately, ever enforced).
Gotta love those Border Security bogans.
As I had no plans to seriously engage in lemming-like behaviour I chose the team-least-likely-to-ever-win-anything-again - just to shut these wankers up.
Yes, I went with the Saints.
Incidentally, this decision balanced nicely with my League team, St George, who had enjoyed many good years.
(John Howard and me on the same bandwagon: the symmetry is complete!
Moreover, the atheist in me relished the irony.)
Despite myself, over the years I started to engage in the fortunes of St Kilda.
For the remainder of the Twentieth Century, I became increasingly depressed with every thrashing 'WE' received.
I twitched when any of the boys 'got done' for anti-social behaviour. (I shuddered a lot.)
My eyes brimmed when Plugger Lockett, Big Bad Barry Hall and Spider Everett moved on.
Y'know, a fan can only take so much!
Then, at some stage (what? four or five years ago?) the bastards started winning more games than they lost.
It's amazing what a couple of decent coaches, bags of money and a newfound culture of maturity and accountability can do!
Despite myself, I was forced to flirt with the idea that St Kilda could actually become A CONTENDER.
This really messed with my mind for quite a while, especially when they actually 'contended' once or twice.
However, in my heart of hearts, I knew the Sainters wouldn't let me down.
They haven't and they won't. Feel free to bookmark this.
When push comes to shove, St Kilda lack the heart to win a premiership.
PS. Robert Harvey? ABSOLUTE LEGEND, mate.
A few days after I completed the relocation it was made clear to me that, although this wasn't mentioned on the induction paperwork, the choice of a Footy Team had now become mandatory.
At the time violence for non-conformance was colourfully implied (but not, fortunately, ever enforced).
Gotta love those Border Security bogans.
As I had no plans to seriously engage in lemming-like behaviour I chose the team-least-likely-to-ever-win-anything-again - just to shut these wankers up.
Yes, I went with the Saints.
Incidentally, this decision balanced nicely with my League team, St George, who had enjoyed many good years.
(John Howard and me on the same bandwagon: the symmetry is complete!
Moreover, the atheist in me relished the irony.)
Despite myself, over the years I started to engage in the fortunes of St Kilda.
For the remainder of the Twentieth Century, I became increasingly depressed with every thrashing 'WE' received.
I twitched when any of the boys 'got done' for anti-social behaviour. (I shuddered a lot.)
My eyes brimmed when Plugger Lockett, Big Bad Barry Hall and Spider Everett moved on.
Y'know, a fan can only take so much!
Then, at some stage (what? four or five years ago?) the bastards started winning more games than they lost.
It's amazing what a couple of decent coaches, bags of money and a newfound culture of maturity and accountability can do!
Despite myself, I was forced to flirt with the idea that St Kilda could actually become A CONTENDER.
This really messed with my mind for quite a while, especially when they actually 'contended' once or twice.
However, in my heart of hearts, I knew the Sainters wouldn't let me down.
They haven't and they won't. Feel free to bookmark this.
When push comes to shove, St Kilda lack the heart to win a premiership.
PS. Robert Harvey? ABSOLUTE LEGEND, mate.
Saturday, 5 April 2008
more jed stuff
I needed to 'share' an image a while back and set up a Flickr account.
Here's the address:
over yonder, hiding behind the punkins
Have a look.
I'll be updating it from time to time, with a mixture of personal and professional images.
(Uploaded quite a few today; each has its own little editorial.)
Here's the address:
over yonder, hiding behind the punkins
Have a look.
I'll be updating it from time to time, with a mixture of personal and professional images.
(Uploaded quite a few today; each has its own little editorial.)
Everybody wants to go to heaven but nobody wants to die
Ever since sustainability became 'fashionable' and entered the mainstream - over the past year or two - this song has been kicking around in my head.
What am I getting at?
Most of us have good intentions. Flush once a day. Use more moderate settings on the reverse-cycle. Separate our waste (and maybe even value add it through a compost bin). Minimise using the car. And so forth.
Simple, good, enviro-friendly stuff.
At this level, society has no problem with sustainable practices.
However (and I don't enjoy pointing this out), in the current global context most of this stuff is feelgood tokenism.
Yes, I consciously and actively boycotted 'Turn-Off-Your-Lights-For-An-Hour' Day.
Face facts. None of this micro-behaviour will deliver a more liveable planet - that is, 'heaven' (what it was at some stage and what it still can be) - unless we are prepared to change our MACRO-habits.
Face facts II. OUR beloved market economy is working continually against a sustainable planet by inciting us to spend, consume, replace, upgrade … whatever it takes, including accumulate debt and, yes, fuck up the future.
As a society, what are we doing to resist?
(It's OUR economy at the end of the day, since it couldn't function without us.)
You tell me.
What is sustainable about buying a new car (or computer or TV or whatever) every three years?
Without delving into the issue of increasing fuel prices, I see a nett benefit in the disincentive to consume. HOWEVER, as long as work-related vehicle expenses are tax-deductible there is no real disincentive for many, is there?
Don't get me started on discounted airfares!
Can anyone else see the elephant in the room? (She's wielding a baseball bat.) Where is the disincentive to consume?
Look, I'm not out to spoil the fun - and everyone is entitled to travel now and then - but a single extra flight, created from the demand / supply relationship, probable cancels out dozens of lifetimes of 'micro-improvements'.
Many posts ago I wrote a little on the subject 'governments just don't get it'.
Well, they don't.
As they toy with sustainability - spraying our money around on warm, fuzzy confabs - they remain paralyzed like rabbits in the floodlight of the Future train.
Addicted to revenue, they desire both a boom economy and a green future but can't decide which is more important. WTF??
None of them can get its head around the compelling need to enforce lower consumption … by reducing production first and foremost as well as by implementing genuinely progressive policy and proactive legislation.
Interest rates and the stock market don't exist to serve people; governments do.
The market economy is simply not sustainable. Further, since it's largely managed by profiteers servicing an addiction to overconsumption, it simply can't be trusted.
When the carrot approach doesn't work, get out the stick.
Example: legislate to remove tax-deductibility from all unsustainable business practices.
Example: as with fuel, tobacco and alcohol, apply a massive (non-deductible) 'excise' to airfares and inefficient vehicles.
To get to 'heaven', we all need to 'die' a little.
[Phew! That was exhausting. I wanted to briefly address 'carbon trading' from my Backyard point of view, but that will have to wait for another day.]
What am I getting at?
Most of us have good intentions. Flush once a day. Use more moderate settings on the reverse-cycle. Separate our waste (and maybe even value add it through a compost bin). Minimise using the car. And so forth.
Simple, good, enviro-friendly stuff.
At this level, society has no problem with sustainable practices.
However (and I don't enjoy pointing this out), in the current global context most of this stuff is feelgood tokenism.
Yes, I consciously and actively boycotted 'Turn-Off-Your-Lights-For-An-Hour' Day.
Face facts. None of this micro-behaviour will deliver a more liveable planet - that is, 'heaven' (what it was at some stage and what it still can be) - unless we are prepared to change our MACRO-habits.
Face facts II. OUR beloved market economy is working continually against a sustainable planet by inciting us to spend, consume, replace, upgrade … whatever it takes, including accumulate debt and, yes, fuck up the future.
As a society, what are we doing to resist?
(It's OUR economy at the end of the day, since it couldn't function without us.)
You tell me.
What is sustainable about buying a new car (or computer or TV or whatever) every three years?
Without delving into the issue of increasing fuel prices, I see a nett benefit in the disincentive to consume. HOWEVER, as long as work-related vehicle expenses are tax-deductible there is no real disincentive for many, is there?
Don't get me started on discounted airfares!
Can anyone else see the elephant in the room? (She's wielding a baseball bat.) Where is the disincentive to consume?
Look, I'm not out to spoil the fun - and everyone is entitled to travel now and then - but a single extra flight, created from the demand / supply relationship, probable cancels out dozens of lifetimes of 'micro-improvements'.
Many posts ago I wrote a little on the subject 'governments just don't get it'.
Well, they don't.
As they toy with sustainability - spraying our money around on warm, fuzzy confabs - they remain paralyzed like rabbits in the floodlight of the Future train.
Addicted to revenue, they desire both a boom economy and a green future but can't decide which is more important. WTF??
None of them can get its head around the compelling need to enforce lower consumption … by reducing production first and foremost as well as by implementing genuinely progressive policy and proactive legislation.
Interest rates and the stock market don't exist to serve people; governments do.
The market economy is simply not sustainable. Further, since it's largely managed by profiteers servicing an addiction to overconsumption, it simply can't be trusted.
When the carrot approach doesn't work, get out the stick.
Example: legislate to remove tax-deductibility from all unsustainable business practices.
Example: as with fuel, tobacco and alcohol, apply a massive (non-deductible) 'excise' to airfares and inefficient vehicles.
To get to 'heaven', we all need to 'die' a little.
[Phew! That was exhausting. I wanted to briefly address 'carbon trading' from my Backyard point of view, but that will have to wait for another day.]
Thursday, 3 April 2008
functionality II
Last month I mentioned applying for a few jobs.
As one who treasures autonomy, all I can say is that you do what circumstances dictate.
If any of these applications had been successful I'd be back on the chain-gang, earning up to 300% of my current income, paying my bills comfortably, conquering the mortgage … and probably drifting away from what I really want to do.
Best outcome: one company asked me if I'd consider relocating interstate. I was chuffed but had to decline.
Worst outcome: an employment agency declined to respond to either of my emails.
(I was surprised that they demonstrated such contempt to a job-seeker - but enjoyed the irony.
I'm going to suggest they employ someone with appropriate skills to respond to emails.)
It can be difficult living literally month-to-month, not knowing what's around the corner in terms of income or how to meet that next batch of bills.
I've seen a lot of new grey hairs this year! (And, despite renewed efforts, my business is still far from sustainable.)
Yet, there's a wholly different set of stresses involved when you work for someone else.
You and I both know it, so don't argue. Just don't.
As a realist, I know I'll never be 'master of my destiny' in the purest sense - but working for yourself comes close.
I seriously love hard work.
Yes, I'm actively disengaging from physical hard yakka - I've seen more than my share over the past 35 years - but I'm happy to power away at any 'office' jobs indefinitely.
When I say 'happy', I mean it! I love doing illustration, design, typesetting, copywriting and the rest.
I love my little network of three computers and three printers. I even love the frequent challenge of keeping them functional.
I love turning a job around quickly.
I love looking after my clients - and take a genuine interest in their business operations, as well as in their success.
I love the efficiency and immediacy of modern equipment and telco services, as well as their dwindling enviro-footprints. Appropriate technology at its best!
Fair dinkum, if I had a reliable revenue stream I'd do most of this stuff for free.
As one who treasures autonomy, all I can say is that you do what circumstances dictate.
If any of these applications had been successful I'd be back on the chain-gang, earning up to 300% of my current income, paying my bills comfortably, conquering the mortgage … and probably drifting away from what I really want to do.
Best outcome: one company asked me if I'd consider relocating interstate. I was chuffed but had to decline.
Worst outcome: an employment agency declined to respond to either of my emails.
(I was surprised that they demonstrated such contempt to a job-seeker - but enjoyed the irony.
I'm going to suggest they employ someone with appropriate skills to respond to emails.)
It can be difficult living literally month-to-month, not knowing what's around the corner in terms of income or how to meet that next batch of bills.
I've seen a lot of new grey hairs this year! (And, despite renewed efforts, my business is still far from sustainable.)
Yet, there's a wholly different set of stresses involved when you work for someone else.
You and I both know it, so don't argue. Just don't.
As a realist, I know I'll never be 'master of my destiny' in the purest sense - but working for yourself comes close.
I seriously love hard work.
Yes, I'm actively disengaging from physical hard yakka - I've seen more than my share over the past 35 years - but I'm happy to power away at any 'office' jobs indefinitely.
When I say 'happy', I mean it! I love doing illustration, design, typesetting, copywriting and the rest.
I love my little network of three computers and three printers. I even love the frequent challenge of keeping them functional.
I love turning a job around quickly.
I love looking after my clients - and take a genuine interest in their business operations, as well as in their success.
I love the efficiency and immediacy of modern equipment and telco services, as well as their dwindling enviro-footprints. Appropriate technology at its best!
Fair dinkum, if I had a reliable revenue stream I'd do most of this stuff for free.
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